ARTiculAction Art Review - May 2014 special issue by ARTiculAction Art Review

April 2014 May 2014

Special Issue

MATTHEW LANCIT EVELIN STERMITZ BENJAMIN POYNTER JOANA FISCHER LIENE STRAUPE NINIA SVERDRUP KIREILYN BARBER MATTHEW PELL Matthew Pell (United Kingdom

SUMMARY

ARTiculA Action ART Feel free to submit your artworks: just write to articulaction@post.com M

http://articulaction.yolasite.com/submit.php https://www.facebook.com/articulaction.artreview

IN THIS ISSUE

Matthew Pell

(United Kingdom)

4 Matthew Pellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Video Art explores human identity in urban architectural environments. His practice is concerned with figurative movement, light and the manipulation of time and sound.

Joana Fischer

(Germany)

"The imagery of my collage-like drawings reveals intertwined, evocative dream landscapes and questions environmental and existential topics. Delicate fragments are taken out of context and assembled together in something new."

Ninia Sverdrup

(Sweden/Germany)

Regardless medium Sverdrup's work always deals with the concept of time. She has worked with a series of issues of time and its relationship to other concepts, such as rationality.

Benjamin Poynter

(USA)

Benjamin's work in recent years has revolved around time and labor intensive game projects . Although the theoretical basis of his works varies from project to project, at the undertone of each is a need to blur the binary between fantasy and reality.

Evelin Stermitz

(Austria/USA)

Evelin Stermitz, M.A., M.Phil., studied Media and New Media Art at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, and holds the degree in Philosophy from Media Studies. Her works in the field of media and new media art focus on post-structuralist feminist art practices.

SUMMARY

(Canada/France)

Matthew Lancit

Matthew Lancit is an award winning Canadian filmmaker. Aside from making film and video art, he has published heavily personalized essays on a wide range of subjects. Lancit is currently at work on his second feature length documentary and fathering his baby daughter in Paris, France.

(Latvia)

Liene Straupe

I don’t need people to understand my art, I’m happy if they enjoy it and if my art can help people to understand themselves. I make my photos and other works because it is an interesting exploration process, results vary from time to time, but the process is for myself.

(USA)

Kireilyn Barber

Kireilyn Barber uses everyday experience and common or mundane subjects from everyday life to work in series or around a system, which can be subject or time-based.

(Montenegro)

Milena Joviceviv

“My work is inspired by everyday- life situations and paradoxes of contemporary society and world we live, that strange place saturated with the media, with an exaggerated production and exaggerated consumption.”

(USA)

Jana Charl

“My longest enduring fascination is to capture the human form and psyche utilizing multiple media. Often my interpretation of the female form is anatomically exaggerated, emphasizing the curves that distinguish women as well as define feminine beauty and fertility.”

(Turkey)

“ My artwork is based on personal history, on relationships and memory (dreams, space, geography, land). It is broadly related to memory, dreams, space and connotations. These topics are drawn from daily life as much as from unconscious thoughts. Essentially, I’m attempting to create images according to my own psychological needs. “

Çiğdem Menteşoğlu

ARTiculAction

#196 Winter 1

Matthew Pell (United Kingdom)

Matthew Pellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Video Art explores human identity in urban architectural environments. His practice is concerned with figurative movement, light and the manipulation of time and sound. Pell's films employ looped, reversed, speeded or slowed footage, abstracted compositions, multiple frames and affected audio to stimulate a visceral response from the viewer.

A still from Sparks 4

Matthew Pell

ARTiculAction

An interview with

Matthew Pell Hello Matthew, and welcome to ARTiculAction. I would start this interview with my usual ice breaker question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art? Moreover, what could be the features that mark an artwork as a piece of Contemporary Art?

Hello, For me, a work of art is a personal creative artifact that stimulates, communicates, provokes, questions and engages the viewer. It is something that captures and expresses a feeling, or thought, or a view of the world, or life, that I had not previously considered or only subconsciously. One of the exciting aspects of Contemporary Art is that it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have to adhere to traditional conventions. It can appropriate, combine or reject those conventions. Would an interview you like to tell with us something about your background? You hold MA in Cinema Studies that you have received in 1997 from Nottingham Trent University How has this experience impacted on the way you currently produce your films? By the way, I sometimes I wonder if a certain kind of formal training could even stifle a young artist's creativity... what's your point?

Matthew Pell (photo by Mark Smith)

My background, in an art education context, is that I studied art (drawing and painting, then photography and then film. I have found it to be a natural progression: to develop from still images to film. I do, on occasion take still images, sometimes as part of research for a film or as individual works. My website includes collections of my still images. I am certain that the exploration of light in my films stems from my art background.

Dusk. In both those films the narrative is implied and not overt. I do believe that some formal education is advantageous, if that training is in an environment that encourages experimentation, discussion and appreciation. I suppose I am of the opinion that you learn the rules to then break the rules.

I chose to study Cinema for both personal and professional reasons. One area (narrative) that I studied has impacted on my films. That is evident in the structural forms of my films Underpass and

Before starting to elaborate about your production, would you like to tell to our readers something about your process and set up for 6

Matthew Pell

A still from Solar

and the ideas had to be presented and agreed. Then, prior to shooting, I had to research a variety of locations and that involved travelling to a number of different sites. Technical aspects can also vary in my work. Sometimes happy accidents, in other words conventional mistakes or experimentation occur which alter the aesthetics of the film. For example my film Luminous, during preparation, I knew that I would be applying a certain technique during shooting but I wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t sure of the effect that it would create. Other technical aspects may occur during the editing stage. My film Solar https://vimeo.com/64808985 is an example of this.

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?

Preparation time varies depending on the film. For example, Sparks 4 was the fourth in a series of films so preparation time was relatively fast as I was familiar with the subject and the set-up. However for my film Formotion the preparation was considerably longer as it was a commission

A still from Luminous 7

ARTiculAction

Matthew Pell

A still from Sparks 4

The film will evolve during all stages of its creation. I will approach shooting and editing with a certain idea, however this idea, even technique may be altered. I will experiment with application, structures, shot lengths and speeds. It is difficult to state an average time frame for the production of a work, as each film is different.

manipulation and abstraction of time, view, movement, scale & sound on an object that emanates light. Through the recontextualization of these phenomena, the fundamental elements of the object may be observed in a way impossible through natural circumstances. The other films in the series may provide the viewer with insights in to my working practice and thought processes during the creation of the work. The previous films in the series can be viewed on my vimeo page.https://vimeo.com/matthewpell/videos Sparks 3 and 4 were also a response to the sudden death of a close family member. The structure of the film with the sudden burst of light contrasting with the slow burn until the sparks finally fade and die gave the work, for me, a metaphysical connotation. In fact, Sparks 3, has been described by one viewer as capturing, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;a slow deathâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. #196 Winter

Now let's focus on your art production: I would start from Sparks 4, 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 http://www.matthewpell.co.uk/videos/ in order to get a wider idea of it. In the meanwhile, would you tell us something about the genesis of this stilmulating work?

As I mentioned earlier Sparks 4 was the fourth in a series of films. The original idea was to explore the 8

Matthew Pell

ARTiculAction

From the How to disappear completely series: POEM #90

A still from Underpass

I think it's important to remark that multidisciplinarity is a crucial aspect of your Art, and music plays a relevant role in your art practice... 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?

my films.I have on occasion produced both silent and sound versions of my films (for example Luminous and Solar. Personally, and I understand that others may disagree, but I prefer the sound versions. The audio enhances the experience for the viewer. The emotional impact and concept of Underpass would not be achieved or fully communicated without the sound.

Absolutely, soundscapes and music are an integral element of my work and there is a clear synergy between sound and image, which I believe is crucial in the creation and message of several of

As our reader can recognize in Underpass, your works often explore human identity in urban ar9

ARTiculAction

Matthew Pell

A still from Dusk

architectural environments... I'm sort of convinced that some informations & ideas are hidden, or even "encrypted" in the environment we live in, so we need -in a way- to decipher them. Maybe that one of the roles of an artist could an interview with sides of Nature, be to reveal unexpected especially of our inner Nature... what's your point about this?

The figure in Underpass was initially inspired by the legend of a cryprid called the Mothman who, witnesses claim, was a large moth like man that appeared in West Virginia, USA during the 1960s. However, during the editing stage the work developed in to a study of urban alienation, the fear of the unknown & physical movement. The motivation for the film was to create a piece that stimulated a certain emotional response in the viewer.

A still from Dusk is an absolutely indespensable part of a creative process... Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience?

Dusk is a film, which utilizes several of the themes and approaches that we have discussed: technical aspects, a covert narrative, multiple readings, a visceral response and the combination of sound and image. For me personally I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have direct experience of what happens in Dusk.

Another interesting work of yours that has particularly impressed me and on which I would like to spend some words ia entitled Dusk: they are provoking pieces that effectively establishes a deep interaction with the viewer, involving her/him both on an intellectual aspect and on -I daresay- a physical one... so I would like to ask you if in your opinion personal experience

The film, as Underpass does, explores the fear of the unknown and the intension is to cerate an 10

Matthew Pell

A still from Bridge

reveals a symbiosis between apparently different approaches to art... and I can't help without mentioning 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 two artists?

I would agree with Tabor. As I have mentioned earlier, without the soundscapes in some of my films they would not be nearly as effective. Music has always been an integral part of my life. Apart from having been a member of various bands myself since the late 1980s one of my first commissions was in 2000 for a band called dizzy valise. They asked me to create films for their live performances. That was my first collaboration with musicians and it was a very satisfying experience. In fact several of my thematic concerns and technical approaches originated during the making of those films. Another commission was to produce visuals for a band called the buoys. Both times I created films to already existing music. I have always found collaboration stimulating and rewarding, whether it is with a musician, an actor or a chorographer. Underpass has additional sound created by Kevin Ford and I have worked closely with the musician Sebastian Buccheri on three of my films: Luminous and Solar respectively. A still fromDusk, Bridge Sebastian has told me that he enjoys our collabora-

emotional response from the viewer. There are similarities: both films have a faceless antagonist and include sudden distorted sounds. I certainly believe that to fully appreciate Underpass and Dusk some personal experience or inner feeling may aid the viewerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s emotional response to those films. One of the most recent projects of yours is an electro band called Monitor with long time friend and collaborator musician Kevin Ford... I personally find absolutely fascinating the collaborations that artists can established together as you did, especially because this often 11

A still from Bridge

ARTiculAction

Matthew Pell

tions because, I ‘push him’ and I believe that he pushes me too. For certain films, Sparks 4 and Escense I am content to work on the sound independently. However, that is not to say that I work in isolation. I have a group of close friends who are supportive and willing to discuss my work with me. During these years your works have been screened in several occasions ... moreover, you were awarded a HND in Communications (Audio Visual) from Dewsbury College. 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 positive feedback or 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...

Feedback from the viewer or audience is important to me. I have always seen my work as two-way communication process, between the viewer and myself. I make my films to be seen and I want them to be viewed by as many people as possible. Therefore, I have a presence on the Internet and I submit work to festivals and screenings. As I wish to strengthen my profile with more collaborations and commissions, showing at festivals is not only an opportunity for me to do that but also to see my work and others in the context of a gallery or public space. Sparks 3 was projected on to the exterior of a church at the Lightworks Festival in 2012. By screening the film on such a building not only did it reinforce the theme of scale but also offered another possible reading. That’s a reason enough to submit to festivals.

A still from Escence (2013)

Producing work for commissions has been both creatively and financially rewarding. I believe awards are useful to raise awareness of a particular form of art or those nominated artists. I produce my self-initiated films firstly for me as a form of selfexpression and if other people appreciate them and want to purchase, comment or screen them then I am more than grateful.

Over the last fourteen years I have been pleased to see that video art or experimental film has become more established, recognized and respected with a growing number of festivals and events worldwide. I would like to think that art and business can have a genuine relationship, but for that to happen then maybe knowledge of both is advantageous.

#196 Winter 14

Matthew Pell

Thanks a lot for your time and your thoughts, Matthew. 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?

