MADE IN MIND #5

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15 | SAMIN AHMADZADEH 27 | PAOLO PUDDU 39 | RYOTA MATSUMOTO 45 | SOFIE ELANA HODARA

KRISTINA ESTELL When did you first become interested in art?

I grew up in a rural environment with wide exposure to artistic culture. Everything from music, films, cooking, travel and art making were a perpetual influence on my pretty remote existence. It was in college though that my interest was really solidified when I started to realize that art was a significant method for learning and a way to materially understand the world.

What are the most important influences that have moved you as an artist?

I came into the field of sculpture loving the processes and materials but automatically resistant to notions of the singular object, material permanence and the monumental.

Discovering the work of Sarah Sze was very influential to me. I found the quality of relationships in the work extremely thought provoking and it challenged ideas of what I previously understood as sculpture. The way Sze’s materials, spaces and

excavations and amendments Sculpture silicone rubber, mirror, plaster.

2014 A sculptural series molded directly from collected stones and altered to reveal the detailed intricacy of the interior space produced from the negative impression of the stone.

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concepts fluidly play shifting and complex roles within a particular location inspired the progression of my work into installation and site- specific art. The work of the artists of the Arte Povera movement was a great influence on me. I was impressed by the reality of physical experience and social engagement expressed in much of the work.

How would you describe your artistic approach?

I am always looking for ways to amplify a subtle or less apparent experience based on the perception of physical materials, process and interaction.

Could you describe to us your interest in interacting with the environment?

The natural environment is a kind of medium in itself, a default language and a seemingly constant set of imagery.

I find this a rich foundation from which to work because of its general familiarity and also its intrinsic significance as a subject. I’m looking to create an experience that will heighten awareness of a particular relationship or circumstance that inspires sensitivity, beauty, as well as a sense of consequence within a specific location. An environment, whether natural or built, is all situation and a set of discreet visual elements.

as you were (Detail) Site specific installation Massachusetts College of Art and Design Silicone rubber, 2014 as you were (Detail) Site specific installation Massachusetts College of Art and Design Silicone rubber, 2014

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as you were Site specific installation (Detail) Massachusetts College of Art and Design Silicone rubber, hardware 2014

Frieze as subject, Stephen D. Paine Gallery, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, US.

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Treatment (covered) Site-specific installation Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart Germany 300 lbs. silicone rubber 2011

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Treatment (uncovered) Site-specific installation Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart Germany 300 lbs. silicone rubber 2011

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Treatment (uncovered) Site-specific installation Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart Germany 300 lbs. silicone rubber 2011

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as you were (palladium window) Site-specific installation Silicone rubber 2014

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Regarding the As you were artwork?

Can you comment on this piece and the idea behind it?

As you were is a series of site-specific silicone rubber pieces that were commissioned for an exhibition in Boston. I was given a lot of freedom within the space to use an industrial grade molding silicone that has become an essential part of my practice.

This silicone material has some amazing characteristics, a few of which are its ability to capture very precise detail and also cleanly remove from almost any surface without using an intermediary release agent (which greatly widens the possibilities of where and how the rubber can be applied). I recorded large swaths of the architectural and ornamental detail in the gallery and then displayed the inverse of the rubber replicas within the exhibition.

To me, this gesture of creating a skin-like record of spatial information that is then, in a sense, worn again by the space allows a more softened, dynamic and an almost susceptible understanding of location and architecture. Another part of the project involved a large palladium window where I coated the surface area with rubber, let it cure and then started to remove the material very slightly. I was interested in allowing the weight of the material to very gradually peel itself away from the form over time. The title, As you were, alludes to the history of the gallery as well as the military command to return to the previous position or to withdraw something just said.

Looking at Tag, how was it that you came to do this project?

For some time, I had been making work involving the manipulation of live plants. As my collection of plants grew, I started to think about organic and commercial production more carefully.

tag Land art Villa Nappi, Polverigi, Italy 100 pieces of cut mirror 2013

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groundcover (Detail) Installation vinyl, stones & air 2005

Tag is a simple, outdoor installation that uses 100 mirrors cut into the shape of the commercial labeling tags for plants.

These pieces literally act as a point of reflection for the viewer moving through a location rather than providing any identification, care information or regional heartiness facts about the various plants they indicate. I was thinking about the implications of one’s own identity and impact within the environment as well as the nature of ownership through naming and identification.

Could you give us a brief description of Grippage?

Themes of protection and vulnerability are common in my work. Grippage was a temporary piece where I installed nonslip plastic strips (designed for bathtubs) on the rocky lake shore. I plotted a path that traveled up, down and across the stones to provide a potentially more safe way to access the water. I was considering what is necessary or actually functional as a means of protection within a natural environment.

