Women Cinemakers I wanted the visual entity of the film to be compelling even if the sound was off and this is an interesting experiment for me: To see how affective and visually rich a film is when the sound is off. As much as each sound was dedicated to a particular scene, the film’s visuals needed to be strong enough to work in silence. I collected many sounds and wrote many melodies. But if they didn’t work they were edited out. I spent days ‘playing objects’; pieces of metal, the rim of a wine glass filled with water, a snail shell whizzing around a glass vessel. Filming Open Day presented many challenges in the filming and the editing process. It was important to decide what scenes needed what types of sounds, especially as I took the decision to have no spoken word. I was left with space to add and manipulate sounds to create a richer less literal soundscape. I wanted to imbue a film with the qualities that lie in the stories and had been interested in the results of an experiment conducted by Hartha Storm (2002), where the same film clip was shown with three different voiceovers. One was silent, one was factual and the other an emotional voiceover. When asked to rate it from ‘happy to sad’ and ‘pleasant to unpleasant’, they found that the sadder the scene the more pleasant the rating. These results suggest on some level, the things we perceive as sad, that we would expect to want to move away from, actually give us pleasure and make us want to stay around. I am interested in the psychological impact of sound and I attempt to harness its affective qualities within my work. I am intrigued by the power of the scream, of vocals in general. The mouth is an amplifier for any emotions to come out and affect others, via a performative act. My intention was to allow the singing in Open Day to lie at the threshold of pain and power. Exploring the idea of grief via keening, it brings those deeply personal moments into the public realm. It explores how grief can be unpredictable and all encompassing. And my intention was to highlight the moment when the singer becomes a musical instrument that another controls. interview
It's important to remark that you also design and make costumes, masks, props and sculptures for the films that you direct: how much importance has for you the chance of modeling every aspect of your artworks? I like to be in control every aspect of my work from conception to completion whilst being flexible and open to suggestions. Although this poses challenges with my time, it also gives me a greater understanding of my work and its possibilities both conceptually and practically. Decisions are made on a moment by moment basis which influence my work’s direction and development and offer me the opportunity to improve and shape my practice. Opportunities that I would not be aware of if I was not so involved. I am intuitive with materials so I like to experiment with different aesthetics whilst making. Featuring brilliant camera work, Open Day has drawn heavily from the specifics of its locations and we have highly appreciated the way you have created such insightful resonance between the indoor environment and human body: how did you select the locations and how did you balance the combination between elements from the environment and references to human body? Open Day was filmed in one location; a 17th century Grade II listed farmhouse. I was already aware of the beautiful building as I once had an art studio there. I always knew I would like to film inside it but at that time I did not have my own filming equipment or a clear idea of what I would film. But my attraction for the building and its character never waned. There was a history of unusual occurrences happening in it which only added to my intrigue! I knew every inch of the space and its idiosyncrasies, along with how each room felt. It was quite common in the days when there was a community of artists in residence therethat many would feel some sense of otherness inside its walls. Nothing malevolent, but just as if the building was very much alive, as alive as we were, with a heart and breathing. The past stories of strange happenings would be passed down to the new artists and there was a white cross painted on the beam where apparently a priest had exorcised the building after a spate of unexplained goings on. Even the local children would knock on the door wanting to have a look inside the ‘spooky’ house. Some years later, I had heard that the building was changing owners and I knew that if I didn’t take the opportunity to film in it now I may never get the chance again. That was enough for me to approach Craig and ask him if I got location permission would he film for me? I decided that the house represented the mind and the corridors the neural pathways, then the main character revealed herself in the form of the keener pushing Metra in the perambulator. This entailed creating shots of us in the corridors as we travelled through and activated the spaces and led the viewers to the other characters and events that were taking place. I am interested in using unusual spaces for my practice and also creating something unexpected in everyday places. We daresay that your practice seems to reflect German photographer Andreas Gursky's words, when he stated that Art should not be delivering a report on reality, but should be looking at what's behind something: are you particularly interested in structuring your work in order to urge the viewers to elaborate personal associations? In particular, how open would you like your works to be understood? My great-grandfather passed down a saying through our family: ‘Always expect the unexpected’ I have never been able to keep this expectancy of the unexpected up, but I can remember the feelings of shock when a surprise for good or bad occurs and I am often more engaged when artists use the Women Cinemakers
