ART Habens Art Review, vol.1, Spring 2014

ART H A B E N S

We glad to announce the winners of the second edition of ART Habens: this year’s edition has focus on a recurrent paradox in contemporary art: the vague and ambiguous but thoroughly entrenched boundaries between the different practices of new media.

In particular, we have selected artists dealing with process-driven changes in our society, who pair their observations with new media technologies to produce their art projects: this competition aims to give the impetus and opportunity to artists (fine art, media, architecture, design, music, theatre, visual communication etc.) to work between the boundaries of Contemporary Art.

C o n t e m p o r a r y

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Shahar Marcus (Israel) Shahar Marcus is an artist who primary works in the medium of performance and video art.

His initial works dealt with the exploration of his own body and its limitationsincorporating various perishable materials, such as dough, juice and ice. His body served as an instrument, a platform on which various ‘experiments’ took place: lying on the operating table, set on fire, dressed in a ‘bread suit’ and more. Food is also a major theme in Marcus’s works.

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Scott D'Arcy (United Kingdom) My main drive to make art is a pursuit of truth around how images function and exsist through a long line of experimentation.

Collective notions of beauty and taste are shared and represented through a wide range of mediums over long periods of history. Even though beauty can sometimes be guilty of buying in to narcissism, what it has in common with the functionality of images is a high level of illusion, that depicts a world more seductive and appealing than our own.

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Florian Tuerke (Germany) Public space is traditionally considered to be the physical and conceptual opposite of private space.

With the evolution of global media and social networks, and with the development in global politics, the line between the concepts of privacy and publicity progressively fades, which leads to new questions and challenges for everybody. The traditional picture of public space as a space which is often understood as an organizing structure or entity on which the individual has no, or only limited influence - is out-dated.

Linda Havenstein

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(Germany) he minmalist method of inversion relates to basic alchemical ideas on microand macrocosmos while the inverse visualization of matter is in analogy to recent theories on cosmic space and antimatter.The notion that human bodies are basically formed by the same elements as everything in space is aligned with the fact that human bodies as such are actually space filled with matter.

Yumiko Ono

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(Japan) There are two important elements in work of Yumiko Ono. The first element is symbolism.

Ono has been using symbols in her work over 10 years. She has been producing work with symbols in various media such as paintings, prints, sculptures, animation films and installations. She takes a symbol as a visual result of all kinds of culture such as environment as well as the history. In her work, she is using symbols as a condensed visual image of her thoughts and feelings.

Wang Hayiuan (Japan)

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I call all my works as "movie scene", a panorama in the non-life movie scenes. It relates to my occupation.

Technology is a broad term. First of all we need to show the reasonableness of a work, the technology is a method to serve a specific occasion.

Producing a work is time and effort consuming, sometimes we decide to do a work just in a second, but this procedure needs to do a lot of relevant work, basically we need to make drawings and models, then we get our final works.

Oxana Jad

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(Russia) Oxana Jad's work focuses on the development of artistic cross-media projects which address body-image-identity. Her work thereby encompasses an interest in the human psyche from a philosophical, religious and mythological point-of-view; the exploration of the human body and its social codes in terms of ethnic, historical and art historical perspectives; and the body within the context of advancing scientific research and discoveries.

Currently, her photographic compositions focus particularly on staging complex personal interactions.

Olivia Punnett (USA) I had a real loss of confidence in my practice, and an uncertainty about what I was doing, so I didn't finish my degree at Falmouth. I then lived in another country, became a mum and didn't think about my practice for a few years. Inevitably I returned to art and decided to complete my degree at Derby, which was a great decision, as there was more of a focus on multi media, video and installation, as opposed to the more traditional teaching at Falmouth, (painting sculpture, and print).

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Shahar Marcus (Israel)

Shahar Marcus (b. 1971) is an Israeli based artist who primary works in the medium of performance and video art.

His initial works dealt with the exploration of his own body and its limitations- incorporating various perishable materials, such as dough, juice and ice. His body served as an instrument, a platform on which various ‘experiments’ took place: lying on the operating table, set on fire, dressed in a ‘bread suit’ and more. Food is also a major theme in Marcus’s works. For instance, his recurrent use of bread as a symbol of essentiality and survival is juxtaposed with military symbols.

By working with food, a perishable, momentary substance and by turning it into a piece of clothing or a set, Marcus also flirts with art history; transforming arbitrary objects and materials into something immortal and everlasting. His early video-performances feature himself along with other artists, with whom he had collaborated in the past. However, in his recent works, Marcus appears by himself, while embodying different roles and characters.

‘The man with the suit’ is a personage that was born from an intuitive desire to create a ‘cleancut’ version of an artist, juxtaposed to the common visual stereotype of the artist as a laborer. Drawing influence from Magritte’s familiar figure- the headless suit, a symbol of Petite bourgeoisie, Marcus embodies this man with a suit as an artist who is in charge, a director.

His most recent works deal with local political issues, by approaching iconic Israeli landmarks with a critical and humorous point of view.

Thus, Marcus reflects on his own heritage, environment and the creation of local historical narratives.

His works are influenced by the visual language of cinematography along with familiar themes and tributes to art – history and artists, such as Ives Klein, Paul McCarthy, Peter Greenway and Jackson Pollack.

Freeze, 2013 performance

Shahar Marcus

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Shahar Marcus

From Still Burning, 2013 performance, video

April 2014

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Shahar Marcus

An interview with Hello Shahar, and welcome to ART Habens: to start this interview would you like to tell us something about your background? You have studied Linguistic and moreover you hold a MA History of Art that you have received from the University of Tel Aviv: how have these experiences impacted on the way you currently produce your films?

As an artist who didn’t go to an art school and started exhibiting his works I often find that at he beginning I wasn’t influence by teachers and older artists by how should an art work should look like. I think it gives you some creative freedom in just doing your things without having your teacher voice in your head all the time.

As an Art history student I have many works which are influence from iconic artists like Jackson Pollock (Sabich), Yves Klein (Leap of faith) and Marcel Duchamp.

In particular, would you like to tell to our readers something about your process and set up for making your artworks? In particular, what technical aspects do you mainly focus on your work? And how much preparation and time do you put in before and during the process of creating a piece?

Shahar Marcus

As I prepare for producing a new piece I start thinking about the exhibition place. I always try to produce a piece which have a connection to the place. The connection could be historical, geographical or even to have an architecture connection.

Shahar Marcus is an active artist for over a decade and has exhibited at various art- institutions, both in Israel and around the world, including: The Tate Modern, The Israel Museum, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Petach Tikva Museum of Art , Charlottenburg, Copenhagen- Kunsthalle , Moscow Biennale, Poz-nan Biennale, Moscow Museum of Mo-dern Art and at other art- venues in Polland, Italy, Germany, Georgia, Japan, the USA and Turkey.

After processing the idea I try to0 connect it to art history and not always in the idea level but sometimes in the level of the materials which iuse in the piece. I always try to think about a strong physical action that will connect the whole story into coherent outline.

Some of my works are ideas that come fast and then the production will take a lot of efforts. I always think of my budget and my options at that stage because I hate to come up with ideas that I can't produce.

Many of his works are a part of various important collections, such as The Israel Museum, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Petach Tikva Museum of Art as well as art- intuitions in Poland and Italy.

I like to work fast and usually it takes 3-4 months once I have the Idea until the work is done. In my video The curator which was complicated because it involved many sce7

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Shahar Marcus

nes, texts and participants it took me 10 months to finish the work (of course I manage to shoot two new videos and a solo show in that time). I would say I'm a sprinter and not a long runs artist.

Now let's focus on your art production: I would start from Freeze, an extremely interesting work that our readers have already started to get to know in the introductory pages of this article, and I would suggest them to visit your vimeo page at https://vimeo.com/13003785 in order to get a wider idea of it. In the meanwhile, would you tell us something about the genesis of this works?

From Still Burning, 2013 performance, video

At the beginning of Freeze there was the clock. I was thinking about an art work that will allow me to control time. That work was a live performance art and in the huge hourglass filled with Styrofoam balls I was trying to control time. I stopped the balls with my belly in order to give more time to the loosing player and try to let them go through fast when it was the turn of the winning player in order to give him less time to think about his move. In the video art we shot the work at the plaza outside the Shrine of the Book at the Israel Museum.

This building houses the Dead Sea Scrolls, including the famous War Scroll, which describes the apocalyptic battle between the Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness.

We tried to give the video a mediate feel in which the judgment day ahs come and the last two persons are standing and playing the last game of chess until the end.

You shift between media as often as possible: your art practice ranges from Video Art to photography, to performances as Sabich that our readers can view directly at https://vimeo.com/18207623: while crossing the borders of different artistic fields have you ever happened to realize that a synergy between different disciplines is the only way to achieve some results, to express some concepts?