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The project attempted to make more overt ridiculous strategies and implements that are sometimes employed as a means to interact with the outdoor environment.

In your opinion, what role does the artist have in today’s society?

I feel the artist is a kind of cultural and environmental sensor, someone who records, measures, indicates and otherwise responds to a given set of circumstances.

I do not necessarily think of this as happening through strict methodical means, but through activities that are the result of an individual set of capabilities.

Could you tell us what you working on at the moment?

Currently I am in the middle of an ongoing international mail art project titled Feeling the Distance. So far, I have constructed and mailed 15 cardboard wrapped, gypsum board boxes that each contain one loose stone inside.

As the box begins its travel, the stone moves inside, marking and shaping the interior with the weight of its impact.

Once the box has completed the round trip journey, I open the package and apply graphite to the surface of the interior panels to reveal the evidence of the stone’s travel.

Grippage Site-specific temporary installation Silver Bay, Minnesota Non-slip adhesive strips 2010

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horizon v.2 Installation tulle fabric, string & lead weights 2010

Kristina Estell (1978) is a Bachelor of Fine Arts graduate with distinction of Herron School of Art at Indiana University and holds a Master’s Degree of Fine Art from the University of Minnesota. She has exhibited nationally and internationally as well as attended artist residencies in the US, Japan, Germany and Hungary. Estell has recently been honored as a 2015/16 McKnight Visual Arts Fellow. She currently lives and works in Duluth, Minnesota.

Estell’s current body of work involves creating sculptural projects that record natural and architectural objects, surfaces and spaces using the specialized material of silicone molding rubber. The literal and metaphoric flexibility of this rubber allows for the potential of infinite replication and creates a mirrored, layered record of a particular place and time. This re-interpretation and transfer of objects and spaces through material creates a more malleable understanding and experience of the world around us. http://kristinaestell.com/

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if you can’t see you can’t see, can’t you see?

Site- specific installation Fergus Falls Regional Treatment Center 2015

SAMIN AHMADZADEH

Can you give us a brief account of your background, and how it was that you got into art?

I graduated with a Mathematics diploma from my high school in Iran, but I always knew that this was not my main interest as I had a great passion for Arts.

I changed my field of study and was accepted into the Art and Architecture University in Tehran where I studied for a BA in Photography.

When I started studying the arts, a whole new world opened up to me. I saw it as a world of opportunities and freedom, where I could express my thoughts, emotions and ideas.

While in Tehran, a passion for street and documentary photography grew. I loved spending time on the streets within different communities in Tehran, exploring my personal views on the cultural and sociological aspect of my home town.

Working as a street photographer on the streets of Tehran I faced many different reactions from the people I was photographing and also from the authorities which was quite a challenge, but this was all part of the enjoyment for me.

I moved to London immediately after finishing my BA to study a Master’s degree in Photography at Central Saint Martin’s

College of Art and Design. When I moved to London, my type of work changed and I decided to move from the documentary type of photography I used to do and apply my thoughts more towards fine art.

Following my interest in photography, my practice continued to evolve with a specific focus on an archival collection of my family’s cultural history.

With photography as the starting point for my work, I am currently developing it through further processes into collage, installation and printmaking.

What are the most important influences that have moved you as an artist?

Living in London, as part of a multicultural city has had a great influence on my work. Being surrounded by the huge variety of art shows and artist talks, I feel I have been able to improve as an artist.

Living as an artist in London can also be very difficult for different reasons, but at the same time I see London as the city of opportunities.

My parents and family have always been a great support to me and my career as an artist, and have always encouraged me to keep working and going forward.

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Memento project Photo Weaving Weaved Laser Print Photographs 56 x 39 cm - 22 x 15 inches 2015

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Memento project Photo Weaving Weaved Laser Print Photographs 19 x 17.5 cm - 7 x 6 inches 2015

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How have the places you have lived in influenced your art?

Living in Tehran, really influenced the style of photography I used to produce.

Whilst I faced difficulties photographing in the streets of Tehran, I developed an interest in documenting the people living their lives around me.

But when I moved to live in London, my whole experience of arts and photography was broadened. Living in London with the amazing access to all the different shows and artist talks, has made me see art quite differently to when I was a student in Iran.

I have managed to think more freely here with the thought and idea that everything can be possible.

Tell us about Memento. How did this project come about? What role does the autobiography play in your work?

I started thinking about Memento for the final project of my MA at Central Saint Martins.

My father’s childhood and background in the UK was always a mystery to me.

He had never really told me much about his childhood growing up in boarding schools far from his family in Iran.