unexpected in their practice. So, it is not that I always want my works to even be understood. I aim to keep my work open enough for the viewer to bring their own story to it. Despite the research that goes into a lot of my work, I don’t want it to be literal and only hold one meaning, a meaning that I put on it. We all have a history that we bring to a piece when viewing it and I like to play with this. I am interested in opposites and a duality of emotions when you are not quite sure if you are allowed to laugh at something as it is slightly disturbing, or if a piece leads you from feeling elated to frustrated within minutes. I hope with Open Day that the viewer has a depth of feeling from the film that transcends the need for words. Before leaving this conversation we want to catch this occasion to ask you to express your view on the future of women in the contemporary art scene. For more than half a century women have been discouraged from producing something 'uncommon', however in the last decades women are finding their voices in art: as a cultural manager what's your view on the future of women in this interdisciplinary field? I spent two years at CSM working shoulder to shoulder with some very talented female artists who are pushing boundaries and taking risks whilst creating unusual noteworthy films and artworks much of which is multidisciplinary. I really do feel optimistic that we are making art that matters to this generation. But it is not a level playing field. I find it disappointing to say the least that according to a recent piece in the Guardian newspaper the percentage of female directors in the UK and America lies somewhere around the 4% mark. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/apr/08/all-womenprogrammes-female-film-makers-on-demandstreaming And it saddens me that some schools have reduced or taken art and music off of the curriculum entirely. That is often when we are at our most naturally creative! Before the world has interfered. Who are the Women Cinemakers
future artists going to be if they don’t get to make art or as time marches there aren’t many contemporary artistic role models? Very important and significant contributions are made by many women artists historically and in recent years, you only need to look at Meredith Monk or more recently Bjork who have a long history of crossing boundaries in their work but unfortunately a large number of these artists remain unknown and not everyone gets the opportunity to engage with a wide audience, therefore I believe that opportunities like this are so important. These days artists are faced with so many challenges and difficulties depending on cultural and economic circumstances, but they continue to create significant works through their hard work and the sacrifices they make to survive. We need to see art from all types of people, not just from a few perspectives. Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your thoughts, Jojo. Finally, would you like to tell us readers something about your future projects? How do you see your work evolving? It has been a real pleasure, thank you very much. I am grateful for the opportunity.I am working on several different projects at the moment: I am one of the four artists in residence on the Artsquest and ACAVA Lifeboat residency, with Sabrina Fuller, David Meneghello and Metra Saberova. In the spirit of keeping a fresh mind I am keeping up THE new rule, I am building a vast mountain of work and ideas that I am developing for a film and performance, with the help of my trusted mentor Manick Govinda. I am applying for funding and always in search of unusual locations. I have recently found one in Berlin! I am writing songs with Jon Thurlow (Scum of Toytown, Chron Gen) in the band Lika Sharps, ready for live performances and recording. I am continuing to interview people regarding their altered states of consciousness, collecting more stories, so if any of your readers want to get in touch regarding a story they want to share, I would be very appreciative and delighted to hear from them. [email protected] I am working with a friend of mine who is in her 70’s and had a stroke so was disabled over night and now lives in a care home. She always wanted to be an artist so we are creating a short film together. I am working with the music producer Andy J. Davies on some experimental music that involves me singing and ‘playing’ objects, of course! I see my work continuing to be multidisciplinary. My intention is to put the sounds and vignettes that I am currently working on into a larger scale film and performance. I am interested in what H.Q. will bring to the surface next! Women Cinemakers Jojos websites: https://vimeo.com/user49281517 https://soundcloud.com/home https://jojotaylorart.wordpress.com/ Craigs website: rewindmedia.co.uk
Hello Jeannette and welcome to : we would start this interview with a couple of questions about your background. You have a solid formal training: you hold a MA Painting Restoration and after your studies in Italy, you moved to Iceland to nurture your education with a BA of Fine Art and a MA (I grade) Art Education. Moreover, you degreed with an MFA in Fine Art from the prestigious Goldsmiths An interview by Francis L. Quettier and Dora S. Tennant [email protected] College, University of London: how did these experiences of training influence the evolution of your artistic sensitivity? Moreover, how does your multifaceted cultural substratum due to your life in several countries direct the trajectory of your artistic research? My background lies within the field of fine art, in the conservation/restoration of paintings. I believe engaging with diversified collections and archives as well as relics during my student years, reinforced my will to understand questions of time and space as well as the humans’ ability to achieve and Jeannette Castioni Women Cinemakers meets Lives and works between Italy and Iceland embarks the recognition of the continual interplay between structures and subject interpretations. “life full of holes” will compare and contrast through the chronical of memories and their translation, pathways for departing data organization allowing instead imaginative action and reaction practices to emerge. The unfolding of the narrative goes toward an interpretative line, where the longing is to unsettle personal observations and create an open-ended storyline. Questioning how practices of remembering are translated likewise observing and unlocking the potential of intertwined references, enabling creativity and new pathways to emerge. The cross description of the natural realm, is actualized with diversified informational routes and agendas; cynically simplify the interlace between what stands behind subjects and how the relationship between "humans" as social identities might friction with unrelated challenges revealing narrative forces between layer of experiences able to unlock the potential of subjects imagination and their indeterminacy.