As an artist but also as a beholder I always try not to bore myself and try to work in difFrom Still Burning, 2013 performance, video

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Shahar Marcus

ART Habens

nes, texts and participants it took me 10 months to finish the work (of course I manage to shoot two new videos and a solo show in that time). I would say I'm a sprinter and not a long runs artist.

Now let's focus on your art production: I would start from Freeze, an extremely interesting work that our readers have already started to get to know in the introductory pages of this article, and I would suggest them to visit your vimeo page at https://vimeo.com/13003785 in order to get a wider idea of it. In the meanwhile, would you tell us something about the genesis of this works?

At the beginning of Freeze there was the clock. I was thinking about an art work that will allow me to control time. That work was a live performance art and in the huge hourglass filled with Styrofoam balls I was trying to control time. I stopped the balls with my belly in order to give more time to the loosing player and try to let them go through fast when it was the turn of the winning player in order to give him less time to think about his move. In the video art we shot the work at the plaza outside the Shrine of the Book at the Israel Museum.

From Still Burning, 2013 performance, video

This building houses the Dead Sea Scrolls, including the famous War Scroll, which describes the apocalyptic battle between the Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness.

We tried to give the video a mediate feel in which the judgment day ahs come and the last two persons are standing and playing the last game of chess until the end.

You shift between media as often as possible: your art practice ranges from Video Art to photography, to performances as Sabich that our readers can view directly at https://vimeo.com/18207623: while crossing the borders of different artistic fields have you ever happened to realize that a synergy between different disciplines is the only way to achieve some results, to express some concepts?

As an artist but also as a beholder I always try not to bore myself and try to work in difFrom Still Burning, 2013 performance, video 9

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Shahar Marcus

or a video and that the best way for it is to be an installation. Freeze for example was able to be a video, a performance an etching and a photography and in each medium turn out a bit different.

A good friend of mine once told me that it doesn’t matter in which medium I will work, whether it will be video photography or installation it will always look like a performance art. I try to avoid that but sometimes I think he is right. I have the tendency to revive all my art.

Your works are often pervaded with a deep social criticism, as The fathers have eaten sour grapes: even though I'm aware that this might sound a bit naif, I have to admit that I'm sort of convinced that Art -especially nowadays- could play an effective role in sociopolitical questions: not only just by offering to people a generic platform for expression... I would go as far as to state that Art could even steer people's behaviour... what's your point about this? Does it sound a bit exaggerated?

From Still Burning, 2013 performance, video

For my opinion art can do everything and can do nothing. It all lies on the shoulders of the beholder. The only thing an Artist can do is to make a significant strong art piece that will move the beholder and make him ask questions.

A good art piece can move a person out of his spot and can help him see things different but if a person come to an exhibition without curiosity and will to listen then even the best art piece in the world will fly over his head. None the less if he comes with an open mind to receive something than it is the artist responsibility to deliver him an experience that might steer his thoughts and behavior.

Another interesting work of yours that has particularly impressed me and on which I would like to spend some words is entitled Still burning: it's a provoking piece that effectively establishes a deep interaction with the viewer, involving her/him both on an intellectual aspect and on -I daresay- a physical one... by the

From The fathers have eaten sour grapes

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way this piece refers to the old tradition of the art history and the traditional paintings of ‘still nature’... so I would ask you: do you think tha that there's a dichotomy between tradition and contemporariness?

In many cases I think that there is a dichotomy between tradition and contemporariness especially in the themes that contemporary art is dealing with.

In Still burning I am dealing with "memento mory" that has such a long history in art and especially in painting. Taking the theme and dealing with it in a contemporary medium such as performance allow the piece to open up to more expects which exist in this matter.

From Still Burning, 2013 performance, video

I would like to ask you if in your opinion personal experience is an absolutely indespensable part of a creative process... both for creating and for enjoying the creation itself? Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience? Actually, I think that I would have loved this pieces also if I didn't know anything about Contemporary scene...

The curator was shown all over the world to different kind of audience and in many cases it was not an art audience but rather a film audience or other. As I saw People like it even without knowing what a curator is because you can easily replace the curator in an actor singer or any nobody who became a star in three minutes. The work says a lot about us as a society which always look for the next thing and have no patience for experience but rather looking to coronate a new king in instance time.

From Still Burning, 2013 performance, video

I think that personal experience always help you when you try to produce a new art piece because than it is easy to understand the process and what will be the best way to make the piece but since I always try that my works will be understandable and communicative than even if I didn’t know any curator in my life I think I would be able to pull it off just by reading or hearing about this caricature.

From Still Burning, 2013 performance, video

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Shahar Marcus

From Leap of faith, 2010 Perormance

April 2014

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Shahar Marcus

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During these years you have exhibited at various art- institutions, both in your homeland Israel and abroad, moroever, you have recently received The Israeli Ministry of Culture award for Encouraging Creativity. It goes without saying that feedbacks and especially awards are capable of supporting an artist: I was just wondering if an award -or better, the expectation of an award- could even influence the process of an artist... By the way, how much important is for you the feedback of your audience? Do you ever think to whom will enjoy your Art when you conceive your pieces? I sometimes wonder if it could ever exist a genuine relationship between business and Art...

An expectation for an award cant really effect your work except for the understanding that a good piece of art might give you an award but I guess that what all the artists wants. I think that the only aspect that it does affect me is that the minute that I finish one work I start thinking about the next one because you know that your audience always want more of you and as soon as possible. I always think of me as the audience and I always imagine myself what will happen if I see that piece of art.

Will I like it/ if it works for me than I can do the work. Sometimes when you have an exhibition and the commercial galleries are involved than you really need to listen to your wills and thoughts and try to walk the line between art and business. If after walking the line your art survive that clash it means you made it.

Thanks a lot for your time and your thoughts, Shahar. My last question deals with your future plans: what's next for you? Anything coming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of?

At the beginning of April I will travel to Saarbrucken in Germany and I will create a new video piece with the artist Nezaket Ekici which I have been collaborating for the last two years in a project that travel from Israel to Tbilisi, Istanbul and then T Saarbrucken Germany.

This coming October we will have a big show in Saarbrucken Stadtgallery. Other than that I will show this year in Taiwan and I will be working on a new solo show in 2015.

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Scott D'Arcy (Great Britain)

My main drive to make art is a pursuit of truth around how images function and exsist through a long line of experimentation. I am drawn to beauty and very interested in its construction and purpose from a cultural stand point.

Collective notions of beauty and taste are shared and represented through a wide range of mediums over long periods of history. Even though beauty can sometimes be guilty of buying in to narcissism, what it has in common with the functionality of images is a high level of illusion, that depicts a world more seductive and appealing than our own.

The tension between the sentiment the viewer experiences through their gaze and the reality of images is for the most part what my practise investigates.

Images are very ephemeral things, put quite simply they are very sophisticated systems and signs that add to our culture. The intangibility of the digital images in a frame-less, free-flowing world has been a key aspect that I believe best represents their paradoxical state. Such ideas are well recognized and explored in Hans Belting's "An Anthropology of Images" and Vilem Flusser's "Into the Universe of Technical Images".

I welcome intangibility and surrealism because they best mimics how we really think about images.

When we loose contact with a physical copy or walk away from the screen, we hold what we have seen psychologically. Our body becomes a medium that stores what we are exposed to.

I reference and borrow a lot of content; this could be anything from aesthetics of certain styles to elements from famous historical paintings. For me appropriation is vital when trying to understand an images collective reading, and being able to set a certain appeal against itself in a very different way but still in a very visually way.

The viewer then has an opportunity to really think about the new image with a new context.

Baroque No.7, 2013 Oil on canvas

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Scott D'Arcy

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Scott D'Arcy

From kรถrperkosmos, 2013 Installation

April 2014

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Scott D'Arcy

An interview with Hello Scott: to start this interview, would you like to tell us something about your background? You have studied at the Leeds Metropolitain University: how has this experience of formal training impacted on the way you currently produce your works?

I did study at Leeds Met yes. Institutions are useful in terms of sharing ideas and co-operation. I found having people to hand very useful with my practise in particular because it relies heavily on collective and shared readings. However the downside of making work that is being formally assessed in that way means you are forced to focus on one area. There is freedom within the scope you choose. However wanting to pick something totally different up the following week is more often than not frowned upon, even though i have found that if you are serious about your art, no two things are completely unrelated.

However at the time I was very much aware that this was what universities had to do in order to grade work. I made art for myself as well as my education and it did make me to value the variety, which is something best recognised early on in an artists progression between what they like to do and what they have to do.

