Peripheral ARTeries Art Review March 2015

March 2015

Carla Forte, filmmaker

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March 2015 Julia Ăœberreiter

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"Art is always a way of communication. During the centuries both, definition and function of art has changed.

I see my dance research, learning new techniques and creative work as a personal path of development as well as a contribution to the society and a way of sharing my thoughts and comments on surrounding world with other people. Both artistic freedom and discipline are eqally important to me in creative process.

What is characteristic to contemporary art is simply to raise questions.

It emerges from presence and also communicates in presence. "

Carla Forte

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"My primary intent as a Filmmaker is to communicate my personal and social concerns, transforming them into a magical realm where anything becomes possible.

Images, dialogues, silences, colors and movement join to create a visual equilibrium, speaking for themselves."

Dee Hood Compositing video is just an extension of painting in layers or assemblage in sculpture. I have a background in these areas so I easily connect them to the work I do in video. Coming from that place makes it easy for me to degrade and or reinvent images because I’m less concerned with photographic purity.

Marta Kosieradzka

Fabian Freese "I walk the border between painting and photography, using one to augment the other in terms of visual interest. Normally I travel around and do shootings at different places like Rome, Florence, Munich, London, Luxembourg and especially at old castles and at the sea.

Usually I do a time exposure with my camera to fix about 1 to 3 minutes per picture. "

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Alexander Ingram Polymathic in nature my work embraces a multimedia approach that relishes the processes and techniques I've come to learn as a result of a combination of fine art and commercial art theory and practice with a fine attention to styling and detail derived from a fashion photography background.

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Sini Majuri

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Glass is as a magical medium to work with. If you don’t break it, it lasts for thousands of years.

When you are working with it, you cannot touch it with your hands. You shape it with your breath. My goal is to exhibit glass art in uncommon places and especially to viewers who don’t spend time in glass

Tonya Amyrin Rice

"My drawings, copper plate, and linocut prints areabout creating images of a world where slaverywould not have existed in West Africa.

My researchhas revealed that Africa has a rich history ofproducing works on paper and my work will continuethis tradition adding an Afrofuturism twist to theprints. "

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Borja Rodriguez I am energized by the diversity of human expression thatcontinuously activates our vast communication networks. I

I grew up in eastern Pennsylvania surrounded bytrees and constant rain. I currently live in LA, California surrounded by mountains and dry air. Ihave a B.S. from La Salle University. Working asa scientist greatly compliments my art;showcasing my analytical nature with regards tocompartmentalization or experimenting withcolors.

David Wilde

Andie Jairam

amawed by the scale and varied histories of the built environmentand urban infrastructure.

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The process of creating and the presentation of art is a fundamental blessing and encouragement for human society that arises from the artists' ability to open to the primal elements of life's appearances. Feeling the heart of events and finding the freedom to express that in media and terms beyond the distortions of ego is a liberating thing that wakes people up to the natural benevolent vividness of circumstances.

Erin O’Malley “With digital macro photography I have been exploring the interaction of light with transparent and reflective surfaces.

I consider my photography a series of experiments, a process of trial and error that builds upon past succes-ses through the manipulation of variables”

In order to submit your artworks to our art review please contact peripheral_arteries@dr.com http://peripheralarteries.yolasite.com/submit-your-artworks.php

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Julia Übe (Austria)

In der Haltung des Körpers verrät sich der Zustand des Geistes (Zitat: Ambrosius 340397), 2014 (The character of our mind may be perceived in the attitude of our body(Citation: Ambrosius 340- 397), 2014 This work is about challenging gender specific poses in advertisements found at public spaces. There are typically “male” and “female” codes used in advertisement which communicate stereotype capacities of women and men. Women are often shown in a very passive and weak pose like lying at the ground, sitting on the edge of furniture orstanding without enough road adhesion to suggest the role of a fragile person. Men are often shown more active with tense and strong bearing, symbolizing corresponding properties.

The male sculpture on the photo reflects a typically „female“ display format in advertisements, which is also shown on a placard in the background of the photograph.

But also other placards on the pictures deal with this theme in different ways.

The sculpture is made with tape and got filled with magazines, which communicate normative concepts of gender.

Julia Überreiter

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In der Haltung des KÜrpers verrät sich der Zustand des Geistes (Zitat Ambrosius), 2014 Digitalprint, 30x45cm Skulptur, 180x45x50cm

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An interview with

Julia Überreiter An interview by Dario Rutigliano, curator

What has immediately impacted on me of Julia Überreiter's work is the way she establishes an effective combination between conceptual and socio politicised practice, giving birth to a stimulating mix of pure art and deep social engagement.

Her refined multidisciplinary approach could be described as a sceptical examination of social conventions, and through an incessant recontextualization, she provides the viewers of an extension of the basic human perception, in order to manipulate it, releasing it from its most primordial, limbic parameters. In particular, her recent In der Haltung des Körpers verrät sich der Zustand des Geistes that we'll be discussing in the following pages, condenses the permanent flow of the perception of concepts from media, questioning their inner nature in the socio politic context they are inserted. So, I'm particularly pleased to introduce our readers to her multifaceted artistic production.

art is imbedded in present experiences, takes up a present issue or accounts for the past thereby creating a connecting way of communication. If art is understood as language then it is an universal language. An artwork can be exhibited in Vienna, New York, Peking or Moscow, peoples approach towards it will be different - based on cultural aspects. At the best, it will cause communication - to further communication in Vienna, New York, Peking or Moscow.

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 driving force of a an artistic process can be - for example - a newspaper article, an image in the media, a conversation or a specific situation - simply aspects - that somehow effect and touch me content-wise.

Hello Julia, and a very warm welcome to Peripheral ARTeries: I would start this interview with my usual introductory question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art? By the way, what could be the features that mark the contemporariness of an artwork? Moreover, do you think that there's a dichotomy between tradition and contemporariness?

Also different materials or objects which I collect over time often inspire me. For this reason I go to junk yards in order to collect discarded metal or rifle through a storing place of a junk dealer. There I find different junk goods which catch my attention because of their materials, form or their original function.

Sometimes the process of collecting these items is intuitive which means I take them without having a clear idea in which way I will use them. Sometimes I store these found items myself for several years before using it in an artwork, sometimes I find a piece and know exactly in which way I apply it because it either evokes an idea or it simply fulfils a function for which I was searching for.

I think art is always a way of communication.

During the centuries both, definition and function of art has changed. What is characteristic to contemporary art is simply to raise questions. It emerges from presence and also communicates in presence. Contemporary

Depending on a project or topic I am working on, I firstly collect information, draw a sketch, brainstorm catchwords, thoughts and ideas for implementation or experiment with different materials. Thereby the time in-between the phases when I am dealing with a project are of

Julia Ăœberreiter

Julia Ăœberreiter Credit: 2012-FACES.werner-streitfelder.com

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Julia Überreiter

major importance. Ideas of project implementation do not emerge while sitting on my desk cerebrating but when I least expect them and actually when I deal with something else. In these cases I take notes or make sketches and in so doing I slowly approaching these thoughts.

The period of time from an idea to the finished work can differ a lot and is difficult to define. I often work on different project simultaneously because some projects need to sit during their implementation process and after a while I come back to them again and take a look and they get my attention. The final work often looks very different than the original idea. In general I would define the process of creating an art piece as balancing act in which on one side I let my imagination, associations and inspirations run wild and allow my thoughts to wander, on the other side I also integrate a kind of analytic thinking in order to pass on certain information through my work, thereby reflecting on the effect it might indicated in the dialog with the viewer.

Now let's focus on your artistic production: I would start from the aforesaid In der Haltung des Körpers verrät sich der Zustand des Geistes, an extremely interesting work that our readers have already started to get to know in the introductory pages of this article: would you tell us something about the genesis of this interesting project? What was your initial inspiration?

In my works I like to deal with the floods of images and their "messages" that daily confront us. Advertising images are of special interest to me because they are a very powerful medium. Especially in terms of gender roles, images used in advertisements are very behind the times, one-sided - and simply brainwashing.

In that regard a very stereotyped billboard advertisement - permanently placed in the city centre of Vienna - triggered me to approach

Verlorene Väter und Mütter Analog photography, slide projection 23x27cm 2007

this specific advertising image in an artistic way.

Thus, this work is about challenging gender specific poses in advertisements. There are typically “male” and “female” codes used in advertisement which communicate stereotype capacities of women and men. Women are often shown in a very passive and weak pose

Julia Überreiter

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advertisements like seen on the background of the photograph- a kind of counterstatement.

But also other placards in the pictures deal with this theme.

The sculpture itself is made out of tape and is filled with magazines - current transmitter of normative concepts of gender.

The title of the work "In der Haltung des Körpers verrät sich der Zustand des Geistes" derives from a quotation of an Italian bishop and pedagogues from ancient times who warned men for the danger of "feminisation".

The "state of the soul" deduces from facial expressions and gestures, posture as well as from someone's choice of clothing and the way of body care. Depending on certain patterns of behaviour conclusions were drawn regarding the character of a human.

The ideal of beauty in ancient times - an ideal body as measure of things - leaves its marks also nowadays. But also conventions of depiction - such as physical tension and a straight, upright posture to highlight "masculinity" can be often found in nowadays advertising imagery.

The phrase "Zustand des Geistes" ("State of Mind") used in the title refers to the mentality of a whole society, its daily life which is still very much characterised by normative concepts of gender-roles.

like lying on the ground, sitting on the edge of furniture or standing with less grip of reality thereby resuming a role of a fragile person. Men are often shown more active with tense and strong bearing, symbolizing corresponding properties.

The male sculpture in the photo reflects a typically „female“ display format in

While exploring the compulsion of our modern society, I daresay that your work urges the viewer to follow not only your process, but even and especially the cultural and politic substratum on which you build your creations: I have particularly appreciated the way this forces us to evolve from being a passive spectators to a more conscious participants... By the way, although I'm aware that this might sound a bit naïf, I have to admit that I'm sort of convinced that Art -especially nowadayscould play an effective role in sociopolitic issues: not only just by offering to people a generic platform for expression... I would go as far as to state that Art could even steer

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Was bleibt Digital photography with slide projection 60x45cm 2010

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people's behaviour... what's your point about this? Does it sound a bit exaggerated?

Art has a great potential to issue socio-political aspects and to reflected on social conventions thereby raising awareness and sensitise people on specific topics. This opportunity is what I take through my artworks. The way how this succeed - e.g. in a irritating, humours, provocative, ambivalent or another way - also depends on willingness and openness of viewers.

Art - for sure - neither intends to convince or manipulate a viewer nor to provide solutions in form of a recipe. If an artwork evokes one's own ideas or causes a discussion on a certain topic - then I would say it has reached its aim.

The way in which people deal with art in our society - is a very elitist and exclusive one.

Therefore it was a very enriching experience for me to take the photographs of the work "In der Haltung des KÜrpers verrät sich der Zustand des Geistes" in public space being surrounded by people randomly passing by who do not have a great interest in art but were simply interested in what is going on. That gave me the opportunity to talk to people about the intentions of this work.

Your art practice takes a participatory line with the viewer. Your socio political engaged and often humourous creations are strictly based on the chance to create a deep involvement with your audience, both on a on a emotional level, as well as on an intellectual one: for example, when in Was bleibt (What remains) you have manipulated the photographs of your great-grandmother and your great-grandfather, you seem to remove the historic gaze from the depicted reality, offering them up for perception in a more atemporal form. So I would take this occasion to ask you if in your opinion personal experience is an absolutely indespensable part of a creative process...

Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience?

I think personal experience is not totally

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Fashion Slave Digital photography 60x45cm welded sculpture 10x25x10cm 2011

Julia Ăœberreiter

Julia Überreiter

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essential for a creative process but can work as a trigger which fires someone's imagination.

I can only speak for myself, but when I decide to work on a specific topic through an artistic approach, it is always something that somehow touches me.

However, this does not mean that you have to experience it in person. For example there is this piece "Land Grabbing". Land Grabbing is a global phenomenon but in my case it does not directly affect my personal life.

Anyway there was this personal concern of creating an artistic work on this issue. But of course I am often dealing with topics that personal affect me.

One of the most convincing aspects of your work is your exploration of the overwhelming power of perception: in particular, I can recognize a subtle but effective investigation about the emerging of language due to an extreme manipulation of objects, and in this sense I refer to the way the magazines that fills the sculpture of In der Haltung des Körpers verrät sich der Zustand des Geistes not only with hard matter, but also with such a meaning, as well as cutlery is juxtaposed to feet in Fashion Slave... what has mostly impacted on me is the way you have been capable of bringing a new level of significance to objects, recontextualizing the concepts behind them: and I would go as far as to state that in a certain sense your works force the viewers' perception in order to challenge the common way to perceive not only the outside world, but our inner dimension...

By the way, I'm sort of convinced that some information & ideas are hidden, or even "encrypted" in the environment we live in, so we need -in a way- to decipher them. Maybe that one of the roles of an artist could be to reveal unexpected sides of Nature, especially of our inner Nature... what's your point about this?

Same as every person - also artists have the opportunity to look behind the scene thereby detecting excesses and absurdities of our so

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Julia Ăœberreiter

StadtLEBEN, 3 dimensional model of Vienna, metal, acrylic glass, 150x95cm detail of map, drawing, 30x45cm 2014

called "normality". I apply art as a tool of expression being aware that art is only one of many tools to question everyday situations together with their social determined automatisms, hierarchies, conventions and power relations and to take a closer look on things through a different point of view which is then communicated.

Another interesting work of yours that has impacted on me and on which I would like to spend some words is entitled Eierlegendes Wollmilchschwein, (German expression for an all-round talent)is a crucial aspect of your approach: while crossing the borders of different artistic fields have you ever happened to realize that a synergy between

Julia Ăœberreiter

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transporting a specific idea. Often it is a combination of more and different means which I turn to account.

Also haptic and material characteristics of a medium are of great importance to me during the phase of finding the best and most adequate form of expression. For example I have a preference for metal. In the processes of welding metal the metaphorical level of meaning of the material - as something very rigid and hard - increases.

"Eierlegendes Wollmilchschwein" (German expression for an all-round talent) is one of my works, where the use and combination of different media forms makes a lot of sense and additionally enriches the expression of the work. It is the first of a series of works dealing with different rigid social structures.

"Eierlegendes Wollmilchschwein" addresses constrains of our performance-oriented society which declares humans as multifunctional accurately functioning "beings". Completion on the labour market is intensive and human capital can be replaces easily at any time. "In applying all means available" - in this case for example a milking machine and a loom - the idea of extracting and utilisation of workers resources - is expressed here. Also the reward system of awarding (e.g. an academic) title - a method that works very well in Austria - is questioned in a humours way.

Modified or original definitions of certain machine components provide more detailed information. The work is presented in an acrylic glass housing - thereby consciously playing with the association of display cases in which the most important scientific findings are exhibited - which aims to conduct itself ad absurdum. different disciplines is the only way to achieve some results, to express some concepts?

Moving freely between different disciplines is very attractive to me and encourages to experiment. The main aim for me is always to define my own way of expressing and

The combination of different media - such as text, drawing, collage, acrylic painting but also materials like metal, wood and acrylic glass lead to a mutual, interactive enhancement and is significant to communicate the relevant issues in a very compressed form.

For example, through fine lines of pencil drawing on paper vulnerability and uniqueness of human beings are expressed. They find

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Eierlegendes Wollmilchschwein Mixed Media 100x67cm 2015

Julia Ăœberreiter

Julia Ăœberreiter

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Landgrabbing Mixed Media 100x67cm 2014

Julia Ăœberreiter

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themselves in great contrast to a strict schematic depiction of machines but even more to a punched aluminium plate behind which they are installed. Thereby the aluminium plate functions as metaphor of a bulky, uncompromising set of regulations in our societal system. A schema of punched geometric forms give rise to the appearance of stereotyped societal processes, that provides little space for individuality.

During these years your works have been international exhibited in several occasions: from Vienna, where you are currently based, to London, Berlin and the United States, where you recently took part to Center Forward 2014 in Fort Collins. So, before taking leave from this interesting conversation I would like to pose a but clichĂŠ question, but an interesting one that I'm sure will interest our readers around the world... During these years you have exhibited in several occasions, so I would like to ask you what are the main differences that you had the chance to notice between the European scene and the American one...

By the way, how would you define the nature of the relation with your audience?

That is hard to say because I have exhibited different works. For sure it is always a great enrichment and satisfaction when people approached me and give me the feeling that I can reach them through my art works.

Thank you very much for your time and for sharing your thoughts, Julia. Finally, would you like to tell us readers something about your future projects? Anything coming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of?

Currently I work - besides others - on an interactive, trans-media installation called "Schwarze LĂścher" ( "Black Holes") which deals with life and creation of fine artists thereby aiming to connect with other professional sectors and concepts of realities of life.

Im Wechselspiel der Lust Installation 100x100x150cm 2011

LeibstĂźck Installation 40x40x100cm 2008

Thereby issues such as freedom or exclusion mechanisms are addressed. The freedom of an artist through his /her creative self-expression and self-development also leads to an exclusion or a more difficult access to economic and social security and subsequently to a very precarious situation . Besides economic challenges also the "defined job description" of a "professional artist" has changed. Artistic talent is not enough to gain success. Artists, musicians and generally spoken - people of the so called creative sector - need to be great

project managers and networkers in order to be able to remain successful the intensive competition.

The question where you decide for or against being an artist - is a very profound and existential one. The title of this work "Schwarze LĂścher" - refers to the same named natural phenomenon. Same as an artistic life journey, the phenomenon of the natural phenomenon "Black Hole" is unpredictable and inexplicable - maybe it ultimately threatens

Leiden_schaft C-Print 60x40cm 2009

survival; maybe it opens unexpected, enriching, transformative states of being.

