ANIA BAS

Audiences Actions, 2011, black pen on a variety of surfaces (floors and walls)

         Ania Bas is an artist that works with people not canvas. Through her practice she tests methods and processes of collaboration and participation and her work is both research and production based. Bas explores the art of everyday life and involves everyday people in investigations of human connection with place using an inter-disciplinary approach. The work is co-made and takes diverse forms ranging from live events, tours, publications, installations, video and photography to eating cakes and sipping tea. Bas acts as a catalyst, a facilitator, a host, a service provider, a support structure, an administrator, a waitress, a producer – in short an artist.

Ania Bas is an artist, curator and developer of arts projects. Bas worked with a number of art organisations, institutions and businesses: funder and curator of Natural House Project (2007), resident artist in Vestas Blades in UK (2007) and Labein Tecnalia in the Basque Country (2008), arts events curator at KUBE gallery (2008 – 2009), Whitechapel Gallery artist in residence (2010), Very Public People project initiator (2010), member of the Laundry Association (West Midlands, UK). Currently she lives in London, UK.

www.aniabas.com

JUSTINE BLAU

 

The Circumference of the Cumanán  Cactus, 2010, Photography, Duratran Lightbox (Series of 9), 1200 x 900 mm

With the support of the Ministère de la Culture, de l'Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche, Luxembourg

Justine Blau is a visual artist working between London and Luxembourg, creating works that explore the visual language of photography and its usage in its vernacular context. She is also interested in the influence of culture and how it shapes our habits and our environment. Her works borrow from the world of spectacle, museums artefacts and the realm of childhood. Following a recent MA at Wimbledon College of Art, University of the Arts she has been developing works concerned with the yearning for exoticism and foreignness encountered in the West, looking into the ways it is conveyed through culture, the media and tourism. Her work has been exhibited around Europe with recent exhibitions including Ecotone, CNA (Centre National d’Audiovisuel), Luxembourg, Moving Worlds, Carré Rotondes, Luxembourg, Studio, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, ALT+1000, High Altitude, photography in the mountains, Rossinière and Normalcy Bias, Listros Gallery, Berlin. She has co-curated shows in Luxembourg and the UK; and is one of the founding members of ArtRole, an organisation developing cultural exchanges between the Middle East and the United Kingdom.

Justine often uses photography in her practice, as she is am drawn towards the medium’s complex relationship with the real and its ability to bridge fiction and reality. She is interested in its vernacular use and history. She tends to place the medium in relation to ancient illusionary and optical techniques such as panoramas, dioramas and peep- show theatres, interested in establishing a comparison between old illusionary practices and today’s concerns on the simulacra. Her current work is concerned with the process of traveling and our yearning for exoticism, she uses fabricated images and narratives that each location carries to create complex montages and collages that simulate a landscape, taking the shape of large sculptures and photographs. Her work refers to an archetypal place, alluding to the myth of origin and our conception of virgin territories. The Circumference of the Cumanán Cactus is an invitation to the voyage. Originally a

commission for Manchester Piccadilly Station, Metrolink platform, the work constitutes of a series of nine images featuring wild and exotic landscapes of far-flung territories. These natural environments bear little signs of human presence, hinting towards the possibility of an untouched land, in its primal state. What at first appear to be picturesque views of sunburned deserts, lush jungle and puffing volcanoes, are actually constructed fantasy worlds created by means of photographs found on the web. The images are three-dimensional collages of cutout photos, photographed, creating an optical illusion. The pictures, by their very nature,

sway between the worlds of reality and fiction, culture and nature. They mimic the

visual language of tourism billboards, playing with the striking imageries associated to travel, fulfilling our thirst for exoticism and our quest for paradise-like places, devoid of signs of modernity.The project is also an exploration of visual imageries connected to the very act of 'traveling'. The images take as inspirations, drawings and paintings made during expeditions to new worlds, with the like of Columbus and Cook, a time when Europeans started trawling throughout the world in search of new territories. Visual accounts from the outside world steadily returned to the homeland by travelers avid to share what their eyes had seen; these images becoming part of our collective imagination, shaping our views of foreign lands. This tradition has persisted until nowadays, with the 18-19th centuries' scientific expeditions under figures like Darwin and Humboldt, the European Grand Tour by romantic painters and writers and modern tourism and the holiday snapshots. The works is concerned with the representations of the ‘outside’ world when returned

'home', these images working as testimonies and scientific proofs, but also as exotic

memorabilia or subjects of myths.