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Memento project Photo Weaving Weaved Laser Print Photographs 20 x 27 cm - 8 x 11 inches 2014

Memento project Photo Weaving Weaved Laser Print Photographs 13 x 18 cm - 5 x 7 inches 2014

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I saw this as an opportunity to start learning more about his background and how it has affected who I am now as a person.

After seeing his positive reaction about my idea for this project, I started a series of recorded interviews which I did separately, with both my father and my grandmother.

My grandmother told me all about how and why they decided to send him to boarding schools and my dad told me in detail every single memory he remembered from when he was in the UK. Hearing all that, it made me understand and relate more to the story. I realized the variety of concepts that I could explore, while at the same time focusing on the idea of storytelling.

I began to think about a person’s identity, the effect of family and cultural history on one’s personality and the idea of multiculturalism.

I continued my research by creating a personal archive of photographs, letters, documents, objects and films after visiting his old boarding school archives and looking into our own personal family albums and collections.

Personal collections to me are a significant form of memorabilia. They are associated with life experiences, intimate meanings and stories from the past.

Throughout this project, the narrative within the archive related to my father’s background is used to discuss wider concepts of history, memory, identity and time.

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How did you come up with the Photo Weaving technique?

Throughout this project I have been experimenting with different mediums and techniques and formats of presentation for expressing my thoughts and ideas.

As I began to explore the idea of multiculturalism and the creation of my father’s identity based on his Eastern and Western background, I decided to use the photo weaving technique. The archive of photographs that I had collected, for me, represent the two different cultural backgrounds that my father was experiencing while growing up as a child.

With the photo weaving technique, I was able to combine the captured moments that have shaped his persona and identity as a result of being raised in two completely different cultures.

Two photographs that represent the different upbringings are shredded and weaved together. With the shredding of the images I re-create the fragmentation of a memory. The two photographs are then combined as a weaving. This final abstracted image can be interpreted as a recall of his unconscious being formed through his life experiences in between an Eastern and a Western society.

I am still experimenting with this technique in a variety of ways and also as a starting point for creating other sort of collage works, as I believe it has a lot of potential to work with.

When starting to use this technique, I was also very inspired by the work of Vietnamese American artist Dinh Q. Lê, who uses a similar technique.

All Eyes on Jamal Ahmadzadeh Installation Lethaby Gallery, Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design Wooden installation with print on canvas 250 x 300 cm - 98 x 118 inches 2013

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Regarding All eyes on Jamal Ahmadzadeh!? Is this a continuation of the Memento’s project?

I have called this whole project about my father Memento and I have been approaching it using a variety techniques and presentation ideas for expressing the different concepts within this story.

All eyes on Jamal Ahmadzadeh!? which is an interactive installation involving the viewers is a part of the Memento project.

It was presented as the final piece for my MA degree show at Central Saint Martins.

What are your thoughts on the role of the artist in today’s society?

What I always really liked about being an artist is having the opportunity of

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sharing my thoughts and ideas about the world around me. It has always challenged me try to see everything differently and to express my thoughts and emotions.

Therefore, I believe that artists have always had a great role in shaping the world we live in. They open people’s eyes to different ways of thinking.

Could you tell us a little about the story of Dear mommy and daddy?

Dear mommy and daddy was made in response to the efforts made by my father to stay in contact with his parents over such a great distance. They had to adapt their communication with each other due to a growing difference in language and culture.

The collage is made from the reproduction of the opening line from my father’s letters back home. It is accompanied by a story on audio told by his mother explaining why he was sent to the UK at the young age of three.

Being one of the few international students in his boarding school at the time, he was asked to write a letter to his parents every Sunday.

My grandfather had kept and filed all the letter and copies of his responses (more than a 100) in a file which he has now given to me to keep.

My father was writing his letters in English, while his parents were mostly translating their Farsi letters to English to send to him.

As I was reading through all the letters, I

Dear mommy and daddy Installation Collage 2012

realized that all his letters to his parents have started with the phrase: Dear mommy and daddy.

What was impressive to me was his use of such an intimate phrase, while he was being raised away from his parents and not really experiencing the love of his parents.

The piece is accompanied with the sound of my grandmother in Farsi, telling all the stories of how and why they sent my father to boarding schools.

Being another interactive piece, my aim was that when the non-Farsi speaking viewers are listening to the voice of my grandmother speaking in Farsi, they would get a sense of what my father was experiencing in his relationship as a child with his parents.

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He was trying to communicate and relate to them in English with a very different upbringing and understanding of the world, while his parents were trying to communicate with him with their Farsi language and eastern culture; but they were obstacles that they still managed to overcome.

What are you working on now, and what are your plans for the future?