Florian Tuerke

Before starting to elaborate about your production, would you like to tell to our readers something about your process and set up for making your artworks? In particular, what technical aspects do you mainly focus on your work? And how much preparation and time do you put in before and during the process of creating a piece?

Scott D'Arcy

I reference and borrow a lot of content; this could be anything from aesthetics of certain styles to elements from famous historical paintings.

It varies depending on the piece. There are a whole host of different techniques i use within the computer (mainly photoshop) and for the most part my practise has been a cycle of pushing images back and forth between the tangible world and digital manipulation until it is resolved. The preparation onto what engines to use in conjunction with each other requires a great deal of preparation and research, mainly around the formal elements of images but also the philosophical concerns

For me appropriation is vital when trying to understand an images collective reading, and being able to set a certain appeal against itself in a very different way but still in a very visually way.

The viewer then has an opportunity to really think about the new image with a new context.

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Scott D'Arcy

around out perception. I also spend a lot of time scouting out locations and collecting images in order to have a more practical connection to my creative process.

Lighting techniques and compositional decisions like in “Birth� is very tough and requires patience. Its an endless game of trail and error, constant observation and experimentation.

Now let's focus on your artworks: I would like to start with Baroque No.7, a recent and interesting piece that our readers have already admired in the introductory pages of this article: would you tell us something about the genesis of this work?

What was your initial inspiration?

My initial inspiration was the investigation of the multiverse of layers and realities images exist on and the high drama achieved in baroque paintings. I found this aesthetic style to crop up everywhere, from films to fashion from a time where we couldn't have lived.. It's as a kind of diachronic nostalgia, which i obviously found very interesting and decided to explore. Baroque No.7 was made at the beginning of my real use of the photography studio. Its intention was to made a new work out of powerful elements of much older ones in the hopes of creating a piece that intoxicated the viewer through visual familiarities. Leading them into a labyrinth of fake tattoos, doubled up figures and digital manipulation. Which i felt reflected our recycling of these tastes and has the possibility to build on its social conjunction.

From the Identities series, 2011 Photography

Another pieces of yours in which I would like to spend some words are After Rembrandt and After Vermeer... Although it's crystal clear that this series is pervaded by irony, I have to admit that I'm some puzzled about this aspect: in fact the irony springs from the super imposition of materials of different eras... all in all, if we admire the first version of Caravaggio's The Inspiration of Saint Matthew, we can recognize the angel's hand driving Sain Mattew's pen... so why an angel shouldn't help an old man to write with an iPad? From the Identities series, 2011 Photography

I think that if that where the case, we would

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Scott D'Arcy

ART Habens

From TTransition Tryptyc, Installation, 2013

From the Identities series, 2011

just be changing materials within the reality of the painting. Consequently the characters might then be drawn into areas of convincing fancy dress, which would be very final. In a way I am glad you're left at least a little bit at a loose end, but to clarify the irony is important in my re-contextualization of these images.

Photography

By super imposing two different states in the same setting; using either surrealism of the same figure multiple times. Or alternatively by making a work that appears to be one very resolved image but is in fact two from different periods in time. It prompts the viewer to really participate in their own speculation around the work.

So to finalise, the irony wouldn't have this effect if the work was a more linear one. Neither would it be as effective if everyone arrived at the exact same conclusion, it would make the images very bland and dead in my opinion. To me a small amount of confusion is the same as the right amount of creative speculation.

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Oxana Jad

From the Foreign Ego series, 2011, Photography From the Identities series, 2011

April Photography 2014

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doesn't seem to be just passive background... and I'm sort of convinced that some information and ideas are hidden, or even "encrypted" in the environment we live in, so we need, in a way, to decipher them. Maybe one of the roles of an artist could be to reveal unexpected sides of Nature, especially of our inner Nature... what's your opinion on this?€

Landscape is the language that I use to tell a story. A dense forest could represent opaque thoughts.

Heavy clouds are like a symbol of impending doom. Murky water could symbolize ambiguous intentions, a rising storm is like radical change.

Fog invokes doubt, conflict, a dream or a sign of mystery.

The wonderful thing is that the viewer can draw his own interpretations. In the style of 18th century French painting, art is open to interpretation and every viewer can create their own storyline.

During these years your works have been exhibited in many venues and moreover you have received several prestigious awards. How important is feedback for you and what impact does it have? Do you ever, during the creative process, reflect upon who will be your target audience?

Feedback is essential! Art is the language with which you express yourself. Of course you want to be understood!

But during the conceptual process, my primary focus is on the story I want to convey.

Thank you for your time and for sharing your thoughts with us, Oxana.

My last question deals with your future plans: what's next for you? Anything coming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of?

I'm currently working on a very exciting project. I do not want to reveal too much, yet I can give away that it deals with legends, passion, mysticism, fate and the often opaque role of serendipity.

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Florian Tuerke (Germany)

My artistic work is based in public space and around the idea of public space. In the recent years i have realized projects on an international level, whereas I am working as well in my own projects, as in collaborations and networks with other artists, architects, musicians and choreographers.

With my projects I try to question the general understanding of public space as an anonymous, non-private and unpersonal territory.

Public space is traditionally considered to be the physical and conceptual opposite of private space. With the evolution of global media and social networks, and with the development in global politics, the line between the concepts of privacy and publicity progressively fades, which leads to new questions and challenges for everybody.

The traditional picture of public space as a space - in all connotations - that is detached from the individual, whilst being created by the "public" - which is often understood as an organizing structure or entity on which the individual has no, or only limited influence - is out-dated. Or to put it more simple: We have to understand ourselves no longer as users, but as creators of public space.

I consider my artworks as tools to support the process of re-thinking and revalidating public space.

Linda Havenstein

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Linda Havenstein

From kรถrperkosmos, 2013 Installation

April 2014

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Florian Tuerke

An interview with Hello Florian: to start this interview, would you like to tell us something about your background? Are there any experiences that particularly impacted on the way you produce your art nowadays? In particular, you hold a postgraduate diploma in мart and public space・that you have received about six years ago from AdBK, Nunberg (Germany): I would like to ask your point about formal training...

After finishing my studies in the class of Diet Sayler at the Nürnberg Academy of Arts, i had a solo-show in a small Museum, for which i had asked Diet Sayler – whose background lies in concrete art and who is a brilliant thinker and theorist - to hold the opening speech. When i introduced him to my first URBAN AUDIO instruments - he had asked me in his quiet and astute way "i see invention and engineering, but where is the art?". Back then I was baffled by his question - but instinctively I knew I was on the right track.

In the following i intensified my research on sonic transformation and decided to learn more about public space by starting postgraduate studies in the faculty of "art and public space" in which Georg Winter was the professor in charge who approached the concept of art in public space from an investigative and philosophical view. The faculty was mainly dealing with experimental research on the impact of different methods and strategies of art-production in public space and urban environments, while the idea of public space being a huge out-door gallery for drop-sculptures was overcome. I have to say, that this type of research-based studies was not stifling at all; far from it. It was rather liberating.

Florian Tuerke

My artistic work is based in public space and around the idea of public space. In the recent years i have realized projects on an international level, whereas I am working as well in my own projects, as in collaborations and networks with other artists, architects, musicians and choreographers.

With my projects I try to question the general understanding of public space as an anonymous, non-private and unpersonal territory.

Before starting to elaborate about your production, would you like to tell to our readers something about your process and set up for making your artworks?

My artistic practice is focused a lot on sound. This is due to different reasons, but mainly because our sense of hearing operates permanently and gives us a 360degrees “view” of our surrounding, while being a direct link to our unconscious,

I consider my artworks as tools to support the process of re-thinking and revalidating public space.

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Florian Tuerke

instinctive and emotional perception of the world. Nevertheless, it is not necessarily the sound itself, but rather its creation, its transformation and its interaction that I am interested in.

I consider my artworks as tools for an alternative perception – mostly – of public space.

The term “tool” hereby means as well the project or experiment as the instruments and setups that I use for it.

For me, the process of creating an art-work starts with thinking and researching. First I focus on what I want and with which tools I can achieve it. The next step is to prepare and build the instruments and set-ups that I decided to use. Usually I develop all the blueprints beforehand in my head and alter them throughout the process of building. Once my setup is complete and fully functional, the project part of the process takes place. During this phase, the tools or setups are serving their whatsoever purpose. Several of my works don't end with the project phase, but rather utilize it for the accumulation of audiovisual data. In this case, post-production is a significant part of the process.

A still from The Day of Departure, video, 2013

To give an example for the amount of time and effort during the creation of an art-work, i want to mention a rather extreme example: My work “BigAmericanDrone” is a 10 minutes audio-piece that I created in 2008. It consists of 26 single recordings of sonic transformation of urban noise from 26 cities all across the USA. To come to this result I had to make a 9700 miles trip and prior to this design and build the instrument that I was using.

