Peripheral ARTeries Art Review - Special Edition by Peripheral ARTeries Art Review

Winter 2015

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Special Edition Installation • Painting • Mixed media • Drawing • Performance • Public Art • Drawing • Video art • Fine Art Photography

CORBETTE FOGUE KATARZYNA ZIMNA MILES RUFELDS ALEXANDRE DANG MARION TU GERD BROCKMANN MARTA WAPIENNIK K.GIANNOUTAKIS NICOLE BENNER

How I Became an Atheist by Reading Nietzsche, 2016 Potential Installation, Paris Church St View

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

Be that as it may, this catalog or any portion there of may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without express written permission from Peripheral ARTeries and featured artists.

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lives and works in Atlanta, GA,USA

lives and works in Paris, France

Anastasiya Labada Totalitarian Shapes

lives and works in Philadelphia, PA, USA

lives and works in Lodz, Poland

BINDU, 2015

lives and works in Oldenburg, Germany

lives and works in Athens, Greece

BLACK & GREY THOUGHT

Carla Forte at the Berlinale Talent 2017 http://www.fortecarla.com/index.html

lives and works in Houston, USA

lives and works in Cracow, Poland

lives and works in Montreal, Canada

Special thanks to: Julia Ă&#x153;berreiter, Deborah Esses, Margaret Noble, Nathalie Borowski, Marco Visch, Xavier Blondeau, J.D. Doria, Matthias Callay, Luiza Zimerman, Kristina Sereikaite, Scott D'Arcy, Kalli Kalde, Carla Forte, Mathieu Goussin, Dorothee Zombronner, Olga Karyakina, Robert Hamilton, Isabel Becker, Carrie Alter, Jessica Bingham, Fabian Freese, Elodie Abergel, Ellen van der Schaaf and Courtney Henderson

Nicole Benner Lives and works in Atlanta, GA, USA

My work examines the numerous layers of the body affected by chronic pain, as it relates to spinal health. This includes the physical, psychological, and emotional impact that chronic pain has on different individuals. I engage with the complexities of the human anatomy through objects that exist, or could exist, on the figure. Each piece allows for the consideration of how the object affects the wearer/viewer and how the wearer/viewer affects the object. My responsiveness to the spine as a subject initiates through my own chronic back pain and the knowledge that spinal issues are very common. Most people with back pain are constantly aware of the role the backbone plays in supporting their body and facilitating movement. Comfort/Confine is a full body casing that considers the broad, restrictive isolation placed on the body when an individual deals with chronic pain. I utilize the copper yarn as a reference to the nervous system: an aspect of my own chronic pain that can be debilitating. Here, the body has defined mobility, only capable of reaching where the textile allows. The materials chosen to create these objects are thoughtfully considered to reflect these ideas. I explore how a material references different layers of the body, what properties the material has, how it can be manipulated, and what impact it will have on the body as it is transformed into a garment or panel construction. The techniques and materials I choose are familiar to us through our understanding of apparel and the function of specific textiles. I utilize that familiarity to engage with the viewer and encourage them to question what those garments could mean. The textiles that exist on the body consider what it is like when you are forced into an awareness of your own body. Sometimes that is through pain or injury, but that awareness can also come from places of confidence and self-consciousness. I encourage the viewer to approach the work and consider what awareness they have when imagining the comfort/discomfort of wearing the garments.

Sentience, Incubator Gallery, Kranzberg Arts Center, St. Louis, Missouri

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Nicole Benner Lives and works in Atlanta, GA, USA Nicole is a textile artist and Lecturer in Textiles at Georgia State University in Atlanta. She received an MFA in Textile Arts from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and a BFA in Sculpture from the University of Central Missouri. Her work has been featured in the international publications, Fiber Art Now and Surface Design, and is part of the Crossing Generations: Past, Present & Future exhibition at the 2017 Surface Design Association Conference in Portland, Oregon. Nicole is also a current artist of the 2017-2018 Walthall Fellowship in Atlanta, GA.

An interview by Josh Ryder, curator and Melissa C. Hilborn, curator

background. You have a solid background and after having earned your BFA in Sculpture you nurtured your education with a Master of Fine Arts with emphasis on Textiles, that you received from Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville: how did these experiences influence the way you currently conceive your works?

peripheral.arteries@europe.com

Experimenting with a wide variety of materials, artist Nicole Benner's work rejects any conventional classification regarding its style, to examines the numerous layers of the body affected by chronic pain, as it relates to spinal health. Drawing from her personal experience, Benner addresses the viewers through a multilayered experience and as in her body of works that we'll be discussing in the following pages, she successfully attempts to trigger the spectatorship's perceptual parameters, with a deeper focus on a complementary dialogue between materiality, content and the encounter with the viewers. One of the most impressive aspects of Benner's work is the way it accomplishes the difficult task of utilizing the familiarity of the materials she combines in her works to encourage the spectatorship to elaborate personal associations and interpretations: we are very pleased to introduce our readers to her stimulating and multifaceted artistic production.

Hello, and thank you for having me. When working through my undergraduate degree, fibers and fabric manipulation was formally new to me. I had been sewing clothing and costumes since I was very young, but everything I knew about working with fibers and fabrics was primarily selftaught. Toward the end of my undergraduate studies, I was dedicated to exploring sculptural forms through felting, knitting, and crocheting, while simultaneously researching whatever I could about historic and contemporary textile artists. Moving toward my graduate degree at SIUE, I was welcomed into a community of amazing mentors and artists. There was always a productive and positive challenge brought forth in every discussion, and it was that constant dialogue that kept me motivated. This experience allowed me to fearlessly jump into new ideas, new materials, try, fail, and problem solve confidently. That has definitely carried through to my current practice. Additionally, I had the time and incredible

Hello Nicole and welcome to Peripheral ARTeries: we would start this interview with a couple of questions about your multifaceted

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Nicole Benner

Circulate Silk gauze, silk organza, cotton thread, PLA plastic

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to wear. So, I very methodically created hand sewn French Seams so all of the rough edges were hidden.

resources to absorb as much as I could about the multifaceted world of textiles. I spent a whole semester focusing primarily on learning new techniques. This led into my exploration of working with a more interdisciplinary approach, because I did not want to focus on one material or process, but explore the same conceptual ideas through different means. This stands true to my current practice. I will find a material I am really motivated by and weave it into my conceptual ideas working with chronic pain and the human anatomy.

I am also particularly interested in traditional textile techniques that we associate with domestic items and clothing. I like to form associations between the object and the viewer with this familiarity, and that is often a jumping off point for my experimentation. You are a versatile artist: the spectrum of the materials that you combine in your works include silk gauze, steel, cotton, organza and we have appreciated the way you explore the tactile contrasts that you obtain with such variety of materials: Michael Fried once stated that 'materials do not represent, signify, or allude to anything; they are what they are and nothing more.' What are the properties that you search for in the materials that you combine? In particular, what does appeal you of fibers?

Your works convey a coherent sense of unity, that rejects any conventional classification. Before starting to elaborate about your production, we would suggest to our readers to visit http://nicolebenner.com in order to get a synoptic view of your work: in the meanwhile, would you like to tell our readers something about your process and set up? How much importance does spontaneity play in your work? In particular, do you conceive you works instinctively or do you methodically elaborate your pieces?

Materials play a key component in my work. I would say they are responsible for half the narrative I am putting forth, at least. There will be times when a material jumps out at me and I spend time considering how to incorporate it into my work, but more often, I am judging a material based on how I associate it with the human anatomy. When I am talking about the numerous layers of the body affected by chronic pain, I often begin by connecting a material with a physical layer: muscles, nervous system, skeletal structure. I look for materials that represent a hard and soft quality as reference to strength and weakness. I am especially drawn to materials that are transparent and allow the human form to be seen when the object is being worn. When working with an ethereal transparent material like soft silk organza, I will establish the “strength” in the technique I use, since the fabric is seemingly so delicate. That is true for Plaited Constraint. The piece is very structured, but constructed from a delicate, “soft tissue-like” fabric.

I would have to say a little of both. When working with a range of materials and techniques, some ideas move fluidly from brain to hand, and other times I need to experiment with a material and process an idea from hand to brain. In turn, I will spend time working on a piece that I know has a clear direction, while simultaneously experimenting with new techniques in different materials. It essentially keeps both sides of my brain busy, and that is how I enjoy working. I would say it is rare for me to have only one piece in progress at a time. When working on a piece that requires a lot of repetition, such as crocheting skeins and skeins of yarn in Comfort/Confine, I will have another methodical, and tedious piece going as well. This was the case when constructing Brace. With this piece, I was manipulating corset-making techniques into a brace form that extends from under the bust, down to the ankles. The brace itself being made out of aluminum mesh, I was searching for a way to construct the piece safely for a person

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In regard to what about textiles appeals to me, I would say the tactile quality of textiles is something I have not found in other media. When I began working with fibers and felting, I knew it was a medium I was truly in love with. Partially, I believe my deep childhood interest in making clothing and costumes jump-started my captivation. Every aspect of textiles requests that I touch the material, or I am intrigued on a level that requires I get closer to the fabric. So, while I work in a range of materials, textiles and textile processes remain my constant. With my focus on the human anatomy, this media lends itself effortlessly, but I am engaged in the different processes and the rich history of textiles as a whole. As I mentioned before, I utilize materials and techniques as an association between the viewer and the object. Regardless of an individualâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s background, every person has an association with textiles that allows them an immediate entrance into my work. For this special edition of Peripheral ARTeries we have selected Comfort/Confine, a full body casing that considers the broad, restrictive isolation placed on the body when an individual deals with chronic pain. What has at once captured our attention of your artistic inquiry is the way you provided the visual results of your analysis with autonomous aesthetics: when walking our readers through the genesis of Comfort/Confine would you tell us your sources of inspiration? How did you develop the initial idea? While my whole body of work originates from a place of personal narrative, I do research and listen to the experiences of other individuals dealing with chronic pain. Comfort/Confine is a piece closely associated to my own experience with spinal health because it originated while I was dealing with a rough stint of severe back pain. Without getting into too much detail about the medical side of it, disc issues in my lower spine can cause severe nerve pain to travel down my leg. Additionally, it can cause spinal alignment to be off and create severe muscle spasms. At this time, I was focused on a type of pain that controls my whole body, not just my back. Beyond

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Comfort/Confine

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that, it controls what I am able to do all together, and to have that amount of control out of my hands, I found harrowing. So, I refocused that pain into my work, and problem solved how to put these feeling into a piece that would demonstrate the experience I was having at the time. Equally, I was problem solving how I could work from the comfort of my bed. With that, I began crocheting a dimensional form, fitting the contours to my body. Thoughtfully, I was working with a metallic yarn that I had found some months before, and it was the perfect fit for the material relationship I wanted for this piece. I chose to crochet because of the close association everyone has with this technique. Whether it be a blanket, hat, scarf, or stuffed animal, each of these elements is something we associate with comfort. While the yarn is truly soft and light, the metallic quality translates visually to something that may be hard and heavy. As the piece evolved, I knew it needed to not only encompass the body, but extend beyond the feet. On one hand, this is a personal space, a cocoon, and the circular footprint isolates the individual. On the other side, the piece is restrictive, and that pain or loss of control extends beyond the physical and into that individual’s larger space. This was the duality I wanted to create with.

what I need to do to take care of myself, to prevent or ease pain while still working. So, even when my back decides to cooperate, the awareness and that direct experience is still present. Making is my way to control it. It is a journaling process, and a way to tell a narrative I know many people associate with. I would say, in turn, I am never lacking a story to tell, but maybe my materials cannot keep up! I believe when I am having a stint where pain is minimal, that likely reflects in the work I am making at the time, whether it is referencing strength in materiality, or focusing on a specific physical layer that is very controlled. Ultimately, my experience reminds me of my ability to problem solve, find a positive, and focus on making. We daresay that Plaited Constraint provides abstract feelings with a tactile sense of permanence, to create materiality of the immaterial: how did you come up with the idea of this captivating artwork? As I have mentioned, I like to work with materials and processes that people have an association with. Plaiting is a technique used heavily in basketmaking, but it is also used as decorative elements on pillows, and in the small “finger trap” toys so many of us are familiar with. I was able to immediately draw parallels to this technique being traditionally used to make vessels and how chronic pain takes over the body and there is an encompassing feeling of being stuck in one’s own skin (vessel). Part of my practice digs into research about chronic pain in regard to spinal health. It is an issue I deal with constantly, so I never lack reference, but I have also read numerous studies that note 80% of the population deal with back issues at some point in their life. I found that number staggering. Chronic pain tends to be a hidden ailment until it affects your ability to stand or walk properly. When I was approaching this body of work, I was considering how to shift the emotional perspective of what is happening on the interior and bringing it to the exterior. While no one can see chronic pain, the physical and

