NICOLAS VIONNET CLAIRE WILLIAMS GERD BROCKMANN LINDA PERSSON EVA ATHANASIADOU TAL AMITAI LAVI IVONNE DIPPMANN MILES RUFIELDS LIEN-CHENG WANG ART LandEscape A r t R e v i e w Anniversary Edition C o n t e m p o r a r y , 2016 six channel digital video installation at the University of Waterloo Art Gallery
SUMMARY Zinka Bejtic USA C o n t e m p o r a r y A r t R e v i e w United Kingdom My work is based on a wide scope of modalities ranging from design, photography, experimental film to video art. I am engaged in timebased visual communication and subjects of my work often explore dichotomies between inside and outside, the polished and rough, the physical and emotional, distant and passionate. Through experiments in video and sound, I search for new ways to study conceptual forms common for nonnarrative formats. In photography and design, I build on simple and surreal ambiances that serve as a platform for provoking visual narratives. My work aims to transcends the private case and addresses universal values with which any viewer may identify. Caroline Monnet Tracey Snelling I am a firm believer that I can only speak about the things I know. My own personal reality is always intrinsically weaved into my work. Personal experience is a stepping-stone in creating the work I do. I wanted the main character to be beautiful, eccentric and likable. I remember thinking that my grandmother was the most amazing and exciting woman. Only later I realized her eccentricity was hiding something deeper. She was hurt and displaced. Memories also feed imagination in my opinion. The authenticity of the story comes from a direct experience, but the fiction behind it allows for further possibilities in storytelling. The film tells the story of Roberta who left her native reserve to follow her husband in a suburban area in hopes of a better life. Carla Forte United Kingdom/USA Special Issue Time is so relative. In film it can be used to present one minute of time happening in various ways, a lifetime happening in an hour, time being long and lasting seemingly forever, or time being so quick and then it's over. For Nothing, the tempo was so important, and was part of my original idea from the conception of the film. For most of the film, time drags on and the day seems to last forever. Then, upon Jane's realization that she is stuck in a dead-end life and must get out, the pace picks up quickly, and the sound follows. Once there has been the dramatic climax and and is free, driving on the road, things slow down to a regular pace as she stops to get gas. Boris Eldagsen Germany Eldagsen only works at night, with minimal equipment, an in-camera approach and without digital manipulation. Like a moth, he roams the streets searching for light, practicing what he has termed Inverse Street Photography: instead of exploring stories, a place or a person, he hijacks and transforms what he sees in front of his camera to become a symbol for the timeless workings of the mind. Eldagsen also stages images with models to create a portrait of the Collective Unconscious. To develop ideas and impulses for the shoot, he maps the overlapping areas of his and his model’s unconscious. Then he follows the dynamics of the shoot to move deeper down the rabbit hole. Canada Land scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW My primary intent is to communicate my personal and social concerns, transforming them into a magical realm where anything becomes possible. Images, dialogues, silences and movement join to create a visual equilibrium, speaking for themselves. Within my cinemato-graphic work, movement is a key element for narrative and visual development; achieving a frame in motion from the image. Beyond an unorthodox narrative and aesthetic, my work focuses on experimenting new visual sensations through conflict: reflecting a world of emotions that can be both very near reality and on the side of the nonexistent, creating a parallel universe in which the palpable and the desired become possible at the same time. The 'immateriality' of the world is highly material, everything connected to domain, internet and so on. Nicolas Vionnet Switzerland Vionnet’s preferred medium is acrylic on canvas. His chiefly large-scale works play with space and expanse. Although almost always realistic, his paintings have more in common with abstract images than real landscapes. He paints disruptive grey strips across his clouds and allows coloured surfaces to drip down the canvas in accordance with the laws of gravity. Vionnet is fascinated by such irritations: interventions that approach and create a non-hierarchical dialogue with the environment. This dialogue opens up a field of tension, which allows the viewer an intensive glimpse of both these phenomena. Through a variety of methods and different materials he creates worlds whose foundations are fragile and disinte-grating. These worlds seemingly materialize from concrete images yet they create a disturbing mental atmosphere.
