Video Art Miden: The world is not enough || Aperture Video art screenings at the Museum of Byzantine Culture, Thessaloniki In the frame of Thessaloniki Biennale 6: Imagined Homes Our immediate personal and social space, our “home” -with a broad meaning of the wordand, finally, our “homeland”, are some of the concepts that are investigated by the artists participating in the two screening programs presented by Video Art Miden at the Museum of Byzantine Culture of Thessaloniki, in the frame of Thessaloniki Biennale 6: Imagined Homes. The presented videoart programs “The world is not enough” and “Aperture” complete each other conceptually and thematically, setting questions as: is our “home” an open or a closed space? Is it a geographical/real space or a virtual/imagined one? Or, rather, “home” should be defined by the type and the qualities of the emotional interaction, living together and coexistence between humans? Moving a little further from the concept of “home” as our immediate house construction or an architectural living space and examining in a closer look the personal and social space which we -intentionally or unintentionally“built” around us, the selected video-programs, inspired from the contemporary global condition and the current international social and political developments, focus on the issues of “opening” or “closing” our homes and the “guarding” of our real or imagined borders: the borders of our houses, our neighborhoods, our cities, our countries, and generally of every space that can be called “home”. “Home”, in an archaic and primary sense, should be a place that we dream to be intimate, friendly, safe and warm (literally and emotionally), but sometimes proves to be -at the same time- a hostile land, sometimes even for ourselves, becoming a “nest” for fears and for internal or external conflicts. The video-works included in the first program, under the title “The world is not enough”, are exploring this exact problematic, while the second program, entitled “Aperture”, deals with the concept of “focusing” (in the Greek language, the words “hestiasis=focus” and “hestia=home” have a common ancient root), in a metaphorically photographic sense: if our home is, besides a closed space of warmth and safety, a steady place from where we observe the rest of the world, how far away and on what do we “focus” when we stare outside its windows? Participant artists: Kristina Paustian, Jan Brand, Shahar Marcus, Arnaud Brihay, Ηanna BenHaim Yulzari, Mauricio Saenz, Mattias Härenstam, Carla Chan, Jem Raid, Mario Santamaria, Teymur Daimi, Przemek Wegrzyn, Samer Ghorayeb. Curators: Gioula Papadopoulou, Margarita Stavraki Coordinator: Nikos Podias
27-31.12.2017 Museum of Byzantine Culture (amphitheater M. Mercouri) 2 Stratou Ave. Mon-Sun 09:00-16:00 Τ: (+30) 2313 306400, 2313 306422 Entrance free The event is realized with the kind sponsorship and support of the Museum of Byzantine Culture -Thessaloniki and the State Museum of Contemporary Art -Thessaloniki. The event is part of the Parallel Program of the 6th Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art “Imagined Homes” (30.09.2017-14.01.2018 / www.thessalonikibiennale.gr). The Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art is organized by the State Museum of Contemporary Art and co-financed by Greece and the European Union (European Regional Development Fund).
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The world is not enough // curated by Gioula Papadopoulou 37min Getting ready for an invisible enemy that never comes. Secret outlaw inhabitants in the woods. Practicing for a war against cardboard copies of yourself. A borderline, built and destroyed. A reconstruction war site in the form of a “Noncity”. A house and a flying iceberg as a metaphor of displacement. A large chewing mouth that can shallow you in the middle of an empty and quiet local street. Creating an atmosphere of fear & isolation, these artworks make us wonder about our relations to the other, the fear of the other, if there is a real enemy and, finally, who (or better yet “what”) the real enemy is.
Kristina Paustian, Positions, Germany 2016, 10.20
Positions shows uniformed, armed women in a pose of defense against the background of a sunny skyline. The viewer lingers in this state - at times in sight of the women, at times among them. The real action is dislocated outside the visible region, so that one can only guess what happens in the protagonists’ field of vision. Positions is a study of the posture, the role assignments and their fulfillment. Bio: Kristina Paustian was born 1985 in Omsk, Russia. In 2003 she moved to Germany to study at the University of the Arts in Berlin. She worked as a director of photography and editor for several video artists before starting out as an artist herself. Today Paustian's artistic practice covers video art, film and installation that is part of international film and media art festivals. Her work has received worldwide acceptance and distinctions in various festivals and exhibitions and her first feature film "Zaplyv" (Swimmers) received the Arte documentary film award.