ARTiculAction

Bridge 103a comments upon the relationship between urban topography and the natural landscape. Escence expands upon my exploration of man-made objects that emanate light. I aim to continue working with my present collaborators; Kevin is producing a soundtrack to my film Formotions. I would be more than happy to develop other partnership and gain new commissions. Thank you and all the best.

I have just completed two new self-initiated films Bridge 103a and Escence and they are currently being submitted for festivals and screenings. 15

ARTiculAction

Joana Fischer (Germany) An artist’s statement

Joana Fischer (Bruessow) was born in Ahlen, Germany in 1985. In 2010 she received her Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts at the Academy of Fine Arts in Muenster, Germany. She studied under prof. Irene Hohenbuechler and prof. Sushan Kinoshita. In 2008/09 she earned an Erasmus and DFJW scholarship at the Ecole superieure d’art d’Aix en Provence, France. Joana's work is in private collections in Germany and the United States. She had public exhibitions in galleries and fairs in Miami, Florida, in Germany and had recent museum appearances in Florida. Currently, she is a resident artist at the Bakehouse Art Complex, Miami, Florida. „The imagery of my collage-like drawings reveals intertwined, evocative dream landscapes and questions environmental and existential topics. Delicate fragments are taken out of context and assembled together in something new: Urbanism and nature, inside and outside, specific locations and open areas, near and far, silence and commotion, superposition and exposure, resolution and desire, ease and selfabsorption.

#196 Winter

Joana Fischer

Zerfall und Expansion - Decay and Expansion, 2014, ink and acrylic on drafting film, LED backlight, 42 x 75 inches Coral Gables Museum 2

ARTiculAction

Joana Fischer

An interview with

Joana Fischer Hello Joana, and welcome to ARTiculAction. I would start this interview with my usual introductory question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art? By the way, what could be the features that mark an artworks as a piece of Contemporary Art? Do you think that there's a dichotomy between tradition and contemporariness?

A work of Art can be anything an artist declares to be Art. Today there are no limitations. Features of contemporary art include: New media, referral to current sociological or political topics, reinvention and change of traditional art. Contemporary art questions our time. Yes, I think that there are huge differences between traditional art and contemporary art. Contemporary an interview with artists often work with multiple media, experiment with media, work project based, conceptual, create installations; not simply working in traditional two dimensional or sculptural formats.

Joana Fischer

Would you like to tell us something about your background? You hold a Bachelor of Arts that you have received from the Academy of Fine Arts in Muenster: how has this experience impacted on the way you currently produce your artworks? By the way, I would ask your point about formal training: I sometimes wonder if a certain kind of training could even stifle a young artist's creativity...

myself could chose what exactly I wanted to learn and to focus on. My teachers prof. Sushan Kinoshita and prof. Irene Hohenbuechler inspired me with their own practice and gave helpful criticism about my artwork. It was a time where I learned that it is up to me to make something happen, up to my imagination and my ideas. Sure, a teacher always has his own background and way of thinking and I did experience that students get pushed, inspired and influenced into the teachers way of thinking. Now, being out of school, I have the freedom to focus completely on my art. I no longer have university related tasks to fulfill and also I don't have to defend my work in front of teachers.

My Bachelor of Arts from the Academy of Fine Arts in Muenster brought me a great foundation for my art practice. During my studies I learned to find out what I am interested in working in, work on my own art projects, to reflect my pieces, to discuss them with my fellow students and my teachers. I got the chance to experiment and try as much as I liked. It was a very free and open environment, where I,

Joana Fischer Once, the piece is dry, I hang it up, observe it and add fragmental fountain pen drawings. Currently, I am working on a series of installative, backlit artworks on drafting film. Usually, I use two layers of drafting film on top of each other to give the pieces more depth. The artworks are floating from the ceiling on fishing wire with a distance of several inches to the wall. On the wall there is an LED tape light installed, to slightly backlight the piece. The LED tape light, in the way it is set up, follows the reading of the drawing. Now let's focus on your art production: I would start from Untitled and Decay and Expansion,

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?

My artworks are drawings in ink and acrylic. Generally, I pour paint on a large sheet of paper or film and squeeze the paint away. Afterwards, I let it dry and the colors create fabulous stains. It a very spontaneous, intuitive action and lengthy drying process.

Zerfall und Expansion - decay and expansion, 2014, ink and acrlyic on drafting film, LED backlight, 42 x 75

ARTiculAction

Joana Fischer

a recent pieces that we have already started to admire in the introductory pages of this article: and I would suggest to our readers to visit your website directly at http://www.joanafischer.com/works/2014/ in order to get a wider idea of your recent production. In the meanwhile, would you tell us something about the genesis of these pieces? What was your initial inspiration?

Currently, I am working on a series of artworks that focus on the conflict between urbanism and nature. Coming from a small town in Germany and now living in Miami, I often search for a place to escape civilization which in Miami is hard to find. Almost everything is manufactured and it almost impossible to be around nobody. The drawn elements refer to my own memories of places I have been to and that I feel a connection to. The pieces Untitled and Decay and Expansion also refer to the dichotomy of society in Miami. On the one side there is currently a huge building boom in wealthy parts of the city and on the other side a few blocks west, houses decay and fall apart. I noticed that many of your recent pieces as Traumwandeln - dreamwalking often reveals such an inner struggle and a silent but intense involvement... I would like to ask you if in your opinion personal experience is an absolutely indespensable part of a creative process... Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience?

That is a correct observation. For my works of art,

untitled, 2014, ink and acrylic on drafting and reflective

my personal experience is definitely an indispensable part of my creative process and a lot of my works treat self related topics.

Traumwandeln-dreamwalking, 2013 ink-on-plexiglass-42x75-inches

Jennifer Sims 20

Joana Fischer

ARTiculAction

Aussicht - view, 2013, ink on drafting film, 42 x 75 inches, LED-backlight

Could a creative process be disconnected from direct experience? Sure everything is possible, although I can't find an example of artists who works that way. Since art is made by an artist and not made by a machine, there is always some personal influence. One of the features that has mostly impacted on me of your works as Aussicht, is the way you have been effectively capable of re-contextualizing the idea of environment an the mutual feedbacks that are established with "human experience"... and as you have remarked in your artist's state-

film, 36 x 36 inches

To some extend the artworks are a reflection of myself. I think an artist often reflects his time and gets inspired by his personal experiences. 21

Joana Fischer

ARTiculAction

Aussicht - view, 2013, ink on drafting film, LED backlight, 42 x 75 inches

ment, your work reveals intertwined, evocative dream landscapes and questions environmental and existential topics... so I would like to stop for a moment to consider the "function" of the landscape suggested by your work: most of the times it doesn't seem to be just a passive background... and I'm sort of convinced that some informations & ideas are hidden, or even "encrypted" in the environment we live in, so we need -in a way- to decipher them. Maybe that one of the roles of an artist could be to reveal unexpected sides of Nature, especially of our inner Nature... what's your point about this?

with one message or meaning. That's why some of my pieces are untitled to leave them open for the spectator. The passive background of my works connotes new, free, open forms which can refer to nature and also inner nature. While admiring your recent piece entitled Synthese I have been struck with the way you have been capable of merging delicate and thoughtful tone of colors with nuances of yellow which turns from a delicate tone to an intense, almost flooding one, which turns to saturate the canvas as in Untitled, a wonderful piece that I have to admit it's one of my favourite work of yours... By the way, any comments on your choice of "palette" and how it has changed over time?

Yes, an artist let's the viewer dive into a new visual experience. Every viewer will decipher my pieces differently. And I don't produce them only

Working mainly with ink colors, the colors are very 22

Joana Fischer

ARTiculAction

Synthese-synthesis, 2014, ink and acrylic on drafting film, led backlight, 31,5 x 55 inches

intense and strong. In many pieces I don't use white. By working with thin layers of liquified ink, the colors often overlap and build very intense, deep parts and sometimes stand free and are light and delicate. There is always a certain flow and reading line in my piece which I create with my color arrangements. It is also important to me to leave some remaining white parts on my artworks that are free, open spaces. I think it's important to remark that although you are basically a painter, you often shift between media: you have also produced interesting installation as Entdeckung Discovery that has particularly impressed me: while crossing the borders of different artistic fields have you ever happened to realize that a synergy between different di-

Genuss - enjoyment, 2013 ink on drafting film, LED backlight, 42 x 75 inches

Entdeckung - discovery, 2013, ink on paper, leporello fold, dimensions variable

Joana Fischer

ARTiculAction

Entdeckung - discovery, 2013, ink on paper, leporello fold, dimensions variable

are capable of supporting an artist: I was just wondering if an award -or just the expectation of positive feedbackcould even influence the process of an artist...

sciplines is the only way to achieve some results, to express some concepts? My work Entdeckung - discovery are small ink drawings that are connected with each other through the entire foldable leporello booklet. In order to show the entire piece in once I let the piece float on fishing wire from the ceiling. The up and down of the hanging work reflects the up and down of discoveries.

The recognition of my artworks is important to me. It is very motivative to become part of museum shows, gallery exhibitions or to become a featured artists. This certainly encourages me and is motivation factor. Although it is important not to become to focussed on the viewers reception of my work.

Often I find it more interesting to work in different disciplines that correlate with each other rather then working only in the 2D format.

I need to have my own vision, pursue my own goals, work on my projects and development to achieve. Otherwise the works will fade and loose their uniqueness.

Your artworks have been exhibited in many occasions, both in Germany and in the USA and moreover you have been recently awarded from artlist.com as artist of the month contest Grand Prize... it goes without saying that feedbacks and especially awards

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 26

Joana Fischer

ARTiculAction

Genuss - enjoyment, 2013, ink drafting film, LED backlight, 42 x 75 inches, Naples Museum

your pieces? I sometimes wonder if it could ever exist a genuine relationship between business and Art...

up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of?

Yes, I will take part in NordArt 2014, a fantastic group show, curated by Wolfgang Gramm in Germany. NordArt is one of the largest exhibitions of contemporary art in Europe which takes place annually during the summer months. Three of my large backlit artworks will be on display there.

I am not producing art for a specific viewer to like it or simply to buy it. Art is the medium to express myself. I feel this inner need in myself of doing art regardless of financial implications. An outstanding body of work, exhibitions and a fundamental network may also let an artist achieve monetarily, but this should never be the driving force.

And I will be featured in the summer issue of Hagoromo magazine, a swiss art almanac, which will publish it's first edition in the USA this summer.

Thanks a lot for your time and your thoughts, Joana. My last question deals with your future plans: what's next for you? Anything coming

An interview by articulaction@post.com

ARTiculAction

Ninia Sverdrup (Sweden/Germany) An artist’s statement

Ninia Sverdrup creates work on paper, video, installations and direct in the urban space. At the moment she is working on a short film. Regardless medium her work always deals with the concept of time. She has worked with a series of issues of time and its relationship to other concepts, such as rationality. Sometimes the artist begins with how “time” works, and its significance in everyday life, as in the expression “to have time for”. One of Sverdrup’s early pieces was Min att göra-lista (My To-Do List), in which she spent an entire day at the post office—from nine in the morning until six in the evening— just to buy three stamps. Sverdrup often makes reference to the Japanese concept of ma, the valuable emptiness in a non-rational way of perceiving time and space. Here time is part of our experience of space, emphasizing the experience of “time” (actually the entire situation) rather than its seconds, minutes, and hours. Sverdrup has participated in noumerous exhibitions and video art festivals worldwide with recent solo shows at AC Insitute (NYC); Art Lab (Berlin, Germany); Kungsbacka Konsthall (Sweden), Kalmar Konstmuseum (Sweden), Infernoesque (Berlin, Germany) and video art festivals VAFA (Macau, China), Intercept 3:7 (Las Vegas), Travers Video Festival (Toulouse, France), Cologne OFF (Beirut, Lebanon), Espace im Média (Sherbrooke, Canada), IVAHM (Madrid, Spain), Festiavl Miden (Kalamata, Greece), AIVA (Ängelholm; Sweden), 5th nama TRE.ba biennial (Trebinje, Bosnia &Herzgovina) and others. Ninia Sverdrup (b.1971, Sweden) gratuated (master) from Umeå Art Academy, Sweden 2004. During her studies she was an apprentice by Vito Acconci in NYC for 3 months. She also has a BA in political science, economics and philosophy. Since 2004 she is based in Berlin.