The 3-weeks trip could be followed on the internet as I continuously published recordings throughout the time of the project: http://urban-audio.org/ast.html Now let's focus on your artworks: I would like to start with URBAN AUDIO, an interesting sound-art project in public space that our readers have started to get to know in the introductory pages of this article, and I would suggest them to visit http://www.floriantuercke.net/urbanaudio.html in order to get a wider idea of it... in the meanwhile, could you take us through your A still from The Day of Departure, video, 2013 26

Florian Tuerke

ART Habens

creative process when starting this stimulating project?

Before i started to work on the concept of URBAN AUDIO, i had worked with string-based indoor sound-installations that i used as musical instruments for performances. (www.bassbediener.com).

While working with musical performances and concerts, it became evident to me that composition had to play a certain role. Although music is an important part of my life (I learnt to play the guitar when I was 10) i understood that I didn't want to write music. While the concerts with the sound-installations were mostly based on structured improvisation, i started to think about the topic of composition in general and about how i could achieve a profound compositional concept without actually writing music.

From TTransition Tryptyc, Installation, 2013

During an investigation of an inner-city traffic hotspot for another project, an idea started to form in my head: I started to understand that a composition not neces-sarily needs one single author. Also it does not necessarily require the intention to compose. The literal meaning of "composi-tion" (lat.: compositio) only says that something is placed together. The more i was thinking about public space - with traffic as my main focus point - the more I understood that any traffic situation is a composition which is instantaneously and unconsciously created by a countless num-ber of participants with all their personal moods, decisions and interactions.

So the next step was to find an adequate method for translating the seemingly chao-tic acoustic output of a traffic situation into the language of music.

As I wanted to achieve a direct translation I decided to work in an analogue scale instead of using the indirect, digital way. I found that the musical properties or tuned strings (piano-wire, guitar- or bass-strings) with their richness in overtones (harmonics) are a perfect medium for an analogue noise-to-sound translation. This was the birth of URBAN AUDIO.

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Florian Tuerke

From TTransition Tryptyc, Installation, 2013

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Florian Tuerke

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Another interesting piece of yours on which I would like to spend some words is audio_bikes 3.0 and since I have a scientific background I cannot do without asking you what's your point about the relationship between Art and Technology: I personally would go as far as long as to state that these days Art and Science are going to assimilate each others...

First of all, nowadays technology is part of our daily lives. As such, technology can be as well topic as medium for art and art production; whereas, as means of art production, technology or "new" media is just one of many possible techniques, and is in the end not much different from a painters brush.

I think that the variety of available techniques and media makes artists nowadays very aware of the connection between idea and medium and of the choice of medium being an essential artistic decisions.

But let my try to approach an answer to the question about the supposed mutual assimilation of art and science by looking into history. For example, Da Vinci was very interested in the technology of his days and practiced as artist and engineer. Or, to mention an even earlier example, Pythagoras who is mainly known to us for his mathematic ideas, was researching about musical harmonies and their relation to the configuration of the universe, which he thought to have discovered within the world of numbers. He was not so much a creator, but his philosophical questions about aesthetics was blending what we now consider scientific and artistic ideas, whereas in his days the distinction between art and science was not relevant.

Throughout the 20th century, along with the exponential growth in influence of technology on society, we find a numerous examples of technology being topic or medium to art: from the futurists all the way to contemporary media art. But science does not only mean technology. Notably Psychology, Sociology and Anthropology – and also other scientific disciplines – have a constant influence on art.

I think in the end, both - art and science - (but also religion) are consequences from the human ability to question the world and the self within it.

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Linda Havenstein In körperkosmos photographs of people standing together are used to create a portrait of this very relationship by inverting the color values and leaving only the individual “landmarks” - moles and pigmentation- behind.

The result is an image that looks profoundly like a night sky, provoking a gaze at the bodies depicted that we usually use to orientate when looking at the cosmos itself: drawing lines between vast distances ignoring borders while connecting point to point, knowing a we can only see a small part of what we actually don’t even have a glimpse of. Any categorization such as gender, skin color or even number of people dis- solves and only the very individual body surface is left behind, connecting bodies in constellations and the notion that there is a huge cosmos of what these bodies and relationships can be - it is a landscape of potential.

The minmalist method of inversion relates to basic alchemical ideas on micro- and macrocosmos while the inverse visualization of matter is in analogy to recent theories on cosmic space and antimatter.The notion that human bodies are basically formed by the same elements as everything in space is aligned with the fact that human bodies as such are actually space filled with matter.

This work has various medial forms, attached are images of a lightbox version installation at Art Space Tetra, Japan. The image set is titled “berlin buddies” and features three people living in Berlin in 4 constellations.

A still from The Day of Departure

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video, 2013

ART Habens

Linda Havenstein

From kรถrperkosmos, 2013 Installation

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Linda Havenstein

An interview with Hello Linda and welcome to ART Habens: to start this interview would you like to tell us something about your background? Are there particuIar experiences that have deeply impacted on your development as an artist? By the way, after graduating from the University of Leipzig, you had several international experiences in Europe, Asia, and the United States... Do traveling and living abroad influence your creativity?

Absolutely. I love moving and experiencing new things. It enables me to look at things in different ways - it somehow frees my mind. Also, one of the most important experiences that I had in my student time was hitchhiking throughout Europe.

However I always wanted to become an artist. I always drew during the classes in school and couldn't look at my school-book because the illustrations were so badly drawn. I was absolutely convinced then that I'd spend the rest of my life drawing and painting. Despite that, after I had a break from making art and came back to it, painting and drawing became no longer my interest. I don't do it anymore at all.

Linda Havenstein

Before elaborating on your production, would you like to tell our readers something about your process and set up for making your artworks? In particular, what technical aspects of your work do you mainly focus on? And how much preparation and time do you put in before and during the process of creating a piece?

born 1984 in Germany. Lives and works in Berlin Received a Magister Artium at the University of Leipzig in 2011. exhibitions solo show// 2013 Through the Looking Glass, Art Space Tetra, Fukuoka, Japan selected group shows// 2013 Tsushima Art Fantasia 2013////Tsushima, Japan to.be, Gallery Giomisti Kefali, Sifnos, Greece 2012 International Contemporary Art Exhibition 2012, Art Gallery Le Logge, Assisi, Italy Platform Project, Performance with Movement & Sound Improvisation Berlin, Neurotitan Gallery, Berlin 2011 Hoffest, Installation at Murata & Friends Gallery, Berlin, Germany 6x6x2011, Rochester Contemporary Art Center, Rochester NY, USA 2010

It does take a lot of time to produce my work. Usually, basic ideas are there from the outset, but when it comes to realizing and materializing those ideas I tend to encounter technical difficulties. Both conceptual and technical developments need a lot of time and can only grow through trial-and-error.

By the end of it all, there has to be a piece which encompasses a unity between physical appearance and conceptual depth.

The piece kรถrperkosmos took me one year to materialize as an initial attempt, and it is still far from being complete.

If I were to mention an area of improvement, it is certainly this point that I don't talk about 33

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ideas for the piece until it's finished. Talking to friends about conceptual clues and the production process usually helps a lot. They would point out aspects that I wouldn't think of. But I feel that if I open my mouth and talk about ideas they would escape from me and eventually vanish.

Nonetheless, I have to be more courageous and get used to verbalizing ideas and sharing them with others.

Now let's focus on your artworks: I would like to start with the kรถrperkosmos, that our readers have admired in the starting pages of this article: could you tell us something about the genesis of this work? What was your initial inspiration?

Looking at my arm! I have a constellation on my right arm that looks like Cassiopeia and when I looked at it and drew the lines in my head everything just broke loose.

I was able to make the connection because I helped a friend with one of his pieces a few weeks before, where I had to print out starry sky images.

Since he only needed to know the relational distances between stars I color-inverted the images to save black ink. And sometime later I looked at my arm and found something that reminded me of those images.

With this association in mind suddenly all the things about cosmos and alchemy exploded in my head and I thought that there is something deeply poetical and true about that association.

Another pieces on which I would like to spend some words is an interesting video installation The Day of Departure: it is based on a performative act in which people have participated regardless of whether they are born on the island or have lived there for a longer time. It goes without saying that the chance to create a deep interaction, both with your "performers" and with your audience plays a crucial role in this piece. What experiences have you received during the long preparation of this work?

This piece is somewhat very personal to me. I spent a lot of time on the island so I really needed to produce something to cope with my experiences there. And there was a lot of magical thinking and cognitive calculation involved in the production of the piece.

To be more specific, throughout one of the two narrative lines the performers' faces are deliberately not shown, as the camera focusses on their moving bodies.