As you have remarked in your artist's statement, your responsiveness to the spine as a subject initiates through your own chronic back pain and the knowledge that spinal issues are very common: how would you consider the relationship between everyday life's experience and your creative process? How does direct experience fuel your imagination? As I mentioned in regard to Comfort/Confine, part of my creative process is finding control in an uncontrollable issue. At this point, my spinal issues have become a part of my studio practice. I arrange my working space in specific ways to add comfort, and I consciously stretch and make sure I am not hunched over my sewing machine for too long. This is an additional reason I usually have multiple pieces in progress at the same time. I am aware of

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How Would You Rate Your Pain, Silk gauze, yarn, thread

Plaited Constraint, Hand dyed silk organza

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perceptual and cultural parameters. The power of visual arts in the contemporary age is enormous: at the same time, the role of the viewerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s disposition and attitude is equally important. Both our minds and our bodies need to actively participate in the experience of contemplating a piece of art: it demands your total attention and a particular kind of effort â&#x20AC;&#x201D; itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s almost a commitment. What do you think about the role of the viewer? Are you particularly interested if you try to achieve to trigger the viewers' perception as starting point to urge them to elaborate personal interpretations?

emotional side of this issue move into your larger space. It is reaching beyond your head and beyond your toes. Ultimately, I approach this piece just like the others: I am identifying one more layer of the body affected by chronic pain. For Plaited Constraint, that layer is not as much a physical layer as it is emotional. Despite to clear references to tactile reality your visual vocabulary, as revealed by the interesting Underarm Brace, has a very ambivalent, almost ethereal quality. How do you view the concepts of the real and the imagined playing out within your works? How would you define the relationship between abstraction and representation in your practice?

While my works originate from a place of personal narrative, I am very engaged in the role of the viewer. While a large portion of the population deals with some form of the chronic pain, I also acknowledge that many people do not. In particular with the objects that exist on a human form, I hope to encourage the viewer to input themselves into the position of the figure and consider the way they would feel if they were wearing that object. Both physically and mentally. Through the familiar materials and the human figure, I try to engage with all viewers so they can input their personal interpretation. I enjoy hearing people acknowledge a similar understanding of the piece as my experience, but equally, some interpretations may come from a place of anxiety, or pain that comes from an accident. I find those additional personal interpretations to inspire beyond even my original intention.

When talking about the interior workings of the human anatomy, it is not always as simple as drawing a spine, muscle structures, etc. Often, the emotional impact and how I interpret an experience comes forward as being very abstract. I talk about the multiple layers of the body affected by chronic pain. I would say I can easily draw parallels between representation and the physical layers, and abstraction and the emotional layers. Depending on the origin of a piece, I then look for a balance between abstraction and representation to better understand the narrative. In the case of Underarm Brace, I began with representation: a type of brace used to treat scoliosis. Then the abstraction came forward by forcing a delicate material that references muscle and soft-tissue to make up the surface material of the brace framed in steel. It pulls back and forth between functional and nonfunctional. If the viewer was to imagine wearing the object they would have to consider the discomfort of the brace, but also the inability to move for fear of damaging the seemingly delicate fabric. I avidly try to find a balance between the abstraction and representation, the emotional and the physical in order to clearly translate a narrative.

Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your thoughts, Nicole. Finally, would you like to tell our readers something about your future projects? How do you see your work evolving? I consider the works that exist on the body to be fresh with a lot of room for evolution and growth, so currently, I am doing more in-depth exploration into crocheted forms. Simultaneously, I am focusing on the way these works are activated. The human figure plays such a huge role in these works, and the experience is

You use familiar materials to engage with the viewer and encourage them to challenge their

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Brace Detail, Wire mesh, steel, nuts and bolts

much different when the piece is on a human vs. on a mannequin. When I collaborated with Arica Brown and Consuming Kinetics Dance Company, I saw Comfort/Confine activated in a way that I am really interested in. Since then, I have shown the video documentation of the performance Molecular Memory, alongside the object and I am digging into how performance and this form of documentation have the potential to elevate the

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objects. I hope to have more of these ideas incorporated into my portfolio in the coming months. Thanks so much for this opportunity. An interview by Josh Ryder, curator and Melissa C. Hilborn, curator peripheral.arteries@europe.com

Brace

Lives and works in Paris, France

13 October 2014 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 18 March 2015: At John Jay College, City University of New York, USA

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Alexandre Dang Lives and works in Paris, France Establishing an effective synergy between Art and Technology, Alexandre Dang's works stress the way in which perception depends on cultural perspectives, accomplishing the difficult task of educating the general public and especially young generations on contemporary environmental and energetic issues. His Dancing Solar Flowers that we'll be discussing in the following pages invite us to rethink about way we perceive not only the environment we inhabit in, but also and especially our role and our relationship with Nature. The power of Dang's approach lies in his incessant research of a point of concurrency of various meanings of beauty to create a coherent and multi-layered narrative: so it's with a real pleasure that I would like to introduce our readers to his stimulating works.

An interview by Josh Ryder, curator and Melissa C. Hilborn, curator

My scientific background gives me also a sort of reading grid on things that surround us, hence perceiving them from a scientific and technological point of view.

peripheral.arteries@europe.com

Hello Alexandre, and welcome to Peripheral ARTeries: to start this interview, would you like to tell us something about your background? You have a solid scientific training and you degreed at the prestigious École Polytechnique in Paris. How has these experiences influence your evolution as an artists and how do they impact on the way you currently conceive and produce your works?

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? When viewing my artworks notably the “Dancing Solar Flowers”, public often have a smile: I appreciate this very much, because one aspect of my works is to bring poetry, emotion and in particular smile to people. Everyday's life is difficult enough when viewing all catastrophes and problems that occur just around us and worldwide.

Hello, many thanks for your interest in my work and for asking me questions. To answer this first question, I would say that having a scientific and technological background enables me to conceive and realise some works integrating technological means notably electronics, mechanics, physics etc..

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Although the works bring smile and seem easy, realising them is not just a children's game, it is really a lot of work! I have to conceive a first draft, do some pre-testing, address the issues (notably technical!), find solutions, do some further tests, find again solutions, finetune etc… Realising a new work takes some months or sometimes some years. It's important to highlight it, as when it is realised, everything seems so easy… Now let's focus on your artistic production: I would start from "Field of Dancing Solar Flowers" that our readers have already started to get to know in the introductory pages of this article: and I would suggest to our readers to visit your website directly at http://www.alexandredang.com/ in order to get a wider idea of your artistic production... In the meanwhile, would you like to tell us something about the genesis of this interesting project? What was your initial inspiration? I just saw the Field of Dancing Solar Flowers my mind! I told some friends about it and they could not understand what I was speaking about. So I realised it! I remember the first Field of Dancing Solar Flowers exhibited in February 2006. It was in Brussels in an international surrounding, with people from all over Europe. I could understand only very few comments as they were speaking lots of different languages like Hungarian, Polish, Czech and Romanian… but I saw their expression in their faces and also all the

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body languageâ&#x20AC;Ś Apparently they seemed to appreciate and this was my best reward. A relevant feature of "Dancing Solar Flowers" that has particularly impacted on me is the way you highlight the inner bond between Man and Nature: you invite the viewer to appreciate the intrinsic but sometimes disregarded beauty of geometrical patterns, bringing a new level of significance to the idea of landscape itself. In particular, the evolving nature of the installation at Queen Fabiola Children Hospital offers a multilayered experience and can be read at two levels: first, it give the intuitive idea of beauty conveyed by flowers, on the second hand the interaction with external light reveals the geometric substratum on which such beauty is grounded... Like Jean Tinguely's generative works, this installation raises a question on the role of the viewers' perception, forcing us to going beyond the common way we perceive not only the outside world, but our inner dimension... We are personally convinced that some information 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? Yes, I fully agree. When I see the public looking at my works, I always wonder on which side is the work. Is it the work displayed or is it the expression in the face

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of the viewer hence revealing her/his inner Nature and Beauty! Marked with careful pedagogic aspect, your works accomplishes the recurrent but difficult task of instilling a consciousness about the potential of eco-friendly technologies and renewable energy, especially in young generations. In this direction, the chance of taking a participatory line with the viewer both on an emotional aspect as well as on an intellectual one is a crucial point of your Art: while referring to an easily "fruible" set of symbols as starting points, you seem to remove the historic gaze from the reality you refer to, offering to the viewers the chance to perceive in a more absolute form, in order to address us not only on a mere contingent view but especially to invites us to rethink about our future. So I would take this occasion 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? Direct experience is not only important but even key for me and in particular for my creation. I think it's important to mention that besides conveying environmental messages through your artistic production, you have founded Solar Solidarity International, a non-profit international association whose website can be visited at http://solarsolidarite.org)

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to raise awareness on the potential of renewable sources of energy and to support solar electrification of schools in developing countries. Although I'm aware that this might sound even a bit naïf, I have to admit that I'm sort of convinced that Art could play an effective role in sociopolitical questions: not only just by offering to people a generic platform for expression... In particular, 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? I'm convinced that art can significantly influence the world. In very concrete terms, I organise workshops where participants are first sensitized as regards the potential of renewable sources of energy and issues linked with sustainable development, and then they realise their own “Dancing Solar Flowers” from the edition "Fill in your own pattern!". These workshops were originally devoted to young public: children, teenagers… but we discovered that adults were also very fond of these workshops! These workshops as a prolongation of the works reinforce the impact of the works. I'm also glad, through Solar Solidarity International, to be able for some years now to support with my copyrights some solar electrification projects like solar electrification of schools, hospitals, orphanages… in the developing world for instance in India, Togo, Tanzania, Mali, Morocco, Kenya, Senegal, Burkina Faso,

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a particular idea push you into pursuing it or do you prefer to maintain a more neutral viewpoint?

Nepal, Haiti, Ecuadorâ&#x20AC;Ś Maybe because I have a scientific background myself, I strongly believe of convinced that the boundary between Art and Technology will come more and more blurry, with a mutual convergence between such apparently different disciplines. Multidisciplinarity is a crucial aspect of your art practice and you seem to be in an incessant search of an organic, almost intimate symbiosis between Visual Arts and Technology, taking advantage of the creative and expressive potential of Sculpture as well as of the interactive nature offered by Technology: while crossing the borders of these 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?

All over the exhibitions in the world, I can see a very universal response from the audience: people mainly smile and start asking "How is this moving? What does it mean?" And this is for me the most important: bringing people to smile and to think about important contemporary issues. Thanks a lot for this interesting conversation, Alexandre. Finally, I 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? There are plenty of upcoming exhibitions in the coming weeks for instance in Paris, in Boston, at NordArt in the north of Hamburg, in Venice, in Japan, in Singaporeâ&#x20AC;Ś so I would love that the readers have a look at a real installation. In the meantime, it is possible to have a look at some videos in the video section on my website www.alexandredang.com: this can already give some flavour.

I'm often asked about the difference between art and science. For me, there is more a complementarity. In fact, art and sciences are like a pair of eyes that enable to see in 3D! During these years "Dancing Solar Flowers" have been internationally exhibited in several occasions: from Europe to China, from Korea to the United States: what experiences have you received in these occasions? Moreover, since your Dancing Solar Flowers are feedback systems themselves I would ask you the importance of the feedback of your audience: does a positive response to

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Many thanks again for your interest in my work and for taking the time to ask these very interesting questions.

An interview by Josh Ryder, curator and Melissa C. Hilborn, curator peripheral.arteries@europe.com

25 May 2009: "

At the Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert, Brussels, Belgium

Corbett Fogue Lives and works in Houston, USA

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Corbett Fogue Lives and works in Houston, USA Drawing inspiration from the death of his father from an incurable lung condition, Philadelphia based artist Corbett Fogue's work explores the unique nature of human experience through the elusive notion of time: his approach rejects any conventional classification and crosses the elusive boundary that defines the area of perception from the realm of imagination, to create a multilayered involvement with the viewers, who are invited to investigates about the ubiquitous and conflictual relationship between human and its environment. One of the most convincing aspect of Fogue's practice is the way it accomplishes the difficult task of exploring the liminal space between the ephemeral and the eternal: we are very pleased to introduce our readers to his multifaceted artistic production.

