May 2017 artistic program of the European Capital of Culture 2015
artist in residence magazine
OPEN A.i.R Magazine 05/2017 Address Presslova 14 301 00 Pilsen Czech Republic Graphic design Javier Prieto Cover Juliana Höschlová OPEN A.i.R. Team Manager: Tereza Svášková Communication coordinator: Javier Prieto Contacts svaskova@depo2015.com prieto@depo2015.com Phone +420 702 124 820 Web www.depo2015.cz www.pilsen2015.cz Photographs and illustrations are provided from the artists’ personal archives.
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To be part of something During the six years that our residency program has been working, it has been evolving. We have experienced a lot of changes within the years. These changes has been motivated for different reasons but always with the intention to improve. At this point we would like to see further and try to set our direction. When the project started, it had different location, objectives, topics and even a different name! One of the characteristics, that make each residency program unique, are topics and genres. Nowadays the OPEN A.i.R. program is focused on hosting artists from six fields, which are design, digital media, new media, interactive art, visual art and DYI projects and two topics recycling and innovative techniques. It is a big change for us. Actually, in past few years we had hosted artists from almost all the genres. Dancers, writers, painters and artists from other disciplines have developed their projects with us. However, we are not able to support such projects (and mainly performing arts) in a high-quality way. We do not have enough facilities for long-term residencies as we are part of DEPO2015 where a lot of events take place. Therefore there is no rehearsal room for actors or dancers. The main reason for changing the topics which are are dealing with, is without any doubts that we are an instant part of the bigger structure, the Creative Zone DEPO2015.
Such support from the DEPO2015 team is crucial. We have the place to stay, place to offer, place to make artists feel like home. To be part of such a cultural centre gives us the chance to organise various residency projects in a successful way. Our artists in residence work in the right environment, where they can develop their projects with our masters in different subjects.
Editorial
Being a part of a bigger structure brings many advantages, however, we are obliged to adjust our objectives towards the complete vision and mission of this cultural site and adjust our interests to the program. As being a part of DEPO2015, a creative hub, we can take advantage of all the spaces, tools and knowledges of the team. Of course, that is beneficial for all sides involved.
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EDITORIAL
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UPCOMING ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE Vojtěch Domlátil
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UPCOMING ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE Juliana Höschlová
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CREATE YOUR OWN STAR Nomadic Stars
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NOVI SAD 2021 ARTIST IN RESIDENCE PROGRAM Petr Simon Interview
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DOCUMENTARY, THE UNKNOWN GENRE Finále Plzeň Film Festival
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CALL Artist wanted!
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DEPO2015
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Upcoming artists in residence
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Vojtěch Domlátil Youkobo Art Space Tokyo JAVIER PRIETO
As we announced in our last magazine, the committee set up by the DEPO2015 and the Ladislav Sutnar Faculty of Design and Art experts was deliberating which were the best projects in response to our last open call in collaboration in the frame of cooperation with the Youkubo Art Space. After this difficult decision and the final election of the manager of Youkubo Art Space, we are glad to present the person chosen for the Japanese residency, Vojtěch Domlátil. Vojtěch Domlátil is the assistant of Studio of animation and interactive art at Ladislav Sutnar Faculty of Desing and Art, Pilsen. His work is focused on stop-motion animation, illustration and graphic design. He has produced six animated films. The last one, Life in Patterns (2017), was the winner of a Visegrad New Talent award. But this is just the last one of six awards won in the last three years.
“My work is focused on stop-motion animation, illustration and graphic design.” His strong interest in Asian culture is reflected in some of his works, as his illustrations for the book Pinocchio inspired by Tibetian thangka paintings or his film MI based on the Vietnamese noodle soup. Besides, the Studio from he is part, has recently announced collaboration with the Animation Department of Geidai Tokyo University of the Arts.
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His project proposed for this residency mixes the old Japanese haiku traditional poetry with the innovation in stop-motion. The goal of his experimental stop-motion movie is to transform the rules of Japanese haiku poetry into the visual form of animated film.
