CONTEMPORARYARTREVIEW Installation • Painting • Mixed media • Drawing • Performance • Public Art • Drawing • Video art • Fine Art Photography Biennial Edition Special Edition A work by Natalia Irina Roman (Berlin, Germany) RYO KAJTANI PEY-CHWEN LIN HEATHER BEARDSLEY NIKA HAM KAY LEIGH FARLEY SHANKAR LESTREHAN SHIR HANDELSMAN NATASHA VON BRAUN NATALIA IRINA ROMAN Installation Flying Ships, at Prachtsaal Neukölln. Photo by Roland Siegloff
CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Making of Eve Clone I Digital Image and Sound, 3D Animation, Dimensions Variable 2016 A work by Pey-Chwen Lin
Peripheral eries CONTEMPORARYARTREVIEW Lives and works in Berlin, Germany Lives and works in Moscow, Russia Lives and works in the United States Lives and works in Ljubljana, Slovenia Lives and works in Paris and in Brussels Lives and works in the United States Lives and works in Japan Lives and works in Taiwan lives and works in Tel Aviv, Israel 3 Contents TREVI Special thanks to: Michael Betancourt, Teresa Wells, Jared Schaffer, Jean-Claude Bise, Ashley Cassens, Hildy Maze, Karissa Hahn, Juliana Pepper, Jane Sheiko, Max Savold, Julia Überreiter, Deborah Esses, Margaret Noble, Joseph Goddard, Nathalie Borowski, Marco Visch, Xavier Blondeau, J.D. Doria, Matthias Callay, Luiza Zimerman, Kristina Sereikaite, Scott D'Arcy, Kalli Kalde, Carla Forte, Mathieu Goussin, Evie Zimmer, Dorothee Zombronner, Olga Karyakina, Robert Hamilton, Isabel Becker, Clare Haxby, Carrie Alter, Jessica Bingham, Agnieszka Ewa Braun, Fabian Freese, Elodie Abergel, Ellen van der Schaaf, Courtney Henderson and Francine LeClercq Special Issue 4 110 58 184 Nika Ham Natalia Irina Roman Kay Leigh Farley Heather Beardsley
SPECIAL ISSUE 4 Hello Natalia and welcome to Peripheral ARTeries. Before starting to elaborate about your artistic production we would like to invite our readers to visit http://nataliairinaroman.eu in order to get a wide idea about your artistic production and we would start this interview with a couple of introductory questions. You have a solid formal training and after having graduated from Bard College Berlin, in Installation Art you nurtured your education with a Master in Public Policy and you are about to achieve your artistic Ph.D in Fine Arts, from the prestigious BauhausUniversität Weimar: how did those formative years influence your evolution as an artist and help you to develop your attitude to experiment? Moreover, how does your cultural substratum due to your Romanian roots and your current life in Germany direct the trajectory of your current artistic research? My eclectic background is certainly the result of a journey spanned over many years and different cities. I have developed into a professional working across various fields, from conceptual and strategy work of transforming spaces, to text and complex mixed media art designed context specifically for various locations. Working interdisciplinary has particularly helped my work in and with the public space – a place where so many different fields intersect, from city planning, architecture to political aspects. I have been living in Germany for many years now, I am both a Romanian and German citizen, although I primarily identify myself as a citizen of Europe. Mircea Roman (https://vimeo.com/7360467), the brother Natalia Irina Roman Lives and works in Berlin, Germany Peripheral ARTeries meets My work is process driven, meaning prior research fuels my installation making, covering architecture, a sense of place or narratives of places and of people. I work with mixed materials, sometimes found at the location, other times materials that we cannot fully control, like the wind. The complex intricate processes of the making lead eventually to strong visual components in their end results. Sometimes living sculptures, including plants, or breathing works, set in motion by the passer by, participative art pieces or documentaries, my projects highlight the potential of spaces (sometimes) hidden in front of our eyes. My installations re-integrate objects and places into the visible landscape morphology and re-define them. An interview by Dario Rutigliano, curator and Melissa C. Hilborn, curator [email protected] agazine Special Edition Contemporary Art Peripheral eries
Natalia in a former signal tower. Photo by Patrick Düren.
