Les Satinover 2
52 Sameh Al Tawil an interview with E scape Land An interview with Sameh Al Tawil Hello Sameh, and welcome to LandEscape. I would start this interview with my usual introductory question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art? And moreover, what could be the features that mark the contemporariness of an artwork? In my opinion, a work of art is an artist’s decision; in other words, The artist is the only person who can turn anything into an Art-Work… lots of our surroundings have highly artistic values but it couldn’t be a work of art until an artist sees it and decides to put it into an artistic context. The concept of contemporariness of an art work couldn’t be evaluated or marked in certain features because it’srelative; it differs from one culture to another, and from one person to another… from my personal point of view, what makes a piece of art become contemporary is being personal; that represents the artist’s experience himself / herself which by nature different from others, the real artist is a person who decided to use Art as a language to positively add value to the humankind. In addition, The Interaction as one of the contemporary art features - the work of art is well-known from the aroma of time as a static object holding a one to all messages and based on the science and rules of logic and beauty - but the interactivity in art breaks this concept and came up with a new type of art; art projects delivering one to one messages, art-systems needs the viewers to interact and / or contribute in order to become an art work…. that enhances the art viewers experience and meets their daily inter-activities and reflects the contemporary era changes and the spread of the internet, mobile technology, Etc… Would you like to tell us something about your background? I have read that you hold a BA in Art from the faculty of applied arts Cairo, and a German Diplom in art from The Fine Art Academy in Munich ADBK: how have these experiences influenced the development of your artistic practice? I am an Egyptian artist, born in Cairo 1978, brought up in one of the public districts in the old cairo surrounded by Islamic monuments and traditional houses, dealing with all levels of Egyptians, this atmosphere and the people triggered and grown my artistic sense so i decided tostudy music and calligraphy and then i joined the Faculty of Applied Arts and chosen to study sculpture, later idecided to continue studying art in Europe and wills fortune to meet a german artist Bruno wank we worked together and with his generous support i was able to jointhe Academy of Fine Arts in Munich,Germany and this was an important turning point in my artistic life, where I got to know a new culture and Sameh Al Tawil (photo by Fahad Shamsheer 2010)
53 Sameh Al Tawil learning new language; at this point I began to have my art style which consists of amixture of all these cultures and experiences, since the year 2000 i am exhibiting and joining artistic events in both Egypt and Germany. Currently, I am writing my Master in the history of media art at the Danube University in Krems, Austria… By the way, even though this might sound a bit steretyped question, I'm sure that our reader would like to know if you, as a contemporary Egyptian artist, have happend to found relevant differences between the Egyptian artistic scenario and the European one... This case, in specific interests every artist’s mind who experiences or moves between more than one culture, He usually compares between his own culture and the one he moves into it, personally this is my favorite art topic and i’ve realized so many art projects based on the cultural shock or cultural differences i.e. Solo, 26, Visitors, Ready to Go. and other projects as well. In the same context, Contemporary art in Egypt is unfortunately limited to the experiments of individualartists, experiments, however the Egyptian Contemporary Art in general still suffering from several contradictory crises, the most important crisis is the attempt to get out ofthe cloak of ancient Egyptian art (Pharaonic, Coptic, Islamic, modern), which attracts art toward conservationand tradition, another crisis is the blind affecting of Western art From Unclarities, details
54 #196 Winter E scape Land an interview with without any conscious studying of the culture that have produced the contemporary Western Arts, and finally the crisis of bad art-education system in Egypt… thesystem of education in Egypt, unfortunately, does not allow free creativity, also does not provide real opportunities of teamwork or scientific research, and doesn’t have agenuine criteria to choose arts students or instructors… On the other side, I found a great activity and diversity in Europe with regard to art and educational institutions andfreewill in terms of ideas and great support from thecountry, the civil society institutions and the private organizations. Despite the existence of ancient civilizations in Europe, but they Precede from Egypt in the ability to get rid of this circle and produce better contemporary art that expresses the reality and enriches the humankind’s culture more, although sometimes I criticize some forms of freedom that might collide with other cultures and public moralities. Before starting to elaborate about your production, would you like to tell to our readers something about your process and set up for making your artworks? In particular, what technical aspects do you mainly focus on your work? And how much preparation and time do you put in before and during the process of creating a piece? In my own art work; The idea is the hero and most oftenis the starting point as well, I am in a permanent research for valuable ideas or / andmessages that need my intervention to become a work of art to get enriched and delivered to the largest number of people. Only when I find the appropriate idea i begin the search process to become more familiar with all the necessary information to better understand the subject ; Then i cometo the production stage of a preliminary sketches or images to imagine the form of the work, and finally i move to the stage of selecting the most appropriate medium or / and technology to realize the Art work. I can’t determine the time required for the production of myartwork, however some ideas are strong and honestenough to be realized in days and others takes weeks ofrethinking and studying until i get satisfied and some of the ideas just get trapped in my sketch book forever. Now let's focus on your artworks: I would like to start with the recent project Ready To Go, that our readers have admired in the starting pages of this article: I would suggest to our reader to jump directly to http://samehaltawil.com/art-projects/ and have a more complete idea of this stimulating work... in the meanwhile, could you take us through A sequence of stills from Ready To Go, Video Performance From Ready To Go Sameh Al Tawil
Sameh Al Tawil 55 your creative process when starting this project? I’ve created this project during my stay in Bern, Switzerland within an artist in residency program, sponsored by Prohelvetia cairo… the idea of the project starts after i met some arab expats in bern and during our usual discussions about our countries and comparing a lot of life aspects in the arab world with it’s counterparts in the Western world, these discussions triggered my attention to the concept of departure from the arab expats perspective, that leaded me to come up with a concept entitled “ Departure culture” ; it’s Caught my attentionalso how the eastern immigrant is keen to carry everything with him i.e. culture, religion, worries,memories, Etc… packing his homeland in mind. The eastern immigrant has a great fear of west that turns into loads and constraints prevent the communication and integration with the West and prevent the West to communicate with him as well... so i’ve inundated in the study of this concept based on my discussions with many expatriates and retrieved my personal experience as an eastern citizen who spent many years in the West. Finally i decided to use different techniques and art formsto deliver the idea; the first form was a performance where i play oriental music improvisations on a grand piano and 2 arab performers were packing me and the piano - during the concert- using the transparent packing foil (similar to the one normally used in airports), another form was sculpture pieces made of personal items packed with the same transparent plastic material, also another form was an installation consists of a car overloaded with furnitures, baggages and households, Etc… The project in brief; is a self-critic visual documentation ofthe psychological state of the eastern immigrants in the West ... documenting metaphorically his state of constant readiness for departure. Your works, as the recent and interesting Vs and A 442 Hz are deeply involved into political From A442 Hz, Installation
56 Sameh Al Tawil an interview with E scape Land issues, and in fact the aforesaid video installation is entitled also Songs of the Revolution... as an Egyptian Post-Revolutionary Contemporary artist, we cannot do without mentioning the nowadays situation of your country: many people alla round the world have been struck -and sometimes even fascinated- by the recent events... I would seize this occasion to read the opinion of an artist that is deeply involved in the matter... I’ve created these 2 projects after 3 years of the Egyptian revolution, because it’s too difficult to make up my mind during a huge incident like that. Concerning “A442Hz” video-installation; it’s considered as an experimental video presents an Egyptian orchestra without a Maestro in an unsuccessful attempt for over 3 minutes to tune their musical instruments ! the video, of course, is ridiculously criticizing the current political and social situation in Egypt with all antagonism and lack of harmony and confusion. The Video was filmed with a fixed camera so that the viewer feels to be part of the film and partner in the chaos and the responsibility. The second project entitled “VS." it is an interactive project where the viewers are asked to carry a preparedbanners that bearing liberal pictures and slogans in front of a huge screen; on the screen the placards are turninginto totalitarian pictures and fundamentalist slogans andtriggers a pre-recorded fundamentalist voices chanted in real time ... this Work represents a demonstration thatelectronically manipulated simultaneously to turn into a counterdemonstration ... This action puts the Egyptian viewers in front of a mirror to watch themselves with all their contradictions. This work also carries a highlighting on the concept of privacy penetration and the deception of the public media. The common idea between the two works is that the Egyptian political situation carries a lot of contradiction and confusion from all parties. I am myself convinced that Art could play a crucial role not only in speaking about sociopolitical questions, but even and especially in steering people's behaviour... What's your point about this? Do you think that an Artist could play a political role? By the way, how much and the Egyptian Revolution will influence the regional Art scenario? I completely agree that art can play an important role in guiding the behavior of human beings, also From Vs, detail From A442 Hz, detail