Jan Brand, Rosenthal, Germany 2009, 6.04
“Rosenthal� works like the landscape photography of an autumn forest. The forest appears empty - but with an exact look it is possible to find several persons, parties and movements in the picture. A group of policemen appears suddenly and combs the forest, like a reflection of the search of the viewer. Bio: Jan Brand was born 1975 in Frankfurt am Main in Germany; 2009 Diploma in Visual Communication from the Academy of Art and Design; He currently lives and works in Frankfurt, Germany.
Shahar Marcus, 1,2,3 Herring, Israel 2011, 2.27
"1,2,3,Herring", named after the famous children game, presents the artist playing in front of three cardboard figure, dressed in a gray uniform, which looks like a uniform of World War II soldier or a pioneer’s uniform. The scene takes place on a reconstruction war site in Israel, of the 1948 war between Egypt and Israel, where flat iron figures of Egyptian soldiers are planted in the battlefield. In the video the artist is fighting against himself while playing popular children game 1,2,3 herring. In this game the participants run up whenever the seeker turns his back to them, while he is counting to three. The participants should look like frozen when the seeker finish counting and turn toward them. The game is known also as "green light, red light". Memorial projects emphasis the manipulation and the censorships over the course of history in the process of creating a national or local myth. One of the problems of memorial projects is the single narrative manifested in them, which could be biased. An artistic action taking place in a memorial site challenges the single story and calls upon other interpretations of the historical facts. The manipulation involves in the creation of myth starts very early in our life, using the innocence of children to distort the truth to fit the cannon narrative. Approaching to the childhood experience of the audience, as well as the usage of humor could dissolve prejudice and suggest different narratives and different interpretation of history. Bio: Shahar Marcus (Israel 1971) is an interdisciplinary artist who works primarily in video, performance and installations. He regularly appears in his video works, playing different roles, crossing his personal and artistic figure with that of someone else. In his performances he relates his body to organic and perishable materials, such as dough, bread, juice or ice. His relationship to those materials examines the position and the role of his body as both human and creator. His choice of perishables likewise highlights the nature of art and life. Marcus had exhibited in many exhibitions around the world including Tate modern in London, The Israel and the Tel Aviv museum in Israel, The Charlottenburg kunsthhalle in Copenhagen, The Moscow and Poznan Biennale, The Moscow museum of modern art and other venues in Germany, France, Italy and USA.
Arnaud Brihay, Granica Grenze, German-Polish border 2013, 8.30
Video of a trace to relive. Exactly at the German-Polish border abandoned. Bio: Arnaud Brihay was born in 1972, in Belgium. He lives and works in Lyon, France. He studied photojournalism and audio-visual communication at I.H.E.C.S. Brussels and holds also a Master in Business from EML. Arnaud Brihay principally works with photography, video, mixing often these media to art installations. His photographic work reflects his frequent travels and trips around the world, wanderer catching loneliness, strangeness or intimate scenes which he gently violates. On the other hand, he produces videos approaching, among others, either instinctive sensuality, intriguing portraits and moving sequences extending his photography work. His work has been exhibited in many events, biennials and cities such as Shanghai World Expo 2010, Traffic Dubai, Bruxelles, Paris, Lyon, New Caledonia, and has been screened in various events, such as Videoformes Festival, Videoholica, Magmart 100x100=900 (100 videoartists to tell a century), Now&After 2014 Moscow, TIME is Love Screening - international video art program, and others.
Hanna Ben-Haim Yulzari, Noncity, Israel 2009, 3.22
In the artist’s words: “We toured the Negev, drifting away from the areas of Jewish and Bedouin settlements. I looked at the landscape; Yellowish hills and green flora in the desert creeks. Behind us agricultural spots. Far away emerged "Noncity ", a modern Arabic city.