SPECIAL ISSUE 6 of my father, a sculptor working internationally, has always been a source of inspiration for my artistic work in the sense of valuing a strong visual dimension of art works, complementing the conceptual one. On a different note, through my work in the cultural field and exhibition curation and organization, for example at the MartinGropius-Bau exhibition centre in Berlin, I have gotten in touch with several other contemporary artists, whose work I admire, such as Mona Hatoum or Rebecca Horn. For this special edition of Peripheral ARTeries we have selected Along the Lines, an interesting project that our readers have already started to get to know in the introductory pages of this article and that can be viewed at https://vimeo.com/297415570. Along the Lines is a work at the scale of the city, re-activating with installation art former signal towers of the German railway, at several stations around Berlin, and we have been particularly impressed with the way it highlights the potential of spaces, to provide the viewers with such a multilayered visual experience: when walking our readers through your usual workflow and process, we would like to ask you how did you develop the initial idea for Along the Lines. Currently, the former signal towers progressively lose their initial function of safe guarding the train travel and are left without a new function, given their vicinity to the railway tracks. I have noticed these silent spaces years ago, by chance, and this curiosity was at the beginning of the project. Along the lines (http://nataliairinaroman.eu/along-thelines/) is primarily about the trains of our agazine Special Edition Contemporary Art Peripheral eries
7 SPECIAL ISSUE Natalia Irina Roman eries Contemporary Art Peripheral agazine Installation Flying Ships, at Prachtsaal Neukölln. Photo by Roland Siegloff.
SPECIAL ISSUE 8 agazine Special Edition Contemporary Art Peripheral eries Installation Asphalt Grün, at Peter-Behrens-Halle. Photo by Natalia.
9 SPECIAL ISSUE Natalia Irina Roman eries agazine Contemporary Art Peripheral every day, about trains taking us to school or to work, and how in this automated context we often do not notice the city details anymore. Along the lines is a platform for arts in public space, along the railway lines, seen from the passing by trains and from the train platforms. This project converts the former signal towers of the German Railway (Deutsche Bahn) into spaces for arts, accessible to over a million travelers daily with the Berlin S-Bahn. Last year, in cooperation with Deutsche Bahn, the S-Bahn Museum and Hauptstadtkulturfonds, among others, I have successfully organized an exhibition, through which the vicinity of the former towers to the busy railway in Berlin became an advantage. We daresay that Along the Lines can be considered a combination between understanding reality and hinting at the potential of unknown: we daresay that your artistic practice seems to aim to look inside of what appear to be seen, rather than its surface, providing the spectatorship with freedom to realize their own perception. How important is for you to invite the viewers to elaborate personal meanings? And in particular, how open would you like your artworks to be understood? The invitation to imagination comes especially from the unseen components, included in the works I have designed for Along the Lines. For the first exhibition, I focussed on the interior of the former signal towers, and I have installed my works in such a manner, as to be seen from outside, through the windows of the buildings. This means that parts of the interiors remained out of sight, which created an open space, it created rooms of possibilities beyond the
Natalia on The Potential of Disused Railway Spaces, at Nicolaihaus. Photo by Ekaterina Bodyagina.
SPECIAL ISSUE 12 agazine Special Edition Contemporary Art Peripheral eries world that we otherwise acknowledge. I have decided to use light for the installations in order to be able to transition from a dormant space to a lively space and back, several times a day. The light installations activate the former towers and go on and off at different times, surprising the passerby. I had also included in my installations Natalia's tour on Transformed Spaces, at the former Beelitz Hospital. Photo by Natalia.
eries Contemporary Art Peripheral Natalia Irina Roman agazine 13 SPECIAL ISSUE elements connected to the context of the spaces – for example, water, given the vicinity to water of two of the former towers, or a tree, given the meaning of the mulberry trees in the history of this place and the 1500 mulberry trees, which were planted by Friedrich II back then; one can still visit today the only remaining mulberry tree, Interior of a former signal tower. Photo by Natalia.
