www.neunow.com12-16 November 2014

Supported by:

Catalogue

The NEU/NOW LIVE Festival in 2014 is

realised through collaborative activities

developed in the framework of a grant

from the Cultural Programme of the

European Commission for a project

named NE©XT2 (New European

Creative Talent).

Contents

Introduction 6

Design/Architecture 8

Film/Animation 18

Music/Sound 36

Theatre/Dance 42

Visual Arts 50

Acknowledgements 70

6

NEU/NOW LIVE Glasgow 2014

After Vilnius in 2009, Nantes in 2010,

Tallinn in 2011, Porto in 2012 and

Amsterdam in 2013, ELIA is proud to

present the sixth edition of the NEU/

NOW LIVE Festival 2014 in Glasgow!

The NEU/NOW Festival is an innova-

tive international festival that features

a curated selection of emerging

artists entering professional arts

arenas. The work presented through

NEU/NOW has undergone a rigorous

selection process: institutions and

universities nominate art works to

be evaluated by an international jury

comprised of 15 experts/artists, and

the final NEU/NOW LIVE selection

is then made by the two Artistic

Directors.

For the sixth edition of NEU/NOW

hundreds of applications were

received from which 65 projects from

23 countries were selected for the

online Festival www.neunow.com.

26 projects from 13 countries have

been selected for presentation in the

LIVE Festival in Glasgow.

As well as drawing strong interest

from public audiences, the Festival

has increasingly attracted promoters,

curators, producers, festival directors

and cultural entrepreneurs who are

all keen to engage with the work of

highly talented arts graduates emerg-

ing from across European higher arts

institutions.

A unique aspect of the NEU/NOW

LIVE Festival is the way that it brings

together all arts disciplines, providing

a generation of emerging artists –

drawn from across Europe – with

an opportunity to share their ideas,

practices and cultural perspectives

in ways that positively challenge any

perceived limits within their individual

arts practices and encourage them to

forge new creative partnerships.

As curators, the Artistic Directors are

intrigued by the possibilities offered

by the interdisciplinary platform

that the LIVE Festival provides, and

they strive to promote flexibility and

porosity between any conventional

boundaries that may be perceived

to exist between different arts disci-

plines. Although the individual works

are presented in a range of perfor-

mance spaces and galleries, we

believe that, together, they represent

an exciting and stimulating continuum

of art activity. In this way, the curated

programme of work interweaves,

challenges and plays with any

preconceived ideas concerning the

artistic disciplines of the work or the

spaces in which they are presented.

The Artistic Directors of the NEU/

NOW LIVE Festival look for a range of

attributes throughout their selection

process. They seek work of the

very highest artistic quality while

also being mindful of the specific

properties of each work, its potential

to be shown to its best advantage in

the performance spaces and galleries

available to the Festival, the contribu-

tion it will make to the programme as

a whole, and the extent to which it is

likely to engage the interest of both

professional and public audiences in

the host city.

The final selection for the Festival

is based as much on the ideas,

concepts, and intentions that shape

the works as on their aesthetic or

material qualities. The curators also

look at the ways that each work may

relate to broader concerns, such as

environmental sustainability or social

justice, and at its relationship to

society more broadly.

NEU/NOW is organised by ELIA –

European League of Institutes of

the Arts, the primary independ-

ent network of major higher arts

education institutions. With its 300

member institutions in 57 countries,

ELIA promotes dialogue, mobility and

research. Members of the European

networks Association Européenne

des Conservatoires (AEC), The

International Association of Film

and Television Schools (Centre

International de Liaison des Ecoles de

Cinéma et de Télévision – CILECT),

and Cumulus International Associa-

tion of Universities and Colleges of

Art, Design and Media are invited

to nominate projects into the NEU/

NOW selection. With the NEU/NOW

Festival ELIA taps into the potential of

approximately a million art students

representing all art disciplines.

The NEU/NOW 2014 edition is

realised through collaborative

activities of the project NE©XT2–

New European Creative Talent,

developed in the framework of

the Cultural Programme of the

European Commission. Cumulus

provided a grant for the project

Nomad. We have been particularly

pleased to collaborate with the

Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and

The Glasgow School of Art. Their

shared role in the artistic life of the

City of Glasgow has meant that they

have been key to the planning and

producing of NEU/NOW 2014.

We hope that you will be as engaged

and excited by the work presented

in the NEU/NOW LIVE Festival as

we are.

Paula Crabtree,

Artistic Director NEU/NOW,

Vice Chancellor,

Stockholm University of the Arts

Anthony Dean,

Artistic Director NEU/NOW,

Chair of Steering Group,

Dean of Faculty of Arts

University of Winchester

Carla Delfos,

ELIA Executive Director

E u ro p e a n L e a g u e o f I n s t i t u t e s o f t h e A r t s

E u ro p e a n L e a g u e o f I n s t i t u t e s o f t h e A r t s

NEU/NOW 2009, Vilnius, Lithuania19-22 November, 2009

NEU/NOW 2010, Nantes, France26-30 October, 2010

NEU/NOW 2011, Tallinn, Estonia17-20 November, 2011

NEU/NOW 2012, Porto, Portugal11-15 July, 2012

NEU/NOW 2013, Amsterdam, Netherlands22-26 June, 2013

NEU/NOW 2014, Glasgow, Scotland12-16 November, 2014

8 9Design/Architecture

Design/Architecture

10 Design/Architecture

Newintage ShoeMartina Řiháčková

Univerzita Tomáše Bati ve Zlíně / Tomas Bata University in Zlín

Czech Republic

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Martina Řiháčková’s footwear is inspired

by naturally occurring processes and phe-

nomena. The aim of Newintage Shoe is to

create a clean and simple design with clear

lines and cuts that use natural materials.

The upper part of the shoe is made from

one piece of moulded leather. There are

a variety of defects on the leather that

occur naturally and give the design added

character. The platform of the shoe is made

of handcrafted wood. Plastic shapes on

the platform are randomly placed during

production. A single stripe is used to

connect the upper and lower forms into one

cohesive unit.

Řiháčková strives to amplify spontaneity in

the process of creating. Both the randomly

occurring natural holes in the leather and

the moulded curves on the platforms are

manifestations of this ambition.

ARTISTIC STATEMENT

This collection of footwear is the result

of a cooperation with the fashion design

atelier for the project Newintage, a lifestyle

brand created by young designers from the

Univerzita Tomáše Bati ve Zlíně’s Faculty of

Multimedia Communications.

I wanted to create a collection of women’s

shoes on a high platform. The characteris-

tic lines of the entire collection are simple,

clean, and based on geometric shapes and

natural materials.

Pho

to: E

liska

Kys

elko

va

12 Design/Architecture

Pho

to: A

ljoša

Reb

olj

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

CROSSROADS is a contemporary

ballet dance film that ruminates on life, the

yearning and search for happiness, love,

passion, and all the crossroads in-between.

Dancers tell strong personal and emotional

stories through their bodies, gestures, and

music amongst urban architecture.

The costume design for CROSSROADS

was created to mediate between the danc-

ers, the music, the urban surroundings,

and the choreographer’s voice. Many of the

costumes featured in CROSSROADS were

handmade, hand-dyed, and distressed with

the sole purpose of underscoring the core

of the story.

CROSSROADS, like many of the collabo-

rations between costume designer Almina

Duraković and choreographer Kjara Starič

Wurst, brings together talented young Slo-

venian dancers who are unable to find work

after graduating from ballet school.

The mission of Duraković and Starič Wurst

is to combine their great passion for art with

their dedication to create a better future for

young dancers. Their work often takes the

form of conceptual contemporary ballet

projects that focus on beautiful storytelling

as the driving force in the creative process.

CROSSROADSAlmina Duraković

Fakulteta za dizajn, Univerza na Primorskem / Faculty of Design, University of Primorska

Slovenia

ARTISTIC STATEMENT

Some say that work chooses you and

not the other way around, but I’m still not

sure…

All I know for certain is that I spent my

youth dreaming about becoming a balle-

rina. I have a clear memory of my younger

self, sometime around the age of four, in

which I was pretending to be a ballerina

and I stuffed Legos into my socks under-

neath the heel so that I could dance longer

on my toes.

When I was too tired to dance, rather than

learning how to write the alphabet, I sewed

outfits for my dolls by stealing needles

and fabrics from my mum. My passion for

dance and creating costumes continues

to grow to this day. When I work I feel as

though time stops and I am transported

back to those moments as a young girl

when I was playing at being a ballerina and

a designer, only now I have the privilege to

make this my life’s work.