Women Cinemakers develop differentiated forms of cultures , behaviors and knowledge. When I moved to Iceland in 2004 where I gained the Bachelor in fine arts, I found back then necessary for to strengthen the confidence for grounding my skills as artist, to be able to communicate verbally as well ,and I started my studies in Art education allowing me to develop communicative abilities of verbal and written elements in Icelandic, which I consider my first language alongside Italian. In my practice as artist and later on as teacher I’ve always tried to unfold the subject of my concerns and make them accessible with unusual and alternative methods to stimulate curiosity, while experimenting new approaches; enabling time and space for new visions to become part of the process while accomplishing the targets. I believe my strength as artist relies in the communicative approach (even if Icelandic is not my native language!!) and the delivering of information through emphatic processes, enabling to engage with matters authentically while promoting and gaining the freedom of learning from experiments. I believe the integration of diversified influences with other subject fields as in between conservation-education-and new-media processes, gave me the chance to develop inclusive approaches to subject matters. I deeply believe that improving my own way of art-practice alongside forming the ground for new work and thoughts is promoting genuine opportunities for others as well, to improve overall achievements. Since 2008 I’ve been lecturing at LHI the University of Art of Iceland, holding workshops and seminars in the field of painting alongside crossdisciplinary researches as with theoretical approaches in the fields of philosophy and aesthetics; as for my last course at Lhí, around the “nonphilosophical “approach with references to the French Philosopher Francoise Laruelle about the contingency of colors and the universe. I must say my practice and art works with collective and collaborative situations during and after my MFA study program at Goldsmiths University of London has altered my prime outlook on how an artist should progress through his ideas and working methods. Making art is an act of putting ideas and abilities to service, creating an opportunity for a work or action to become visible in the political realm, interview
Women Cinemakers
Women Cinemakers
Women Cinemakers allowing it to find a reason for being and to become agency of meanings. Wherefore my goals are not only to let grow and share what I do in art but not least to share what I perceive as the representation of subjectivities’ ethical and political choices as the truths of society. I believe creation as art-processes utilizing multiple disciplines shows how diversified backgrounds, can be used to create problems but also to solve them! I ´m always trying to make tangible that finding “ideas” as creative forms, is more than a communicative procedure of intent and desires, deeply relating to oneself through societal structures and acknowledged behaviors; it is not merely picking materials or being committed to an image or to a “legacy” of people, but rather enforcing the unfolding of personal stories and driving motivations. I believe that being attentive to one’s own personality and longings, including identity and desires is what a new society is craving for, which should be more developed and an important role of responsibility to be maintained from artist too. My poetic insight and vision feels always more complete when shared with others, but never overwhelmed or compelled by the production of art! I think at the root of having a voice is having to be heard and above all to own that voice, choosing the time and the mode for presenting it is rooted to it being a choice. Art reflects society where the viewer reflects back about the art. To know what we do, is to know who we are or will become; an artist that reflects and relies on the process of defining himself through his practice will reflect this externally and thus create the space, time and meaning for the viewer to reflect upon. Using a naturalistic , your film draws heavily from the specifics of their environment to trigger a process of resonance with the viewers' perceptual parameters: how to you consider the role of natural realm and its evocative imagery within your artistic research? I believe in primal forces entangled in our behavior and imagination be the catalyzer of our ability to alter our outlook and responses. “Life full of holes” tries to make a distinction between Nature, simultaneously discussing the way we understand our self through and interview