SPECIAL ISSUE 14 out of the original 1500; having had such an important meaning associated with this tree, in the history of this place, it was important to me to reference it, and that is why I had included a tree in one of the former towers. The natural, organic elements, the tree, the water or the snow, are meant to set a contrast to the former technical buildings. Along the Lines has drawn heavily from the specifics of Berlin's urban landscape: how did you consider the relationship between the idea of urban space and your artistic research? One of Berlin's beauties – in my eyes – is its eclectic architecture. My city has been an unfolding muse for my work (https://www.spottedbylocals.com/blog/48- hours- berlin-like-local/) and I made sure to look into its many pockets. If you take the Ring Bahn – the circle line – and stay on board for a full roundabout, you will see how different neighborhoods appear as different cities all together. Out of the S-Bahn I have noticed many buildings along the railway, which seemed out of use, and I became curious about their status – especially in a city like Berlin, dealing with an ongoing crisis of space. Given the scarcity of space that Berlin is dealing with, I was even more surprised to find out that some spaces belonging to the Deutsche Bahn are indeed not used, some for security reasons. This is how I have researched the status of the former signal towers and learned about the limitations they face, given their vicinity to the railway. Along the Lines is thus the pilot exhibition through which I have successfully tested the suitability of my working method with these spaces, allowing their transformation. agazine Special Edition Contemporary Art Peripheral eries
15 SPECIAL ISSUE eries Contemporary Art Peripheral Natalia Irina Roman agazine Installation for Along the Lines, at the former signal tower EM. Photo by Natalia.
SPECIAL ISSUE 16 agazine Special Edition Contemporary Art Peripheral eries Installation for Along the Lines, at the former signal tower ERK. Photo by Stefan Maria Rother.
Your works are often structured in order to provide the viewers with an immersive, almost surrounding visual experience: what were you aesthetic decisions in relationship to the exhibition space, in order to provide them with such visual qualities? Moreover, did you aim to provide Along the Lines with allegorical qualities? My works are the result of my research of the context where the exhibition takes place this includes architecture, the immediate and further away surroundings, the history of the space, other narratives relevant for the particular place, people I meet in this context and their stories. For Along the Lines there are several restrictions I had to obey to, with respect to the railway traffic security – I could not use certain colors for my light installations, such as for example red, because of its meaning in the railway traffic – but above all, also with respect to a lengthy bureaucratic process to obtain the permissions from the Deutsche Bahn to use the buildings for exhibitions. While my concept brought along a certain degree of security – since the visitors did not enter the disused buildings – the aesthetic advantages proved to be overwhelming. This concept transformed a weakness of the spaces – the vicinity to the railway tracks – into their strength – the many travelers passing by daily have suddenly become an audience. The installations I have designed for Along the Lines were charged with metaphors – the thread of the works was lyrical and transformed the former towers into mysterious spaces along the railway. The deciphering was left to the viewers. Despite eries Contemporary Art Peripheral Natalia Irina Roman agazine 17 SPECIAL ISSUE
Installation Shipwreck, at District Berlin. Photo by Mariela Apollonio.
SPECIAL ISSUE 12 agazine Special Edition Contemporary Art Peripheral eries Installation Halle 125, at Reinbeckhallen. Photo by Andrea D'Auria.