#196 Winter

Ninia Sverdrup

Still from ongoing short film "Who Countest the Step of the Sun" (Ninia Sverdrup as main charachter) 2

ARTiculAction

Ninia Sverdrup

An interview with

Ninia Sverdrup Hello Ninia, and welcome to ARTiculAction. I would start this interview with my usual ice breaker question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art? By the way, what could be in your opinion the features that mark an artwork as a piece of Contemporary Art?

To me a good work of art is something that opens up the mind of the viewer. In succeeding doing that I think the process of doing the work has to bring you as an artist to new territories, to a place you didnÂ´t know before. If you succeed in doing that I think it automatically becomes an interesting work of art. By the way, do you think that there's a dichotomy between tradition and contemporariness?

an interview Without knowing verywith much about tradition, I would say the same goes for that. But tradition has another goal. The tradition wants to master something. (if you with tradition mean tradition in handcraft). To do it even better. But of course you can use a tradition but open it up; stretch the tradition and go into new territories. Then the tradition will turn into contemporary art. It is depending on the attitude or will of the artist.

Ninia Sverdrup

why does it look like it does around the world; why do we destroy so much around us? Going from politics (after my BA in political science, economics and philosophy, I worked at SIDA, the Swedish governmental organization for helping developing countries) I realized the question starts deeper than that: I think a lot of it has to do with how we perceive time. We (in western society) live our lives against the time, instead of with it.

Would you like to tell us something about your background? You hold a MA of Fine Arts, that you have received from the UmeĂĽ Academy of Art: you previously studied Art History and moreover you hold a BA in Political Science, Economics and Philosophy... How have these experiences impacted on the way you currently produce your artworks? By the way, sometimes I wonder if a certain kind of formal training could even stifle a young artist's creativity... what's your point?

For me to start an art school was like open up a new world. Suddenly the professor was interested in knowing what I thought about things. At the university we were supposed to learn just from books. In the art academy we were supposed to explore in our own way.

Yes I made a big circle before finding my place. But I still have the same interest in the BIG question: 30

Ninia Sverdrup 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?

My work has for long dealt with the same issue; what is time, how do we relate to it and what impact does it have on us. I know, it is a huge question, but I nearly always know where I am and what for the moment I am looking for. Each art work brings me further in this search/investigation. I always start a new work from the last one. What did I find in that work; how can I bring it further? During the process I have to surprise myself, otherwise I loose interest in the work. ThatÂ´s also the only way to bring myself further, I believe. Between making the works I also read a lot. I get to know more from reading, but to really understand, and to do your own investigation, you have to make your own experiences. That I do through my art. I have for long time been working with video. Befo-

Of course I learnt a lot also from my university studies, but what I learnt in the art academy, to think by my own, that is a much more important knowledge, or skill, for me. I think it is good to be aware of as much as possible. When you then start your creative process, you have to blank yourself, or to put your awareness in your back head, or to cut of your brain and work from your intuition. That is also a skill you have to train. To study at the university, it is not only to get the knowledge, it is also to get to know that category of people. I am very happy to have friends who are doctors, lawyers, scientists, politicians, bankers etc. You have less prejudieces about other people, when you understand how they think.

Still from Urban Scene VII: hall porter 31

ARTiculAction

Ninia Sverdrup

an interview with Still from Urban Scene XIV: corner store

re that I did more action/performance â&#x20AC;&#x201C;like works, and started to videotape them, and became interested in video as medium. Now I am slowly coming back again to using the public space directly, also in time, as a platform for my work.

websitehttp://niniasverdrup.com/video/urbanscene/ In the meanwhile, would you tell us something about the genesis of this project? What was your initial inspiration?

Urban Scene is a series video loops that I worked with for 10 years. All loops are made with a fixed camera that captures everyday events in an urban space that in itself has the character of a movie set. None of the action is planned. These entirely commonplace images I carefully rework but most effort focuses on composing the sounds in the scenes.

How much time I put into a work? It is difficult to say. I often have a couple of ideas going on parallel. Some need time, just to find a form; others are ready to be worked with directly. But I need a lot of time. I am extremely slow. I think that is ok. Everything else in the society tries to be as quick and sufficient as possible. We loose something very essential by always hurrying trough everything we do. I like the idea of being as irrational as possible.

The soundtrack is always entirely constructed afterward. The rhythm in sound as in image is very important for me.

Now let's focus on your art production: I would start from Urban Scenes, an extremely interesting series that can be viewed directly at your 32

Ninia Sverdrup

Last Station, from Urban Scene

Still from Urban Scene XIII: entrance

The staring point of this series was an essayistic video (“Time in New York”) that I made during a three months stay in New York having an apprenticeship by Vito Acconci. The video is about memory and how you anchor yourself to a new place. In the video, among other things I had a scene of a red shoe in a tube carriage, for 2.12 min, the time itself between two stations. Nothing happened, just this red shoe bouncing up and down for the 2 minutes. That was the starting point for my first urban scene. The New York video was also talking a lot about time. In my next work I wanted to show time instead of talking about it or representing it.

had something to do with how I perceive time, rationality and sufficiency. I switched the sufficiency around and tried to be as irrational as possible. From that I also came across duration of time. That duration I wanted to look really deep into.

The very initial genesis for the Urban Scenes was the question “why do I hate to go shopping and to do errands”. From that question I did the work “My to do-list” (see introduction). I also understood it

Still from Urban Scene XII: petrol station

ARTiculAction

Ninia Sverdrup

Still from ongoing short film

that specific medium instead of a concept. It is the same kind of creative process.

I think it's important to remark that you shift between media as often as possible: your art practice ranges from Video to drawing as the interesting Mirrored Place and Urban Rorschach series, from short films to conceptual art as MY TO DO-LIST, one of your earlier pieces that has particularly impressed me and that our readers can view directly at http://niniasverdrup.com/to-dolist-text/: 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 you have remarked in your artist's statement, your works always deals with the concept of time and I can notice that they are strictly connected to the chance of establishing a deep interaction with your audience: both on an intellectual aspect and -I daresay- on a physical one, as in Ouroboros... so I would like to ask you if in your opinion personal experience is an absolutely indispensable part of a creative process: do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience?

When you are interested in a certain concept, it is your freedom to use all the means and skills you have to attack this concept. That is where you become creative. For somebody using just one medium, I think that person explores more often

For me it is important to start from myself. My fantasy is not developed enough to be able to go deep enough into imagined situations. But starting from myself, it is then important to open it up so 34

Ninia Sverdrup

Still from video in installation "Ouroboros"

that the audience can find an entrance into the work.

role in socio political 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?

For me is also the process very important. I start somewhere, but during personal experiences it might, hopefully, take another direction than I thought it should, and take me on a trip where I never been before. I have to be surprised. That one canÂ´t do by thinking, only by own experience.

That is at least what we artists hope in, to steer peopleÂ´s behaviour. Myself taking very macro perspectives, I am more and more believing in the grass rote perspective.

Many times I have an idea and think I know how that would be when I practice it. But when I start trying it out, I always find other things on the road. These things are often the most interesting things, with which I can continue working. And the initial idea is just to be thrown away.

I think art can influence what will come on the socio political agenda by moving the public opinion. I also think from just having a healthy attitude to life you influence your surrounding. It might not sound very prodigiously, but good enough. Better to influence one and there will be a ripple effect, if the idea is good. I also believe more in the slow process.

By the way, although I'm aware that this might sound a bit naif, I have to admit that I'm sort of convinced that Art could play an effective 35

ARTiculAction

Ninia Sverdrup

an interview with

"Urban Rorschack, terrace". Drawing (pencil and acrylic) 50x70 cm

"Urban Rorschack, station". 50x70 cm

"Urban Rorschack, bathroom. 70x100 cm.

Ninia Sverdrup

Still from documentation "Cleaning Act" in the workshop "Methods to re-evaluate everyday actions"

Anyway, first of all you have to start with yourself: am I really such a good person who knows better and do I behave in line with my ideas?

what's your point about this? Can you explain how your work demonstrates communication between several artists?

And I couldn't do without mentioning the interesting METHODS TO RE-EVALUATE EVERYDAY ACTIONS, a recent workshop in co-operation with Daniel Segerberg and artists related to New Zero Art Space in Myanmar... I personally find absolutely fascinating the collaborations that artists can established together as you did, especially because this often reveals a symbiosis between apparently different approaches to art... and I can't help without mention 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

I absolutely agree that a collaboration might result in something that you yourself never could come up with alone. I lately find to work alone the whole days becomes too heavy, just hearing your own opinion, so I have started to try to find people with whom I can collaborate. But it is not easy to find. It is like a couple dancing; there are a lot that have to match up. Most of us artists are also not used to working together. There are no written or unwritten rules how artists work together. Each time it has to be re-figured out. If the collaboration becomes a compromise, I donÂ´t think it is a good collaboration. I also donÂ´t like

ARTiculAction

Ninia Sverdrup

Documentation from exhibition "On the Site Found, for the Moment Given"

collaborations when you have to explain too much; then you loose the chance to surprise yourself. In a good collaboration you grow, like in a good conversation: you get inspired by the other and do or say things you never thought about before.

I knew Myanmar is a military dictatorship (still), but I could never imagine what impact that has on the people. For example, the artists working with me didn´t dare to walk backwards through the traditional market. They said “we are not allowed”. So I did it alone. And the police came and I realized how naïf and stupid I was.

The project METHODS TO RE-EVALUATE EVERYDAY ACTIONS in Myanmar was a collaboration between Daniel and me, coming up with an workshop together for the Myanmar artists. Daniel and I we have worked parallel and together for a long time. We know each other very well and do not have to explain too much to understand each other. Many of the Myanmar participants were not very good in English. Nonetheless we could communicate and get to know these artists, through the art.

We learnt things about Myanmar that we never would do without this workshop. And I am sure the participant artists also learnt a lot about each other, and about us and the society we live in, trough working together in the workshop. During these years you have exhibited at various occasions, both in Sweden and abroad: moreover you have recently had your solo ON THE SITE FOUND, FOR THE MOMENT GIVEN an interesting projects that you have created in collaboration with Daniel Segerberg and students

One part of the workshop was to take an everyday behaviour and to do it in another way.

Ninia Sverdrup

Still from "Flash mob 3: My Hometown" from the

Still from "Flash mob 2: To Tie my Shoe" from the

workshop "On the Site Found, for the Moment Given"

from Hedeskolan in Kungsbacka... 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? do you think that it could ever exist a genuine relationship between business and Art...

everything else in this fucked up consumer society. I am more into your earlier question about influencing your sur-rounding. If somebody can open up a discussion with help from what I do, I become very proud and happy. Thanks a lot for your time and your thoughts, Ninia. 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?

For the moment I am working on a short film. It is about a women who finds her life as a to do-list, hurrying just to be able to check off another duty on her never-ending list. By never remaining in the duration, she is emotionally cut off from herself. The clock directs the rhythm of everything she does. She tries to come around this linear perception of time by going into “nothing”. She goes into her routines: turning them into inefficient rituals. As you hear, I am still at the same search: to come around the linear way of perceiving time, or to be with time, instead of going against it. And for that I think I/we have to rely less on the head and go more into the body. That has led me into a new interest in dance. For the moment I am also putting together a workshop together with another artist and a choreograph. Thus yet another medium in use!