Women Cinemakers within nature. The natural world offers relational connections between oneself and others that are vital to developing social imagination and responsibility for one's sense of place in the world. In this regard each one become an advocate for cultivating and integrate the experience of a self-wellbeing and of place. Nature and his evocative imagery create frictions within human states as the migratory flow of people, allowing biographies and experiences to be explained in other words. The natural order with his metaphysical sense transcends our culture there is always more to nature than we express in our words or/ and display in our behavior as a surplus of meanings concepts and schemes. There is a need to reform our responses to enhance our sensitivity of the intertwined role between the natural world, and the human need of structures in framing and shaping our experience. I think by understanding lifestyle migratory flow as a human activity or practice as a factor of our nature, rather than something out of the ordinary, we will be able to gain a wider perspective on diversified lifestyle, which will entitle us to understand movements of people not merely as political and social matter, but also as natural flows; the result of the intersections of various geographical cultural, and biographical contingencies. accomplishes such insightful inquiry into the recognition of the continual interplay between structures and subject interpretations: how do you consider the role of imagination as a force capable of providing apparently chaotic data with a structured order? I think to understand the relationship between imagination and his connection with a structured order, it is necessary first to understand what imagination is and his relations to society. People-migration provides a useful lens for exploring the relationship between imagination and actions because of the roles that expectations and aspirations for life following migration plays in motivating migration interview
Women Cinemakers
Women Cinemakers
Women Cinemakers itself. Understandings of how imagination is translated into action therefore need to take into account the process by which the individual is able to take advantage of wider structural conditions and when possible to appropriate cultural predispositions. To translate imagination into lifestyle migrants made their destination of, and imaginings of it, as meaningful in their own terms. Where appropriation of collective imaginings provides migrants with further legitimacy, justifying the decision to migrate and their persistent presence in new territories; In their daily life migrants are compelled to explore the relationship between their imagination and actions, because of the roles that their expectations and aspirations for life following migration plays in motivating their migration. Migratory flows demonstrated also the role of capital by presenting people experiences of life leading up to migration, to a greater and/or lesser degree, for life. Imagination when translated into actions take into account the process by which the individual is able to take advantage of wider structural conditions and to appropriate cultural predispositions. How imagination is translated into migration is one example of the way that individual imagination is shaped, and also limited by certain structural conditions. In other words biographies and experiences may explain how the individual appropriates imaginative practices, but these are in turn themselves shaped by social-structures. When we look at small or large communities we have to look at their self-creating and self-instituting custom, and where or how their constitution is taking place in the public sphere. Since the community subject imaginary is not the property of the individual but that of a wider society, is therefore structuring how individuals behave the actions that they choose to undertake, interview
Women Cinemakers framing their everyday practices. In particular actions practices and dispositions, reflect the moral order that underwrites whatever society we engage with ,and the social order where the subject-imaginary is thoroughly entangled; with the ideology about how to live and put it to “ work” in the way that individuals understand society and their position within it. Imagination is therefore an everyday practice constantly ‘at work’ in the way that people understand and enact their lives and put into work their potential to counteract the structured order, furthermore to bring social changes and purposes into actions. I deeply believe in the interplay between subject and social imagination allowing the construction of new forms of solidarity and emancipation, customising forms of autonomy and selfempowerment since imagination and imaginative practices provides the space for new solidarities to emerge, bringing with them possibilities and potentials on the surface. You are a versatile artist and your practice is marked out with such stimulating multidisciplinary feature: before starting to elaborate about your artistic production, we would invite to our readers to visit http://jeannette.is in order to get a synoptic idea about your artistic production: would you tell us what does address you to such captivating multidisciplinary approach? How do you select a medium in order to explore a particular theme I’m always collecting information and inspirations from the surrounding and my pieces are often documentation and seminar based, where the aim is to gather visual material and on siteinformation helping me to generate portrays of localities. My subjects and analyses are triggered by social and political collective statements, where people embedded projections become part of the practice of the ordinary and where subjects’ struggle for visibility is constantly undermined by political processes. My research are compelled to information on encounters between differentiated cultural backgrounds, where the relationship within groups and their experiences are subdued to political choices. Enduring the unfolding of the social body organized on the contrary but not lastly on altruism, empathy and prosocial