As a result of my passion and curiosity, my

professional work explores a wide range of

mediums from costume, interior and fash-

ion design to jewellery making and scenog-

raphy. I enjoy experimenting with material,

shape, volume, colour, texture, and various

techniques, and learning how to portray

different stories through my work. I always

find myself searching for strong concepts to

convey simplistically.

My work on the costume design for

CROSSROADS began by listening to the

music, visiting dance rehearsals, watching

the movement of the bodies, and seeing

how dancers evolved their own personal-

ities through the dance story. From these

collections of impressions a vision for the

costumes emerged.

When I watch my costume designs put

into motion by beautiful dancers on stage I

can see my visions come to life; it is in this

moment that all the crazy things from my

childhood make sense and make me smile

like a little girl again.

14 Design/Architecture

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Nina Woroniecka’s Nomad – the minimum

life necessities is a modular furniture set

designed for modern nomads. It is inspired

by the rising trend for minimalism and the

new dynamic lifestyle of young people who

move very frequently.

Reflection on the practical needs of sleep-

ing, sitting, resting, and working resulted in

the development of a set of basic pieces of

furniture. The items are all light, easy to as-

semble and come together to form a mobile

unit. The modular nature of Nomad solves

the problems of volume and weight that are

always present when moving.

As a portable set of furniture essentials,

Nomad includes a container for the

entire set which, when fitted with shelves,

converts into a cabinet; a table; a lamp; two

stools; and a mattress that transforms into

a recreational seat. This seating arrange-

ment provides a pleasurable opportunity

for contact with another person in this oth-

erwise singular arrangement. Every piece

of Nomad serves a function, or sometimes

a double-function, as the container cover

also acts as a tabletop when assembled.

The container is roomy enough to accom-

modate, in addition to the furniture, all the

personal belongings of an urban nomad,

while still remaining small enough to be

easily transported. The pieces of furniture,

although simple in form and technically

economical, do not sacrifice personal

style. The biodegradable materials used

emphasise the anti-consumerist nature of

the project.

Nomad – the minimum life necessities Nina Woroniecka

Akademia Sztuk Pięknych w Warszawie / Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw

Poland

ARTISTIC STATEMENT

I believe the designer should focus more on

responding to the needs of the user rather

than solely on aesthetics. Observing the

changes that are present in the behaviour

of society and reflecting them in design is

for me the way to create meaningful and

useful projects.

Modern society is mobile. Nowadays young

people live dynamically. The habit of living

in one place for a lifetime is a thing of the

past. Due to numerous opportunities for

self-development, curiosity about the world,

and the improved ease and efficiency of

travel, a large portion of the population con-

stantly changes their place of residence,

rents room after room, and stays in no one

place for long. This nomadic lifestyle often

necessitates the temporary occupation of

small spaces, which forces people to keep

a limited number of material things.

Moreover, the fatigue induced by excessive

consumption and the related excess of

possessions forms the starting point for a

reflection on the actual, rather than desired,

material needs of man. Minimalism – an

alternative attitude, presented in numerous

internet forums about modern lifestyles – is

manifested in an existence pursued in a

minimal way. Young people from a certain

cultural background present photos of

themselves surrounded by a small number

of carefully selected objects – their only

belongings. In general, minimalists live in

cities, live as nomads, and work via the

internet. This new type of lifestyle became

the pretext for designing Nomad.

Pho

to: R

enat

a W

oron

ieck

a

16 Design/Architecture

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Watch Out! is an interactive video clip

designed by Océane Hänni for iPad and

iPhone. Two videos run at the same time on

the same soundtrack. The user is able to

divide the screen into different parts, which

can then be modified in real-time. By doing

this, the user creates a unique version of

the video clip as they select components

from the two videos. The aim is to stimulate

the spectator’s curiosity to discover how

the constituent parts communicate.

The application sometimes takes over

control and momentarily halts the user’s

input, thereby erasing the user’s creations,

and then relinquishes control to the user

once again. This system directly refers to

the song lyrics, which talk about choices

and obligations in life. It contrasts the

user’s freedom against the limits of the

application.

This interaction brings a new dimension to

the video clip. It becomes a direct game

between the user and the singer in the

video. When the user creates separations

and divides the screen into different

parts, the movement and intention of the

singer is altered. Thereby, the relationship

between the two videos changes with every

individual user and results in an inimitable

experience.

Watch Out!Océane Hänni

Ecole Cantonale d’Art de Lausanne (ECAL)

Switzerland

ARTISTIC STATEMENT

I’ve always had an interest in video. When

starting my research for Watch Out! I

noticed that in my previous work I tended

to divide the screen into different parts and

make them communicate. My purpose was

to confront distinct elements that, once put

together, would make up a new image that

was in itself complete and independent of

the original (a bit like a ‘cadavre exquis’).

This method aims to surprise users by

manipulating the varying viewpoints.

The spectator’s enjoyment is of great im-

portance for me. I have chosen to work on

iPad because it allows a direct interaction

between the user and the visuals. This

transforms the video into a living process;

a form of communication is created

between the user and image. The spectator

becomes an actor/creator.

This particular piece was an opportunity for

me to get involved in a project working with

the singer Lila Cruz and to gain experience

in filming and creating interactive systems.

Pho

to: O

céan

e H

änni

18 Film/Animation

Film/Animation

20 Film/Animation

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Who is to blame for the Costa Concordia

disaster? Anonymous entries in a blog

are the starting point for a heated debate

on blame and responsibility. It is armchair

case law, ending in a state of chaos and

emotional upheaval in which universal

issues become more important than the

actual accident.

ARTISTIC STATEMENT

In the process of making the film 4 Grad

Kaltes Wasser I was interested in how

communication can change through the

possibilities of the internet. My research

concentrated on digitally submitted letters

to the editor as personal reactions to the

daily news. The most intriguing aspect of

these documents was the possibility of

interaction between readers. This form of

responding to news offered an easy and

accessible way for individuals to publicly

express their opinion and to comment on

the opinions of others under the cover of

anonymity. These communications demon-

strate that in a social exchange excessive

identification with only one opinion often

closes down channels for open humanistic

discussion and dialogue. The chosen

montage in 4 Grad Kaltes Wasser acts as a

cinematographic realisation of this particu-

lar social phenomena.

4 Grad Kaltes Wasser (4 Degree Water)Gabriel Studerus

Hochschule Luzern / Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts

Switzerland

Pho

to: L

ukas

Gut

22 Film/Animation

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Kamla is a quiet maid who works full-time

in Raj and Simran’s home, performing all of

the household chores neatly and carefully.

Kamla shares a warm relationship with the

adoring Simran, who treats her ‘like family’

and regularly showers her with gifts and

clothes.

In this ‘modern’ home there is no obvious

violence or hierarchy but, as Kamla

slowly realises, these dangers are hidden

behind seemingly caring words and loving

gestures.

Underlying tensions come to the fore when

Kamla’s younger sister Pihu arrives and

compels Kamla to make a decision.

Hamare Ghar (Our Home) attempts to

understand class relationships in an

atmosphere of love and affection where

violence is not physical but structural and

interwoven amongst everyday actions and

words.

The Indian Middle Class has grown in size

and wealth since the liberalisation of the

Indian economy in the 1990s. Hamare Ghar

portrays an Indian Middle Class that is

demanding, ambitious and considers itself

to be modern and progressive. The film

contends that there is a widespread belief

among the Indian Middle Class that they

are separate from all kinds of ills associated

with the country’s feudal past. The Middle

Class has learnt to be delicate in vocabu-

lary as part of this systematic process of

distancing; thus the term ‘domestic help’

has replaced ‘servant’. Not only in language

but also in behaviour it is paramount to act

nice, to not shout, and to say things with

a smile.

Hamare Ghar (Our Home)Kislay

Film and Television Institute of India

India

Yet behind these niceties the feudal mind-

set has remained the same. In many senses

the violence is more brutal as it comes

disguised by a semblance of the normal

and the everyday.

ARTISTIC STATEMENT

I often spent my childhood with different

domestic workers as I grew up in a middle

class family with both my parents working.

I was instructed to treat them ‘like family’.

These relationships were full of warmth and

love but a clear hierarchy relating to strict

rules of behaviour and etiquette under-

scored all interactions. As a child I always

knew that if I were to ask for something

from a domestic worker they did not have

the liberty to say no. This film is an attempt

to understand these relationships and

explore unspoken hierarchies.

I have always felt that mass media repre-

sents violence as a spectacle, whether in

the form of war, a sensational murder or a

brutal rape. These depictions differentiate

violence from ‘normal living’ and catalyse

a process of Othering violence. The final

effect is that through the lens of the media

‘good people’ never participate in such

actions.