Sadly enough we are influenced by confirmation in one or another way. I have struggle a lot trying not to think about the awards, try to be as free as possible in my work. But of course you are also depending on your audience; if nobody is interested then what the point? And if you never have the chance to exhibit and show what you are doing, then for what?? I never think about the audience when I do my work. First time is now, when I work on my short film. Or I have asked myself; should I think about my audience? But the answer is no. For me it is more interesting if a small amount of people find what I do interesting, than a lot. Some things has to be narrow, and maybe more precise. My works are quite difficult to sell, so I do not think very much about the business. I more often get payed from an institution for doing a work. I don´t like the idea of art as a product. Then we are there again, about consumption, as

an interview by articulaction@post.com

ARTiculAction

#196 Winter 1

Benjamin Poynter

The mission is no longer escapism, but excavation. Benjamin is a visual artist specializing in new media, digital games, video art, and performance through an interdisciplinary curriculum. Professionally, has given lectures at ISEA 2013 in Sydney, the Games for Change Festival in NYC, and at the University of Alberta. Has shown work at the Indiecade Showcase at E3, the UCLA Game Arts Festival, and has been nominated for Best Serious Game at the 2013 International Mobile Gaming Awards. Benjamin's work in recent years has revolved around time and labor intensive game projects which spawn of themselves several artworks not limited to games. Although the theoretical basis of his works varies from project to project, at the undertone of each is a need to blur the binary between fantasy and reality. 2

ARTiculAction

Benjamin Poynter

An interview with

Benjamin Poynter Hello Benjamin, and welcome to ARTiculAction. I would start this interview with my usual ice breaker question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art? By the way, as a contemporary film maker, do you think that there's a dichotomy between tradition and contemporariness?

Greetings! Ah, the word 'art'. Perhaps my stance on what constitutes a work of art is reflective of the mediums I bask in, in that they push away from more Postmodern thought. Throughout history, and even with the cliques if today's art scene, there have been too many separate Modernities and zeitgeist movements to truly pin down a unified sense of what 'is' a work of art. In games' terms, seeking videogames out to fit in with high art circles, seems to be a tired conversation most of an interview with the time now. However, when it comes to my own work's sake, I believe in a sense of authenticity and feeling where there is an attempt at visual effect and that a large amount of said visuals come from an imaginative place. In other words, 'effort'. It is not enough for the artist to believe in themselves. The audience must as well.

Benjamin Poynter

something I embrace. For the first 23 years of my life, I grew up in landlocked America within the outskirts of Oklahoma City. Very rural. Without a true metropolis in sight, I invented a lot of fictional worlds whether they were based off if existing virtual reality or on pen and paper.

Would you like to tell us something about your background? In particular, you hold a MFA of Fine Arts that you have received from the University of Nevada, Reno: how has this experience impacted on the way you currently produce your works? By the way, since you're also a teacher, and I remember that you once stated that "teaching is a form of social justice", so I cannot do without asking your point about formal training... I sometimes happen to wonder if a certain kind of training could even stifle a young artist's creativity...

My formal training is a mixture between the traditional (drafting, illustration) and the new media (film, video, games). All of my blurry views of the world clashed when I emerged to the west coast, my aforementioned masters candidacy, and the Los Angeles shores. Even further, taking conference trips to Sydney, Alberta, and New York City. Suddenly, this mixture of mixed media and fantasies clashed with the 'default world', so to

My background is probably much more eclectic than your average fine artist's upbringing, which is 42

Benjamin Poynter Once, the piece is dry, I hang it up, observe it and add fragmental fountain pen drawings. Currently, I am working on a series of installative, backlit artworks on drafting film. Usually, I use two layers of drafting film on top of each other to give the pieces more depth. The artworks are floating from the ceiling on fishing wire with a distance of several inches to the wall. On the wall there is an LED tape light installed, to slightly backlight the piece. The LED tape light, in the way it is set up, follows the reading of the drawing. Now let's focus on your art production: I would start from Untitled and Decay and Expansion,

A still from In a Permanent Save State

you put in before and during the process of creating a film?

speak. I suddenly found the real world and politics attractive. This marked a turning point for me conceptually. Perhaps it's why I've come to think of academia and teaching as 'social justice'. There is a simulated, fictional feeling of one's own power and ability while learning.

I've come to discern two differences between an artist's process and their visual impact : 1.) confirm concept prior and then act or 2.) be malleable and fix both concept and visual together during production. I have found it over time that it is more difficult to perform the former. With that said, I do a 'heavy' bid of figuring out what it is I do before I touch any software or record button. The idea has to entice myself and fellow colleagues in a three sentence synopsis. If not, rewrite until it does. Three sentences is all many artists get these days to make a sell. It's a way of making the long hours of illustration, programming, changes, and making to a film or game piece seen relevant when all hope eventually gets lost along the way.

As if art is someone's superpower. And there is no greater justice than not only having that power in college, but professionally. Especially with rising unemployment rates in the states and accompanying competitiveness. 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 43

ARTiculAction

Benjamin Poynter

A still from In a Permanent Save State

For my current project alone, a diaristic virtual reality game, the 3D modeling element alone exceeded two fold my previous mobile game work cycle. It is an endurance test. The mission is a strong original concept which keeps all the cogs meshing and spirits in a healthy place.

need to seek refuge in virtual reality as a comfort zone, for living and for making. That simulation emerged to shatters after reading an online news article about 300 Foxconn workers threatening to jump all at once off a Wuhan factory rooftop in protest for wages they had rightfully earned.

Now let's focus on your art production: I would start from In a Performative Save State, an extremely interesting work that our readers have already started to get to know in the introductory pages of this article, and I suggest to visit directly http://www.benjaminpoynter.com/ina-permanent-save-state.php in order to get a wider and more detailed idea of it. In the meanwhile, would you tell us something about the genesis of this project?

Lo and behold, in an update to the story, the author mentioned the factory manufactured X-Box 360s. After the penny dropped, I did further research reading a lengthy report from Students and Scholars Against Coroprate Misbehavior (SACOM). After seeing the conditions and human rights violations the laborers were subjected to, in addition to supplementing that politically external violence with my personal past identification as a blue collar laborer with existential tendencies, I was furious and ready to create a work in reaction. Not just any work: a game which fit the content to exact form of expression. Fight the spectacle with the spectacle.

Certainly. The state of origin for this project was in the early weeks if January 2012, after I had come to finish a political platformer entitled 'The Dreamer'. I mentioned earlier about my perpetual need

#196 Winter 44

Benjamin Poynter

ARTiculAction

A still from Long Distance Call 2

Multidisciplinarity is a crucial aspect of your art practice: I would go as far as to state that you seem to be interested in creating a multisensory and relational art experience... 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?

But I'm thinking about current social spheres that exist pertaining to multiple disciplines and activities, regardless of the ethical implication. There is a strength in shifting projects, models, and images through multiple softwares as if the assembly were a conveyor belt. The aesthetic result is one reflective of an ambiguous society which sees in multiple ways never accounted for. Match ambiguity with ambiguity. This is a leaping off projectile for my interest in multiple media and games especially. The ability to have fluency in multiple expressions at once raises trust between the audience and maker that what the maker has to say is of relevance if said maker has invested a large portion of their time into putting the statement legibly amidst such an erratic fashion.

I think in an era where young people often find themselves forcefully required to 'multitask', and I'm probably guilty if this too as a maker and teacher, multidisciplinary approaches seems to be the new frontier for expression. There are opposing views to this, of course, where one side sees it as an aesthetic advantage and another sees it as a humane regression.

ARTiculAction

Benjamin Poynter

A still from Long Distance Call 2

Another interesting work that has particularly impressed me and on which I would like to spend some words is the recet Long Distance Call 2 that our reader can view directly at http://www.benjaminpoynter.com/long-distance-callii.php I can recognize such a socio political feature in it: even though I'm aware that this might sound a bit naif, I have to admit that I'm sort of convinced that Art 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?

ce Call II into more sociopolitical fields! In a twist of fate, while there are joints that might suggest this an overtly socioeconomic piece (location, economic woes, wish for escape), the experimental music video stems more from the politics of nostalgia and the question of 'where does a work or sense of place truly originate at?' I performed this piece in some rustic arcade of a struggling movie theater in Oklahoma City. But the video work expressed my fantasies about living in Japan which were augmented by the prosthetic capability to transport myself there, e.g. Google street view iOS and Blue Mars Lite. If I wanted to steer anything in this piece, it is culture's perception of virtual space and the blurring divide between it and actuality. Things like real and artifice seem obvious on paper, but it always bleeds into other

I can see how the old Marxist master, in Walter Benjamin, might steer such a piece as Long Distan-

Benjamin Poynter

A still from Polaris

like to ask you if in your opinion personal experience is an absolutely indespensable part of a creative process... Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience?

conversations and affects us at a core level, as we all wish to escape from some aspect if where we 'are' or what we do. Of note : I do find, however, that many places and cities society galvanizes over as 'exotic' end up looking surprisingly similar to more rural places. The dance machine I was on for Long Distance Call II looked more high society than parts of the simulated, stop motion Tokyo. Funny enough, the piece is being featured in a Different Games exhibit in New York University. One if the more exotic locales on the planet seem to have taken interest in this video art piece very apologetic for the rustic being in all of us.

A good question indeed! Perhaps I might be too liberal in saying that the personal is 'absolutely' symbiotic with the final work, regardless of social conversation, public affair, or vicinities of similarity. The most social of all my works has always interrogated with my deepest emotions, referencing the aforementioned 'Save State' to the current 'Polaris'.

Your art practice, as -among the others- the interesting Polaris clearly reveals, is based on a deep involvement both on intellectual and -I daresay- on a physical aspect as well... I would

The motive to create a piece of work always originates in the self. If someone is held at rhetorical gun point to do artwork outside of their interest, I would sooner consider that less art like and more

2 0 1 3

ARTiculAction

A p r i l

Benjamin Poynter

ARTiculAction

Benjamin Poynter

commercial. This is part of the reason my current game emerges holistically from the 'self'. There is confusion and even frustration about where to find the 'personal' in a mass produced work such as video, film, or games. I strive for it at every angle. During these years you have received a good feedback: you have recently had the solo In a Permanent Save State, and moreover you have been awarded in several occasions... It goes without saying that feedbacks and especially awards are capable of supporting an artist: I was just wondering if an award -or or just the expectation of positive feedbacks- 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...

I do art, in all it's various definitions, because I love it. I teach art at a college level to support myself and be by the side of creativity at all times and witness people who feel the same at a crucial age get a cathartic effect from their labor. I sparingly release works that fall below a certain line of quality I establish for myself. I do not entirely expect awards for anything I do, but I always make them aim for that prestigious quality more as a means to make my mind at peace. Win or lose, I will know that everything I had at the time was left on the stage or editing room floor. As for who might enjoy my art? I do myself the favor of never answering that question. It is always an adventure to see who responds as well as a learning tool. I feel like I have one foot in the art world and the other in the game world. To see which clique favors a project more is a way of letting me know how to proceed with future endeavors. Thanks a lot for your time and your thoughts, Benjamin. 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?

First, thank 'you' for taking the time to speak! In the summer of this year, I am spending time in Newcastle, England for an art residency with ISIS Arts. In late October, I fly out to Dubai, UAE to participate in the 2014 edition of the International Symposium of Electronic Art (I was in Sydney for 2013). In fact, in three weeks, I go to New York City to speak at the Games for Change festival! Fast times for an Okie. I feel like I'm some kind of country boy in Chinatown. #196 Winter 50

ARTiculAction

A still from HAVE YOU EVER SEEN THE SUN AT NIGHT ? HDV PAL/NTSC 2014 Total time 00:03:02:00 Sound and Video by Evelin Stermitz

#196 Winter 1

Evelin Stermitz Evelin Stermitz, M.A., M.Phil., studied Media and New Media Art at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, and holds the degree in Philosophy from Media Studies. Her works in the field of media and new media art focus on poststructuralist feminist art practices. In 2008 she founded ArtFem.TV – Art and Feminism ITV (http://www.artfem.tv) and received a Special Mention for the project at the IX Festival Internacional de la Imagen, VI Muestra Monográfica de Media Art, University of Caldas, Manizales, Colombia, in 2010. Her works have been exhibited and screened at various venues such as the MMoMA Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Russia / Vetlanda Museum, Sweden / Centro Nacional de las Artes, Mexico City / Museum of Modern Art, Buenos Aires, Argentina / PAN Palazzo delle Arti Napoli / CAM Casoria Contemporary Art Museum, Naples, Italy / Museum of Contemporary Art of Vojvodina, Novi Sad, Serbia / Fundació Joan Miró and CCCB Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona, Spain / Museum of Fine Arts, Florida State University, USA / MAC/VAL Musée d’Art Contemporain du Val-de-Marne, France / Chelsea Art Museum, New York, USA / International Museum of Women, San Francisco, USA. www.evelinstermitz.net 2

ARTiculAction

Evelin Stermitz

An interview with

Evelin Stermitz Hello Evelin, and welcome to ARTiculAction. I would start this interview with my usual introductory question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art? And moreover, what could be the features that mark the contemporariness of an artwork?