21 SPECIAL ISSUE eries Contemporary Art Peripheral Natalia Irina Roman agazine the complex conceptual level of my works, my art includes also many visual components. This is important to me in order to open up more dialogues channels with the viewers, who if they choose to, can dig deeper into the research that is backing up the work. As Bachelard describes, in his book “Poetics of Space”, a closed drawer is far more interesting than an open one, irrespectively of the beauties that are revealed when eventually opened, because once you see what it is inside, you stop imagining other possibilities. The former signal towers stayed closed for the Along the Lines exhibition, and allow, thus, more possible imagined scenarios in the eyes of the viewers. As you have remarked once, your practice re-integrates objects and places into the visible landscape morphology and re-defines them: how does your everyday life's experience fuel your creative process? The borders between my art work and my every day are blurry. I get sometimes inspired by details I notice while walking down the street or by taking the subway. Every day objects that we know so well, like for example, a paper boat, a chair or a key, I particularly find fascinating to work with – since the viewers can easily relate to these familiar objects; in my works I re-frame such objects, place them in another context, in order to put them in another light, either to make them (more) visible or to equip them with additional meanings. One can get a glimpse into bits of my every day and my work through my instagram account (www.instagram.com/sitespecificideas). I have always been a fan of trains and train travels and it was from a train that I have first noticed the former signal towers. I was fascinated by these dormant spaces, with an eclectic architecture, too close to the railway tracks to be part of the rest of the world. It is no wonder that I have started more and more to focus on the public space in my work, since making art accessible to diverse audiences has always been important to me, I mean including audiences, who would not usually go visit a museum. The process of looking is as equally important, since there are so many different ways of looking at something, that we think we already know so well. Alexandra Horowitz has written a book on this topic, called “On Looking: Eleven walks with expert eyes” - the same every day block, seen with different eyes, transforms suddenly into different worlds. You often work with mixed materials, sometimes found at the location. Photographer and sculptor Zoe Leonard once stated, "the objects that we leave behind hold the marks and the sign of our use: like archeological findings, they reveal so much about us". We’d love to ask you about the qualities of the materials that you include in your artworks: how do you select them and what does you address to combine found materials? While at the beginning of my work I have
agazine Special Edition Contemporary Art Peripheral eries mainly used video, the video was often more than just a two dimensional projection, and it has occupied certain parts of the space. In one of my first projects I have created a lyrical portrait of Berlin's many districts, by recording the abandoned Christmas trees on the streets, in a video installation, which I designed site specifically for the Plattenvereinigung, in Peter- Behrens-Halle. Even then, I have included other objects into my installation, like furniture found in the city, analogue to the found trees. In Asphalt Grün (http://nataliairinaroman.eu/asphalt-grun/), same as in Along the Lines, the unseen in the every day public space played a central role: I had filmed the abandoned Christmas trees throughout all Berlin neighborhoods, to make the invisible trees visible again, since most of the Berliners did not notice them anymore, once Christmas was over. With time, my creative process has become more complex and it often includes objects found at the exhibition locations or stories of the people met in these contexts. Such elements engulf stories about the particular spaces themselves, in a way, that a constructed object could not. These objects become archives of their locations. On the other hand, I have become increasingly interested in materials that we control less. The wind set in motion the installation I have designed, with hundreds and hundreds of paper boats (http://nataliairinaroman.eu/one-boat-twoboats-three- boats/), at the Round the Corner Gallery in Lisbon, in Portugal. The ivy lines continued to grow and transform the
eries Contemporary Art Peripheral Natalia Irina Roman agazine Installation Read to Me in the Stars, at Antje Oeklesund. Photo by Wolfgang Frank. 23 SPECIAL ISSUE
SPECIAL ISSUE 24 agazine Special Edition Contemporary Art Peripheral eries Natalia on the Future of Co-living, at Factory Berlin. Photo by Ana Torres.