57 Sameh Al Tawil in the development of solutions to deal with the social and political crises… that Art in all its forms inherently carries the ability to gather the masses, regardless of their opinion or cultural differences, the Art also holds the ability of building communication between the viewers and the artwork… these two abilities are enough to end up all the problems of human-beings in general. For instance, In Egypt for the first time after many years people met in the squares of the revolution against the ruling regimes; during that emerged new forms of arts on the Egyptian art scene like Graffiti arts and the freemusical bands and street performance art, Etc… People may stop the revolution after implementing their demands but i think the revolution will continue in theEgyptian contemporary art and will maintain the gains of the revolution such as crowd and public art, and will produce more new art forms. Your art practice ranges from photography to new media art, from Installations to Performance art: If I have been asked to choose an adjective that could sum up in a single word your art, I would say that your it's "kaleidoscopic": by the way, I'm sort of convinced that new media art will definitely fill the dichotomy between Art and Technology and I will dare to say that Art and Technology are going to assimilate one to each other... what's your point about this? As I mentioned earlier , I have learned not to start anyart project by thinking in techniques, because it determines the artistic thinking in that particular execution,even if it is not the most appropriate technique for the implementation of the idea .... I prefer always to start racing the idea and leave it decides the suitable techniqueto come to life. I have in mind in this context, one of my recent work entitled "Integration" that can be viewed directly at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hf1ifaqpKXA#t=15. In fusion, and after researching decided to use an advance interactive technology based on a Kinect camera which captures the viewers body and movements and transform it into a forms of graphic momentarily so that they can interact with other pre-designed forms of graphic , in a way close to video games the viewer finds himself in another world trying to deal with shapes that represent the population of the virtual world From Integration, detail
58 #196 Winter E scape Land an interview with And since I am myself a musician, I cannot do without mentioning our artwork entitled "Solo" http://samehaltawil.com/portfolio/solo/ , a piece that I like very much, especially because it is capable of establishing such a synergy between appa-rently different cultures... Even though you have underlined that this piece has been in a certain sense inspired by the cultural conflicts over your head, I can recognize an effective example of syncretism: all in all, syncretism is a revolutio-nary gesture itself, isn't it? Music is my great passion, if i had a choice i would preferred to be a pianist …In this work , " Solo " I wanted to document my contradictory feelings at the beginning of my residency in Germany, A feeling of joy and happiness to be in a new society and culture, and my feeling ofalienation at the same time; Inability to understand the language and express myself , the inability to engage in the community as a result of preconceived ideas. So I decided to play the piano with my hands tied with handcuffs... I’ve played joyful and Polyphonic Music of my synthesis to shout out the message that I'm not weak or sad , but I would appreciate more freedom, power andhappiness . I've selected the piano because of my intense passion for the instrument as well as a symbol of Western civilization, also because it’s Fortunately available in most places in Germany in the houses at the University, etc… and for that was for me a communication machine to introduce myself, feel confidence and communicate with others in a common language. Your works have been exhibited several times both in Europe and in your native country: it goes without saying that feedbacks and especially awards are capable of supporting an artist, I was just wondering if an award -or better, the expectation of an award- could even influence the process of an artist... By the way, how much important is for you the feedback of your audience? Do you ever think to whom will enjoy your Art when you conceive your pieces? Art in my opinion is an eloquent way to communicate , which is pretty similar to music to some extent in this aspect; In the sense that the artist controls a little bit of the ideas sent by his art-work to the viewers , but the bulk of the messages and ideas are not controlled by the artist deliberately, most of these messages related to the nature of the artist, his history and experience, and another themselves as a result of triggering the artwork these ideas inside their minds ... From Solo, detail A sequence of stills from Upside Down
Les Satinover 59 I do not think much of the audience’s feedback towards my art , but I feel happy when I see a positive reactions or when some of my original thoughts reaches the viewers and i become even more happy if someone reads my work from a different perspective, that enriches my artistic experience and direct my attention to new areas in my art and personality. Thank you for your time and for sharing with us your thoughts, Sameh. My last question deals with your future plans: anything coming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of? I’d like to thank you as well for inviting me to showcase my art and my thoughts in your valuable magazine and for your readers. As for my future plans, I am writing now aMaster thesis about the Egyptian revolution and its impact on contemporary Egyptian art, Upon completion it will be published as a book “Egyptian revolution as a cyberspace” I hope that the readers will like it. I am planning also for some exhibitions i.e. a groupexhibition in Germany next summer with Artist Bruno Wank, and Artist Mohamed Shoukry, a screening of myfilm “442 Hz” within the AfriPerfoMa Festival Harare, Zimbabwe. You may follow my new activities and subscribe for my newsletter on my website From A442 Hz, Installation www.samehaltawil.com From Solo, detail
1 #196 Winter E scape Land Rempart de l'Oubi, from the Nocturnes series, 65x100cm, 2009, huile sur toil 60
Les Satinover 2 Jocelyne Clemente (France) 61
62 Jocelyne Clemente an interview with E scape Land An interview with Jocelyne Clemente Hello Jocelyne, and welcome to LandEscape. I would this start this interview with my usual introductory question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art? And moreover, what could be the features that mark the contemporariness of an artwork? A work of art is the expression of our human qualities. Art is reflexion, emotion. It is a language which unites ages and territories; it is a tool of knowledge. You can study works according to their original context or other criteria, but it is not my way of doing so. I establish connections between the art of the past and today's works, for me, they exist in the same contemporaneity. Would you like to tell us something about your background? I have read that you graduated in Fine Arts from Saint-Etienne Art School: how has formal training influenced the development of your artistic practice? Moreover, are there particular experiences that have impacted the way you produce your art nowadays? I have always been very receptive to images since my childhood. Shyly, I began visiting museums during my adolescence. I felt a very strong attraction for some works, even if I knew nothing about them. I did not have any cultural references in my immediate environment. I did not feel authorised to go to art school straight after high school. First I had to think of earning a living, in spite of my desire to study Art. After studying English at university, I passed exam to become a teacher. It was at the very start of my teaching career that I met students from Art School, I was very attracted by their lifestyle, and I understood that I needed to involve myself in art, to try this experience. citing because they were confusing. It was not expected that you just know how to draw well, in reaeality I did not understand what was expected of me. It is a place where you are challenged, where you have tremendous meetings, where you learn what is freedom and commitment. If you are not Jocelyne Clemente
63 Jocelyne Clemente own. Little attention was paid to painting; so it was difficult to defend your work, especially when it was figurative. Going to museums and to expos was part of my learning process and, even today, I still feel the need to visit them. Before starting to elaborate about your production, would you like to tell to our readers something about your process and set up for making your artworks? In particular, what technical aspects do you mainly focus on your work? And how much preparation and time do you put in before and during the process of creating a piece? Serendipity, the ability «to find something else than what you were looking for» and procrastination are integral parts of my creative process. I like the quote of John Perry: To be a high achiever, always work on something important, using it as a way to avoid doing something that's even more important. It is in the routine of my work that things take form or not, that they resist more or less, that the paintings bring joy, satisfaction, surprise, doubt. A lot of time has to be spent in the studio, sometimes hours to destroy, or redo a previous attempt. It takes time; it is necessary to let time do its work. You need to be able to let your ideas mature, leave the pictures on the wall for some time, or put them away for a long time and take them out again later to see them in a new light. That is why it is difficult to say how long you will take on a picture. A picture is not done alone; I need other ones as well: those that are already done and those that remain to do. They interact together, and the meaning is built across the series. I like to start from something that pre-exists. I use the left over colours from one painting to begin another one. When I paint on paper, I cut out pieces to make collages. At the moment I am working on a piece begun on posters where I reuse the images. I also have several projects under way. Photography takes over at one moment, or maybe engraving; or I might draw. The subject of my work is not homogeneous. I exert my right to this freedom, and this way of working. strong, disciplined and you do not invest yourself completely you cannot succeed. But it's nothing compared with what awaits every artist once he or she leaves Art School. I did not learn how to be a painter in Art School which taught only very briefly the classical topics. So I had to learn how the profession works on my