Upcoming artists in residence: Vojtěch Domlátil
His strong interest in Asian culture is reflected in some of his works Further, this residency would be a double experience. Apart from the creation of the haiku animation, Vojtěch is willing to hold some workshops for the students of the Joshibi University. The topic is not already closed, but he would like to teach those students about animation and animation film dramaturgy.
This proyect is supported by Youkobo Artspace and EU Japan Fest
Upcoming artists in residence
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Juliana Höschlová
Meet our next artist in residence. Juliana is a Czech visual artist based in Berlin. She has been invited by our partner S.T.A.i.R. to develop her project White Land in Graz, Austria this Autumn. “The whole process is complicated, time-based and timeconsuming, which has an essential meaning for me. I am working with a huge amount of illustrative photos or videos, re-drawing them into plain empty form made in black and white. Also, a kind of archive comes into being to conserve this moment, the time in very chaotic and fast age. Tomorrow is already late”.
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Artist statement Juliana Höschlová JULIANA HÖSCHLOVÁ
Upcoming artists in residence: Juliana Höschlová
In last decades or centuries the man was living besides the image, hanged on the wall or displayed in beautiful majestic palaces or churches. Today, the human being lives in the image. My main topic has been always about the human and his environment. Lately, I begun to express myself especially with a drawing, video and performance. My current topic is an expression of The Mass. The mass society expressing itself, and also perceiving surrounding effects, through the pop-culture and mass media. This includes not only the visual and (non)esthetical form of our environment (the visual image of Fast Foods, Furniture hangars shaping a city’s outskirts, logos of Supermarkets and at the other side the glamour of attractive colors video-clips, movies and fashion), but also the awkward situations lying behind all of the advertisements and products. Such as a situation behind the camera-shooting the “happy family life” for a TV ad, all played by humans who are just in “the object” role, or the environmental impacts we ignore. I try to show this horrifying, artificial and fake moment camouflaged by ingratiating cover of beauty, success, entertainment (for example in Karaoke or Silent disco style performances Just Beat It or The Language of Friendship) or even mental fulfilment (criticized in Where is Jesus or, at the other site, supporting just the moment of meditation in Hiding place).
“When creating the huge drawings on the wall, I work for specific spaces, especially where the distance is limited in a matter of overwhelming feeling. This exhausting process is kind of catharsis to everyday media and informative attacks with a layering news headlines, reflecting, of course, political events, too.�
Upcoming artists in residence: Juliana Hรถschlovรก
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White Land The project which Juliana will develope in Graz This project already started in occasion of group show Huckepack, in Dresden, 2016. I made a huge collage drawing on the paper presenting the term White Land, with a meaning of fortress Europe. I created an online blog and I continuously post drawings reflecting the migration to Europe, for the whole term of the exhibition. I worked with the internet sources, as always, both, from photo-bank and internet news.
“I created an on-line blog and I continuously post drawings reflecting the migration to Europe.� I am convinced that the reason for aging and closure the Europe, the rise of nationalism, right parties, populism and veneration of the white race has the strong core within the media influence. My aim is not to bring some particular solutions into this migration situation, this have never been the meaning of my work. Rather to reflect and conserve this fact. I applied for the residency with a plan to work and collect photography from the local newspapers which are archived in public libraries. This work is mainly based and dependent on local assistance. But the main work will be focused on continuing and developing the on-line blog www.whiteland.eu where the white man is still the leading race all around the globe.
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Nozomi Watanabe Current artist in residence NOZOMI WATANABE
On the 1st of May, I have arrived to the central bus station in Pilsen and walked the streets of Pilsen for the first time. I was walking to the Creative Zone DEPO2015. It was around 7:30pm. The slanting rays of the sun were shining on the walls of buildings. The scenery looked like as a painting. The city of Pilsen reminded me of the city of Canterbury in the UK where I have lived for a year. So I felt I already knew this city. I love a city. People can walk just around and everything is located close to nature. The old city full of historical sites and of beautiful architecture stirs up my imagination and gives me a new point of view. Moreover, here, surrounded by nature you can enjoy beautiful sceneries and a peaceful atmosphere. The lazy river running through the city and the sparkling stars in the evening sky make me think about the continuity of the realms of nature and humanity. Staying in Pilsen would be a great experience for me not only as an artist but also as a life traveler. I am really looking forward to showing my work in the exhibition Nomads 2017 and discovering new things in Pilsen.