As an artist, I am interested in exploring vio-

lence that is not spectacular but mundane,

which is not a mere isolated act but part

of our daily existence and hidden behind

those very structures which define and

shape our ways of living.

Pho

to: E

eshi

t Nar

ain

24 Film/Animation

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Dej Povej is a short animated film about a

love story on a surreal train ride. Its purpose

is to explore and document traditional

animation techniques as they are used

to make a digitally animated verisimilar

film – combining principles of composition,

narrative, storyboarding, editing, animation

and film aesthetics into one complete

whole. Created over the span of six

months, the entire project was scripted,

storyboarded, edited and animated by

Domen Lo.

Dej Povej (Tell Me)Domen Lo

Fakulteta za dizajn, Univerza na Primorskem / Faculty of Design, University of Primorska

Slovenia

ARTISTIC STATEMENT

In my artistic practice I work with the

unlimited possibilities of the computer as

well as the traditional mediums of paper,

pencils, paints and canvas. All of my

surreal, grotesque and fantasy artworks

show a balance and a lateral, not literal,

visual symmetry. I explore the aesthetics of

juxtaposition and metamorphosis to create

new worlds that exist inside ourselves.

There are so many bright and beautiful

artworks, and so many dark and desperate

artworks. What is closer to reality?

Pho

to: D

omen

Lo

26 Film/Animation

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

What role can a place play in creative

activity?

Tord Torpe’s Here – or the art of searching

for the wonderful flow started with the art-

ist’s desire to use a physically limited space

as a point of departure in creating a visual

story. The theoretical investigations that fol-

lowed unfolded between two dimensions:

place and visual storytelling.

Torpe found that both dimensions open

possibilities for the sense of self to be lost

and for a sense of meaning to be found in

its stead. Torpe’s search for meaning led

him to try to understand why he was driven

to engage in creative activity. What are

the mechanisms behind it? What role can

place take on to engender playful creative

activity?

The answers to such difficult questions are

seldom short and unambiguous. Ultimately,

Torpe found that a ‘sense of flow’ is vital

in order for something to be perceived as

meaningful. A crucial element in finding flow

is the ability to concentrate, an ability that,

sadly, appears to be greatly underestimat-

ed in modern times. In many ways, Torpe

became his own lab rat throughout the

master’s process, the goal of which was

not to find the piece of cheese, but to find

the meaningful flow.

Torpe’s product at the end of this maze is

an animated short film based on the short

story Her (Here) by Norwegian author Frode

Grytten. Here very much opened up the

possibility for Torpe to lose himself both in

visual storytelling and in a place – the city

of Bergen.

HERE – or the art of searching for the wonderful flowTord Torpe

Kunst- og designhøgskolen i Bergen (KHiB) / Bergen Academy of Art and Design

Norway

ARTISTIC STATEMENT

The animation work I do is very much

based on illustration. The act of drawing

is an important motivation for my artistic

work and is my most frequent starting point

for developing projects and ideas. What I

love the most about drawing is the flowing,

meditative, even hypnotic state the activity

may bring. It is not necessarily what I am

drawing but rather the act of drawing itself

that counts.

Everyday life is filled with an impenetrable

wall of impressions. Drawing gives me an

opportunity to create and reflect, instead

of just continuously consuming. Through

drawing I can make a choice to swap

distraction for concentration, which I find

crucial in order not to go insane or become

a zombie. Just putting some lines on paper

can feel amazingly rewarding. Sitting down

and losing myself in this simple act creates

space for stress release and reflection.

Many other activities can give me a similar

state of enjoyable flow. But through drawing

I can also materialise ideas. I can tell sto-

ries. Telling stories through visuals alone, or

in combination with text, is an art form that

opens up hermeneutical processes where

much can be discovered and experienced.

How much information is needed to tell

a story? There is a fine balance between

communicating clearly and still leaving

room for interpretation. Searching for such

a balance is always a challenging and

exciting task.

I love a good story. Storytelling is such an

old, complex form of art, and it can be done

in a million different ways. Whether it’s a

simple joke or an epic poem, a good story

never goes out of style. I am a sucker for

both good content and form, so trying to

tell stories through drawing feels like the

ultimate challenge for me. I can´t say that I

always make it work, far from it. But I love

the process of trying – most of the time.

Pho

to: T

ord

Torp

e

28 Film/Animation

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Inspired by the works of Charley Harper

and Eric Carle, Joey Ku’s The Carnival of

the Animals animated short uses vibrant

colours and upbeat music from Camille

Saint-Saëns to highlight the importance of

animal extinction.

Set in an animal conservation advert, the

film transports its audience to a carnival

celebration consisting of six simple, bright

and colourful animals: the spritely sea mink;

the joyous Xerces Blue butterfly; the proud

eastern elk; the playful Steller’s sea cow;

the calm Haast’s eagle; and the European

sea sturgeon. Ku uses animals unfamiliar to

contemporary audiences to engage and fa-

miliarise viewers with the animated animals’

real modern-day counterparts.

The six animals make a magnificent display

of their unique natural beauty by dancing

along to the carnival music. The carnival

proves a stunning counterpoint to the ani-

mals, depicting vibrant abstract sequences,

silhouettes and other kaleidoscopic flour-

ishes to sustain the spirit of the lively event.

As the animals travel through the exotic,

joyous celebration suddenly the carnival

comes to an abrupt end, leaving a haunting

visual impact.

The Carnival of the AnimalsJoey Ku

University for the Creative Arts

United Kingdom

ARTISTIC STATEMENT

I have been a big fan of Eric Carle’s The

Very Hungry Caterpillar since I was a child

and have grown up looking at his illustra-

tions along with Charley Harper’s simplistic

design work. As I want to become a CG

Generalist after leaving university, I sought

to improve my skills in animation whilst go-

ing through the whole production process –

from scripts and 2D designs to 3D models

that move and are brought to life.

Combining my strong interests in animals

and creating children’s characters with the

inspiration provided by my favourite artists

helped shape my animation. Camille Saint-

Saëns’ ‘The Carnival of the Animals’ finale

music became one of the main foundations

for my animation after I discovered it while

watching Disney’s Fantasia.

For the animals, I aimed to recreate the

look that Eric Carle had in his artwork; in

order to accomplish this I created my own

textures from sweet wrappers and applied

Photoshop brushes on top with various

blending modes. The overall outcome for

their design was successful in that people

can trace the textures back to Carle’s art.

Making The Carnival of the Animals was

an interesting journey. Through this one

production I have been able to hone my

animation skills, learn more about the ana-

tomical structures of animals, and develop

my own unique creative aesthetic and

methodology while paying homage to the

artists who continue to inspire me.

Pho

to: J

oey

Ku

30 Film/Animation

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Forcing Function is a ruthless diagnosis of

a computerised society ruled by the market

and the pressure for success. The episodic

film consists of three parts along with a

prologue and an epilogue. It starts at a time

of global economic crisis and increased

impact of electronic media on social life,

and presents the possible consequences

of this development in the near future. State

control over citizens, particularly within

the economic realm, will be more strictly

exercised thanks to the web. The ultimate

power of the system will be perceived as

the norm and accepted by the common

man. The film shows the atomisation of

society and the struggle of individuals

for economic status, which equates to a

position on the social ladder.

Forcing Function’s protagonist is beaten

by a system for which he does not want to

work. The film, despite being made up of

episodes – fragments of individual lives – is

a consistent overview of relations within

society as a whole. The narrative of Forcing

Function resonates strongly thanks to its

recognisable portrayal of a process of

transition over the course of twelve years;

starting from widely accepted truths the

audience is carried into an unknown but

logically legitimate future in the year 2020.

Forcing Function is a mature reflection

on where a technologically developed

consumer society can lead.

Forcing FunctionAdam Janisch

Akademia Sztuk Pięknych w Warszawie / Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw

Poland

ARTISTIC STATEMENT

With the exception of one key scene

Forcing Function is not based on building

an emotional relationship with the audience

but is rather a vision of a possible future.

The issue of the use and processing of

personal data has become increasingly

important in today’s world. It was important

to me to present the near and immediate

future in the film. The first act is set in the

present and this allows the audience to

relate to what they see. The epilogue, set

in 2020, presents the world we know now,

only one or two steps further along. This is

not a sci-fi film.

Pho

to: A

ntho

ny M

olin

a, C

inem

atog

rap

her

32 Film/Animation

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Årsringar is a short film about existence,

sorrow and how life comes and goes. In

Årsringar we meet Hanna, who was seven

years old when she watched her little sister

fall ill and die in the course of a few hours.

Hanna remembers her sister Emma and

tells us about the change in her life. Her

story is told in pictures which, together with

sound and music, make a meditative and

poetic film.