64 #196 Winter E scape Land Now let's focus on your artworks: I would like to start with the recent series Nocturnes, that our readers have admired in the starting pages of this article: I would suggest to our reader to visit http://www.jocelyneclemente.odexpo.com/galerie_d3.asp?galerie=27127&ng= tableaux%20r%E9cents&lg=&via=gal and have a more complete idea of this stimulating series... in the meanwhile, could you take us through your creative process when starting this project? I am not bothered about sticking to reality; I want the landscape to be a representation of itself. The series "Nocturnes" questions the mystery of nature and casts the landscape as a play where our contemplation is played. My landscapes are not natural, and there is no reference to real places. The works of art are a source of inspiration, like the landscapes in the background of Renaissance paintings or the Flemish Old Masters. There is an aspect that is much researched, very detailed. This careful rendering of the elements of the landscape, this interpretation of nature is fascinating. It is not a work of copying or of observation; it is a teeming, passionate maison 1, 2010, 100x100cm, huile sur toile la lune boit, 2007 130x90cm, huile sur bois
Jocelyne Clemente 65 (France) #196 Winter and generous invention. Everything mixes together in the landscape; everything that you can imagine is there. It is not the illusion of reality that is looked for, it is an imaginary landscape which is arranged in an elaborate manner without any real atmosphere, an impossible landscape. When I consider more recent artists, I see the trees of are still many other places or pictures that are important: they share, I believe, a certain strangeness, a link to reality which is not photographic, a link to beauty which is unconventional. By the way, a visuals of your paintings that has particularly impacted on me especially are the and the vivid -I daresay "thoughtful"- blue that is a recurrent colour in your series Arbres et Cailloux: any comments on your choice of "palette" and how it has changed over time? I have experimented with monochrome several times, Monochrome allows you to concentrate on the drawing, the composition of the picture, but also upon the qualities , 2012,
66 Jocelyne Clemente an interview with E scape Land of a unique colour. The effect produced by blue is not the same as that of orange. I have noticed that the insects in my studio climb more frequently upon the pictures that are predominately yellow! I know that blue is going to bring closer me to the night, to introspection… Besides painting, you have also produced an interesting series of photographs on which I would like to spend some words. In particular, I can recognize an underlying geometrical feature both triptych, and the pieces of your series "Construction", as the interesting "Zone de Travail"... “Maison Temoins” is a photo that expresses a special atmosphere. The moment during dusk for example when it is neither day nor night, which makes everything seem a bit unreal. I make directories of photographs which I then put together. In front of the computer screen, I use the images without trying to have a unity of time or place. These are especially urban scenes because it is in the city where I am most often. I do not go looking for places; I use those that I see in my daily life. These are ordinary subjects; I do not look for spectacular scenes. Then, in front of the computer, I work like the painter who thinks about the composition, the drawing, the colour. The photographs are put together according to these criteria to create new landscapes. I create them from fragments of reality. I do not try to give an illusion of reality. The changes in scale, the breaks, and the unlikely junctions highlight the assemblage. It is like editing a film: you choose shots, and you put them together to tell a story. In the series of paintings "Constructions", there again it is not a about copying reality and remaining true to the subject. I sometimes use photographs of houses for the initial sketch and then the painting completes the transformation. The details of the architecture disappear under transparent layers which envelop the home like a veil. The painting progressively removes the identity of the model, leaving just some pieces of wall. And often the surrounding nature, trees, gardens make a scene where an event takes place. What do you try to communicate through your work and especially: what role plays your audience in your process? When you conceive an artwork do you think to whom will enjoy it? Of course I ask myself the question of why I should zone de travail, 2005 , 2008, photography
67 Jocelyne Clemente of a man who walks in the sun than in all the religions that have existed.». Peter Sloterdijk said: «Artists are important because they are the bearers of the ambition of their epoch. The artist is an individual who always affirms that he is able to superimpose his individuality and the universe, and who aspires to his own universe. He wants his own biography to be the definitive history of his time; he is the man-world, the man microcosm. But I am disposed to think that the classical artist is going to disappear. The man-world does not create new pictures, while we are overwhelmed by images and have become used to viewing them very rapidly. In my pictures I experience the time of creation, the time that it takes to create, arrange, look, to inspect the details and the whole, and to judge the meaning. There are important ideas at stake, there is thoroughness. I do not paint landscapes, I work on the depiction of the idea of a landscape, the idea as was said by Giorgio de Chirico that « On earth, there is much more mystery in the shadow , 2012 50x70cm, huile sur toile La peur du vide, 2012, 50x70cm, huile sur toile , 2005 22x22cm
68 Jocelyne Clemente an interview with E scape Land not have a very big future. I think rather that we are going to see generations of lightened artists, artists without worlds. The tendency towards lightness that I spoke about earlier is also going to affect the art world. » In my work there is the notion that the pieces communicate between themselves, that there are connections between the series or between photography and painting. I build a world, but to construct it, it is necessary that it leaves the studio, that it is displayed to the public, that it can inspire them to dream up their own stories. artists that I happen to interview, and I have to say that even though it might sound the simpler one, it gives me back the most complex answers: what aspect of your work do you enjoy the most? What gives you the biggest satisfaction? The most important thing is to have the time and the freedom to do what you want. I need to immerge myself in my work, and not be interrupted. What is pleasing is to feel that you are on the right track; you know this when things become obvious. Sometimes a last addition is all that is necessary, a decisive gesture or an idea that prevails over everything else; by that I me an experimentation, doubt, and slow work of maturing an idea or concept. Thank you for your time and for sharing with us your thoughts, Jocelyne. My last question future deals with your plans: anything coming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of? I must say that I am happy to appear in your magazine. The name of LandEscape has a particular resonance with my work! I thank you for your invitation. I am currently working on several projects and I update my site regularly that I invite your readers to visit: http://www.jocelyne-clemente.odexpo.com le temps qu'il faut, 2010 An interview by [email protected] 100x120cm, huile sur toile
8 Jocelyne Clemente les lisi+иres cosm+йtiques, 2005 22x22cm
70 (France / Australia) An artist’s statement E scape Land Sofie Dieu My recent series of work, Light & Soul, is an opened window on human inner turmoil and aspirations. It is an artistic development based on the relation of Man and the primitive elements of his space-time environment. By focusing on the essence of the being and its biotope, my work makes visible the human instincts, touching the senses and offering the possibility to reconnect to the self, to link conscious and subconscious. "When the history will be finally conceived as that of the human soul, it will forego artificial chronological divisions, and, restoring generations their role and importance, it will wonder about problems so far neglected, especially that of the "progress ", the ceaseless transformation of souls. This will be the "turning points" that it will have to attempt to explain, rather than simply recording them, without though defining them.” greatly inspired by the work of the writer Christian Senechal, this serie is composed of three interactive lights installation using new textile and light technologies (LED, optical fibre, phosphorescent ink). It also showcase a video projection, two sculptures using small recycled furniture as well as eight diptychs composed of, on one side, paintings and on the other side poems. Sofie Dieu
2 Sophie Dieu Soul Whisperer, July 2013