Special Issue 4 18 Nicolas Vionnet lives and works in Genéve, Switzerland Linda Persson lives and works in London, United Kingdom Tal Amitai-Lavi lives and works in Tel-Aviv, Israel Lien-Cheng Wang lives and works in Taiwan Gerd G.M. Brockmann lives and works in Utrecht, the Netherlands Claire Williams lives and works in London, United Kingdom Miles Rufelds lives and works in Berlin, Germany Eva Athanasiadou lives and works in London, United Kingdom Ivonne Dippmann lives and works in Berlin, Germany 32 46 60 74 88 102 114 Special thanks to Haylee Lenkey, Martin Gantman , Krzysztof Kaczmar, Joshua White, Nicolas Vionnet, Genevieve Favre Petroff, Sandra Hunter, MyLoan Dinh, John Moran, Marya Vyrra, Gemma Pepper, Michael Nelson, Hannah Hiaseen and Scarlett Bowman, Yelena York Tonoyan, Miya Ando, Martin Gantman , Krzysztof Kaczmar and Robyn Ellenbogen. SUMMARY Land scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW My thinking and making goes through different materials and processes and i am, by putting my body in motion to go to places and landscapes given experiences, by actually moving, and that is quite a radical thing in itself, and this forms my visual output. I pick up on things related to our senses like smell, light and dark, dry or moist sonic atmosphere, which are all deeply sensorial and experiential. It's not just about responding to the things already in existence but bring to front the absence in the produced world. This can create hard-to-follow image sequences or mediums chosen, yet it, if successful, can create curiosity or better; a sense of euphoria. Our world shrieks of mobility, interaction, exchange, flexibility however it only applies to a fair few, but mainly it applies to money. Actual moving bodies has created new walls to be built, harsher entries and exits of and into certain countries. Linda Persson Sweden / United Kingdom Amitai-Lavi's work is straddling on the boundary between two-dimensional and three-dimensional. It is characterized by love of craftsmanship, sensitivity to details and an exploration of unusual materials. In her recent works Tal AmitaiLavi shows images that mark out elusive spaces of emptiness and fullness. Through a variety of methods and different materials she creates worlds whose foundations are fragile and disintegrating. These worlds seemingly materialize from concrete images yet they create a disturbing mental atmosphere. Her unique work succeed to transcends the private case and addresses universal values with which any viewer may identify. Tal Amitai Lavi Israel My works involve the use of interactive devices with sound performances. Devices often utilize a volume approach to achieve a specific physical erception, while images in the sound performances are generated real-time to materialize corresponding forms. In recent years, I have been committed to the seamless combination of images and sounds created through computer algorithms. In my work, I want to convert the Internet data—the 1s and 0s—into the CD-ROM drives’ physical ejection and retraction, thus making the activity of logging on to the Internet both visible and audible. Audience stands in front of a wall linked by CDROM drives, they get sensation as if placing bodies in the data stream. It gives audience in a grand informational torrent materialized by a collective of actions. Lien-Cheng Wang Taiwan
almost always realistic, his paintings have more in common with abstract images than real landscapes. He paints disruptive grey strips across his clouds and allows coloured sur-faces to drip down the canvas in accordance with the laws of gravity. Vionnet is fascinated by such irritations: interventions that approach and create a non-hierarchical dialogue with the environ-ment. This dialogue opens up a field of tension, which allows the viewer an intensi-ve glimpse of both these phenomena. Vionnet uses the same approach and the same strategy for his installations. Irritation and integration. A fundamental confrontation with the history of a place leads to a subtler and more precise intervention of the object. Take for example his man-made grass island at the Weimarhallen Park (Weimar, GER), which ironically inten-sified the park’s own artificiality. In ‘Close the Gap’ (Leipzig, GER) he bridged the space between an old-town row of houses with a printed canvas image of the now much frowned upon prefabricated buil-ding. A reference to changes in time and aesthetics. Nicolas Vionnet lives and works in the Zuricharea. He graduated from the Hochschule fürGestaltung und Kunst Basel. He graduated in2009 from the Bauhaus-Universität Weimarwith a Master of Fine Arts degree after studyingon the university’s Public Art and New ArtisticStrategies programme. Vionnet has partici-pated in various exhibitions at home and abroadsince 1999, including at the Kunsthalle Basel,the Neues Museum Weimar (Gallery marke.6)and the III Moscow International Biennale forYoung Art. An artist's statement ionnet’s preferred medium is acrylic on canvas. His chiefly large-scale works play with Vspace and expanse. Although 22 LandEscape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Nicolas Vionnet Lives and works in Baselh, Switzerland
LandEscape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW 22
Multidisciplinary artist Nicolas Vionnet's work explores the relationship between the Self and the collective consciousness, highlighting the unstable relation between these apparently opposite aspects. In his works that we'll be discussing in the following pages, he unveils the connections between our perceptual process and the elusive nature of our bodies' physicality yo accomplish the difficult task of drawing the viewers into a multilayered experience in which they are urged to rethink about the stages of the soul, spirit and body from before birth to afterlife. One of the most convincing aspect of Vionnet's approach is the way it condenses the permanent flow of associations in the realm of memory and experience: we are really pleased to introduce our readers to his stimulating artistic production. Hello Nicolas, and a warm welcome to LandEscape To start this interview would you like to tell us something about your background? Are there any particular experiences that have impacted on the way you currently produce your artworks? I grew up in the region of Basel, Switzerland, and have completed my education at the University of Art and Design Basel and at the Bauhaus-University Weimar. During the first few years I have been mainly dealing with painting. Decisive for my current artistic practice was my twoyear stay in Weimar, where I graduated from the Public Art and New Artistic Strategy master’s program. During this time I was given the chance to realize my first major interventions in public space. It was an exciting and very intense time where I mainly learned to perceive my environment in a completely different way, to react and to undertake artistic interventions. 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 principal approach in nearly all projects is quite similar, but the final work can differ greatly. In the context of an exhibition I often get a proposed specific place or I have the freedom to choose from a range of different locations in public space. My process usually begins with photo tours and walks where I am trying to become familiar with a place. Important questions for me are: how do the citizens use the place, what is its function and what role does it take in everyday life? Are there any 22 LandEscape Maya Gelfman CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW LandEscape meets Nicolas Vionnet An interview by Julian Thomas Ross, curator and Melissa C. Hilborn, curator [email protected]