ANNA CHAPMAN

Soundmarks, mix media installation, 2008

Anna Chapman is an artist based in Edinburgh. Born 1978, York, Anna studied Fine Art at the University of Edinburgh and Edinburgh College of Art, graduating in 2003. In 2008 she completed a Masters in Fine Art: Drawing at Wimbledon College of Art, London. Recent projects include Subjects for Melancholy Retrospection, (solo exhibition at Newhailes, The National Trust, as part of Edinburgh International Art Festival); He do the Police in Different Voices (group show at Blyth Gallery, London) and 100 Seel Street, an installation in an abandoned house in Liverpool (Liverpool Independents’ biennial).

‘My approach to making work has to do with the state of being speculative, and involves a basic curiosity about how art gets made. I use a variety of media and generally begin with collecting material information out in the street or at a particular site, either using drawing, note-taking, a camera or sound recording device or by literally bringing found materials into the studio. In the studio a work may come about through small reformulations or juxtapositions to this captured information. This involves some sort of transfer of what I have collected across media in a particular way - for example breaking down a camera pan into a series of screen prints, or enlarging a collection of pencil marks into three-dimensional models. Such transfers entail losses, gains and distortions to the original material information, according to the particular characteristics of the medium/media involved. In the process gaps occur, leading to new possibilities for both the realisation and reception of the work. The end-form of the work may vary from a small pencil drawing to a sound installation, but in each case involves in some way a feedback loop between the medium used and the content it is carrying. I see this as a two-way exchange of information whereby the fragility and limitations of each artistic medium contribute essentially to what is conveyed.’

www.annachapman.co.uk

CORINNE FELGATE

Deficit Denier, 2010, synthetic hair, glue, hairspray, felt, silk, bias ribbon, wood,

250mm x 250mm x 450mm

Sculptor Corinne Felgate was born in London in 1984 she has both Italian and

Armenian heritage. She studied linguistics, and then later Fine Art at University

College London and went on to graduate with an MA in Sculpture from Wimbledon

College of Art in 2009. She has exhibited extensively in London, and the U.K,

Germany and in Slovenia and has works held in the U.K Government Art Collection. Her work focuses on linguistic conceits and the use of objects as sociological

artefacts. Her work is playful, often requiring the acquisition of obscure skills, toying

with the margins of human error and the comfort of repetition. She has produced public Sculpture for Islington Council and works as a visiting

lecturer/ speaker at London institutions including the Victoria and Albert Museum and The Tate Modern and has worked on Art education projects with English Heritage & The Courtauld Institute. She is currently working on a commission for the National Gallery.

www.corinnefelgate.com

ZDRAVKO HORVAT

Typematic Self-portrait, 2008 - work in progress, drawing

Ova serija autoportreta rađena je prema fotografijama koje potvrđuju identitet (osobna karta, putovnica, vozačka dozvola...), te ostavljaju svojevrsni zapis nečije egzistencije. Između izrade svakog autoportreta postoji pravilni razmak od 5 godina (1989., 1994., 1999., 2004., 2009... idući autoportret bit će izrađen 2014.), radi utjecaja vremena vidljive su fizičke promjene na vanjštini autora (odrastanje, sazrijevanje, a u budućnosti i starenje = utjecaj vremena, prolaznost). Crtež na papiru je svojevrsna želja za ostavljanjem traga vlastite egzistencije, a brisanjem tog crteža (poništavanje samog sebe) autor niječe svoju egzistenciju odnosno on ukazuje na paradoks čovjekova hvatanja tračka „aktualne egzistencije“. Djelo je proces koji će trajati tokom cijelog autorovog života, a bit će dovršen tek kada umre.