behavior, allowing subject motivations behind decisions to achieve their important role. My works often discuss how these social rules are staged, broadening ways of sustained resistance inside groups, dismissing the notions of people’s political and social rights. I believe the everyday and the ordinary be a relevant platform to be deepened, allowing imaginative ways of subjectivities to emerge, overcoming daily commitments and personal projections. As for my latest research-projects visible on Vimeo: “everywhere´s local” about useless but nevertheless important actions in the ordinary, my work often reproduces familiar visual signs, arranging them into new conceptually layered pieces by inviting the viewer to move into a suggestive space of speculation. While I use a variety of materials and processes, in each project my methodology is consistent; although there may not always be material similarities between different project´s they are linked by recurring formal concerns and through the subject matter. In which the subject of each body of work determines the mode by the piece will be developed, and the form of the work itself. My projects frequently consist of multiple ideas translated into a range of different medias, grouped around specific themes or meanings. During my research and productions new areas of interest arise, which lead compulsively to the next body of work. Since the beginning of my career I've been grounding my practice entangled throughout analyzes and investigation of the primary subject, alongside delivering multiple translations of the same subject and idea. In one of the project developed around Chinese immigrations “Piaji” visible on Vimeo:
A still from
Women Cinemakers I developed a documentation about the visibility of illegal workers at work sarcastically showing the necessity to our economies for to be sustained, of this obscure and invisible site at work, comparing human representations toward the organization of labor and production. In other projects around building sites in London filmed during my studies, “Tools” I used instead a totally different approach. I gathered storytelling from the London city area of renovation where laborers from the building sites were asked to remember games from their childhood, comparing and contrasting meanings of free-time and leisure, within appearances of inflatable balloons standing for what lay besides the visible. In another piece “tides” also visible on Vimeo, I was playing with the romantic idea from the 800th century “sealandscapes” merging the idyllic imagery with documents of the deaths of migrants on the same site. The video scroll images describing the extraordinary beautiful landscape crossed with a standing portrait of a woman telling about the rules of an old traditional game. I’m trying always to get a close observation and engagements with the subject throughout the whole process. The challenge is to see beyond the distraction of the conspicuous to allow the unique translation of subjectivities to emerge. Some of my topics are rough and do not offer straight pleasurable understanding, some others are quite beautiful and ease to be showed, then others. However, the analyzes try to inspire those who see my works to look more carefully at the world around them, to discover beauty and simultaneously questioning about what and how something becomes valuable and where issues about representation are laid between media frictions imposed around different matters. Mexican artist Gabriel Orozco once stated, "the artist’s role differs depending on which part of the world you’re in. It depends on the system you’re living under". Do you think that your artistic research responds to a particular cultural moment? Moreover, what could be in your opinion the role of artists in our everchanging contemporary age? I agree, the latitude of art works are the examples of localities!! I trust the human potential of people imagination as for my latest projects defining private and public spaces within the term “political” as space of visibility; where I tried to clarify and deepening within social and private practices the engagement with internal human forces while de-establishing the rules of customary behaviors. In this regard the human-imaginable or imaginative-practices overflows the limits of a spatial or political reality, where lived and experienced imaginary forces, create modalities between desires, projections, and the possible. Public or private actions in the realm of social and political codifications are seeing as endured resistance within individuals’ daily spaces, enhancing and reinforcing the idea of “revolution” as tangible procedures in daily routines; where single motivations and external features are deepened alongside reporting differences of subject approaches. The role of art enables people to define their worlds, express themselves, and show their beliefs and values. Making artworks are fundamental to human social life, imagination and sensory engagement. Through art, ideas take physical and tangible form and become available for new forms of seeing and understanding. The emancipatory role of artists is to promote experimental and comparative approaches for to withstand and enable human creativities. Providing time and space for rethinking and reinterpret whole categories and for addressing cultural and political transnational canons, and discourses.