special circumstances or other conspicuous issues? In the next stage I start an exhaustive research, go to the library or the city archive and try to clarify the historical background of the site. During this period I normally have the first clear ideas and I start to do visualizations with Photoshop. If an idea is strong enough and can survive for several days or weeks, I move to the final phase where I start to test and to work with the needed material to finally realize the work. Now let's focus on your art production: we would start from A New Found Glory and Men after work, one of your earlier pieces that our readers have already started to admire in the introductory pages of this article: and I would suggest to our readers to visit your website directly at http://www.nicolasvionnet.ch in order to get a wider idea of your artistic production. In the meanwhile, would you tell us something about the genesis of these interesting projects? What was your initial inspiration? The first project you mentioned, A New Found Glory, was realized together with my friend Wouter Sibum from Rotterdam. We both graduated from the Public Art and New Artistic Strategies program in Weimar and since then, often working together as a duo. For example we realized the work Colour me surprised as part of the III Moscow International Biennale for Young Art in 2012. A New Found Glory was conceived one year later in a closed public toilet known as the M¸llloch (litter-hole) next to the Herdbr¸cke at the Donau in Ulm. For years, this non-place is closed off for the public. It gathers more and more garbage and is overgrown by weeds and wild flowers over the years. We were looking for a funny 22 LandEscape Nicolas Vionnet CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
Nicolas Vionnet 22 LandEscape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
22 LandEscape Nicolas Vionnet CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
response to the still unresolved problem and decided to install a fountain in the middle of the forbidden zone. A fountain that was only just visible for the passersby, but once looked into the hole reveals to be filling the space completely. Thus, not only surprising the passersby - at the same time also a touch of festivity and glory returned to the old city wall in Ulm. The second work, Men after work, was a minimal intervention that I have realized in the project room of WIDMER + THEODORIDIS contemporary in Zurich. The room consisted of a long, dark passage, which finally ended in a courtyard in the heart of the old town of Zurich. On the one hand, I was referring on the exhibition title Men at work. On the other hand, the small but noticeable road construction warning light has flashed in unfamiliar red light through this dark alley and had a magnetic effect on passersby. I have to underline that we only know road construction warning lights with yellow appearance in Switzerland. Therefore the red light was irritating and many of the passers-by saw it more like an indication of a red light bar. Furthermore I found the idea of a road construction warning light very charming and narrative: it is clocking-off time; the light is set to red. Come on in! One of the features that has mostly impacted on me of Jacuzzi, is the way you are effectively capable of recontextualizing the idea of the environment we live in, which is far from being just the background of our existence: you Art in a certain sense forces the viewers' perception in order to challenge the common way to perceive environment... so I would like to ask you if in your opinion personal experience is an absolutely indispensable part of a creative process... Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience? 22 Nicolas Vionnet LandEscape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
It is indeed the case that my work tries to sensitize the people for their immediate environment. My works are often restrained, unobtrusive and directly embedded in the landscape – my work would not be readable without a specific surrounding. So it is always about this dialogue, the positioning, interaction and what can come out of these situations. This forces the viewer to perceive the environment from a new perspective. Unimportant and inconspicuous becomes suddenly important and intrusive. Now to your question: Our experiences shape us throughout life. I see this like a simple classical conditioning. Our experiences are a key factor of how we perceive our world and how we behave in certain situations. You thus always have an impact, even if we are not always aware. In this sense, I don’t think that a creative process can be really disconnected from experience. Multidisciplinary is a recurrent feature of your artistic production and I have appreciated the effective synergy that you create between different materials, as in the stimulating Extent of reflection: while crossing the borders of different techniques have you ever happened to realize that a synergy between different disciplines is the only way to achieve some results, to express some concepts? I must admit in all honesty: Yes, I actually work with synergies, but it was never intended to do so. I very often rely on my gut instinct and just try to bring the work to a coherent state. One advantage of your mentioned interdisciplinary approach is that a work, through the interaction of different techniques, automatically focuses on several aspects and thus can be read on 22 LandEscape Nicolas Vionnet CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
22 Reagan Lake LandEscape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
22 LandEscape Nicolas Vionnet CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
several levels. However, I am not consciously looking for these multiple layers. In 2011, I have realized the installation Out of sight, out of mind in a former Stasi prison in Chemnitz, Germany. The work consisted of a huge mountain of shredded paper, with which I have filled a former interstitial space knee-high. As additional audio-element there were hectic noises of steps and shredding machines. The whole work addressed the last days of the Stasi shortly before the fall oft he wall in 1989. The Stasi tried to destroy as many secret documents as possible. Even today, there are thousands of bags with shredded paper remnants that are now reassembled laboriously by hand. A hilarious story. In this sense you can see my work as a staging of the last hectic hours of the Stasi in 1989. Another interesting work of yours that have particularly impressed me and on which I would like to spend some words is entitled Warum Denken traurig macht, and which is a clear example of what you have once defined as "nonhierarchical dialogue with the environment". By the way, although I'm aware that this might sound a bit naif, I can recognize such a socio political aim in your Art: a constant stimulation that we absolutely need to get a point of balance that might give us the chance of re-interpreting the world we live in... and our lives, indeed... My work often focuses on the topics of integration and irritation. In other words, I'm trying to integrate something new into the existing environment and thus to irritate at the same time. However, the confusion should be subtle. The phrase "nonhierarchical dialogue with the environment" describes my conviction that the artwork itself may never be dominant. Indeed, there should be no hierarchy. Ideally, there is a balance between work and environment. This balance allows the 22 Nicolas Vionnet LandEscape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
