Hollow Chambers Project
Collaborative project among students all over the colleges of UAL. The exhibition took place in the Crypt Gallery. The theme of the exhibition was inspired by caves. A topic curiously engaged with the specific of the site.
I applied for the exhibition with a proposal of a project. That was the first time I dared to submit a proposal of which was not completed yet. A performance work with installation ‘hosting’ the performance. I made a small scale model of the construction and recorded variations with some light added. The initial idea was to achieve dramatism and mysticism through set, light and sound, where the shadows were significant part of the atmosphere I wanted to create. Unfortunately I did not manage to represent full resemblance with the
model, but the result was satisfying. Since it was considered that the space in the gallery was limited for the construction, I was required to film the performance. Using sound record studio, filming, and green screen, I collected material to edit it, which was the big challenge since video art was a completely new field in my practice. This helped me achieve better effects with the light and the sound, and make possible the appearance of a second silhouette, which accomplished the reference to the Dualistic notion in my current practice.
Overall, it was motivating and educational experience, especially because of the collaboration with artist who have been specifically selected, and good practical experience in consideration of following instructions in organization you were not directly involved in.
Art Parlour
‘How to survive in the Art world?’ – our Art Parlour was an inspiring guided tour with the artist Daniel Curtis, who presented us some original, unconventional art venues. The main subject was about creativity and seeing through possibility which is not always on the surface. It might be discouraging, yet really inspiring to create such possibility yourself - through chance, unexpected relation, or use of variety of skills .
After the Art Parlour we had a group task to share impressions and describe an alternative as a ‘firm pillar’ for consistency and, ultimately, ‘success’ in the artworld.
'Trist Circle' Performance
Imagination, risk, trust – three dimensions of inevitable condition which we face trying to maintain art practice, together with the urge to show this art to the public.
In our Trust Circle performance, we adopted a long ago invented method of team building, highlighting the idea of collective support and a stable network of people you need to rely on. Concisely, the performance is achieved by group of people holding intensely in the air a bond of thick rope with strong joints. They must sit and stand up synchronized, and if only one ‘gives up’, all of the participants would lose balance and fall. A ‘performer’ or volunteer climb up on the top of the rope and walk in the air without stable ground, accompanied and supported by another person.
This is a ‘travel’ you cannot make on your own – and one that requires a great deal of courage. It contains risk, a lot of risk, because there is no certain formula for success, especially in an artworld where you depend on fluctuating factors. Therefore, taking sich a risk blindly, stepping into unknown, floating ground might be unstable and even frightening, but once you have established strong connections of trust, collective, friendship, this journey could only bring you fruitful experience and fulfilment.
Sparks show
Sparks show, which took place at Legge Studios, Lewisham was the first collaborative project with some of my MFA colleagues out of the college. After the initiative of one of them, we had to plan, organise, promote and install the exhibition ourselves. What a challenge – people who hardly knew each other, with different practice, different temper, different point of view. I was astonished how strikt and responsible everybody was. Then the most positive outcome from our team work, in my opinion, came from the initial very precisely prepared plan to structure the time and divide the duties in smaller groups , each of them. After several discussions, we started step by step completing the tasks, working at the same time with the production of the artworks we were about to expose. I did not manage to present during most of the organisational process, but I contributed with setting up a Work shop for children, which was one of the purposes we had, as contribution to the society and benefit from our event and collective work. We faced difficulties, the wer some unexpected obstacles right before the Private view of the show, but in the end we were, I believe, all satisfied with having our first show together at that interesting pop-up space
Corridor Exhibition
How much history surround us and influences our taste, knowledge and evaluates our place in the world?
Considering the specific of two long opposed walls narrow, This is one of the questions our group corridor exhibition made me think about. coming out of the specific architectural features of the space, we created a timeline of some of the most famous portrait paintings in the art history. From the patronizing self-portrait of Dürer to that of the impastoed, full of psychological intensity portrait of Lucian Freud. . . Circular pieces of mirrors face the images and fragment the space with presence, as if those faces ‘peek’ from the corners. Distorsion of the images caused by the mirrors effect reinforced an allusion of something distant sight, recalling of the past. Passing through, a visitor cannot resist but turn and find his own reflection, Van Gogh or Raffael staring at him , inviting him to remain in this stillness of time, with the question how do we pass through our own life time, how do we last and leave a trace behind... in the timeline.
Organizing a group exhibition at a specific site in limited time might be a challenging task. We started considering ideas originated from the proposal to use mirrors to expand and fill up the space with presence. And after rejecting a few possibilities, we chose a motive and the images. Surprisingly, we had no confrontations, probably finding similarities in ideas and translation. An installation plan was established and followed with responsibility and awareness, and during the instalment process we worked successfully as a team.
Quick and dirty
This project was a group exhibition, initiated from the curators who were established as a team at the beginning of the course. It took place at the usual exhibiting space at the college – Coco’s room and Corridor space. It’s purpose was to show a piece of work created during the working process and in my opinion very useful in terms of possibility to evaluate how this process was developing. Very often being deeply engage in a creative process or resolving problems during production we tend to get lost and ‘exhaust’ the work. It is definitely necessary and crucial sometimes to step away, observe from different angle, share with peers, compare, ask for an opinion. We did not plan it much in advance, that is way it was also challenging to just ‘grab’ something from your ‘dirty’ desk and at the same time dare to show it. The realisation and installation we owed to our curators and assistants. I exhibited there part of my life drawing studies.
Art as fulfilment: The use of religion and spirituality in contemporary art
A talk in The Royal Academy of the Art, part of the event programme ‘Does Art connect us?’
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The presentation was chaired by the critic Andrew Graham Dixon, Including Marina Warner. Professor Ben Quash and Mariko Mori, and examined how artists and the public might use contemporary art as a means to express and reflect on religion and spirituality.
‘Whether the audience can achieve an emotional or spiritual connection through art? Are they ,m ore likely to visit a museum than a worship? Can we find meaning in the fundamental questions of life through art?’ – Those were some of the questions discussed during this open talk in the RA, welcoming audience really engaged with the topic, as a great number of questions was raised in the end.
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As I work on projects with psychological and emotional context, this discussion was an important examination of what is the discourse of thinking in that spiritual direction among broad range of people. Especially in a conversation led by people who are apparently experienced in the field.
I strive to engage the audience with my art work, especially performance/ installation, through sensitivity end dramatism, therefore it is crucial to me at this stage to investigate and research more about how different groups of people in the society would respond to such interaction.