HAVE YOU EVER SEEN THE SUN AT NIGHT ? Still

Thank you for inviting me to give this interview. Describing to define a work of art, in my opinion, it is the mind and soul of the creator that becomes visible through artistic expression. The artwork is both intellectual and media related, in contemporary aspects to post-media and new media art, mixed media, installation, and performance.

cessary basis for emerging an own artistic perspective, articulation, and language. Theory and intellectual reflection come to the surface of artistic practice and in the art piece itself and can help to position oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work in the artistic discourse. It can be a critique as well as a statement of awareness or certain kind of aesthetics.

Contemporariness is a broad term, at least for me, it means expanding the tradition, articulating contemporary issues, sometimes digging in the past and spurring a new discourse with different perspectives, critique, finding new methods and an interview with using new technology in the arts, creating interdisciplinary work. Expanding, widening, and breaking with tradition, bringing forth a new mindset on the arts.

Since I have a background in media studies and merge this with media and new media art that involves gender and socio-cultural aspects, the absolute line is diverse. In my perspective, the wider the theoretical involvement of an artist is, the more interesting and challenging the work of art can be. But this strongly involves the artist self, one should not narrow or limit the own expression.

Actually, to discuss contemporary art and contemporary artists means to discuss the present and glancing in the future. What was contemporary then is contemporary for us now, where the visionary aspect should be foregrounded. 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, besides your studies of Media and New Media Art at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design you hold a degree in Philosophy from Media Studies: so I would like to ask your point about formal training... Sometimes I ask myself if a certain kind of training could even stifle an artist's creativity...

The academic involvement in the arts founds a ne-

Evelin Stermitz

A still from HAVE YOU EVER SEEN THE SUN AT NIGHT ? HDV PAL/NTSC 2014 Total time 00:03:02:00 Sound and Video by Evelin Stermitz

I cannot really talk about any impacts that influence my work, maybe I am not so much aware about them, but for sure there are many. For instance, I love to travel and to do art projects during my stay somewhere else; this helps to be free from daily business, to get new influences and new perspectives on culture, life, and art, to find oneself in a different environment.

their art and thoughts, women writers, women philosophers, artist friends. Before starting to elaborate about 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 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 love to reflect upon personal experiences and about womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s position in socio-politics, but not all of my works are women and gender related. I love the visual image and like to work on images and its perception and what is possible to do with them. Influential are probably other women artists,

In general, it takes me a lot of time to think what I want to do before I actually begin with the process of creating a new work. Important for me is to feel attracted to something, to be drawn into something. 55

ARTiculAction

Evelin Stermitz

The process of e.g. filming mostly is rather fast and immediate then, and I do not do video takes over and over again. I keep experimental freedom as well as I follow the act that I have in mind, but I always have a picture of idea in my head before I begin to work on a concrete project. Before this, I do investigations, drawings, taking notes, collecting articles and text parts, pinning and collecting my ideas in a mind cloud. Also important are my experiences that I went through and try to embed them in e.g. video pieces and later in a broader theoretical context. I think it is a waste of time and energy to work without a final picture that you would like to strive, albeit the picture is not firm yet and exists only as a pre-figure. Then, the postproduction of e.g. video is again a process that takes quite a while and where experiment and concept come together. But finally, I am setting myself a limit of a satisfactorily outcome, because too many amendments can also ruin the intention of a work. And if you ask me later what kind of software technique I have used in a video piece, I actually cannot answer the question, because I do not know it anymore. The video software and further technical aspects are actually not an important issue to me, important is just what you finally create and what you want to articulate with the work. But this entails, that you must know how to handle all the technical aspects, so that you can use them as a playful and creative method. During creation I am just in a workflow and creative process and that is all. It can take constant days and nights and then with a longer break to reflect and then again constant days and nights in absolute peace and mainly in front of the screen.

A still from HAVE YOU EVER SEEN THE SUN AT NI HDV PAL/NTSC 2014 Total time 00:03:02:00 Sound and Video by Evelin Stermitz

Now let us focus on your artworks: I would like to start with Have You Ever See The Sun At Night? an interesting sound-video art project that our readers have started to get to know in the introductory pages of this article, and I would suggest to visit your website directly at http://evelinstermitz.net/video_sun/sun.html in order to get a wider idea of it... In the meanwhile, could you take us through your creative process when starting this stimulating project?

gation, since I took several interview projects during my stay in NYC in Summer 2013 and later created pieces on the basis of those interviews. For the mentioned video work, I asked people in the hood what they think about â&#x20AC;&#x153;Lifeâ&#x20AC;? and it was stunning that quite a lot could not reflect upon the question. But the interviewed people that I have included in the final video were appropriate to provide the basis for further reflections on the question for the audience.

This video piece evolved from a larger artistic investi-

#196 Winter 56

Evelin Stermitz

ARTiculAction

Actually, I find it outrageous to discuss the aspect of Black and White people at all, but this is our society and the dyadic, exclusive, discriminatory, racist system is still dominant. To oppose this, I aimed to highlight their voices and images, with mentioning them as equal people, without labeling them, when even in a short video piece. I really love them all and feel so grateful that they were open to let me video grab them. I really would love to do a feature film with Afro-American people only! By the way, I can recognize that one of the possible ideas underlying this work is to unfold a compositional potential in the seemingly random and chaotic structure of traffic... Even though I am aware that this might sound a bit naïf, I am wondering if one of the hidden aims of Art could be to search the missing significance to a non-place... I am 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 that one of the roles of an artist could be to reveal unexpected sides of Nature, especially of our inner Nature... What is your point about this?

This question is absolutely not naïf, but very important, since the artist should travel for the sublime recognition with all its nuances. Only through this, aspects that are covered by noise and debris can become visible. I like the idea of locating a specific non-place through art. Through this, the areas and experiences of regular-mundane perception are left behind and become specific notions of remembrance in a peculiar and non-familiar way. Important is that artistic perception results in an elevation as such. Further, art can be one form to create room for non-articulated aspects and perform such as visible and audible. If you mean that “reveal unexpected sides of Nature” could be to attribute peculiarity and find traces in the distinctiveness, then art can be a form to find a dialogue in the specific textures of perception. I think, “perception” is the significant word for an artist that seeks for the unexpected, values the depth and is eager to explore more in a socio-political environment. Inner aspects are central in some of my works; mainly they are rela-

GHT ?

The title of the video, referring to the question of the possibility to see the sun at night, is a metaphor for the good in humans, the good in life, the light in the dark and the possibility to grasp the impossible. I interviewed people of Color only, because I wanted to break with the tradition of predominantly White people in media. Further, I experienced that Afro-American people have a strong awareness and deep sensitivity toward meaning and soulful human issues.

ARTiculAction

Evelin Stermitz

an A stillinterview from WHAT ISwith LOVE? HDV PAL/NTSC 2013 total time 00:10:16:00 Concept, Sound, Video by Evelin Stermitz. Special credits to Eric Payson. Another interesting piece of yours on which I would like to spend some words is What Is Love? This piece is strictly connected to the chance of establishing a deep intellectual involvement with your audience since it follows the question that gives title to the piece by various answers from short interviews of women... so I would like to ask you if in your opinion personal experience is an absolutely indispensable part of a creative process, both for conceiving an artwork and in order to enjoy it... Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience?

ted to my own experiences, psychological traces and the woman in a socio-political environment. I must admit that my works are self-centered to a certain degree. But it is also interesting how to deal with the perceived information as an artist, how to transform it into art, what kind of appropriate materials to be used to make it finally an art piece. Further the role of the audience is important, to cope with new techniques, new visions, new aspects. Actually, an artist always reveals, articulates, explores, and finally the art piece tries to make understand, to sensibilize, to mediate, to articulate again.

This video piece was another one that I created in

Evelin Stermitz

A still from WHAT IS LOVE?

2013 based on interviews. Recently, I found strong interest in the spoken word, I became interested to create sound collages and in finding sound traces of the oral voice. The personal question is foregrounded in this video piece, and actually it is not possible to find an absolute answer, since it is such a personal issue. Actually, the issue of “Love” tangled me at that time and there is a personal relation of art piece and art life and life in general. Personal experiences of the artist, the experiences of the interviewed people - as voices of art - in the video, in relation to the experiences of the audience, since “Love” is such a universal theme, are obviously a central aspect in this piece. I think that the involvement of reflection and connection of personal experience as an artist in creating art is important, because an artist is a social person, a human being that lives and perceives socio-political environment. I am sure, that even, if someone creates pure mathematical computer coded art, there is always an essence, an impetus to create, that resides from the artist’s experience. Even in abstract art you can find traces of correlations to the artist’s and viewer experiences.

Further, it keeps the people anonymously and leaves more space for the imaginary of the audience. To include only women’s voices was important to me, since I wanted to highlight women’s voices and intended to explore what other think about this issue. So I walked up and down the NYC High Line and asked the women that I met. The diversity of statements with its various sounds of voices surprised me. But I think that in our fast-paced society the matter of “Love” is marginal, people are degenerated and do not think about universal values and feelings anymore, although it pertains everyone, it is hardly self-experienced and rather possession oriented, desensibilized. To the audio recordings, I filmed a car drive with my friend Eric Payson, since we often do a journey when I am in NYC and I love the American street perspectives and highways. Using this as a visual background meant for me to provide a surface for the voices that is not too distracting for the listeners. I think that car journeys provide a lot of time for reflections and to discuss issues when being on the move. I did not pay attention on correct filming of the perspective and rather wanted to see for me what I filmed later, since I also have been involved in talking and wanted to experience the perspective myself not only through the camera. Finally, the video turned out to become like an amateur film from an old 16 mm role or made by another 70s camera, whereby the digital purity-cleanness-cold

In particular for this video piece, I recorded women voices only and did not film the people. I think this process makes it easier to collect manifold statements, since people are not too shy as to speak in front of a camera.

ARTiculAction

Evelin Stermitz

A still from LES Blocks 3 channel video HDV PAL 2013 total time 00:01:10:00 Concept, Sound, Video by Evelin Stermitz. Special credits to Kharlique Gardner.

go as far as to say that nowadays Art can steer people's behavior... What is your point about this?

got lost. I find it always interesting when an art piece is moving and attracting the perception of the audience through a connection of “touch” that is noticeable. Of course, this perception is individual, but mostly it is a special kind of sensibility in aesthetics that the art piece mediates. I think that real art is never de-touched from real life although it transcends reality in an aesthetics that creates the artistic real.

I am not so sure about if art really can steer people’s behavior. Politics, news and social media can do this, but visual art in general receives only a small audience, the people that targets art in our society is not that large as “we artists” might assume. But all in all, contemporary art aims to involve the audience, its role is not anymore passive and exclusive. In that sense, art can raise awareness of problematic issues, can involve the recipient through interactive pieces, and can lead the audience to think different or to re-think about issues.

Your work often reveals a socio-political criticism, and moreover - as in the stimulating 3 channel video entitled LES Blocks and especially in I Don't Love You Anymore, which I have to admit is one of my favorite work of yours - in my opinion it also seeks to challenge art in its conventions of exclusivity and question the audience’s role as passive consumer: and I am sort of convinced that Art these days could play an effective role not only making aware public opinion, but I would

However, I aim to do socio-political criticism in my art pieces. LES Blocks is a 3-channel video work that I did after a series of audio recordings in the #196 Winter 60

Evelin Stermitz

ARTiculAction

hood at the Lower East Side in NYC. It is shocking how people largely live in public housing; rape, drugs, suicide is pretty common. Young people do not have any perspectives, doing fast food jobs and sometimes not even have a permanent place to stay, having a troubled childhood, poor education. I posted these audio recordings on Facebook as a series of â&#x20AC;&#x153;Lower East Side Talksâ&#x20AC;? so that more people have access to them. Although, people were more eager to talk without a video camera, one woman even said that she does not like to talk, because the authorities could detect her voice and even one woman was told by police not to talk in public about the happenings. But this said, with all the audio recordings it was done for me to just leave them as they are and not to use them in a particular art project.