viewer to perceive both components simultaneously. The installation Warum Denken traurig macht in my view is an oddity among my works. This project was shown in the socalled art box, a typical white cube in the shape of a container that is shown in different locations in the city of Uster. Due to the physical presence oft the box, there was already an existing hierarchy, which I could not prevent. However, I wanted to follow a particular path. Many artists before me have used the box a simple white cube to showcase their existing works. In no case I wanted to do the same. I have decided to give the box a new residential function and to turn it into a retirement home. The whole room was papered, the walls were decorated with old family photos and at the door there was a cloak hanging. In between, the phone rang and you could hear the radio. The people have actually thought that the box is inhabited. By the way: the work's title referred to the same-named book from Georges Steiner, an American literary critic, essayist and philosopher During these years your works have been exhibited in several important occasions, both in Switzerland, where you are currently based, and abroad: and I think it's important to remark that you took part to the III Moscow International Biennale for Young Art... It goes without saying that feedbacks and especially awards are capable of supporting an artist: I was just wondering if an award -or just the expectation of positive feedback- could even influence the process of an artist... By the way, how much important is for you the feedback of your audience? I sometimes wonder if it could ever exist a genuine relationship between business and Art... Absolutely. An artist needs an audience; I think that's probably one of the most important things. I want that my work can be seen! Art is destined to be shared! It is not that much important to me that I can sell my work, however, I am more interested to exhibit my work in a professional context and on a regular basis. Sales may of course also have a negative influence on the artist's way of working. Many artists argue that they are completely independent - I see that as utterly false. Let's be honest: If you feel a large interest and for example you can sell a complete series of works at once, there is a high probability that you go back to your studio and start working on similar pieces again. I think this is quite normal. Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your thoughts, Nicolas. 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? I would like to thank you for your interest. My work is currently shown at several locations. At the Kulturort Galerie Weiertal (Winterthur, ending on September 7,2014) I present two installation works in a magnificent park (one of the works is the above mentioned Jacuzzi). Furthermore I participate in a group show entitled Small Works at Trestle Gallery (Brooklyn, New York, July 18 – August 22, 2014). There will be a group show entitled Trovato, non veduto at Ausstellungsraum Klingental (Basel, November 1 – 16, 2014). Moreover I am very excited to do another project together with Wouter Sibum (Rotterdam). We will present a major intervention in the sea as part oft he 4th Biennial Aarhus exhibit called Sculpture by the sea. This show will start in June 2016. You are cordially invited to visit my website www.nicolasvionnet.ch, where you can find more information and all exhibition dates. 22 LandEscape Maya Gelfman CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
Linda Persson female explorer going to desolate landscapes, to questioning measured science and history of archive and knowledge production as we know it by putting the [female] body in motion. I recently went to the Australian desert and the opal mining industries to look at landscape / stones / before and after human interference. It’s a film that uses economic, colonial, ecological, gender concerns juxtaposing unlike images forming a sort of radicalism by using imagination as method. ver the last 4 years I have occupied Othe role of the http://www.lindapersson.org/ http://thelastwoman.moonfruit.com/ http://5months.moonfruit.com/news-month-by-month/4581073543 Linda Persson is a Swedish artist living and working between Sweden and United Kingdom
Multidisciplinary artist Linda Persson's work rejects any conventional classifications and is marked with freedom as well as rigorous formalism, when encapsulating a careful attention to composition and balance. She questions our contemporary society of economic growth ways following a close examination of reality, yet refusing traditional features that mark out documentary cinema: in an age in which globalisation and commodification impinge on every aspect of our lives, Persson uses her kaleidoscopic approach to investigate about language, mobility, and transformation. One of the most impressive aspects of Persson's work is the way it accomplishes the difficult task of unveiling the ubiquitous connections between microcosm and macrocosm: we are very pleased to introduce our readers to her stimulating and multifaceted artistic production Hello Linda and welcome to LandEscape: before starting to elaborate about your artistic production would you like to tell us something about your multifaceted background? You have a solid formal training and after having degreed with a BA from the Chelsea College of Art and Design, London, you nurtured your education with a MFA from the prestigious, Winchester School of Art, Southampton University. How do your studies influence your evolution as an artist? And in particular, how does your cultural substratum inform the way you relate yourself to art making and to the aesthetic problem in general? Hi LandEscape Art Review, thanks for having me. An interview by , curator and , curator Land scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW LandEscape meets Linda Persson
Land scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
Land scape Linda Persson CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