Multistory buildings, turrets and domes of mosques are drawing silhouette between heaven and earth. “Noncity” as an Arabic city formula, a simulacrum. Simulacrum that twisted away from the essence of the city as a place of life, as a place for the realization of the human community in architectural space,as a home for families and individuals, for immigrants from villages and distant countries, and as attraction for pilgrims and enthusiastic tourists. Noncity is a training ground; it was built for practicing war in civil area. Will Noncity serves as self-fulfilling prophecy for future to come? Will cities lay in ruins due to Noncity model and inspiration?” Bio: Born in 1956 in Moshav Herut, Israel. Lives, creates, and teaches art in Jerusalem. She has studied Fine Arts in Jerusalem and her post-graduate studies include studies in Fine Arts, Art History and Art & Design. She has exhibited her work in 8 solo exhibitions in Jerusalem, Tel-Aviv & Paris, and in various group exhibitions & curatorial projects. Mauricio Saenz, Casa iceberg, Mexico 2015, 3.10
House-fire. House-echo. House-diaspora. House-tomb. House-iceberg. “Casa iceberg” explores the idea of displacement, both physical and mental, as a result of longing a renovated perspective on one’s existence. The social isolation produced by a specific place evokes the need for movement and transformation to a territory that could revert such condition. Bio: Mauricio Sáenz (b. 1977, Matamoros, Mexico) is a visual artist with a multidisciplinary practice spanning installation, sculpture, video and performance. His work offers new interpretations on the concept of impossibility and its relativity by means of elements that emphasize confinement and dissolve the line between reality and myth. He has displayed his work at the Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil and Foto Museo Cuatro Caminos in Mexico City, Museo de Arte del Banco de la República in Bogota, Galerie Art Virus in Frankfurt, Craighead Green Gallery in Dallas, and Jonathan Ferrara Gallery in New Orleans, as well as in countries such as France, Switzerland, Canada, Argentina, and Israel.
Mattias Härenstam, Closed Circuit (In the middle of Sweden), Sweden/Germany 2011, 3.01
The video shows a quiet residential street somewhere in Sweden. The constantly moving camera travels down the street, into a large pothole at the end, is been "swallowed" by a huge chewing mouth and turns up on the same street again. This time the street is darker and the sky red. The camera goes down the street again, down the same pothole that this time leads to a giant intestine, which "we" are passed through until we are back on the street from the beginning and the loop starts over.
Bio: Born in GÜteborg/Gothenburg, Sweden. Educated at National Academy of Fine Arts, Bergen, Norway and Städelsschule, Frankfurt a. M. Lives and works in Berlin and Oslo. He has exhibited his work in solo shows in Sweden, Norway & Berlin, and in many collective shows & screenings around the globe.
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Aperture // curated by Margarita Stavraki 30min How the focus of attention, creates and discovers places with common characteristics and then isolates them from everything else. A dangerous game of communication and noncommunication in a rich universe!
Carla Chan, When a circle meets the sky – the cold, Germany 2016 , 3.50
When a circle meets the sky is originally a video installation reflecting on the intriguing relationships among nature, technology and human agency. Shot in MelchseeFrutt,Switzerland, the video of the installation is created by a custom-made weathervane capturing reflections of a mirror determined by wind speed and direction at the location. Conventional cinema is a unidirectional medium where only things in the front will be captured. In this artwork, the camera looks both forward and backward simultaneously. Instead of a cameraperson selecting our perspectives, the artist allows the wind to choose our views.Nature shoots a film with no human interaction and presence, intensifying the isolation of the remote mountain while at the same time complicating our expected relationships among nature, technology and human participation in the process of artistic creation. Bio: Carla Chan is a media artist based in Berlin and Hong Kong. She works with a variety of media, such as video, installation, photography and interactive media. Her works have been selected and showcased extensively in in Asia, Europe, South America and North America. She was selected to participate European Mobile dome Lab [E/M/D/L]. Her video won the "Top 3" video award at the Jakarta International Video Festival. Her works also showed in the 26th Stuttgarter Filmwinter (GE), CYNETART festival (GE) and Hong Kong Contemporary Art Awards 2012 (HK). She had also her solo exhibition at SMAC in Berlin and published her artist book titled TO OUTLAND.
Jem Raid, The story of the industrial Leotard, UK 2016, 5.00
Jem Raid makes figurative images with himself. The core of his work is the dereliction brought about by the constantly changing state of manufacturing anywhere in the world. Factories, those who worked in them and the sites they stood on are abandoned. He notices that there is nothing anyone can do about it, one person's lost job becomes another person's livelihood. Bio: Jem Raid worked as a photographer for fifty years and lately he works on video. His works have been selected and showcased in Europe.