Zdravko Horvat rođen je 1980. godine u Zagrebu gdje je završio Školu primijenjenih umjetnosti i dizajna. 2007. diplomirao je na Akademiji likovnih umjetnosti u Zagrebu (grafički smjer) u klasi profesora Ante Kuduza. Studijski je boravio na Le Quai école supérieure d’art de Mulhouse u Francuskoj, a dva puta mu je dodijeljen rezidencijalni boravak Kunstenaarslogies u nizozemskom gradu Amersfoortu.

KSENIJA JURIŠIĆ

Voice, 2010, video

Kroz krupni statični kadar ženskog lika snimljenog ispod površine vode u koju je preko usana uronjen, pratimo neverbalno iznesenu kratku biografsku priču. Nekoliko rečenica iz dijaloga sa starijom osobom prenesene su dvoručnom abecedom za gluhe osobe koja se koristila i u širim društvenim skupinama kao način komunikacije u situacijama poželjne tišine ili prisilne šutnje. Praznim crtama u tekstu naglašene su izostavljene riječi kao dijelovi koji nedostaju ili manjkaju u komunikaciji. Egzaktan slijed neispisanih riječi odaje način kojim bi se razvijala produktivnija komunikacija. Skriveni sadržaj samog teksta referira se na položaj pojedinca nečujnog glasa u suvremenom društvu. Tradicionalna manualna naracija integrirana u nijemi video uradak vremenski zbližava načine komuniciranja, čime problematizira učestalo pitanje prednosti i mana suvremene komunikacije. Problem se nerijetko objašnjava posljedicama metoda i medija izmjene informacija tehnološke ere, zanemarujući druge aspekte i uzročnike istog problema.

STEFANO KATUNAR

5m2, 2009-2010, paper sculpture, 5 x 5 x 5 m

Riječki umjetnik predstavlja svoju viziju intimnog prostora u kojoj sugerira sobu u kojoj svaki čovjek može pronaći mir. Rad zaista može biti soba svakog posjetioca jer se svima pruža prilika da ostavimo trag našeg posjeta. Obični svakodnevni predmeti, od stolice do lampe, umotani su u mekani sloj papirića izrezanih iz različitih tiskovina. Sam materijal papira daje mogućnost da se interakcijom mijenja, nastaje šuškanje koje stvara zvučnu kulisu vizualnom doživljaju, ostaju tragovi nagnječenja, promjene u pigmentaciji materijala pod utjecajem svjetla ili čak može doći do kidanja samog papira. Papir više nije novina, više nije ni smeće, više ne služi za reckliranje, on postaje zaštitni omotač koji sakriva, ali istovremeno i daje bezbroj slika. Svakodnevni predmeti postaju isti po površinskom sloju, više ne vidimo razlike u materijalima, sve postaje jednako osjetljivo i zapravo privlači gledaoca da ih dotakne.

Mladom kiparu papir je oduvijek bio zanimljiv medij i uvijek iznova pokušava oživjeti bezbroj uloga koje papir nosi. Čitavi rad nema konkretan završetak, ono će uvijek oživljavati stvaranjem i dodavanjem novih predmeta, tako da je ovo djelo samo isječak u vremenu kontinuiranog stvaranja i fascinacije temom. Krhkost materijala je zapravo u opreci sa svim naslovima koji nas bombardiraju dok čitamo novine, ali tu kao da se sve informacije poništavaju i ukidaju samim činom rezanja. Ritual ponavljanja, tj. slaganja 500 000 komadića papira na elemente koji čine nečiji intimni prostor je i meditativan način na koji umjetnik stvara unutarnji monolog kreativnog čina. (Iva Divić)

Stefano Katunar ođen je 1984. u Rijeci. Trenutno je na poslijediplomskom studiju pri Akademiji za likovno umetnost in oblikovanje u Ljubljani, smjer kiparstvo u klasi prof. Matjaž Počivavšeka. Djeluje kao scenograf od veljače 2008. Diplomirao 2007. godine pri Akademiji za primijenjenu umjetnost u Rijeci na odsjeku za kiparstvo u klasi akad. slik. i kip. Josipa Diminića. Član HDLU-a od 2009. godine.