A still from I DON'T LOVE YOU ANYMORE

Finally, I wanted to film the blocks because I felt attracted to them and found some young people

DV PAL/NTSC 2012 total time 00:08:45:00 Concept, Sound, Video by Evelin Stermitz 61

ARTiculAction

Evelin Stermitz

in front of a building. Kharlique Gardner was one of them who spoke a few sentences into the camera and it was just so perfect to include in the video piece. So many famous people of all kind of artists originated from the Lower East Side, but as one person said, they do not come back. Each year that I come to New York, I find it more desperate to visit this area. It changes so very fast from year to each year; also the Jewish community that has been very strong seems to vanish, and together with the people all their old stores, bakeries, stories, history, and culture. But despite this, the art scene is flourishing at the Lower East Side, plenty of galleries have recently opened in the abandoned side streets, young artists and young gallery owners are occupying the empty stores and bring new artistic life to the front. To talk about the other video that you mentioned, I Don’t Love You Anymore, this articulates the women’s ability to finish a wrong relationship. It came out from my experience that many women are staying in a relationship, although it is doing harm to them and actually is already over. They rather prefer to stand a bad relationship instead of an interview having the courage towith finish it and start something new, to lose old patterns, old dependency. Also in popular cinema, it is not very common as a film thread that the woman is leaving the partner. In most films the stigma occurs for a woman to be left and to be commiserated. But this is not appropriate for our society anymore and a few films were changing this thread. I picked up some of those films and created an only “break up” film out of the scenes to show the strength of the women and not their weakness. While women “making a scene” to the male actor was considered as a form of hysteria and as an unassimilated women’s role in Hollywood cinema as well as in real society, nowadays it is considered in a few films as strength and independence.

A still from I DON'T LOVE YOU ANYMORE DV PAL/NTSC 2012 total time 00:08:45:00 Concept, Sound, Video by Evelin Stermitz

During these years your works have been exhibited in several occasions around the world... it goes without saying that positive feedbacks are capable of providing an artist of a special support... I was just wondering if the expectation of a positive feedback could even influence the process of an artist...

In particular, for gender aspects, it is necessary to decode the male mainstream and make visible hidden women’s aspects. To render visible suppression and commodification is only one aspect to decipher a male-formed society that occurs within capitalist structures. 62

Evelin Stermitz creating an art piece. I am just creating and try to find an aesthetics that fits my vision and the concept, but finally view the work from the outside also, as to regard the work of a stranger. Although the response of the audience is important for the artist and the relation of the work in the art context, since otherwise it would not make sense to create at all and someone could just create for oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own sake. But since I hardly get any direct response from the audience because I seldom visit all the exhibitions and screenings, I can only assume that the work is discussed since it has been curated and is shown. The process of creating for the pleasure of others is risky, because it can mislead the intention of the work and lower the quality. I mainly create works with critical aspects and not for the pleasure of viewing beautiful images. Some-times I receive feedback from the curators, but the work being curated and with this being involved in the discourse of the exhibition is a good response at all. Further, the acknowledgement of artist friends is important to me, because I can feel that my work is understood and appreciated. But in my opinion, the artist should develop such a strong personality that is independent from positive response and that can handle to be open for critical comments, whereby sometimes critique is more important to proceed in the artistic span. I see the quality of an artist also in the ability to critical self-reflect over the own artistic work and artistic series. Thank you for your time and for sharing with us your thoughts, Evelin. My last question deals with your future plans: what is next for you? Anything coming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of?

Actually, I prefer not to talk about future projects or current occupation, because it makes more sense to discuss realized works. But two of my future wishes are, first to install a multiple channel video piece in a concrete room with all its technical facilities and second, to find time to create an artistic inspired feature film or to create an artistic lead documentary.

By the way, how much important is for you the feedback of your audience? Do you ever think who will enjoy your Art when you conceive your pieces? I sometimes wonder if it could exist a genuine relationship between business and Art... Actually, I never think of an audience when creating

Thank you also for sharing your interest in my artistic work! An interview by articulaction@post.com

Peripheral ARTeries

Matthew Lancit (Canada/France)

An artist’s statement

Matthew LANCIT is an award winning Canadian filmmaker. His work can be found in galleries, museums, and university libraries around the world and has screened at: UnionDocs, Tribeca Cinemas and the Anthology Film Archives in New York, the art department at UCLA, Filmhouse Cinema in Edinburgh, the Kaohsiung Film Archive in Taiwan, the Musée Dapper in Paris, and the Jerusalem Cinematheque. After leaving his advertising job as a director/producer in a New York animation studio to live in Africa, Lancit embarked on the making of his first feature length documentary, Funeral Season – which has since been chosen for preservation by the Library and Archives of Canada and selected to over 50 international festivals. Aside from making film and video art, he has published heavily personalized essays on a wide range of subjects. Lancit is currently at work on his second feature length documentary and fathering his baby daughter in Paris, France.

Matthew Lancit

#196 Winter 64

A still from Death of a Gentleman John Backer, front and Matthew Lancit 2

ARTiculAction

Matthew Lancit

An interview with

Matthew Lancit Hello Matthew, and welcome to ARTiculAction. I would start this interview with my usual ice breaker question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art? By the way, as a contemporary film maker, do you think that there's a dichotomy between tradition and contemporariness?

Art is a creative way to express something that is interior to the exterior world. A single work of art usually strives for some form of communication or exchange that would allow it's essence to then be re-internalized by another person, a group of contemporaries, future generations, a future self, aliens, etc. But ultimately it is defined by that essence, which an interview with precedes its existence and continues to dissipate after the work itself has been forgotten. Film as a medium has its material roots in chemistry, whereas video is maybe more anthropologic. I mean that in terms of craftsmanship - the working material at hand and how things are recorded with it. So, yes, there is a divide between grain and pixels. However, no matter which form we choose, we cannot seem to get over our own form and we just keep telling everyone about ourselves. Our icons and our archives, like the artifacts of the ancients, tell more about ourselves than anything else. New skin for the old ceremony.

Matthew Lancit

2) Would you like to tell us something about your background? You have studied writing and literature at Sarah Lawrence College and filmmaking at NYUâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Tisch School of the Arts, New York: how have these experiences impacted on the way you currently produce your films? By the way, I sometimes I wonder if a certain kind of formal training could even stifle

a young artist's creativity... what's your point?

Well, it should be clarified that I studied at and graduated from Sarah Lawrence College. I only took a few 16mm film production courses at NYU, mostly in order to get a better technical knowledge and comfort with the equipment. It was a conscious choice NOT to go to a film school and to strive for 66

Matthew Lancit

ARTiculAction

A still from Death of a Gentleman John Backer, front and Matthew Lancit

a multidisciplinary education for as long as possible. Most crafts are best learned in the making, on the field, and even though I was quite sure at the time that I wanted to make films, I thought a good liberal arts education was better suited to help me realize what kind of films I wanted to make and to give me a plethora of researched material at my disposal.

rence but to open up a rusty caged closet where the school kept a bunch of forgotten 16mm film equipment that hadn't been touched since the 1970s. Sarah Lawrence was a special place where I got to work closely with a lot of really talented and dedicated students and professors. You can't find people like that anywhere, and I was very fortunate to have had that opportunity. I don't know if my time there really changed how I make my films, but it allowed me to work on my craft in a generally positive environment, and that helped me to pursue a dream that is not an easy one to pursue. My experience at NYU was considerably more rigid and formal as far as training goes, and that annoyed me at the time but it also provided

The film courses I took at NYU did help convince the administration at Sarah Lawrence to allow me to continue to work on my craft as an independent study - something that would never have happened at NYU - and I was very fortunate in meeting my friend and instructor George Nicholas, who agreed not only to oversee my work at Sarah Law67

Matthew Lancit

ARTiculAction

A still from Death of a Gentleman A still from Fl창neur(s): street rambles John Backer, front and Matthew Lancit

ARTiculAction

Matthew Lancit

A still from Funeral Season, documentary

ne with me with the intention of doing something I just wasn't sure what. We were living in the town of Dschang and across the street from us was the morgue.

an interview with

Every Friday morning I was woken up by lots of honking, a marching band, and eventually a parade that left the town morgue for one of the several Bamileke villages that surround Dschang. The film grew pretty organically from there. I began asking my friends and neighbours why there was this strange display of joy surrounding death and I learned more and more about Bamileke funerals which are joyous celebrations that resemble our weddings. So, I went funeral hopping from village to village in attempt to learn more about this new culture and their relationship with their dead. In the process I began quite naturally to look closer at my own relationship with my dead ancestors and compare the way Jews mourn to the funeral rites of the Bamileke, I encountered several cultural blocks between us, and the inability to understand or overcome the different ways we look at the world led to great absurd moments in the film; but certain universal truths about life and death revealed them#196 Winter 72

Matthew Lancit

ARTiculAction

selves as well. Most of all, true to the Bamileke funeral tradition, the film is a bacchanalia of dance, costume, and feasting. Sure, it's about death, but it's really a lot of fun and quite comedic. By the way, not to mention that nowadays it's usual to shot documentaries using found footage: on the contrary, you decided to move to Africa in order to produce this one: so I would like to ask you if in your opinion personal experience is an absolutely indespensable part of a creative process... Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience?

In looking at my work so far, personal experience seems to have been something that's a big part of my creative process, but there are no rules. That's something that has worked for me artistically even if it has caused some problems on the more personal side of things. I'd like to step away from myself when doing my creative work, but I just keep pushing my way back in. It's really annoying. I'm sick of myself but I can't stop being there. I'd like to disconnect from me. I'd like to look through the eyes of someone else, but then it wouldn't be me looking.

A still from Funeral Season, documentary

ARTiculAction

Matthew Lancit

A sequence of stills from 16 Reasons Why I Hate Myself: 16mm, b/w, 03min. 27sec

You are an award winning film director and your works have been screened in several important occasions around the world... It goes without saying that feedbacks and especially awards are capable of supporting an artist: I was just an interview with wondering if an award -or or just the expectation of positive feedbacks- 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...

waste of time. So, I end up hustling at film festivals because I'm too tired and out-of-the-loop to go to parties with important people anywhere else. But the film festivals that appeal to me are the smaller ones more focussed on the art than the business, so it really just becomes an excuse to go see good movies in exotic places and get drunk. I'm not sure if that is the best business strategy or if it really helps my art, but I think it makes more sense than anything else. It's always great to share an experience with an audience who appreciates a film I've made, and a good review definitely helps me sell the film. If the film wins an award that feels really great and helps give me the confidence to keep making movies which, despite the rather bleak picture I've painted in the preceding sentences, is really the most amazing job there is.

Film is probably more business than art. I mean, it's stupid business because it's really rare that there's any real money in it, but the business side usually takes up more of my time in one way or another, whether I like it or not. I have to work really hard at first finding financiers and grants, then convincing people to work with me for the love of the project because the budget is meagre, and finally to sell the finished product.

Thanks a lot for your time and your thoughts, Matthew. My last question deals with your future plans: you are working to another interesting project entitled Fl창neur(s) - street rambles that we have already mentioned in this interview... it recalls some elements of the aforesaid Funeral Season... in particular, you are making this film in the first-person,

And because I think of the little fits and spurts in between as my chance to make art, I'm not left with much of a product at the end of the day because I didn't make the film to make a product because, from a business perspective, that would be a stupid 74

Matthew Lancit

ARTiculAction

Matthew Lancit on skype after screening

but -as you have remarked- here your presence will be felt more behind the camera...

With Fl창neur(s) - street rambles however, I felt it was essential to make my presence felt from behind the camera. I am the cameraman in this film. It is my gaze. The camera is my eye.