72 Sofie Dieu an interview with An interview with E scape Land Hello Sofie and a warm welcome to LandEscape. I would start this interview with my usual introductory question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art? Moreover, what could be the features that mark the contemporariness of an artwork? Hi! It's my pleasure, thanks for taking the time. Well, it is a very broad question. I will refer to Glenn Barkley, the curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Australia, and to answer your first question, I would say that a work of art should be source of intellectual and emotionnal response. In other words it should be able to make your brain and heart salivate. To give you an example, I recall, many years ago, when I was an art student living in Paris, going to the Beaubourg Museum and looking at some new acquisitions. One of them was a video work, the artist had recorded himself on the top of a hill and he was screaming until exhaustion. As I was there for deepening my knowledge in contemporary art, I looked at the double A4 explanation provided with the video. After 1 page reading I was completly out of it: emotionnaly first the static video of that man screaming was not echoing with me and then that lengthy aimless reading killed me intellectually. So that video stays as a anecdote in art (at least for me), it did not touch me in anyway. On the other hand if I look at a work of Diane Arbus or a performance of Marina Abramovic, it impacts on me at every level. Regarding the contemporariness of an artwork, the easy answer would be to say the materials employed, as there are so many various way to create nowadays. But I believe that it mainly resides in its capacity to talk to a now global audience, while being precise, personal and non anecdotic. Looking at the modern and our post-moder society, what new does a piece of art have to bring to the audience? Would you like to tell us something about your Sofie Dieu background? You hold a Degree of textile design and a Bachelor of sculpture, that you received from Olivier de Serres art school, in Paris: how have these experiences of formal training impacted on the way you produce your artworks? By the way, I often ask to myself if a certain kind of training could even stifle a young artist's creativity: what's your point about this? The first 2 years I was studying in Olivier de Serres, some of the other students were really good. I mean really really good, the cream of the cream. We all came from different artistic background and each one of us had its own way of seeing the world. I learned so much from them, more than from the teachers actually. The first day I remember, that petite black hair girl was sitting in front of me wearing a fushia skirt with a cadium red belt: I was shocked by her daring, how could she have mixed Sofie Dieu (Photography Martin Bichsel)
73 Sofie Dieu exploring and not being shy to try that would be the best training. But at the end of the day it is the responsability of the student, either you get involved either you do something else. Before starting to elaborate about your production, would you like to tell to our readers something about your process and set up for making your artworks? In particular, what technical aspects do you mainly focus on your work? And how much preparation and time do you put in before and during the process of creating a piece? The way I work is very schizophrenic to be honest. If I draw or paint, only a few sketches are enough. For a sculpture where new technology is involved it takes much longer, I need to prepare the ground very well as I have to work with other people. But generally everything starts in my note books and these two colours together?! It was beyond my world. These students opened my naive eyes and show me how to step out of my conventions. It has sank into me since, and I keep these fresh look at any stage in my work. The last 2 years of my studies, I was very lucky, some of my teachers were wonderful, truely inspiring. From a technical as well as an estheatic point of view. I use everyday the techniques they taught me. These great teachers were also excellent at pointing me and the other students in the right direction, they would never do things for us, instead they were leading by their vision and their talent. It was the right balance between what braught my peers to me (and me to them I hope!) and these few teachers knowledge that made these 4 years unique. So I guess it is about formal training, Mme Jurek
74 E scape Land Sofie Dieu sketch books, each one of them has its own purpose. I have a “nightary” book in which I write and draw all my dreams, they are great source of inspirations, I have others for writting my poems, to-do-list, weekend sketches, random ideas... In total at the moment I have a dozen. I also take a lot of pictures or collect some on the net of what I am interested in. I read a lot too. Regularly, consciously and unconsciously I diggest these informations and then the necessity of creating rise. This is the delicate step, I am very intuitive and tend to create a lot based on my gutts feelings. So I have to slow down (which is tremendously difficult as I have so much that needs to go out) in order to be able to articulate intelligently my thoughts. I ask myself a lot of questions and try a lot: I call it my 'cooking time'. Once I know, that things have now become very obvious, then I work on my final. That is when I let myself go all over the place: while Iwill be painting I will start a sculpture, halfway through I will work on a video project, some drawings, go back to my painting etc... I have to, otherwise I get too bored. Then everything folds into place and that cycle ends. There is usually no rest in between as towards the end of a series of work in the back of my head a new need start cristallising. Now let's focus on your artworks: I would like to start with Light & Soul that our readers have admired in the starting pages of this article: would you tell us something about the genesis of this stimulating project? What was your initial inspiration? For the last 5 years I have been living in Victoria, south of Australia, the nature here has been so well preserved. There is wild life everywhere (I have a possum living in the roof of my house). The most stunning I think here are the skies. They look like living pieces of art. Every day, and especially at dawn and dusk, the sky gives us a spectacular demonstration of its beauty and wildness. This endless time-space object was like an open gate, when I look at it everything stopped and become peacefull, inside and outside my soul. I started to reconnect with myself. The contrast with China where I used to live before was so intense. In Shanghai and Beijing where I used to live, everything was about business, being busy, the “go-go-go” attitude, it made my head spin. Here I learnt to take the time. Therefore I became very interested to explore the The Gardener, from Light and Soul, August 2013 The Gardener, from Light and Soul, August 2013
5 Sofie Dieu relation of Man and the primitive elements of his space-time environment. I wanted to explore more variations of that primitive object and looked at stones, crystals, coral, geology documents, underwater photography, Yann Arthus Bertrand pictures etc. A lot of my kids memory resurfaced during that period; the tactile and playfulness of certain works are based on them. I looked at where the origin of Man were : both geographically and memory wise. The link between the primitive self and its surrounding became clearer, I wanted to make the human instincts visible, his biotope and the collective memory associated to them. Without Light there is no Soul. This work is about redefining ourselves in this so rapidly evolving world. How to touch base with our inner-self, who are we? What is the place of nature in our life? How do we and should we interact with it, with ourselves? One of the features of the series of which this project is composed that has impacted on me is the way you have been capable of establishing such a symbiotic dialog between the spontaneity of human instinct that springs from the evocative visuals and a timeless contemplation, suggested by the words of your poems... and since our art review is called "LandEscape", we would like to stop for a moment to consider the "function" of the landscape and its contemplation, in recreating a bond between people and Nature... maybe between Man and Man's nature itself. What's your point about this? You are touching at the heart of what should become our post-modern society! The landscape, and I am not talking about the urban one here, but the rare one that is still untouched, has a specific place in our life: it is I believe, the primitive version of the human being. And by pretending that it is not Cirrus & Coral from Light and Soul, August 2013
76 Sofie Dieu an interview with E scape Land important we are depriving ourselves from the source of well being. We have disconnected the beings from their realm and transposed them in a more “suited” one. But it is fake and something is missing. It is very obvious here in Melbourne, every friday evening after work, people rush in their car, horning their way out of the city and other industrial zones to go for a weekend in the 'bush', in the wild, or at least in the coutryside. People need a break of the urban centres and of themselves. They seek isolation, they want to be the only one walking on that beach or in this forest. A lot of them go camping, they uncounsciously need to go back to their roots. They are looking for a way to slow down, they are looking for stopping the time. That is the function of the untouched landscape: being a time-stopper. Another work of yours on which I would like to spend some words is the light installation Soul Whisperer, and I would suggest to our reader to admire directly at your website http://sofiedieu.jimdo.com/work/2013/. In order to develope it you have used modern technology, as LED lights and optical fibre... I'm sort of convinced that new media art will definitely fill the dichotomy between Art and Technology and I will dare to say that Art and Technology are going to assimilate one to each other... what's your point about this? Technology will not be art by itself, the artist behind only will have the ressources to make it so. However, not using technology in art or considering it as a quick fashion would be a mistake. It would be like having that same old conversation of numeric photography over argentic, which used to be before argentic technology over daguerreotype etc etc. The capacities associated to that sector are still beyond our understanding, it is scary but so exciting at the same time! Personally I believe this is where postcontemporary art should go. At the moment I am very interested in the work of Gavin Baily, Tom Corby and Jonathan Mackenzie. I think they found how to beautifully synthesize art and new technology, especially in the art gaming field. Their work is deep, poetic, smart, educational even. It is such a fresh breeze compared to the fashionable pessimistic, exhibitionist art now showing. And we couldn't do without mentioning Alchemy: an interesting features of this series is the visual perception of tactility and an important aspect of your work is focusing on craftsmanship and its manual process. By the way, do you visualize your works before creating? Do you know what it will look like before you begin? It is true craftmanship or artisana as I prefer to call it, is a Stratocumulus from Light & Soul, July 2013
77 Sofie Dieu big part of my work. It is the time spent doing a piece that counts as well. There is a lot of room to spontaneity in my work, but the consumption of time is as equally important. In Alchemy it was the apotheosis: each necklace or reversed crown have taken a lot of time. And as the rest of my work, it play with the senses: the touch, the sight are the main ones. Although I play a lot with taste and smell too.Some of my works come instantly, like a vision. I can be sometimes tortured by not getting something out of a canvas or a sculpture, and eventually it comes to me in the less expected moment. That is why I ALWAYS have a notebook with me, I need to write down everything, my brain never stops, it is exhausting. I wake up at night with the most brilliant ideas... I know what you are about to ask me, yes I do have a notebook and pen on my bed side table! Cantic, from Alchemy - RAW Cantic, from Alchemy - RAW