This aspect is depicted through a sculptural object consisting of different materials such as aluminium, acrylic glass but also collected items. Based on the situation of artists, visitors are encouraged to contribute to the installations in their own personal way - based on their own experiences and ideas. Through an openly accessible social media platform, these interactions are documented on a digital way and mutually connected with the local

installation. This leads to an inclusion on several levels which should also make experiences and thought of absent people present.

Marta Kosieradzka

I see my dance research, learning new techniques and creative work as a personal path of development as well as a contribution to the society and a way of sharing my thoughts and comments on surrounding world with other people. Both artistic freedom and discipline are eqally important to me in creative process. Besides dancing I'm also a visual artist ( I've graduated from graphic department) and I'm searching for the influences and connections between different art forms to find my own language and way of communication with the audience. I create photographs and drawings, I’m inspired by people, their stories and characters and city as a moving, living organism.

Marta Kosieradzka

Birth Bird Baby Blue, photo by Eva Campos Suarez

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An interview with

Marta Kosieradzka An interview by Dario Rutigliano, curator

Marta Kosieradzka's practice is marked with an intense multidisciplinary feature: by an effective combination of dance, music and visual arts she she brings a new level of significance to each discipline, conveying the creative potential of movement and still images into a consistent and coherent unity: her works overtly play with the unheimlich nature of gestural movements, revealing that images tend to exist in continuum, residing somewhere in memory, whereas sound tends to evoke the present moment. It is with a real pleasure that I would like to introduce our readers to her stimulating works.

Hello Marta, and a warm welcome to Peripheral ARTeries. To start this interview would you like to tell us something about your background? You have a solid multidisciplinary training: you studied Graphic Techniques at the European Academy of Arts in Warsaw and you refined your education in Dance in several institutions: how much have these experiences impacted on the way you currently conceive and creates your artworks and on your evolution as an artist?

I definitelly see dance as a visual art form that’s why it makes perfect sense to me to combine fine arts and dance. I’ve started my professional art education from learning drawing, painting and traditional graphic printing techniques in my home town- Warsaw. After obtaining a M.A degree in Graphic Art and a dance teaching diploma I’ve decided that I want to deepen my knowledge of dance that has been my passion for many years already. I went to study dance in Austria and then in Belgium where I’ve decided to stay and where I live until now.

I really appreciate the fact that I had a privilige to

Marta Kosieradzka

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Marta Kosieradzka photo by Juliette Bogers

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Marta Kosieradzka

Dance Photo (photo by William Apers)

study many different art forms and techniques.

Dance is a very technically demending art that asks a lot of training and discipline and very often dancers are trained to be skilled craftmans and not necesarrilly independent artists. In graphic art education there is a lot of space for developing personal style and a free and open way of thinking.

Dancers almost always work in a group and are tought to be a part that perfectly suits the bigger picture that is beeing drawn by a choreographer. Painters or drawing artists are creating their own, independent world and vision. For me that combination of two different

points of view worked perfectly and showed me what I want to do and gave me many different tools.

Weather I draw a picture, make a photo or create a dance performance I have the same intention and process, just that I use a different language.

I’ve decided to put most of my attention into my practice as a dance artist because I see this art form as a one that contains all others in it.

Whilst performing or choreographing I’m creating a multidimentional experience, it is not only something that you can see with your

Marta Kosieradzka

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Dance Photo (photo by William Apers)

eyes like a painting hanging on a wall, but something that you can experience with all your senses.

The difference between creating a dance and drawing a picture is also that dance is far more personal, it involves your full self: body, mind and spirit. When you go on stage you can have full contact with your audience and eperience that is happening here and now, that would not be a case if you’d hang a painting in a gallery.

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?

Inspiration for my pieces most of the time comes from the things, ideas or experinces I had that really interested or moved me in some way. I’m not an artist that starts from a lot of thinking and outlining a theoretical concept. I’m a person that likes phisical and sensual experiences and for me practical work is the

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Marta Kosieradzka

most important. Very often I just find something that triggerst me in some way and I start from that, but afterwards it develops to a compleatelly different thing as I work on it.

In the beggining I deffinitelly take a lot of time to find out how the idea that I have for the piece relates to the body and how can it be shown/expressed by it.

I’m searching for a state of the body that is resembling my idea. Sometimes but not always I’m also creating a stage character that I’m trying to embody and what does that character experience during the performance.

I see a creation of a dance piece like sketching on sheets of papers, noting many different ideas and impressions that after a long process make sense together.

I belive in a wisdom of the body and that it contains everything that we cosiciously or unconsiciouslly experience during our lifetime, so I try to stick to that in the process of creation. I also take a lot of time to study and get to know new movement techniques and deepen the ones that I already know, so I see my work as an ongoing everyday process.That is not only working on a specific task but also searching for elements, inspirational things in my daily life and practice of my craft.

During the work on a particular performance I try to widen the view an a subject as much as I can, so I search for inspirational texts, paintings, musical compositions, books, anything that can broaden my experience. A lot of my works are inspired by other art works that I refer to as a starting point.

Now let's focus on your artistic production: I would start from Windmills in the ocean, an extremely interesting work 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.dailymotion.com/video/x260eat_bi rthbirdbabyblue_creation in order to get a wider idea of your artistic production. In the

photo by William Apers meanwhile, would you tell us something about the genesis of this interesting project?

What was your initial inspiration?

‘’Windmills in the ocean’’ is a dance film that I made in a collaboration with two video artists Vincent Pieraerd and Marnik Boekaerts. It is based on my performance ‘’BirthBirdBabyBlue’

Marta Kosieradzka

that I’ve realized in the frame of a programme for young choreographers '' 20 Jeunes Choreographe pour Brussel 2013’’.

The performance was merging two art disciplines: dance and music, exploring transformation from organic, basic life force that drives us into emotions, creativity and search for inspiration. The creation of the piece

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initially started from an inspiration taken of a painting ''Little Girl with a dead bird'' from a collection of Royal Museum of Arts in Brussels.

Later it evolved into a landscape created around images connected to longing, searching for freedom and breaking the limitations. Dialog between thoughts, internal world and physical reality. Transformation from an unconscious

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Marta Kosieradzka

''Future'' photo by Eva Campos Suarez, dancer Inez Verhille

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state of mind towards a poetic language that allows to speak out and reveal freedom of expression. In different stages of work on the project musical landscape was developed simultaneously with the choreography crating a dialog between movement and sound. Through experimenting with different sounds, recorded music, instruments finally evolved to the stage when all the music is produced live during the performance. Dance is constantly interacting with voice, word, poetry and instrumental music creating an independent universe of movement and sound. I’ve used a text of Patti Smith as one of my main inspirations during the process : ‘’ let us geather on the summit of a cool volcano…plunge into the infinite pit in a jet spitting an ec-static dialogue of sound until the attar of our being permeates the red field…blood, tongue and new noise- a sonic dart-from deep in the heart of…’’

(Patti Smith) At a certain point in the process I wanted to broaden the context that I was working in and use video as a tool that allows to create more abstract forms than a live act allows. I also wanted to find a location that would fit the atmosphere of the piece when I came across a beautiful old magazine an old town in Antwerp. The place visually fitted the choreography in a perfect way and helped to show the choreography in a new way.

I’ve also enjoyed a collaboration with Vincent and Marnik, they had their own view on my performance and they’ve entered the process with their own ideas.They've synthetihised the ideas and themes that I've been working on during my process and transformed them into cinematic images.

Working with the video allows me to relate to my visual arts background and helps me to take the choreography out of it’s usual theatrical context.

I have been particularly impressed with the way you have been capable of bringing a new level of significance to the act of dancing, especially in Future, in which you seem to re-contextualize the main idea behind gestures and movement: and I would go as far as to state that in a certain sense your works force the viewers' perception in

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Marta Kosieradzka

still from ''Handful of dust'' film order to challenge the common way to perceive not only the outside world, but our inner dimension... By the way, I'm sort of convinced that some informations & ideas are hidden, or even "encrypted" in the environment we live in, so we need -in a wayto decipher them. Maybe that one of the roles of an artist could be to reveal unexpected sides of Nature, especially of our inner Nature... what's your point about this?

‘’Future’’ is a part of a trilogy ‘’ The three oddest words’’ , dance film based on the poem by polish nobel -prize wiining poet Wislawa Szymborska. Three words described in the

poem: future, silence and nothing were turned into three choreographic scenes each one set in a different space and location and performed by different dancer.

The poetry of Wislawa Szymborska leaves the questions without giving precise answers and triggers the mind and imagination to look at everyday subjects in a new way. It is also very sober and simple in it’s form and because of that I see a possibility in it to connect it to dance and movement creating a bridge between those two art forms.

The words that are very definied and have a lot of conotations are transformed into an abstract and poetic language of dance which brings the

Marta Kosieradzka

words and their meaning into a different context. The choreography is strongly connected to the locations where the scenes were shoot and the movement is defined by the space and the context it brings to the dance. ''Future'' is a film about passing of time, we impatiently wait for the future to come and although it imediatelly turns into past.

The poem questions the meaning of words, their importance and precision of how they describe world. I think this is also one of the aims of creating an art piece- to question existing things and as you say decipher their hidden side, or reorganise their existing order.

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This can especially apply to dance, because in our culture today we have forgotten that spoken/written language is not the only language that we have. In many ways we've denied the body and it's expression and became compleately unaware of it. This is also why very often people see dance as something very abstract and far away from daily life. For me the body is never abstract, it is obviously the only tool we've been given to communicate and experience the world therefore movement is just a part of our human nature.

I think it's important to remark the multidisciplinary nature of your artistic

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Marta Kosieradzka

''Handful of dust'' performance, photo by Yoanis Pallas

Marta Kosieradzka

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approach: for example in Handful of dust you have highlighted the relation between music, dance and environment: experimenting with dance as well as with visual arts, you seem to be in an incessant research of an intimate symbiosis between apparently different disciplines: while the performative aspect of your approach provides the viewers of what I would define an augmented perceptual experience and if I have been asked to sum up in a single word your artistic production, I would say that it's kaledoiscopic... while crossing the borders of different artistic fields have you ever happened to realize that a symbiosis between different disciplines is the only way to achieve some results, to express some concepts?

''Handful of dust'' is inspired by the portugese music fado, which origins lay in melancholic feelings, life of the poor and longing for something unreachable.

The music is usually linked to the portugese word ‘saudade’ which symbolizes a permanent, irreparable loss and its consequent life lasting damage. In the project we want to research and take a closer look at fado, it’s many faces and characteristics. Not only the sad, melancholic one, but also a more playfull side of it . The dance is inspired by the feeling and rhythm of fado and also by characteristics and expression of the fado female singers, their body language.

In the music cruelty and deep dark emotions are mixed with softness and playfulness of a child, we want to bring this feeling to the dance and live music, performance. During the work on this project I’ve researched the character of a traditional fado singer that is just by it’s name associated to a café somewhere by the shore in Lisboa or Porto. I wanted to see again what would happen if I put the fado singer in a busy, chaotic city of Brussels. How can I find a place that would remind me of the nostalgic, emotional images of the sea pictured in fado songs. This is how I found a roof situated above the busy city center of Brussels that for me

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Marta Kosieradzka

symbolized the border that cannot be crossed, the edge of the roof is like the border of an endless sea, city is like unknown waters.

So I think that symbiosis and collaboration of many different art disciplines in my work comes simply from curiosity and constantly asking the question ‘’what if…?’’. I wouldn’t say it comes from wanting to express the same concept, but definitely from the search for synergy and relationship between everything I see, hear and experience in my life and that triggers my attention.

Your practice is intrinsically connectde to the chance of establishing collaborative relationships with other artistsI do believe that interdisciplinary collaboration today is an ever growing force in Contemporary Art and that that most exciting things happen when creative minds from different fields of practice meet and collaborate on a project... could you tell us something about this effective synergy? By the way, I can clearly remember the well-known Peter Tabor's quote, when he remarked that "collaboration is working together with another to create something as a synthesis of two practices, that alone one could not": what's your point about this? Can you explain how your work demonstrates communication between several artists?

Indeed collaborating with other artists is very important to me, whenever I want to create a new universe that is united I need to work with other people that might have skills in the areas that I don't have. Through working with musicians, video artist, designers I constantly learn and I'm beeing challenged to step out of my comfort zone and see the subject from another perspective. Artists who are really devoted to their practice tend to focus very much on one particular aspect of the world, weather it's sound, or movement, or the image.

The viewer sees the whole picture when he is looking at the art piece. In order to create a new reality, an independent world that appears

Marta Kosieradzka

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Concert of the saxophone and a spine photo by Eva Campos Suarez

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Marta Kosieradzka

Concert of the saxophone and a spine photo by Eva Campos Suarez

on stage or in a video we need to look at it as a whole, every detail is important to let the thought of the artist be visible for the audience.

Collaborating with people from different art disciplines also helps to reach much broader audience, not only people who are interested in dance, but maybe also those who would normally never thought of watching it.

In the creation of my solo ''BirthBirdBabyBlue'' I've worked on developing music and dance simultaniously, so that it would grow organically together. This kind of process takes a lot of time obviously, but I definitelly think it's worth it. It

has led us to many discoveries that we've both did not expected to find ourselves in.

On other occasions I've just let another artist to take my existing work and transform it in their own way, like it was with ''Windmills in the ocean'' that I've mentioned before.

In the initial phase of working on the film trilogy ''The three oddest words'' I was looking for people who would fulfill my vision that I've already had for that production. I wrote a scenario and from the beggining till the end with the help of a composer Adriano Fontana and film maker Eva Campos Suarez we

Marta Kosieradzka

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Concert of the saxophone and a spine photo by Eva Campos Suarez

consequently executed our plan. But this was the only time that making a plan before I start really worked for me...

In my most recent collaboration I've entered a world of improvised jazz music that I didn't really know very well before. I'm working on a film project that will be a collaboration between me and a Polish jazz band ''Olbrzym i Kurdupel'' and a film maker Eva Campos Suarez. I've learned a totally new way of seeing the act of 'writing' dance or music. By listening to that music I had imediatelly a clear picture of what I want to do and which character I want to

portray in my film, it was like I was sucked into the world of jazz music just by listening to it...

Your work is intrinsically connected with the chance of creating a deep interaction with your viewers, urging them to follow your process and pushing them to not play as a passive audience: as you have remarked once, you see your process and your work also as a contribution to the society and a way of sharing my thoughts and comments on surrounding world with other people: although I'm aware that this might sound a bit na誰f, I have to admit that I'm sort of convinced that Art -especially nowadays-

An object

An object

could play an effective role in sociopolitic questions: not only just by offering to people a generic platform for expression... I would go as far as to state that Art could even steer people's behaviour... what's your point about this? Does it sound a bit exaggerated?

to be talking about them. Often those works seem very artificial to me. When I watch an art piece I want to have a sort of conversation with the author. I want to know his thoughts and opinions, I do not want to hear slogans and things that I already hear on TV or radio and that are politically correct.

Yes, of course I belive that Art can stimulate people's behaviour and really change their view of the world, otherwise, why would we ever want to show our works to the audience? I see now a lot of performances or art pieces that deal with the subjects that are popular or known as 'controvertial' and it's sort of 'fashion'

So in other words I belive in Art that is an honest statement of an artist and I think only then it can really change or touch people and make them think out of the box.

Nowadays I also see a contradition- one one hand we live in a world where we can share

this occasion to ask you if in your opinion personal experience is an absolutely indespensable part of a creative process... Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience?

I think the most important quality for a creator of any kind is sesitivity and ability to observe surrounding world as well as himself. I hate when people say that artist ''express themselves'' throught dance, painting or another form. I think this is absolutely not true. If we look at the greatest masterpieces of all times, we think it's something really beautiful, divine and great above all measure. I really don't think we could say the same words about their authors, could we? So if they would be only 'expressing themselves' could those masterpieces ever be produced?

Of course anything we observe in our life and anything that we drive inspiration from gets 'filtred' through the prism of our own luggage of experiences and this we can never avoid.

During my working process I try to relate both to the things and ideas I observe as well to the ones that are directly a part of my life experience.

An object

freely any information and talk about whatever we want, but on the other hand it is very superficial. It is hard to find a person which talks openly about what is important to them.

And this is why I belive artists have an important work to do.

I have highly appreciated the way your approach reveals a desire to create a concrete aesthetic from experience and memories: and as you have once stated you draw inspiration from people, their stories and characters and city as a moving, living organism... so I would take

As one of the most famous pioneers of modern dance Martha Graham has said: ''I did not want to be a tree, a flower or a wave. In a dancer's body, we as audience must see ourselves, not the imitated behavior of everyday actions, not the phenomenon of nature, not exotic creatures from another planet, but something of the miracle that is a human being.'' It is not really possible to become somene else that you already are, but still I see the role of performer as someone who should be open to everything that surrounds him and should be able to channel it to the audience even though it might not refer to his direct experience.

''Silence'', photo by Eva Campos Suarez,

Some of my works that I've mentioned before were inspired by works of other artists or stories that I've heard but there was probably a reason in me why those particular things grabbed my attention. ''BirthBirdBabyBlue'' was inspired by a painting ''Little girl with a dead bird'' of an unknown painter from 16th century that I've seen in a Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Brussels. Old painting might seem as something very distant for a person who lives in 21th century but still it was an art work that has struck me imediatelly when I saw it and later became a great source of inspiration in which

I've found a lot of meaning and references to my own life.