Natalia Irina Roman eries agazine Contemporary Art Peripheral 25 SPECIAL ISSUE installation (http://nataliairinaroman.eu/ivy-andindustry/) I have designed for Antje Oeklesund in Berlin, a mix of objects found at location and ivy; the work lived there until the building itself has been demolished, in a recurrent situation in Berlin, when investors buy a place in order to demolish it and pursue economic interests. The installation (http://nataliairinaroman.eu/light-as-a-feather/) I have designed for GlogauAIR in Berlin, in a former school, is a lyrical exercise reversing the process of falling asleep, stretching over three building floors, in the staircase, and it incorporated synthetic feathers; I have installed the feathers along the edges of the staircase, so that the visitors set them in motion when passing by; one can never control the trajectory of a feather's flight. I believe that an art work, once it is done, it begins a life of its own; when it incorporates elements, which we control less, its autonomy is strengthened and the element of chance becomes visibly part of the construction. Mexican artist Gabriel Orozco once stated, "artists's role differs depending on which part of the world they’re in": does your artistic research respond to a particular cultural moment? In particular, do you think that artists can raise awareness to an evergrowing audience on topical issues in our globalised age? I believe that artists have (other) means to make situations and phenomenons visible, which are otherwise invisible. Through art, one can express critique in a different way and art has sometimes proven to create a common ground, when everything else fails us. Over the last years I have worked on various participative art projects (http://nataliairinaroman.eu/participative-art/),
agazine Special Edition Contemporary Art Peripheral eries SPECIAL ISSUE 26 bringing communities together or bridging as common language. With Along the Lines I respond to the actual problem Berlin faces in terms of space scarcity – in what extent this reality was the fuel of my project is hard to say, but Along the Lines is definitely offering an alternative platform for art to the many artists in this city. On a wider scale, this project comes up with a model, which is transferrable to other cities and other countries, since the former signal towers are to be found in many places, and they are facing a similar problem. Installation Breakable, at Bard College Berlin. Photo by Jérémie Gerhardt.
Natalia Irina Roman eries agazine Contemporary Art Peripheral 27 SPECIAL ISSUE You are an established artist and over the years you had solo and group shows in Germany and abroad, including your recent show Along the Lines, that included public talks about disused DB property, which took place at DB mindbox and at Nicolaihaus, Berlin: how do you consider the participatory nature of your relationship with your audience? Direct relationship with the audience in a physical is definetely the most important one, in order to snatch the spirit of a work of Art. However, as the move
28 agazine Special Edition Contemporary Art Peripheral eries of Art from traditional gallery spaces, to street and especially to the online realm increases: how would in your opinion change the relationship with a globalised audience? Along the Lines is a project taking place in the public space, so there was no chance to organize an exhibition opening in the usual sense. This prompted me to look for an additional space, a space where I could have a conversation with my audience, a place where I could contextualize my project. This led to two cooperations, one with DB mindbox (http://nataliairinaroman.eu/kunst-und-zug/) – a start up lab of the Deutsche Bahn – and Deutsche Stiftung Denkmalschutz (http://nataliairinaroman.eu/stillgelegteobjekte-der-deutschen-bahn/) – the German foundation taking care of historical monuments. The discussions brought together an eclectic public, from private owners of former train stations or architects to artists, interested in working with these spaces, academics or employees of Deutsche Bahn, among many others. It was a meeting point among groups that rarely have the chance to sit and talk together in this constellation. On a global scale, the social media channels (https://www.facebook.com/sitespecificideas) have become more and more important for my work. I thoroughly document my projects and communicate them through various online platforms. We have really appreciated the multifaceted nature of your artistic research and before leaving this stimulating conversation we would like to thank you for chatting with us and for sharing your thoughts, Natalia. What projects are you currently working on, and SPECIAL ISSUE
Natalia Irina Roman eries agazine Contemporary Art Peripheral 29 SPECIAL ISSUE Historical trains, at the Historical S-Bahn e. V.. Photo by Natalia.
30 agazine Special Edition Contemporary Art Peripheral eries SPECIAL ISSUE Natalia at an S-Bahn station. Photo by Anna Bedkowska.