78 E scape Land Sofie Dieu For the Alchemy – Raw, it all came from Melbourne. The houses here have this decadent Victorian flair, and there is lot of embroidered metalic decorations around the houses roof. It is stunning, especially in the late day light. That decadence came to me in the vision of the Queen Victoria dropping her crown. I crocheted cotton for making these reversed crowns. I transformed cotton into royal jewellery. And as I like to give more than one life to objects then I transmutated them in Gold, Jade and other precious minerals and stones. If I have been asked to choose an adjective that could sum up in a single word your art, I would say that it's "kaleidoscopic": you art ranges from drawing and painting to sculpture, from digital art to new textile technology, as we can see in the stimulating Biophosphorescence. While crossing the borders of different artistic fields have you ever happened to realize that a synergy between different disciplines is the only way to achieve some results, to express some concepts? Some call my art practice “all-over-the-place”, as for me I find refuge under the name of visual artist most of the time. But I really like your terminology, I might use it every now and then! Some artists, and I admire them for their loyalty regarding their choice of medium, only need one discipline to express themselves: oil painting or watercolour... they have used one unique medium their whole life. I find it very impressive, you need to have a lot of talent for doing so. Personally I am absolutely incapable of it. I need the emulation of the technical challenge, though sometimes it feels good to use a tool that you control perfectly. Merging different techniques or different disciplines as you call them is, at least for me, only a way to achieve that mental picture that would not find its way out otherwise. I would like to mention your coming exhibition ‘Light and Soul’ (October 2013) at Beechworth Historical Jail Gallery in Victoria, Australia: how Biophosphorescence Citadelle, from Alchemy Transmutation
79 Sofie Dieu much important is for you the feedback of your audience? Do you ever think to whom will enjoy your Art when you conceive your pieces? by the way, I'd take the occasion to ask you what are the main differences between the European art scene where you come from and the Australian one, where you're currently based... The Beechworth exhibition has been postponed actually, the gallery is still under renovation, so we'll see how things are next year. Instead this month I am exhibiting at Ocean Grove a city on the Great Ocean road not too far from Melbourne. It is a group exhibition and I am really excited to meet other artists and also the public. The feedback of course is important, for that being able to live as an artist you have to sell your work, so of course you want people to enjoy what you do. That said, when I work I never think of who could buy it, if it is sellable, what people will think of it... If I do so I end up with a blank canvas. Working as an artist is in some ways extremly egotic and selfish, when I create I do not care about anyone's opinion, I do what is necessary to be done. I will not make my paintings green because they sell better than the blue ones, it would kill my ethic and my creative source. Every time I am about to make a new work it is because I am trying to answer a question, I am trying to define a vision. Other people's view don't have their place during that process. Once it is exhibited then they can say what they want. I miss the European art scene for its diversity and its ground breaking feel, though I like the easygoingness of the Australian one. I find artists here more accessible, more open to discussion. Each has its positive and less positive aspects, it only depends how you take them. Thank you for your time and for sharing with us your thoughts, Sofie. My last question deals with your future plans: anything coming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of? End of 2013 and then 2014 will be intense, it is scary but I am very excited about it! I have just started doing research in the visual art field with a french university, I work by distance. The next 8 months will be focused on that mainly, it is a big challenge to do it in such a short time... fingers crossed! I am also working on some new pieces at the moment which involve photography and illustration. Some shows will to be confirmed soon for early and later next year, so stay posted! Cirrus & Coral from Light and Soul, August 2013 Rose Gold, from Alchemy Transmutation
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Giorgio Garippa 2 Samantha Persons (USA) In “Abbie +Beth” there are tropes of emergent adolescent agency, 70s era wilderness survival handbooks, and myths of feral/lost children to investigate social and political implications of materiality, gender, sustainability, agency and autonomy. I create immersive installations that incorporate built shelters, complex written narratives, props, sound and video; and alternately, media such as short films, coloring books and photography. I use artifacts, dialogues, and suggestion of site so the viewer may empathize and make sense of the characters through their own navigation. An artist’s statement Samantha Persons 81
82 Samantha Persons an interview with E scape Land An interview with Samantha Persons and Art History that you have received from the Kansas City Art Institute and you are currently studying for your MFA, at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign: how has formal training impacted on the way you produce your artworks? By the way, I often ask to myself if a certain kind of training could even stifle a young artist's creativity: what's your point about this? I think most people think that higher education is the end all be all, or the great corruptor of true artistic genius. I am not a believer of genius—there are individuals that are virtuosos with medium and material it is hard work and failure that creates art, not elitist mentality or genius. Formal training is nothing but our contemporaries’ version of what the artist guild was with its master and apprentice system, such as painters of the Dutch Golden Age or workshops from Flanders and Italy during the 1500’s. We aren’t making work to fulfill the demands of cathedral commissions, monarchy, or religious patronage. Today we don’t need to solely focus on the technical skill sets. Hello Samantha and welcome to LandEscape. I would start this interview with my usual introductory question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art? Moreover, what could be the features that mark the contemporariness of an artwork? I am a firm believer that not everything an artist makes is art. I have many studio side projects that don’t exactly fit into my current body of work. I would like to point out I do not believe in avant-gardism, the idea of avantgarde is a matter of perspective and distance from other works. The new is never fully new. What defines art is intent and context, though on a western art historical basis it was the rich white hetero-normative male patrons and art critics/historians that defined art. Though there still are contemporary versions of these gatekeepers in the art world, what changes the dialogue and its place, as well as, redefines art is globalism. The opportunity to have multiple voices from a plethora of backgrounds, in this art atmosphere, I think is what really defines works of art as pieces that re-examine what we know of the world and introduces alternative conversations of time, place, gender, race, etc. A work of art is something that you can keep returning to and discover as much about your self as well as in the work of art itself. A work of art is never easy. You have to be able to hate it as much as love it, it should challenge the viewer as well as guide them. I have to acknowledge as well that I don’t exactly have the truest answer to this question, it gets complicated and contradictory just as much as people do. Would you like to tell us something about your background? You hold a BFA of Sculpture Samantha Persons
83 Samantha Persons We have you-Tube and, how-to blogs to teach us the technical practices needed in accomplishing ambitious projects. I see formal training as a tool to teach artists to think about their practices, to be critical of what they do and why they do. It’s a way to confront an artist into being more proficient or taking for granted that they have technical proficiency. From the immortal words of Uncle Ben from Spiderman “…with great power, comes great responsibility.” I have to believe it is the responsibility of the artist to be critical. Formal training or academic learning should and does in some places address this responsibility to their students. I agree formal training is not for everyone and for some practitioners it is a hindrance to the real life experience they need, but for me, its part of a dedication to the study of art, not just the practice. Before starting to elaborate about your production, would you like to tell to our readers something about your process and set up for making your artworks? In particular, what technical aspects do you mainly focus on your work? And how much preparation and time do you put in before and during the process of creating a piece? My process is varied, I am an obsessive multi-tasker and have my hand in a little of everything and anything needed for the projects I am working on. In “Outpost” the breadth of the works have combined short fiction/coloring book illustrations, short experimental narrative films and new media inteFrom Abbie, Installation