Nomadic Stars Workshop Once, nomadic people used stars in the sky to know their own place and used them as a guide during their migrations around the world. Nowadays electrical navigation systems have supplanted this ancient knowledge. During the wokshops that Nozomi will hold as part of her project participants would create their own stars which symbolize the guidance for the people around you and it will illuminate up on your way. Attendees will make a treasure chest for light and maintain their own star, so finally they can take the star with them. Afterwards, during the Nomads 2017, the exhibition that will that will take place from 15th June till October in the DEPO2015 Creative Zone, a big map of the city with the workhop participants’ stars will be installed. This panel will show lighting dots as points of the places where the participants put their own stars. At the end of this project, a lot of stars would appear on the map of Pilsen creating a social constellation. Through the Nomadic Stars Nozomi wants to change the way that Pilseners observe the world. This proyect is supported by Youkobo Artspace and EU Japan Fest
Novi Sad 2021
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Novi Sad 2021 Artist in residence program We meet Petr Simon to talk about our counterparts in Novi Sad 2021 JAVIER PRIETO
Novi Sad was selected as a European Capital of Culture 2021 last year and the team is working hard to prepare all on time for the cultural explosion that will fill streets of the city with art in four years. As you can imagine, this will be a long process of preparation and implementation in a lot of different fields. Some information is arriving to us but we wanted to know everything about our counterparts in the Serbian city. For this mission we have had the pleasure of talking to Petr Simon, the cultural manager who created and run OPEN A.i.R. in its beginnings and is the actual manager of Artists Networking in Novi Sad 2021. He is looking forward to using his experiences acquired in Pilsen. In first part of the interview he revealed us that the artist in residence project has been named Plants, alluding that Novi Sad means New Plant in Latin. Last month he presented the OPEN A.i.R. program in Novi Sad as a part of a series of meetings that he had as with the objective of mapping the city. He was really surprised because he found out that some institutions in the city organize artistic exchanges, however, “they don´t call themselves art in residence programs.” During his stay in Novi Sad he also met “the artistic movement of the city”.
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He has been positively surprised by the amount of artistic organizations and artist studios working in the city in which they willl base the program. Furthermore, Novi Sad is already a very artistically active city. In a bank of the Danube river “there is a fortress where you can find at least seventy or eighty studios where artists work”. He admits that there will be some similarities between Plants artist in residence program and OPEN A.i.R. due to he is taking his experience and knowledge acquired during Pilsen 2015.
Novi Sad 2021: Petr Simon Interview
Although the program is still in process, he reveals that this art residency will host visual artists writers and he will try to include artist of the performing arts field too. “The idea is that Plants will be sending visual artist abroad and hosting performing artists”, he said. We know it is too soon to talk about the future of some program that hasn’t even started to work, but Petr “would be happy if Plants will be one of the legacy programs of Novy Sad 2021 or an umbrella program from different stakeholders of the city”. This means that he is projecting Plants as a institution that will work before, during and after the main year on Novi Sad. Petr hopes that there will be collaboration between OPEN A.i.R. and the upcoming Plant artist in residence program, moreover he reveals an exchange of artists between both programs. And what is more important, creating a network between KAIR (Kosice) and A-i-R Wro (Wroclaw). From here we encourage Peter and wish the best for him and for Novi Sad 2015 team!
FINÁLE PLZEŇ FILM FESTIVAL
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Finále Plzeň Film Festival
Documentary, the unknown genre JAVIER PRIETO
Since the 90s the amount of documentary films in Europe has been gradually growing. But the attendance to screenings of fiction movies is still much higher. The general idea of a boring genre full of explicit information is what makes people disinterested by documentaries.