Yeah, the grammar of Funeral Season is kind of all over the place. I mean, I like that about the film and it was an intentional choice, but I do kind of jump between being in front of the camera and behind the camera in that film. A lot of that had to do with my anxieties of exploiting people from another culture, so putting myself in the frame in a very revealing and self-mocking way was kind of a way of saying: "Here, I am exploiting myself as well."

It might be possible to do a didactic film about fl창neurs without stepping behind the camera, but I could not imagine making a film that was a fl창neurie itself without being the eye behind the camera. So, it was time for me to grow up and step behind the camera.

ARTiculAction

Liene Straupe (Latvia)

I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t need people to understand my art, iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m happy if they enjoy it and if my art can help people to understand themselves. I make my photos and other works because it is an interesting exploration process, results vary from time to time, but the process is for myself. When I have results that I can appreciate, I want to show them to other people as well. What can they do with my art? It is up to them! Most happy I am when I hear that my artworks have awaken phantasy in someones mind! One photograph can be enough for dreams to be born! One photograph can be a playground for my dreams, it is like a fairytale where every little detail comes from my mind and I can form them and shape them like I want to.

Liene Straupe

#196 Winter

From the Dreams of Home series

ARTiculAction

Liene Straupe

An interview with

Liene Straupe Hello Liene, and welcome to ARTiculAction. I would start this interview with my usual ice breaker question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art? By the way, what could be in your opinion the features that mark an artworks as a piece of Contemporary Art? Do you think that there's a dichotomy between tradition and contemporariness?

That is a good ice breaker, indeed! In my opinion artwork is defined by the time, space and creator. And the same criteria go for defining the relevance of an artwork. The importance of time can be proved by "Fountain" by Marcel Duchamp. It is one of the most influential artworks of 20th century. I think if it would have been made even 15 years earlier it an with mightinterview have not been understood and development of 20th century art could have taken a completely different road. By space I mean more than physical location where the artwork is made - I mean the ideas around it, other works of the same artist or the artists group.

Liene Straupe

Here an example is Ai Wei Wei - one of my favourite artists. Once you see some seeds or an antique vase with coca cola on it, it does not really say that much. Knowing the political background of China and other works of Ai Wei Wei really helps defining the artwork and understanding the importance of it. Creator? I don't think there is much to say about it - it is the person who creates the artwork and everything that has ever influenced him and everything that goes on in persons head. So these three points for me define an artwork and it's importance.

them or express them is just a matter of idea itself. So I would say that the idea defines a contemporary artwork. Relationship between traditional art and contemporary art? The same as relationship between one person now and a person a few centuries ago. Everything has changed, thinking is different, but one would not be there without the other. Would you like to tell us something about your background? After studying at the Waldorf School of Saint Petersburgh, you moved to the Netherlands where you're currently studying at the School of Arts, Gent. How have these ex-

What makes artwork to be a contemporary work? Having no borders or rules other than development and individuality. I think artists now are focused on their ideas and finding the best shape how to create 78

Liene Straupe mer when I turned 10 years old? That summer might have way bigger influence on my works than my current school. If You are asking about my experiences for producing my artworks, then we need to talk about my family, culture, Latvia and nature. Nature and symbolism are things going through my art now and they have been with me since I remember myself. My education? That is a different story. We could do a whole interview just about education and problems of public education. I went to a Waldorf school that is based on pedagogy created by Rudolph Steiner. There were two things that I learnt - how to learn and how to create. In my opinion these are the most important things in the education. If I need a formula, I will just google it or get a math book. But knowing formulas doesn't always help to understand the problem. Do You see what I mean? Waldorf school was all about learning how to do things myself. 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

experiences impacted on the way you currently produce your artworks? By the way, I sometimes I wonder if a certain kind of formal training could even stifle a young artist's creativity... what's your point?

In Waldorf School of Saint Petersburgh I was on a short exchange program, however I graduate high school in Waldorf School in Latvia. Afterwards indeed I moved to Netherlands where I studied for two years, but now I am studying in Gent what in fact is in Belgium. I don't think studying is much about having experiences rather than learning what to do with my experiences and with what I already am. You could ask me how was my sum-

From the Generation Series 79

ARTiculAction

Liene Straupe

From the Dreams of Home series

you put in before and during the process of creating a piece?

- Sigulda. It is a historic town with beautiful castles, national park with forests and a river. But that is not all! There is also a few centuries old legend about love; it is full of drama, so I will not tell it.

An artwork is never started and never finished, it is a process. All of them are already in me and all of them is just a process that brings me to my next work. Set up for making artworks? I don't know. Just living my life, I suppose. My cultural background and my life experiences. How long time do I spend creating a piece? Well, if you want to know specifically, then from 1 hour to 1 year. That's about it.

But that is not all - for me it is a place of first kisses, bike rides with friends and summers of my childhood. With this project I wanted to show how I feel about it all together - story of Sigulda and story of my Sigulda. As you have remarked in your artist's statement, you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t need people to understand your art, you are happy if they enjoy it and if your art can help people to understand themselves... I'm sort of convinced that some informations & ideas are hidden, or even "encrypted" in the environment we live in, so we need -in a way- to decipher them. Maybe that one of the roles of an artist could be to reveal unexpected sides of Nature, especially of our inner Nature... what's your point about this?

Now let's focus on your art production: I would start from the Dreams of Home series, that our readers have already admired in the starting pages of this article. Would you tell us something about the genesis of this interesting project? What was your initial inspiration?

Origin of these photos is already in it's title - home. "Dreams of Home" is a project about my hometown

I don't believe in changing world unless you have #196 Winter 82

Liene Straupe

ARTiculAction

From the Pink Series

changed yourself. The world starts within me. But about your question, well, I do like reading books of Dan Brown, but I am not so sure there are all these big secrets around us. I see world as a one big organism, so, I do believe that all the answers you need to find, are within you already. It is just a matter of seeing and understanding what you see. Artists can reveal nature they find in themselves, but I don't know if that can help the viewer to get closer to his nature. Maybe. Maybe if we talk about this in a few years, I might have more answers to give to you.

And I couldn't do without mentioning your series 2 "Pink": I have been struck with the nuances of red that starting from a deep tone, softly turns to a delicate pink...

Simple things can be full of surprises once you take a step closer. And then one more step. It becomes amazing! You sometimes put yourself in your photo, as in series 3 so I would like to ask you if in your opinion personal experience is an absolutely indespensable part of a creative process... Do you think that a creative process could be 83

ARTiculAction

Liene Straupe

From the Generation Series

feedback? It was an exhibition opening with a group of artists, I think at least twenty different art works. A young man came to me and said that his two years old son liked my photograph most of anything. For me it was a pure happiness to hear that a young kid with his pure way of looking at things can appreciate my artwork.

an interview with

But while I am making my works, I don't think about reactions I will get. And once I have a finished series I am looking at it and thinking which is my favourite work or so, but then later the reaction from public is totally different than what I thought it would be.

From the Generation Series

ever disconnected from direct experience?

How can something be created from nothing? Creation is a matter of transformation - ideas, experiences are transformed into an artwork. It goes without saying that positive feedbacks and especially awards are capable of supporting an artist: I was just wondering if an award -or better, the expectation of positive feedbackcould 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...

Would you like to know my most important feed-

From the Generation Series 84

Liene Straupe

From the Being in Peace Series

Reaction about works can often be useless, but a good feedback can mean a lot for creating next works.

From the Being in Peace Series

By good I don't mean if it is positive. Hearing "I like your work" is as handy as hearing "I don't like your work", it doesn't really say anything. But sometimes people who are not connected with art on every day basis just start telling you what they see in your work, how they feel about it, what is in front of them.That is a feedback of a great value - if the person starts sharing his inner thoughts and feelings about work. Thanks a lot for your time and your thoughts, Liene. 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?

We'll see.

From the Being in Peace Series 85

ARTiculAction

Kireilyn Barber (USA) An artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s statement

Kireilyn Barber was born and raised in Los Angeles. She received her BFA from Cal State University, Fullerton and her MFA from Cal State University, Los Angeles, both in Creative Photography. She was the recipient of an Individual Artist's Grant from the City of Pasadena Cultural Affairs Division for projects in 2002 - 2003 as well as in 2005 -2006, and was selected in the spring of 2004 and 2010 to attend Review Santa Fe at CENTER in New Mexico. Her recent solo exhibitions include POST Kamikaze in July 2011 in Los Angeles, and Haus Gallery and the Armory Center for the Arts, both in Pasadena. Kireilyn uses everyday experience and common or mundane subjects from everyday life to work in series or around a system, which can be subject or time-based. She appreciates photography for its ability to immediately record the subject, but also for its capacity to "see" the scene in a different way than human vision does. She enjoys experimenting with random/chance events and systems, controlled tableaus and narratives, and the visually compelling mix of materials and structures that suburban and urban environments provide. In the last few years Ms. Barber has participated in and organized a variety of exhibitions, ranging from site-specific installations to pinhole photographic work. She has organized several exhibitions in the Los Angeles area, including 20 Eyes/10 Cameras, a group photography show at Gallery Figueroa, and the pinhole photographic exhibition Obscura at Angel's Gate Cultural Center in San Pedro. Other recent exhibitions of her work include Present Tense at Photo Center Northwest in Seattle, Washington, the 16th Annual National Juried Exhibition at the Korean Cultural Center of Los Angeles, her Pasadena Cultural Affairs Division grant-funded project No Vacancy at the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena, Introductions > Connections at the Luckman Gallery on the campus of Cal State Los Angeles. Intrigued with how artistic investigations can be influenced by daily life as well as random experience and imagination, her varied work has been described as "witty ... beautiful ... subtle ... and desolate." Kireilyn's interests include all forms of visual expression, including experimental and documentary film, dance, literature, philosophy and cultural history. She has several projects in progress, including the continuing development of her website kireilynbarber.com. A review of her solo show at Haus Gallery can be found in the May 2006 issue of Artweek. #196 Winter 86

From the series Congruence

Kireilyn Barber

ARTiculAction

An interview with

Kireilyn Barber Hello Kireilyn, and welcome to ARTiculAction. I would start this interview with my usual introductory question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art? By the way, what could be in your opinion the features that mark an artworks as a piece of Contemporary Art?

I think a work of art helps us experience our humanity, it makes us think and feel and be connected to our senses and emotions. Sometimes it can be very intellectual and make us want to seek knowledge or information; sometimes it can confuse us and make us think and question that way. And sometimes we can just take pleasure in seeing, hearing, touching, experiencing ... Beyond the obvious designation that something created recently qualify as a piece of contemporary Art, I can point out another quality: something that speaks to or references concerns with of the current time, the present an interview moment. The work could also align itself somehow with the current value system of the culture; this could mean either subversion or promotion. As an example, I saw some 16th-century works by Lucas Cranach recently that appeared to me to be infused with a very contemporary quality: the facial expressions, the body language and gestures; there's a languid directness to these features that feels very current. Would you like to tell us something about your background? You hold Master of Fine Arts in Creative Photography that you received form the Cal State University, Los Angeles: you have later took part to several workshops as well... How have these experiences impacted on the way you currently produce your artworks? By the way, I sometimes I wonder if a certain kind of formal training could even stifle a young artist's creati-vity... what's your point?

I'm always very grateful for my formal academic education. Additionally, my education started at home as a child in that our parents (my older brother is a poet/writer)

Kireilyn Barber were always taking us around Los Angeles and California, to events, museums, historical places, so that we could have experiences. We also were always given books to look at and read so that created a great foundation. I trained as a teenager with the intent to be a dancer: classical ballet. This took a great deal of energy, time and dedication. In my early 20s I had to be realistic about supporting myself for the future but I felt very lost: adrift and empty. I had a friend who was studying graphic design at the time who inspired me to take some foundation art classes in preparation; these experiences completely renewed and reinvigorated me with new goals and directions. Even though dance and design did not become my method for making a living or finding self-expression, they have definitely impacted my studio art practice in a way that I am now recognizing with more clarity. My University education was important for introducing me to great overviews of art history and critical theory, as well as for meeting many people. Everything becomes a ring on the tree in formulating how we perceive and think, respond and react. Because I was goal-oriented and trying to be conscientious and plan well, I don't think any previous activity was a waste of time. To address your question specifically, I can agree that some methods of formal training can be stifling or limiting. It can be challenging for person to detect this or to even respond to it actively at the moment. Perhaps it helps to be a resilient and/or self-aware individual: you can analyze and move beyond setbacks and limitations by seeking resources and alternatives. 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?