84 Samantha Persons an interview with E scape Land Now let's focus on your artworks: I would like to start with your work B and A Conversation, that our readers have admired in the starting pages of this article: I have read that this is a part of a multi-media project called "Outpost"... would you tell us something about the genesis of this project? What was your initial inspiration? I have always been slightly obsessed with J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan. “Outpost” is an experiment in telling a queer survivalist narrative. In the last year and a half I have been reintroduced to the power of science fiction writing as well as young adult survivalist fiction. Not long before, I was focused on non-fictional writings about queer and feminist theory, science, as well as various forms of research. I’m not ractive installations. I spend a lot of time writing and learning the technical skills need to convey the project. In preparing the short fiction/coloring book piece called “The Little Savages,” I spent a lot of time learning Adobe InDesign which is a tool primarily used by graphic designs, publishers and advertising. I try to be an voracious reader and researcher. Each piece has come with its own tools I’ve had to learn and become proficient in. “The Little Savages” project was a yearlong process before I finally got to the finished piece. “The Little Savages” embodies a prequel to the “Abbie” installation and the short films, but I was working on all of these projects at the same time. Working on multiple pieces it allows me to solve studio/project issues faster if I get stuck in some of the installation parts, I am able to jump over to the video work or the writing portion, and somewhere in there is the answer to the problems I had in the other materials. I am crafting a grand narrative, with characters growing and telling me what they need and how they would use a tool or deal with the situations I present them with. There are moments where Abbie or Beth “create” the work and then there are moments where the artist/orator steps in to tell the story. From The Little Savage
85 Samantha Persons saying I just dropped all the theory and such, it’s just instead of simply creating responses to theory, I am more interested in the application of that theory into real life/fiction, particularly how a non-embodied narrative can ask questions of agency. I like to think of this project as a band of queer lost bois. “ B and A conversation (Beth)” is a parallel film to “A and B Conversation (Abbie).” Both titles are a play on the childhood joke, “this is an A and B conversation C your way out,” but in the case of the Abbie and Beth the conversations are completely one-sided ((interior)monologues). “ B and A Conversation” uses the landscape and fragmentation of scene as a way to show Beth’s inner mind and psychologipsychological stress of survival and solitude. The use of celestial bodies, particularly the Mars landscape, embodies this distance of place and reality in her mind. The footage of Mars was recorded by Spirit and Opportunity, twin rovers separated by space and time searching a foreign landscape for clues of place and origin; this twinning is also a way to elaborate on the Abbie and Beth connections. The landscape becomes more than just background, it becomes a physical representation of how Beth’s mind works. Another work of yours on which I would like to spend some words is your stimulating piece entitled Abbie, a multimedia interactive installation diorama which, as you have remarked, it's a replica of 16 years old girl's campsite... The scene is a representation of Abbie’s abandoned campsite, with a fragmented/collaged landscape in the background; both creating a trompe l’oeil imagined place, and a tool for describing Abbie’s fractured psyche. Food, water, gear, and an old Playhouse ™ tape player/recorder that Abbie has used as her diary and friend are left behind during a quick escape. Upon entering the installation, the viewer must decide if they feel empowered enough to pilfer through Abbie’s possessions and thus discover who she is/was, or stand from afar and become a passive observer of half the story. I am also interested in the idea that if the viewer chooses to participate in the installations they also unwittingly become the characters, in this case Abbie. Through all the works attached to the “Outpost” project I am trying not to show a figure but use place and artifact to give these characters a complex history, while at the same time allowing the viewers to step in and play these roles. What does it mean to have a multitude of genders and orientations step into the lives of these characters, to put on the mask of fiction? From The Little Savage
86 an interview with Land in your Art practice? In a certain sense, your artworks are the background where the viewer is immersed, but it's not simply a passive background... Place and landscape are at some of the heart of exploration. We go into space not because it is easy but because we want to touch the thing we once thought was impossible. Landscape is never passive, just look at some of Jared Diamond’s writings on the evolution of Western culture and the advantages of climate and the land provided. How can you not see landscape as being a active power influencing human psychology and development? We are in the Anthropocene period where we as a species have changed the planetary landscape to such a degree we haIf I have been asked to choose an adjective that could sum up in a single word your art, I would say that yours is "kaleidoscopic": you produce installations and Video art. By the way, I'm sort of convinced that new media art will definitely fill the dichotomy between art and technology and I will dare to say that Art and Technology are going to assimilate one to each other... what's your point about this? I agree. I believe art and technology are two sides of a multi-side die. I think it is inevitable for the arts to become more and more connected to technology. We live in an ever media saturated environment, when you go home from your job the work no longer ends, you have 24hr access to email and social system. With that I think this multiplatform existence invites the artist to think in that way. Why burden yourself with a single medium that might never fully represent the potential of an idea when you can easily just step over to video, html, robotics, writing, or any other material? Why stop potential? In my practice it is the idea that determines the medium or material. Since our magazine is entiled "LandEscape" I couldn't do without posing you a simple question: what is the significance of the landscape and -in a wider meaning, of the background E scape Samantha Persons From Abbie, Installation From Abbie, Installation
87 especially if that award is attached to monetary grant or prize. I think the WPA was a powerful American asset awarding artists with a financial investment in the development of culture. I am not saying that all artists need to work towards an award, I think that would just create boring art and we already have a lot of that in the world. But awards do influence artists to be more ambitious and to take more risks. At least I hope this is true. When I think of my ideal audience it is that of the an adult version of 7- and 8- year- olds. They have no fear when it comes to participating and playing different roles. They are willing to make the mistake as not let it keep them down. The art world has an unwritten rule that art is never to be touched, especially when it comes to art as commodity. I usually think about the audience after the fact. If I was to worry about audience I don’t think I would be making the installations and short films I am currently making. I always love hearing how my work is viewed, I think all artist do, it’s kind of of a confidence booster, and if an artist says they don’t they are totally lying to you. without asking to the artists that I happen to interview, since even though it might sound the simpler one, it gives me back the most complex answers: what aspect of your work do you enjoy the most? What gives you the biggest satisfaction? I would say the biggest satisfaction is in the process and research, It’s like playing all the time. I feel like my studio is a sort of mad laboratory, where I mix stage props and sculptural elements with cinematic influence and create magic. Thank you for your time and for sharing with us your thoughts, Samantha. Anything coming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of? I currently have a public sculpture up at the Cedarhurst Center of the Art in Mt. Vernon, IL as well as a short film on exhibition at St. Micheals College in Vermont. Samantha Persons ve to adapt economically, culturally, and politically. On a geological time scale landscapes are ever changing and active, it’s just we, as a species do not live long enough to see its full activity. Your works have been exhibited in several occasions: it goes without saying that feedbacks and especially awards are capable of supporting an artist, I was just wondering if an award -or better, the expectation of an award- could even influence the process of an artist... By the way, how much important is for you the feedback of your audience? Do you ever think to whom will enjoy your Art when you conceive your pieces? Most definitely, awards or the potential of an award can influence the process of an artist,
88 #196 Winter E scape Land An artist’s statement On one hand, the immediacy of communication allows us to easily generate collective knowledge; creative work has now a great potential to be collaborative, to blur the boundaries of specific disciplines and become more focused on the convergence of heterogeneous ideas. On the other, my background as a videogame designer has influenced my interest in developing installations focused on the audience's experience, sometimes even conforming them mostly through the participation and presence of the users. I think the best way to spread a concept is giving Anni Garza Growing up in a time of boiling technology when the Internet , social networks and mobile devices have become a daily part of our life, revealed to me a change in the way human beings live the reality, especially about how interpersonal relationships are formed, leaving aside the time and distance as an obstacle (as it was before). The continuous superposition of real and virtual world which we are now so used to, has transformed the perception of ourselves and the world. What I would like to particularly emphasize in my artwork is the possibilities in terms of experience that may occur using technological devices as artistic tools. (Mexico) An artist’s statement
Anni Garza 89 time and somehow unpredictable. When relationships converge in a kind of self - organization, it is possible to transmit in a straight way an idea both in an aesthetical and emotional level, referring to something cognitive, political , moral or personal. This is what I consider interactive. My work , generally intended to be relational, speaks mainly from an inner point of view, through which I am trying to answer, with the help of others, concerns about art, environment, emotions, identity and the ability to tell stories from the fact of how we met each other and how different levels of relationships change our paths. the audience the ability to intuitively experience it, and that happens in the most natural way when such experience is somewhat playful. This also applies when working within a collaborative pro-duction, as a lubricant between interpersonal rela- tionships, different ideas and creative processes. For me, the name of the artist as sole creator has lost importance, because the capabilities of creative collaboration become much greater than what one person can achieve by itself. I think the artist is now to propose the playground as users construct the art piece from their experience, which is different every Latest exhibitions: 2012 Arte Laguna Prize VI, Virtual Art, Venice, Italy 2012 Canada. 2013 Toolkit Festival. Venice, Italy 2013 Transitio MX_05 Festival. Mexico City, Mexico 2013 A still from Environmental Disturbance