Årsringar (Rings of Life) Ida Lindgren

Stockholms konstnärliga högskola / Stockholm University of the Arts

Sweden

ARTISTIC STATEMENT

I want to renew cinematography in docu-

mentary film. I always ask myself how the

picture can add something extra to the

story. I want the pictures to talk.

When I made the short documentary Clown

Medicine I filmed sick children who met

hospital clowns. What I also witnessed in

the making of that film was that the siblings

became invisible in the family because all

of the attention was focused on the sick

child. I wondered what happened to this

invisible child if the sibling passed away.

So I recorded the stories of children who

lost a sibling and in Årsringar one of them

is given a chance to speak. I wanted to

interweave the child’s story with interpretive

pictures rather than show the expected. It is

important for me as a filmmaker to believe

in the pictures that I have in mind and try to

actualise them.

I tend to tell stories through a child’s per-

spective. Children are unfeigned, creative,

present, intuitive, curious, trusting, reliant

and truthful. I value the characteristics of

children; they embody the most human

of traits and when we lose them we lose

something essential. I am interested in how

long, or after how much damage, a person

can still keep these traits alive.

Pho

to: I

da

Lind

gren

34 Film/Animation

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

How many people make real contact with

the cashier in the supermarket – and vice

versa? Olga too has switched to autopilot.

Dressed in a dirty red sweater and a dark

blue body-warmer, she gazes absently

into the world; her heavy bosom leans on

the conveyor belt that defines her working

rhythm. She keeps silent, sniffs her nose

every now and then and dispassionately

prints receipts. Milk, eggs, some organic

products pass by. Only Olga’s diamond

earrings sparkle, everything else remains

dull.

And all of a sudden, we get a glimpse of

who Olga really is…

This cashier, rather unconventionally

modelled to full-scale in clay, comes to life.

Olga becomes a woman with memories,

a family, and a hidden existence. Her face

lights up. The wrinkles remain, but start

telling another story.

Anna Heuninck manages to bring the film’s

sole character subtly to life without words in

a minimal setting. Much is left to the imag-

ination. Olga is more than she seems, her

employment not as worthless as perhaps

deemed at first sight. We all stick to certain

repetitive, banal tasks and sometimes

we need to fall out of our routine in order

to appreciate them again. Perception is

everything in this discerningly humorous

portrait…

Kassa 9 (Cash Register 9)Anna Heuninck

Hogeschool Gent / University College Ghent

Belgium

ARTISTIC STATEMENT

For my master’s thesis I explored the

appearance of ‘banality’ in movies. I

looked for films that focus on dull routines,

everyday lives, and unspectacular events.

I discovered some extraordinary movies

(if that adjective wouldn’t contradict the

concept itself) including the wonderful

Belgian cult film Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai

du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles by Chantal

Akerman. Writing this, I realise that there

really is quite a lot of Jeanne in Olga…

My fascination for banality and my aversion

to spectacle have always been guiding

principles in my animation and stop-motion

filmmaking. Exploring what happens when

someone seems to not be doing anything in

particular proves to be appealing to me.

I try to make clear that there is an inner life

in my moulded characters. With no other

means than showing their surface, their

facial expression, things we may observe

in most anonymous people that surround

us, I want to prevent the gestures from

becoming too suggestive. I hope watching

my films might bring the audience a richer

experience by leaving as much as possible

to the viewer’s imagination.

Pho

to: A

nna

Heu

ninc

k

36 Music/Sound

Music/Sound

38 Music/Sound

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Esra and Enes Özmen, known in rap circles

as EsRAP, are siblings and rappers from

Vienna.

Esra Özmen, 24 years old, has a passion

for subverting stereotypes. In collaboration

with her brother Enes, 20 years old, Esra

intervenes in the otherwise male-dominated

rap genre. Together, Esra and Enes make

their voices heard.

The duo employ German and Turkish

language lyrics and sing about women’s

equality, the struggle of being strangers in

their own country (Austria), and the need

to stand up against injustice. Contrary to

the predominant style of mainstream rap,

Esra, the female half of the duo, takes on

the fast rhymes while Enes contributes the

melodic background vocals. EsRAP finds

their inspiration in Turkish Oriental and

Arabesque music.

EsRAP’s performances and videos

signify resistance and use performative

expressions as a tool for communication.

The Özmens’ experiences and adventures

are fertile ground for EsRAP’s metaphorical

messages; chief among them is that EsRAP

wants the world to move forward as one.

EsRAP highlights controversial topics with

the aim of prompting listeners as well as

politicians to take action on the subjects

the duo are most passionate about. Music

unites. We all belong. It is better to be cu-

rious and inquisitive than to have fears and

prejudices. We can all live together without

prejudice or exclusion.

EsRAPEsra and Enes Özmen

Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien / Academy of Fine Arts Vienna

Austria

ARTISTIC STATEMENT

From Esra:

We are the grandchildren of migrant guest

workers that moved to Austria.

Our grandfather came to Austria in the

1970s as a migrant guest worker; our father

has lived in Vienna from the age of ten; our

mother came to Vienna at the age of 24 and

could not speak German.

Why do we make music? Though we

lived in Vienna we spoke Turkish at home

throughout our childhood. When we started

to go to school we did not speak German

well. This marked us out in the Austrian

school system. We were immediately dif-

ferentiated in the primary school as ‘aliens’

or ‘foreigners’ – those who could not speak

German at an academic level. Amongst the

24 pupils at our primary school, 23 were

‘foreigners’. We were segregated and sent

to study only for an apprenticeship with

no further academic curriculum. Those

who spoke German well were labelled as

Austrian and continued academic study

after primary school and were able to easily

enter the university system.

I decided to study hard and made it to

middle school. Suddenly, I was the only

foreigner in the class. In the last year of

my middle school education I was not

given a stipend and was advised to take

an apprenticeship instead. At this point I

started writing lyrics because I wanted to

fight and I felt that there was something

very wrong in the educational system. I

started to sing and to make videos along

with my brother. We rebelled against the

system and proclaimed: we are here and

we will stay here!

I am now studying at university. I managed

to make a different path for my life. Music

is a means of resistance. Music is food for

the soul.

Pho

to: Ö

zgün

Yar

ar

40 Music/Sound

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

21st Century Clogs is an explosion of daring

music-theatre, using a mixture of folk

art forms and live wireless electronics to

present a performance with a message.

Fusing influences from their heritages

in rural England and Mexico City, Sarah

Jeffery and Félipe Ignacio Noriega take

inspiration from the history of English clog

dance to explore themes of oppression,

social class and gender identity.

Evolved from their roots in traditional

English folk culture, Sarah’s wooden clogs

(dancing shoes) not only become a virtuosic

percussive instrument but also a means for

creating theatrical expression. Félipe is then

able to transform these acoustic sounds

into resonating harmonies with live-coded

electronics, using homemade wireless

technology. The electronics are hidden

within the space and on the performer’s

body, seamlessly fusing electronics and

movement.

21st Century Clogs is divided into two

sections:

The Mill Song

Inspired by the origins of clog dance

in the industrial revolution as well as

London’s Grime rap scene, this music-

theatre work tells of a girl working in a

mill, hypnotically moving from states of

frustration to escapism and to confrontation

in the form of a battle. The aural and

visual components of The Mill Song are

manipulated to amazing effect by using the

hands, face and mouth as a filter: body and

sound become one integrated entity.

21st Century ClogsSarah Jeffery and Félipe Ignacio Noriega

Amsterdamse Hogeschool voor de Kunsten (AHK) / Amsterdam School of the Arts

Netherlands

Bo is Burning

An exploration of gender and identity,

Bo is Burning takes inspiration from the

once burgeoning popularity of clog dance

in Victorian music hall, where women

would often perform dressed as men.

Told through the eyes of a teenage girl

who dreams of karaoke queens and

drag kings, and combining turn-of-the-

century Surrealism with lilting folk songs,

retro technology, and radio pop, the

performance is brought to life with virtuoso

recorder playing, newly invented clog

dance, vocals and live electronics.

ARTISTIC STATEMENT

With our creations of new experimental

music-theatre we aim to explore and

promote our chosen disciplines – English

clog dance and the laptop – as virtuosic,

expressive instruments in their own right.

Through our work, we are continuously

discovering the seemingly endless

possibilities of our media and the countless

ways in which they can be combined and

assimilated into a performative whole.

We have always explored this with our own

cultures as a source of inspiration – not

only with reference to Sarah’s renewal of

traditional folk forms such as clog dance

in a contemporary context, but also to

the concept of arte povera from Félipe’s

Mexican roots. We seek creative solutions

to technical problems, working with

cracked ‘garage’ technologies that also

mirror the sociological aspect of our work.