Linda Persson Land scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW I like that you use the word substratum to form the question to connect cultural and aesthetic, as it means an underlying layer, specifically a layer of rock or soil beneath the surface of the ground. One could use that meaning to describe my practice; it is a careful yet inquisitive handling of materials and information that takes place within an embodied relation to archival and historical data through the actual experience of landscape. I'd like to think that my relation to culture is similar to the way that indigenous cultures often talk about culture. That it is alive and therefore more complex, as one can't easily divide it into past, present and future as in the Western tradition. It's instead all of this, entwined, simultaneous and ongoing, living. As Russell Means (also known as Oglala Lakota) said "Indigenous epistemology is fluid, nonlinear and relational. Knowledge is transmitted through stories that shape-shift in relation to the wisdom of the storyteller at the time of the telling." I have had an extremely nomadic life both by coincidence and by choice. It has accentuated my understanding of white privilege despite being a woman and from a working class background. Leaving Sweden for the UK in 1999 was a choice of possibility for a different future, as the EU accession treaty happened in Sweden 1995, and so studies abroad wouldn't incur hideous costs for me as a student, I could do it even though I didn't come from or have any money. Being situated away from the country where you were born can assist in questioning the notion of belonging and helps one to see how the system of language relates to cultural behavior, e.g. how the dominant noun-based nature of English language accentuates the outcome orientation of the world. Being a 'foreigner' creates both a sense of loss and a sense of freedom. I studied at Chelsea College between 99-02 at the sculpture department. It was great as there were so many foreigners, cultures, languages, behaviors, crashing into each other and at the same time one had to follow the rigid English academic system. Following my BA I later applied to Winchester School of Art, as I was very keen to gain access to the ISVR INSTITUTE situated in Southampton University. ISVR stands for the
Institute of Sound and Vibration Research. It's a scientific department that investigates the impact of frequencies, vibrations around us, and how this also can be used scientifically for example in warfare etc. This wasn't totally supported by the arts department, but I learnt and experienced a lot, both in navigating the academic rules as well as shifting my practice, pushing the boundaries of making art within a quite conservative set-up, but I exited with a first class distinction. Winchester had a great moving image library with lots of footage available that would have been hard to access anywhere else due to loss or the neglect of certain artistic experimental practices. At Winchester I first encountered Michael Snow's work, Meredith Monk, Mary Lucier, as well as transgender, LGBT and hermaphrodite rights through writings in theoretical academic work, music and video recordings; and it all fully unlocked my interest in things seen as peripheral, marginal and 'other' (but that shouldn't be). In 2011 I moved back to Sweden as I had been accepted to the Mejan Resident programme at the Royal Institute of Arts in Stockholm. I did an artistic research year there using the thoughts of Derrida and in particular his writings on the spectre/ ghost to try and expose conventionally defined connections between the physicality of an artwork and the space and movements that produce and reiterate it by trying to devise new associations in-between. I used the place of Berlin and specifically the Berlin Wall and its historical trauma between East and West, looking at it as an object, withdrawn from its history but at the same time historically reiterated in space as one thing, neglecting the nuances of living through these times. I became acquainted with Beelitz, a suburb of East Germany, a forgotten place which became the protagonist for cinematic experimentations through celluloid film and high definition digital technology to set those two types of entropy against each other: digital entropy and physical entropy. It really forced the question of bringing the body back into action and to reinforce a physical and cognitive memory alike. This work became an immersive multiple moving image and sound work called CHromaTiC AdaPTation MATriX, an umbrella title for the various works that is taken Land scape Linda Persson CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
Linda Persson Land scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
Land scape Linda Persson CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
from the chromatic scale that transform the colour to be read accurately from screen to eye as part of the system in a MAC computer. You are a versatile artist and over these years you have gained the ability to cross from one media to another: your approach reveals an incessant search of an organic symbiosis between a variety of viewpoints. The results convey together a coherent sense of unity, that rejects any conventional classification. Before starting to elaborate about your production, we would suggest to our readers to visit http://www.lindapersson.org in order to get a synoptic view of your multifaceted artistic production: while walking our readers through your process, we would like to ask you if you have you ever happened to realize that such multidisciplinary approach is the only way to express and convey the idea you explore. No, having a multidisciplinary approach is absolutely not the only way, but it is a way that I use and feel most engaged with now. As I said earlier, my practice is fluid and nonlinear and it's directly related to place and experiences of relations, but it simultaneously interweaves academic western vernacular, wanting to challenge the hierarchal systems in place. And it's a troublesome task of crisscrossing cultural epistemologies. It’s about paying attention to our discomfort as this can be an indication that we are feeling the tension that coexist when one is going against the grain. My thinking and making goes through different materials and processes and I am, by putting my body in motion to go to places and landscapes, given experiences by actually moving, and that is quite a radical thing in itself, and this forms my visual output. I pick up on things related to our senses like smell, light and dark, dry or moist sonic atmosphere, which are all deeply sensorial and experiential. It's not just about responding to the things already in existence but bringing to the fore the absences in the produced worlds. This can create hard-to-follow image sequences or mediums being chosen, yet, if successful, it can Linda Persson Land scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