90 Anni Garza an interview with E scape Land An interview with Anni Garza the social changes suffered through the use of technology in the past ten years (as my work inteds to do). And in general matters I don't think this is attached to the year of production: there are many works whose vision is still Hello Anni and a warm welcome to LandEscape. I would start this interview with my usual ice breaker question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art? And moreover, what could be the features that mark the contemporariness of an artwork? Hello, and thank you. It's hard for me to do a straight judgment about what work can qualify as art, as it often depends on the context and the institutions that validate it. Speaking from a very personal perspective, I think there are some characteristics that, while not giving a precise definition, I do recognize in the work of several artists, and are aspects that I would like to take in when producing my artwork. Even though it is always important to compare the artist's intention with the final result, I think it's precisely in the understandable meaning and concept of the work of art that we can see what kind of connection the artist has with its environment, how it has reflected his/her inner self, if it is introspective or not, what things he/she likes and knows and particularly if that core, first abstract idea was transformed into something physical or virtual in a poetic way. When the artist managed to solve that intention into an artwork, being aware of him/herself and his/her surroundings, in a yet clear but surprising way, it becomes evident, it is even reflected on the different media the artist chose. For me this would be first clue for identifying a work as art. The idea of contemporary has more to do with the fact that artistic discourse may be able to connect with current human concerns. Somehow the widespread use of the Internet has allowed the emergence of a collective awareness in which we share at least some common references and where we are able to communicate, up to a point, beyond language (and if not, in English). When a work of art can speak about the problems we all, or a lot uf us, are experimenting now, it becomes consistent with the time we are living in. It can show, for instance, Anni Garza (photo by Alessandro Verre)
91 Anni Garza contemporary and art being produced today but whose speech is obsolete. Would you like to tell us something about your background? You have studied Visual Arts in UAEM, Morelos and UPV, Valencia: how have these experiences of formal training impacted on the way you produce your artworks? By the way, I often ask to myself if a certain kind of training could even stifle a young artist's creativity: what's your point about this? Although I studied visual arts, I majored in animation. At that time I was not interested in becoming an artist, but a trip to Spain for finishing my degree gave me clarity about what I didn't want to become: an employed animator, working eleven hours a day, as would have happened if I had stayed here in Mexico at some animation studio. The direction I took was defined by the first job I had as a videogame designer for Gameloft. Although I disliked office work, learning about the design of interactivity and observing the results immediately hooked me. I quit that job and started working on my own projects, hybrids of animation and videogames. It soon became clear that for my installations to wort it was necessary to learn programming, and fortunately, the schools i studied in, showed me the importance of being self-taught, to make some research whenever you do not know something. Now as a teacher I think the most appropriate training for a future artist is instilling curiosity. Being curious about the world around us and whatever is happening in it, as well as never to stop learning is essential in the development of any artist who seeks to live by this profession. Information is so accessible now than anything we need to know or learn how to do, with lots of tips and experiences of others, is available anytime on the Internet. Technical training is no longer a constraint and is not exclusive from schools, which I think, give a historical context and to some theoretical view but should focus more on cultivating critical, independent thinking, and the willing to learn by themselves. Before starting to elaborate about your production, would you like to tell to our readers something about your process and set up for making your works? In particular, what technical aspects do you mainly focus on your work? And how much preparation and time do you put in before and during the process of creating a piece? Working with technology is generally a difficult process especially if you try to do everything on your own. At first I did not have the technical expertise to produce the things I wanted. But interaction had cap-
92 #196 Winter E scape Land An artist’s statement Now let's focus on your artworks: I would like to start with Environmental Disturbances an interesting video installation that our readers have started to get to know in the starting pages of this article and that I would suggest to view directly at http://vimeo.com/67894747 : would you tell us something about the genesis of this project? What was your initial inspiration? As in most of it my previous artwork, I had a concern about the relationship between human emotional states and how they can be improved, changed or produced by machines. My research in affective computing came from a personal inability to be completely at ease emotionally, so for me, a way to solve it is creating experiences that alter my perception of an emotion or another. captivated me, I wanted my work to be able to actively interact with my audience, so I began to learn, and I'm still doing all the time. When I think of my work, at first I don't worry about how I will solve it technically, I just think what kind of experience I would like to build or live. Initial ideas are a bit abstract, something that reflects an inner desire, or things that I notice while browsing on Internet or reading fiction, for example. Then comes a time to work with the idea, to figure out how to express it, how the ideal funtioning would be, to search for the right media. When the artwork is clearly formed in my mind then comes the hardest part: technical research, what technologies or mechanisms exist to generate an experience like I want. Generally this has been the longest stage because the training I took had very little to do with programming or electronics. Although I also had to learn about augmented reality, mobile devices, internet and above all I have learned to lean on others and work as a team, that allows everything to flow much faster and have more quality in the result . The final part of testing and adjustment is also very important. Many times I even changed some functioning because when interacting with the artwork it wourldn't seem to be so intuitive, and usually there are always many details that I could not foresee by myself. I want my work to be more automatic and independent of my presence every time. Environmental Disturbances. Video installation Environmental Disturbances. Video installation Anni Garza
Anni Garza 93 the day. If at another time I was thinking too stressed about work, the landscape would distract me in a kind of game in which that concentration could struck lightings somewhere, or if something out of usual happened, like it started to snow (in Mexico City there is no snow ever). In despite this idea was clear, I must say my artworks are usually also experiments which end result I can't entirely predict, especially since each person will experience it differently. I looked for a way to meassure my emotions, send them and filter them to the computer. The result was a brain wave sensor, that reads in a certain way, values about user's state of mind, such as relaxation, concentration, meditation and some other results that are evident to the audience so that users could control their inner state to adapt the landscape to their mood. The landscape is presented in a video recorded from my home and layers of weather events that are activated were post-produced by Alejandro Palomino, based on my personal view of how my mood would improve if these things happened in my environment. Sounds are also important for making this landscape alive and are triggered with the weather changes, they were designed by Francisco Eme. You artworks are capable of generating meaningful experiences for the audience in order to expand their physical capabilities... So I would like to ask you if in your opinion personal experience is an absolutely indespensable part of a creative process... Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience? I know it is possible to create an artwork from a completely conceptual basis, making very intellectual or philosophical work, but that's not the kind of art I would like to produce, I feel such position ignores somehow important human (social and emotional) aspects, and for me this causes a sense of failure, a lack of soul of the artwork, so to speak, the connection with the human viewer and also runs the risk of being cryptic to the audience, which often does not have the level of knowledgement required to read, understand or enjoy this type or art. As my artwork is intended for a human, alive Environmental Disturbances arose because in Mexico City, during the summer, there is about three months of rain, cloudy days when we rarely see the sun between June and September. This situation, at a particular time of my life, began to affect my mood. I generally knew everything was going well but the fact that it was raining all the time began to depress me a bit, I got less desire to go out. I read about a condition that many people suffer: their mood change according to the season (seasonal affective desorder) and then the idea came, I wanted to invetir this process. I longed for what I saw out the window would be more in line with how I felt or wanted to feel. If for instance I was relaxed, the scenery, instead of depressing me, should provide me with the warmth needed to make me feel cheerful through