A still from The Day of Departure, video, 2013 34

Linda Havenstein

The composition of the piece is arranged with its very slow beginning, which ends with footage showing rhythmical body movements in fast cuts. It is intended to gradually evoke the viewer's empathy with the performers, so much so that their body would symptomatically react and their heart-beat becomes faster, which could also trigger other physical symptoms.

Doing so their body becomes a part of the performers and their attempt to move the island. The idea was to make the audience a part of the performative act - in analogy to the political movements and demonstrations on the island. There might be an imperative aspect to this but more than that it is how I perceived the situation there. However your comment on the interaction of the performers and the audience is absolutely right.

ART Habens

From TTransition Tryptyc, Installation, 2013

I would like to mention a couple of works of yours that have particularly impressed me, and that are entitled respectively Hoffest and Transition Triptych: could you take us through your creative process when starting these pieces?

The point of departure for Hoffest was an event site. It was a house yard with 4 walls defining the space- the yard. So I wanted to create something that deals with the entities that determine that space- the opposing walls.

Somehow or the other, to make those walls move was the most obvious way to highlight and at the same time deconstruct the space. And since this is not easy to realize I just made things move that are supposed to stay fixed on those walls. Pars pro toto, so to speak.

Another conceptual layer to this piece lies in the fact that this piece was influenced by the images of the big earthquake in Japan, so the walls coming down was somehow pertinent to the stories and the images we saw and heard of then. To make graffiti move was something I wanted to do for a long time, and it fits for the nature of the site well since it is known for street art.

From TTransition Tryptyc, Installation, 2013

Transition Triptych is a first approach to bigger themes that I want to continue working on. One of them is the way in which people perform and behave in certain environments that would define the space. My residence in Assisi was perfect for that since the inner city has roughly two space settings, that is religious performance space and shopping/consumption space. Both come with a very defined set of 35

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Linda Havenstein

From TTransition Tryptyc, Installation, 2013

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performance and actions. So I simply swapped them, doing shopping performances in religious performance space and did prayers in a shop.

These swapped performance scenes function as a junction between documented scenes of people in those spaces, that would then increasingly dissolve into ambiguity when focussing onto the very space and it's items.

During this years, your artworks have been exhibited all around the four corners of the world: it goes without saying that feedbacks and especially awards are capable of supporting an artist, I was just wondering if an award -or better, the expectation of an award- could even influence the process of an artist... By the way, how much important is for you the feedback of your audience? Do you ever think to whom will enjoy your Art when you conceive your pieces?

Absolutely. With my emphasis on concept I can't ignore the setting and cultural backgrounds of the people who will see my pieces. They are there from the very beginning of the conception of the piece.

However in a lot of cases people would need some kind of hint to know how to "read" the work because I tend to create pieces where the media or title doesn't give you an instruction on how to gaze at it. This is also because there are different art discourses and trends in different parts of the world.

But this is something that can be part of the concept. I do respect the art discourses of the very area where I'm producing a piece in expectation of an award - that is to be understood and appreciated. And I'm very happy when people find some access to my work. They often find new perspectives that I even didn't think of. In this sense feedback is very important to me as well as any kind of resonance. On the other hand I'm often so exhausted when finishing a work that I don't care what people think. I'm just happy it's done and there existing in the world outside of me.

Thank you for your time and for sharing your thoughts with us, Linda. My last question deals with your future plans: anything coming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of?

It would be so great if I could make a big announcement here. But sorry, nothing special so far. If you happen to be in Japan by the end of the year it would be great to see you at one of the shows I'm exhibiting in. One is in Tsushima and one in Aomori. Both will have a kรถrperkosmos installation by the way.

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Yumiko Ono (Japan)

There are two important elements in work of Yumiko Ono. The first element is symbolism.

Ono has been using symbols in her work over 10 years. She has been producing work with symbols in various media such as paintings, prints, sculptures, animation films and installations. She takes a symbol as a visual result of all kinds of culture such as environment as well as the history.

In her work, she is using symbols as a condensed visual image of her thoughts and feelings. T he second element is formality. Formality is one of the characteristics of Japanese tradition, for example tea ceremony, dance and Haiku poems. Ono started her artistic carrier as a painter and she produced work with images using different framings such as animation films, storyboard, tear-off style calendar and comics.

Even after she shifted her media to installations, she still kept having forms in her work by using repetition of motifs such as dolls, stones, and jigsaw puzzles.

Besides formality, more things are connected to her cultural background such as floor based installation and preference of miniatures.

Ono’s aim is to reflect her origin in the field of contemporary arts by using Japanese traditional elements in euphemistical and poetic way. At the same time she focuses on the localized issue, she keeps exploring universality and universal expressions based on her research of symbols in the world.

Wandering, 2013 Installation

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Linda Havenstein

Home, 2013, Installation

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An interview with Hi Yumiko, first of all a warm welcome to ART Habens: to start this interview, would you tell our readers a little about your background? I have read that you have studied in several countries: from Japan to Israel, from Hungary to United Kingdom where you are currently basedto : how has these experience -I should say, a wonderful experiences- impacted on your art practice?

Moreover, what's you point about formal training? Do you think that artists with a formal education have an advantage over self-taught artists?

In the beginning I completed my BA in the field of oil painting in Kyoto, Japan. After that I studied painting and intermedia in Budapest and then I completed my MA in Prague. Last year I also studied in Jerusalem.

Every country gave me different inspiration and practice. For example, Hungary and Czech republic are former socialist countries and I produced many pieces connected to socialism, or the similarity between Japanese culture and socialism. Many socialistic elements inspired my work at that time.

And my last study in Israel was hardest and a lot of struggling about space, cultural difference, which lead me to sound installation. So every environment is a challenge for me and that's something I enjoy very much. I preferred being in art schools because compare to residencies, there are so many facilities as well as technicians to support my projects and also schools have usually longer period, I have more time to explore my work. Since I use various techniques, I need various workshops and machines. Therefore it was more practical to stay at schools and I think academies have many things in one and that opens our mind.

Yumiko Ono born 1984 in Germany. Lives and works in Berlin Received a Magister Artium at the University of Leipzig in 2011. exhibitions solo show// 2013 Through the Looking Glass, Art Space Tetra, Fukuoka, Japan selected group shows// 2013 Tsushima Art Fantasia 2013////Tsushima, Japan to.be, Gallery Giomisti Kefali, Sifnos, Greece 2012 International Contemporary Art Exhibition 2012, Art Gallery Le Logge, Assisi, Italy Platform Project, Performance with Movement & Sound Improvisation Berlin, Neurotitan Gallery, Berlin 2011 Hoffest, Installation at Murata & Friends Gallery, Berlin, Germany 6x6x2011, Rochester Contemporary Art Center, Rochester NY, USA 2010

If I was not at school, I wouldn't have tried many techniques that I used for my work. I am sure even self-taught artists can work with various techniques but then it is harder to get all facilities by themselves.

Before getting in the matter of your production, would you tell us about your process and set up for making your artworks?

I usually get an idea in the end and totally change the whole things. Even if I had plenty of time to think, and actually have many ideas, I usually take the last one in the last minute.

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Yumiko Ono

And now let's focus on your pieces that our readers can admire in these pages. I would start from Wandering, that our readers have admired in the starting pages of this article: could you tell us something about your process for conceiving and in particular for making the pieces of this project?

Not only this piece but many work that I produced last few years is about home. Since I keep moving country to country last 8years and also my family situation in japan, the place to belong is an important issue for me. Personally I love kitch and I like to use my preference in my work in a different way. So ringtone for mobile was kitch for me- I myself had numbers of funny ringtones in my own mobile. From this experience, I wanted to use ring tone in my work and collected 50 different music about home and randomly rang the sound. In the end I think the atmosphere of the installation piece had a different effect, not funny, rather sentimental, sad and empty As you have remarked in your artist's statement, you use symbols as condensed visual image of your thoughts and feelings.

Do you think that this could work also on a universal viewpoint? I mean, could a symbol that in a certain sense springs from the inner world, contaminate and even influence the outside world? I dare to say that this could be one of the most effective way of artistic communication...

In the early time, that was my main question and I was using both already existed symbols and the symbols that I created by myself from my feelings and experiences in my paintings and showed them to international audience. After receiving many feedbacks, I realized that there were not many misunderstanding or misreading caused by cultural difference and since then, I was sure that symbols can be tools for communicating with viewers.

Another project of yours on which I would like to spend some words is Graves, which has been inspired by the shapes of Muslim graves that you had the chance to see during your permanence in Jerusalem. I think that it's important to underline that this piece is exhibited together with a video called “Shabbat�, an Hebrew word that commonly stands for "Saturday" but that means "rest", with clear religious references. I like the effective synergy that you have been capable

Graves, Installation, detail, 2013 42

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of creating between cultures, and I would seize this opportunity for asking you if you think that Art could play a role in order to establish a real and effective syncretism, not only on a cultural viewpoint, but even on a social side...