Other works were based on a very direct experience, like for instance my solo ''An object''. At that time I was studying in a foreign country where I lived alone in a very small student room where the only furniture were a table, bed,cubboard and a chair. At a certain point I felt really lonely and disconnected from people. Then I started to think about the objects, which meaning they have, which stories they bring. I had a chair but I was dreaming to have someone sitting on that chair keeping me

''Nothing'', photo by Eva Campos Suarez, dancer Anna Tytus

company. So that's how the piece was made, just by going through a very common daily life experience.

Besides producing your stimulating artworks, you also teach: have you ever happened to draw inspiration from the works of your students? By the way, times ago I had the chance to interview Yotam Zohar, an interesting painter and experienced art teacher from the New York scene who once stated that our culture trains people to be visually illiterate...

I think art education is very important. I cannot express my gratitude to all the teachers that I've met on my path and how much their teaching affected my life and my choices. I would definitelly not be who I am today and not be doing what I'm doing. Therefore I know how important it is to inspire students and give them a solid technical base that they can build on. I work with many different kinds of people af all ages, mostly amateurs.

I can definitelly refer to the opinion of the artist you quoted and it's not only that the

culture makes people visually illiterate but also trains them to be very unaware of their body and all of it's dimentions. This is something that is bother me a lot...Dance is one of the most organic and natural things to do and in our times it has been neglected. The body is beeing seen as a sexual object or as another item that you can have to get you more money, better job or higher social status.

We've compleately disasocciated it from spiritual, emotional or even intelectual values. I really don't belive there is or ever be a computer or a machine that is so perfectly made and so worth of studying as a human body...yet we put more attention to technological news than we do to our own body, the only thing that we really own...

Our culture values technical, analitical and scientific skills and pushes creativity, sensitivity and art aside.

Very often children who have artistic talents feel very unworthy and neglected at schools and have no chances to develop. Later they become frustrated and unfulfilled adults. This is why I find extremally important to encourage and guide people in exploring art, I think this can really change societies and change the world.

Definitelly teaching takes me out of my comfort zone and helps me from beeing an artist closed in a very hermetical world of art.

Now, as usual, I would pose you some questions about your relation with your audience. During your over fifteen years career your works have been extensively exhibited in several occasions and you had many solos...

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 feedbackcould 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...

I had a privilage to perform in many different places, also those non-theatrical like museums, galleries, historical monuments or even on the street. Those spaces create a possibility for very close contact and an interraction with the audience, you can see them, you can hear them, you can even touch them. It's different than performing in the theatre where the stage is a symbolical place that separate perfomer from the viewer. Nowaydays dance is definitelly reaching outside the thetres which I find a very positive thing. There are more and more site specific projects that explore the relationship with a particular space. I've made a site specific video project ''Tunnel'' where the choreography was performed in a tunell for pedestrians that runs under the river Schelde in Antwerp. During rehearsals and shootings we've got so many people, citizens of Antwerp telling us how much the appreciated what we do, some of them wanted to discuss, some wanted to join, some just watch or even sing us a song so that we have music to dance on! I find it incredible that just a simple act of dancing in a public space can relase so much openness, curiosity!

For me every encounter with the audience is different and each one is intensive for me and very important. I think dance is a language and as we all know it doesn't make much sense to talk to youself, you always need someone who listens and answers in one or the other way. I enjoyed very much sharing my art works with my friends and getting their opinion on it.

During creation process it's easy to get very closed in your own imagination and focus on working without thinking what do you accually want to communicate and which tools you're going to use.

About business and art I really don't have an answer to that...I think every artist knows how extremally difficult is to find money or sell your work. This goes especially for performing arts where there is no ''product'', there is nothing that people can buy and take home, we're only

Peter Soetewey photography

selling short experiences. I see more and more projects beeing sponsored by crowdfunding campaigns, I did that myself too, maybe this is a link that in the future is going to connect dance to other sources of sponsoring than traditional state subsidies and institutions.

Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your thoughts, Marta.

Finally, would you like to tell us readers something about your future projects. How do you see your work evolving?

As I said already before I belive in collaborations of different artists, so I definitelly want to continue doing that. So far I've tried out working on smaller projects with the video art, music, fashion. My dream would be to create a perfomance in which all those things could come together to create a full evening thetre performance so this would be definitelly something I'm aiming for. After all the experiments with video work, site specific performances and working in non theatrical spaces I'd like to try to go back to stage again.

I'd like to continue developing as a performer as well and search for more interesting encounters with different types of audiences.

At some point I like to find a way to combine my graphic art practice with dance, but I don't have an idea how can I do it yet, but there is hopefully a lot to discover there for me. I'd like to also find a way or a systhem that would help me to organise and support my work financially, that would help me a lot to have more structure and develop my works better.

''three Oddest Words'' rehearsal, photo by Eva Campos Suarez

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Carla Forte (Switzerland) An artist's statement

My primary intent as a Filmmaker is to communicate my personal and social concerns, transforming them into a magical realm where anything becomes possible. Images, dialogues, silences, colors and movement join to create a visual equilibrium, speaking for themselves.

Within my cinematographic 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.

Throughout my career, I have discovered the need to incorporate into my images and scripts messages that promote social consciousness. As a humanist, I am passionate about the idea of being part of the change; it is for that reason that within my artistic production, I find it valid and valuable to present social issues, along with fictional stories, that the spectator can identify with as a human being, but that also present a new realm of sensations that we can be a part of.

Carla Forte

Carla Forte is a performer, writer and director. She has performed in and directed VideoArt works like Interrupta, Imaginarium Life, Assassins for One Night, among others featured at important venues and festivals such as: 20th Cucalorus Film Festival 27th Festival (2014); Les Instants VidĂŠo Italy (2014); Pool 14 Internationale TanzFilmPlattform Berlin; 21st Quinzena de Danca de Almada, Portugal (2013); La Biennale di Venezia Marathon of the Unexpected (2012); Non-Verbal Theatre Festival San Vicente, Croatia (2009).; Adrienne Arsht Center, Miami (2009); A Desert for Dancing, MĂŠxico (2007).

Her cinematographic work includes the documentary The Holders Official Selection 32th Miami International Film Festival; Short films Imaginarium and Reset, selected for Cannes Film Festival's Court Metrage - Short Film Corner in 2012 and 2013, respectively; as well as the feature Urban Stories, Winner of Best Script, Best Cinematography and Best Feature at Bootleg Film Festival, Toronto (2012); and Honorable Mention at both Los Angeles Movies Awards (2011) and Lucerne International Film Festival, Switzerland (2012).

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An interview with

Carla Forte Carla Forte's work explores the notions of the Time and Experience: by translating direct experience into a parallel dimension, her refined filmmaking gives birth to a magical realm where subtle but effective bonds with everyday reality.

From the first time I have got to know her works I have been impressed with the stunning way she conceives cinema as an anthropological tool to explore the incommunicable. While Interrupta overtly plays with the unheimlich nature of gestural movements, it also discusses the notion that images tend to exist in continuum, residing somewhere in memory, whereas sound tends to evoke the present moment. It is with a real pleasure that I would like to introduce our readers to her stimulating works.

Hello Carla, and welcome to Peripheral ARTeries: to start this interview, would you like to tell us something about your background? Are there any particular experiences that has influenced you as an artist and on the way you currently produce your works?

First of all I would like to say that I'm thankful for the opportunity to be part of Peripheral ARTeries and to share with every one of you my artistic work and my essence as a human being.

I was born and raised in the city of Caracas, Venezuela. There I attended the Instituto Universitario de Danza (Dance Institute), and specialized in movement, composition, performance and improvisation. In 2005, Alexey Tarรกn (Guggenheim Fellow 2007) and I founded Bistoury Physical Theatre, a multi-disciplinary company based in the city of Miami, for which I am currently Executive Producer and Film Director.

Fabian Freese

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Carla Forte

When I began to work with Director Alexey Tarán in Caracas in 2004, I realized that during the creative process dance was only a point of departure for composition. Later I discovered that besides performing, I also had a tremendous interest for directing and expressing my feelings through art.

Since I was very young, my passion for cinema was very strong, and my older brother Vicente Forte (a visual artist and writer) became one of my greatest influences by teaching me to love this art form from an experimental and independent perspective. During my childhood there was always some video camera documenting our family moments, birthdays, graduations, trips, etc, and either my brother or my mother would always be in charge of directing the filming. Despite the fact that these were very informal family documentations, it later became something serious for me and I am sure that it was had a great influence on my incursion into film directing later.

Upon my arrival to the United States in 2007, I had the opportunity to formally develop my first cinematographic works, some in collaboration with Alexey Tarán, and some others co-directed by my brother Vicente, the rest of them written and directed by me, all of them bearing some important relationship to movement, even when this element may not be so evident in a few of the works.

Filmmaking became a personal means of expression and I have not stopped since; I am still a performer, but when it comes to directing I prefer to stay behind the camera.

Throughout the development of my projects, my own life experiences have also been largely influential, specially those involving my nuclear family: separation, lack of communication, memories. In Latin America, families tend to be very close and I remember mine as particularly intense in this regard: it didn't matter what we went through, good or bad, we would continue to be a dismembered but very close family,

A still from Interrupta

united through bonds that would never break.

To see my family become diluted over the years due to exhaustion was a very crude experience and I remember that since a very young age I promised myself to reunite them once again.

My work deals with “in-communication” (or lack of communication), about that invisible thread thread that binds us to a common life despite and beyond our differences. Echoes

Carla Forte

that harbor secrets that can only be heard in silence.

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?

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Initially, in order to get the work going on any particular project, there must exist some kind of motivating concern or interest for something, someone, some theme to be developed. From that point ideas and stories are born, always connected to my own experiences. The need to create and to say something is an essential point of departure and it doesn't matter how difficult it might be to achieve it, I have to do it.

Before beginning to shoot, I first make the

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Carla Forte

A still from Interrupta

project conceptually possible in my mind; I do not limit myself creatively and anything that might seem impossible I just transform into something simpler. I prepare a script or a schematic outline of the scenes; not many takes are done because time is short, since these are low budget (or zero budget) productions.

Shooting can take up to twelve days, in the case of a full feature, or just a few hours or a couple of days in the case of a short film. However, my last project, a documentary named The Holders, took

4 years of production, involving an intense and arduous process of research and investigative work undertaken by Alexey Tarรกn (as Producer and Director of Photography) and myself at the facilities of the Miami-Dade County Animal Services shelter, a place where dogs and cats are dropped off and abandoned daily in our city and eventually killed off when they have surpassed the maximum length of stay in the wait for a home.

I make special reference to this work because

Carla Forte

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interesting work 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 https://vimeo.com/61962211 in order to get a wider idea of it. In the meanwhile, would you tell us something about the genesis of this interesting project? What was your initial inspiration?

Interrupta talks about family. In general, families are held together by strong bonds, by common experience, daily life, the passage of time that makes us age together. The family thus exists while at the same time all of us are independent beings, unique individuals capable of supporting ourselves. Every family has its own distinctive seal, its marks; we grow up and take on our own paths, carrying a certain past and history.

For this project, I decided to work with my mother, my father and my brother because it would serve as a reunion for us. Getting together for a few hours to experience each other individually and as a nuclear family was an integral part of the visual experiment.

Dancing was the point of departure for the story, because I think that each individual has a unique and very particular way of moving, and because at the same time there are memories that recur in the body and make us dance or act in a certain way.

despite the fact that it was a project for which initially there was no money at all, nor the best equipment for documenting, we did have an immense will and determination to make it happen and to tell the story. As a vegan and activist for animal rights I was resolved to make this film, which ultimately in 2015 was named Official Selection for the 32th Miami International Film Festival.

Now let's focus on your artistic production: I would start from ''Interrupta'', an extremely

For the development of each scene, each one of us had to choose an element or object to interact with or at least to be kept in the frame during the shooting of the scene. This element was to be something that really identified us as human beings, something that made part of our daily lives. This element or object acted as a means to show that even if we are alone we will resort to something, whether out of necessity or routine.

Interrupta portrays each individual separately in this common home, and although none of the scenes are shared collectively by the family, the memories become one.

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Carla Forte

A still from Interrupta

Interrupta is based on a poem I wrote, and to each of the performers I gave a fragment of the poem to be read as part of the scenes. Every excerpt was written and assigned according to the particular individual. Nothing was done randomly. It is a common poem that explains who we are and where we are going.

I remember a lot of laughter and mockery during the shooting process, typical for a Latino family full of humor. However, my older brother cried upon seeing the end-result, because behind this entire story there is something that reminds us that we are not eternal and that the space we once occupied will also be empty.

I definitely love the way with which, by heightening the tension between reality and perception of it, ''Interrupta'' establishes a refined visual equilibrium between still

images and movement, as well as between dialogue and silences, exploring the concept of emerging language and direct experience... so I would take this occasion to ask you if in your opinion personal experience is an absolutely indespensable part of a creative process... Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience?

My stories are definitely a reflection of who I am and every element I employ has been influenced by some experience.

I use the camera in movement in many of my works because dance is always present Our eyes are in constant movement; we look anywhere without much thought; we arrive at any unexpected situation. We are always moving, even when we sleep. Life occurs in a

Carla Forte

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A still from Interrupta

sequence shot that does not stop.

I think silences are important moments that give any situation or routine a break, a rest.

There is a lot of noise in our surroundings; we are affected daily by external factors that make us react to their stimuli, which constantly confirms and reminds us that we are not alone and that we are surrounded by situations that we cannot control by ourselves.

The use of black and white is fundamental in many of works because a second after I have written this line I have already been past, while the use of color revives any experience because nothing dies in the attempt.

I have never experimented with creating any work that is disconnected from my life or my experiences. However, I'm not closed to the possibility of directing scripts or proposals by

other artists. Nevertheless, I am sure that in order to do this I would immerse myself in their experience, I would try to live it in some way and feel it as mine as I need in order to be able to tell the story.

Another interesting work of yours that that we have selected is entitled ''Staring at the Ceiling'': what has mostly impressed me of it is the way you alter individuals'experiences of space and time through fragmentation, which urges us to explore the boundaries between identity and the perception of the Self.

As a result, you investigate about common gestures through a new perspective, creating -like in Sergej Parajanov's films- what you once defined a parallel universe in which the palpable and the desired become possible at the same time... Can you introduce our

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Carla Forte

readers to this fundamental concept?

Staring at the Ceiling is a work based on a poem by my brother Vicente, which was later turned into lyrics by my friend and Miamibased music composer Omar Roque.

It is a very individualistic story and I would dare say it's even egotistical. We have all stared at the ceiling. Thinking of something while our gaze is fixed makes it appear simple; however, the mind is capable of traveling to any other place or situation. This work is a tribute to the ability that we all have to transplant ourselves to that ideal place or memory. I still see my father often travel for hours while sitting on his chair. It seems as if he is simple quiet and introspective, but beyond that simple description I know that my father embarks on to the adventures of his own stories in his mind.

Thoughts become fragments because we cannot live our mental experiences in the “real� world. We skip from one place to another and we turn the mind into a fictional realm in which we can make any thought reality. Nonetheless, this realm does not exclude suffering, because regardless of where we are our memories and conflicts spring up naturally.

Staring at the Ceiling is a voyage through physical stillness and mental desires. It explores the capacity to travel in our own thoughts and live in a parallel world that distances us from reality; it is an escape from routine and monotony of daily life to free ourselves from society and yet remain enslaved by our own desires.

In ''Staring at the Ceiling'' you have developed a highly individualistic visual language, which gives birth to a deep interplay between directness and distance.

A fundamental element of your shooting style is no doubt the recurrent use of

A still from Stairing at the Ceiling

refined, central composition. Why did you chose the anamorphic format?

The amorphous format was chosen with the intent of creating a sense of enclosure, of feeling trapped in our own thoughts; a notion that no matter how free, we are always bound by our own social and personal constraints.

Each and every one of us holds a unique world of our own that is constantly trying to please its whims and desires. I think it's difficult to know other people because in a sense we never get to know ourselves fully.

Many of the comments that I have heard from people after seeing this work have to do do with them feeling afraid when they are watching it, or that they experienced a feeling of anxiety. In a way, I do narrate about a very intimate world

Carla Forte

that holds a dark side of my desires and thoughts.

There always seems to be a sense of narrative in your works and I find that your filmmaking is rich of references: in particular, I can recognize a subtle Raul Ruiz's touch in your films. Can you tell us your biggest influences in art and how they have affected your work?

I am a constant flux of influences because every day, when I go out to the street, I find myself surrounded by strange people that always leave something within me: sounds, situations, a wholeness that helps me carry on with my day to day. I believe many of my influences derive from seeing my father cry, chasing after the dog who runs astray in the

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streets, the homeless person asking for money at the corner with the traffic light, the neighbor's folkloric music, my aunt's uproarious laughter, my mother singing, the lack of communication between people. All of these moments become one more scene in one of my stories. However, I must say that there are many artists I admire and that certainly their works have created important marks in my life.

Among them are Alexey Tarรกn, Lars von Trier, Bela Tarr, Jim Jarmusch, Jan Fabre, Reinaldo Arenas, Fernando Pessoa, Steven Soderbergh, Francis Ford Coppola, among others.

You are the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Bistoury Physical Theater and Film: I think that interdisciplinary collaboration is today an ever growing force in Art and that that most exciting things

Carla Forte

Carla Forte

happen when creative minds from different fields of practice meet and collaborate on a project: could you tell us something about your experiences in this sense? By the way, the artist Peter Tabor once said that "collaboration is working together with another to create something as a synthesis of two practices, that alone one could not": what's your point about this? Can you explain how your work demonstrates communication between several artists?

I am co-founder of Bistoury Physical Theatre and Film and currently Executive Director and Film Director of the company. I have worked as collaborator in the choreographic works of co-founder Alexey TarĂĄn, integrating film as an important component for the development of his works. Every creative process thrusts us into a new world where not only dance and film join. Bistoury is a research and experimental space in which local artists collaborate. We have had the pleasure of working with visual artists, musics, dancers, actors, poets, singers, among others, making every process and experience truly magical.