Women Cinemakers French anthropologist and sociologist Marc Augé once suggested the idea that modern age creates two separate poles: nature versus science and culture versus society. As an artist interested in the theme of perception, how would you consider such apparent dichotomy that affect our contemporary age? I would like to say that the common thread running through the changes in both art and nature or science and society has been the emergence of a new conception of experience. Marc Augé and the recent Bruno Latour definition of “Hybrid” maybe can somewhat help to understand the position of the arts. As practitioner I believe the increasing numbers of works which transgress the boundaries between nature and society, and hence also the boundaries separating science and political forms of representation challenge the contemporary ecological crises we are living in. These stands allow for to new expansion of cross combination, which in terms renew the human need to represent inner struggle for creativity and reasoning. The request is to rethink a new the mechanism of representation, the natural, the scientific and the political one, to collide and integrate them; were the representation-phenomena has not a fixed status, but is an ingredient constantly streaming to another and apart from each one. These are not to be understood as fixed absolutes, but more as shifting conditions present in a certain space and time. Your practice deviates from traditional videomaking, to offer to the viewers an enhanced visual experience, through sapient use of the expressive potential of the symbols that you include in your videos. Especially in relation to modern technologies, what is your opinion about the evolution of visual arts in contemporary art scene? There is an overflow of information accessible on the internet about the need to include in the future development of art interview
Women Cinemakers
Women Cinemakers
Women Cinemakers practices necessary changes in views regarding environmental issues. The development of the art common-ground cannot exclude the need to take into account climate issue or the anthropocentric attitude we´ve get acclimatized. We cannot avoid evidences of human-caused changes to planetary processes and the natural matter of the Earth, which have escalated in recent decades to an unprecedented level. This may also be taken as a renewed opportunity to put an awakening planetary consciousness into practice, nevertheless the ramifications of climate change, biodiversity loss, deforestation, air and water degradation, as well as noise and visual pollution, have also accelerated the expansion of ecological thoughts, capitalist-critical lifestyles and creative practices that propose alternatives. I think necessary to examine how contemporary art not only comments on current debates around the growth-oriented economy and its effect on the natural world, social inequality and its relation to climate change, the technocratic paradigm and forms of political power; but urgently be able to decisively contribute to bringing about genuine changes. Art-practices and practitioners should offer platforms to explore points of connection between global and planetary consciousness, indigenous knowledge and scientific culture, multi-species as well human solidarity. We must therefore be able to consider art and artistic production as well as curatorial projects that are exemplary in producing integral ecological consciousness and putting planetary ethics into practice for the benefit of all. We have appreciated the originality of your artistic research and we have found particularly encouraging your unconventional approach. For more than half century women have been discouraged from producing something 'uncommon', however in the last decades there are signs that something is changing. How would you describe your personal experience as an interview
unconventional artist? And what's your view on the future of women in this interdisciplinary field? The heterogeneity which I grew up with, a German mother and Italian father have always challenged the view and perception of myself which later helped me to developed the need for enquiring the world around me. As a child to have a dialogue within oneself is the ordinary, and I often gave back uncommon answers about things related to the world around me seemingly fearful but yet full of adventures! I never though identifying myself with this or that category and I found, in my later teenager years difficult to acclimate the complicate interconnectedness between the people which rule, and the people who don’t. The twenty-first century outlook is highlighting a category called “new-feminist cinema” which has been translating negotiations of transgenerational feminists’ film history within a reflective awareness about the interruption and re-vision of the interconnection of newmedia of the new millennium. Probably many narratives of the twenty first century could be written through the feminist outlook in different ways. Such narratives could reflect the emergency to socially inform about marginalized (but not only) queer identities. However I think the duty as humans is to look for and seek towards declassified-categories, defining whether new-medias still under the wave of a patriarchy ongoing ruling world rather than a feminist emancipatory flow, will be of no use; we are under a flexible state of a transgenerational umbrella where simultaneously genders and roles are subdued by the social and political realm, as subjective means. Women Cinemakers