Well, I showed both work at school in Jerusalem and people liked them but when I tried to exhibit them at galleries, I had difficulties due to the political reason. It is so hard not to think about politics there, which I understand. And basically politics and religions have more power than culture, not only in Israel but many places in the world. So I am not sure if Art could play such a role. I hope but I know it is actually very hard. I produced both piece based on the same idea, which is to capture the essence of the things in Jerusalem. I created that piece because I am from Japan and am not belong to any of the religions over there and I only know brief history and politics in the middle east. Therefore, to get rid of all the religious and political meaning from things there was the only thing I could do in such a special place with full of "meanings" in many layers.

Many features of your artistic production are connected to your cultural background, and it goes without saying that Japanese traditional elements plays a crucial role: at the same time I noticed that many pieces of yours, like Home shows an interesting dialectic between modern technology and tradition... By the way, do you think that there's astill a dichotomy between Tradition and Contemporary?

From TTransition Tryptyc, Installation, 2013

Japan is a conservative country and takes traditions very important so there is definitely still a dichotomy between tradition and contemporary there. Although there are quite many Japanese artists dealing with traditions in their work technically. Since I do not want to restrict my work in certain technique, I do not want to use Japanese traditions technically but more conceptually. This is why I do not mind sometimes I don't use my hand to my piece and it is even more interesting for me to produce piece which has universal format with reflection of my origin.

And we couldn't do without mentioning your sound installation entiled Azan, that -againhas been inspired by your experience in Middle East. I've found very interesting the creative contamination that springs from it, and this has maden me think about the role of sound in Art... I'm sort of convinced that sound brings a temporaral aspect to an

From TTransition Tryptyc, Installation, 2013 43

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Yumiko Ono

From TTransition Tryptyc, Installation, 2013

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artwork, while the artwork itself brings a physical aspect to sound: could a symbiosis between two apparently different media give birth to a completely new kind of art, or just reveal hidden features of what we use to call "tradition"?

I think this piece cannot exist only with sound because the form of the speaker plays also an important role. But at the same time the piece is not about sound, only the concept of the work is formed(or molded) by sound. So sound is a way of embodiment of concept in a same way like it is visualised. Usually vision can be taken more directly than sound. Sound is more abstract but sound in this piece is as direct as vision, therefore sound and vision and concept are in a same position, which is unique about the piece I think.

Anyway even when I was a painter, I was more interested in non-painting in painting format. Now I am doing similar things in different media such as object, sound etc. I think definitely there are things that you can express only when you mix media. I wouldn’t say completely new kind of art, but it’s just different.

Just wondering if you would like to answer to a cliché question that we often ask to the artists that we interview: what aspect of your work do you enjoy the most? What gives you the biggest satisfaction? Well, actually ain't that clichè...

Because I started my career as a painter, and I was only painting from my own imagination, my artistc process or path until now is how to express my feelings and thoughts in non-expressive way.

That is why I stopped painting from my imagination- which was too expressive for me, and started to use photographs, and materials from out side of my world, and started to copy daily objects, and in the end stopped even making things physically by my hand sometimes. This process is to release myself and my ego to be more playful and strict at the same time. In a way it is the process to reach perfection Thanks for your time and for sharing with us your thoughts, Yumiko. anything coming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of? .

I have been saying simple fundamental things from the beginning until now in my work. At the same time as you see, my work keeps changing format by the environment. A few months ago I moved to London, so I am also exited how my work will be effected by the place.

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Wang Haiyuan (Germany)

Linda Havenstein

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Linda Havenstein

From kรถrperkosmos, 2013 Installation

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Wang Haiyuan

An interview with Hello Haiyuan welcome to ART Habens: to start this interview, would you like to tell us something about your background? Are there particuIar experiences that has deeply impacted on your evolution as an artist? By the way, what's your point about formal training? Sometimes I happen to ask myself if a certain kind of training could limit or even sifle a young artist's creativity...

I had served in the army, worked as construction workers, been a propagandist of government, and been an art teacher at high school, now I’m an art designer.

My life experience has decided my interests and the way I’m doing my job. Pay more attention to other people and ask more to myself, can I change myself and the surroundings? The small problem I faced today might be the big problem we are facing nowadays.

Before starting to elaborate about your production, would you like to tell to our readers something about your process and set up for making your artworks? In particular, what technical aspects do you mainly focus on your work? And how much preparation and time do you put in before and during the process of creating a piece?

I call all my works as "movie scene", a panorama in the non-life movie scenes. It relates to my occupation.

Technology is a broad term. First of all we need to show the reasonableness of a work, the technology is a method to serve a specific occasion.

Producing a work is time and effort consuming, sometimes we decide to do a work just in a second, but this procedure needs to do a lot of relevant work, basically we need to make drawings and models, then we get our final works.

Wang Haiyuan

My artistic work is based in public space and around the idea of public space. In the recent years i have realized projects on an international level, whereas I am working as well in my own projects, as in collaborations and networks with other artists, architects, musicians and choreographers.

Now let's focus on your artworks: I would like to start with your works entitled Watch Out and Disaster, that our readers have admired in the starting pages of this article: could you tell us something about the genesis of these pieces? What was your initial inspiration?

With my projects I try to question the general understanding of public space as an anonymous, non-private and unpersonal territory.

This is a scam made of a group of people, we are all participants. This scam is specially referred to my living environment. It has the social side, humans continue to explore, it means they continue to expand.

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Linda Havenstein

These works are from the things I have seen and been feeling in travel, and from the social systems in a development process in China. We have been hurt by the social system, but we are also the beneficiaries and participants of this system. This is the scam that the system made for each participant.

"Disaster" is talking about a girl, holding a weapon to kill a person. After several chops, at the exact moment when she turned on the light, she found that what she cut was not a person, but a pig. This was a fake crime scene arranged by someone. More horrible is she found someone was watching her that time, whole the thing was a scam.

Another work of yours that have mostly impressed me and on which I would like to spend some words is Watch Out. In particular, one of the features that has impacted on me is the the masterly usage if light that gives a sense of movement to the image and at the same time forces us to something that I would dare to call "meditation". Woudl you like to take us through your creative process when developing this project?

The work “Watch out” is from a detail of life.

This is happening in rapid development of China. The photograph uses the method of switching and comparing, to show the moment we meet ourselves. This crossroad is like a mirror. Our coldness, sophistication, anxiety and panic—all were written on our faces. How should we face ourselves and get along with others. The work”Watch out” is a word in the everyday life, in a specific environment. It has universal and present meaning.

Person's life, in a sense, is a war with himself.

Each person has his two sides-- good side and bad side.

A still from The Day of Departure, video, 2013

By the way, do you happen to use modern digital tecniques while working at you pieces? I'm sort of convinced that new media art will definitely fill the dichotomy between Art and Technology and I would go as far as to state that Art and Technology are soon going to assimilate one to each other... what's your take about this?

Today, technology is the most contemporary art. The coming digital era has changed our spatial relationships, which is a fully-fledged carnival.

A still from The Day of Departure, video, 2013 50

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From TTransition Tryptyc, Installation, 2013

Art is attached to its appearance, to make the word "technology" more gorgeous. Technology is the most fashionable consumer goods in this era. Art is more diversified. Human’s society is going forward along the “Information Super Highway": highly developed technology is creating a high degree of economic efficiency.

Life is really not a pleasant thing. People hurt each other, plunder each other. I always think that people don’t know how to get along with each other. Distance is the way to feel safe in this society. Can we find the exit? I doubt it. Different ideas about future, the development of technology sounds good for the better life of human being, but this is another kind of plunder for space resources.

Too fast. We have collective revelry and psycholagny behind the technology.

People's material living conditions are more convenient, rich, and people's lifestyles have promoted the global economic integration, while the people's mental area is degenerating: the collapse of faith, morals fall, spiritual emptiness, mental illness, and many other phenomena.

Globalization helps human to achieve a high developed new information age, the era of knowledge economy. Yet at the same time people's spiritual level is not raised with the economy and technology but has a downward trend: restless, boredom, apathetic--leading the loss of themselves; human is alienate from himself, other person and the natural world, and the flooding of individualism, lust doctrine, hedonism leads to moral decline, and I think this is exact what the art and philosophy need to confront and explore.

You often work with actors, in order to produce your pieces, and I find this collaborative practice really interesting. Dealing with collaborations, this has reminded me a quote of the artist Peter Tabor who once said that "collaboration is working together with another to create something as a synthesis of two practices, that alone one could not": what's your point about this? Can you explain how your work demonstrates communication between several artists?