I find collaborative creation to be an extremely interesting process because it involves getting to know others and allowing others to get to know you in a very personal way, “viscerally� as my brother would say. I think that in order to achieve a good collaborative work there must be profound research and immersion, artists must believe in one another, egos must be put aside and the artists must plunge together into a shared world.

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both Los Angeles Movies Awards and Lucerne International Film Festival... 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...

I believe that feedback is vital. However, the point of departure for each of my works has its origin in honesty, in a personal and sincere source of concern, of interest, in who I am. I believe that if we created thinking initially about our audience then surely we would cease to be who we are to become an infinity of tastes and approaches and likely end up doing nothing, It's inevitable to think of the audience during the creative process because we too are audience for others, and later they will be the ones to issue their opinions, to dissect, to laugh or cry, to reject or embrace the work, those who decide whether to applaud or to get up from their seats and leave. That entire wave of emotions that I hope to arouse when I present my work is underlaid by fears, insecurities and expectations, but what holds me standing firm is knowing that my work is a true reflection of what I am.

I am forever grateful for the participation of collaborators in my work, because I consider them an essential key for the process as well as the final outcome of the project.

I have had moments of recognition as well as moments of criticism, and I believe that both are healthy and necessary for both personal and artistic growth. I have heard say that to go backwards is a good sign that we are on the right path.

Now, as usual, I would pose you some questions about your relation with your audience. During your career your works have been extensively exhibited in several occasions, both in America and Europe, and I think it's important to mention that you recently received a Honorable Mention at

In regards to the relationship between art and business, what isn't business in today's world?

To me, art is foremost an activity that reflects a need to communicate what I feel, but I do believe that an artist should be able to live off her work just like a doctor lives off her practice.

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Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your thoughts, Carla. Finally, would you like to tell us readers something about your future projects? How do you see your work evolving?

I am currently working as collaborating film director and performer in Alexey Tarรกn's most recent project, named TRIBE, a work that tells, through physical theater, stories of homeless people who live in the streets of the city of Miami (https://vimeo.com/116922384). This project is extended through artistic residency in Barranquilla, Colombia, for the development of a video dance, thanks to the exchange program of the National Performance Network US, along with the Red de Artistas del Caribe (Caribbean Artists Network) in Colombia .

In 2015, I will be shooting my two next feature films, one titled Imagimundo and another one that remains untitled for now. The latter will be based on the family and will have both a documentary and a fictional component.

I believe my work will find itself evolving through the new experiences yet to come; breathing with active consciousness lets me into a reality of greater suffering but one apt to be fully lived, enjoyed and then turned into a magical realm to be explored and interpreted by the audience.

Fabian Freese

Fabian Freese

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Fabian Freese (Germany) An artist's statement

I walk the border between painting and photography, using one to augment the other in terms of visual interest.

Normally I travel around and do shootings at different places like Rome, Florence, Munich, London, Luxembourg and especially at old castles and at the sea. Usually I do a time exposure with my camera to fix about 1 to 3 minutes per picture.

After this I create an abstract composition with stripes and place them on the large prints using aluminum dibond plates. My work employs different materials such as varnish and foils.

I apply these in varying degrees until I feel I've accomplished my goal of expressing something that I consider visually stunning.

One of the main themes of my artwork involves contrast, such as that existing between old and modern technology.

Fabian Freese

Fabian Freese was born in 1982 in Wuppertal and lives in Germany.

He spent a large part of his childhood in nature, playing with wood and water, which influenced his sense of beauty and aesthetics.

When he was a teenager he developed some experience by doing Graffiti. Today he works with time exposure photography to create his Lightpaintings with LED lights; he also works on different painting series, such as the Playground Series about faded childhood memories, and the mixed Media series, which is a combination of painting and photography.

Freese studied visual Arts at the Freie Akademie der bildenden K端nste (fadbk) in Essen, Germany, and graduated in 2011. Since 2011 his artworks have been exhibited in countries across Europe, America and Asia.

Big Ben 2 - London foils, photo on alu dibond , 75 x 75 cm , 2013

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An interview with

Fabian Freese Fabian Freese's works could be defined as small cosmologies, where everything is shown to be connected to everything else: in particular, I have found interesting the way he triggers a process of translocation in time and space, in which the viewer's perception of the meaning of objects is ruthlessly put to an incessant process of revision.

His multidisciplinary approach allows him to get free from the restrictions of a particular technique, conveying the expressive potential of painting, photography as well as digital editing in a consistent unity. So it's with a great pleasure that I'm introducing our readers to his multifaceted artistic production... Hello Fabian, and a warm welcome to Peripheral ARTeries. To start this interview would you like to tell us something about your background? In particular, how did your studies of visual Arts at the Freie Akademie der bildenden K端nste influenced you and impacted on your evolution as an artist?

All my past life, I have done some education in arts, from my childhood on, in times of elementery school I did art classes to get first experiences in using colors and brushes etc. Later in my year as I teenager I did Graffitis for a few years with friends of mine. We went out at nighttime from the houses of our parents a did these sprayings at bridges from the motorways or other buildings. That was a strong experience to create big pieces of Graffiti with spraypaint in a short time and get away after it and go back home. One night we got caught by the police and I stopped doing it after this. Then I focused more on legal art by painting on canvases in an art association which had a class every week. After a while, creating art became or more more a main part of my life and in 2006 I decided that I would

Fabian Freese

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exhibition view of the artist booth of Fabian Freese at the art fair Art in Redlight in Amsterdam / Netherlands in December 2014

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Fabian Freese

Brandenburg Gate 2 - Berlin, foils, photo on alu dibond , 60 x 80 cm, 2012

like to go to a art academy to get a deeper knowledge of this field and to improve my skills. I showed my portfolio and was accepted for my studies of visual arts.

That changed nearly everything in my way of creating art and my thoughts about it. All got deeper in the years of my studies and that influenced my entire life. I learned a new open way of thinking and reflecting things I have done. My personality growed with the years of the studies till I got my degree in summer 2011.

Before starting to elaborate about your production, would you like to tell to our readers something about your process and set up for making your works? In particular, what technical aspects do you mainly focus on your work? And how much preparation and time do you put in before and during the process of creating a piece?

The process of producing my works is all about decisions. I start at a point and go on with a decision, every step considers the decision I

Fabian Freese

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Collosseum - Rome, foils, photo on alu dibond , 60 x 80 cm, 2013

made before and I react on it in the next step.

So the works grow within this process. But mostly it all starts with thoughts in my mind. I create the works in parts in the mind before I start to produce them in the real life. There are a lot technical aspects in the mixed media artworks with the use of the lightpainting photos. I have to care about all the technic like the camera and my LED lights at the places I take the pictures. Mostly I do these pictures by nighttime, but the places like Piccadilly Circus London or Collosseum Rome are always packed

with people, so I have to take an assistant with me who cares for the camera when I walk there and do my light performance while the time exposure goes on.

I use different types of lights which can shine in different colors to get diverse color compositions at these spots. I was at a lot places in the past years, many cities in Europe, but also Los Angeles and Las Vegas in the USA. The next trip is to Miami Florida for a group show I join and I will surely produce new lightpainting photos there.

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Fabian Freese

Castle Benrath BW + Stripes 1, foils, photo on alu dibond and spraypaint on metal, complete 120 x 260 cm , 2010

Now let's focus on your artistic production: I would start from your Mixed Media works that our readers have already started to admire in the introductory pages of this article: and I would suggest to visit your website directly at http://www.fabian-freese.de in order to get a wider idea of your artistic production. In the meanwhile, would you tell us something about the genesis of this interesting project? What was your initial inspiration?

My mixed media series is a walk on the border of painting and photography. It combines elements

of both fields to create a deeper expression. In this series, I do a lightpainting photo first and print it on large Aluminium Dibond plates. In the next step I create an abstract composition with foils and spraypaint in contrast to the figurative photo. So the work is figurative and abstract at the same time, for the eyes it generates a kind a window with the vertical stripes on the picture through which you can look into a futuristic cityscape with these lights inside the space. It reflects the modern times and the possible future we will walk through with all these

Fabian Freese

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advantage of different and sometimes opposite techniques. As you have remarked in your artist's statement, you walk the border between painting and photography, using one to augment the other in terms of visual interest: in this sense, multidisciplinarity is a crucial aspect of your approach and it's remarkable the way you are capable of creating such an effective symbiosis between elements from different techniques, manipulating language and recontextualizing images and concepts: while crossing the borders of different artistic fields have you ever happened to realize that a synergy between different disciplines is the only way to achieve some results, to express some concepts?

Sure, we can not only look into one direction of one specific field. We have to connect different fields to get a deep knowledge of things and should change the perspective from time to time to get a wider view on things. Our mind connects these different views into complex thoughts which represent the things in a completer vision. In my artworks I try to get the viewer to think about things and the different elements of it helps in this process. You start to ask questions and start to think.

contrasts of our time. In these series I work a lot with contrasts, like color contrasts between red and green or contrasts between figurative and abstract or big and small or glossy and matte. All these elements reflect the human being in all it facettes and shows us that we have so much opportunities every day from which we have to choose ours.

I have appreciated the way you go beyond any artificial dichotomy between tradition and experimentation, taking control and

The contrast between old and modern technology is a recurring theme in your works. However, I can recognize that -rather than drawing inspiration from a distopic imagery- your works communicate such a symbiosis between past and present and I daresay that this creates such a Syncretism, an harmonious mix between apparently opposite aspects of our Reality... do you agree with this analysis?

Yes, thats right. The present and the future is always connected to the past. We would not be who we are today if there wouldn‘t be the past we all went through. The past made us to what we are today and shapes our future, we should learn from it and don‘t make the same mistakes twice. I try to express this in my artworks with

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Fabian Freese

Church 2 - Luxembourg, photo on alu dibond, 2010

the use of old architecture and modern technic like the LED lights I use in my Lightpaintings, sometimes also when I do contemporary up to date artworks in lost and destroyed buildings.

In the past, these buildings were used with it‘s functions like hospitals or factories, but now they are relicts of these past times and I connect these times with the present and the artistic expression of our time and actually with me as an artist who has never seen it in it‘s original use.

By the way, in these last years we have seen a great usage of digital technology, in order to achieve outcomes that was hard to get with traditional techniques: do you think that an excess of such techniques could lead to a betrayal of reality? By the way, have new technologies as DSLR and digital editing impacted on your process?

I use the technology of the DSLR camera for my lightpaintings, that is very helpful at the shootings to see the results immediately an the

Fabian Freese

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Park 1 - Rome - Italy, photo on alu dibond, 2010

display of the camera to react on it in the next picture. But for me, the lightpainting with the camera is more a performance with the light inside the space of the picture. Thats actually painting for me. I use the camera as a tool in the field of painting, to see the results of what I did with the LED lights in the images produced with the camera. It‘s a kind of documentation of my light performance. That is an real artistic process for me for what I don‘t need digital editing. That would be a fake in my eyes, if I would manipulate the images

with digital software like photoshop. Sure I optimise the colors a bit, but never change the picture itself in a manipulated one.

Another interesting project of yours that has particularly impacted on me and on which I would like to spend some words is your Lost Places series. Many contemporary landscape photographers as the Edward Burtynsky and Michael Light have some form of environmental or political message in their works. Do you consider that your pieces are

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Trainyard 1 - Wuppertal, photo on alu dibond , 2014

Fabian Freese

Fabian Freese

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Fabian Freese

in a certain sense "political" or do you seek to maintain a neutral approach?

They are a bit political, I think we should also use old things and see what these things like old buildings were worth in the past times. They have a history and I think we should appreciate this instead of pulling these buildings down to build new clinical clean homes on the same places. We can invest in these old historic buildings which have special charme. Me myself I live in building from 1899 in a quarter of Wuppertal with lots of old houses with the nice architecture from about 100 years ago. In these lost places photos I search for artistic expression with shows the typical aspects of these places, although it is in a very bad condition in these days with all these destroyed items on the floor and broken glass everywhere. I search for a kind of beauty within these spaces, I think my photos are very aesthetic.

Sometimes I use candles or LED lights to give the space my own view in another light.

Fabian Freese on his Playground series

The Playground Series is about faded childhood memories. These are playgrounds from different places, faded and blurred, like memories from distant childhood. These playgrounds are the symbol of childhood itself. Most people have good feelings when they think about play. The bold color fields at the side of the canvases represent the now.

They are abstract, allowing the viewer to insert their impressions of living today in the painting. Their vertical stripes form bridges between different times. They represent the thoughts about the future and the colors of life today. They relate

Red Light - Factory Barmen, photo on alu dibond , 2014

Fabian Freese

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Fabian Freese

Fabian Freese

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Water - Factory Barmen, photo on alu dibond, 2014

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Fabian Freese

Playground 1, oil, spraypaint on canvas, 60 x 120 cm, 2013

In your Playground Series you have effectively explorated the theme of faded childhood memories: what has mostly impressed me of this body of works is the way, by referring to each other memories, you offer such an Ariadne's thread that lead the viewers to evolve from a passive audience to an actively involved part of the piece of Art itself... so I would ask you if in your opinion personal experience an

absolutely indispensable part of a creative process, I mean both for conceiving a piece and for enjoying it... Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience?

I think experience is a main part of creating artworks or any other creative expressions. For me, I reflect the things I have gone through in

Fabian Freese

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the consequences. A creative process is very near to that, you start at a point and then you decided how you go on with this in the next step or next decision. It all grows with the time, in the life and in the artworks. But you have to reflect on it very often and react on it to reach new dimensions. The person with its own experience who watches the artwork has also am main part in the expression of the work. He connects his own experience he made in the past to my artwork and thinks about himself and his experiences he made in his own childhood. That is part of the work and makes it complete with the viewer involved to the artwork.

Now let's deal about the relationship with your audience: during these years your works have been exhibited in several occasions... it goes without saying that positive feedback, although are not definitely indispensable, are capable of providing an artist of an important support.

I sometimes wonder if 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...

my artworks. It is always a personal thing for me which also reflects my personality as a human. The creative process comes out of the things we did in our past lifes, everything is connected to everything. For me as an artist it is all a process of creativity on my life. We decided things everyday and have to live with

For me, the positive support is quite important.

It is always good when someone likes my interpretation of art. That is very good to go on in my artistic process, to see that people like what I do. But I see it different who says something about my work, if someone says something, who is not into this art business, he likes it in general, then I am happy with it but don`t think about it deeper. But if somebody who knows about art says something, I hear to the words in a another deeper way. These are thoughts I think about. Critic is a good thing to improve things, if you are willing to reflect your work and change things.

Fabian Freese on his Wheelchair Series

In this series, I like to show how the society sometimes still sees people with disabilities or different backgrounds, color , race, handicap, religion etc. The light cord stands for all these people from all over the world. If someone sits in a Wheelchair, you look at the person in another way than you would, if he would not sit inside it. That changes the way you deal with the individual and that is not good at all. We should help each other instead of killing us when someone is different or thinks into another direction like myself. All people are worth the same, no matter of the differences or where you come from. We are all one.

No Person 3, photo on alu dibond , 2014

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Fabian Freese

Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your thoughts, Fabian. Finally, would you like to tell us readers something about your future projects? How do you see your work evolving?

I have a lot things going on. In 2016 I will have solo show in Adelaide in Australia and will be

there for about 3 weeks, I am really looking forward to this experience. This year I join 3 - 4 art fairs with my gallery and with an art associations from Vienna / Austria which supports me. And I also have 2 soloshows this year. Parallel to all this shows, I improve my

Fabian Freese

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Playground Mosel, oil, spraypaint on canvas , 100 x 220 cm, 2013

work and work hard on new artworks and series. I did a brand new series called „Time Flows Series“ with old Mobiles or Gameboys etc.

These are objects mounted on wood plates, all sprayed in white color.

They show how our times go on in such a fast speed. This technic from the 90ies is like stoneage in our time.

I thank you for this interview, I really appreciated it! Thank you very much!

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Dee Hood (USA) An artist's statement

As technology and life become more blended we are forced to reexamine notions of reality, identity, and our relationship to others. We are constantly sorting through bits and pieces of unbalanced information, trying to navigate between substance and artifice. How will we know what to take seriously in all this colorful noise? Things can go in any direction at any moment. It’s like trying to build your house on a fluid landscape. The challenge in my work is to take the external influences and the internal pulses and find the harmonies, or highlight the discord. If I’m lucky I’ll learn something about myself …or at the very least, pull a little humor from the frustration.

Compositing video is just an extension of painting in layers or assemblage in sculpture. I have a background in these areas so I easily connect them to the work I do in video. Coming from that place makes it easy for me to degrade and or reinvent images because I’m less concerned with photographic purity. Someone once compared my videos to T.V. on crack!

Dee Hood

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An interview with

Dee Hood The very first feeling I received when I had the chance to get to know Dee Hood's works, is that Art and Technology are not separated at all, and that it's always possible to go beyond any artificial boundary that limits the intrinsic continuity between such apparently different sides of the same coin.

Multidisciplinarity is one of the strenght of her approach: borrowing techniques from painting, sculpture and time based media, her experimental video accomplish the difficult task of leading us to rethink about way we perceive the outside world, but also, urging the viewers to investigate about the existence of unexpected relationships between opposites aspects of the reality we inhabit in. It is so with a real pleasure that I would like to introduce our readers to her stimulating works.

Hello Dee, and a warm welcome to Peripheral ARTeries: to start this interview, would you like to tell us something about your background? You have a solid multidisciplinary training, and you hold a M.F.A. in Visual Art from the University of South Florida and during these twenty years you have earned a wide experience as a teacher at the Ringling College of Art and Design In Sarasota, Florida: how do these experiences influence you as an artists and on the way you currently produce your artworks?