It is hard to find documentaries on the listings of the cinemas and on TV, most of the times, you just can whatch pure informative documentaries. It looks like that the majority of society is not interest in this genre, usually perceived as bored and tedious films. For this lack of documentaries easily available, people interested in this type of films waits impatient to film festivals, where they can enjoy a long list of documentaries about numerous topics. “I was pleased when I saw the issues, the variety of topics chosen for the Finale Film Festival” admits Ida Grøn, the head of the International Jury Festival for the Documentaries. For her as a jury member the best thing to find in a documentary is a narrative, the way that “filmmakers are capable of telling stories without words, expressing information trhough the visual tools”.
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Lucie Machartová is the head of the Czech Students jury of Finále Plzeň Film Festival in the Documentary competition. She is passionate about documentaries because “they are real”. For her, this realness, the plot, and the characters are the main important things in a documentary. “I want to find myself in the character”, admits.
“Filmmakers are capable of telling stories without words, expressing information through the visual tools.” After enjoying 12 films considered for the Golden Kingfisher Award for the best documentary Ida comes to the conclusion that there are no big differences between Czech and other European countries documentaries. However, Lucie, who has great knowledge about Czech documentaries, thinks that the majority of “ Czech documentary filmmakers take no care about the visual aspect, the art in the scenes”.
“Documentaries teach people, destroy prejudices, and make people think.” This visual aspect is what is missing in the most documentaries broadcasted in television channels. Ida would like to let the people see “some very cinematic documentaries in order to experience that this genre could have as high artistic level as fiction movies, getting knowledge about something and at the same time enjoy”. This wrong idea about documentaries is what makes people disinterested in this genre. “Filmmakers should relay more on the cleverness of the spectators, they don’t need to explain everything” criticizes Ida talking about the narrative.
Ida Grøn
Head of International Jury for Documentaries
Documentary director - art history breed from the National Film and Television School, UK, and the University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Lucie Machartová
Head of Student Jury for Documentaries of University of West Bohemia in Pilsen
Student of Languages in Business Future Candidate to Film and TV School of Academy of Performing Arts in Prague
Curiosity is the main characteristic of documentary spectators, as Ida observes, people attend to documentary screenings “because they are engaged with the topic, or with the filmmaker”. However, she notices that there are more and more people attending to the cinemas or film festivals to see documentaries. “People coming want to be inform, have a deep immersion into a certain topic, because what you can see in a documentary probably is going deeper into the issues tan you can get from the news, filmmakers have the ability to access to deeper information”, says. Lucie thinks that people who go to cinema to see documentaries are “open minded” and they want to know about a topic. Both juries definitely encourage people to attend documentary screenings, for Lucie the main reason is that “documentaries teach people, destroy prejudices, and make people think”.
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Artist wanted!
OPEN A.i.R. Artist in Residence Program as a legacy programme of Pilsen – European Capital of Culture 2015 is inviting artists and designers from all over the world to live and work in the DEPO2015 Creative Zone in Pilsen, Czech Republic. Date of residency February – November 2017. The artist would choose the period of his/her residency (maximum 6 weeks), however the residency time frame has to be approved by the coordinators. Number of participants: Up to 3, the artist can come with a companion. Profile of the resident:
CALL
Artist who wants to develop his/her project in the DEPO2015 Creative Zone; while collaborating and contributing with his/her ideas and know how to the organization. The artist wanted should be open- minded and willing to collaborate with DEPO2015 crew.
The OPEN A.i.R. Program focuses mainly on visual arts, new media and to- pics of open source, recycling and DIY approach. Giving preferences to design, digital and interactive art. Language English or Czech Application - CV (in a tabular form with an overview of past exhi- bitions etc.) - Portfolio of recent works (up to 5 different projects) - Cover letter commenting on artist intention in English or Czech. The applicattions should be sent not later than two months before the start of the residency project to Javier Prieto, prieto@depo2015.cz. The specialist jury make the decision within two weeks after receiving the application. In your cover letter please mention what are the topics and issues you are currently working on or you would like to target during the residency. Let us know what motivates you to come to live and work in Pilsen.