An interview by Josh Ryders, curator and Melissa C. Hilborn, curator

are usually within anyone’s reach. I hope that this creates an opening for viewers to insert themselves into the piece. They can see themselves in the shiny surface of Do Not Resuscitate. They can call and have their breathing digitally archived in I’m Sorry I Missed You. Ultimately, we all breathe.

peripheral.arteries@europe.com

Hello Corbett and welcome to Peripheral ARTeries: to start this interview, would you like to tell us something about your background? You have a solid formal training and after your studies at the University of Northern Iowa, you nurtured your education with a MFA of Studio Art, that you received from the University of South Florida: how did these experiences influence your evolution as an artist? And in particular, does your cultural substratum as an American artist inform the way you relate yourself to the aesthetic problem?

I don’t know if this is a particularly American thing or not, but I like the idea of making the physical presence of my work appear to be something that anyone could do. There’s a leveling of the relationship between artist and viewer. I think that kind of transparency allows the content of the work to become more clear.

Technically, my work (and a lot of performance based art) is democratic. The means of production

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(Last Words, News Paper, Obituary)

(Last Words, News (Last Paper,Words, Obituary) News Paper, Obituary)

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Your approach coherently encapsulates several viewpoints and reveals an incessant search of an organic investigation about the notion of duality that affects our unstable contemporary age, and the results convey together a coherent and consistent sense of harmony and unity. Before starting to elaborate about your production, we would suggest to our readers to visit http://www.corbettfogue.com in order to get a synoptic view of your multifaceted artistic production: while walking our readers through your process and set up, we would like to ask you how did you develop your style and how do you conceive your works.

During my first year in graduate school my father lost a 17 year battle with an incurable lung condition called Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis After my fatherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s passing, it was clear to me that I would have to immediately tackle my situation and work to create a new normal. The work began as a means of catharsis. The work was very heavy, as one would expect such subject matter to be, but as I continued to create I quickly realized the the action of breathing became both the means and meaning of the work. For this special edition of ARTiculAction we have selected Breath Study, an extremely interesting project that our readers have already started to get to know in the introductory pages of this article. What has at once caught our attention of your focus on the act of breathing is the way, it accomplishes the difficult task of establishing a channel of communication between the subconscious sphere and the conscious one, to unveil the manifold nature of human perceptual categories and to draw the viewers into a multilayered experience. So we would take this occasion 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?

As a student, I studied photography and performance. Initially, I thought of them as very separate practices. They came together with an assignment in which I explored my own name. I was named after a boxer (Gentleman Jim Corbett). I started taking boxing lessons at a local gym and also took portraits of the other men and boys who were learning with me. This kind of experiential mode of working made a lot of sense to me. I was not an observer anymore as I had been as a photographer. I was part of the content and doing the activity was crucial.

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I think it depends on how broadly you define the concept of personal experience. With the boxing work, the trigger was a bit of autobiographical information but it led me to do something that I had never really thought of doing. Stepping into the ring provided a means of learning about myself as well as the other boxers.

I would have to say it is a combination of the two. I tend to think I am memorializing the most ephemeral things with methods that are likewise transitory and fleeting. There’s a kind of irony there but at the same time it feels very appropriate. We definitely love the way you question the tactile feature of images, unveiling the visual feature of information you developed through an effective non linear narrative that establish direct relations with the viewers: German multidisciplinary artist Thomas Demand once stated that "nowadays art can no longer rely so much on symbolic strategies and has to probe psychological, narrative elements within the medium instead". What is your opinion about it? And in particular how do you conceive the narrative for your works?

Breathing is a natural autonomic process on one level, but drawing attention to the act of breathing through meditation or art brings the awareness that it is something we all share. This shared experience can be simply stated as a fact or as a metaphor. Both of these examples indicate that, at least in my own work, personal experience is crucial for the creative process. Your successful attempt to create works that stand as record of existence allows you to capture non-sharpness with an universal kind of language, capable of bringing to a new level of significance the elusive still ubiquitous relationship between experience and memory, to create direct relations with the spectatorship: What is the role of memory in your process? We are particularly interested if you try to achieve a faithful translation of your previous experiences or if you rather use memory as starting point to create.

Demand is right. We do not share a common vocabulary of symbols as they did in the Renaissance for example. This doesn’t mean we don’t have shared myths, it’s just that there is likely less agreement on what they stand for. This ambiguity can be useful however. Rather than being didactic as those symbolic works from the past often were, art serves more as a

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conduit for the viewer to consider her/his relationship to whatever concept is being presented. In a way, this places the viewer at the center of the narrative. It is not a story about Hercules but rather a story about you experiencing this work; thinking about these ideas I am sharing with you. While lots of artists from the contemporary scene, as Ai WeiWei or more recently Jennifer Linton, use to convey open sociopolitical criticism in their works, you seem more interested to hint the direction, inviting the viewers to a process of selfreflection that may lead to subvert a variety of usual, almost stereotyped cultural categories. Do you consider that your works could be considered political in a certain sense or did you seek to maintain a more neutral approach? And in particular, what could be in your opinion the role that an artist could play in the contemporary society?

I think there are many different roles that artists play within our culture. I admire Aiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work. It has that cold severe beauty of Minimalism but he is able to connect that with these overwhelming tragedies and the results are so poetic. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m thinking mainly of the piece where he straightened 150 tons of rebar that were salvaged from schools leveled by the Sichuan earthquake. I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t try to

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any one piece to manifest in its most natural form.

take on big events like that. I prefer to explore the small details of living that we all share. My work is political in that it does argue the experience of each individual is worth noting. The mundane is monumental.

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

Your works have been showcased in several occasions, including your recent show "Deep Breaths” at the Arc Gallery, Chicago. One of the hallmarks of your practice is the capability to create a direct involvement with the viewers, who are urged to evolve from a condition of mere spectatorship. So before leaving this conversation we would like to pose a question about the nature of the relationship of your art with your audience. Do you consider the issue of audience reception as being a crucial component of your decision-making process, in terms of what type of language is used in a particular context?

Along side the Breath Studies, I find myself returning to evolve my En Memorandum series. This work more actively explores memory and the the ability for the monument to act as a catalyst for transcendence. I’m currently working on pieces that explore a platform to transcend time by combining memory with the common experience of food. There is a significant history of this topic from still life painting to the more performative works of artists like Alison Knowles and Rikrit Tiravanija. I’m starting with some recipes that my father developed or adapted. He wrote them down in these really wonderful letters. I’m not sure where I’m going with it yet, but I’m excited about digging into the content. Stay tuned!

The audience is crucial. In some ways, the work is incomplete until it is experienced by others. I tend to focus on clear direct language. While I want everyone to feel welcome to any one piece I also understand that the language is received in different ways by every person. I look at this as a challenge. I feel that it allots me the opportunity to be unconstrained with my medium choices; to truly be able to explore the act of breathing and allow

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An interview by Josh Ryders, curator and Melissa C. Hilborn, curator peripheral.arteries@europe.com

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Gerd G.M. Brockmann Lives and works in Oldenburg, Germany An interview by Josh Ryders, curator and Melissa C. Hilborn, curator peripheral.arteries@europe.com

Hello Peripheral and thank you for the invitation. Yes, my studies at the University of Flensburg gave me some basics about the combination of textile, art and visual media concepts and I learned to use my experiences from the early years. In the 90´s I finished an apprenticeship in an old tradition house (since 1899), near Hamburg and I learned a lot of things about fabrics, garment, sewing and all that stuff in a really “old-school” way. It was the intense beginning of my new work periods. Between ephemeral works, the body as media, textiles as second skin, nature and environment as artistic space. I was able to use my “old-school” experience as well as my science from the university basics at Flensburg´s art and textile departments, to create new works and my new research projects became a short time later reality. In the same year I realized a small project at Istanbul, after I meet the members of a small independent art space at the Contemporary Istanbul Fair while showing my portfolio to the galleries. And step by step my works got an international touch and I started to work between both countries and I love the cultural exchange, the idea to develop a new visual language for me that includes both cultures.

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In the contemporary art world of the modern era it is essential to enter into a symbiotic relationship with other disciplines to develop yourself as an artist and to create a new visual language. Through the networked world of fine arts mutated into a global activity and in this age of globalization it is essential to get new realms by fusing art, fashion, photography, design and craft, to create new perceptions for the observer. My work is characterized as a new form of public in art and at the same department it offers an insight into the geopolitics of the art system of the 21st century. To survive in today's art market, it is necessary to develop critical tools to allow the viewer a glimpse behind the curtain. The multidisciplinary symbiosis as you call it allows me to develop a broad-based oeuvre as an artist and is actually the only way some of my concepts had been realized. For Example, THE SUPLENESS PUCKÂ´Sâ&#x20AC;Ś The artwork to us viewers, is a different experience to my interaction with the work the artwork itself is performative - it is not really a photograph, nor is it really a sculpture. It is an action, and it is an encounter between two people; one a viewer, and one the performer who is wearing the costume, their body moving slightly with each breath, and shreds of fabric moving with a small breeze. This is such a harmonious amalgamation of costume becoming installation; installation becoming performance; performance becoming

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Gerd G.M. Brockmann

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Detail Photographer: FM BECKER Fotografie FL/Germany

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Gerd G.M. Brockmann

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sculpture; sculpture becoming a photograph; photograph entering the online sphere. With elements of identity removed; masked faces and wrapped figures, my work seems to have created a repeated motif - a human captured in time and captured (encased, even) within various mediums. It is a tension which exists in the work, and in the characteristics of the mediums used.

I believe that one's personal experience accounts for a huge part of any of my works and the mentioned “Here’s Still Light” concept merges to this experience with the experience of all 20 team members to become a great social sculpture. A separation of the creative process of one's own experience, I think indeed possible, for me however, not desirable. In today's society it´s in my opinion very important that new experience spaces and projects for

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Concept by YILMAZTÜRK&BROCKMANN FASHION DESIGN Draping/Photographer: Nejla Yilmaztürk

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, 38x42, 2010

Draping/Photographer: Nejla YilmaztĂźrk & Aykut YilmaztĂźrk

underestimating groups exists and that we learn to provide and handle socially disadvantaged, to bring them into contact with art and to experience what we can learn from each other. Would I disconnect all from each other, I would deprive myself of my own feelings and the transience, the social or creativity would no longer reach me and I would be

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separated from the social relevance of my work and would be immune to any resonance.

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Gerd G.M. Brockmann

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In my opinion spatial and social exclusion are only a small part of an ever-accelerating society. We all develop different mechanisms to this new society order to come to the company and manage the age affects us all. In my time the immortal youth in which I found myself up to my twenties I have recognized this instability of society and was helpless at that time and I could do nothing about it. With the maturity of years and the courage to address people if they would work with me on something together I brought this process in motion. It was possible to actively involve art into sociopolitical criticism. The interactive and participatory has long been a part of the art market ... but this “Here´s Still Light” concept is now to be filled with socio-critical content and to find a platform for this artistic social process was the challenge for me. I was very happy to found my team after a two years research and set it up at the Nexus Gallery in Denmark to give this work the worthy setting. Who will assume responsibility for new and innovative ideas in the world of social exclusion ... unless we artists? How can an artist change something in the modern unstable society? I guess, with new and surprising ideas and the hope to change something, and if it happens only in small… it's a start! There is a very special synthesis between me and my partner and very talented Fashion Designer Nejla Yilmaztürk. The YILMAZTÜRK & BROCKMANN Concept was born in January 2012. After the work for a Gallery in Istanbul, we decided to work as an artist couple between the border of Fashion Design and Fine Art Concepts.