As you can see from how I've organized my website, my interests that I want to investigate visually concern space, light and time; coincidentally, these are also elements that are essential to dancers. All of my creative work starts with a sequence of seeing, feeling and thinking. Because I appreciate observing things Kireilyn Barber 89

ARTiculAction

Kireilyn Barber

closely and looking for details, this just seems natural to me, an everyday activity I need and enjoy. Sometimes the act of seeing alone instigates an association, frequently a memory; occasionally other senses create a reaction - sounds, smells. Then I start to think and analyze: what is happening here? How or why or where does this reoccur? What, if anything does it represent? I can say very frequently I begin to "see" a finished piece in my head, like a movie screen behind my eyes. From my design background I'm very comfortable with pre-visualizing. This part of my process helps me plan technical considerations. Currently my still photographic series are shot using a medium format, analog camera and color negative or black-and-white film. For my color work, film still replicates and reproduces light quality that digital (at least the level I can afford) can't quite match. I very much respond to the formality of the square frame and how it seems to balance all parts of a composition in a nearly effortless way. Framing the scene through a square viewfinder is very satisfying experience for me.

From the Congruence Series, #4 This series explored random/chance operations using medium format black and white film that was double exposed in camera, first using sub-

Depending on the project, time goes into researching locations and in reviewing the ease of setting up

basic equipment, usually a tripod. Lighting, whether natural or artificial, is another factor to consider and to calculate for optimum effect. Shooting itself can be rather uncomplicated: if there are no interruptions or unexpected difficulties and the lighting is right, it can be very smooth and almost effortless. But even when it's challenging, I try to accept that and not get frustrated or anxious. You can never predict the outcome so let it happen as best you can. Now let's focus on your art production: I would start from the interesting Congruence series, that our readers have started to admire in the introductory pages of this article: and I would suggest to our readers to visit your website directly ay http://www.kireilynbarber.com/#light/4 in order to get a wider idea of this stimulating project... In the meanwhile, would you like to #196 Winter

From the Congruence Series, #25 90

Kireilyn Barber

ARTiculAction

From the Congruence Series, #9

From the Congruence Series, #21

subject matter that included anything manmade or industrial; the next set of exposures utilized any organic subjects or materials.

Frequently there was a long time differential between the two exposures, so the resulting configurations are very accidental.

tell us something about the genesis of this work? What was your initial inspiration?

such as John Baldassari explored where you don't know entirely with a final image will be: I decided to control for double exposures of my negatives by first shooting man-made, functional hard scape and then photographing organic nature again over the same frames. I never knew what was going to line up with what because I didn't try to remember where and what I had photographed the first time. Some configurations on a roll of film would not be interesting, but others produced very unusual and unexpected results. I really enjoy the freedom and spontaneity that this kind of project allows me.

This project began for two main reasons: I had been shooting a lot of series in color, and wanted to return to something that would lend itself to black-and-white tonalities. I also wanted to develop my own film again and to return to that hands-on experience. The second factor was that I moved out of a suburb of Los Angeles (Pasadena CA) to an area that is closer to the older "downtown" of the City of LA. It is full of warehouses, old buildings, bridges, out-of-use railroad tracks and other structures from many different eras and L.A.'s history. They have an aged appearance, nothing like what one sees on the east coast of the US or in Europe, but for Californians it has the patina of a bygone era. I wanted to experiment with random/chance operations, similar to what artists

A feature that I recognize in your work, especially in Within A Small Space and in the video Materiality, is the perception of the common in our environment and the challenging of it in order to create a new multitude of points of views: I would like to stop for a moment to con91

ARTiculAction

Kireilyn Barber

an interview with

sider the "function" of the landscape, which most of the times seems to be just a passive background... I'm sort of convinced that some informations & ideas are hidden, or even "encrypted" in the environment we live in, so we need -in a way- to decipher them. Maybe that one of the roles of an artist could be to reveal unexpected sides of Nature, especially of our inner Nature... what's your point about this?

here are a multitude of things to be deciphered, to be seen, analyzed, studied, parodied, appreciated and processed. Because my environment, or my landscape of reference, is so sprawling and diverse there is a lot of banal, tacky or even ugly scenery, but within that commonality, that everyday, common "stuff," there are unexpected, strange, humorous, fascinating things or configurations of things.

I very much appreciate the nature of this question: it delves into so many topics and points of consideration. Having been born in LA and upon living my entire life here, the landscape is indeed a "function" - it is something that we need to navigate every day in order to function ourselves. From the confines of our cars it can be somewhat of a passive background but as you bring up, to me t

I would agree that the two pieces you mention do reveal a tendency I have (that I suppose one could say is my role as an artist) which is to examine insignificant, small, everyday things and actions and to allow a viewer to perhaps contemplate and hopefully appreciate them. Monumental or grandiose or loud things tend to either overwhelm me or make me want to turn around. 92

Kireilyn Barber

From the Atriums Series, #9

From the Atriums Series, #1

Office atriums, lobbies, hallways, and entry foyers are photographed from a sidewalk position late at night using existing light. This series is a currently

developing exploration of my interest in the "psychology" of spaces, primarily built, functional, urban spaces and the dynamics of "presence" versus "absence."

Quiet and discretion and minutiae appeals to me much more. I guess these things are my inner Nature that is revealed in my different works. Maybe it comes from spending a lot of time alone in my head.

make do with an "happy deterritorialization"?

I'm very gratified that this series created in association with Auge's concept of the "non-place." For me those environments I've photographed are these pervasively neutral, utterly functional, "in between" areas, these arbitrary boundaries that must exist in order for modern, industrialized humankind to accomplish efficiently.

Another interesting works of yours that has particularly impacted on me and on which I would like to spend some words are from the Atriums series: in particular, this work has reminded me the concept of non-place elaborated by French anthropologist Marc AugĂŠ. And even though I'm aware that this would sound a bit naif, I'm wondering if one of the hidden aims of your Art could be to search the missing significance into a non-place... Could ever the negotiation between locality and globality lead to a non-conflictual concept of re-territoliarization or should we need to

They bare no significance that would permit them to be designated with the status of "a place." Additionally, they are for me permeated with an aura that is described by the French novelist Georges Perec as the "infra-ordinary." In his 1973 essay "Approaches to What?" he contrasts this with the notion of the "extraordinary,"and questions how we "can speak of the common things ... how can we give them a meaning ... a tongue so that they are 93

ARTiculAction

Kireilyn Barber

A still from Abyssal Zone, video

at last able speak of the way things are, the way we are?" He continues by writing "My intention (is) to describe what remains; that which we generally don't notice, which doesn't call attention to itself, which is of no importance: what happens, what passes when nothing passes, except time, people, cars and clouds." This weight is what I felt when I observed these spaces over time.

to go. I live in a place that is familiar spatially to me as a locality, but it is a global place as well, unique and different to everyone who encounters it. My feeling is that these diverse encounters enable the "deterritorialization": it is not something tangible or identifiable but occurs privately or in an unspoken manner in the minds of anyone who moves through a particular locality, aided by the senses and abetted by thoughts.

In terms of the question regarding the negotiation between locality and globality, or making do with a "happy deterritorialization," I guess my perception of this is that this happens in my head, in my mind as I traverse my city, those places I consciously choose

A still from Abyssal Zone, video

And I couldn't do without mentioning the video Abyssal Zone, which have particularly intrigued me and I have to admit that it is one of my favourite work of yours... as you have stated once, you appreciate Photography for its capacity to "see" the scene in a different way than human vision does: so I would like to ask you if in your opinion personal experience is an absolutely indespensable part of a creative process... Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience?

For me, personal experience is very indispensable to my creative process and I believe it is for most creative people of all kinds. For my recent video pieces that I began about a year ago or so, I've been thinking about why I respond film and cinema and how my love for this medium began. #196 Winter

Kireilyn Barber

ARTiculAction

A still from Abyssal Zone, video

It goes way back in childhood: my parents took us all kinds of films - silent black-and-white comedies, foreign films, dramas, animated classics etc. Movies were huge experiences for me: they were big and dramatic on every level and permitted me to see familiar things in new ways and to analyze how I saw familiar things in new ways. Plus, there was the music, the dialogue, the use of time, character development, and plot sequencing ... I've joked with myself by saying in my next life I'll be a filmmaker. For now my video pieces allow me to finally act upon my interests freely in an experimental and independent way. Abyssal Zone is a contemplation on the transience of life and is essentially a rumination on death and the accumulation of memories and associations which continuously layer upon each other as one ages. Aldous Huxley said "Every man's memory this his private literature;" for me this is very, very true. The physical body, which of course I'm still

very connected to from my memories of dancing, is a powerful symbol for me, and again to respond to your observation about personal experience, my body and mind are my connections to the past, my present, and what will transpire in the future. For my still photographic series, such as Surface Perception, viewing my environment and all of the visual information that is available is also my personal experience. As you know, I tend to look for and noticed minutiae, and at the same time question what it might say about something larger that is present or evident around me and where I live. The images from Surface Perception arose from my observation of a vacant storefront that was continuously being covered with posters and advertisements for movies, concerts, products, and other forms of entertainment and transient features of consumption. These posters would go up and come down within the span of a week, which also spoke to me poignantly about the super-

ARTiculAction

Kireilyn Barber

From the The Geometry of Space Series, #5

From the The Geometry of Space Series, #4

This series explores architectural features, color and the effects of natural light within and on those environments. Since this series began many of the

structures have either been demolished or have been significantly altered.

ficiality and temporality of consumption, the entertainment industry, and the focus on the interests and tastes of the youth market in the US. So this series let me explore time, light and space all in one effort. Your works have been exhibited in many cultural events and moreover I think it's important to remark that you have also organized several exhibitions in the Los Angeles area... 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 genui-

ne relationship between business and Art...

an interview with

Sometimes it is seductive to be influenced by the expectation or hope for an award; most of the time I'm working toward accomplishing a proposal that will receive grant monies or the possibility for exhibition. And I have seen artists try to tailor their work for a certain outcome or to navigate within a more commercial venue (say an art fair). But these opportunities are highly competitive and take time away from working on existing or new work. I attempt these as much as I can manage but I'd rather just develop my work. Honestly I'm not sure audience feedback is that important for me,in a general sense. Over all these years, some people appreciate my approach, while others are neutral or indifferent. I expect that now. There is a small group of people, artists and others,

Kireilyn Barber

From the Within A Small Space Series, #2

From the Within A Small Space Series, #5

This series documented the random contents of small drawers belonging to the drafting tables in a classroom of a local community college where I teach part time. The discovery of these small land-

scapes that are constantly undergoing altera-tion and anonymous human interaction appealed to my interests in randomness and chance opera-tions. The drawers of all the desks were documen-ted exactly as they were found.

whose feedback and perceptions I would seek out. I think because I spent so much time in school under intense deadlines and meeting so many requirements and dealing with so many opinions, that I just want to work for myself now, to satisfy my own interests, needs and questions.

ship between business and Art, many people are successful at it, I'm just not in that category.

It's a very investigatory process, almost like a scientist. I probably don't have the right mindset for business or even selling my work. If someone wants to purchase it and own it, of course I'm pleased and very happy. But I don't really think about any of those things when I start a project. I come probably from the complete opposite end of the spectrum: "nobody's going to care about this, so at least I can. What happens if I try this? Do I like how it looks?" Isuppose there definitely can be a genuine relation-

Thanks a lot for your time and your thoughts, Kireilyn. 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?

As of this moment just more of the same; I have an opportunity to travel to Europe soon (as I did last year) and acquire more video footage and hopefully some still images that might work with my ongoing Stillness of the Edges series. Thanks so much for the opportunity to share my work with your readers and for your very thoughtful questions.

an interview by articulaction@post.com