Thank you so much for your interest in my work and for the opportunity to share it with your viewers.

I’ve always been comfortable crossing media boundaries, moving from painting to sculpture, installation, video, etc. Everything you do as an artist informs everything else. In sculpture you learn about physical balance, you take that

knowledge into a painting and you better understand visual balance, etc. then you start thinking about the broader implications of balance and imbalance in life and now ‘balance’ becomes content. Everything is connected.

In college you’re exposed to new ideas, new perspectives, you’re introduced to rebel thinkers and artists breaking tradition. If you have the courage to keep an open mind, wow…its like Alice in Wonderland! Once you’ve traveled down the rabbit hole you can never go back to a black and white world. I’ve tried to nurture that sense of adventure and exploration in my students. We live in a time of hybridization and hyper speed changes in technology; we have to remain flexible, curious and open. You can never get comfortable as an artist.

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?

It starts with some idea that’s been rattling around in my head, an entry point, but I have no image of what it’s supposed to look like in the end. I gather all the misfit pieces; orphan thoughts, found audio, video clips, perplexing emotions, etc. and start placing them together.

Eventually I get down to the bones, the essence of what I’m trying to say. It’s an on going dialogue of passion and reason, truth and lies. I am always reexamining what I believe, what I’m willing to believe.

Every time I’ve ever started with a definitive idea, I ended up with a predictable outcome, so I have to let go and trust the process. It’s essential for me to experiment, to try this thing with that, and so on. It knocks me out of whatever narrow perspective I’ve started with.

Sometimes it’s a struggle, because I’m

Barbara Bervoets

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Dee Hood

stubborn and I want what I want, but there’s nothing to discover down that road.

The technology allows me tremendous freedom to manipulate images and audio. The possibilities are endless! A naked guitar player in the middle of NYC is an odd enough video clip, but when you add some psychedelic colors phasing through, it becomes unearthly. A lot of my work deals with technology as content in some way. This particular video was called ‘Real Life’ and I wanted to prod the viewer into reconsidering notions of reality and identity.

Now let's focus on your artistic production: I would start from Sensory Falsity, an extremely interesting work 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.deehood.net or your YOUTUBE channel at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJ31nA0Y h8U in order to get a wider idea of it. In the meanwhile, would you tell us something about the genesis of this interesting project? What was your initial inspiration?

This piece started out of my own frustration.

We are immersed in a world of multilayered images and sound bites that are often out of context. Misinformation is constantly streaming through; hand held devices, television, the news, the grocery store, workplace, etc. If we don’t consider the source or do some fact checking we could end up with a whole bag of stupid by the end of the day.

I used video clips from Times Square in NYC, the classic hodgepodge of information to emphasize the issue of context. There on the electronic billboards are Kim Jong-un, M&Ms, the national debt, a Lexus, etc. It’s all flashing in brilliant colors with no hierarchy, so we start to perceive things as equal. I tried to push the absurdity of these experiences. I wanted viewers to walk away from this piece thinking about the validity of their own constructs.

Where did that information come from, am I adding to the lie or am I clarifying a truth. I find

myself using sites like PolitiFact.com, Nationmaster.com and Snopes.com on a regular basis these days because there is so much erroneous information being passed along.

What has particularly impressed me of

Dee Hood

Sensory Falsity is the way such multilayered experience is capable of bringing a new level of significance to a concept, recontextualizing the ideas behind it: and I would go as far as to state that in a certain sense your works force the viewers'

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perception in order to challenge the common way to perceive not only the outside world, but our inner dimension... By the way, I'm sort of convinced that some informations & ideas are hidden, or even "encrypted" in the environment we live in, so we need -in a

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Dee Hood

way- to decipher them. Maybe that one of the roles of an artist could be to reveal unexpected sides of Nature, especially of our inner Nature... what's your point about this?

There is certainly a lot of coded information in

our world, the most obvious thing I can point to is advertising. We are bombarded with images of flawless young women, selling everything from cars to toothpaste. The message of youth and perfection has given rise to a multi-billion dollar business in beauty products. Even

Dee Hood

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I am truly grateful to artists who have forced me to consider new perspectives, or to gain a deeper understanding of the human condition. I remember seeing Anslem Keifer’s lead books years ago at the MOMA in New York. For the first time in my life I could comprehend the number of people killed in the holocaust. There wasn’t one word on the pages, they were just these enormous books made of lead sheets, but in my mind I started seeing how many handwritten names would fit on one page and it suddenly became very personal. It was no longer an incomprehensible number; I could visualize the individuals that made up that staggering figure.

Keifer’s piece is another example of coding information, the weight of the lead, the size of the books, the dull, unreflective, grey…its all used to trigger associations and emotions that our minds must decipher. It’s about one of the foulest moments in human history, but there was an unexpected poetic beauty in the way the piece spoke to me.

preteens are becoming obsessed with an unrealistic body image. The real danger is that we come to believe that this is the definition of beauty. Its easy to get caught in a circle of shallow thinking when you’re culture surrounds you with it.

I would like to focus on another interesting aspect of Sensory Falsity: towards the end of the video, you have effectively juxtaposed elements from what I would define our traditional imagery - as water and rocks with colorful digital sequences that in a certain sense replicates the dynamism of water bursting into rocks. Moreover, the video ends with a still, snowy landscape that, rather than breaking the rhythm, seems to bring the narrative to another, maybe more general level, questioning about the roots of our perception... I definitely love the way, by heightening the tension between reality and perception of it, this work explores the concept of emerging language and direct experience... so I would take this occasion to ask you if in your opinion personal experience is an absolutely indespensable part of a creative process... Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience?

I use my personal experience as a ground to

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Barbara Bervoets

Barbara Bervoets

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Dee Hood

start building on. This is what I know first hand, this is what I feel, what I think, and then I start looking at other perspectives. We can experience something tragic in our lives but we choose how we want to carry that experience.

Sensory Falsity, evolved because I was feeling these waves of anxiety about keeping pace with everything, including the technology.

Whole days have completely disappeared into the abyss of my computer. Toward the end of the piece I’m trying to remind myself that I am still in control. I can choose to return to a sense of calm; I can return to nature. I create chaos and stillness. What is real and illusory is all a construct.

Water has always been important in my life, that’s why it shows up so much in my work. I grew up on the beach in Florida, and now I live on a river. Having water nearby has always had a very soothing effect on me. I can have a miserable day and come home and sit on my dock and in no time, my mood is elevated. I think personal experience lends authenticity to an artist’s work but so can empathy.

Maybe because I have a scientific background, I'm always delighted to come across an interesting example of how Art and Technology can establish an effective symbiosis, as in Going Along, so I would like to use this occasions to ask what's your point about this fruitful contamination... By the way, I'm sort of convinced that new media art will definitely fill any remaining dichotomy between these apparently different disciplines: and I will dare to say that Art and Technology are going to assimilate one to each other... what's your point about this?

I love the image of fruitful contamination! The combination of technology and art has been a game changer. As the cost of technology comes down, more artists are able to explore its vast potential. You look at the installation video work of people like Camille Utterback or Philipp Geist and you realize this is just the beginning of an amazing direction in art. A former Ringling student, Lesley Flanigan is getting a lot of

recognition for her work with experimental electronic music. Artists, R. Luke Dubois, and Tristan Perich are also at the forefront, creating incredible new work in the area of electronic art.

I reference technology a lot in my work because

Dee Hood

it’s exciting, daunting and loaded with unanswered questions. It’s not just the outward appearance of art that is changing, but our paradigms, our language, our symbols, etc.

As these shifts take place, we need to examine

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them, explore their meanings and consequences. New possibilities and opportunities are being created for artists everyday in this area. You have to stay abreast of what’s happening, you have to be willing to

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Barbara Bervoets

Dee Hood

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is a painter and Haler a sculptor, she’s the one who created the fantastic animals that you see in the image. The installation creates a transmedia gathering of physical/visual icons, both real and invented, that speak to the human need to believe in something. The historical creation of systems of belief--stories, entities, objects, symbols and spaces that we create to comfort, validate, explain and connect is the starting point. ÜThe power of mystery and magic assigned these spirits to guide, heal, protect, enlighten and avenge provides the basis for this metaphorical space--with a contemporary take on navigating the landscape of belief.

For my video ‘Believe’, I entered the word believe into twitter to see what came up. The text that scrolls along the bottom is all taken directly from that site. It shows the sharp contrast in how the word is used in our language. I gathered mostly found footage and audio taken from various places and pieced them together to show that there is a thread of commonality in our need to believe in something.

go beyond purist notions, step out on a limb.

What you call fruitful contamination is our new frontier; this is where the most exciting work will come from. Besides, it’s just damn fun!

The work of each artist really added another layer of meaning and broadened the conversation. It also offered the viewer different points of entry into the ideas. These two artists are also very good friends of mine so its a real pleasure when we have an opportunity to work together.

There always seems to be a sense of narrative in your works, as the installation entitled XYZ, that has particularly impacted on me and on which I would like to spend some words: I would go as far as to state that there's such a subtle irony between the idea of danger suggested by the image of a lion in a room and the fact that it reminds more an innocuous toy than a wild feline... how much do you explicitly think of a narrative for your images?

Multidisciplinarity is so a crucial aspect of your approach and it's remarkable the way you are capable of creating such an effective symbiosis between elements from different techniques, manipulating language and recontextualizing images and concepts, as in the intersting SCHIZOFLORIDA: while crossing the borders of different artistic fields have you ever happened to realize that a synergy between different disciplines is the only way to achieve some results, to express some concepts?

The XYZ exhibition was a collaboration with two other artists; Dolores Coe and Sheryl Haler. Coe

Schizoflorida was a collaborative installation with Sheryl Haler at the Brevard Museum of Art.

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Dee Hood

Dee Hood

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14 artists were selected to depict Florida for a show called Navel Gazing. We decided to do a tongue in cheek presentation of Florida that addressed land development and the impact on the environment. The things that we think of as constant and basic to Florida will change irrevocably if we don’t address the precarious balance of man and nature. By injecting humor into the politics of population and land use we hoped to further conversations and actions to protect Florida’s environment.

For this particular installation it was important to have a variety of media to express the ideas. We wanted to create a ‘ new world’ of garish wonder, so we really needed to go all out in every direction.

Collaboration goes beyond what either artist can do individually. By combining strengths you have a larger repertoire to pull from and twice the creative energy.

Your works are intrinsically connected with the chance of creating a deep interaction with your viewers, urging them to follow your process and pushing them to not play as a passive audience, and this is evident in particular, with Subaqua...

By the way, although I'm aware that this might sound a bit naif, I have to admit that I'm sort of convinced that Art -especially nowadays- could play an effective role in sociopolitical questions: not only just by offering to people a generic platform for expression... I would go as far as to state that Art could even steer people's behaviour... what's your point about this? Does it sound a bit exaggerated?

Yes, I agree that art can be a powerful sociopolitical tool. Whenever we encourage conversation about an issue, it benefits all of us.

Actions start with conversations, so talking and listening are vital to the process of change.

I’m very happy when a viewer or friend tells me that something I created made them think more about that issue. One woman got angry over the scrolling text in Believe, she thought some of it was crass. I explained where the text had come from and that it was a glimpse of our culture. The thing is, it made her uncomfortable, and that always makes us think and question.

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Dee Hood

You mentioned SubAqua, another collaborative installation with Sheryl Haler at the South Florida Museum.

One video was projected over Haler’s wire mesh whales, bringing attention to environmental issues of water.

The other video dealt with issues of water scarcity, drinking water conditions around the

world, and privatization. We set the projectors low enough so children (and adults) could play in the projected images, they loved it!.

Now, as usual, I would pose you some questions about your relation with your audience. During your career your works have been extensively exhibited in several occasions... It goes without saying that

Art is the way we communicate; we need feedback from the outside world to validate or disprove ideas.

I have a sign on my mirror that says “don’t believe everything you think”, we can all get into some dangerous loops if we’re not willing to open out to someone else. It’s also very gratifying to know that someone has taken the time to view your work and tried to understand it. We all want to feel valued as humans, to know that what we do has meaning to others.

I’m also open to criticism from people that I respect and I listen to what they have to say. Sometimes they can point to a disconnect in the intent and how the piece reads. I’m always trying to see the work as a viewer, but sometimes I’m too close to it.

Awards are another type of feedback, another way of showing that your work has value. I feel very honored when I receive an award. It let’s me know that my work is current and can hold it’s place among other contemporary artists. It encourages me to keep pushing forward, to keep challenging myself.

Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your thoughts, Dee. Finally, would you like to tell us readers something about your future projects?

How do you see your work evolving?

Thanks for your insightful comments and I appreciate you choosing my work for inclusion in this issue of Peripheral ARTeries!

I’ve been gathering some sound clips that talk about meaning for my next video. I’m not sure if it will remain on that course or veer off in another direction, but it’s the thing that’s nudging me right now.

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...

I would like to do more video installation work. I love the idea of filling a room with projections and having the viewer completely immersed. I would also like to try incorporating more interactive video in the future.

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Alexander (USA) An artist's statement

My work is defined in dualities. Often in an attempt to see and understand both sides of an issue or topic all the while exploring and forming my own opinions through a since of wander, wonder, and discovery. The topics are often rooted from a metaphysical state on a constant search an undying question of why and what makes up the world that surrounds us, in moments and spaces that are often taken for granted.

The process by which it is created often takes a scientific approach, choosing a topic of study, determining a medium by which to represent it, and investigating the outcome through visual or sonic representation.

Polymathic in nature my work embraces a multimedia approach that relishes the processes and techniques I've come to learn as a result of a combination of fine art and commercial art theory and practice with a fine attention to styling and detail derived from a fashion photography background.

I've always wanted to be a teacher, a politician, physicist and astronaut. I figured becoming an artist was the career that would allow me to be all of them at once.

Alexander Ingram

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Captions

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An interview with

Alexander Ingram Alexander Ingram's works are an effective combination of historical fragments and quotations, which gives life to an intense narrative that exhibits his own clear viewpoint. He provides the trappings for a world of creation and change, a symbolic realism that traces life as it is arranged and mechanised. In particular, his recent series entitled WXNDER, breaks open the photographic arrangement, engaging the static and passive observers, forcing them to actively follow his process. His multidisciplinary approach conveys the expressive potential of painting, photography as well as digital editing in a consistent and sometimes impetuous unity.

So it's with a great pleasure that I'm introducing our readers to his multifaceted artistic production.

Hello Alexander, and a warm welcome to Peripheral ARTeries. To start this interview I would like to ask you something about your background: you have a solid formal training and you hold a M.F.A. from the Pratt Institute, and I would like that you tell us readers how did this experience influenced you as an artist. Moreover, despite the in particular, despite success in your early career in commercial, you jetted back to the west coast in pursuit of the arts... what has lead you to this important choice?

Hello! And let me start by saying I am honored to be mentioned in your series.

This is a great question and probably the most important aspect I dwell on in my career as an artist. I entered the Pratt Institute directly after my undergraduate degree at 22 (for better or for worse) to pursue my MFaAin Digital Arts and

as an opportunity to head to the big city and learn what it really meant to find myself and grow and mature to the man I am today.

Coming from Temecula, California (recently voted the safest city in the U.S.) moving to Brooklyn was an immediate shell shock that I knew I wanted. it was could cold, harsh, beautiful, gritty, exciting and enticing. The Pratt Insitute had a plethora of amazing teachers who were there to constatnly make you question yourself, your opinions placing you in constant contact with other like minded strangers searching for answers in their own way. My pursuit in the arts however was blurred by the glitz and money of the fashion industry which I sought and thought at the time I wanted, starting with an internship at Art Partner with Mario Testino and ending with a job at IMG Models. While I was learning a lot about the business I ultimately had decided that I did not feel a connection with my position as a whole and yearned for a way out. Around that same time my father fell critically ill and all signs lead to head west, reform my mind, thought process with an emphasis on love, family, and understanding the world around me in the best way I knew how - picking up a paintbrush, a camera, a pencil and let the world know how I felt.

Before starting to elaborate about your production, would you like to tell to our readers something about your process and set up for making your works? In particular, what technical aspects do you mainly focus on your work? And how much preparation and time do you put in before and during the process of creating a piece?

My process is intricate and often follows no particular pattern. Coming from a tactile and digital background often feel that the tool and method are less important that the medium and process itself and usually let the finished version come out in the way I feel it best be presented. Coming from an art background combined with an ad and fashion background I see the process as something more or less similar to how its formulated for a big shoot or

Barbara Bervoets

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Alex is an artist and educator currently living and working in San Diego California. He works as a media educator for the non profit, Outside the Lens, which teaches students the importance of digital literacy, focusing on photography and videography. In addition to teaching, Alex also serves on several boards including the HCAN North County Arts Board, OTL Advisory Board, and Rising Arts Leaders and serves as an artist liaison at the Lux Institute.

Prior positions include an extensive commercial background in art direction and production with Art Partner, Art and Commerce, and IMG Models in New York City as well as Trailer Park and Art Machine in Los Angeles. Alex holds a B.A. in Arts and Technology from California State University San Marcos and an M.F.A. in Digital Arts from the Pratt Institute as well as completing the CSU Summer Arts Residency in Fresno, California.

In addition to teaching, Alex also creates and exhibits artwork in conjunction to his community efforts in which his work can be found exhibited throughout the United States, with a recent exhibition at the Brandon Gallery in San Diego, CA and a forthcoming exhibition slated for early 2015 at the Low Gallery.

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Alexander Ingram

an advertisement. It starts with an idea at root and to which I dwell on indefinitely. Then comes the search, constantly scanning conversations, stores, jotting and sketching ideas, photographing until the light bulb turns

on. From there it is fully fleshed out as a finished work.