I would like rather imagine an era of changes regarding humanity as a whole. Where inclusive means and diversified subjectivities and trajectories will embrace the whole ground of society instead of the few, creating an organic dialogue respectful of gender age and nationalities. For this special edition of WomenCinemakers we have selected Life full of holes, a stimulating experimental video that our readers have already started to get to know in the introductory pages of this article and that can be viewed at https://vimeo.com/213604339. What has at once captured our attention of your insightful inquiry into the concepts of memory and interpretations the way you have provided the results of your artistic research with such multilayered quality: when walking our readers through the genesis of Life full of holes, would you tell how did you developed the initial idea? My understanding of the relationship between memories and the interpretation of memory lays into what or which kind of frictions imaginative practices are enabling subjectivities to take their stands. In “Life full of holes” I’ve been analyzing the influences that wider cultural and historical traditions, as well as transitory states, might have on our imagination and understandings of our place in the world and nature around us, recognizing our limits and abilities as the compulsory need for to take action. Immigration is the movement of individual to a new area. And migration appear when whole populations move from one area to another. This movement is often to follow resources availability. The natural migratory behavior in animals is largely due to genetics, though some species also rely on learned migration routes. Migratory flows may be due to a higher availability of resources in that precise area, or as for many animal tropical species, the need for Women Cinemakers
to keep on the market consumption. Parrots are one of the animal species that, during centuries have been drift from native places to homes, zoo´s and private collections to stimulate the interest of people and scientist. I wanted to draw the attention to the surreal dichotomy standing between the two realms, immigrants and endangered species. Drawing the attention on hunter sites was my attempt to stretch the idea of freedom. These two worlds are running side by side enabling us to remember our primal nature with empathy, along featuring different endings to the hunting scenario. The migrant family tells about their efforts while coming to a new land along telling remembered national stories; meanwhile hunters are framing the end of possible actions. There is a leisure grade in this piece, which I wanted to enable as a layered perspective, not easy to be consciously understood but easy to be felt. Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your thoughts, Jeannette. Finally, would you like to tell us readers something about your future projects? How do you see your work evolving? At the moment I’m working on two new diverse art-projects in cooperation with a music composer and a Theater actor. Both collaborative works orbit around citizenship, languages and collective perception or perceptive phenomena of inner and external environment. “ Inclusion and diversity” one of these projects which is a work in progress teenagers from different countries where gathered through workshops to experience and talk in a nonlinear narrative- scheme, about their way to cope with the surrounding in their daily routine; the contemplation upon each one stories, reflecting briefly on what they have taken away from other´s narratives, enabled the group to consider-reconsider people “features”. The goal was to open up a mutual understanding in participatory ways, as to emphasize new links and eventually realize what creates discrepancies or very similar ways of producing the social ground. “Sounds of doubt” my second big project in progress, which will be shown next October at CYCLE the Art and Music Festival in Kopavogur, Iceland. The piece is a collaborative work with a music composer where the analyzes are convened around cultural, historical, and geographical ground between subjects from 4 different Nordic countries: Greenland, Denmark, Iceland and Foræ Island. The idea is to create a “soundscape” piece where people will simultaneously be part of others citizen “landscape”; alongside finding and eventually discovering their own roots where the scenario will combine prints from sound-sonograms, mixed with 3Dprinted sea-landscapes. I must say that there is enough to think about for the next months! and I will keep you informed about the development of these pieces. Women Cinemakers An interview by Francis L. Quettier and Dora S. Tennant [email protected]
Hello Katya and welcome to : we would start this interview with a couple of questions about your background. You have a solid formal training and after having earned your An interview by Francis L. Quettier and Dora S. Tennant [email protected] BA of Fashion (Honors) at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia you obtained a BFA from the Victorian College of the Arts, in Melbourne: you later moved to Chicago to nurture your education with MFA, that you received from the prestigious School of The Art Institute of Chicago: how did these experiences influence your artistic evolution? Moreover, how Katya Grokhovsky Women Cinemakers meets Lives and works in Brooklyn New York, USA Grokhovsky’s interdisciplinary process based practice combines painting, drawing, sculpture, installation, performance, photography and video and explores issues of gender, labor, alienation, displacement and the self, often employing the body as a tool to weave together the personal and the political. Collecting and utilizing various found materials and objects, she cuts and juxtaposes them, exposing the absurd in the societal constructs of femininity and masculinity. Scrutinizing the idea of the binary in the everyday, whilst researching the histories of beauty and aesthetics, Grokhovsky stages the bodies of the historically oppressed, in relation to the social order. Attempting to invert the ephemeral nature of live performance, versus the object, post- performance residue is frequently reconstructed as evidence of the event, in a sculptural form. Painting, applied to flat surfaces, as well as objects and installations, acts as bodily stand in, evoking visceral response. Drawing, video and photography, are utilized as mediums of capture, often rearranged to create grotesque beings, inviting the viewer to re-imagine the world.