SPECIAL ISSUE eries agazine Contemporary Art Peripheral 31 Natalia Irina Roman what are some of the ideas that you hope to explore in the future? Along the Lines continues with a second exhibition, this time with an open call, in order to give other artists the chance to work with these spaces, and for me to be able to share with them what I have learned in this context and work as a curator. I pursue the transformation of the former signal towers also through practice classes (http://nataliairinaroman.eu/teaching/), through film and various talks. Further threads of my work have become the topics of co-living and co-housing – people living together, as opposed to someone living by themselves. Having lived for more than ten years in two cohousing projects myself, in and around Berlin, I see a wonderful potential for our futures in such communities. At Project House Potsdam – Babelsberg, in cooperation with the association InWole (https://www.inwole.de), I am currently setting up an Artist in Residency – called Zone C (http://nataliairinaroman.eu/artist-in-residency/) – in former trailers, a programme focused on process oriented art, context specific art and art designed together with a community. Sara Piotrowska, a visual artist, and Mateusz Szymanowski, an architect, both from Poland, are going to join the first chapter of the residency this August. I have selected the two artists out of many applications received through our Open Call, together with Dr. Hendrik Budde, architect and curator at Martin-Gropius-Bau (https://www.berlinerfestspiele.de/de/gropiusbau/ start.html), Pierre Granoux, artist and founder of
the project space Lage Egal (http://www.lageberlin.de) in Berlin, and Petar Atanackovic, member of the Project House (http://www.projekthauspotsdam.de/index.php). The house finds itself in between Berlin and Potsdam, in Berlin Zone C – labeled transportwise – in the middle of an historical neighborhood; the contrast between the surrounding private sumptuous villas and the house project is strong in terms of its organization – Project House Potsdam displays a model in which a diverse group of people have organized in an association, through which they have bought two houses and built a third one; the people who live here are both renting their places in the project and having owners' duties, for the duration of their living here, in terms of taking care of the project premises – a relevant example of how one can deal differently with the current scarcity of space in our cities, through collective decision making. The art during the residency will emerge from the work of the invited artists, the space of the Project House and the communities in and around the project. Last but not least I have recently been invited to take part in an Artist in Residency (http://nataliairinaroman.eu/conferences-co/) myself, at Kunsthalle Below, in the North of Germany, a programme focused on the topic of minimal traveling. The work I have created with this occasion has to do with different ways of looking at a space and ways of looking in and out of a space; the work includes video and text, written together with the writer and philosopher Achim Wamßler. SPECIAL ISSUE 32 We both recorded the (atmosphere of the) space and the surroundings of Kunsthalle Below between 5 and 7 o'clock in the morning, a time agazine Special Edition Contemporary Art Peripheral eries Natalia at Kunsthalle Below. Photo by Kristoffer Stefan.
when everybody seemed to be awake, except for the people – the ants, the horses, the birds, the bees and other unseen, but intuited, beings. Our lyrical video essay will be released later this year. Thank you for the invitation in this conversation! 33 SPECIAL ISSUE Natalia Irina Roman eries agazine Contemporary Art Peripheral
SPECIAL ISSUE 4 Hello Natasha and welcome to Peripheral ARTeries. Before starting to elaborate about your artistic production we would like to invite our readers to visit http://www.natashavonbraun.com in order to get a wide idea about your artistic production and we would start this interview with a couple of introductory questions. From early childhood you were engaged in various types of creativity and you later nurtured your education in the field of film directing and sculpture: how did these experiences influence your Natasha von Braun Lives and works in Russia, Moscow Peripheral ARTeries meets "My artistic method is based primarily on the interrelation of the surrounding world with the inner world. Through my work I try to build a bridge between domestic everyday reality and the subconscious, this is somewhat reminiscent of psychoanalysis from the from the perspective of artist. But her there are no instructive theses and abstracts. As in life there are no simple unequivocal answers to all the questions. In my works I try to show the uncertainty, the