One of our goals is the creation of the

highest quality art on the lowest budget.

We started out in our collaboration seeking

new ways to create theatrical expression.

Along the way we discovered an artistic

process that suited us – an equal and

complete collaboration, with all material

generated and worked out together on the

studio floor. No longer did Sarah, as an

instrumentalist, have to wait for a score to

be delivered, and no longer did Félipe, as a

composer, have to write a piece and hope

someone would play it.

By approaching our work not as musicians

but as storytelling creators, we come

to a state where limits do not exist,

problems can be solved as they arise,

and boundaries are erased. We choose to

work outside of the boxes of composer/

performer, theatre/music, dancer/

instrumentalist; it is all one whole with

which to create expression.

Pho

to: R

ob v

an L

oon

42 Theatre/Dance

Theatre/Dance

44 Theatre/Dance

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Qasim Shah’s Politics and Poetry was

made in response to his visit to a Syrian

refugee camp on the Turkish/Syrian border

in March 2014. Shah was compelled to

make the trip to highlight the plight of the

refugees through artistic means while also

fundraising for their cause.

The live performance features an urban

rap written, composed and performed by

Shah against the video footage he directed

and recorded with a film crew in the Syrian

refugee camp. Politics and Poetry refer-

ences the conditions in the refugee camp

alongside Shah’s own experience coming

of age in a housing estate with high social

deprivation in Luton, United Kingdom.

Whilst both sections of the performance

are connected, the audience is invited to

associate and cross-reference Shah’s au-

tobiographical account of life in the housing

estate, his experience as a young Muslim

in the UK, and the conditions suffered by

refugees in Syria.

Politics and PoetryQasim Shah

University of Winchester, Faculty of Arts

United Kingdom

ARTISTIC STATEMENT

With Politics and Poetry I wanted to create

a connection between two realities that

most people never experience. Although

worlds apart, I felt a kinship between the

hardships experienced on housing estates

and the horrors unfolding in Syrian refugee

camps. In both circumstances I recognised

a common plight: personal potential never

being fully realised and the needs of future

promise always being trumped by the

present struggle to survive.

I was drawn to rap as a medium because

of its raw emotional power, the beauty of its

sound, and its rich ability to paint images

with words. I wanted to deviate from the

original sound that rap music is known for

by using piano instrumentals.

Pho

to: Q

asim

Sha

h

This work represents my plight as an artist

and that of people around the world. Grow-

ing up on a housing estate was tough. This

piece helps me explain how I have come to

terms with living in a place that demanded

your guard always be up. It has acted as

a vehicle for me to recognise that there

is more to life than the estate that I come

from. I went to Syria looking for children

who use art to survive in the conditions they

live in. I didn’t find art, only pain and sorrow,

and I wanted to bring this to light for people

who turn a blind eye to the things that they

think will never impact them.

46 Theatre/Dance

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Thinking no longer means… is a theatre

performance about the necessity (or not) of

changing the world. What is solidarity? Do

we have an obligation to make the world a

better place?

The performance mirrors the struggle of

Solberg and Cederqvist’s generation to

be politically engaged. Irony, sarcasm and

controversies are essential parts of the

experience.

Their performance portrays the luxuries of

their generation: Millennials enjoy freedom

of choice in terms of both education and

self-realisation. One could wonder if this

should not imply a stronger commitment,

responsibility and creativity regarding the

challenges the world is facing; yet it rather

seems that the more one knows the less

one manages to do, and the more likely one

is to be politically correct and comfortable

with one’s own helplessness.

The performance plays with the personae

of Cederqvist and Solberg as intelligent,

well-educated thinkers. Situated in a think

tank they throw themselves into a live

physical and violent interrogation of these

questions. This is black humour and satire

with a serious after-taste.

Thinking no longer means anymore than checking at each moment whether one can indeed thinkJulie Solberg and Erika Cederqvist – a Kiss Me production

Amsterdamse Hogeschool voor de Kunsten (AHK) / Amsterdam School of the Arts

Netherlands

ARTISTIC STATEMENT

Our own lives, daydreams and failures

serve as our strongest source of inspiration

when making theatre. We watch ourselves

with critical and self-ironic eyes in the same

way that we look at society. The tendencies

of society, and our own tendencies as

individuals, are exaggerated and made into

extreme situations and characters. Through

improvisation and humour we get the

chance to look at ourselves and wonder:

how did we end up here?

Thinking no longer means… deals with a

very human quality: laziness. It is a critique

of our own generation’s attempt to be po-

litically involved. Other subjects at work in

previous and ongoing pieces are freedom

of speech, individualism and feminism.

Satire and irony in some cases have

been regarded as a viable method to

understand society. There is a danger of

being misunderstood, especially when

questions relating to politics are discussed,

because our work is quintessentially ironic

or sarcastic. This is a challenge we confront

in every performance and despite the

obstacles we still strive to confuse in order

to be constructive. We believe confusion

makes audiences think and ask corrective

questions.

We want the questions we put forward to

be those of the audience; our work is about

exposing actions in order to make the view-

er think. In that way we are not necessarily

offering a solution to a problem.

We search for a direct and raw way of

performing, without provocation but still

balancing on this thin edge. The themes,

the situations, and the actions we create on

stage should put us as performers in a situ-

ation where we are not able to rest, nor feel

safe. We aim in that way to create a space

that is vulnerable, so the here-and-now

experience becomes even stronger for both

the audience and the performers.

Pho

to: J

oche

m J

urge

ns

48 Theatre/Dance

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

‘Why is life made only for it to end?’ –

Fleet Foxes, ‘Blue Spotted Tail’

Nothing to be Done is a piece of absurdist

theatre that explores this quintessential

question that every person must confront. It

looks at how we spend our daily existence

and asks if ‘just being’ is ever enough.

Nothing to be Done ponders whether life is

just an extended period of repetitive loiter-

ing or if there’s something more…

The play follows two duos trapped in an

absurdist world: Lulu and Cece, Titisi and

Happy. Lulu and Cece, the main charac-

ters, wait for a train that may never come.

As they wait the pair of reprobates play

word games, comically argue and try to

deal with the big questions surrounding

life, the universe and everything else

in-between.

All together, the foursome demonstrate the

absurdity of repetitive routines in human

behaviour in order to tackle existential

questions about life itself. All four charac-

ters deal with the absurdity of humanity in

different ways – questioning, forgetting,

rebelling, revealing and accepting.

Nothing to be DoneChaseplay Theatre Company

Royal Conservatoire of Scotland

United Kingdom

Nothing to be Done is Chaseplay Theatre

Company’s Waiting for Godot inspired piece

that explores the impact of reliving the same

day, day in and day out. Modern society

finds solace in routine, taking comfort in go-

ing through the motions of daily life without

questioning what was experienced. Nothing

to be Done dares to question this notion and

illuminates the ‘Groundhog Day’ affliction.

How do we cope when there is nothing to

be done?

One hour of nothing.

Powerful, funny and poetic nothing – but

nothing all the same.

ARTISTIC STATEMENT

This production was written to challenge

how women are perceived in the arts. We

wanted to write funny, juicy and witty parts

for women rather than creating a play in

which actresses are portraying The Mother,

The Whore, The Virgin, The Best Friend

or any of a number of other stale female

archetypes. We want to celebrate women

and we take pride that this is a production

written, directed and performed by women.

We think this is an important piece of

theatre for audiences – it tackles the big

questions in life in an absurdist, yet human

and heartfelt way.

As a company primarily involving young

female artists we constantly experience the

pressure of a patriarchal arts industry, es-

pecially as young graduates. This manifests

in the lack of substantial roles for women

alongside a shortage of opportunities for

writers and directors to combat misogyny

through writing and production. We want to

question not only the absurdity of life, but

also the political, sexist and social issues

facing us today.

Chaseplay intends to promote equality not

only for female arts practitioners but also

for all young graduating artists struggling in

the industry. We want to create a platform

for new work and develop young talent in

all artistic aspects, including playwriting, di-

recting, acting, physical theatre and music.

Our objective is to challenge the estab-

lished notions of what theatre should be

through the employment of new artists who

need and want a voice. Encouraging the fu-

ture practitioners of theatre across Europe

to create their own work is imperative to the

mission of Chaseplay.

We are a handful of young women who

desire to create electric, playful, touching

new work that inspires and stimulates.P

hoto

: Vac

lav

Mac

h

50 Visual Arts

Visual Arts

52 Visual Arts

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The word ‘landscape’ most often evokes

an idyllic pastoral image – but it is an image

which very seldom finds a real counterpart

in the modern world. In reality there is an

innate human instinct that drives us to leave

our mark on the environment. Manmade

landscapes function as physical traces of

the kind of people that we were and that

we are.