photo: Natasha Frisch
would you describe the influence of your cultural substratum on your general vision on art? Hello, and thank you for this interview. To be honest, I don't think I would be the artist that I am today without all of my educational training and history, especially as a woman. I have always believed in education and it’s role in my own personal evolution has been undeniably vital. All of my degrees have given me a reliable stage from which I continue my journey. The masters program at School of The Art Institute of Chicago took me across the world and has changed my life in many ways, geographically and artistically. I studied with people I only read about, I learned to question and analyze the status quo, to not be afraid to exist as an artist in the world, to trust my instincts, to form my own vision and opinions about art and the world. You are an eclectic artist and your versatile practice includes painting, drawing, sculpture, installation, performance, photography and video, revealing the ability of crossing from a media to another: before starting to elaborate about your artistic production, we would invite to our readers to visit in order to get a synoptic idea about your artistic production: would you tell us what does address you to such captivating multidisciplinary approach? How do you select a medium in order to explore a particular theme? As an artist, I am “post-everything”; I’m generally interested in the totality of art making, in all its manifestations, from research to drawing, painting, installation, sculpture, performance, video, etc. I look at my practice as a platform, a vehicle, through which I can create my own mini worlds, microcosms; it is in a way, my own personal freedom of existing. I select mediums as an answer to my idea, the concept and vision or the work or project I’m working on. I’m an eternal migrant in a way, in life and art, moving between lands of inquiry, territorial genres and mediums, conquering, adapting and learning in the process. For this special edition of we have selected , an interesting experimental video that our readers have already started to get to know in the introductory pages of this article and that can be viewed at : what has particularly impressed us of your insightful inquiry into the male gaze is the way you provided its results with such captivating humour. While walking our readers through the genesis of would you tell us what did direct you to explore this theme? is an alter ego, a character borne by my own life and experience as well as observational Women Cinemakers
Women Cinemakers research into lives of women. She is an extension of my identity, and braver, vivid version of me. She is an agent of my projections, insecurities, and ambitions, of various investigations and experiments, an alter-reality, a slight one step away from me. is an ambiguous being, situated between past and present ideologies, genders, assumptions, standards, codes, etc. She is grotesque, idiotic, ill advised and an absolute genius. She is increasingly hysterical, angry, alert, reckless, irresponsible, impolite, eccentric, foolish, and bold. She attempts to belong; to mold herself according to expectations, yet simply fails in a spectacular, absurd and humorous manner. In the end, she wants to live, to be left alone, to not be gazed upon or pressured into existing for others, rejecting normative stereotypes set out for her by society, she is undeniably, forcefully herself, present, alive, bleeding, breathing. As one the pioneers of feminist artists, Italian painter Artemisia Gentileschi, your character does not fall prey to the emotional prettification of a beloved subject: in this sense seems to be to the issue of women's identity. Mexican artist Gabriel Orozco once stated, " Not to remark that almost everything, ranging from Carole Schneemann's to more recently Vaile Export's work could be considered political, do you think that could be considered political, in a certain sense?
photo: Natasha Frisch
Women Cinemakers Yes, I consider a political work of art. She is taking a stance against patriarchy’s control of female bodies and the ever-present watchful scornful eye which renders us obsolete if we are not 17, compliant and a size 0: the male gaze. is a carrier of an everpresent brewing rebellion, of a life-long seething protest against our culture’s obsession with female’s appearance as the most praised value: she is barely contained, slowly unraveling, revealing a hissing, monstrous beast underneath the polite exterior. is a radically feminist work of art; it rejects the prescribed patriarchal construct of womanhood, creating a chasm through furious denial. reflects a conscious shift regarding the composition of per formative gestures: how would you consider the relationship between the necessity of scheduling the details of a performance and the need of spontaneity? How much importance does improvisation play in your practice? I explore the concept of “play” and “uselessness” as an anti-capitalist gesture, as a non-productive action, situated between chaos, spontaneous gestures and control. In my performances and videos, I usually construct an unscripted controlled scenario, with clearly set parameters of marked beginnings and endings, leaving enough space for intuitive and improvised actions to take place. As I inhabit these characters, I untangle a non-linear
photo: Natasha Frisch
narrative: so whatever they happen to feel and do at that moment, that would comprise the final performance. Many artists employ their own bodies to inquire into the ideas that they explore through representations of the body and by using human body as an evocative tool. German visual artist Gerhard Richter once underlined that " ": how do you consider the relation between the abstract nature of the ideas you explore and the physical of creating your artworks? Women Cinemakers
Women Cinemakers There is potentially a consistent gap, between what I imagine and what can realistically be accomplished. It is one of the most frustrating, yet exhilarating aspects of making my work. I tend to think in both abstract and authentic ways, so in order to achieve harmony, materials, site, my body and my ideas become the most important conduits, which carry my message. Some of my works appear to be much more speculative and abstruse in nature and some are clear and particular and I like to work between the two extremes. We would like to introduce our readers to another work entitled : we have