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Pic by Artist

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- Pic by Artist / Model: Korbinian Petzinger

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EGO HAS FALLEN has certainly parallels to Boltanski's work “Exit” to pull, since this dimly the likeness of a human being gives and gets a mood of melancholy forth the leaves appear the presence of the past as irretrievably past. The memory work thus becomes a part of the work. This work contributes similar Boltanski's “Exit” not only a media criticism in itself but also an institutional critique that affects society as a whole. In my decision-making process of the artistic work and the implementation of ideas, this only partially plays a role. I think about it if I move into a different cultural process, working with a new group, or as usually, if I work between two cultures. Then I try to do research with great respect and it makes me aware of during the process as the context that could affect the visual language to the viewer. The process with my HOMECREW..Like, I call my team of the Here's Still Light project, was like that and that’s why it took two years to complete. Working with the elderly women from the Danish and German culture in considering the old war history required a cautious approach and found expression in the work "War is over".

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ART ICULACTION

Dalia Smayze

Katarzyna Zimna K p

Lives and works in Lodz, Poland

Lives and works in Dallas, USA

, game and installation Lodz, 2016

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Katarzyna Zimna Lives and works in Lodz, Poland Highly stimulating in its communicative concreteness, the MEMO project is a compelling work by artist and researcher Katarzyna Zimna. While walking the viewers through an unconventional exploration of the nature of memory and experience, she accomplishes the difficult task of challenging the viewers' perceptual parameters, walking them through the liminal area in which the ambivalence between presence and identity solves it into an unexpected point of convergence. What mostly impressed of Zimna's work is the way her exploration of the intersections of aesthetics and everyday life unveils unsuspected but ubiquitous connections between art producing and the audience. We are particularly pleased to introduce our readers to her multifaceted artistic production.

An interview by Josh Ryders, curator and Melissa C. Hilborn, curator peripheral.arteries@europe.com

Hello Katarzyna and welcome to Peripheral ARTeries: to start this interview, we would like to pose you a question about your background. You have a solid formal training and after having earned your MFAs in Fine Arts and Visual Education you nurtured your education with a PhD in Contemporary Art Theory, that you received from the Loughborough University, School of Art and Design, UK. How do these experiences influence your evolution as an artist? In particular, how does your cultural substratum inform the way you relate yourself to art making and to the aesthetic problem in general? I did my Master degree at the Academy of Fine Arts in Lodz, Poland at the Faculty of Graphic Art and Painting. I was lucky to study with great professors – printmakers and I learnt there to pay attention to workshop, craft and tradition. My diploma project was a series of aquafort and aquatint prints complemented with painting. However, I also studied at the studio of woodcut techniques led by prof. Andrzej Bartczak and

since graduation I have been faithful to relief printing techniques. Although my practice also includes painting, textiles, object art and interactive projects – in most cases printmaking is my starting point, the way of thinking about artistic production. As you mentioned I did my second MFA in Visual Education – the more theory-oriented course, where I received training as an art teacher. I developed there interest in art theory but also psychology of art and child’s art. The natural continuation was my doctoral project in contemporary art theory entitled “Play in the Theory and Practice of Art” (2010). It was a coincidence that I did it at LUSAD, in the UK, but it turned out to be a life experience. You are a versatile artist and your approach encapsulates several techniques and media, revealing a stimulating search of an organic symbiosis between a variety of viewpoints. The results convey together a coherent sense of unity, that rejects any conventional classification. Before starting to elaborate about your production, we would suggest to our readers to visit http://kasiazimna.net in order to get a synoptic view of your multifaceted artistic production: while walking our readers through your process,

Chlodna Contemporary Art Gallery, Suwalki, Poland, 2013

, game linocut on felt, 2016

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we would like to ask you if you have you ever happened to realize that such approach is the only way to express and convey the idea you explore.

about the role of metaphors in your process? Memo is a popular memory game for children – I used it as a point of reference in my project. The search for two identical pictures has been treated as a metaphor for the functioning of memory. Memory is fluid, as the perception of reality is. We try to find in it certain and immutable reference points, but under the influence of present events they are subject to continuous change. Playing memo is therefore the utopian search for stability. The project consists of two separate pieces.

I always start my work with the topic I want to explore, with the idea, sometimes a word, a phrase or emotion. The formal solution is something I come up with during the creation process, rarely I do have it in my mind before I start working. The choice of medium, the way I use this medium is an important element of this process. As I already said, my way of thinking about the form is the thinking of a printmaker – I think with matrices, layers, printing process, printing substrate – paper, textiles, etc. Relief print – woodcut and linocut – are very traditional techniques, but I always try to play with this tradition, rules and conventions and use my medium in the analytical way. The aim of my artistic game is to combine the artefact and the process of its production in one coherent aesthetic, conceptual and emotional entity. My art is versatile but I think there are main topics that keep returning – identity, memory, passing, life cycle and a general one permeating all I do – nature (experience, expression, vitality, chaos, play) versus culture (representation, control, order, game). I agree with Derrida that these “opposites” constitute each other, in my works I look for balance between these elements. They are always contained in the concept but I also try to make them visible in the form. I equally love expressionism and minimalism and I do not think they exclude each other…

The compelling ambience that pervades MEMO project invites the viewers to a multilayered experience and the way you explore the ambivalent relation between the intrinsically ephemeral nature of our perceptual processes and the sense of permanence of the notion of memory accomplishes the difficult task of constructing aesthetics from experience, working on both subconscious and conscious level. So we would take this occasion to ask you if in your opinion personal experience is absolutely indispensable as part of the creative process? Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience? Artists adopt various strategies. I belong to those working with the topics coming from the direct experience. I need this personal impulse for my work, but in general it is not indispensable for making art. Both strategies have their limitations. When your art is very personal it is narrowed down to the certain range of topics, it may be hermetic, repetitive. When you reach for inspiration out of your box, look for exotic subjects, it may be superficial. However, in some way every subject and idea, even if it comes from the outside and is completely disconnected from the artist’s own experience, becomes part of this experience during the creation process. Also, the choice of specific problems to explore is usually dictated by personal issues, even if it happens on a subconscious level.

For this special issue of Peripheral ARTeries we have selected MEMO project that our readers have already started to get to know in the introductory pages of this article. What has at once caught our attention of this work is the way your inquiry into the notion of memory and how our cognition influences the reality we perceive creates an harmonic mix between a vivid approach to the evocative reminders conveyed by the materials you combine together: when walking our readers through the genesis of MEMO project would you shed a light

Another interesting work of yours that has particularly impacted on us and on which we would like to

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spend some words is entitled TETRIS: what has mostly impressed of this work is the way it forces the viewers' perceptual parameters in order to question the ambiguous dichotomy between the elusive notions of presence and absence. How did you come up with the main idea? Your observation comes as a surprise to me, I have not considered this work in such a context. Tetris is a title of a big textile piece and also it was a title of my solo show where I exhibited works related to my experience of motherhood. This is a wordplay – it refers obviously to the game but also to tetra nappies popular in older times. In my Tetris exhibition I use these nappies as a main material for my works – I print on them, dye them, use for the installation. I do not think these works address in particular the issue of presence and absence – this is rather covered by the series Colouring book – prints with images which are empty spaces coloured later by the viewers. Tetris is about the experience of the new reality with a baby, performing various roles, changing identity, process of becoming a mother observed through the eyes of the artist. The ambience created by TETRIS reminds us of the concept of non lieu elaborated by French anthropologit Marc Augé: conveying both metaphoric and descriptive research, this work constructs of a concrete aesthetic that works on both subconscious and conscious level. As the late Franz West did in his installations, this work shows unconventional features in the way it deconstructs perceptual images in order to assemble them in a collective imagery, urging the viewers to a process of self-reflection. Artists are always interested in probing to see what is beneath the surface: maybe one of the roles of an artist could be to reveal unexpected sides of Nature, especially of our inner Nature... what's your view about this? Deconstructing and rearranging the elements of reality in order to question tradition, rules and the natural way (it seems) “things go”, is the most exciting aspect of making art. I often use this tactic – extract some banal everyday objects, places or situations and observe them in a slightly different context, play with the regular figures but on a different game board. This is the tactic of play. As I write in my book, play initiates move-

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Katarzyna Zimna

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, game and installation, 2016

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Katarzyna Zimna

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ment in between chaos and order, reality and potentiality, ‘here’ and ‘there’, I and the Other, serious and non-serious; it sets ideas, concepts, thoughts, images and identities in motion. It reveals the unexpected and can be used as a great tool of self-reflection. When developing a multi-layered language, you capture non-sharpness and bring to a new level of significance the elusive still ubiquitous relationship between experience and memory. In particular, your approach seems to accomplish an effective investigation about how our minds impose categories upon a chaos. German multidisciplinary artist Thomas Demand once stated that "nowadays art can no longer rely so much on symbolic strategies and has to probe psychological, narrative elements within the medium instead". What is your opinion about it? And in particular how do you conceive the narrative and especially the visual unity for your works? I try to combine my narratives, experiences that I want to deconstruct, with the narratives that belong to my medium. With printmaking there is a set of key notions that keep inspire me, for example: a matrix (meaning a womb in Latin, carries connotations with female body and the processes of biological reproduction); edition – multiplication of identical or varying images (points to the democratic and social potential of a print); the process of cutting the matrix, subtracting the material in order to create an image (refers to the ideas of creation and destruction, presence and absence); layers (printing with multiple matrices that can be treated as children’s blocks to be improvised with, but also as layers of experience). I take some bits from my life, filter them through the medium – the process of creation – and they become ‘something else’, they gain certain aesthetic quality that you call the visual unity. I just try to make it as simple and universal as possible but to avoid explicit interpretations. Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your thoughts, Katarzyna: would you like to tell us readers something about your future projects? How do you see your work evolving? I definitely want to keep exploring printmaking medi-

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um. Subtraction, using cut-off spaces to create an image is something I develop in my present works. As to the topic â&#x20AC;&#x201C; I am back in the garden, immersed in the natural world, seasonal changes, planting and harvesting. I hope something interesting would grow out soon. My husband is a sound director and composer, I hope to do some collaboration with him and incorporate sound in the graphic installation I am currently working at. In general, I would love to do some more collaborations. I guess I will also keep experimenting with textile substrates. I teach at the Institute of Architecture of Textiles, Lodz University of Technology, which is a continuous source of inspirations. In fact, you never know where your art would lead you, this is what I love about this profession. An interview by Josh Ryders, curator and Melissa C. Hilborn, curator peripheral.arteries@europe.com

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Katarzyna Zimna

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Kosmas Giannoutakis

Kosmas Giannoutakis Installation(4mx4mx4m), 2013 Snapshot of a performance of the game piece "Zeitleben/Timelife"with four "shadows" in action. 021 4 Double bass performance by Juan Pablo Trad Hasbun, photograph by Nick Acorne.

Summer 2015

Kosmas Giannoutakis

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Kosmas Giannoutakis Kosmas Giannoutakisâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; work rejects any conventional classification and accomplishes the difficult task of providing an Ariadne's Thread that unveils the connection between the subliminal dimension that drives the creative process and the conscious

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level, at which the viewers relate themselves with the outside world. The nature of his approach urges us to investigate the relationship between reality and the way we perceive it: one of the most convincing aspects

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Marcelina Wellmer

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readers to his refined artistic production. Hello Kosmas and welcome to ART Habens. To start this interview, would you like to tell us something about your background? You have a solid formal training and after having earned your Bachelor of Music from the University of Macedonia, you moved to Germany where you eventually degreed with a Master of Music from the University of Music, Freiburg. Moreover, you are currently studying Computer Music at the Institute for Electronic Music und Acustics. How have these experiences influenced your evolution as an artist? and in particular, do you think that being exposed to a wide, international scene may have informed the way you conceive and produce your works today?

Thank you very much ART Habens for the invitation to share my thoughts with you and your readers. I had indeed a formal training in different disciplines of the conventional music making (composition, theory, piano, percussion), which began from my childhood. In the last years, I have moved towards more experimental and radical approaches of music making (algorithmic composition, mechanical instruments, dynamic systems, games), which I am currently studying at the Institute for Electronic Music and Acoustics in Graz Austria. The institutional training was very important for my development, because I learned in depth historical practices of music making. I would claim nevertheless, that I am more a self-taught artist, since my actual artistic language was developed through my personal interests and investigations. Being exposed to a wide, international scene allowed me to know and develop a critical stance to the parallel artistic approaches of my colleagues and raise my work standards.

Portrait of the artist. Photograph by Nick Acorne.