create curiosity or better a sense of euphoria. Our world shrieks of mobility, interaction, exchange, flexibility however it only applies to a fair few, but mainly it applies to money. Actual moving bodies have created new walls to be built, harsher entries and exits from and into certain countries. My relation and use of material goes hand in hand with my movements. For this special edition of LandEscape we have selected Zeus Tears, that our readers have already started to get to know in the introductory pages of this article. What has at once captured our attention of this interesting transdisciplinary research project is the way you provided the visual results of your analysis with autonomous aesthetics: when walking our readers through the genesis of Zeus Tears, would you shed light on your usual process and set up? Over quite a few years now I have incorporated a role that could be compared to the female explorer. I've been going to desolate landscapes to question our relation to measured science and our history of archiving and the formation of knowledge production as we know it by putting the female body in motion. The prompt for this work started with my interest in landscape and its relation to the human body and time. Landscapes sometimes acquire a reputation of being cursed or where people claim to have seen aliens. Lighting Ridge in New South Wales, Australia is one of these places. The research I was concurrently undertaking in Sweden a few years ago, was about a well known cursed island on the east coast of Sweden called the Blue Maiden, on which the stones hold a curse. By studying the early myths and legends around this island I also came across other mythical stories related to sea and stones such as black opals. These were said to also have been the tears of Zeus when he sacrificed his son to not lose his power. So I looked up black opals and found that they only exist in this particular place in Australia called Lighting Ridge (original name Warrangulla). It got its name in 1906 when the first farmer settled with his 200 sheep, only to be struck by dry lightning, which killed most of the Land scape Linda Persson CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
Linda Persson Land scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
scape Linda Persson CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land
Linda Persson Land scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW stock and the family. Now, people live there and dry lightning does happen. This is a necessity for the opals to be formed. They need water and high charge electricity, instant heat, to then form beautifully over thousands of years. In this way they form in relation to the ironstone base and together with silica and water (like the method of making glass) the opals form particular facets that can diffract light in the most magical way. As I have incorporated both old and new technology in my earlier work, the way I make film, merging celluloid with HD or when I construct devices such as hand built projectors collapses different time aspects and I had this idea that by using an opal stone I could make a lens for a projector that could show time, slow and deep time, geological time as the black opal has had thousands of years in its making but still carries a high content of water and therefore potentially still is a changing life form [theoretically], especially as water is connected to life, both scientifically and symbolically. Do you think that your being a woman provides the way you question our contemporary society of economic growth with some special value the way, with some additional meaning? Well, I couldn't do it any other way as I am a woman and have grown up in a gender specific society. By legitimate indigenous and feminist methodologies in our systems at large, I think we can get to a point where focus could shift and things could change. So yes, it does create additional meaning as it questions the white male supremacist society we live in, from the other side. Another interesting work from your recent production that has particularly impressed us and on which we would like to spend some words is entitled The Astral Women: what has at once captured our attention of your inquiry into ritual, shamanistic, witch procedures is your successful attempt to produce a dialectical fusion that operates as a system of symbols creates a compelling
Land scape Linda Persson CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW non linear narrative that, walking the thin line between conceptual and literal meanings, establishes direct relations with the viewers. German multidisciplinary artist Thomas Demand once stated that "nowadays art can no longer rely so much on symbolic strategies and has to probe psychological, narrative elements within the medium instead". What is your opinion about it? And in particular how do you conceive the narrative for your works? I think it's important to understand the medium(s) one works with and why the medium is chosen for a specific work. Thomas Demand’s work is really staged and plays with showing the 'fake' as the 'real' when setting up his 'nearly perfect' paper cut out models to be photographed, which exposes the gap between truth and fiction in his material. For me it rarely starts with medium or material but instead I focus on place or myth that shapes the medium for the work, however the medium chosen often negotiates its own internal usage and possibility or as a failure. I have a very broad skill set and materials shift between processes. The Astral Women has, on the surface, a seductive beauty: however, it is marked out with a deep socio-political criticism that runs throughout all your works: while lots of artists from the contemporary scene, as Ai WeiWei or more recently Thomas Hirschhorn and Jennifer Linton, use to convey open socio-political criticism in their works, you seem more interested to hint the direction, inviting the viewers to a process of self-reflection that may lead to subvert a variety of usual, almost stereotyped cultural categories. Do you consider that your works could be considered political in a certain sense or did you seek to maintain a more neutral approach? And in particular, what could be in your opinion the role that an artist could play in the contemporary society? I do think that today any kind of image making is political. We are in a moment where production of images is very ubiquitous and user-generated through various social media applications, but my focus is on the specificity of image-making and how
Linda Persson Land scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