Mario Santamaria, Palace of Versailles 1min 8s. Running Through the Museum, Spain 2013, 1.18
"Running through the museum" proposes to cross museum spaces at the fastest possible speed on Google Art Project taking as reference to the protagonists action in "Bande à part" film by Jean-Luc Godard. Bio: Mario Santamaria works as an artist and cultural programmer. Cofounder of the Working Group Ex Film, director of Experimental Creation Cycle Fycam (Dublin). Since 2009 their practices are close to net art, online action and expanded cinema. Resident in projects like In Between Project, Paris 8 (Paris, France) or Sarai (New Delhi, India) or Flax Art Studios (Belfast, Northern Ireland). Selected exhibitions include: Infosphere. ZKM Karlsruhe, Germany (2015); Especies de Espacios. MACBA, Barcelona (2015); Appunti. Inéditos. La Casa Encendida, Madrid (2015); The Act & The Tracer. Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart, Germany (2015); We are Here Because you were/are (t)here. Das Weisse Haus. Vienna, Austria (2014); Look into the net. Edith-Russ-Haus, Oldenburg, Germany (2014); Fuga. Variations for an exhibition. Antoni Tàpies Foundation. Barcelona (2013); Sarai Reader 09. Devi Art Foundation, Gurgaon, India (2012) and (In)visibility & (un)control. Fernando Pradilla Gallery, Madrid (2010).
Teymur Daimi, Window, Azerbaijan, 2015, 11.22
"He" beholds what happens behind a window... "He" continues to behold even after something is happened and it seems that the look would have to be disappeared... Bio: Teymur Daimi was born in Baku in 1966. He is a film director, he graduated from the A. Azimzadeh State Art College of Azerbaijan in 1985 and from the State Culture and Art University of Azerbaijan in 1993. In 1996, Daimi published "The Find of the Way", and in 2000 he defended his Ph.D. thesis at the Institute of Philosophy and Law of the Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan. Since the ends of 90 Teymur Daimi has participated in different projects and exhibitions including 53-th Venice Biennale, (Venice, Italy). As a film director Daimi has taken part in international film festivals and exhibitions, and has worked with the "Bravo" and "Caspian Supplies" studios.
Przemek Wegrzyn, Security Measures, Poland 2014, 5.55
The work is inspired by U.S. Embassy warning messages that artist received accidentally over last few years. They contained information about potential safety problems for American citizens residing in Poland. Exaggerating these problems, they had nothing in common with
the real situation in the country. They seemed to Przemek Wegrzyn's artistic view an example of ignorance with a slight feeling of surrealism. Bio: Przemek Wegrzyn is a Poland based visual artist and independent filmmaker. Graduated from University of Wroclaw and Academy of Fine Arts in Wroclaw, Poland. His videos have been exhibited in numerous film and new media festivals worldwide, including: WRO Biennale, Invideo Festival, Taiwan Video Art Exhibition, Curta Cinema, KLEX and Videoformes.
Samer Ghorayeb, From My Window, Lebanon 2012, 2.31
The spark that ignited the civil war in Lebanon occurred in Beirut on April 13, 1975, when gunmen killed four Phalangists during an attempt on Pierre Jumayyil's life. Officially the Lebanese war ended in 1990, after splitting the country into two opposing religious camps (Christians and Muslims) for 15 years; today, the post-war symptoms are still there and the fear from a new war is dominating the citizens. “From My Window� is an experimental video that illustrates this scary war that is knocking at the door once again. Bio: Samer Ghorayeb worked in communication before start working on film. In 2008, he wrote and directed the short experimental film, Le Petit Cahier Noir, which earned wide acclaim in international film festivals. His major body of work is in the documentary production field where he is commissioned by prominent NGOs in Lebanon and the region.
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Video Art Miden Video Art Miden is an independent organization for the exploration and promotion of video art. Founded by an independent group of Greek artists in 2005 in Kalamata, it seeks to stimulate the creation of original video art, to help spread it and develop relevant research. Through collaborations and exchanges with major international festivals and organizations, it has been recognized as one of the most successful and interesting video art platforms
internationally and as an important cultural exchange point for Greek and international video art. It also provides an alternative meeting point for emerging and established artists and a communication hub between artists, organizations, festivals and art spaces around the world. (*Miden means “zero� in Greek) Art direction: Gioula Papadopoulou & Margarita Stavraki Info: www.festivalmiden.gr || www.facebook.com/festivalmiden