An interview by and

, curator curator

of Giannoutakis's practice is the way he establishes an area of intellectual interplay between memory and perception, condensing the permanent flow of the perception of the reality we inhabit in. We are very pleased to introduce our

Your approach is marked out with a deep symbiosis between several practices, that are combined to provide your works of a dynamic and autonomous life. I would suggest our readers to visit http://www.kosmasgiannoutakis.eu/ in order to

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get a wider idea of your multifaceted artistic production. While superimposing concepts and images, crossing the borders of different artistic fields, have you ever happened to realize that a symbiosis between different viewpoints is the only way to achieve some results, to express specific concepts?

I like to drew my inspiration from philosophical questions and paradoxes, that challenge the human mind. Starting with very abstract ideas (time, space, change), I am conceptualizing my works by combining mentally different artistic fields which could possibly create interesting dynamic situations. Experimenting and improvising with concrete materials allows me to decide which combinations should I keep and develop. If I find unintended potential in a specific media combination, I don't hesitate to change completely the initial concept. Sound, Game and Performance have always central role in my concepts. I would start to focus on your artistic production beginning from Zeitleben/Timelife, an interesting project featured in the introductory pages of this article. What most impressed me in this project is the way you have create a point of convergence between a functional analysis of the context you examine and autonomous aesthetics. Do you conceive this in an instinctive way or do you rather structure your process in order to reach the right balance?

The processes I conceptualize, are highly structured, because I am focusing on complex systems which exhibit indeterministic behavior. In Zeitleben/Timelife, I explored for the first time the notion of continuity, which had aesthetic and technical consequences. Changes were not discrete and there were infinite states of the system. It was really a challenge to compose the music, which had to aesthetically work for every possible state. In the technical level, I had to use delay lines instead of static buffers. Dividing the process in five dis-

A possible performance state of the piano in the game piece

tinct rounds, made the implementation possible and the perception more transparent. I suppose my intuition have developed more sensitivity concerning live processes, during

Scanned_Image / detail / 2015

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Marcelina Wellmer

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. Photograph by Kosmas Giannoutakis.

In particular, I like the way your performative approach conveys both an aseptic point of view on formalism and a suggestive gaze on today's reality. This combination reminds me of the idea behind

the last years I have been working with dynamic systems. Rationality and instinct are harmonically tuned by working intimately together for the same cause.

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Piano preparation with all keys detached in the beginning of the game piece

Thomas Demand's works, when he states that "nowadays art can no longer rely so much on symbolic strategies and has to probe psychological, narrative elements within the medium instead".

While the conception of Art could be considered an abstract activity, there is always a way of giving it a sense of permanence, going beyond the intrinsic ephemeral nature of those concepts you explore.

Scanned_Image / detail / 2015

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. Photograph by Kosmas

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Marcelina Wellmer

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be disconnected from direct experience?

Symbolic strategies can be very efficient, but they have to be really strong. In Zeitleben/Timelife the simple functional game of moving images resembles metaphorically how the mnemonic experience works. But this comes in a secondary conceptual level, the resonance of the medium is of primarily importance. It is really beautiful when an artwork invites for interpretation in different levels. The sense of permanence can be associated with these factors, namely the depth of interpretation levels and the intensity of mind resonance for each level. Creative processes are gaming acts, associated with past personal experiences and absolutely connected with direct experience. Artists are always interested in probing to see what is beneath the surface and one of the aim of your practice is to bring to a conscious level the variety of sources that are subliminally driven: your approach unveils a subtle but ubiquitous narrative providing us of an Ariadne's Thread that invites us to the discover the connection between these apparently separate dimensions, and that's incredibly beautiful. Stimulating the viewerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s psyche, you approach works on both a conscious level and a subconscious one: maybe one of the roles of an artist could be to reveal unexpected sides of Nature, especially of our inner Nature... what's your view about this?

My position is that the Nature of every creative process is fundamentally related to the notions of Game and Play. When we perceive art, we experience a kind of inner-subjective game where our past experiences come into interplay by defining patterns of appreciation and understanding. When we create art, a more complicated process, we try things, experiment, improvise. We create temporary rules, play under them, come up with a result, perceive the result, decide if our mind resonat-

Giannoutakis.

So I would take this occasion to ask you if in your opinion, personal experience is absolutely indispensable as part of the creative process? Do you think that a creative process could

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ed well enough and repeat the process, by keeping the same rules and trying to play better or change the rules. A fixed artwork, for example a sculpture, functions as a stimulant for such a perceptive game to occur. A dynamic artwork, for example a performance, follows inevitably the gaming pattern. It is not a coincidence that in most languages we use the word â&#x20AC;&#x153;playâ&#x20AC;? when we are referring to music or theater activities. Art is the resonant game of the mind. Holding this position, I create artworks which consciously reflect their gaming nature. My game pieces and installations involve the perceivers in selfsimilar recursive processes, because of the similar structure between the artwork and perceptive process. Revealing our inner Nature, I invite us for a deeper exploration of ourselves. What among the musicians from the contemporary scene have particularly influenced you? I can recognize a subtle influence of Krzysztof Penderecki...

Although I have studied Mr. Penderecki's work during my studies, I wouldn't say that I am much influenced by him. Some composer of the 20th century, that still capture my attention are Bartok, Cage, Xenakis, Ligeti, Grisey, Feldman, Tenney, Wishart. Recently, I became more interested in composers whose work is based upon cybernetic patterns, like Lucier and di Scipio. I have enjoyed the way you probe the evocative potential of the medium, involving a crucial role of modern technologies to provide the viewer of an extension of usual perceptual parameters that allows you to go beyond any dichotomy between Tradition and Contemporariness, as in the interesting Inextricable, establishing a stimulating osmosis between materials and techniques from a contingent era and an absolute approach to Art: do you

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Portrait still of the artist's tools. Photograph by Panagiotis B

recognize any contrast between Tradition and Contemporariness?

Contemporariness arises from Tradition.

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eretzikis.

Tradition have to be studied in depth, in order someone to be able to attempt successful steps in unexplored areas. The prerequisite for an artistic movement to be Tradition, is to

be first Contemporariness. The value of Tradition lies in the provision of solid ground, where new art can be build. As Heidegger points out, the art that have lost contact with

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The artist sound-directing a rehearsal of the game piece

the world it was conceived and made, is nothing more than a relic. This is an enormous problem in music, where we arbitrary modify old musical artworks in order to assign to

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. Photograph by Nick Acorne.

them unintended modern functionality. We use modern media to massively communicate them (for example recordings and amplification) but we don't realize how much we dis-

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provide us with new media, which extend our brain functions. These meta-tools and universal machines should not be treated as limb-extended instruments but as brain-extended organisms, which mirror our cognitive abilities. I think this is a fundamental difference between the old and new media, and it will take decades of digestion, until Art will completely adapt to the new world. What is the role of computer-based techniques in your composition process? Do you still use an acoustic approach and then manage the evolution of the ideas you develop through high end technology or does your approach blends these apparently different approaches?

The complex systems I create have two components, a dynamic system, which is realized with digital technology, and the human agency (performers). The dynamic system receive input information (sound, image) from the performers and results to very complex, indeterministic and chaotic behavior. The performers have to react on the variable output of the dynamic system according to a set of rules of possible actions I provide (instructions, score). The resulting complex system (dynamic system human agency) is a coupled feedback system, with both components feeding with information each other. I describe these situations as “games” and the resulting artworks as “game pieces”. My approach has a hybrid form for now, since there are lots of fixed events involved. My future goal is to make both components of the complex system 100% dynamic. Real-time digital signal processing algorithms, acoustic properties of the set up and human agency, with it's acoustic instrumental extensions, are all conceived together in initial phase.

tort their originality and how much we cloy our modern world with mutated “masterpieces”, which take over the vital space of new creation. The cybernetic era we have entered,

Over your career you have exhibited internationally, showcasing your work in several occasions. So before leaving this conversation I would like to

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pose a question about the nature of the relationship of your art with your audience. Do you consider the issue of audience reception as being a crucial component of your decision-making process, in terms of what type of language is used in a particular context?

An utopian vision I have, is the creation of artworks, which will know where and when they should take place in order to maximize their communicating effectiveness. This should require embedded complex cognitive functions which should collect and process in real time enormous amounts of environmental and human data. When this will be achieved, we will experience a transcending step in Arts, namely the conscious artwork which adapts successfully in multiple real life environments and situations. For now, I am working on adaptive systems, which enable my dynamic systems to adapt into the specific acoustical characteristics of the rooms they are taking place. Also, I try to design my interactive environments in a specific way, which enables their presentation as installation for open public participation and as performance for specialist performers. I believe that good artistic ideas have the potential to be presented and communicated in multiple forms, languages and media, and adapt successfully in multiple contexts. One of my future distant goals, is to create such meta-artworks, which will exhibit intelligent adaptability. Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your thoughts, Kosmas. Finally, would you like to tell our readers something about your future projects? How do you see your work evolving?

It was a pleasure, thank you for your challenging questions! In August, my piece Zeitleben/Timelife will be performed in the Soundislands Festival - 2nd International Symposium on Sound and Interactivity in Singapore, where it received the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Si15 best student submission awardâ&#x20AC;?. In September, I will be in

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Snapshot of the beginning of the game piece "Zeitleben/Timelife". Double bass performance by Juan Pablo Trad Hasbun, photograph by Nick Acorne.

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the Netherlands, where I will present a concert version of my interactive puzzle game installation “Ascending and Descending”, which I developed during my composer-in-resident program by conlon foundation in the Muzieckhuis in Utrecht. I have recently performed myself my new game piece “Contraction point” for piano, performer and feedback system, in CUBE-IEM, in Graz and in Kubus-ZKM in Karlsruhe. These performances were totally improvisational and now I am working on making a score by fixing the events, which have to be fixed, and developing more sophisticated tracking algorithms, which will enable the feedback system to function completely autonomous, without the intervention of an extra operator. For my future game pieces, I want to explore complex systems which involve more than one performer. I want also to enhance the physical flexibility of my dynamic systems, by enabling the dynamic change of the positional and perspective characteristics of the input/output instruments (microphones, loudspeakers, cameras, projectors) into the game rule set. So, I have the tendency to seek for more variability and complexity which requires deeper understanding of mathematics, acoustics, computer science, media theory and philosophy. I am really privileged that my institutional environment, the Institute for Electronic Music and Acoustics, can provide me the space and materials for these interdisciplinary art experiments.

An interview by

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Marion Tu Lives and works in Houston, USA

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Marion Tu Lives and works in Houston, USA Highly stimulating in its multifaceted nature, Solo movements - part 2 is a captivating experimental work by artist Marion Tu. While walking the viewers through an unconventional investigation about the notion of improvisation, Tu accomplishes the difficult task of unveiling how harmony can emerge from a state of friction, to challenge the viewers' perceptual parameters, urging them to explore the transversality of emotions and images. What mostly impressed of Tu's work is the way her exploration of the different cultural representation and perceptions of home provokes reflection about contemporary age draawing the viewers into an unconventional and multilayered journey. We are particularly pleased to introduce our readers to her multifaceted artistic production.