scape Linda Persson CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land making it into art can simultaneously question the status of the image and challenge it. What is expected of an artwork today? I ask myself this question and I often let the work that I produce respond or react to its own context. Seductive beauty, imagination and fiction can probe much deeper than open socio-political statements as it allows people to absorb and feel through something rather than being told specific 'truths'. I would never feel that I could tell anyone how to think or feel about anything, I am not a preacher nor a politician. Saying that, I have strong personal political views and through my work I try to challenge myself as much as challenging anyone else, to ask questions rather than providing answers or opinions. Your work in general, and in particular your Borderlands series provides the viewers with an immersive experience: how do you see the relationship between public sphere and the role of art in public space? In particular, how much do you consider the immersive nature of the viewing experience in your process? When I build installations, to put the work on show, I'd like to transfer some of my experiences of the processes through spatial engagement from travelling, landscapes and places. I don't expect anyone to just be a spectator or a consumer of art. By setting out a movement strategy based on the installation of the work, forces the viewing body to actively move into and around the work, emphasizing to look at things differently. This is to trigger the notion of body as experience and not only as a receiver. Borderlands series is a photographic work shoot whilst researching for my work around and with Sámi culture called Nuortabealli (Sámi for shadow from east at winter night, 2014), up in Nordkapp / North Cape, the very north of Norway. The images show a fence that separates the furthest point of Scandinavia and the North Pole. What was striking spending time up there was the numerous of busloads of tourists entering a magnificent 'end of the world' border, with little to no interest to actually look around except for seeing the art monument, the café and see a film about Nordkapp / North Cape. Its surrounding nature seems to remain invisible and is instead hijacked by culture to mainstream the experience, which is often too much the case for 'public' outdoor art. The Borderlands series photographs shows this lack of empathy and rather spurious claim to the place made visible through what's left behind; human rubbish molded by weather and wind into the fence. This is probably my most conventional set of works as displayed in a row on the wall, five A2 sized giclee prints on Somerset paper with ripped edges, appearing to float on the wall using magnets to hold the work, to emphasize a temporality and vulnerability by being unframed and unglazed. Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your thoughts, Linda. Finally, would you like to tell us readers something about your future projects? How do you see your work evolving? Over the last couple of years I have worked more making objects using ceramics. Clay is a very versatile material. To me clay is as much technology as nano equipment. It also holds strong mythical and healing properties, such as mud baths to heal rheumatism or the story of the Golem. The work I've made with clay has become props for performances such as flutes or part of costumes or performative objects such as the piece Eidola currently exhibited at Luzern Kunstmuseum in Switzerland as part of Laure Prouvost's exhibit 'Higher grounds..' until Feb 2017. I am also continuing my work at the Blue Maiden but through a 2 year project run by an archeologist and professor Bodil Pettersson at the Linnéuniversity with focus on 'Experimental Heritage'. Thanks for your interesting questions and for giving me so much space to elaborate on work and processes. An interview by , curator and , curator
drawing, sculpting and installation work. She graduated cum laude from the Hamidrsha- Faculty of Arts, Beit Berl College in 1994, and got her B.A. (cum laude) from the Multidisciplinary Program of the Arts, Tel Aviv University in 2001. She has an MFA in Creative Arts from the University of Haifa. Amitai-Lavi had exhibited several solo shows among are "We are a Bound Family" (1996); "Aleph for Ohel [tent] / Bet for Bayit [house]" (Noga Gallery, Tel Aviv, 2001); "(temporary) Happiness" (Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art, 2004) and "Light Construction" (Chelouche Gallery, Tel Aviv, 2014). Nowadays she is working on her next solo exhibition, which will take place in Basis Gallery, Herzliya, March-May, 2017. She had participated in various group exhibitions in major galleries and museums in Israel, among them the Israel Museum, Jerusalem; Tel Aviv Museum; Haifa Museum; Petach-Tikva Museum; Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art. She has shown her work in prominent venues abroad in Germany, New York, London etc. Recently, she was selected to be a finalist in "Arte Laguna Prize", Arsenale, Venice. Amitai-Lavi's work is straddling on the boundary between two-dimensional and three-dimensional. It is characterized by love of craftsmanship, sensitivity to details and an exploration of unusual materials. In her recent works Tal Amitai-Lavi shows images that mark out elusive spaces of emptiness and fullness. Through a variety of methods and different materials such as sewing thread, soda powder, suction cups, nylon strings, plasticine etc., she creates worlds whose foundations are fragile and disintegrating. These worlds seemingly materialize from concrete images yet they create a disturbing mental atmosphere. Her unique work succeed to transcends the private case and addresses universal values with which any viewer may identify. Tal Amitai-Lavi is represented by Chelouche Gallery of Contemporary Art. Her works are in some of the finest collections in Israel and abroad. al Amitai-Lavi (born in Israel, 1969) is a multidisciplinary Tartist, engaging in painting, Land scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Tal Amitai-Lavi Lives and works in Tel Aviv, Israel
Photography:
I have always been surrounded by art, culture and aesthetics both as an art consumer and maker. I started my graduate studies at Hamidrasha - Faculty of Arts, where I have An interview by , curator and , curator Land scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW LandEscape meets Tal Amitai-Lavi . Photography: Matan Katz
Land scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
Land scape Tal Amitai-Lavi CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW , 2004, installation view, Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art. Photography: Ady Shimony
Tal Amitai-Lavi Land scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW developed my multidisciplinary thinking through learning a wide range of techniques, mediums and thinking art in an abstract and complex manner. From my point of view, the Multidisciplinary Studies at Tel Aviv University were a direct result of my former studies at Hamidrasha. I was already working in the field as a young artist and had a thirst for knowledge and broadening my horizons. The studies at Tel Aviv University enriched my cultural background with theoretical studies of theater, cinema, music, literature, philosophy and more. My MA degree, at the Haifa University was mainly in order to further my professional career. I have no doubt that my formal education had a role in building my cultural and aesthetical foundation, despite being at times through rejection and contradiction. Nevertheless, in my view, the practical work is paramount. In relation to this I identify, with the words of the American artist William Wegman: “Learn by doing.” I see no substitute for the daily and persistent practice at the studio in order to build and refine my aesthetic language, and accredit it. The work at the studio forces me to ask questions, to conduct theoretical and practical investigation, to undergo a process, a kind of a long journey in which the artistic statement gets refined into an actual work.