The work of Marko Miščević focuses on the

landfill as a primary motif. In Night Gardens

he aims to show how our landscape is

changed by cultural tendencies in modern

life. Waste as a by-product of modern

urban life is growing even faster than

urbanisation. For most people, landscape

is something to be looked at but seldom

thought about. Sometimes landscape is

noticed for its beauty – or lack thereof –

but in general it is ignored. We are barely

aware of how modern human activity alters

nature, and that is one of the reasons

why landfills are built far from sight. Yet

regardless of whether or not we see them,

landfills are still in our immediate vicinity,

and even though we may want to eradicate

them from our daily landscape we still have

to take responsibility for their existence.

Conservative projections drawn by the

United Nations suggest that, if current

population and consumption trends

continue, we will need the equivalent of two

Earths to support us by the 2030s. And of

course, we only have one.

Night GardensMarko Miščević

Akademija dramske umjetnosti Sveučilišta u Zagrebu /

Academy of Dramatic Art University of Zagreb

Croatia

ARTISTIC STATEMENT

Landscape has always been a leitmotif

in my photographic life. I didn’t want

to show landscape as a beautiful and

pristine representation of nature but

rather as an environment resulting from

human intervention. Although there are

definitions of landscape that try to define it

by decentralising the human perspective,

most definitions still focus on human

action, culture and vision – ‘Landscape is

an object of perception, everything we see

when we go out’ (Pierce Lewis, 1994). My

photographs are meant as a metaphor for

the dilemma of our modern existence; they

search for a dialogue between attraction

and repulsion. We are all drawn to the

trappings of a better modern lifestyle, yet

we are all aware, whether consciously or

unconsciously, of the consequences of that

lifestyle for nature. As I wanted to avoid a

strict documentation of landfills I chose to

photograph at night, using long exposures

to simplify the scene. I then digitally

enhanced these late-night exposures

as a means to achieve the effect of a

detachment from reality. In this way I try to

emphasise the artificial, even inhumane,

nature of these landscapes. I photographed

landfills that are part of cities – in our

immediate vicinity, yet far from sight.

Pho

to: M

arko

Miš

čevi

ć

54 Visual Arts

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Zwischen comprises more than a dozen

relatively small porcelain sculptures

accompanied by rubber counterparts

precisely placed within the white gallery

space. The sculptures vary in size, but

retain their fragile and elegant aesthetic.

Their fragmentary character becomes clear

immediately upon entering the gallery. The

modular character of Zwischen allows for

the piece to be installed in a precise and

intriguing fashion, connecting it directly

to the individual space. Lightweight and

autonomous, the variety of possibilities for

installing the work emphasise the decisions

that ultimately form the installation in

Glasgow. It could look different, but it does

not - why?

Annina Thomann’s interest in the materiality

of porcelain is not governed by a mannerist

search for perfection, but rather the

profound questioning of its qualities and

possibilities when installed in situ. The

sculptures are unvarnished, rendering

the work raw and tangible. The sensitive

interplay between the individual pieces

transcends their pure material presence

and allows for the poetic potential of

the space to manifest. The formative

relationship between the porcelain

sculptures and their soft and flexible rubber

counterparts produces an engaging entity.

The visitor enters a complex visual field

of references that constantly changes its

character in relation to movement within

the gallery space. The ever-changing

perspectives and interrelations between

the component parts propel the viewer’s

perception of the space and the sculptures

into unexpected places. 

Zwischen (Between)Annina Thomann

Hochschule der Künste Bern (HKB) / Bern University of the Arts (BUA)

Switzerland

ARTISTIC STATEMENT

I began working with porcelain during my

Erasmus semester abroad at the Ceramics

Department of the Rietveld Academy in

Amsterdam. The relationship between

handcraft and artwork within ceramics

sparked my interest. Upon returning home

to Bern I continued working with porcelain

and expanded my technical knowledge of it

as evidenced in Zwischen.

Zwischen, my degree piece, is the result

of a playful and experimental process. My

research refers to the question of handling

materiality. I tried to find out where and

how the characteristics of porcelain as

a material set boundaries on the free will

of form. I freed the materiality from its

functionality in search of a vocabulary of

forms. This became a central issue in my

practice.

During the production process rubber tyres

became an important connecting element.

I realised that I had to approach rubber’s

materiality in a similar manner to that of

porcelain. In doing so I became aware

of the contrast of the soft, flexible, black,

industrially produced bicycle tyres vis-à-vis

the hard, white, handcrafted porcelain.

Utilising the different connections of rubber

tyres I developed a modular, sculptural,

plug-in system with which I started to

play. I put myself in a dialogue with both

materials and started to place them in

new arrangements. This process led

to an interaction between the materials

and suddenly the connections started

to happen very naturally. The porcelain

gave form to the rubber tyres and in turn

the rubber tyres shaped the sculpture.

Consequently, I developed a language of

forms that can be rendered differently in

each occasion and situation.

Pho

to: S

tefa

n S

ulze

r

56 Visual Arts

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

I’m Going to Get Battered Over This

is a looped video that features audio

recordings, made over public airwaves,

synchronised with footage of people on the

streets of Dublin. The viewer is left to their

own devices to narrate the comings and

goings in the footage. Fate is questioned as

an acceptable method of understanding a

situation via the concurrence of the audio

and visuals.

I’m Going to Get Battered Over This

interrogates the psychology responsible

for creating meaning and understanding

in a given situation. The title is a quote

from the first line of dialogue in the video,

and is derived from the vernacular speech

which defines the sense of surveillance in

the work. ‘I’m going to get battered over

this’ is an idiom representative of the local

tongue, and acts to question the legality

and possible repercussions of engaging

with the lives of others.

The static, recorded with outdated CB radio

technology and interjected between the di-

alogue, acts like a grey area, a reflection of

possible misinterpretations of face-to-face

communication. Technology is not the only

limitation on successful communication; the

mind’s understanding of what senses lead

to the acceptance of a situational interpre-

tation as truth is also an inhibitor. Neither

human instinct nor technology is infallible,

thus the likelihood that current and future

generations will rely on technology to fill

the void of human shortcomings displays a

questionable truth. Each viewer walks away

with a different interpretation of what they

have perceived.

I’m Going to Get Battered Over ThisAdrian Langtry

Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT)

Ireland

ARTISTIC STATEMENT

I investigate modern urban society utilising

video and photography to present issues of

voyeurism, legality and morality in the form

of surveillance. Rather than searching for

vigilante activity of the kind sensationalised

by the media, I choose documented events

that serve as happenings of the everyday.

The urban environment is both planned and

unplanned restrictively; it is topographically

sprawled, forcing conformity in terms of

territory and navigation. Street conduct is

restrictive. A human sense of awareness

is required to target or be targeted, to

understand and make sense of a situation,

and to draw conclusions in order to create

patterns.

Interpretations of documented public

events are liable to be misunderstood. This

work is a mere demonstration of this effect,

in which I question fate as an acceptable

method of understanding a situation. Static

shots place control in the eye of the viewer;

the camera looks but the viewer follows.

My reason for delving into this sphere of

work originated with Edward Snowden, a

whistleblower at the US National Security

Agency (NSA), who was catapulted into

the news in the summer of 2013 when he

revealed evidence that the US government

was spying on the world at large. This

presented a number of questions publicly

but also closer to home on a level that I

could relate to. What if it was all a lie? If it

wasn’t, what were the possible repercus-

sions of falling under a watchful eye? The

believability of the whole situation led me to

investigate these and other questions.

Pho

to: A

dria

n La

ngtr

y

58 Visual Arts

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Pulse Sequence is a performance with

sculpture and sound work that explores

‘making’ as an act of recording presence.

In haptic techniques, such as woodcarving,

individual points of impact remain visible;

the process can be ‘read’, as it documents

the presence of the body and the passage

of time. The sound work created in Pulse

Sequence provides a means for these indi-

vidual points of impact to remain audible as

well as visible.

The point of departure in Pulse Sequence

is a large log that has been split down the

middle and is presented in the exhibi-

tion space as two benches. During the

performance the surfaces of the benches

are carved with a chisel and mallet. The

resulting woodchips are then swept into

the middle of the space. Before each layer

is carved the benches are painted with

a light wash of colour so that the various

layers of carving are evident in the pile of

woodchips. Contact microphones attached

to the benches record each iteration of the

carving process. The recordings are then

overlaid in a loop and played back through

headphones, creating a palimpsest sound-

scape. As the layers of sound build up, so

does the complexity of the cross-rhythms –

the registered hammering sounds create a

rhythmic interference that is impossible to

either ignore or follow. At times it sounds

something like horses galloping, falling into

synchronisation and then diverging again.