I am still continuing the research into my family’s history, collecting and expanding my personal archive as I delve deeper.

This is allowing me to expand my private collection to use in different formats for my upcoming works.

I plan to develop the body of work within the Memento project exploring different ways to use my collection. This project is very personal to me so I’m continuing to refine my techniques and finished work to be sensitive to that.

At the same time the works are being exhibited in different exhibitions around the UK.

Tehran At Night SERIES Photography C-Type Print 20 x 20 cm - 8 x 8 inches 2011

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Tehran At Night SERIES Photography C-Type Print 20 x 20 cm - 8 x 8 inches 2011

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Samin Ahmadzadeh is an Iran born artist based in London.

Her background in street photography is combined with the passion of expressing her personal views on sociological and cultural matters of her country Iran.

Her practice continues to evolve with a specific focus on archival collections of her family’s cultural history. With photography as the starting point for her work, Samin is currently developing her practice through further processes into collage, installation and printmaking. http://www.samin-ahmadzadeh.com/

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Tehran At Night SERIES Photography C-Type Print 20 x 20 cm - 8 x 8 inches 2011

PAOLO PUDDU

Could you give us a brief account of your background? How important has your environment been in shaping your work?

I remember trips from Naples (the city where I was born) to Sardinia (my family’s homeland, a wonderful isle in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea): my background is made of these travels through the sea, is linked to silent landscapes, made of spaces where Time is a lie and of questions about identity.

Since ancient times the Mediterranean basin has been a place capable of linking very different cultures and it still weaves together knowledge and traditions.

These are the elements which made up my education and sceneries I create.

Who or what is your biggest influence or inspiration right now?

Nature has always been a source of inspiration for me. I am fascinated by the synergy between Chaos and Cosmos, where every single element contributes to the creation of a collective drawing.

What subjects do you deal with in your art?

My research focuses attention on all those features that are dual and complementary at the same time.

The opposites search continuous solutions to break demarcation lines, and flow into a visual fusion where different truth and infinite solution coexist.

The “TWO” impresses its presence everywhere, all the things appear to show themselves on a binary system, where a protagonist corresponds to an antagonist, a thesis to an antithesis: natural-unnatural, concave-convex, black-white, full-empty, etc. But if you look at two attracting opposite magnets, you can understand that the idea of separation is incorrect, because when you divide something you are giving a partial vision of the whole.

Recently, I have been working on a project (born from Doppia Coppia ) that examines the horizon line, thinking of it as a potential unit of measure. It contains the concept of dichotomy, and summarizes the meaning of entirety and totality.

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Ottorosso Installation Biliard ball, paint and mirror 2012

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Ottorosso Installation Biliard ball, mirror, paint and polaroid photography 2012

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A01_24 Installation Resin, wood, n.2 litography (numbering 1 to 7) Dimensions variable 2012

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This line - which appears and disappears, sometimes remarking a fracture, sometimes camouflaging and dissolving into a monochrome - finds some sort of window you can lean to and reach unity.

So, the duality is seen as a unity, but above all the unity as a phenomenon of the entire creative process.

Talk to us about the full/empty concept that you’ve dealt with some of your works The full/empty concept is very close to sculpting, to the chance of taking the contents off, that is making space and looking for something in that same place.

In musical context, it could be the pause between two notes, or the blank space in/around black letters in writing.

“Empty” leads you to its complementary: “full”.

These two entities are the dialectical weave that builds our reality, they are the components that decide the town planning, the elements that characterize every shape: it’s what oriental philosophy calls yin and yang.

That is to say, empty is to be considered

as a presence, not an absence.

Can you tell us a little about your relationship with nature?

Nature has made the top of perfection. It has created numbers, shapes, images, the concepts of beauty and death.

It’s hard not to think of it as the strongest and the wisest reference point.

I have always been enchanted by observing nature: the hexagon of the bee hives, the slow movement of a growing leaf, the sound of a wave, that, exhausted after a long journey, dies on the beach.

I think that every work of mine derives from a thought about Nature (Untitled, Moon), sometimes using natural elements, such as in A01_24 and Fragile.

Regarding Moon, could you tell us a little about it?

In Untitled, I tried to underline the nonexistence of time, stating that the alternation of day and night is just a shadow effect among planets.

Moon is something similar. It reflects again on misleading abilities that Nature gave us which we consider to be the

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Spritual America HD Video duration 4’28” 2011

Doll #1 Site-specific installation on sliding door Fiberglass 2014/2015

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single truth. We know the moon shines of reflected light, but we perceive the image of a shining disc; this truth is influenced by our point of view: if you look from the space, even the Earth would shine of reflected light.

