Digital Mask Residency UK

ARNAUD IPREX & THE MASK COLLECTIVE

MASKS AS A LINK BETWEEN COMMUNITIES UK RESIDENCY 2014

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The art of mask is the art of assembling narration, sculpture, painting, costume, sound and movement to create a living character.

Masks exist in almost every civilisation with every variation of shape and meaning possible, from African rituals to American superheroes.

They answer the fundamental human need of giving life to one’s inner creatures.

The Mask collective was created to explore these mask cultures at the crossroad of art, anthropology and community action.

It gathers a wide array of people and competencies, from artists to managers in order to organise mask related events including performances, exhibitions, conferences, workshops and projections all over the world.

The Mask Collective

Mask as a nexus

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How can masks help to address the problem of isolation of older people in society?

As film, music, painting or writing, mask is a media. It is focused on the creation of characters with identities and thus is strongly related to cultural specificities. The project of the Mask Collective is to link cultures that seem very dissimilar through their mask cultures.

Reducing the cultural gap through pedagogy Elder generations often seem out of touch with contemporary culture. In our process we will establish a cultural base that they are familiar with and then connect it to contemporary culture.

Empowering through collaboration with cultural actors On the principle that everything created will be put on the same scale we want to value the creativity of the residents and to give them a public. The fact of leaving a mark through works that will be shown in different countries in the following Mask Collective events can also be a motivation.

Creating a long term dynamic By organising a long term collaboration with the local actors by planning recurrent events and creating a dynamic based on everyone benefits instead of one time charity. By training people in the organizations so that they can be autonomous later.

Open the project to the outside world By introducing the project in a form that appeals to a great variety of public, emphasis on the local artist participation and on the connection with other cultures.

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Draft of a planning : a residency in 3 steps

I - Establish contact :

a. With the residents: organise the first workshops with the Digital Mask (see former workshops) and projections of documentation from the mask collective

b. With the local artists to plan collaborations

c. With the local holders of mask traditions

d. With other actors that might take part in the project

II - Connect the different actors

a. Organise a conference for the residents where artists and holder of mask traditions explain their vision of the mask culture

b. Push the workshop forward by introducing more possibilities for the residents, not only with the Digital Mask but with other material that they would like to use : clay, knitting, papier macher, etc.

III - Open to the public

a. Make a show with the work of the residents, the local artists, information about the local mask traditions and the works from the Mask Collective including the documentation of the previous events and on site research

b. Propose the workshop to a wider public: children from the surrounding schools, art students or other communities.

c. Make a connected workshop with another city where the Mask Collective is planning an event (we have an event planned in Paris in November) For this residency I will work closely with the Mask Collective that I am part of :

• I will use the documentation and experiences of the Collective

• I will use the communication channels of the collective (social network and website)

• The outcomes of the residency will be integrated in the following events of the collective

• The experiences of this residencies will be shared through the collective

The Mask Collective

Arnaud Iprex & the Mask Collective

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Our way of working Offer a playground For the residents, it means that the experience should be seen as a game and that each one should have the correct balance between freedom and instructions. Different themes can be approached through the workshops from remembrance of the past to projection in a community but the main rule will be to enjoy the experience.

For the invited artists it means that they should see the project as an opportunity for them to develop their personal work. We need to make everything possible to make that experience as productive as possible for them. The artists involved will also be offered to take part in upcoming Mask Collective events and thus gain in international visibility.

Everyone at the same level Make no hierarchy between masks from artists, from traditions or from workshops. The show should be curated in order to enable people to make connections between the pieces and change the point of view that is usually adopted.

Stay experimental From creation of the Mask Collective the fundamental principle has been Keep the door open to any good idea. It means staying as flexible as possible to adapt to the reaction of the public and to the inputs of the collaborators.

Document with video Each event will be documented with videos that can be later used by the Mask Collective or any partner of the project. We chose video over text and photography because it is a more immersive and accessible experience to the viewer. All our videos are accessible online for free.