The job as art designer gives me a lot of experience. Due to space constraints the project ”Empty house” has not been fully exploited and completed.

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From TTransition Tryptyc, Installation, 2013

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the sound of participants’ bodies by the sensor.

Yong Zhang is an excellent sound engineer, we have the same cognition about the sound collecting. In our cooperation, we have enlarged the effect of this work to infinite possibility, this is the most pleasant and I’m looking forward to work with him again. Wish the space problem could be solved and implemented in the near future.

During this years, your artworks have been exhibited several times, both in your country and abroad, and I think that it's important to mention your award at Kassel, Germany: it goes without saying that feedbacks and especially awards are capable of supporting an artist, I was just wondering if an award -or better, the expectation of an award- could even influence the process of an artist... By the way, how much important is for you the feedback of your audience? Do you ever think to whom will enjoy your Art when you conceive your pieces?

Yes, the award at Kassel is really a great encourage to me. Thanks Mrs. Reta--the curator who has given me this award. It is my honor to participate in the “2nd Land Art Mongolia Biennial – LAM 360°” in 2012. Due to the effort of curators, this exhibition has got a lot of attention, and took part in the First World Biennial Forum. All the works have been combined in two publications: one is the official anthology published by Hatje Cantz (http://t.cn/zHMapBr); another is the topic for magazine YISHU(http://t.cn/zHMapBB). Both of them are firstly published in Venice Biennale this year.

As human beings, we can’t avoid these problems and get the recognition from others. It is everyone's desire and satisfaction, which is uncontrollable.

There's a cliché question, that I can't help without asking to the artists that I happen to interview, since even though it might sound the simpler one, it gives me back the most complex answers: what aspect of your work do you enjoy the most? What gives you the biggest satisfaction?

Desire is the motive power of human development. We believe in hope and love, but we also compete with each other, wish the recognition from others.

When you are alone, the world is all yours. It is small, but also infinitely large. It is just like a mirror, everything is illusion. To get rid of delusion in order to see the truth.

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Oxana Jad „I would call the style of Oxana Jad magic realism.“ (Thomas Hardy Borgard PH.D.) „Everything is a game of interactive allusions, meaning -and value changes - all to perfection“ (Karin Weber PH.D.)

Oxana Jad's work focuses on the development of artistic cross-media projects which address body-imageidentity.

Her work thereby encompasses an interest in the human psyche from a philosophical, religious and mythological point-of-view; the exploration of the human body and its social codes in terms of ethnic, historical and art historical perspectives; and the body within the context of advancing scientific research and discoveries.

Currently, her photographic compositions focus particularly on staging complex personal interactions.

A still from The Day of Departure

From the Foreign Ego series, 2011 Photography

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Oxana Jad

ART Habens

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April 2014

video, 2013

ART Habens

Oxana Jad

From the Foreign Ego series, 2011 Photography

April 2014

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Oxana Jad

An interview with Hello Oxana and welcome to ART Habes: to start this interview, would you like to tell us something about your background? After graduating from the Academy of Arts in Dresden you attended other programs both in Dresden and in Leipzig: how have these experiences impacted the way you create your art?

I enjoyed my time at both academies! The exchange with other aspiring artists and with motivating professors opened new horizons for me in terms of the understanding of art.

Photography was something I discovered at the Dresden Academy. Students were free to experiment and try out various forms of artistic expression. In Dresden I was in the sculpture class, but I quickly noticed that the speed with which I was able to realise my ideas was too slow for me. So I focused on photography. At the Academy in Leipzig I deepened my knowledge and skills in photography.

Studies in Dresden were very free-spirited.

There were no constraints and you could stay focused on the subjects that interest you. For example, for one year I devoted myself almost exclusively to anatomy and figure drawing.

Oxana Jad

Oxana Jad's work focuses on the development of artistic cross-media projects which address body-imageidentity.

Later, in Leipzig, where I studied photography, I was particularly interested in technology. I locked myself in the studio and experimented with light for hours and hours‌ Before starting to elaborate on your production, would you like to tell our readers something about your work process? In particular, what technical aspects do you mainly focus on in your work? And how much preparation and time do you put in before and during the process of creating a piece?

Her work thereby encompasses an interest in the human psyche from a philosophical, religious and mythological point-of-view; the exploration of the human body and its social codes in terms of ethnic, historical and art historical perspectives; and the body within the context of advancing scientific research and discoveries.

I always find myself being in a work process, no matter what I do. As an artist, you can never switch off. I'm always looking for a "story". Some ideas take time, some are quickly developed. That depends on how my muse is inspiring me...

Currently, her photographic compositions focus particularly on staging complex personal interactions.

Most of my artworks are montages. I construct the image and every detail is important and has its own special place.

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ART Habens

Oxana Jad

Now let's focus on your specific artworks: I would like to start with Foreign Ego, a recent and interesting series that our readers have already admired in the starting pages of this article: could you tell us something about the genesis of these pieces? What was your initial inspiration?

I'm very much interested in the topic of legendary personalities and their fate. I draw my inspiration from the stories connected with these extraordinary people.

How would you describe the message and the narrative behind this project — that is, the idea you would most like to convey or the story you are trying to tell?

Mark Twain once said „history doesn’t repeat itself but it rhymes“. We all experience very similar situations over and over again, have congruent feelings, are happy, suffer, hope, fail, love, hate... I intended to intermix and juxtapose the highs and lows of the fate of legendary personalities with ordinary people „next door“. This was the genesis of "Foreign Ego".

A series that impacted me particularly and on which I would like to spend some time is Identities: even though I'm aware that this might sound a bit naive, I have to say that in a certain sense it unsettles me a bit... it's an effective mix between anguish and thoughtlessness, maybe hidden happiness... I would go as far as to state that this photo, rather than simply descriptive, poses a question and forces us to meditate...

From the Identities series, 2011 Photography

I am fascinated by the theme of identity.

Identity has many facets and is an incredibly complex system that can neither be simply explained nor easily comprehended. What we cannot rationally explain often appears mystical and sometimes even threatening. I wanted to reflect this feeling in my pictures.

The interplay of the differences and similarities of the childrens’ faces evokes contradiction, conflict and the ambiguity of identity.

As a photographer, you are considered a master of the psychological portrait: in a certain sense, a part of your work could

From the Identities series, 2011 Photography

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Oxana Jad

ART Habens

From TTransition Tryptyc, Installation, 2013

From the Identities series, 2011 Photography

be defined as a reportage about human perception: so I would like to ask you if, in your opinion, personal experience is an absolutely indispensable step in the creative process... Do you think that the creative process can be disconnected from direct experience?€

If an actor himself has never personally experienced certain emotions, would he be able to authentically reproduce these feeling on stage or on a movie set? Like Stanislavski and his „Method Acting“ which has been the major influence in modern film acting, I believe that personal experiences are very helpful if you want to portray not merely the external but that which hides behind the facade. Having personally experienced certain situations definitely faciltates the creative process.

I would like to stop for a moment to consider the "function" of the landscape in your art: especially in Personal Myths it

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ART Habens

Oxana Jad

From the Foreign Ego series, 2011, Photography

April 2014

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ART Habens

doesn't seem to be just passive background... and I'm sort of convinced that some information and ideas are hidden, or even "encrypted" in the environment we live in, so we need, in a way, to decipher them. Maybe one of the roles of an artist could be to reveal unexpected sides of Nature, especially of our inner Nature... what's your opinion on this?€

Landscape is the language that I use to tell a story. A dense forest could represent opaque thoughts.

Heavy clouds are like a symbol of impending doom. Murky water could symbolize ambiguous intentions, a rising storm is like radical change.

Fog invokes doubt, conflict, a dream or a sign of mystery.

The wonderful thing is that the viewer can draw his own interpretations. In the style of 18th century French painting, art is open to interpretation and every viewer can create their own storyline.

During these years your works have been exhibited in many venues and moreover you have received several prestigious awards. How important is feedback for you and what impact does it have? Do you ever, during the creative process, reflect upon who will be your target audience?

Feedback is essential! Art is the language with which you express yourself. Of course you want to be understood!

But during the conceptual process, my primary focus is on the story I want to convey.

Thank you for your time and for sharing your thoughts with us, Oxana.

My last question deals with your future plans: what's next for you? Anything coming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of?

I'm currently working on a very exciting project. I do not want to reveal too much, yet I can give away that it deals with legends, passion, mysticism, fate and the often opaque role of serendipity.