The first time I thought about Moon, I wanted to create a work which included such ambiguity, which included more than a meaning,

Doll Installation Metal Dimensions variable 2014/2015

which was word and image, image and object. During the last exhibition at Spazio Casabianca in Bologna, a kid approached asking me why I had divided my work in two parts, black and white. It was clear he couldn’t read English, his gaze went beyond lingual conventions, he did not recognize the word but he saw the image. This is the proof that the work did function.

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Doppia coppia (double couple) Sculpture Metal 2014/2015

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Can you briefly explain your process, how do you begin working on a new piece?

I just couldn’t say when a piece of art comes out.I believe that in my case a process of metabolized experiences made of months - or even years - before, turned into images.

My work is made of collecting colours, smells, flavours, faces; it consists of being attentive to what happens to me or around me. Sometimes you are more receptive, more well-disposed to receive information you can work on.

I really do not follow an etiquette, I’d rather say the opposite: I like wait! I just wait!

I can spend entire days in my studio creating nothing. It’s hard to explain even to myself, at times, but later you can see how those moments were necessary during the creation process.

In your Doll series, the “Matryoshka Dolls” are represented by a set of objects placed one inside another, from which you tear and reassemble into new forms. Could you tell us something about the concept of this art form? And what do you hope viewers of your

work will take away from it?

Doll is a project I really care about.

It shows a kind of exploded architectural view, ready to reveal circumstances, images and tales that narrate themselves in a continuous catharsis.

In its stratification, Doll creates a relationship between a microcosm and a macrocosm: single in numerous, numerous into single.

It invites us not to stop at the surface of things, but to observe reality as a whole, as an entirety, to examine all the space, where every single element is linked somehow to another one, in a mutual relation.

What do you think is the role of contemporary artists in society?

The artist has always been contemporary to his time, maybe a step forward: maybe never contemporary?

Through his strong sensitivity (able to perceive the ultrasounds from the society he lives in), the artist continues to play the role of sentinel, promoter and educator. He can locate the alternative to methodical behaviour and thanks to his work of art he makes you understand there is no absolute truth, but different possible ways you can pursue.

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Paolo Puddu was born in Naples, Italy (1986) where he currently lives and works.

He studied visual arts at the Academy of Fine Arts in Naples receiving the Master in sculpture (2012).

In 2012 he studied at the “Akademie der Bildenden Kunste” in Munich (Germany).

In the same year - at the 5° National Competition - he was the recipient of a scholarship for artistic research and he took part at workshop/residency in Fondazione Furla, Bologna (Italy).

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Recent Exhibition of his work includes a solo show at the Bartoli-Felter Foundation in Cagliari (Italy) and numerous group exhibitions: Imago Mundi collection for L.Benetton (Italy), Space Casabianca in Bologna (Italy), n.i.na at PAN museum of Naples (Italy), A01_24 at the “Akademie der Bildenden Kunste” in Munich (Germany). His practice spans sculpture, video, installation and photography.

Currently he is involved in art teaching. http://www.paolopuddu.net

Moon Installation Stencil, inner tube and neon Dimensions variable 2014

RYOTA MATSUMOTO

Can you tell us about your background and artistic path?

I was born in Tokyo and spent the better part of 70s living in Hong Kong.

I received a Master of Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania in 2007 after studying at the Architectural Association in London and the Mackintosh School of Architecture, Glasgow School of Art in 90’s. During my undergraduate study, I acquired basic drawing skills, especially acrylic, ink and etching. I also took courses on modern art history around the same time. I only got to know about all the digital techniques like generative art, 3D visualization and parametric design much later, while at graduate school.

Certainly architecture, in particular, has greatly influenced your work as an artist. Which aspects of architecture have been the most important in your artistic research?

I am always influenced by the spatiotemporal conditions of our ever-evolving urban and built environments. The whole nature of cities can be characterized by dichotomy and contrapuntal relationship

among organic and inorganic, structural and amorphous as well as small objects and large structures. These seemingly polar opposite elements could integrate with each other and morph into totally new structures of the spatial and temporal variations in my paintings.

Can you tell us of anything else that has influenced your work?

I have a penchant for early experimental and electroacoustic music. I am always intrigued by the experimental composers’ approach in which the boundaries between electronic and acoustic sounds tend to be blurred. I am especially attracted to this notion of merging and juxtaposing seemingly irreconcilable or contradictory elements. This approach often transcends said boundaries and alters our perception of music in a profound way. I reckon we could apply the same formula to visual art.

How would you describe your artistic approach?