An interview by Josh Ryders, curator and Melissa C. Hilborn, curator peripheral.arteries@europe.com

Hello Marion and welcome to Peripheral ARTeries: to start this interview, we would like to pose you a couple of questions about your background. You have a solid formal traning and you hold a M.A. in Intercultural Management, and you are currently pursuing your MFA: how do these experiences influence the way you conceive and produce your works? In particular, how does your multilingual sunbstratum inform the way you relate yourself to art making and to the aesthetic problem in general? I grew up speaking several languages and surrounded with people and family members from different countries and backgrounds. I am half French, half Chinese, with family living in Mexico and Hong Kong. For me, art started as a way of escaping the confusion of languages and became a constructive way of investigating the different aspects of my identity. With art, I could no longer be lost in translation or wonder where I stood in the midst of cultures and countries. I was mostly painting at that time and painting, the exploration of textures, shapes, and colors, worked as a sort of playground where I could experiment with different elements of my cultural background freely. Another factor that plays an important part in my practice is that, in French and Chinese traditions, art making is

at the center of society but in diametrically opposed ways. In Europe, the image of the starving, misunderstood artist is still very much alive, and so is the notion that the source of creation derives from extreme states of distress. In China, to be an artist, you need to have reached a state of detachment, of stillness of the mind, in order to be allowed to create. It is a path of patience and silence. Navigating this paradox, esthetically and conceptually, within my own practice is an ongoing process, especially since I keep adding new external elements, by living and making work in different countries and art environments. You are a versatile artist and your approach encapsulates several techniques that ranges from installation and painting to videodance and sound, revealing a stimulating search of an organic symbiosis between a variety of viewpoints. The results convey together a coherent sense of unity, that rejects any conventional classification. Before starting to elaborate about your production, we would suggest to our readers to visit http://www.mariontu.com in order to get a synoptic view of your multifaceted artistic production: while walking our readers through your process, we would like to ask you if you have you ever happened to realize that such approach is the only way to express and convey the idea you explore. I honestly never thought I would be making sound works or videos when I first started. My first medium was painting. I saw myself as a "traditional artist" who was going to be a painter for the rest of my life. But I

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met artists who took pictures, made videos, and played with sound. I realised that is was fairly easy nowadays to experiment with new media because buying expensive equipment or taking technical courses was no longer required. Now that I work across disciplines, I know that there is a right medium for every idea. I recently did a short video about life in gated communities. The concept was based on the repetition of a few key words belonging to the semantic fields used by the real estate industry. Once I edited the video, I realised it failed to convey the vision I had about it. I am still trying to figure out if a moving image, or a simple soundtrack would be more adequate. Each medium comes with their possibilities and limitations. Throughout history, art making has been closely linked to technical discoveries so it only makes sense that contemporary artists are now expanding their processes to work across different mediums. For this special issue of ART Habens we have selected Solo movements - part 2, a stimulating experimental dance video performance that our readers have already stared to get to know in the introductory pages of this article. What has at once caught our attention of this project is the way your inquiry into the relationship between harmony and improvisation: when walking our readers through the genesis of Solo movements - part 2, would you shed a light about your main inspiration and how did you developed the initial idea? Solo movements - part 2 is the second video dance I made with dancer Agnes Grelinger. As a dancer, Agnes is fascinated with improvisation. As an artist, I was interested in the idea of filming unchoreographed movements. The first video we made together was a sort of introduction to the challenge that is filming the moving body. Especially when your interest lies in filming a dancer moving freely and you are not acquainted with their dance rhythm nor style. Filming dancing is very difficult as it requires the dancer and videographer to understand each other's vision and processes. The videographer needs to have an almost intimate notion of the dancer's moves in order to film it properly. So the first video was an exploration of the rawness that comes from not having that knowledge. We decided to do a second video when I was doing a residency at the Floating Island gallery, in London, in

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2014. My studio space was in an empty office building. The concept of the video was simple and similar to the first video: we would get into the space, she would start dancing and I would start filming. The only difference being that, in the first video, Agnes danced in her dance studio, and in the second video, I filmed her in my studio space. After filming, I put the project aside for a while, waiting for the right time to edit it. It is only a few

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months later that I recorded the soundtrack for it. I was in Lisbon, Portugal, when my friend Rui Bordรกdagua, who was learning to play the guitar, started playing the music of the video. I found the piece matched the raw yet elegant dance sequence. I was also curious about the resonance and dissonance that could develop when a dancer dances to an imperfect song they had never heard. I think my interest for this sort of sensory friction

comes from the realisation that our modern consumerist culture is increasingly based on visual stimulation, resulting in a heavily formatted visual culture. Everyday, we are bombarded by perfectly edited pictures, we curate our lives on social media using filters and composing pictures so that they become eye-pleasing. To me, cultivating different aesthetics, provoking reactions that broaden our sensory specter is really important.

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The performative aspect of Solo movements - part 2 and the reference to the idea of unknown environment invites the viewers to a multilayered experience: in particular, the way you explore the ambivalent relation between the intrinsically ephemeral nature of the performance and the sense of permanence suggested by the idea of environment, accomplishes the difficult task of constructing a concrete aesthetic from experience,

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working on both subconscious and conscious level. So we would take this occasion to ask you if in your opinion personal experience is absolutely indispensable as part of the creative process? Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience? I think artists can, to a certain extent, disconnect themselves from their personal experience and

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use personal experience, we risk getting too absorbed in it resulting in potentially excluding the viewer. It is important to find the line between a personal work and an hermetic one. In my opinion, it is crucial to leave room for the viewer to engage with it. Solo movements - part 2 also provides the viewers with an intense, immersive experience: how do you see the relationship between public sphere and the role of art in public space? In particular, how much do you consider the immersive nature of the viewing experience and how much importance has improvisation in your process? This is a huge question so I will use an example to answer. To begin with, my current practice is mostly site-specific. You cannot really get a more immersive experience than when you create a piece for a specific location. Two years ago, I created a site-specific ephemeral intervention on a beach of South London, as part of an art festival called Art Licks Weekend. At the time, I was exploring the idea of homesickness and longing for home. I had moved from Portugal to England, and the idea of saudade appealed a lot to me. Saudade is an untranslatable Portuguese word that alludes to something that is no longer and might never be again. It is closed to nostalgia and melancholy but it contains more light and hope. My idea was to make participants feel saudade. I created the work using site-specific elements and working by steps to add layers of emotions that would take participants to feel saudade. First, participants were able to see the beach from the pier and embraced the cityscape made of Tower bridge, old and reassuring, and the new modern construction of East London. Participants then walked down the stairs and started walking on the gravel. The sound of their footsteps, of the river waves were elements that were supposed to contribute to their "conditioning". The actual intervention consisted in pieces of cotton cloth buried on the beach. On them, I had handwritten with charcoal what saudade felt like for Portuguese immigrants I had interviewed. Most pieces were in English, with some in Portuguese and others left empty. Once participants were on the beach, I had envisioned them walking around, looking on the gravel for apparent pieces of cloth, then carefully releasing the pieces with big arm gestures. Well, in the

work from rational and scientific approaches. But in the end, we are always at the center of the creative process: we initiate and complete it so we are always there. Only a computer could create work that is 100% impersonal (like the Deep Neural Network) and then, we would ask ourselves if it really is art. I guess there is also a difference between starting from personal experience and using personal experience in your work. When we

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end, nothing worked as I had planned. It started raining and although I had thought about what the rain would alter, it completely changed the work. I imagined that if it rained, people would simply spent less time looking for the messages buried in the gravel. But because people were hiding under their umbrellas, their field of view was limited by the frame of the umbrella and they did not pay attention to the cityscape. They also did not really hear the river waves because of the sound of the rain drops on the umbrella. Finally, because the gravel was wet, they did not really want to touch the piece of cloth buried. So their gestures, the choreography I had imagined, did not end up being elegant at all, but quite the opposite. You could see people were quite displeased with having to touch the wet ground. All in all, I would say that whether it is in the creative process, or when people receive the work, you need to accept that not matter how much you imagined and planned an artwork, there will always be a floating area. Another interesting body of works from your recent production that has particularly impacted on us and on which we would like to spend some words is entitled The gated community: in particular, we have highly appreciated the way The Swag Bag accomplishes an insightful inquiry into the notion of home, playing with symbols, as well as to reminders to the everyday. German multidisciplinary artist Thomas Demand once stated that "nowadays art can no longer rely so much on symbolic strategies and has to probe psychological, narrative elements within the medium instead". What is your opinion about it? And in particular how do you conceive the narrative and especially the visual unity for your works? It is true that symbolic strategies are no longer the only strategies used by artists. In the Swag Bag, I delivered strange, almost normal looking objects on the doorstep of residents of a gated community, in Houston. These objects all talked about home and held power because they were directly inserted within the reality they pointed at. From there, the residents were totally free to imagine who put the bag there, what were the objects, what they meant, and decide

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how they related to them. Psychological and narrative elements structured the work but so did the strong symbolism of the house / the home that the work played on. Our personal memory and collective imagination is made of symbols. Symbols are inherent to any artwork, and often used as catalysts for those psychological and narrative elements we are talking about. Your works, as the interesting performative piece entitled Quilting a new blanket for winter, often induce the viewers to abandon themselves to free associations: when artists leaves thier works open to interpretation, it is like giving the viewer permission to see anything in your works without anyone ever being wrong. Has that ever proven to be a problem? I am pleased you saw that in my work. Leaving "the viewers to abandon themselves to free associations" as you said is exactly what I try to do. So if the viewer's interpretation is far from my intent, I see it as a way of starting new conversations and learn about viewers' perceptions and points of view. If you take the performance "Quilting a new blanket for winter", it was part of "Palindromic sequence", an art walk organised in London last year, by the collective altMFA. Some people who walked by me knew it was an art performance, and others, who were just passing by, had to guess or ask. For this piece, I received very different feedbacks and whether people knew it was art or not did not really change their approach. The performance consisted of me wearing a shawl of coupons, and sewing in a quilt pattern, a blanket made of coupons while listening to radio commercials in several languages. I also offered participants coupons embroidered with wool. The feedback I received was very interesting. Some people thought I was denouncing the paper waste created by supermarket paper brochures, others saw me as a crazy catless cat lady. I was really happy people came up with these different interpretations. It fed my imagination and made me think of further works. I am not going to explain my intention with the work here because to me, once the artwork is out, it no longer belongs to the artist. It's no doubt that interdisciplinary collaborations as the ones you have established with Agnes GrĂŠlinger

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and Rui Bordadágua for Solo movements - part 2, as well as Daeseronide that you created with musician John Galindonare today ever growing forces in Contemporary Art and that the 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, Peter Tabor once stated 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? Peter Tabor summarises collaboration very well. To me, working with collaboratively is like creating a third practice altogether. Every artist's practice is unique. So working with someone who uses different mediums following different processes is thrilling. You mentioned « Daeseronide », a sound work I created with John Galindo. John is a jazz musician who plays several instruments. As far as I was concerned, I had been collecting sounds on and off for several years. I was waiting for an opportunity to use them and explore how ideas could be expressed with sounds. We decided to collaborate quite spontaneously. The concept of the piece is the one of the exquisite corpse, invented by the Surrealists. We simply move the concept from drawing and writing to sound. John gave me the first sound and we built it up from there. Little by little, you can see that we become more confident and fully use the sounds we choose, by creating repetitions, layers and spoken words. This is the beauty of collaboration, growing the practice together. I am also currently working with 3 female artists Ruth Connelly (Ireland), Camilla Greenwell (UK) and Paula Bourke-Girgis (Germany). We have been writing on a shared document for over a year now with only one rule, to remember where we wrote. None of us know what the final project will look like yet, but the simple process is already quite stimulating. Collaborating is key to me because it is always more fun working with people rather than alone and it takes you away from your personal practice only to regenerate, and enrich it. Over these years you works have been internationally exhibited in several occasions, including your recent participation at the Youthitude Festival, in Berlin. One of the hallmarks of your works is the capability to establish direct relation with the audience, deleting any

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conventional barrier between the idea you explore and who receipt and consequently elaborate them. So before taking leave from this interesting conversation I would like to pose a a question about the nature of the relation with your audience: in particular, do you consider the issue of audience reception as being a crucial component of your decision-making process in terms of what type of language for a particular context? Yes, the audience reception is crucial to me. I think it has always been but it became even more relevant since I co-founded a curatorial project called North & Found. Once you start the process of talking to artists and designing shows and events so that the viewers engage with the works, it is hard not to make the same process for your work. But it is a concern that only comes later in my decision-making process. I first focus on whether it makes sense to me and if the language I chose is appropriate and relevant to my current practice and then I move to the audience reception. Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your thoughts, Marion: would you like to tell us readers something about your future projects? How do you see your work evolving? My practice usually works in cycles. I create work, show it and get feedback, pause for a moment, and start again. Since I moved to Houston last year, my practice has shifted a lot. Texas is a fascinating place and an incredible source of ideas, especially when you are interested in site-specific works and new to the U.S.. So right now I am concentrating on stage 1 of my cycle, that is developing a new body of work and experimenting with new processes. I do not want to say too much about what I am working on because when I do, it tends to not work out. I probably became a little superstitious! I just know I want to develop more sound walks and text-based projects.

An interview by Josh Ryders, curator and Melissa C. Hilborn, curator peripheral.arteries@europe.com

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Marta Wapiennik

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Marta Wapiennik Lives and works in Cracow, Poland Multidisciplinary artist Marta Wapiennik's work explores the notions of memory and perception: her works could be considered as visual biographies that draws the viewers through a multilayered experience. In her body of works entitled The illusion of reality that we'll be discussing in the following pages, she urges us to recontextualize elements she draws from universal imagery. One of the most impressive aspects of Wapiennik's work is her successful attempt to trigger the viewers' most limbic parameters, to challenge their perceptual categories: we are really pleased to introduce our readers to her multifaceted artistic production.