fragility of human ideas about himself and about the outside world. To overcome such uncertain condition, I like to build a bridge across this volatile and unsteady part of the reality — a person has been getting experience, is feeling something, after then he can either immediately switch to his usual way of life, or turn aside in his intuition in the direction of those sensations that have caught him. And my bridge leads also there. I think that my art method is the architecture of the bridge which is a conductor from the ordinary and reflex reaction to things to the world of intuitive images, symbolic dreams, leading to a more deeper understanding of yourself. And so, by going to ordinary life, I mean an escapism, but an intuitive-sensual world is exactly the way to gain internal stability". An interview by Dario Rutigliano, curator and Melissa C. Hilborn, curator [email protected] agazine Special Edition Contemporary Art Peripheral eries
Tao of Love Art objects and porcelain ware developed, made by the author, textiles 200x180x200 cm, 2018
11 SPECIAL ISSUE evolution as an artist and help you to develop your attitude to experiment? Moreover, how does your cultural substratum due to your Russian roots direct the trajectory of your current artistic research? Hello Peripheral ARTeries, glad to be here. My cinematic education at some point became too heavy. A large baggage of studied cinema symbols for some time lay a heavy burden and did not allow the necessary creative spark to flare up. Perhaps that is why after the end of the cinema courses I was interested in painting and I remembered my childhood hobby for doll animation. Sculpture lessons helped balance all the knowledge gained with some my maybe natural tendencies in creativity. So there were sculptures and later — installations. But of course the cinema has not gone anywhere, it just has found its place in my creative process. Directing artistic images is also a movie, only it occurs in the head. And sometimes the viewer can see this movie and feel the whole drama behind the static form and “leave the hall” with some thoughts and feelings. So the experiment continues, as long as people watch my artwork the final will always be open. You mentioned my Russian roots. Russian roots are in themselves the whole universe. I would say that there are some things that a person cannot talk about from the outside. This is a part of us, the way we look at things, how we breathe, how we love - these are our roots as well. I do not set myself the task of specifically focusing on some problems in Russia, this would be political art, but I’m interested in what concerns the consciousness of an individual, with Russians roots or any other roots. Ai Weiwei said “everything is art, everything is politics”. If we take one more step towards this statement, it will turn out that everything is all. The body of works that we have selected for this special edition of Peripheral ARTeries andour readers have already started to get to know in the introductory pages of this article, has at once impressed us for the way you sapiently combined theories from psychoanalysis and genuine artistic pratice. In particular, we have appreciated the way Tao of Love reminds us of the notion of non lieu elaborated by French anthropologist Marc Augè, for the way it expresses the resonance between the subconscious mind and its surroundings. When walking our readers through your usual workflow and process, we would like to ask you if you think that there is a Natasha von Braun eries Contemporary Art Peripheral agazine
Tao of Love Art objects and porcelain ware developed, made by the author, textiles 200x180x200 cm, 2018
SPECIAL ISSUE 12 agazine Special Edition Contemporary Art Peripheral eries central idea that connects all your works. In the Tao of Love the theme of time is important. Our life is an experience that we accumulate from the moment of birth until the moment of reading this article, for example. And this experience stretches in the time. Once at the table inside the Tao of Love, we can live our own lives in one moment and feel its importance. This is my most interactive project. And in it I feel free from everyday worries, from problems and even from time. But this is not an escape, but on the contrary - here and now, that is, where we rarely happen in everyday life. I think that the topic of personality transformation through resonance with the surrounding reality is present in many of my works. In the Tao of Love, this transformation takes place through the theme of time and place. In other works, for example, in the Darkness Spell, this is simply the only path, a ray of light in the dark. Here you need to step through rooted fears, let yourself some time to drown in uncertainty when you yourself do not know who you are. After deepening in the subconscious, there is a chance to re-release yourself, your identity. In these images it is a step towards real maturity. And everyday reality pushes for this transformation. We would like to ask you something about your aesthetic decisions and the qualities of the materials that you include in your