I explore the hybrid/multi-layered process as my artistic approach, where varying scale, juxtaposition of different

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Every Thought Emits the Ghost of a Gesture Mixed Media 118 x 73 cm - 46 x 29 inches 2014

Multicellular Vortex Field Mixed Media 42 x 59 cm - 17 x 23 inches 2014

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forms, intertwined textures/tones and visual metamorphosis are applied to question the nature of representation in both art and architecture.

ANIMAL PHARM #8 collage on paper 30 x 22 inches - 76 x 56 cm 2014

Can you comment on your painting series and the ideas behind it?

How did this project come about?

I believe one of the most important aspects of creating art is intuition and the other aspect is one’s personal experience and individual background. In my case, my over twenty years’ experience in architecture and urban design play the pivotal role in my creative process and inspiration.

With most of my work, I am inspired by the relationship of people to architecture in contemporary urban settings and also captured the snapshot of the rapid changes of cityscapes with the depiction of various forms in the assembly and disassembly procedures.

Tell us a little bit about your process in creating a piece of art; how do you begin working on a piece?

My working process tends to be often spontaneous. It is almost improvisational in some way. I sometimes piece together fragments of drawings that I’ve accumulated over a few weeks.

Surviving in the Multidimensional Space of Cognitive Dissonance Mixed Media 80 x 110 cm - 31 x 43 inches 2014 the High Overdrive and Its Undefinable Consequence Mixed Media 79 x 119 cm - 31 x 47 inches 2014

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Indistinct Notion of an Object Trajectory 75 x 56 cm - 29 x 22 inches 2014

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I, myself couldn’t predict how things turn out. Therefore, I am less preoccupied with technical and compositional issues in such kind of situation.

I also work in more methodical and conventional manner, too. In such cases, the basic lines, curves and multi-dimensional forms are created by algorithmic and generative processes in an early stage.

Then they are reconfigured with traditional painting techniques that add layers of colors, textures and details to compositions.

What made you choose mixed media as your medium?

There is a myriad of possibilities with mixed media and this allows me to take a different and varied approach to every individual artwork.

The most interesting aspect of mixed media or so-called hybrid drawing technique is that it allows us to achieve variety in both expression and materiality. It is also the best way to discover different materials that don’t necessarily belong to my area of specialization. By allowing myself to search for “discordant” unity by bringing various, disperate media together, this experimentation sometimes results in opening up undiscovered territories in my works. At any rate, it is the most appropriate media to explore and achieve multi-dimentional effects on the two-dimentional realm to me.

Can you tell about any plans you might have for the future?

I have several collaborative projects with a composer, designers and architects in the pipeline. There are also several group exhibitions in both Europe and the States this year.

Pharse-shifted Ember Mixed Media 60 x 45 cm - 24 x 18 inches 2014 Untitled Mixed Media 59 x 42 cm - 23 x 16 inches 2013 Untitled Mixed Media 42 x 65 cm - 16 x 26 inches 2013

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Ryota Matsumoto is an artist, designer and urban planner. Born in 1972, Ryota was raised in Hong Kong and Japan.

He received Master of Architecture from University of Pennsylvania in 2007 after studying at Architectural Association in London and Mackintosh School of Architecture, Glasgow School of Art in early 90’s. His art and built work are featured in numerous publications and exhibitions internationally.

His current interest gravitates around the embodiment of cultural possibilities in art, architecture, and urban topography.

The artworks of Ryota Matsumoto develop and demonstrate the hybrid/multi-layered process, where varying scale, juxtaposition of different forms, intertwined textures/tones are applied to reflect the spatio-temporal conditions of our ever-evolving urban and ecological environments. They are created to act as the catalyst for defining speculative changes in our notions of cities, socities and cultures. http://ryotamatsumotostudio.blogspot.it/

Perpetual Motion Machine Mixed Media 82 x 55 cm - 32 x 22 inches 2014

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SOFIE ELANA HODARA

How did you get into art?

I was raised by creative types: artists, writers, and scientists on both sides of the family. So in many ways my interest in the arts was a natural by-product of my upbringing.

Barry Nemett, a professor I had while studying in Italy, said, “You don’t choose art. It chooses you.” I agree: I didn’t have a choice. In college, I wanted to study philosophy. I was interested in history, logic, and the classic existential themes that plague all youth. But once I took a painting course, I never made it to the philosophy classes. My studio practice was all-consuming and there weren’t enough hours in the day to feed it. My most trusted companions were the Matisse, Diebenkorn, and Guston books in the Fine Arts library on campus. I spent my weekends wandering in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, sitting for hours in

the Cy Twombly room and staring deep into the Barnett Newman’s stripe paintings on view. There wasn’t time for anything else.

Could you talk about your interest in new media art?