Train our collaborators We are collaborating as much as possible with local collaborators that we train to capture video, manage workshops, organize exhibitions and perform the different tasks that can be useful to the project. The goal is in the same time that they help during the residency, and that they can autonomously organise other events after the end of the residency.

Iterative and additive shows Each new event is documented and added up to the exhibition: local mask culture, workshop results, testimonies of participants. The pieces created during the residence will be shown around the world in the coming years.

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Share the experience within our network and further Each new experience benefits the whole collective for the following events and we are willing to integrate a system where we can share our best practices to a larger audience.

The past event of the Mask Collective (2014) • FESTIMA, Dédougou (Burkina Faso). The International Mask Festival is the most important African mask gathering with 45 mask societies for more than 850 artists from West Africa Workshops with children from the street • Embassy of Burkina Faso, Paris with a special focus on masks in theatre Workshop with theatre students and public • Platoon Kunsthalle, Berlin with a special focus on masks in contemporary culture and electronic music Workshop with graphic artists and public • French Institute of Bobo-Dioulasso (Burkina Faso) Workshops with children • Loop video art festival, Barcelone Workshop with elderly people • Neurotitan Gallery, Berlin with a special focus on contemporary visual artist and an improvised dance performance As founder and general manager of the Mask Collective I took part in the preparation of each of these events and managed personally the ones in Burkina Faso and in Barcelona.

Complementary CV information for Arnaud Iprex Born in Suresnes in 1988, living and working between Barcelona, Paris and Berlin.

I studied engineering in France (Centrale Paris / Supelec) and Sweden (KTH) and worked as an engineer and management consultant in France and in India. I’m focusing exclusively on my artistic activities since 2012.

Art fairs

- June 2014 : Loop video art festival with Alejandro Gallery, Barcelona

- November 2013 : Room Art Fair with Alejandrogallery, Madrid Group shows around Europe and in Burkina Faso, website : arnaudiprex.com

The Mask Collective

Solo shows

- June 2014 : Alejandro Gallery, Barcelona

- October 2013 : Galerie Lehalle, Paris

- March / April 2013 : Le Comptoir du Dessin, Paris

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Workshops During the workshop, the residents will be given a layout of a mask on a A4 drawing paper (this page) where they can paint, draw, and make collage. The mask created will be scanned and projected on the digital mask, making it wearable. Later in the series of workshops, participants could use different material and format more adapted to their needs.

Here are some examples of the outcomes of our previous workshops with children, adults and elderly people from Europe and Africa.

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The Mask Collective

Reference 1 : Sanitas Residencial, Barcelona June 6th 2014 We organised one morning of activities with the residents of Sanitas Residencial located in central Barcelona. First we projected and commented documentaries about African masks that we filmed during our stay in Burkina Faso. Then the residents created masks that we projected in the end of the workshop.

Video of the workshop : http://youtu.be/q1O6m05pcws Contact Lidia Bataller Albala, therapist (Spanish speaking) Mail : consejociento.tocup@sanitasresidencial.com Tel : (0034) 93 323 96 92 http://residenciassanitas.com/

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The Mask Collective

Reference 2: French Institute, Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso March 20th 2014 We organised an exhibition of 2 weeks, interviewed local artists and Bobo mask societies, we organized 2 workshop, the first one with a school and the second one with children from the French Institute.

Video of a similar workshop in Burkina Faso : http://youtu.be/SwAbeiK_PSY Contact David Olivera, director of the Institute (French & English speaking) Mail : direction-bobo@institutfrancais-burkinafaso.com Tel : (00226) 20 97 39 79/80 http://institutfrancais-burkinafaso.com/category/bobo-dioulasso/

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The Mask Collective

Contact Email: arnaud.iprex@gmail.com Skype: arnaud.iprex Personal website: arnaudiprex.com Mask Collective website: maskcollective.com