The process of carving is presented as a

live performance but Pulse Sequence also

serves as an installation; outside of the

performance visitors are encouraged to

lounge on the benches and listen through

headphones to the soundscape. In doing

so the visitor is positioned as the subject,

their body at the centre of the potential held

Pulse SequenceGeorgia Rodger

Kunst- og designhøgskolen i Bergen (KHiB) / Bergen Academy of Art and Design

Norway

inside the material as the internal space of

the wood is progressively carved away and

they listen to the process of ‘becoming’.

ARTISTIC STATEMENT

My work plays with the idea of Perform-

ative Making, a transformative process

where the focus is on the act of making

itself. In tandem with the creation of

a physical sculpture I loop and layer sounds

to create a cumulative composition, over-

laying the first moment with layer upon

layer so that these past moments remain

present and animated. Body, sound

and material components come together to

create a multidimensional whole in this live

metamorphosis.

My research for Pulse Sequence began

with conversations with a neurologist and

a medical researcher about the medical

scanning technique of Magnetic Reso-

nance Imaging (MRI). MRI scanning uses a

magnetic field and radio waves to produce

detailed pictures of the body’s organs and

structures. In 2008 I had an MRI scan. Dur-

ing the process of scanning, the machine

produced distinctive and unusual sounds:

a variety of rhythmic patterns, frequencies

and timbres, accompanied by the increas-

ing sensation that the sounds were moving

around my body and gaining intensity as

they neared my head. In addition to the

sounds and inner workings of the machine,

and my own visceral experiences of being

scanned by it, I’m also interested in the MRI

process in relation to sculpture. This curi-

osity comes from a more general interest

in human anatomy and figurative sculpture,

as well as anthropomorphic musical in-

struments that I’ve explored in my previous

work. The MRI is an instrument used to

expose the internal; the machine ‘listens’ to

and reveals the space of the body. Similarly,

working with sculpture and sound I believe

there is a fitting parallel between the sculp-

tor imagining the three-dimensional form

of a figure within a block of material – their

work accompanied by the rhythmic pulsing

sounds of carving – and the MRI scanner

sounding and moving around the body. My

project explores this parallel as the potential

of the material is revealed.

Pho

to: K

risto

ffer

Oen

Pho

to: I

caro

Zor

bar

60 Visual Arts

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Jennifer Martin’s residency in Cuxhaven

in the North of Germany brought about

her site-specific work Der Leuchtturm.

Cuxhaven is a coastal port that sees

thousands of shipping containers and

boats pass by daily. Visitors come for its

rich port history and beautiful beaches. Der

Leuchtturm was part of an exhibition that

sought to promote communication with

Cuxhaveners.

Martin put together a sculpture made of

scrap metal and bicycle parts to act as a

communication device and to explore the

town of Cuxhaven. The result was a mobile

lighthouse, equipped with an onboard

camera to capture 360° panoramas, that

travelled around all areas of Cuxhaven,

registering images that were later put

together and shown in a historic ferry

terminal.

When the mobile sculpture was not roving

around town it was displayed in the ferry

terminal. Eight artists from Glasgow

were invited to make work in response

to Cuxhaven and the terminal where Der

Leuchtturm was housed.

Der Leuchtturm (The Lighthouse)Jennifer Martin

The Glasgow School of Art (GSA)

United Kingdom

ARTISTIC STATEMENT

My practice questions the relationships

between people and place by looking

at the transgressions, in-betweens and

fluctuations of inhabitation. I look at

unfolding the learnt ideas of places familiar

and ordinary by looking at pivot, rhythm

and use. Aspects of my work are also

fuelled by memories of place.

My latest avenue of exploration utilises

devices in the form of interactive sculptures.

These works are informed and stylised

by the ways we learn, both kinetic and

explorative. The works are often made

hastily, leaving no mystery about their

making. I seek any kind of communication

through the use and placement of these

structures. I am most interested in the

dialogue opened by my endeavours rather

than their uncertain outcomes.

Pho

to: J

enni

fer

Mar

tin

62 Visual Arts

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Using the term ‘hen house’ as a starting

point, Anna Siekierska set out to build a

dwelling for our smaller brethren that would

have all the facilities required for decent

living. This act of building a real house for

animals takes on an extraordinary aspect

against the modern practice of keeping

animals in huge, closed, industrialised halls

where they are forced to exist in the most

basic, deprived conditions.

Siekierska’s ‘house for hens’ is built from

a traditional timber frame without the use

of nails. The piece is a model of the artist’s

own house, and was made in parallel with

the construction of her actual home in the

Polish mountains. The two houses are

based on the same technology, both built

by the same hands.

The House is a tribute to the very ordinary/

extraordinary situation of animals that are

used by people as if they were objects.

The House Anna Siekierska

Akademia Sztuk Pięknych w Warszawie / Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw

Poland

ARTISTIC STATEMENT

My fascination with timber framing came

to me when I was participating in a great

project to reconstruct the roof truss of a

wooden synagogue in southern Poland.

The main goal of this reconstruction was to

use only the original working methods, with

no help from modern technology.

In my work, I see no difference between

sculpture, craft and literature. To me

sculpture means translating my thoughts

into spatial language. With The House I’ve

translated them into a timber frame. The

idea behind this work was to give animals

what they deserve. The house is a symbol.

I chose hens as the representatives of

all animals captured by industrial factory

‘farms’.

As an artist, I want to give voice to the

humiliated, those erased from the records

of history. The first among this group are

the animals – who have played, and are

still playing, the most important role in

the upholding of modern civilisation. The

House represents what we should give to

non-human beings for their sacrifice. This

is my modern interpretation of the ancient

motivation for cave paintings.P

hoto

: Jak

ub S

and

ecki

64 Visual Arts

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

A delicate thievery, a swallowing down into

the belly... the remnants of a dance unseen,

undanced, but held in the body like a fever.

NOT TO DISCOU[RAGE] YOU is a solo

performance work surrounding the illicit

learning of a forbidden dance. The piece

explores a kind of haunting, the delirious

desire to inhabit or be inhabited by a

dance, the dance – Yvonne Rainer’s

Trio A. The learning process is marked

by the obstructions of the dance’s

protected legacy: the conditions for the

correct ‘transmission’ of choreography

between bodies, which the dancer cannot

access, and the notation of the dance,

which she cannot read. The attempt can

therefore only take place through a series

of surrogates, frames and restrictions.

This learning, this coming to dance again,

becomes a kind of stealing – a digression,

an illicit act. The piece explores the

tensions between discursive practices

and embodied knowledge as well as the

resonances between reading and dancing

in relation to a troubled process of learning.

NOT TO DISCOU[RAGE] YOU recalls the

historical bodies of Freud’s hysterics;

‘transmission’ becomes contagion as

Rainer’s dance imposes a restless,

relentless present tense onto the

symptomatic, remembering body. Part

telling, part practice, the performance

enacts a series of beginnings and

interruptions as the body introjects into

the attempted narrative. The performance

space is defined by taped-out marks on

the floor, which suggest a room that is too

small, a room full of restrictions. Speech

acts and silences, spoken narrative, and

stolen dance all begin, unravel, disrupt and

collide inside the room-too-small.

NOT TO DISCOU[RAGE] YOUFaye Green

Newcastle University

United Kingdom

ARTISTIC STATEMENT

To bridge a gap, to leap across a chasm

created in discourse, where the body

dances otherwise, outside, ever eschewed,

making up the margin.

A call to the radical wild in-between; it

is breathing ecstatically in the space of

simulacra.

I have been unsystematically dismantling

borders. Chasing echoes. Abandoning acts

to my dybbuks. Inhabited by... momentary

hauntings.

Losing, profoundly, my bearings.

Lexical lesions.

I have confusions/contusions/contortions.

I have an impossible inertia. It is a complex,

wiry torpor.

Learning to read differently. Navigating

through nearness. Paroxysms of proximity

and I bring my body to bear.

And call it longing

call it yearning

perplexed, persistent. I know (with)

desire. Thinking disastrously, desirously,

deliriously. I am

de-meaning myself.

Shucking signification.

I am not ahistorical

and this is not easy to admit.

Pho

to: C

olin

Dav

idso

n

...

A tuning fork, enervating silences. Dis-

orienting myself. So many things to lead

me back.

The return

a radical moment.

The kind of bodies reoccurrence wears

home.

Wild impatience of flashbacks.

My body of interruptions, insistences.

Dealing with cinders.

Rediscovering sensation.

An index, a trace. A signal. I am a scriptive

thing, and the wound – a way back.