Up until my early twenties, I was solely interested in painting from life. I loved looking, re-seeing, and translating the world into shape and color. Then, in 2010, I started working for artist Wendy Richmond on her show Overheard, at CALIT2, USCD, and my outlook began to shift.

First, the show opened my eyes to what working in other media could offer. The installation used halves of cell phone conversations, overheard by Richmond at various Starbucks around Manhattan. The conversations, which ranged from suspenseful (“Lisa called me. She was all in a panic.”) to funny (“I had salsa, which has

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ihear Interactive Installation dimensions variable Installation shot at CyberArts, Boston MA 2014

no calories whatsoever…”), demonstrated the carelessness with which people reveal intimate aspects of their lives in urban public spaces.

The exhibition included a floor-to-ceiling system of pulleys that, when manipulated, changed the kerning and location of large projected type. I remember being surprised by the force required to pull one of the pulleys. The letterforms seemed to take on an unfamiliar fleshy existence – one that brought to mind the entirety of their pre-Gutenberg history. As an artist, this experience was pivotal. My focus started moving from form to concept, and I began to see the potential in entirely new tools and vocabularies.

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What are your artistic influences?

Most influential to UBIQ and my interactive pieces is the work of Krystof Wodiczko, which is consistently as beautiful as it is thought-provoking.

His conceptual logic is incredibly elegant: the work unfolds, opening layer upon layer of meaning packed into every decision.

I’m also inspired by artists who engage with the public through a mischievous and humorous type of subversion - like the Yes Men or Jacob Bakkila. Those artists aren’t always laugh-out-loud funny; in their most profound moments they use humor to subtly reveal the familiar as an exotic, almost uncomfortable, punch line.

ihear Interactive Installation dimensions variable 2014

When observing your works, your interest in the mechanisms of communication immediately becomes evident. Can you explain this aspect of your research?

Like most artists, I question everything. So I am constantly pushing up against the limitations of whatever language I am employing.

When I went to graduate school, I decided to make that a focus of my work; I shifted from printmaking and painting to exploring the social and cultural impact of changes in communication technologies.

UBIQ became the central narrative to this exploration. His projects, along with the interactive installations iHear and

iTones, highlight the human as an active force in shaping the cultural impact of new technologies. Though society may be at the whim of consumer-driven-designer-marketing schemes, and the algorithmic systems of surveillance that follow suit, humans have the persistent and amazing ability to find beauty in the world around them. My projects consider how we choose to hear a ringtone: as an intrusive alert or a musical form.

On the flip side, System and Process for – prints and drawings created from iconography taken from contemporary patents – are about, among many things, the inescapable effect of the “mechanism.”

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iTones Interactive Installation Dimensions variable (wearable) 2014

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These pieces allow me to reimagine the patent infrastructure, not as meticulous or technical, but as intimate, organic, and nuanced.

In my studio practice, I differentiate the “mechanisms of communication” from the content of the message. This allows my work to explore the relationship between the two, along with the repercussions of technological changes in communication mechanisms. But when you create a binary like I’ve done, it’s easy to fall into the McLuhan trap and find yourself asking: how much is the medium the message? I have to remind myself that the two are often the same, interdependent and interchangeable.

What other themes are you working on?

I am interested in gender politics, as gender has a large impact on how my work is received. Before UBIQ, my ideas were sometimes dismissed as feminine – “felt,” “sensitive,” “vague” – instead,

iTones Interactive Installation Dimensions variable (wearable) 2014

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The Perfect Human Application iPhone application prototype 2013

recognized as nuanced and exploratory.

Presenting the same concepts through UBIQ changed the dialogue surrounding my work. Instead of being asked “What’s the point?” I was asked, “What’s next?”

Perhaps this is cheating; in order to be heard, I was bypassing my gender, instead of fighting its challenges. But then I took UBIQ as a lover, and I stopped feeling so guilty.

Recently I have become interested in symmetry. I gravitate to the balance offered by a symmetrical design and how it can be both dynamic and still. Further, my choice to work by hand, as opposed to using the computer, highlights the impossibility of absolute balance: the two sides of my compositions differ slightly from each other, and the referent can never be reproduced in its totality.

Physical beauty is a priority in my work – not just pleasing design, but imagery and objects that transcend their material form. This is the point of art: to stun, to evoke, and to mystify, all in a glance.

One aspect of you work that I find particularly interesting is your research on interactions: with the exhibition space, between the audience and the artwork, and often availing technology, like in iHear, iTones, UBIQ... Can you give us a brief account of these artworks and their connections with their subject matters? iHear, iTones, and the interventions of UBIQ are all what I call Soundings.

Soundings are examples of audio-de

tournement featuring recognizable cell phone ringtones.