It seems that my multydisciplinary approach is the right way for me to express my ideas, and it is certainly what suited me so far. Until my studies at Hamidrasha I mainly painted. The exposure to different mediums in general and 3D mediums specifically enabled me to develop and broaden my lexicon and search for different methods. I think every work presents a riddle, invites new challenges, and therefor calls for different technical and media solutions. The main question, I believe, concerns the relationships of image/form, medium/technique and meaning/content. An example for this quest after new methods can be seen these very days at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. My work ‘Direct Hit / The House on Nahalal st. Haifa’, that was made using black sewing thread is now integrated with video animation, which contributes to my artistic intention. Moreover, I believe that the evolution of the history of art in general, and mine in particular, is based on tradition and innovation, conventions and their rejection. Knowing what was done before me and sometimes alongside me, is what motivates me to explore new materials and means to express my ideas. Consequently to the question regarding new methods, arises the question regarding to my use of unexpected materials for art. My materialistic search is undoubtedly a challenge and one of the characteristics of Land scape Tal Amitai-Lavi CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
Tal Amitai-Lavi Land scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW , 2013-2014, threads on Perspex, light (detail) Photography: Youval Hai
Land scape Tal Amitai-Lavi CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW , 2010-2011, soda powder, glue, color, 120 x 160 cm
my artistic language. Every material has its own uniqueness, qualities, advantages, disadvantages and restrictions. At the studio my work is that of a chemist, alchemist, mathematician or engineer… searching for the exact formula and dosage. The choice of materials could come from a kind of vision, intuition that is inspired by the material itself, as is in the work with nylon threads, and at times it is a kind of puzzle that the artistic concept posits. The chemical reaction that occurred in the baking soda works, for example, was the result of a research after a material that would emulate snow or ice; it had to have qualities of elusiveness and fragility, reminiscent of a magical and deceptive childish world. At times, the material choice could be derived from funding restrictions which eventually evolves into an artistic concept. In a similar way to the work of my favorite American sculptor Tom Friedman, I too use every day banal, cheap materials and utilize them to create works with plastic appearance, which is appropriate to showcase in art venues. Another interest in working with exceptional materials is the play on the accidental and intentional, between the controllable and the unpredictable. Sometimes I succeed in “taming” the substance and sometimes I give in. This play at the studio intrigues me and drives me forwards. It would be redundant to state that my personal, one of a kind, subjective experience is the very Tal Amitai-Lavi Land scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
thing that makes me unique. And yet I feel that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience. My work stems from deep within my own roots- biography, life stories, memories and such. Therefore, even if I hadn’t experienced an event personally it could still resonate into my personal experience and become manifested in my works. This is the case in my works dealing with imagery of ruined houses, nature disasters, terror attacks, or war. (The series “Katrina” is based on hurricane Katrina, the works in “Japan 11.3.11” are based on the tsunami hit in Japan, my solo show “(temporary) Happiness” is based on the Versailles wedding hall disaster and others). Respectively, the demolished and ruined houses imagery echoes on childhood memories as the daughter of a general contractor. The landscape of my childhood was etched with the sites of bare casted concrete, shaky construction beams mounted on concrete ramps as stairs, staircases without banister, sand instead of floor, bare building frames and so on. These memories and experiences have sunk deep into the heart of my creation. On a personal biographical level, the image of the ruined house reflects the actual dismantling of houses following my divorce on one hand, and later, the death of my parents on the other. From the localpolitical aspect, the ruined house is an expression of the Israeli reality, filled with insecurities and uncertainty, terror attacks and wars. On the global and international aspect, it is an expression of worldwide terrorism, world and terrifying natural disasters. Perhaps the connection between the personal and the collective experience creates depth in the works, while also allows a universal affinity with the viewers. My sources for inspiration, as stated, are simultaneously the inner and exterior world. For a plastic artist the issue of representation is eminent. However, during my work at the studio which requires, amongst other thing, collecting, cataloging, research, classification and archiving, translation and interpretation, it becomes ever more conceptual and exceedingly abstracted. This process from representation to abstraction is a natural course for me and occurs by itself. My art is based on symbolical strategies and probes psychological, narrative elements, which I have referred to previously, even if in an indirect way. These elements exist in each one of my works. The narrative aspect is mostly used as a starting point, while the psychological element can be found in every work. Nonetheless, I take special care and attention in the studio, so the work will not become illustrative or a therapeutic tool. Land scape Tal Amitai-Lavi CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
, 2012-2014 wood, nylon string, paint, light installation view, "Light Construction", Chelouche Gallery, Tel Aviv Photography: Youval Hai
The ongoing process allows me to step away from such immediate aspects by defamiliarization, abstraction and other means that enrich the work and allow a verity of interpretations. In other words, my work is designed to invoke an intellectual, non-narrative response. My work aims to reject superficial didactic strategies and urges the viewers to reflect and project personal associations. In my practice, as mentioned above, my point of view is autobiographical. However, I strive to deviate from the personal event and to formulize universal principles with which the viewer can identify. Effectively, the viewers are an essential component of my work process. I certainly take them into account throughout my process, from the very early stages of production to the final translation into plastic art form. I imagine at my studio the ultimate viewer, one that could dwell and contemplate in front of my work. I consider the viewer’s body, his possible motion in the space, the ways in which his senses work and how I might manipulate him, in the positive sense of the word. I think of his emotional and Land scape Tal Amitai-Lavi CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
Tal Amitai-Lavi Land scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW , 2012-2014, wood, nylon string, paint, light, 207 x 80 x 45 cm (detail) Photography: Youval Hai
Land scape Tal Amitai-Lavi CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW 2013-2014, nylon string, plastic, paint, light, installation view. Photography: Yoval Hai