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Olivia Punnett (United Kingdom)

There are two important elements in work of Yumiko Ono. The first element is symbolism. Ono has been using symbols in her work over 10 years. She has been producing work with symbols in various media such as paintings, prints, sculptures, animation films and installations. She takes a symbol as a visual result of all kinds of culture such as environment as well as the history.

In her work, she is using symbols as a condensed visual image of her thoughts and feelings. The second element is formality. Formality is one of the characteristics of Japanese tradition, for example tea ceremony, dance and Haiku poems. Ono started her artistic carrier as a painter and she produced work with images using different framings such as animation films, storyboard, tear-off style calendar and comics. Even after she shifted her media to installations, she still kept having forms in her work by using repetition of motifs such as dolls, stones, and jigsaw puzzles. Besides formality, more things are connected to her cultural background such as floor based installation and preference of miniatures. Ono’s aim is to reflect her origin in the field of contemporary arts by using Japanese traditional elements in euphemistical and poetic way. At the same time she focuses on the localized issue, she keeps exploring universality and universal expressions based on her research of symbols in the world.

Yumiko Ono

ART Habens

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April 2014

ART Habens

Yumiko Ono

From kรถrperkosmos, 2013 Installation

April 2014

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Olivia Punnett

An interview with Hello Oliva and welcome to ART Habens: to start this interview, would you like to tell us something about your background? I have read that you studied at the University of Falmouth & Derby : how have formal training and your recent residencies impacted on the way you produce your Art nowadays? By the way, do your studies in Psychology play a role in your art practice?

I had a real loss of confidence in my practice, and an uncertainty about what I was doing, so I didn't finish my degree at Falmouth. I then lived in another country, became a mum and didn't think about my practice for a few years. Inevitably I returned to art and decided to complete my degree at Derby, which was a great decision, as there was more of a focus on multi media, video and installation, as opposed to the more traditional teaching at Falmouth, (painting sculpture, and print).

My tutor Caroline Locke had great expertise in these areas and it gave me the confidence to work with projection, film and installation.

The right conditions and maturity have allowed my practice to flourish. My recent residency at Yorkshire art space has really deepened my practice by giving me the opportunity to develop, working within a sitespecific context, creating artistic interventions within Parsons Cross which are site responsive.

Psychology doesn't factor in my practice really, although it is a fascination, faith in myself does though, and that’s come more through extensive yoga training.

Olivia Punnett

Now let's focus on your works. I would start from Sugar Shadow, a site-specific installation that our readers can admire in these pages: what was your inspiration for this pieces? By the way, could you take our readers through your creative process when starting a new project?

My creative process begins by arranging found and made materials and objects, Inspired specifically by that site; pooling archive images and films, and then really studying the light. It is an exceptionally important catalyst for me, so I record dust motes in a stream of light, or the trajectory of light flowing through windows; Because when you really know a place, you intimately read the light and its atmospheric changes without being conscious of it.

Before elaborating on your art production, would you tell us about your process and set up for making your artworks? In particular, on what technical aspects do you mainly focus in your work?

My first priority is Place, so thoroughly researching and being in that place is where I start. I then cross-reference archive and fictional film made on the sites I'm working in, and edit together to project back; I also research traditional materials that are historically manufactured or found in that area and then start to play with them.

I lived in the Caribbean, in Barbados, (its where my husband the painter Dermot Punnett grew up).

Sugar Shadow is inspired by this and the shock of how current and alive post colonialism is.

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ART Habens

Olivia Punnett

The printmaking is where a more traditional form of technicality is used.

As well as all of this, I do sometimes make work that responds to my own internal and subconscious experience of place, and my formative experience of materials, from childhood mostly. This will normally come from a certain material such as Lino or a patterned glass for instance.

Now let's focus on your works. I would start from Sugar Shadow, a site-specific installation that our readers can admire in these pages: what was your inspiration for this pieces? By the way, could you take our readers through your creative process when starting a new project?

My creative process begins by arranging found and made materials and objects, Inspired specifically by that site; pooling archive images and films, and then really studying the light. It is an exceptionally important catalyst for me, so I record dust motes in a stream of light, or the trajectory of light flowing through windows; Because when you really know a place, you intimately read the light and its atmospheric changes without being conscious of it.

I lived in the Caribbean, in Barbados, (its where my husband the painter Dermot Punnett grew up). Sugar Shadow is inspired by this and the shock of how current and alive post colonialism is.

Coloniaisation happened in the past, but the trace its left is a constant.

The windmills stand derelict around the island and are visual reminders of the sugar trade and slavery. The mills where used to crush the cane.

These monuments are not celebrated or claimed as part of the Islands Identity. They are a shadow in themselves.

A still from The Day of Departure, video, 2013

The Sugar Industry is also dwindling, only one factory is now working and when I was last there, was due to close. Bugass is the waste product from the crushed cane, it lies in heaps in the yards of sugar factories and is sometimes used as fertiliser. It is a waste product of the sugar Industry and that is why I wanted to use it as the material for the 'shadow'.

I also wanted to use it because it is a light/ cream colour and would give a positive rather than negative shadow.

A still from The Day of Departure, video, 2013 23

Olivia Punnett

ART Habens

Another work on which I would like to spend some words is Dust and Lights, that I have personally found very stimulating: it reminds me the painstaking accuracy that I have discovered when I saw my first mandala sand exhibitions... also in your piece, the concept of time plays a crucial role, but unlike a mandala sand, it seems that the ephemeral lasts for an infinite time...

Dust and Light came from my own house. We had to remove a fire place and I knew a lot about the fire place. An elderly lady called Joy had told me she could remember it lit, boiling water in the room when her brother was born, and they all lived there. I was really torn about taking it out, but it was the only choice really. In the evening when I had finally made the decision something in the chimney broke and soot and dust poured down the chimney and out of the fire place.

From TTransition Tryptyc, Installation, 2013

Dust Rug was a commemoration and an honouring of the fire place and those memories, using the very soot that came down it. I back projected the fireplace and film of the dust motes moving, and lay the rug in front of it in a purpose made installation.

The idea of the past in the present, and in location especially, evoking authentic memory; This work, its attempting to bridge a gap, and cast off a linear view of time. Lucy Lippard has a quote in 'The Lure of the Local' (a key text for me) "“Around here", where we live, is a circular notion, embracing and radiating from the specific place where generalisations about land, landscape, and nature come home to roost. “out there” is a line of site, the view, a metaphor for linear time. The relationship of the centre to the peripheries is crucial, a crossroads, but the centre doesn’t hold forever, and neither do the margins.

Home changes. Illusions change. People change."

My next work for Wirksworth Festival will be similar to this and draws on these ideas. it has also reminded me of Rangoli and Mandala sand, but in a way that is integral to Wirksworth inherent Identity.

Very often your artworks have been created with found objects: not to mention that nowadays this is a very common practice. I often wondered about the personal contribution of the artist, in such case... it goes without saying that also white canvas, acryls tube and pencil, they are all material that already exists... roaming and scavenging through "found" material to might happen to 21

ART Habens

Olivia Punnett

From TTransition Tryptyc, Installation, 2013

April 2014

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Olivia Punnett

ART Habens

discover unexpected sides of the world, maybe of our inner world... what's you point about this?

Completely, this goes back to our formative experience of materials. As Bachelard says "At the level of the poetic image, the duality of subject and object is iridescent, shimmering, unceasingly active in its inversions."

Senses of place, memories, real or fictional drive me, and my formative experience of materials is what I use to communicate with and work from.

And I cannot do without mentioning a work of yours that have particularly impressed me: Light Patch. I would suggest to our readers to dwell upon this piece, after reading your artist statement: I wouldn't call it a photographic piece, but a frame: it reflects the dialectic between place and change, and at the same time it suggests the inexorable nature of time...

Thank you, yes a light patch is timeless, bridging human experience. I heard a phrase or saying once 'the veil is very thin' I think this means between our ancestors and us, and somehow light patches speak of that to me, at the same time as being transient.

Many of your artworks are interventions that deeply involve the viewer into the artwork itself... what do you try to communicate through your work and what role plays your audience in your process? When you conceive a piece do you think to whom will enjoy it?

This is something that my residency at Yorkshire Artspace in Sheffield has made me consider much more deeply. Its an inescapable part of engaged practice, but Its the bit which can never fully engage at the same time. I am still struggling with it.

Thank you for sharing with us your thoughts, Olivia: my last question deals with your future plans...

I have 2 commissions in September. One is the sitespecific Installation on Greenhill during the Wirksworth Festival I mentioned, called 'Light Lapse' which will track the light trajectory across the hill in chalk, highlighting by marking out its shadows & reflections, providing a view of Greenhill at its most dramatic. This will cover the whole road up the hill.

Net curtains will be used to reflect the character of the area, every house having had them.

url http://www.wirksworthfestival.co.uk/

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