Usually heard as nagging intrusions, the ringtones, in their new context within the Sounding, are transformed into melody.

On one hand, the Soundings comment on the ritualization of ringtones in contemporary society as a new kind of pop, but, as you pointed out, they also are investigations into interactive design. iTones and iHear are iterations of the same project: they are both interactive instruments designed for the gallery.

They offer the participant the ability to harmonize with what appear to be evocative abstract noises, but with prolonged engagement, reveal themselves as the ringtones.

Using a hidden Kinect in the gallery, iTones transform the user’s body, specifically his or her arms and legs, into a musical interface. However, despite the beautiful PD-patch featured in this system, iTones falls short as an experience.

With only audio feedback, it leaves participants flailing about as they try to understand the sounds coming through their private headphones. In other words, the interactive system failed; it did not provide enough information for participants to tie specific body movements to specific sound manipulations.

Unlike iTones, iHear gives the concept a working interface. Using a similar PDpatch and another hidden computer, the Harry Potter novel-sized dark box offers participants both visual and audio feedback. The reflective black plexiglass,

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with its subtle laser-etched designs, is both minimalist and enticing. The box bears an uncanny resemblance to a rotary telephone: blue LEDs glow in place of numbers, and the face tilts upward at a familiar angle, subtly asking for participants’ hands.

Not surprisingly, watching gallery goers play with the theremin-like music box has taught me quite a bit. I have been delighted by how viewers share. They put headphones on companions and compose for them, demonstrating how various gestures affect the sounds. The piece seems to speak to the innate curiosity of its participants, as well as to their ability to discover through creative listening.

While iHear and iTones are designed for the gallery, UBIQ and his interventions are the backdrop for those designs. He takes these concepts outside of the

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practical realm – the challenge of attracting viewers, for one – and into the streets.

His audience doesn’t get a choice. UBIQ intervenes without permission – a brutal reminder of the lack of control and safety we have in our digital world.

Could you comment on The Perfect Human Application?

Is there a connection between this work and Jørgen Leth’s Det perfekte menneske film?

The application was indeed inspired as an update to the Jorgen Leth 1967 short The Perfect Human. For me, Leth was not investigating the qualities of “perfect functioning,” but asking: What is perfect(ly) human? What universal, timeless, and philosophical themes define humanity?

The perfect protagonist in the film desires to understand the standalone “I” that

The Apple Bomber 2014

he is, and longs, out of fear of inevitable death, for the companionship of others.

The Perfect Human Application – a social networking application – is a satirical commentary on Leth’s questioning. The application reflects the nature of companionship and loneliness in a landscape drastically shaped by digital media.

It works by tracking and aggregating the quantity of a user’s digital interactions on social media (the number of Facebook “likes,” Instagram “followers,” and “endorsements” on Linkedin, etc.) throughout the day in order to generate a Perfect Human Score. The score allows users to compare their perfection to others, and track their progress towards perfection, i.e., a greater (or lesser) quantity than yesterday.

This process metaphorically turns the user into a set of dynamic data, reducing his or her perfection, self-worth, and success into glance-able numerals.

The pervasive game-ification of life, found in most of our digital spaces, may be fun and competitive, but users often forget that on the other side of those numbers is another human, with the potential for companionship. It reveals a user whose focus is on quantity not quality, on scoring rather than experiencing, thereby conflating companionship and solitude. While each score represents a potential sating of the need for quality companionship, it is, instead, distanced from this possibility through the presence of the screen – reflecting only its own user’s face in the darkened glass.

Do you think your practice or work has changed much in the last few years?

And if so, how?

My work has changed drastically in both content and form. But what’s more fascinating to me is how my studio practice has continued to grow. In the past few years, it has become a lot easier to listen to my work.

Could you tell us what you are working on now, and what your plans are for the future?

Recently I started making paper weavings using iconography from two specific patents.

Both use drones; one is Amazon’s “Unmanned Aerial Delivery Service” (US 20150120094) and the other (US 8715756 B2), a bit more obscure, details a process for collecting and preparing glacial water for distribution.

At the moment, I’m prepping for largescale weavings derived these patents.

There is so much art to be made. But I have very little control over what comes out. For that, only time will tell.

Black Friday Video still Duration 0:44” 2014

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Hodara is a new media artist. Her work furthers her belief in the importance of both visual literacy and algorithmic transparency to better enable the public to understand the sophisticated communication and information systems with which they engage.

Underlying her interest in these issues is a commitment to a critical examination of the porous boundary between people and machines. She does not feel strongly about the singularity. http://sofiehodara.com/

iTones Prototype User testing at the Dynamic Media Institute, Boston, MA 2013

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