Now let's focus on your artistic production: I would start from WXNDER, an extremely interestng project that our readers have

Alexander Ingram

already started get to know in the introductory pages of this article: and I would suggest to visit your website directly at http://alexingrammedia.com in order to get a wider idea of your artistic production.

In the meanwhile, would you tell us

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something about the genesis of this interesting project? What was your initial inspiration?

The genesis of this piece honestly revolves around being back home. In returning to

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Alexander Ingram

California after 4 years in New York City I had realized how much I had changed and began to notice things about California that I had never noticed before or perhaps even took for granted. The warmth of the sun, the landscape, the ability to go to locations and reflect without the buzz of millions. I sought out to investigate those spaces alone and to my thoughts. I imagined myself to be a settler coming here for the first time and gathering items almost in a ritual like since to make since of the space

around me. Through the photos I try to evoke the feelings I had at the time - at times lonely, others at peace, and others curious.

I have appreciated the way you have investigated about the questions of Identity: in this sense, WXNDER offers such an Ariadne's thread that lead the viewers to evolve from a passive audience to an actively involved part of the piece of Art itself... so I would ask you if in your opinion personal

Alexander Ingram

experience an absolutely indespensable part of a creative process, I mean both for conceiving a piece and for enjoying it... Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience?

Currently I think examineing my experiences is crucial to my art, both for me to make since of the world around me and to create a piece I feel is interesting and would be interesting to others. I do feel in the future though I would like

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to take an approach that leaves a much more abstract interpretation of such thoughts.

Taking control and advantage of different and sometimes opposite techinques, your approach goes beyond the usual but artificial dichotomy between tradition and experimentation: in this sense, multidisciplinarity is a crucial aspect of your approach and it's remarkable the way you are capable of creating such an effective symbiosis between elements from different

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Alexander Ingram

Alexander Ingram

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techniques, manipulating language and recontextualizing images and concepts: while crossing the borders of different artistic fields have you ever happened to realize that a synergy between different disciplines is the only way to achieve some results, to express some concepts?

The synegery between working from multiple perspectives and mediums is necessary for me.

I consider myself a polymath and equally as skilled in photography as drawing, drawing to singing, playing music to designing. It all comes together full force and usually all of these

Alexander Ingram

aspects are explored to make a finished body of work.

Working with companies such as Art Partner, Art and Commerce, and IMG Models you had the chance to get a great exposure into what you have defined as the thrilling, fast paced world of fashion and fashion photography. I have been particularly impressed with the way your shots avoided to focus on a merely decorative aspect and I daresay that your photographs seem to raise the question of the role allocated to the individual in a worldwide economic and cultural integration... Many contemporary photographers as Cindy Sherman and Ansel

Alexander Ingram

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Alexander Ingram

Adams have some form of political message in their works. Do you consider that your pieces are in a certain sense "political"or do you seek to maintain a neutral approach?

My pieces are always in a since political. My background deeply alludes to my involvement in politics. Being the son of an African American father born in 1944 in the heart of Mississippi and a white german mother the opinions and way that I've seen the world has always been through two lenses and I often view things in a series of dualities. In my life and through my artwork I am often looking at the world through

multiple perspectives and have the ability to find a way to blend into both sides of the conversations happening in the United States.

That being said I am a very political person and while I don't intentionally try to add the politics in my work I am more than certain that my viewpoints and opinions come out regardless.

By the way, in these last years we have seen a great usage of digital technology, in order to achieve outcomes that was hard to get with traditional techniques: do your think that an excess of such techniques could lead to a betrayal of reality? By the way, have new

Alexander Ingram

technologies as DSLR and digital editing impacted on your process?

As I progressed through my BA studying Arts and Technology and my MFA in Digital Arts, the use of Digital became not only my main arsenal of tools but also my biggest challenge to use them effectively and efficiently. I think reality is becoming digital in some ways and in others becoming less. During Fergusson for example I was much more compelled by the videos I saw live from Vine of citizens actually there in the field rather than the narratives driven by the news. Ultimately I think I will always incorporate

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a digital aspect in my work however there is always a reason for it. And I'm not one to think that a more expensive camera or better editing software leads to a better project.

Besides producing your stimulating artworks, you also work as a media educator for the non profit, Outside the Lens, a work that I personally consider a proud accomplishment: have you ever happened to draw inspiration from the works of your students? By the way, I sometimes I wonder if a certain kind of formal training could

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Alexander Ingram

Alexander Ingram

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even stifle a young artist's creativity... what's your point?

Hm thats a good question. In regards to working with Outside the Lens I am constantly inspired by the work of my students.

Their viewpoints, perspectives and ability to find the details in things I overlook is the most incredible thing in the world to me.

I'm actually working on a piece titled "Never Grow Up" inspired whole heartedly by the students I teach. I would love to share with your readers in the future. In regards to the formal training thats a good question. I would like to think that as an artist the training you receive isn't as formal as it may have been in the past. In digital professors aren't teaching you how to paint - they are more or less giving you a tool, letting you run rampant, and then asking you to explain what you did (often the hardest part for an artist). I'd like to think my method is similar, not to stifle creativity but to allow my students to elaborate on the whys as it relates to their art and themselves.

Now let's deal about the relationship with your audience: during these years your works have been exhibited throughout the United States, with a recent exhibition at the Brandon Gallery in San Diego, CA... it goes without saying that positive feedback, although are not definitely indispensable, are capable of providing an artist of an important support. I sometimes wonder if 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...

To be honest at this point I just want to make great work and if it sticks with my audience I am grateful and if it doesn't that is okay too. I try not to get hung up on these types of issues because at the end of the day my art is for me and while their are always some pieces that may resonate with a particular audience or demographic more than others my goal still lies in the expression. I think social media builds a strong relationship with the artist and its viewers.

While some artists may be afraid to use it I embrace it. I can put my work up and instantly get critiqued or praised right then and there. It gives me a gauge of when Im onto something and when an ideas is tanking or misunderstood.

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Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your thoughts, Alexander. Finally, would you like to tell us readers something about your future projects? How do you see your work evolving?

Currently I am working on a series of work shot primarily through the Iphone that depict the thoughts and emotions I have felt since childhood. I'm often reminded by those around how shocking it is that my thoughts and attitudes about the world around me has been so consistent to how I was as a child. (I must

have been a very strange kid). But I see this in a good way and perhaps I had found myself before I even knew I had. In working with children as a teacher through the non profit Outside the Lens I am reminded each time I step into a classroom of children just like me, creative minded, shy, quiet, with a world of thoughts in their mind and allow them to articulate themselves through their creativity. Their creativity makes me a better person and a more creative minded individual.

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Sini Majuri (Finland) An artist's statement

Glass is as a magical medium to work with. If you don’t break it, it lasts for thousands of years. When you are working with it, you cannot touch it with your hands. You shape it with your breath. My goal is to exhibit glass art in uncommon places and especially to viewers who don’t spend time in glass art galleries.

I blow my glass sculptures using a hundred years old swedish Graal-technique that allows to create images inside the layers of glass. The process offers both hectic days in the glass blowing studio and calm cold working periods.

It is a rare, manual technique requiring many hours of work. Combining comic book art with graal glass is my passion.

I want to bring something fresh and contemporary into Scandinavian glass art.

While studying ceramics and glass design at Aalto University in Helsinki, glass quickly became an important medium for me. Maybe it’s because I see glass as a wild animal that you need to tame.

Majuri Sini

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An interview with

Sini Majuri An interview by Dario Rutigliano, curator

Majuri Sini's glass sculptures deserve a particular attention: while seducing the viewers with the plastic beauty of her creations, she introduce them in such a hidden dimension, halfway between Contemporary, from which she draws inspiration for imagery, and ancient Tradition, which provides her of the strengthened techniques with which she gives life to her glass shapes. When arranging such time heterotopias she investigated the surfaces that determine our perceptions of memory and time: so I'm really pleased to introduce our readers to her stimulating artistic production.

Hello Sini, and welcome to Peripheral ARTeries. To start this interview would you like to tell us something about your background? In particular, how did your studies of ceramics and glass design at Aalto University in Helsinki influenced you as an artist and impacted on the way you conceive your artworks?

Moikka Peripheral ARTeries! Thank you for choosing my work into your beautiful online magazine! I am very delightened for this great opportunity to introduce my art and modern Finnish glass design.

My roots are in the countryside of Finland. I spent my childhood in Suonenjoki, a small town in Northern Savonia that is World famous for its annual Strawberry Festivals. I lived in an old farmhouse from the 19th century surrounded by strawberry fields and paddocks for horses.

Our farm is by the lake with crystal clear water that you can even drink as such. The purity of my childhood landscapes still inspires me in my art.

Majuri Sini

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Sini Majuri

Studies of ceramics and glass design influence my art in many different ways.

For example I learned to blow glass in Aalto University and fell in love with this medium that acts like hot lava. But to be honest, my first day in glass studio was not very elegant. I spilled hot glass on top of a pair of gloves laying on a floor.

They burst into flames and smoked like crazy!

I stomped on them only melting a hole in to my shoe. After all this was a good lesson.

I learned that glass is like a wild animal that you need to tame.

If you don’t pay attention to it, it will escape.

And blowing glass is like a dance.

There are certain movements and angles that you need to imprint in to your neural memory.

It’s a dance with fire.

In Aalto University there is a possibility to use 3D printers, laser cutters and all the futuristic machines you can ever think of. I have always enjoyed combining 3D design with glass. So one of the influences that I got from the University is the 3D design combined with the techniques of mold making out of different materials such as plaster, wood, sand and graphite. In Aalto I also learned to make my own glass materials. I found Neodymium oxide that has interesting character on glass: it changes color in different lighting. Playing with Neodymium glass tests led me to invent a pattern on glass that is visible only in natural light and disappears in artificial light. After all I believe that the main influence from Aalto is the deep appreciation towards the master designers and tradition of glass.

Sini Majuri

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Before starting to elaborate about your production, would you like to tell to our readers something about your process and set up for making your works? In particular, what technical aspects do you mainly focus on your work? And how much preparation and time do you put in before and during the process of creating a piece?

look cool on glass material. The logic of dreams and surrealism interest me. I get my inspiration from the city around me, from the streets of Helsinki and from the stories that I might hear in Metro or cafeteria. The storylines come together from bits and pieces that slowly evolve like songs or poems. This is the soul of the design process.

The characteristic of glass has a lot to do with the lapse of time. It has a potential to last thousands of years when handled with care.

But, it may shatter in a blink of an eye. Many of my works are stories captured inside the glass.

They can be seen as fairytales or cartoons. So my design process usually begins with the creation of the storyline. For example I think about an interesting chain of events that could

One of my stories is about horses running in a forest. This is a memory from my childhood that evolved as a fairytale. The horses run between the trees and eventually chain up as a ring that keeps on running evermore. Actually this week the story about horses was exhibited in Finnish Glass Museum in Riihim채ki as a part of Finnish Glass Lives 7 - exhibition.

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Sini Majuri

Polar Night

I always start sketching my story in an old illustration book that I carry with me everywhere. So when we are looking at the time that is used for making one sculpture it is surprising how much preparation it takes before the actual hands on work phase with glassblowing. Designing a glass piece has many other dimensions as well. I usually use 3Dprogram to design the outer form of the piece so that the glass blowing mold can be made out of wood. Because I often use a lot of imagery it is good to have peaceful form that supports the images and gives space for storytelling.

The technique that I’m using in my storyline works is called graal. Graal-technique is a

hundred years old Swedish tradition that allows creating images inside the layers of glass. It takes several days to blow one piece and there are both hectic blowing days and calm cold working days in the process. The piece is made layer by layer like an onion.

The set up of the glass studio is very important.

As I sit on the glassblowing bench my tools are on the right hand side: jacks, tweezers, block and a newspaper. The newspaper sound like odd tool, but it is actually used for shaping the hot glass. Of course it needs to be a bit wet and folded in a special way. During the blowing it’s important to use black glasses. They look cool and protect eyes from UV-radiation and

Sini Majuri

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Polar Night

shattered glass. The most important part of the set up is an old radio from the 80’s. It’s so old that you really need to know which buttons to turn and how to place the antenna. The setup of a glass studio is shorthanded if you don’t have music. After all, blowing glass is a dance.

When the process has evolved into glassblowing phase, the time is more easily measured. The hot dance with glass must have a quick tempo ant rhythm. It takes about one week to make graal-sculpture from the scratch.

The working process must be carefully planned so that the costs of glassblowing are maintained in a good level.

Now let's focus on your artistic production: I would start from Polar Night that our readers have already started to admire in the introductory pages of this article: and I would suggest to visit your website directly at http://sinimajuri.com in order to get a wider idea of your artistic production. In the meanwhile, would you tell us something about the genesis of this interesting project?

What was your initial inspiration?

There are private and deep levels in Polar Night. For me this work represents the hope in the dark moments of live. I made it during the process of slowly losing my friend to ALS. So valuableness of time and feeling of letting go

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Sini Majuri

has been the origin of the sculpture. I used freeformed blown glass with Incalmo technique, metal and wood. I wanted to have materials that reflect light. Polar Night is one of my works that is very close to traditional Scandinavian design with simple form and neutral colors.

As a natures phenomenon Polar Night is something that I use as an analogy for my starting point. I really experienced this darkness that got in to the core of a person during my years in Rovaniemi. It gets pitch black in the polar night: when the sun stays under the horizon the whole day, day after day. But there is never completely dark, because snow reflects the light that remains. When there is only a small amount of light, it becomes sacred. The light of the arctic Polar night is what I wanted to capture in my sculpture. The surface of the snow, the layers of the calm and silent winter landscape.

Your imagery is rich of references to real life as well as from the Finnish tradition and I daresay that you offer such an Ariadne's thread that lead the viewers to evolve from a passive audience to an actively involved part of the piece of Art itself... so I would ask you if in your opinion personal experience an absolutely indispensable part of a creative process, I mean both for conceiving a piece and for enjoying it... Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience?

So is it possible to disconnect the creative process from the direct experience? When people stop and look at something, it takes them somewhere else. I see the personal experience as the main ingredient of art. Art is a vessel for an emotion, idea and experience to be transported through time and space. I hope that my stories evoke emotions and make the viewers gaze wander.

I love traveling and the places I visit and people I meet influence my works. Specially the old habits and believes have always enthralled me.

For example an old superstition lives from mouth to mouth in Finland. “If a bird knocks on a window, it brings news. If the bird flies inside the house, it brings a warning”. When I travelled in Mumbai India and met a Pārsī woman that told me about their ceremonies and the roles of animals in the process. Dogs and vultures have an important role in the Pārsī

Sini Majuri

ceremony. The woman was very sad because there were no wild vultures left in Mumbai.

These stories evolved into a fairytale with bird knocking on a window. The story combines dreams, superstitions and modern day dogmas together. But these building blocks only exist inside the creative process and as the actual object is made, the story evolves. The shape,

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the colors, the glass materials are all giving the story their own weight. The space that the work is exhibited and the light effects on the way the sculpture is viewed. Eventually the inner world of the viewer creates the experience. I hope that when people are looking at my story they all interpret it in their separate way.

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Sini Majuri

Another interesting project of yours that has particularly impacted on me and on which I would like to spend some words is entitled Tulintu, that you have created in collaboration with Ella Varvio... I do believe that interdisciplinary collaboration today is an ever growing force in Art and that that most exciting things happen when creative minds from different fields of practice meet and collaborate on a project... could you tell us something about these effective synergies? By the way, the artist Peter Tabor once said that "collaboration is working together with another to create something as a synthesis of two practices, that alone one could not": what's your point about this? Can you explain how your work demonstrates communication between two artists?

The communication between us is smooth. We have travelled a long journey with many actionpacked twists. For example in Helsinki Comic Festival our glass sculptures were almost destroyed by two dogs that started to fight inside the exhibition. Actually I’m meeting Ella today as we plan our new exhibition at the end of 2015. Effective synergies create new possibilities and give strength. For example as we plan this joint exhibition, the collaboration brings real results. We can share tasks. One of us can concentrate on finding new channels for publication and funding as other of us is mapping out transportation and timetable. I could say that we have worked together so long that our minds are welded together. We have drunk hundreds af cups of coffee during our glassblowing days, so coffeemaker is a machine with an important role in creating effective synergies.

Our collaboration began in an interesting setting. We both spent our summer 2013 in historic Glass Village of Nuutajärvi that used to manufacture colorful glass birds by Finnish glass designer Oiva Toikka. Glass has been made in Nuutajärvi longer than anywhere else in Finland, actually since 1793. Ella was

Tulintu

documenting the hundreds of glass birds made in the old glass factory. I was blowing glass vases with glassblower Janne Rahunen in Nuutajärvi’s Tavastia. We made my “Bird series”, a set of vases that have birds from Kalevala. It was my graduation work for Aalto University’s Ceramic and glass studies. Ella used to visit us at the glass workshop and help

Sini Majuri

photographing of the manufacturing process of the vases. We started to hang out more and realized that both of us were deeply interested in glass and have similar artistic goals. So we decided to combine our strength and create glass art together.

The illustrations of Tulintu glass artworks were initially inspired by Slavic folklore The Firebird.

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We both created out own version of the story.

The birthplace of the story was in beautiful Helsinki Comics Center that we spent our afternoons getting inspiration and of course, drinking more coffee. The works demonstrate the communication of two artists in a very quintessential way. Two interpretations of a same story meet each other and are binded

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Sini Majuri

together. Our first two Tulintu-exhibitions were opened in summer 2014 in Helsinki. In May 2015 we are going to attend at Toronto Comic Arts Festival with new set of glass sculptures. At the moment we are blowing our new pieces for the festival. It’s very fascinating to see that our Tulintu birds have wings to migrate such a long distances.