94 Anni Garza an interview with E scape Land thinking of creative projects, regardless of disciplinary label, capable of taking, giving and merging knowledge from different fields. For me it is a logical step in the artistic process to move towards other type of knowledge, to all possible type of knowledge. I just happened to feel more attracted by technology, design, video, games, mobile devices, because that is what I have at hand on my daily life, is part of my environment and my lifestyle. I think innovation comes now, from the possible combinations. Another piece of your on which I would like to spend some words is Unbekanntes Gesicht (Unknown Face), thatour reader can start to view at http://annigarzalau.com/anni-garza-lau-- unbekanntes-gesicht.html It's an interesting installation/action that has recently taken place during the festival Transitio_MX05 in Mexico City... This work has made me think audience, I think the best way I can imagine how it will be received is just recognizing me as a person, as a viewer, because in the end, what I am sharing is my insight into the world. I want people to see things as I see them, even just for a very short time. Therefore, I think it's hard for me to think of my work away from personal experience. I don't know if I could enjoy working in this as much if I didn't think of it as a solution or experimentation on the interests that I have, the things that I like and care about. Or if I wouldn't care so much about what other people feel like when they have the experiences to share about my artwork. In that sense I would say my work is very personal, is my way to relate to the world and let others linkwith me. I must confess that I'm always happy when I discover synergies between Art and Technology: do you think that nowadays still exists a dichotomy between art and technolo-gy? Moreover, I would go a far as to say that the more time it passes the less there are concrete differences between Art and Science... and I would go as far as to say that in a way Science is assimilating Art and viceversa... what's your point about this? As I wrote in my statement, I think that humans have changed our way of relating and thinking by incorporating so much of the technology that we have into our lives, so that now everyone and everything can be immediately interconnected. I think that perhaps the concept of artistic work, even the definition of art itself, is being transformed and we should rather focus about Unbekanntes Gesicht (Unknown Face) Unbekanntes Gesicht (Unknown Face)
95 Anni Garza that if we look at the online ecosystem, we are stricken by an enormously great number of web services that present works which are accessible for immediate feedback on a wide scale and attract massive attention... maybe that the challenge could be to rethink individual authorship....an individual or collective struggle against homogenisation of institutional domains... what's your take about this? My interest in doing Unbekanntes Gesicht was to show that all the information that is on the network is public, but its uses are what determine if the effect becomes either political, social or personal. In the specific case of this arwork I used Facebook and face detection, my focus point was the identity. It has,from my point of view, been reduced into a bunch of data stored on some server. The warm side of humane treatment, to read the gestures and emotions on the face of the other person, to make assumptions and timidly ask about personal matters, has become less necessary and important. We share in the network aspects of our lives that at other times would have been unthinkable or at least uncomfortable. We live in a time where we need to show off to feel that we exist in this virtual world (and therefore in real terms) without realizing that what we are exposing is our identity, and not only our closest friends and relatives will have access to it, we can't imagine who or what for entered our profile. That's just something to take into account, but on the other hand, as I point out, is easier for that same reason to generate an overall effect with a single video on vimeo than a expensive traveling exhibition would, in the half of time. This is an extremely powerful tool to reach millions of heads, to show your work, to create collectively. Artists and art institutions supporting an artistic circuit will always want a name, someone to direct their attention, but the truth is that now the line between object of art, online action, spectacle, performance, and so on, has become so blurred that both the identity of the artist and of the work sometimes become something independently changing and evolving when they become part of the virtual world. It is a process, for me, very interesting to observe. The network is so huge and with so many users and producers of creative content that I don't think there are enough institutional domains to have all the power required to move the interest, attention and thinking of people based on the study of our identities, however I do believe that somehow they are discovering ways to forsee how we will react to one thing or another and as users should be our responsibility to be more careful about our personal information.
96 #196 Winter E scape Land An artist’s statement As we have already said, your works - as Second Look and Datanimbus - are often based on augmented reality concepts, and a feature that I recognize in your work is the perception environment and the challenging of it in order to create a new multitude of points of view: since our art review is called "LandEscape", we would like to stop for a moment to consider the "function" of the landscape, which most of the times seems to be just a passive background... I'm sort of convinced that some informations & ideas are hidden, or even "encrypted" in the environment we live in, so we need -in a way- to decipher them. Maybe that one of the roles of an artist could be to reveal unexpected sides of Nature, especially of our inner Nature... what's your point about this? I do believe there are many more things than we can see or which we realize in the environments we live. Not only people have virtual identities, but also the places and sometimes even ideas or other type of content (songs, movies, pictures, etc). Being able to reveal these entities superimposing them in the real world is for me a way to give visibility to a more abstract space with which we can relate, not only with a keyboard and a mouse, but through their meaning and context. I see technology as a tool that has helped us to extend our perception of reality in different forms, and I have been interested in the possible ways that a particular landscape or concrete space can be expanded. In a sense I also see this overlapping Anni Garza Second Look
Anni Garza 97 as a way to unify the two identities of the individual: the real and the virtual one, and allow him to experience simultaneously both spaces as a single one, mixed, where boundaries and properties are continously transformed with which he can interact physical and intellectually. I think it's a fact that most people do not think much or at all about it, the information transmited from a specific place or saved in certain location, but I do believe that assimilating this complex, half invisible, but active environment can change the way we understand both our living space and our inner nature and it's reflected on how we build bridges between them. So far, your works have been exhibited around the four corner of the world: from Mexico to Canada, from Germany to Italy and you're soon going to have a show also in Bulgaria... it goes without saying that feedbacks and especially awards are capable of supporting an artist, I was just wondering if an award -or better, the expectation of an award- could even influence the process of an artist... By the way, how much important is for you the feedback of your audience? Do you ever think to whom will enjoy your Art when you conceive your pieces? Although in the last couple of years my work has been featured in different places, the truth is that I didn't think, nor do I think, while making my installations, in the possible prizes. The festival selections are always a great way to give visibility to an emergent artist and often Second Look
98 Anni Garza an interview with E scape Land even the economic support required to continue producing artwork, but I don't see it as a goal. I know I cannot rely on them or waisting my time trying to convice certain kind of jury, I would spend my life disappointed, frustrated and stagnating my own creative process. What interests me is to have the resources for producing the ideas that I have, so that even more people have access to them and especially that they can generate a unique experience able to connect to the audience with my idea. If I don't succeed in the art world, as long as I have creative freedom and the means to produce something, I don't have a problem to move into another spot. The feedback, on the other hand, I find as an indispensable tool in order to make more effective my insteractive objects. When people play with my work often amazing things happen inside them; I love to listen to them and have been very helpful in improving the works and sometimes even to create new ones. However, before thinking about who might enjoy my art, I think rather how I could enjoy it, what would surprised me, how would it make me feel . artists that I happen to interview, since -even though it might sound the simpler one- I receive the most complex answers: what aspect of your work do you enjoy the most? What gives you the biggest satisfaction? It's very satisfying when I see people interacting with my installations and everything works fine. I like them to talk with me, to give me their comments and share their experience. The moment I enjoy most is being able to make something nonexistent to materialize and then people can see and perceive what was the original idea or even find something else, that was there but I wasn't able to perceive earlier. I also like, though in different ways, the stage of research and design the artwork. There are always new problems to be solved, both creative and technical from which I learn a lot and the process itself, though difficult, is a challenge that as is being developed and resolved brings great satisfactions. Thank you for your time and for sharing with us your thoughts, Anni. My last question deals with your future plans: what's next for you? Anything coming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of? Next year I will be finally presenting Datanimbus here in Mexico. It's been a great challenge and there is still a lot of work to do, but I'm very enthusiastic of Augmented Reality and it's possibilities for art, as well as the idea of cloud, related to the mass information and services on the web. I would invite anyone who reads this interview to be part of it. I've also been working on another couple of artworks and experiments on the Internet that you can visit on my website on the next months, mainly because they are related to net art. Thank you, and it's been a pleasure to have this interview Datanimbus
99 Anni Garza