An interview by Josh Ryders, curator and Melissa C. Hilborn, curator peripheral.arteries@europe.com

Hello Marta, thanks for joining us and welcome to Peripheral ARTeries to start this interview, would you like to tell us something about your background? You have a solid formal training and you graduated from the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts, in Cracow: how does this experience influence your evolution as an artist? In particular how does your cultural substratum inform the way you relate yourself to art making and to the aesthetic problem in general? Hello, thank you for having me. I studied at the Graphic Department, I mainly focused on improving my skills in drawing and painting. I wanted to master those crafts and this was my aim. First year was hard but on the second year I went to the prof. Włdzimierz Kotkowski’s (let him rest in peace) drawing workshop and he opened my eyes to many ways we can see the subject that we are working with. Basically whatever I do in art I begin with some sketch/ drawing I have in my mind. It’s not very strict, It’s changing constantly, probably that’s why I use many layers on my photographs. I often see in a multilayered way. I evolved very slow during my studies, due to my problems with health I was excluded from the social life, art life. I had to change workshops frequently because not every teacher understood my situation. This gave me the (not necessaliry wanted) opportunity to find myself in completely new situation - for

example: when I decided to do my diploma in the Poster Workshop, I found out that I am not wanted there. My last chance was to turn back to the Screenprinting Workshop run by prof.ASP Marcin Surzycki, where I stayed and developed my idea of „The illusion of reality”. That’s also the title of my additional diploma works made in Digital Photography Workshop led by dr Lech Polcyn, who helped me in solving problems that were quite new to me then. You can say that I ended up in this area of art partly by coincidence, but it was a good fortune. There were lot’s of difficult moments at the Cracow’s Academy of Fine Arts which is seen as a conservative one. In my opinion it’s true although they are trying to change it. Still one can quickly learn how to paint well, or draw there rather than gain knowledge about computer programs. Which can slow the process of developing talents especially at the Graphic Department. Nevertheless students are very smart and pick up all technology news by themselves at their homes. Does my cultural background plays some role in my art ? I don’t think so. I was always inspired by foreigners: Hockney, Richter, Stella, Rauchenberg… they have energy that can move the viewer. They are fresh and for everyone. Polish art in my opinion is very much connected to our history which was not a happy one so artworks can be also let’s say - heavy. There are exceptions of course but my nature tells me to run away from it and look for something what brings the NEW.

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Your approach reveals an incessant search of organic investigation about the realm of emotions and the results of your practice convey together a coherent and consistent sense of harmony and unity: before starting to elaborate about your production, we would suggest to our readers to visit http://www.martawapiennik.com in order to get a synoptic view of your multifaceted artistic production: while walking our readers through your process and set up, we would like to ask you how did you develope your style and how do you conceive your works. Incessant search - yes, everyday I am looking for answers, I have lots of questions in my head, also much conflict. But the last thing I would say about my works is that they are coherent and consistent. I feel like I am frequently changing my „creation routine”. Style… is the worst thing that one can have as a true artist. Because what is style? Characteristic quality? If one really is looking for the truth he/she will never know what the outcome of the research will be. Style is very predictable trait which I don’t want to have. I always feel free while creating and I never try to limit myself. That is why I use photography, painting and I mix them. I treat photos as sketches and I am always surprised when they are appreciated by viewers. For me they are mostly „not finished works of art”. This is the reason I digitally modify reality that is captured on them to emphasize my point of view. For this special edition of LandEscape we have selected The illusion of reality, an extremely interesting series, that our readers have already started to get to know in the introductory pages of this article. When walking our readers through the genesis of this project, we would like to ask you what is the role of chance in your process: how much improvisation is important for you? „The illusion of reality” tells about how what we see everyday can be perceiving. What is reality to us? For everyone it’s something different that’s for sure. But do we ever try to examine, question it? Check what is the truth and what is not? Or do we just accept the things as they are because it’s more comfortable. Basically the genesis of this project was my inspiration - the topic of deconstruction. In a short story - a way of thinking that make us verify our thinking method nowadays. I would reccomend to search for the name Derrida, philosopher. The project was also an outcome of my combination of

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paper folding, print and photography. It’s not all done digitally, only by little part. They are real folded copies of reality put in the exact same places they were taken from, only destroyed. Should I call it an improvisation? No, it was planned. But I use „accidents” in my paintings - always.

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obsession with light and color is often associated You draw a lot from your perceptual reality and The illusion of reality could be considered a successful attempt to create a body of works that stands as record of existence and that captures non-sharpness with an universal language. Even James Turrellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

with his early experiences as a pilot... So we would take this occasion to ask you if in your opinion personal experience is an absolutely indispensable part of a creative process... Do you think that a

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so I communicate with people through images. I wouldn’t be able to create artworks that don’t contain the truth. Arists work with their souls so what they have inside they can only give to others. If one tries to fake it, then it’s not art at all. I like to think that some people really show create

creative process could be disconnected from direct experience? It cannot be disconnected. At least I put everything I have experienced with my senses into my art. It happened that the most important for me is sight

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hallmark of your style. You seem to be wanting to move beyond a standard representation and the way you manipulate the images you capture unveils a trascendental substance, making the viewer realize that your work has a different message. How important is the character that you as the photographer impose on your images? Thank you for such a kind words. You exactly guessed they way they are made. They are as planned as spontaneous. For example I wake up and there is a nice wheather and I feel like going to the park to take some pictures (a plan). When I’m there I just run, walk, sit - do whatever I want to feel the place, space, atmosphere. At the same time I photograph anything that catches my eye. I don’t think a lot during the process because that would take a lot energy from the shots. I learned to go with the flow. Later I work on the digital modification. Transcendence is very important for me. I wish I could show more in photography - give more - like smell, wind, temperature, all the ingredients that move me. As a fragile person I am very sensitive to any change in my environment. I found that my paintings reveal more from my spirit than any view I can capture by the camera so I decided to combine them. That gives this „style” you mentioned. I still treat them as sketches and try to keep them fresh. I don’t really care about the „high quality” of the photographic structure - let’s call it that way. For me photos are basic grounds to start my work from. I destroy them multiple times: pixelize them, solarize, desaturate, increase the color, cut - whatever gives me provocation, excites. If I feel it with my guts, I know that my work would have the character. It’s hard to describle what could lead to „ you must see it ” reaction, which would be the best reslut you can achieve. Staying very close to the topic of my interests, makes me very aware of any tiny detail that might weigh on the quality of works, like light, texture etc. As the late Franz West did in his early installations, your work shows unconventional aesthetics in the way it deconstructs perceptual images in order to assemble them in a collective imagery, urging the viewers to a process of self-reflection. German multidisciplinary artist Thomas Demand once stated that "nowadays art can no longer rely so much on symbolic strategies and has to probe psychological, narrative elements within

works that reveal a hidden part of themselves, unnamed, that sometimes even they cannot understand. Like fears, desires, dreams etc. Your photographs seems to be the result of a lot of planning and thought, but at the same time they convey a sense of direct spontaneity that is a

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the medium instead". What is your opinion about it? And in particular how do you conceive the visual unity and narrative for your works? Generally art in postmodern times has no easy way to get to the viewer. Peaple change, times change, technology changed it all, also the way we live: fast faster, cheap - cheaper, consumptionism over good education… all those things made humans got lost in my opinion. What to believe in? Who do we trust? No time to even think about it. Since I was I child I felt everything around me is going to fast. I am very slow person and I like to look at things from the distance because then I can get clear image. This is how I see it we live in a such a way that doesn’t allow most people to relax and focus on things that really matter. There are too many things around us for example: colorful commercials on walls, newspapers, in television. Many symbols are just overused and they have lost their prior power and meaning. Nobody sees them in this crowd. I would even call it a visual mess. What works in that environment are elements of persuasion, also used in commercials - not without a reason. If people don’t know what they want, they would be more likely to listen to „good advices” or „touching stories”. What govern nowadays are emotions rather than a clear mind. When it comes to my works I don’t prefer to use narration because I want to make the viewer feel something more than understand. This is the aim of my creation process. I was thinking about using symbols but nowadays it’s pointless. Harder part is to find what would work better than them. Every artist finds his/ her way to achieve this goal. To be seen. Visual unity is good for series but looking on the whole collection of works that I’ve done so far that wouldn’t be the best way to describe it. It’s important not to be labelled and assigned to some certain modus operandi. You also produce stimulating paintings: while marked out with an intense abstract feature, your recent pieces also convey references to reality and seem to speak of intense struggle. We have really appreciated the consistent balance between such abstract feeling and reminders to perceptual process: how would you describe the relationship between experience and the process of abstraction that marks out your practice? I am painting because I really love this technique - I use oils on canvas. This gives me much freedom and

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happiness during the process, you can say that I do it for my own pleasure. When I came back to painting after 3 years of break I wanted to start exploring tha unknown which was for me - abstractionism. I used to paint a lot before but only still life or nudes. They were appreciated works but I didn’t feel good with them. It seemed for me that this is not enough I could give. I truly wanted to break out from this cage of realism. As I was working on my diploma in screenprinting, focused on art without narration, I had the opportunity to rethink the ideas concerning creation that I used to follow previous years. That was very stimulating time for my mind. Your paintings are quite elaborated and the dialogue established by vivacious colors and abstract texture is a crucial part of your style: in particular, the effective combination between intense nuances of tones sums up the mixture of thoughts and emotions. How much does your own psychological make-up determine the nuances of tones you decide to use in a piece and in particular, how do you develop a painting’s texture? Moreover, any comments on your choice of "palette" and how it has changed over time? Interesting question. To be honest I started with only gray tones, that was 10 years ago. I think I was afraid of color, I didn’t know how to use it, how it all worked on canvas so I preferred to stay safe. They were nice works but they looked like from XIX century because I used too much oil and I didn’t clean my brush properly so they even get darker with time. Seems funny now. I knew that this wasn’t going anywhere and I needed change. I worked hard and I had a good teacher before my studies - painter Agnieszka Sajda (runs Salwatorskie Artistic Studio with Filip Konieczny in Cracow) who had the patience and believed in everyone. With her support I managed to evolve grom gray to nice monochromatic pastel tones, still delicate but it was huge progress back then. As work with canvas was getting better I managed to got to the Academy with high scores for my exam painting. And that was the best I did at Matejko’s building. Something bad started to happen since I became a student a spirit died. Especially after one proffesor told me that there is no need for me to explore color because I am doing so well in gray and monochrome. I have lost my power, changed workshop but the general atmosphere was not pushing me to work on myself or develop anything. With other circumstances mentioned before in interview I was not able to paint at all to I did only the little just to pass examination. I was depressed but maybe that’s why I am

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are not available, not possible to understand or translate. On the other side too much narration creates many fake assumptions, thesis, there is no place for such things nowadays. What is crucial for me? I would say to address simple, strong, straight messages that as many people comprehend, digest as possible.

so lucky now to create what I have always wanted. I feel like I am putting all my heart in my works. Like in photographs I want my pantings to have a nice textures that catch viewer’s eyes. My palette is always the matter of my intuition. I wouldn’t be far from the truth if I said that sometimes I am surprised by the outcome of mixing colors. I use many different objects to transfer the paint on canvas, almost never brush. I just got bored with it. I seek out for new marks to provoke, raise curiosity and engage more. I don’t use any thinner anymore, after many years of living in the terpentine’s fumes I got allegric to it and I can’t stand the smell. Moreover I like the texture of oil paint itself and working with it is fantastic. This is perfect tool to express myself through colors and all the nuances you mentioned. Does it show my personality? Maybe it shows my everyday struggle. I find it hard to balance myself and there’s a big conflict under the surface. I make art because I must get rid of the overflow of emotions and thoughts. It can be said that they combine images in my mind that I am trying to recreate on canvas. The viewer can imbibe this energy.