What I first appreciated of your approach is the way you go beyond any artificial dichotomy between experimental Contemporariness and Tradition, taking control of an ancient technique and at the same time, drawing inspiration from a modern imagery, as in your Town series. It's absolutely remarkable the way you are capable of creating such symbiosis between elements from different eras, manipulating and re-contextualizing materials and concepts... Do you think that there still a contrast between Tradition and Contemporariness? And in particular, what are in your opinion the features that mark a work as a piece of Contemporary art?

This is very interesting question. Contemporary art is living and breathing the time here and now. It’s constantly changing, directing towards the future. I see contemporary art as the medium to look at the time and to capture something inside the layers of material. On the other hand the field of glass art is saturated with tradition. The processes, techniques and tools are all looking almost the same as hundred years ago. Is there a contrast between tradition and contemporariness? Sure there is, but contrasts are interesting and they are also a way to create something completely new.

Applying a traditional technique in a new context is always engrossing.

When we are poring over the tradition of glass I actually heard an interesting thing about it last week when I was talking with an interesting scientist! He told me that glass could be seen as one of the most important key technologies

of which the present day is scrambled. When printing was invented and reading became common people started to wear glasses. The lenses became necessary and as a result, telescopes and microscopes allowed scientific revolution! Now at this time the Internet is made of glass. Glass is involved in our

Majuri Sini

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Sini Majuri

technological tissue both historically and concretely. So there are always interesting connections between tradition and contemporariness!

Timeless design has always interested me. I have been looking for ideas that look fresh not only today but also hundred years from now. I believe that storytelling is one way to approach timelessness. My Town series tells about a street in Helsinki that is always windy. In the sculptures I have used bright reds and yellows with black and white. I also wanted to play with transparency. You can see inside the layers of glass and trough the transparent parts of the sculpture and look for something hidden.

Now let's deal about the relationship with your audience: as you have remarked once, one of your goals is to exhibit glass art in uncommon places and especially to viewers who don’t spend time in glass art galleries...So I would take this occasion to ask you if in your opinion Art -besides just describing and sometimes operating on perceptual processes, could in a certain influence them... or even steer people behavior: what's your point? Do you think it's just an exaggeration?

I’m constantly looking for new forums for art.

My goal is to introduce glass as a fresh medium and invite new groups of people to explore its beauty. For example the Comic Festivals in

Majuri Sini

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Sini Majuri

Helsinki and Toronto are these new, fun forums that give the ambience that I’m looking for. Also posting in social media (twitter, blogs etc.) is a good platform that throws open the vibes inside the hot glass studio and gives people an opportunity to have a peek inside design process. So do art influence people and steer their behavior? I feel that it is the basic function of art. It ignites something primal inside us. For instance music makes people dance, a good comedy makes us laugh. Eventually, art can make us dream!

By the way, during these years your works have been exhibited in several occasions and you have recently participated to the Taos Art Glass Invitational, an international biennial exhibition in Taos, New Mexico... it goes without saying that positive feedback, although are not definitely indispensable, are capable of providing an artist of an important support. I sometimes wonder if 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...

The landscape in Taos is just unbelievable. The plain desert horizon is like from another planet.

Taos Art Glass Invitational in New Mexico was a wonderful adventure and once in a lifetime opportunity to hurtle a silver Mustang along the historic Route 66.

My works were - and actually still are exhibited in David Anthony Fine Art Gallery where I also gave lectures about Finnish glass art. During my visit it was wonderful to blow glass in the middle of the town square, at the Taos Plaza. Hot glass was glowing bright orange when the night fell.

The main part of the journey was to meet local glass artists and see their working studios and beautiful art. The first artist that I met was Ira

Lujan, who organized the glassblowing demonstrations. He had built his movable glass studio himself and it was just awesome! And so was his artwork that mixed together tradition of the Native Americans and new vision. I had also a change to borrow sandblasting machine from Michael Miro’s studio. He was just finishing one of his elegant glass works inspired by Japanese culture. It was great to see a well-functioning cooperation between the artists. In Taos I experienced a genuine relationship between business and art when I met these inspiring entrepreneurs and saw them working together as a community. It has been encouraging to get good feedback and I’m happy to meet people who understand the value of art and who view glass art as a good investment.

In order to gain the real relationship between artist and client it’s necessary to have direct contact between them. When my storyline works are exhibited, the story is awailable only at the time of the exhibition when people can experience it. Each of my works has also an individual story and meaning that I would like to share. So it is always interesting to see the person who takes that story home.

Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your thoughts, Majuri. Finally, would you like to tell us readers something about your future projects? How do you see your work evolving?

Thank you for the interview! It’s a pleasure to be a part of your wonderful publication with interesting views. Thinking about these questions was a journey and really gave new ideas as a spin-off!

In my future projects I’m working with a new glass blowing method that I invented fall 2014. It allows mirror like reflections inside the layers of glass.

Something very dreamlike is about to be created with this technique. I’m working with a new storyline that I’m hoping to capture in glass. It’s about a woman that holds a wooden boat on her lap. She hops on and off she goes flying in the sky. I’m hoping to find a good exhibition space for this new storyline. Some place with a dreamlike atmosphere.

There will be also comic art exhibitions this year for example in Finnish Glass Museum and in Toronto Comic Arts Festival. Also, we are planning something cool in Leerdam, Netherlands for the end of 2015. So year 2015 will be so very exiting!

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Scott D'Arcy (United Kingdom) An artist’s statement

My main drive to make art is a pursuit of truth around how images function and exsist through a long line of experimentation. I am drawn to beauty and very interested in its construction and purpose from a cultural stand point.

Collective notions of beauty and taste are shared and represented through a wide range of mediums over long periods of history. Even though beauty can sometimes be guilty of buying in to narcissism, what it has in common with the functionality of images is a high level of illusion, that depicts a world more seductive and appealing than our own. The tension between the sentiment the viewer experiences through their gaze and the reality of images is for the most part what my practise investigates.

Images are very ephemeral things, put quite simply they are very sophisticated systems and signs that add to our culture. The intangibility of the digital images in a frame-less, free-flowing world has been a key aspect that I believe best represents their paradoxical state. Such ideas are well recognized and explored in Hans Belting's "An Anthropology of Images" and Vilem Flusser's "Into the Universe of Technical Images". I welcome intangibility and surrealism because they best mimics how we really think about images. When we loose contact with a physical copy or walk away from the screen, we hold what we have seen psychologically. Our body becomes a medium that stores what we are exposed to.

Baroque No.7 - photogra

I reference and borrow a lot of content; this could be anything from aesthetics of certain styles to elements from famous historical paintings. For me appropriation is vital when trying to understand an images collective reading, and being able to set a certain appeal against itself in a very different way but still in a very visually way. The viewer then has an opportunity to really think about the new image with a new context.

The creative process is not so separate from these ideas. I have a tendency to view the world as an infinite universe of visual references, that merge over one another. A great deal of time is spent scouting locations and building up an achieve or collection through a range of sources; locations, online images from facebook, books, old master paintings. In order to decide which visual engines will work together.

Scott D'Arcy

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phy and digital media - 2011

Although digital media allows a platform for manipulation and surrealism, physical distortions can be equally as interesting due to their 'no tricks' approach. Reflections, photographs through water and the doubling up of images in glass are good physical examples of an images temporal existence.

Since my art relies heavily on an audience recognising something familiar in order to be

sometimes problematic to assume a final drawninto a state of speculation. It isreading even when the work is finished, but this is what images must do to continue if they want to maintain out attention.

So I embrace and play with their shifting and fluid nature, as oppose to making representations or illustrations of more solid events or concepts.

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Scott D'Arcy

an interview with

Scott D'Arcy Hello Scott and welcome to LandEscape. I would start this interview with my usual ice breaker question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art? Moreover, what could be the features that mark the contemporariness of an artwork?

It's a deceptively complex question, ever since we came to the conclusion that art can no longer exist outside of itself. Therefore there are not many boundaries left to push. Anything can be art, although in saying that, not everything is. For me a work of art is defined by its ability to convey a set of ideas in a way that captivates a viewer through sensory experience.

Sometimes an emotional connection is seen as a very important aspect, but personally i think this is a by product and down to qualities within the individual and not the work in question. I think pieces that are set out to be contemporary from the start tend to be guilty of being too 'slick' or polished. This doesn't go for the majority of contemporary art, but id say it's sometimes a good indicator of an artist appealing to a built up contemporary fashion in a way.

Would you like to tell us something about your background? You have studied at the Leeds Metropolitain University: how has this experience of formal training impacted on the way you currently produce your works? By the way, I sometimes I wonder if a certain kind of formal training could even stifle a young artist's creativity... what's your point?

I did study at Leeds Met yes. Institutions are useful in terms of sharing ideas and co-operation. I found having people to hand very useful with my practise in particular because it relies heavily on collective and shared readings. However the downside of making work that is being formally assessed in that way means you are forced to focus on one area.

There is freedom within the scope you choose.

However wanting to pick something totally diffe-

Scott D'Arcy

rent up the following week is more often than not frowned upon, even though i have found that if you are serious about your art, no two things are completely unrelated. However at the time i was very much aware that this was what universities had to do in order to grade work. I made art for myself as well as my education and it did make me to value the variety, which is something best recognised early on in an artists progression between what they like to do and what they have to do.

An art students creativity can be 'stifled' mostly by self consciousness, specifically when they compare themselves to their fellow pupils. The most Cassandra Hanks

Scott D'Arcy

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After Vermeer - digital collage - 2012

most common aspect of this i found is when two people arrived at similar areas. I learned the trick is not to compare yourself to your class mates, just relax and understand your practise better.

The natural feeling you get is to take a different route, but this is more often than not a false sense of security.

during the process of creating a piece?

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

The preparation onto what engines to use in conjunction with each other requires a great deal of preparation and research, mainly around the formal elements of images but also the philosophical concerns around out perception. I also spend a lot of time scouting out locations and collecting images in order to have a more practical connection to my

It varies depending on the piece. There are a whole host of different techniques i use within the computer (mainly photoshop) and for the most part my practise has been a cycle of pushing images back and forth between the tangible world and digital manipulation until it is resolved.

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Scott D'Arcy

Birth - digital collage - 2013

creative process. Lighting techniques and compositional decisions like in “Birth� is very tough and requires patience. Its an endless game of trail and error, constant observation and experimentation.

Now let's focus on your artworks: I would like to start with Baroque No.7, a recent and interesting piece that our readers have already admired in the introductory pages of this article: would you tell us something about the genesis of this work? What was your initial inspiration?

My initial inspiration was the investigation of the multiverse of layers and realities images exist on and the high drama achieved in baroque paintings.

I found this aesthetic style to crop up everywhere, from films to fashion from a time where we couldn't have lived. It's as a kind of diachronic nostalgia, which i obviously found very interesting and decided to explore. Baroque No.7 was made at the beginning of my real use of the photography studio. Its intention was to made a new work out of powerful elements of much older ones in the hopes of creating a piece that intoxicated the viewer through visual familiarities. Leading them

After Rembrantd - photography and digital me

into a labyrinth of fake tattoos, doubled up figures and digital manipulation. Which i felt reflected our recycling of these tastes and has the possibility to build on its social conjunction.

Another pieces of yours in which I would like to spend some words are After Rembrandt and After Vermeer... Although it's crystal clear that this series is pervaded by irony, I have to admit that I'm some puzzled about this aspect: in fact the irony springs from the super imposition of materials of different eras... all in all, if we admire the first version of Cara-vaggio's The Inspiration of Saint Matthew, we can recognize the angel's hand driving Sain Mattew's pen... so why an angel shouldn't help an old man to write with an iPad? I really hope that you will forgive me for this naif observation...

I think that if that where the case, we would just

Scott D'Arcy

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confusion is the same as the right amount of creative speculation.

It goes without saying that modern technology -and in particular the recent development of infographics- has dramatically revolutionized the idea of painting itself: this forces us to rethink to the materiality of the artwork itself, since just few years ago an artwork was first of all -if you forgive me this unpleasent classification- a manufactured article: it was the concrete materialization of an idea...

As a digital based artist with high levels of experience both in Painting and in Photography, you would like to know you opinion about this...

Id have to agree with you. Artwork did used to be a concrete manifestation of ideas, it still very much is. However I am reluctant to show any work as print or hard copies, as i believe the digital best represents my concept of the fluid existence of images.

I think there are some interesting traits that appear when looking at a painting that non-tangible displays play with.

dia - 2013

be changing materials within the reality of the painting. Consequently the characters might then be drawn into areas of convincing fancy dress, which would be very final. In a way I am glad you're left at least a little bit at a loose end, but to clarify the irony is important in my re-contextualization of these images.

By super imposing two different states in the same setting; using either surrealism of the same figure multiple times. Or alternatively by making a work that appears to be one very resolved image but is in fact two from different periods in time. It prompts the viewer to really participate in their own speculation around the work. So to finalise, the irony wouldn't have this effect if the work was a more linear one. Neither would it be as effective if everyone arrived at the exact same conclusion, it would make the images very bland and dead in my opinion. To me a small amount of

That core desire to touch a realistic paintings originates from some primal urge to test the illusion of the world the painting depicts. Touching the surface disrupts that false perception; one which the artist tried to achieve in its creation. (if we are talking about high realism painting) Otherwise we wouldn't constantly remind visitors of a gallery not to touch the paintings.

Upon reflection No.23 - photography - 2013

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Scott D'Arcy

After John Martin - digital collage and manipulation - 2012 It's that desire that is completely denied when using digital screens or projections, it makes the work not only appear more fake. But destroys the artists 'hand' and distancing a viewer from the creation process. Ironically i find this very useful when getting to the core focus of my work. Digital displays free the image from this distraction of touch and the tangible fixation of a material. If you want ideas to orbit around a particular subject as i do, a temporal medium is best.

As you have remarked in your artist's statement, you have a tendency to view the world as an infinite universe of visual references, that merge over one another... I would go as far as to state that your Art help us to notice a lot of details around us, allowing us to discover the poetry inside them... I'm sort of convinced that some informations & ideas are hidden, or even "encrypted" in the environment we live in, so we need to decipher them. Maybe that

one of the roles of an artist could be to reveal unexpected sides of Nature, especially of our inner Nature... what's your point about this?

I suppose it depends what you mean by inner nature. If you mean it physiologically, i suppose you could see some overlap between that which we project onto the world from personal experience, and an images ability to deflect these experiences back to us in a more mysterious way. Thus peaking our attachment and making us want to explore it, which is exactly how it works for me. I have this huge collection of images, and when i discover something i always have this need or habit to try and attach it to some other picture.

This discovery could be anything from a found image, to a location, or something i have been around for years and only just realised its potential. That's when the practical investigation really begins, even though i wouldn't go as far as to say my work is very personal. Hanks But there is defiantly Cassandra

Scott D'Arcy

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something very human about this activity of exploring, deciphering and understanding the world through the memory of images we can relate to.

During these years, your artworks have been exhibited in many occasions and moreover you have been recently shortlisted for Vantage art prize... it goes without saying that feedbacks and especially awards are capable of supporting an artist, I was just wondering if an award -or better, the expectation of an award- could even influence the process of an artist... By the way, how much important is for you the feedback of your audience? Do you ever think to whom will enjoy your Art when you conceive your pieces?

Absolutely not. Awards gained, or short listed for don't do it for me (although they are quite nice for a young artists status) I think most artists

Upon reflection No.52 - photography - 2013 would just enjoy the self gratification in the initial moments that we all constantly crave. Beyond that awards and prizes are mostly tools for academics to try and differentiate between good and bad art I guess. They wouldn't influence many dedicated artists I don't think.

I do often wonder about who my art is for, if that is the same thing. The references are the most problematic aspect to wrestle with in a pieces reading. But I don't believe the work should stride to be educational through what it appropriates. A small clue in the title is enough for anyone interested in how it originated. Id say my work is for anyone who isn't to fixed on convention and likes to apply their own ideas a lot.

Thank you for your time and for sharing with us your thoughts, Scott. My last question deals with your future plans: anything coming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of?

Id like to mention that I am currently collaborating with a hand full of artist in Yorkshire and the Midlands. Some interesting projects are mushrooming out, including some surrounding gaming culture and reconstructing films stills. It's a bit of a left turn for me as my practise has up until this point been solitary, but there will some exciting exhibitions and events for 2014 but I wouldn't like to say any more than that on their behalf.

Upon reflection No.17 - photography - 2013

An interview by peripheral_arteries@dr.com

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Margaret Noble (USA) An artist’s statement

I create objects, installations and performances that investigate the echoes of time in contemporary identity and environment. I focus on narratives and legacies left behind by families, media and technology.

I use found objects, construct new objects and design sound to activate spaces, reference history and pose questions about perception. I draw on a wide variety of materials and symbols to juxtapose ideas. I play with time travel as I move between generational influences, historical myths and the future.

Margaret Noble

Born in Texas and raised in San Diego, Margaret Noble’s artwork has been exhibited across the United States, Canada and abroad in Europe. Noble’s art has been featured on PBS and positively reviewed in Art Ltd Magazine, the San Diego Union Tribune, and San Francisco Weekly. She holds a BA in Philosophy from the University of California, San Diego and an MFA in Sound Art from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Noble has been awarded the International Governor’s Grant, the Hayward Prize, the Microsoft Global Educator Award for Arts and Mathematics and the Creative Catalyst Fellowship. Noble’s artistic residencies include the MAK Museum in Vienna and at the Salzburg Academy of Fine Art. Her solo exhibition, 44th and Landis was featured at the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego from 2012-2013. In 2014, she won first place in the Musicworks Magazine electronic music composition competition. Margaret Noble’s work is influenced by the beat-driven dance culture of southern California during the 1980s. This inspiration led her to perform as an electronic music DJ in the underground club community of Chicago for several years during the late nineties.