I am working with lapses, thinking in relay,

in delay – making, lately, latently.

I am living amongst a diaspora of bodies

that have been (becoming) mine. Within

this shifting shaft, the well of my correlates,

assembled identities. I am breathing always

in the dust of my disappearing surfaces –

they leave me behind, they leave me

behind. I am dancing in remnants, dancing

in ruins. I am the wreckage.

and I am reverberating

and I am reiterating

and I am remaining

regaining consciousness

remaining

intact

The letter ‘r’ becoming a habit. A strained

Braille of drowned things.

I go back to reading the stitch in my side.

66 Visual Arts

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

All You Need – an address to Queen

Victoria is a film that portrays the complex

history of a Yemenite couple (the artist’s

parents). The film shows them caught be-

tween performances of their two wedding

ceremonies. The one ceremony being a

Western ‘white wedding’, the other being

a Yemenite traditional ceremony. Both

traditions show contradictory elements,

drawn both from the Anglican figure of

Queen Victoria and from the Arab world,

yet the couple is clearly Jewish. It therefore

conveys the inevitability of hybrid identities

and mixed cultures.

The footage is accompanied by text that

weaves together those different narratives:

nations, cultures, Queen Victoria, the

white wedding. These general histories are

mixed together with the personal history of

the couple. Caught not only between two

celebrations they are also caught between

two tragedies: kidnapped Yemenite babies

who were given to Holocaust survivors. The

tragedy of Yemenites losing their babies

and the tragedy of Holocaust survivors are

woven together through adoption. In light of

this, the adoption of cultures and identities

is also understood.

All You Need suggests the particular as the

general. It reflects upon commemorated

history versus deserted memories, and

thus shows the construction of identity

from chosen narratives and adopted

customs. The work’s title also alludes to

the prominence of British heritage; the film

is addressed to Queen Victoria under the

banner of one of the Beatles’ best known

lyrics: ‘All you need is love’. With this, the

film hints at an authority promoting that

love is ‘all’ you need and directing how love

ought to be pictured.

All You NeedR’m Aharoni

Hogeschool Gent / University College Ghent

Belgium

ARTISTIC STATEMENT

My body of work draws from biographies.

I explore personal stories as a means to

document and record the way individuals

inhabit the world.

I look at a person as an organism de-

pendant on its environment. This means a

constant negotiation between the private

and the collective, and a movement from

the specific to the general. But this also

means that biographies are projected onto

time and geography, as we are often influ-

enced by places never visited, times never

experienced and people never met.

In my artistic practice I aim to expose the

different effects that shape identity by ex-

amining the life of an individual in a society.

In other words, we travel, we migrate, we

meet, we watch, we listen and we speak in

different languages; therefore, we borrow,

we reiterate, we harbour and we adopt. As

such we constitute the Other in ourselves.

The individual often speaks in many voices,

and one may be more of a ‘dividual’ rather

than ‘in-tegrated’ within oneself.

I draw my narratives from those close to

me such as my family, strangers, or cultural

icons such as Eric Gill.

The same people often appear in the work.

Sometimes I am also present in it, perform-

ing or positioning myself in relation to the

subjects that are explored.

I move between media to fit impressions

with expressions. I collect moments and

memories – my own and those of others. In

doing so I hope to grant audiences entry to

the varieties of reality that I travel.

Photo: R’m Aharoni

68 Visual Arts

It Takes My Mind Off ThingsRobin Butter

Hogeschool der Kunsten Den Haag / University of the Arts The Hague

Netherlands

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

It Takes My Mind Off Things is a

wonderment at and interrogation of the

shooting culture in the Netherlands. In this

provocative piece, Robin Butter poses the

question: has the Netherlands always been

a ‘secretive’ gun-nation? Secretive in that

it has a long-standing fixation with firearms

that is systematically hidden and denied.

In her uncloaking of this issue, Butter’s

point of departure is the country’s strict

control over nature; the Netherlands is a

nation that has literally reclaimed land from

the sea to build its country. This trend of

man bending nature to his will continues

in the Dutch approach to cultivating flora

and fauna, a practice that necessitates

hunting. Butter goes further in examin-

ing the firearms fixation in all of its many

manifestations: from the political-economic

sphere of transnational interactions – the

Netherlands places in the top five for

creating firearm components in Europe – to

the socio-cultural realm of the individual –

the joy many Dutchmen find when firing at

shooting ranges, a tradition that has existed

for over a hundred years.

The catalyst for Butter’s exploration of the

Netherlands as a gun nation is the 2011

shooting at a shopping mall in Alphen a/d

Rijn that left seven dead, including the

assailant who turned his gun on himself,

and seventeen wounded.

The shooter was a member of a shooting

range, with a registered firearms license

which allowed him to keep his weapons at

home. The government and the Dutch peo-

ple were stunned by how such a tragedy

could unfold in their country.

As a result of the Alphen a/d Rijn tragedy

a dark shadow was cast over the shooting

culture in the Netherlands. The rules and

guidelines for shooting clubs have been

re-examined and sharpened, with the

government mandating that clubs take

responsibility for their members.

But what does this responsibility mean?

Ultimately, how can it be determined who is

dangerous and who is trustworthy?

ARTISTIC STATEMENT

In an age of individualism how can it be that

new groups and social formations continue

to emerge? Why do I still desire to join these

groups even though I’ll never fit in?

As a documentary photographer I have

a strong interest in people and how they

organise themselves in groups.

I have always felt like an underdog who

isn’t part of any group. This feeling has

caused my attraction to subcultures as a

documentary subject.

The first step in my creative process is

always to experience the stories and sub-

jects that I had formerly only heard about

through other people or the media.

Whether these stories are speed-daters

meeting in the dark or naked Arctic

swimmers practicing in the harbour of

Copenhagen, what better way is there than

photography to visualise these characteri-

sations of contemporary society and share

them with the uninitiated?

Through photography I share the wonder-

ment I have for these groups of people and

the subcultures they have formed, and offer

the viewer a chance to join them via proxy.

Pho

to: R

obin

But

ter

70

We are grateful for the generous support of:

The Glasgow School of Art and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland for hosting and sponsorship of the Festival.

Steering Group:

Paula Crabtree, Artistic Director NEU/NOW, Vice Chancellor Stockholm University of the Arts

Anthony Dean, Artistic Director NEU/NOW, Chair of Steering Group, Dean of Faculty of Arts University of Winchester

Carla Delfos, Executive Director ELIA

Organisation:

Hector Macpherson Brown, Producer NEU/NOW 2014 Royal Conservatoire of Scotland

Johan Deeder, Office Manager ELIA

Sukaina Kubba, Producer NEU/NOW 2014 The Glasgow School of Art

Jessica Maxwell, Communications Officer ELIA

RCS Student Production Team

RCS Student Operations Team

RCS Student Artist Liaison Team

RCS Student Documentation Team

The Glasgow School of Art:

Kirsty L. Barr, Communications Manager

Jenny Brownrigg, Exhibitions Director

Kate Hollands, Alumni and Events Manager

Talitha Kotze, Exhibitions Coordinator

The Glasgow School of Art Technical Team

Royal Conservatoire of Scotland:

Amy-Beth Jordan, Conferences and Events Manager

Kevin Robertson, Production Manager

RCS Venue Technicians

Acknowledgements For more information please contact:

ELIA – European League of Institutes of the Arts

Beulingstraat 8

1017BA Amsterdam,

The Netherlands

www.elia-artschools.org

Design:

AD dizainas, Vilnius

Catalogue design

framelab, Amsterdam

Film and multimedia material development

Gopublic, Utrecht

Website design and development

Editor:

Jessica Maxwell

Proofreaders:

John Ellingsworth

Barbara Loester

Cover photo:

Project: CROSSROADS

Artist: Almina Duraković

Photo: Aljoša Rebolj aljosarebolj.com

Title Page Design/Architecture:

Project: Nomad - the minimum life necessities

Artist: Nina Woroniecka

Photo: Renata Woroniecka

Title Page Film/Animation:

Project: Årsringar (Rings of Life)

Artist & Photo: Ida Lindgren

Title Page Music/Sound:

Project: 21st Century Clogs

Artists: Sarah Jeffery and Félipe Ignacio Noriega

Photo: Rob van Loon

Title Page Theatre/Dance:

Project: Thinking no longer means anymore than checking at each moment whether one can indeed think

Photo: Jochem Jurgens

Title Page Visual Arts:

Project: Night Gardens

Artist & Photo: Marko Miščević

Printed in Vilnius, 2014

The Festival could not have taken place without the generous support of:

This work programme has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects only the views of the author, and the Commission cannot be held

responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.