13 SPECIAL ISSUE Natasha von Braun eries agazine Contemporary Art Peripheral Freedom to isolation Mixed media; TV, metal, balloons, 100 x 200 x 200 cm, 2018
SPECIAL ISSUE 16 agazine Special Edition Contemporary Art Peripheral eries Freedom to isolation Mixed media; TV, metal, balloons, 100 x 200 x 200 cm, 2018
eries Contemporary Art Peripheral Natasha von Braun agazine 17 SPECIAL ISSUE artworks. New York City based artist Lydia Dona once remarked that in order to make art today one has to reevaluate the conceptual language behind the mechanism of art making: are your works created gesturally, instinctively? Turning inspiration into tangible objects and exploring them is the work of intuition and intelligence at the same time. I have a couple of artworks that I did in 1-2 days. But this is an exception. My approach is largely traditional - a lot of dirty work before you can pick up paint, fabrics and other materials to give the final image. It is a quality consisting of time, physical and emotional strength. The idea is moving by intuition. And this is pure magic - when the image is revealed in the process of work and the idea becomes deeper and deeper. Incomparable experience. It's like diving into the depths of yourself and finding a pearl there. And with every job I want to dive deeper and deeper. A whole necklace of ideas and images. But in order to collect it you have to really work. We have been fascinated with the way your works unveil the relationship between the outside world and the subconscious dimension, as in your interesting Freedom to isolation: how do
Hunter (Kiss and drown me) Resin, mixed media, 105 cm, 2018
Hunter (Kiss and drown me) Resin, mixed media, 105 cm, 2018
SPECIAL ISSUE 18 you consider the tension between reality and inner identity playing within your artistic research? In particular, how do your memories and your everyday life's experience fuel your creative process? I think that occasionally questioning popular values is a good practice. Many people watch the pages of celebrity in social medias and thereby devalue their own lives. Often the outside world hurts us, we want to hide from it where no one hurts us. But the paradox is that this is a safe place we are again looking for in the outside world. What does James Bond have to do with my life? Nothing. All these layers of the surrounding reality are like a labyrinth. If you move away from one aspect of the manifestation of the outside world, then immediately you find yourself near another. And so on without end. My smartphone sometimes offers a look at the pictures I took a year ago. And I found there many pictures of the sky. All last summer I photographed the clouds. Perhaps nothing interesting, but you can just make the sky part of your life instead of James Bond. You often use the image of human body to convey specific messages, as in your Hunter (Kiss and drown me), imparting allegorical qualities: how would you consider the role of symbols and metaphors playing within your artistic research? My symbols are intuitive. This is my personal mythology, rooted far to my ancestors, and maybe even further. At the same time, this is what I see around right now. The combination of deep intuitive consciousness with a routine that sometimes shocks, encourages to these images. If I start to turn my images into theatrical effects then all this will immediately lose its meaning. Here honesty is important. I even coined the term contemporary voodoo. It is like a transcendent daily routine available to us 24 hours a day. And the image of a person is just a language in which I can speak. My tool and manner of thinking. Maybe later I want to speak the language of abstract forms and it will be interesting for me. Marked out with such unique - and we dare say oniric uncanny and atmosphere - visual identity, your works deeply struck us for the way they incite the viewer to make new personal associations. Austrian Art historian Ernst Gombrich once remarked the importance of providing a space for the viewers to project onto, so that they can actively participate in the creation of the agazine Special Edition Contemporary Art Peripheral eries
Odysseus is not here Clothes and things of Odysseus, chair, tablet, smartphone, video made by the author, projector, video of the starry sky , 200 x 200 x 200 cm, 2018
Odysseus is not here Clothes and things of Odysseus, chair, tablet, smartphone, video made by the author, projector, video of the starry sky , 200 x 200 x 200 cm, 2018
Don't make me oil Mixed media, LED, 45x30x19 cm, 2018