In 2004, Noble branched out from the dance floor into more experimental interests and created a monthly arts showcase called Spectacle in Chicago; during this period, she performed and produced experimental works with a variety of cutting edge new-media artists. Her interdisciplinary work resides at the intersection of sound, installation and performance.

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#196 Winter

Righteous Exploits performance, photo by Matt Lewis 2

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Margaret Noble

An interview with

Margaret Noble Hello Margaret, first I would give you welcome to Peripheral ARTeries: to start this interview, would you like to tell us something about your background? You hold a BA in Philosophy, from the University of California, San Diego and an MFA in Sound Art from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago: how have these experiences influenced you in the way you currently produce your artworks?

Both of these educational experiences have deeply influenced my research and artistic motivations. In the instance of philosophy, I was trained to question and analyze all manners of ideas with a critical eye. I find this practice resonate with what many contemporary artists do today.

an interview with They investigate ideas, put forth arguments and problem solve through form. Later, when I began my studies in sound art, I was at first pushing to learn the technical and formal aspects of creating exclusively. But, I learned immediately that a work’s ability to communicate may lack in depth if it relies on technical and formal skills alone.

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?

Margaret Noble

will express the concept in its most effective way.

My forms are fluid and I often outsource pieces of the project to secure the best possible outcome. I fear having my art limited by my technical ability.

My work starts exclusively with an idea of interest; some seed of context that is neglected, in tension or resonates as a problem. I then spend a good deal of time researching my selected topic of interest until I feel that I have something that is more refined and meaningful to express. With this specific concept in mind, I draft out ideas for forms that

Now let's focus on your art production: I would like to start with your interesting project Righteous Exploits that you have created in collaboration with Justin Hudnall and that our readers are starting to get to know in the intro6

Margaret Noble

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Righteous Exploits performance, photo by Matt Lewis

and concept. I am often looking to the past to inform the present and in particular I hunt for primary documents such as letters or photos that may shed light on our experiences of today. For Righteous Exploits, I was inspired by the Ann Fabian’s book, The Unvarnished Truth which is a powerful cultural history of how ordinary Americans crafted and sold their stories of hardship in the nineteenth century. Justin and I decided to exploit our own stories (as often artists do) to see what themes of the past would resonate today based on letters and documents we could dig up from our family. The work then took shape on its own and morphed into ideas around eternal recurrence.

Righteous Exploits performance, photo by Matt Lewis ductory pages of this article and I would suggest to visit your website directly at http://www.margaretnoble.net/righteous-exploits/ in order to get a wider idea of this interesting work: in the meanwhile, would you tell us something about the genesis of the project behind these pieces? What was your initial inspiration?

As you have remarked, Righteous Exploits is a chronicle of the life of your grandmother, Helen Hosmer, a 1940′s-era labor activist... 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?

My work is obsessively time-based in both form

Yes, I do feel that the most honest and interesting 7

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Margaret Noble

an interview with 44 th and Landis installation, photo by Nathaniel Elegino

44 th and Landis installation, photo by Nathaniel Elegino

work is that which is personal. However, my concern as of late is that my work is sometimes too personal and this directness has made me uncomfortable in familiar audiences. But, the conceptual problems that interest me are those that relate to my direct experiences. Working with experience gives me authority to explore freely and take risks because of insider knowledge.

Multidisciplinarity is a recurrent feature of your art practice: your production ranges from sound to installation to performance as the interesting 44th and Landis and I think it's important to remark that you were a dancer later, during the late nineties, you were a DJ in the underground club community of Chicago for several years during the late nineties... while crossing the borders of different artistic fields have you ever happened to realize that a synergy between different disciplines is the only way to achieve some results, to express some concepts?

But, the aim is to explore the personal in such a way that it relates to the audiences that experience the work. The antithesis of this is making personal works without thinking of your audience. For me, if the work is only serving the self then it may not belong in the public sphere. I am not saying to pander or cater to audiences in a way that is compromising. What I am saying is that work is more interesting and carries more weight when it is relevant to others outside of the self.

Absolutely, and herein lies the tension. I cannot be an expert at all mediums but I do not want to limit my ideas to the mediums I am skilled at. #196 Winter 8

Margaret Noble

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A still from 44 th and Landis

daresay- on a physical one, as in as Tides ...

Do you ever think to whom will enjoy your Art when you conceive your pieces? Do you ever happen to draw inspiration from who will enjoy your artworks?

I deeply care about my audience's experience and this informs my work. I resent projects that alienate audiences and although I am interested in the contemporary art dialectic, I am more interested in work that reaches beyond this specific camp. That is not to say that I think work should be dumb downed, on the contrary, the ideas should remain gripping, challenging and provoking. But, what I would advocate for is that artists use form to communicate ideas beyond the contemporary art community. I was once told that I am a “plain speak conceptualist,” I liked that comment.

an interview with

So, I can execute poorly at mediums I am new to.

But, that doesn’t succeed because the work is unsuccessful. I could try to master multiple forms.

But, by the time I get to any type of proficiency I may loose interest in my original concepts. So for me, the answer is often collaboration or (as I mentioned earlier) outsourcing parts of a project.

Artistic vision is so exciting and clear in one’s mind but so challenging to manifest as a real thing.

It does often require a synergy between different disciplines.

Your works are strictly connected to the chance of establishing a deep involvement with your audience, both on an intellectual side and - I

#196 Winter A still from 44 th and Landis

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Live performance, photo by Mark Hamburg

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Margaret Noble

Shelter

Spill

installation Photo by Stacey Keck

installation Photo by Stacey Keck

Another interesting pieces of your on which I would spend some words are Shelter and Spills, which part of an installation series that explores the fragility and futility of human interference with natural processes: one of the features of these interesting pieces that has mostly impacted on me is the way you have been capable of re-contextualizing the idea of environment, especially challenging the "function" of it... I'm sort of convinced that some information & ideas are hidden, or even "encryp-

ted" in the environment we live in, so we need -in a way- to decipher them. Maybe that one of the roles of an artist could be to reveal unexpected sides of Nature, especially of our inner Nature... what's your point about this?

I think the subconscious runs wildly in creators and that the artistic works they make are often cryptic even to the artists themselves. I often think that I am so clear about my intentions behind a work and then once the work is finished #196 Winter I figure out that 12

Margaret Noble

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an interview with 44 th and Landis performance, photo by Nathaniel Elegino

there is much more to uncover. It is kind of exciting and unnerving because I want to be very articulate about what I am planning to make. But then I find out that the work is saying more or something different. Of course, I wonder was this intention always there and I ignored it? Or, did something really new emerge?

culture and history when trekking about Europe that makes an American feel like a child. Sometimes, I have this impulse to feverishly study European art and history textbooks before connecting with artists in Europe. But, that solution is ridiculous and makes one an imposter. So I embrace my American-ness and soak in what the old world offers, recognizing that these two worlds are different and that is interesting!

During these years you received many positive feedbacks, and you have recently won first place in the Musicworks Magazine electronic music composition competition... Moreover your artworks have been exhibited in several occasions, both in the USA and abroad, as in Europe, and you won a residency at the prestigious MAK Museum in Vienna and at the Salzburg Academy of Fine Art: what impressions have you received from the expe-riences in Europe? Did you find any great difference with the American scenario?

I will be creating an installation for the Mediations Biennale this fall at the American satellite venue in San Diego, California. http://www.biennialfoundation.org/biennials/media tions-biennale/

It is a funny thing being an American artist in Europe. There are just some things about the wealth of

an interview by peripheral_arteries@dr.com

Thank you for this interview, Margaret. My last question deals with your future plans: anything coming up for you that you would like readers to be aware of?

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Tanya Stadnichenko (Russia) an artist’s statement

The main direction Tatiana`s works is to transfer graphic and compositional laws in the space of streets, parks, abandoned factories.

For her works are important historical, architectural and landscape contexts. In the installations she widely uses colors, graphic quality, the refraction of light, spatial content, the violation of the optical illusions.

The feeling of the dominant natural culture is the axis of most projects. She compare asocial environment areas, the urban places and human work directly with them, the author explores all known laws, exposing them.

The natural background is becoming legislator and inspirer, and organic natural forms combined with the industrial world and the increasing globalization of nomadism - tools for translating ideas.

Tanya Stadnichenko Strikes, 2012 Installation, Summer Đ?cademy in Salzburg

Tanya Stadnichenko

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STRIKES, installation Summer Academy in Salzburg-2012 The clearness of blow depends from the shooter, from experience, which has been saved up on years.

Today artist is a densely connected to itself with all society.

The young artist has no time for mistakes, relying on intuition and analyzing a situation, it strikes new blow.

The blow should be the accurate, uncompromising, exact, with clear statement . vimeo.com/48279411

Peripheral ARTeries

Tanya Stadnichenko

an interview with

Tanya Stadnichenko Hello Tanya, and a warm welcome to Peripheral ARTeries. I would start this interview with my usual ice breaker question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art? By the way, what could be in your opinion the features that mark an artworks as a piece of Contemporary Art? Do you think that there's still a dichotomy between tradition and contemporariness?

Artist for me now it's not just a creator – it's a person, who can make a difference in the environmental situation, change the areal of his habitat through the dialogue with people. I like to measure the depth of human perception; I immerse myself and people in unusual environment, for to expose factors that are absolutely impossible to see in everyday life. For example, I had a series of public-art projects in which I examined the laws of attraction and gravitation.

The plane has outlived its usefulness for me.

For me now the drawing, painting and photography can't show all the energy and speed of the modern world. It's a problem, that in Russia we have a huge gap between classic art and contemporary. For example, in the common art- university (like my first one) the history of art ended on the Malevich. And our education system too old, that’s why people didn't get used to think when they see the art, they just say: «Is it really art? I can do the same».

Would you like to tell us something about your background? You have received a formal training, during your studies of Fine Arts, at the prestigious Institute of the Contemporary Art of Moscow. How has this experience impacted on the way you currently produce your artworks?

By the way, I sometimes I wonder if a certain kind of formal training could even stifle a young artist's creativity... what's your point?

In Moscow we have some new private art- institutions where artist could have some fresh knowledge and information about what's going on in the art-world now. That’s why I have 2 art- educations.

After ICA (Institute of Contemporary Art in Moscow) the borders of my art-perceptions opened and I start-

Tanya Stadnichenko

ed to work another way, try new materials, technology; strive for clarity of expression and multilayered work.

About background I think that my motherland played an important role in my art. I was born in a little city in Siberia and I used to live in a huge vast, I walked a lot in endless fields, forests and abandoned buildings. That's the one of reason why I prefer to work with a big spaces or on the streets and public spaces with a nature, use the wind and air.

Before starting to elaborate about your would you like to tell to our production, Cassandra Hanks

Tanya Stadnichenko

Peripheral ARTeries

output the laws of graphic and compositional to the streets, parks, abandoned factories. The historical, architectural and landscape contexts, colors, graphic quality, the refraction of light, space filling, in violation of optical laws are rather important for me.

Now let's focus on your art production: I would like to start with Strikes that our readers can admire in these pages and that I would suggest them to view it directly at vimeo.com/48279411: in the meanwhile, would you tell us something about the genesis of this project? What was your initial inspiration?

I did this installation in the Summer Art Academy in Salzburg, Austria. I came to study there for one mounth. And there was an atmosfere like in artfactory, where is an everybody have to do powerfull «strike» with his project. The young artist has no time for mistakes, relying on intuition and analyzing a si-

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?

Basically all of my recent projects deal with temporality. It's going from the my life and social -situation when is nothing for a long time. I'm interested in the theme of the short duration of art. During last year I did nothing for «white cube» space, because I want to my projects works with people on streets and parks and the viewer can participate in the installation. I try to

Strikes, detail

Peripheral ARTeries

Tanya Stadnichenko

The Labyrinth, Land-art project Life of every person - a labyrinth. We always search for easy road, we wander in search of happiness, we lose faith, we find, we rejoice grass. It breaths, moves, changes a direction, cooperates with the nature.

tuation, it strikes new blow. The blow should be the accurate, uncompromising and exact, with clear statement. In the installation I tried to visualize some of these strikes of the young artist as they could be in a formal vision. And it was interesting to worked with salt-space (That factory was a salt factory before the O. Kokoschka did it place for art-study).

Another piece of yours on which I would like to spend some words is Labyrinth, an interesting land art work that I like very much: as you have remarked, it breaths, moves, changes a direction, cooperates with the nature... A feature of

this piece that has mostly impacted on me is the effective synergy that you have been capable of establishing an effective dialog between Nature and our inner nature... Could you lead us through the development of this project?

It was project about the human being with idea that ÂŤWe alwayse looking for easy road, wander in search of happiness, we lose faith, we find, we rejoice or we long, we come back to old roads and we search for new waysÂť. I cut the grass for to do kind of labyrinth, where people can sit and think about his life. But also I felt this like a big

Tanya Stadnichenko

Peripheral ARTeries

reality and start to live it's s own life, especial when I work with public-art. For example, when I did work «Adrift», I didn't expect that reflections in the water will play a significant role in the composition, and I didn't think that 40 kg of apples from the project «Juice» will exude an incredible smell, supplementing installation.

And we couldn't do without mentioning Temporary Waterfall that is one of my favourite pieces of yours: I would daresay that this work sums in an image the well-known Bauman's concept of «liquid modernity». I can recognize in it a subtle social criticism...

And I'm sort of convinced that Art in these days could play an effective role not only making aware public opinion about socio political issues: I would go as far as to say that nowadays Art can even steer people's behavior... I would take this chance to ask your point about this.

or we long, we come back to old roads and we search for new

animal which breathe, move and participate in all that process.

Being strictly connected to the chance to create a deep interaction, your artworks are capable of communicating a wide variety of states of mind: have you ever happened to discover something that you didn't previously plan and that you didn't even think about before? I'm sort of convinced that one of the roles of an artist could be to reveal hidden sides of life and nature... what's your opinion about this?

For sure, everey project from sketches come to

Temporary Waterfall, detail

Peripheral ARTeries

Tanya Stadnichenko

Temporary waterfall, Anapa, 2013 installation from series of temporary sculptures I`ve the only here and now. There is nothing permanent it`s a «liquid modernity» time. Here is only sky and sand.

I don`t know what will happen tomorrow because of speed information.

The first work from a series of break down objects.

Do you think that it's an exaggeration? And what could be in your opinion the role that an artist could play in our society?

As I told in the beginning of the interview, I think that now the artist can't just sit in the studio and create an esthetic objects or pictures like 100 years ago. Now is everybody artist, everybody has a photo camera and internet. And the true artist has to be more than just artist. He must be a mirror of society, reflection of reality and «changer of time». What about «Temporary waterfall», I was inspired by book of Bauman because he indicated very clearly all social problems of our days.

In my life (as in the histories of all my friends also) there is nothing stable, everything too much unreliable, and nobody knows what will be tomorrow. It's kind of the capitalism's consequence and unwillingness of people to change something in the situation. That’s why I want to do exhibition with temporary objects which will crushed during exposition.

Your art practice ranges from Installations, public art as Gravitation to performance, as Limits: while crossing the borders of different artistic fields have you ever happened to

Limits, video, 2’42’’, 2013 Hanks Cassandra

Tanya Stadnichenko

Peripheral ARTeries

THE GRAVITATION Public-art- installation, Moscow-2012 I feel the power of gravitation, it surrounds me.

It works anywhere, anytime.

I want to dip you in the sense with destruction borders of things and distorted forms.

I want to levitate and break any area of perception.

I measure the gravity at different locations. vimeo.com/52576741

realize that a synergy between different disciplines is the only way to achieve some results, to express some concepts?

I don't have a single medium for work. I try to express idea by all possible means of expression, and sometimes all this mediums works only together.

The Marked Place, public installation

Peripheral ARTeries

Tanya Stadnichenko

During these years you have exhibited your artworks in several occasions: you recently had your solo "Tissue" and moreover you received a grant from the Academy of Fine Arts in Salzburg. It goes without saying that feedbacks and especially awards are capable of supporting an artist, I was just wondering if an award -or better, the expectation of an award- could even influence the process of an artist...

By the way, how much important is for you the feedback of your audience? Do you ever think to whom will enjoy your Art when you conceive your pieces?

I'm inspired by dialogs and discussions with the audience. And every new exhibition like new competition – you never know reaction of people, but I can't work without society attantion.

And every new project like explore of my own borders and opportunities and it's hard but also enjoy.

Thanks a lot for your time and your thoughts, Tanya. 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 just received an invitation for spring from the residence «La Napoule Art Foundation» (France).

I've some ideas for explore French style- garden there.

And also may be I've to travel more for totally contemporary art!

An interview by peripheral_arteries@dr.com

TISSUES, 2011-Moscow 2012 There is a Own law for all elements of the Universe.

We are the total model of the our planet, including all its parts: the earth, water, fire, air (wind), heavenly space (ether).

The face of person in an old ages looks such as the mirror, is similar to an earth crust surface.

It is possible to judge his life on mimic wrinkles of folds of the person. All stresses, pleasures, physiological and spiritual processes leave an accurate trace on us.

The Earth have the similar processes, but in galactic scales - explosions of volcanoes, earth crust shifts, a tsunami, climatic fluctuations, changes of degree of an inclination of a terrestrial axis.

I consider history of a universe on an example of my own family tree. Portraits of great-grandmothers, great-grandfathers, uncles, are compared with maps of those territories on which their life proceeded.

Serene Greene

Peripheral ARTeries

Global Warming

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