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Conditions of the residency The OPEN A.i.R. programme currently resides at the DEPO2015 Creative Zone, with facilities such as one art studio, a flat for artists and many spaces for the final presentations of residents. The artists can also use machines and the masters‘ craftsmanship in the open workshop Makerspace situated right at DEPO2015. Shared studio | €100 / per one month – 70m2, height 3,5m – a really good space, quiet, sunny – fully equipped, a small library, Internet access - there is a small kitchen, WC - also there is a darkroom for photographers Flat | €10 per night in the case that it is a whole month then it will cost only €200 – – the flat is located in DEPO2015 – fully equipped: double- bed, small kitchen, WC, shower – Internet connection It is also possible to use all the workspaces in DEPO2015 for the fee 2€/ 1 hour (with the consultation of our masters). We have there fab lab, sewing lab, ma- kerspace (work with metal, wood...), graphic studio, screen printing studio. Curatorial and production support is provided for free.
Call: Artist wanted!
We can provide artist with 30% discount on the accommodation and studio rent fees if: – The artist would be willing to share his/her open source – The artist want to leave his/her artwork in DEPO2015 – The artist will organise series of workshops for public
Be sure that everything is up to the mutual agreement. We want you to feel comfortable and free to work in the DEPO2015. Therefore do not hesitate to contact us for further details. DEPO2015 is an outcome of the Pilsen – European Capital of Culture 2015 project. The heart of DEPO2015 is The Centre for Creative Enterprise which connects culture with business and creative industries. The depot is a place where both start-ups and established companies reside, work, create, present and trade. A community of creative people with great ideas and the ambition to realise them has the opportunity to go through a process of incubation,i.e. to kick-start their business plan with the assistance and mentoring of professionals from the culture and creative industries, they can use a shared working space, an open workshop to make prototypes or rent a studio oran office. DEPO2015 is also an open cultural space which is needed for the development of new ideas, and it increases the attractiveness of the place for the people who reside, work and create at DEPO2015 as well as the general public. Exhibitions are held here as well as performing arts events and interesting meet ups
For more information check DEPO2015: www.depo2015.cz OPEN A.i.R.: www.facebook.com/openairplzen or contact Javier Prieto on this open call – prieto@depo2015.cz Tereza Svášková on the OPEN A.i.R. Program – svaskova@depo2015.cz
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27 | 05 | 2017 – 14:00 Žonglobalizace Do you want to learn circus movements? Make sure you come Borský park, Žonglobalizace will host workshops and activities for everybody.
27 | 05 – 28 | 05 | 2017 European Neighbours’ Day
Events
During the weekend the city of Pilsen will celebrate different activities as part of the European Neighbours’ Day. It could be a good way of making peace with your neighbors!
15 | 06 – 16 | 06 | 2017 Observation Points The installation of our Japanese artist in residence Nozomi Watanabe will take place during the 14th and 15th June in DEPO2015 and it will most probably find out our nomadic soul. Visitors will enjoy the installation as a part of the opening of the Nomads 2017 exhibition.
17 | 06 | 2017 – 14:00 FABLAB Nomadic Stars Childen The participants will receive each one a box witch contains a star. They will decorate the box and mark in a map in witch part of the town they will keep it, so at the end of the project Pilsen will have its own galaxy. 21 | 06 | 2017 – 17:00 FABLAB Nomadic Stars Adults The participants will create their own technological star and the box where they will keep it safe. They will decorate the box and mark in a map in witch part of the town they will keep it, so at the end of the project Pilsen will have its own galaxy. 24 | 06 | 2017 – 21:00 DEPO2015 Nomadic Stars Walk A tour around the city in witch participants of the Nomadic Star Workshop could have a walk with their stars and rediscover Pilsen from an astronomical point of view. A certain number of stars will be given to the participants witch did not take part of the workshops.