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The Visual Artists’ News Sheet
July – August 2009
INTERNATIONAL Profile I had been in contact with the programme director / curator of Test! and the secretary by email for a number of weeks leading up to the event. Much of the organising was completed in advance of our arrival in Zagreb, with accommodation, meals and airport transfer arrangements provided. We were met at the airport by the secretary along with a number of volunteers who transported us to our accommodation and provided us with a welcome information pack, which included the exhibition programme, maps and traditional Croatian souvenirs. We were assigned a volunteer who was available as our guide to bring us throughout the city for the duration of our stay. The following morning our guide came to collect us and escort us to the galleries and student centre, which was the festival base. We met with the programme director and discussed the final arrangements for the installation of the work in the space. That night the festival opening was hosted at a bar located in the festival centre. A learning experience for me was realising the importance of ensuring that all the instructions provided to the event organisers are fully understood. On arrival, I discovered that the sound element of my installation had been overlooked. The programme director appeared to have been unaware that any sound was to be installed when we met, even though this had been outlined by me in emailed instructions. In hindsight, it would have been better if we had followed up on my full final summary of requirements, with a phone Sinéad Curran, Who, What, installation view, SC Gallery, Zagreb.
conversation. I was also unaware that once the projectors were installed on the ceiling it would prove more difficult to introduce the sound equipment, but luckily at the time of my arrival they had not been installed yet. The festival was attended by students from universities in Belgrade, Skopje, Ljubljana, Sarajevo, Pristina, Sofia, Zagreb, UK and two from Ireland. The festival took place from 31 March until 4 April 2009, with an opening event on 31 March – and DJs sessions were organised in the student centre bar for each night of the festival. The
Elaine Hurley, Untitled, SC Gallery, Zagreb.
opening event may however have worked much better had the visual art exhibition opened the same night as the rest of the festival, instead this opened the following day. My work was exhibited at SC Gallery, with other artists exhibiting in this space including Elaine Hurley, Roxanne Billamboz, Nevena Petro Pilizota, Vesna Rohacek, Natalijia Cosic and Gordana Ciric. Elaine Hurley’s video installation Untitled, conveyed domestic tensions, through the repetition of looks and the ‘silent dialogue’ of body language. The work was based on the notion of home as an arena where subtle psychological power struggles are played out between men and women. Roxanne Billamboz’s video Remixes Tapes, explored cinematic conventions and the evocation of human loneliness. Nevena Petro Pilizota’s video installation Regusta, considered the ‘objectification’ Natalijia Cosic & Gordana Ciric, Documentary film, SC Gallery, Zagreb.
Nevena Petra Pilizota, Regesta, installation, SC Gallery, Zagreb.
Experiments and Tests Sinead Curran reports on ‘Test! 9+10’ an International Festival of Theatre and Multimedia held annually in Zagreb, Croatia (31March – 4 April 2009)
of the perception. Vesna Rohacek’s photographs – entitled Kapelanka’s Story, were based on the artist’s experience of living in Kapelanka, Krakow. Natalijia Cosic and Gordana Ciric’s Documentary Film focused on the village of Bolijev Dol, in the Stara Mountain, Serbia, where there are only two men left living. Performance and theatre events also took place throughout each day and night in venues throughout the festival centre. I attended a daytime performance Counting Footsteps by Phonebox Theatre – a group of UK performance artists – on the first day, and on the second day I witnessed a memorable night-time performance by two Slovenian
, an annual international festival of theatre and multimedia
Zagreb has a population of one million and has seen rapid
actresses, entitled Vjecna Medikacija (Endless Medication). The audience
work that takes place in Zagreb each year, was founded in 2000.
development of the economy and transportation over the last decade
for Vjecna Medikacija were in hysterics – the work according to the
Originally set up as a festival for Croatian student work, the event has
or more. The centre is connected by an excellent tram system. The city
press release was “the story of Rosa, a girl who cannot weep, [...] gets a
since grown to become an international project. Test! brings together
is often called the museum city, reason being that the number of
visit from God, who tells her the new messiah is growing in her large
European and Croatian theatre, dance, performance; and more recently
museums per square meter in Zagreb is larger than in any other city in
intestine” (2). While I couldn’t understand the dialogue, the dramatic
music and multimedia artists who are at the beginning of their
the world. It has an excellent selection of museums and modern
outbursts from the audience and the onstage scenes more than made
creative careers. Test! is a member of the world student theatre
galleries, with a strong contemporary art scene. Since the Croatian
up for this.
organisation AITU / IUTA – and its aims include the promotion the
people achieved their independence in 1991, Zagreb became a capital,
Overall, the exhibition was very well-organised with frequent
creative potential of young artists in a non-competitive, thought-
a political and administrative centre for the Republic of Croatia, and
communication by email during the lead up to the show. However, I
provoking environment. It also promotes exchange projects bringing
the government has recently provided much of it arts funding to
do feel that there could have been more cohesion, between the visual
together art institutes and independent artists, and hosts conferences
Zagreb for this reason.
arts programme and the other strands of the festival. For example an
Test!
(1)
and workshops.
My proposal included the display of a two-channel video
introductory event where all the participants could have met would
In 2004 a multimedia programme was integrated into the festival,
installation, originally entitled Where Do I Belong, but as the work
have been beneficial. Nonetheless my experience of being a part of
allowing for the works of visual artists to be exhibited. My participation
developed it was renamed to Who, What. This installation comprised
Test! was a very positive one; and I especially appreciated the help of
in Test! 9+10 festival came about after I responded to an open
two projections, which were displayed side by side into corner walls. It
the volunteers and guides who offered great support and assistance.
submission call at the end of last year, for visual artists to submit
was important that the work was displayed in this way, as both
moving image works under the theme of ‘communication’. I received
projections were based on the same concepts idealism and uncertainty;
confirmation in January that my proposal was accepted. I also
Who, the original footage and What, the reconstructed footage. My
discovered that my peer and friend, artist Elaine Hurley was also
intention was to test out using the exhibition space, the social
accepted. This was a great opportunity for both of us to bring our work
concerns addressed in the original footage against the reconstructed
to an international platform.
footage.
Sinead Curran Notes 1. www.testhr.com 2. Test! Programme: 7