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? I am enjoying painting a lot so I will definitely continue to explore this area. I think I’ll only take bigger canvas. I miss drawing with coal so maybe getting back to this might be a good idea. Recently I’ve been wondering what it would be like to work with textiles and create some nice structures. Also making a short video with sound seems tempting. I am switching from one project to another before even making any decision - as you previosly noticed - I like to plan. So now I am searching for something, My work evolves in a direction that is impossible to predict. It depends on what will happen in my life. People I meet sometimes inspire me to do new things. For example I’m collaborating with USA illustrator and Pratt Institute professor Cheryl Gross on a project „Freak Show” that is a mix of her illustration and my photos. You can find a digital version of our book on my website. We are looking for a publisher, maybe thanks to this opportunity you gave me to talk about my work somebody will notice us. Hoping for it. Future seems to be interesting so please stay tuned.

Over these years your works have been internationally exhibited and you are going to take part to Pre-During-Post Contemporary at the Bayer Gallery, in Stara Zagora. One of the hallmarks of your practice is the capability to create a direct involvement with the viewers, who are urged to evolve from a condition of mere spectatorship. So before leaving this conversation we would like to pose a question about the nature of the relationship of your art with your audience. Do you consider the issue of audience reception as being a crucial component of your decision-making process, in terms of what type of language is used in a particular context? Before entering the world of art I read a lot about it. Among many important notes I made, one was that the good artists always talk as a voice of their generation. I carefully listen and observe what are current issues, what seems to be the main problem among the people. Sometimes it shows in my works. I suppose this is the reason you were interested in series „The illusion of reality”. It speaks about the times we live in. Works with lack of common sense

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Thank you very much for the interview!

An interview by and

, curator , curator

Miles Rufelds Lives and works in Montreal, Quebec, Canada

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Peripheral ARTeries meets

Miles Rufelds Lives and works in Montreal, Quebec, Canada

your artistic production would you like to tell us something about your multifaceted background? You have a solid formal training and you hold a Bachelor of Fine Arts, that you recently received from the University of Ottawa. How do your studies influence your evolution as an artist? And in particular, how does your cultural substratum inform the way you relate yourself to art making and to the aesthetic problem in general?

An interview by Josh Ryders, curator and Melissa C. Hilborn, curator peripheral.arteries@europe.com

Multidisciplinary artist Miles Rufelds' work rejects any conventional classifications and is marked with freedom as well as rigorous formalism, when encapsulating a careful attention to composition and balance. His works questions the relationship between human and inanimated things and accomplishes the difficult task of going beyond a symbolic narrative strategy to challenge the viewers' perceptual parameters. In Nonparticipant, which we'll be discussing in the following pages, he explores the relationship between subject and landscape in an age in which globalisation and commodification impinge on every aspect of our lives. One of the most impressive aspects of Rufelds' practice is the way it accomplishes the difficult task of unveiling the ubiquitous connections between human microcosm and socioenvironmental macrocosm: we are very pleased to introduce our readers to his stimulating and multifaceted artistic production.

Hello to you as well, and thanks a lot for having me – I’m thrilled to be able to participate in such an illustrious publication as LandEscape. My artistic background is a bit of a scattershot, to be honest: I started my BFA with a background in painting and drawing, transitioned toward interactive, New Media art during my degree, then wound up working almost exclusively in video by the time I finished. Doing a BFA was an essential experience for me, but since moving away from the University, and its emphasis of firm mediatic divisions, I’ve become more and more comfortable combining various different aesthetic strategies with relative freedom, which I think is essential in the contemporary artistic landscape. In terms of my cultural substratum, the most important factor

Hello Miles and welcome to Peripheral ARTeries: before starting to elaborate about

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Miles Rufelds

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that I think shows up in my art is the relationship that Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve always had to cinema and television. Watching television and movies, playing video games, exploring the internet, and ultimately just consuming

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video-media were veritable pillars of my epistemological development, and were unquestionably essential to how my aesthetic sensibilities were formed. It took me a while to identify, but I think that

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process fundamentally defined by commercial media. You are a versatile artist and practice maintains a formal and conceptual emphasis on video you have gained the ability to cross from one media to another, as photography, sculpture, media, and audio: your approach reveals an incessant search for an organic symbiosis between a variety of viewpoints. The results convey together a coherent sense of unity, that rejects any conventional classification. Before starting to elaborate about your production, we would suggest to our readers to visit http://www.milesrufelds.com in order to get a synoptic view of your multifaceted artistic production: while walking our readers through your process, we would like to ask you if you have you ever happened to realize that such a multidisciplinary approach is the only way to express and convey the idea you explore. That’s absolutely the case. The ideas that I’ve been grappling with in my recent work – the relationships between humans and products, products and the world, the epistemological influence of media images, or the political blurring of reality and fiction – are all circulated throughout the world via a whole constellation of aesthetic strategies, manifest across every medium available, at all times. While my research into the philosophies of advertising and consumerism is very much ongoing, it became clear to me early on that capitalist manipulation is advanced equally through objects, images, sounds, and ideas, and that any investigation I might pursue

throughout all of my art making, past and present, there’s been a desire to understand and explore, or at least manifest, the bizarre and kind of perverse phenomenon that is having a thought

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could only be properly carried out through mixtures of all of those forms. For this special edition of Peripheral ARTeries we have selected Nonparticipant, a stimulating series that our readers have already started to get to know in the introductory pages of this article. What has at once captured our attention of this interesting transdisciplinary research project is the way you provided the visual results of your analysis around the with autonomous aesthetics: when walking our readers through the genesis of Nonparticipant, would you shed light on your usual process and set up? I started working on Nonparticipant when I had just begun to acknowledge and explore the bizarre way that vegetable objects are able to appear as both object and subject to human beings – vegetative matter seems to fill this liminal space between commercial product and living thing, kind of like petstore animals, but even more bizarre – and how art works can activate or make clear the strangeness of that relationship. The post-Enlightenment, Euro-American attitude towards the non-human world – its treatment of all non-human things as dead matter that exists solely to be manipulated by the human subject – is something that I’ve always taken issue with in my work, and was definitely an inspiration for Nonparticipant. There could have been many outlets for these ideas throughout European art history, but Romantic landscape painting has a particular theatricality and grandiosity to it that I find kind of humorous. I’ve also always found it interesting that the very notion

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underlying Romantic “sublime” painting, or conversations of the sublime in general, is one that fundamentally acknowledges a power in the natural, non- human world so strong that the autonomous power of the

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human subject is overwhelmed or rendered null. The Nonparticipant series was my way of wrapping this whole set of ideas into a kind of tragicomic meditation on the history of

Western art, progress, and ethics. Your inquiry into the relationship between subject and landscape accomplishes the difficult task of subverting with consistency

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the hierarchical relation between the natural grandieur of historical works and contemporary environment, to produce a dialectical fusion that operates as a system of symbols that challenges the conflictual

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relation between Classicism and Contemporary, going beyond mere symbolic strategy. German multidisciplinary artist Thomas Demand once stated that "nowadays art can no

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there's still a dichotomy between Tradition and Contemporariness? That’s a very interesting question, but I’m not sure how satisfactory an answer I can give. As I was saying earlier, the only cultural “tradition” that I feel I have rightful claim to is being a child of the video-media generation, which is an extremely new phenomenon when seen in relation to general art history. I think that in some ways I adhere to the ethos of the early Video Art “canon”, which generally concerned the disruption of passive spectatorship, but the state of the video-spectacle even 50 years ago was immensely different than it is now, and it occurs to me that an artistic medium essentially born in the frenzy of 20th century industrialization must necessarily operate with a more fluid relation to tradition than older, more historically-routed practices. The statics you selected for Nonparticipant have an intrinsic seductive beauty due to the aesthetic conversation between the stillness of the landscape and reminders to human presence: in particular, this aspect reminds us of the notion of non lieu elaborated by French anthropologist Marc Augé and invites the viewers to a process of self-reflection that may lead to subvert our almost stereotyped interpretive systems. How did you balance the juxtaposition between these aspects of Nonparticipant? longer rely so much on symbolic strategies and has to probe psychological, narrative elements within the medium instead". What is your opinion about it? Moreover, we would like to know if in your opinion

I think the idea of the non-lieu, or the nonplace, is a beautiful association to make with these works! That certain spaces, objects, or subjects have fallen through the cracks of our inherited Euro-American aesthetic canon

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is absolutely at the heart of the series. The forced associations between triumphant, art- historical landscapes and these spaces of contemporary banality, or between dramatic human subjects and these pathetic vegetable objects, are a way of illuminating the fluidity and contingency of the terms that comprise aesthetic esteem. The videos’ restrained, itchy movements are kind of the final element of subversion – each individual feature of the historical painting is irreverently replaced, and reassembled in a form of image that is fundamentally moving and changing; the mutability and dynamism of aesthetic, artistic discourses, contrasted with the ostensibly eternal – what Barthes would call “Mythologized” – schema of Western art history. Another interesting work from your recent production that has particularly impressed us and on which we would like to discuss is entitled Cinema of Expanding Things: e have really appreciated the ay this video shows unconventional aesthetics in the way they deconstructs perceptual images in order to assemble them in a collective imagery, urging the viewers to a process of self-reflection. Would you shed a light about the role of metaphors in your process?

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The idea that video media, particularly cinema and television, might be the past century’s most stable form of collective imagery is one that I find very interesting.

observer, from a perspective more akin to Deleuze’s idea of the “assemblage” than to metaphor. I’ve long felt that the notion of the assemblage more closely resembles the artwork’s lifecycle than metaphor

As for metaphor, though, I think I tend to approach art, as both creator and

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does, as it allows the materials, images, and subjects of an artwork to be seen as agents in their own right, influencing one another in an irreducible way, and, importantly, giving the audience credit as a

fundamental element of the workâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s generative capacities. While all of my work might not adhere to the assemblage model, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s definitely the artistic methodology I feel closest to.

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balance between the functional aspect of sound and the visual unity for the narrative of this project? This is probably really obvious to anyone whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s seen it, but Cinema of Expanding

Sound plays a crucial role in Cinema of Expanding Things and provides this video with an uncomfortable, uncanny atmosphere: how di you conceive the

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relationship with the whole of cinema that has always had a great influence on how I’ve conceived of art making. The combination of dark, languid images with a subtle, drone-like score is a tactic that Lynch repeatedly uses in his films to instill the general sense that something in the presented scenario is very off – uncanny is a great word for it – which was very much the tonality I had in mind for Cinema of Expanding Things. Borrowing the strategies of a cinematic iconoclast to problematize the logic of cinema seemed like a perfect opportunity. Your work in general, and in particular your Mining Company/Garbage Day, provides the viewers with an immersive experience: how do you see the relationship between public sphere and the role of art in public space? In particular, how much do you consider the immersive nature of the viewing experience in your process? Making video pieces that are to be shown in galleries or public spaces necessitates an entirely different approach to viewership than work intended for theatres or broadcasting. Cinema and television influence my work in a big way, so I do construct each production in a more-or-less linear fashion, providing the most complete experience to those that might stay to watch the piece from beginning to end; time-based works, though, have a very different relationship with audiences than any other type of art, because they fundamentally demand that the audience give up their time, which is a

Things is a completely shameless reference to filmmaker David Lynch. Lynch’s idiomatic use of image and sound, as well as his tendency to make unapologetically opaque work, has a kind of antagonistic

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commodity of ever-increasing value in the late-capitalist world. I’m fully aware that most people will not sit and view the entirety of any given video piece, so I work with equal care to try to make each shot or moment function by itself as a compelling experience. It’s a balance that I’m still very much trying to navigate. Over these years you have showcased your works in various channels of the Ontario arts community: one of the hallmarks of your art is the capability to create direct involvement with the viewers, who are urged to evolve from a condition of mere spectatorship. So before leaving this conversation we would like to pose a question about the nature of the relationship of your art with your audience. Do you consider the issue of audience reception as being a crucial component of your decision-making process, in terms of what type of language is used in a particular context? Audience reception is absolutely something I think about while I’m working. Aside from the presentational, experiential concerns that I just mentioned, a tremendous amount of thought goes into the imagery and material of each work. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m working with ideas like advertising or cinema, which are fundamentally tied to a relatively public aesthetic lexicon, or if it’s unrelated to the medium and I’m simply neurotic, but I spend a great deal of time laboring over the aesthetic and cultural signification inherent to of each material or image I make use of.

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

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future projects? How do you see your work evolving?

relationships to the ideas I work with change so radically and so often. I find that any new book, film, article, essay, or exhibit can flood me with an entirely new spread of questions, so every far-future artistic plans

Once again, thanks a lot for speaking with me. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve always found it difficult to answer questions like this, because my

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