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Mittwoch, 9. April 2025

Retrospective Thoughts - Artist Talk at DESERTERS

 



On the opening day of DESERTERS, April 3, 2025, I delivered a live performance and artist talk titled "A State of Bared" at the Oriel y Bont Gallery on the South of Wales University at Treforest, Pontypridd CampusWales, to explore the key themes of DESERTS in terms of how a life changing sickness is a commonality that connects many artists' otherwise disparate practices across decades, genres and lifetimes*. Furthermore, I wanted to provide answers to what DESERTERS asks : "What is the relationship between illness and creation? 'Good health' has obvious merit—but what about the value of 'ill health'?" As I have had a personal career in the field of illness and disability alongside my artistic work, the two curators, Bella Kerr and Caroline Humphreys, asked if the artist talk and live performance could focus specifically on my art in relation to my personal mental health and hearing problems.

The artist talk, in particular, was mentally one of the most demanding I've ever given, so it was somewhat different from typical artist talks. Although it took a long time to prepare, throughout the process and even during the talk itself, I began to look at my art and the disciplines I work in with different eyes. To date, there isn't a single piece of my artwork that directly addresses or focuses on my personal disabilities and illnesses. For most of my life, I tried to hide my health issues, but it was only in the last two years that I became more open about my so-called "deficits." However, as I was selecting images of my work for the talk, I suddenly realized that many of my works metaphorically and covertly reflect my current health issues. These are related to my sometimes severe mental health issues, my hearing problems, and finally, a cancer diagnosis and treatment many years ago, from which I have since recovered.

I have also thought about how the audience would react to the performance, and especially to my talk, which was a revelation for me. However, I felt I had to speak honestly about my often dark and intense inner conflicts, my hallucinations, and the voices I hear; otherwise, the talk and performance would be pointless. But the reaction of the audience and the other exhibiting artists, each of whom had their own severe illness or disability, touched me very deeply in the end.

I, often hesitate to call myself an artist, nor do I feel a deep connection to the art world because I often maintain a distance from it. While I doubt that art can be therapy to save the world or society, or a panacea, it can be a means to overcome personal problems, avoid tunnel visions, and try to move on. In my case, it was and is also a medium for connecting with and coping with my social and everyday environment. However, I can only speak from my personal perspective, as every person and every health problem is different. Art, whether visual art, dance, theater, or music, can open a person's perspective. Important: You don't have to be an artist or feel compelled to create a masterpiece like Picasso or Michelangelo. Just do it, and it will open new horizons. Finally, based on my personal experience, I would like to offer only one piece of advice, especially regarding mental health issues and personal disorders: If you are suffering from them, seek help and therapy. Do not hesitate or wait.



Donnerstag, 3. April 2025

Third edition of Photo|Frome - ‘inEquality’

 My b/w photography work “The Wall” on display at

Third edition of Photo|Frome - ‘inEquality’

05/04 – 27/04/2025, open daily 10:00 – 16:00 h

The festival takes place at various locations throughout the town of Frome. My photo is on display at the Station Gallery, Station Approach, Frome, BA11 1RE, UK

Photo|Frome returns with the theme ‘inEquality’. Through photography from internationally acclaimed, national and regional artists, we reflect on stories of global and local justice and equality. Much as we would all wish otherwise, in some ways inequality is actually getting worse across the globe, reflecting conflict and climate-impacted displacement. And, despite progress, political, economic, gender-based and health inequality persists. Photo|Frome is an independent festival of photography dedicated to showcasing and celebrating all levels of photographic endeavour from local, national, and international photographers.





Samstag, 29. März 2025

D E S E R T E R S

D E S E R T E R San exhibition and website examining the relationship between illness and making

Beside my video work “the HEALING” which is part of the exhibition I will give a live performance and an artist talk with the title ”A State Of Bared” on the opening day at 12 midday

D E S E R T E R S

03/04/2025 – 26/09/2025 opens Thursday 3rd April, 11am - 3pm

Monday to Friday from 10am – 5pm.

Oriel y Bont, Ty Crawshay Building at the Treforest, Pontypridd Campus, CF37 1DL, Wales, UK

Life changing sickness is a commonality that connects many artists' otherwise disparate practices across decades, genres and lifetimes*.Deserters asks, ‘What is the relationship between illness and making? ‘Good health’ has obvious merit – but what about the value of ‘ill health’?’

Society draws a line between the healthy and the sick; mind and body; good and bad. Artists often occupy the fault line between these definitions and while illness, a common theme in art and literature, can be seen as a symbol of alienation, it can also be the key to ‘desertion’ into a creative space.

This exhibition brings together the work of 12 artists Jenny Alderton, Delphi Campbell, Hal Camplin, Laura Dutton, Johannes Gérard, Dave Gowers, Steph Mastoris, Charlotte Morgan, Jack Moyse, Nel, Tracie Peisley and Katya Robin, to reveal themes and modes that can be broadly described as: abstraction, repetition and pattern making; nature and healing; lying down while the world stands up; the body – whole and in parts; words and printed text. In addition to the main funded project, the website will also feature work by other artists who are showing their work online.

Supported by Zoë Gingell, curator of Oriel Y Bont, Caroline Humphreys and Bella Kerr are co-curating Deserters, alongside Amanda Roderick, who is also creating its online presence.Supported by the Art Council of Wales / University of South Wales / Stroom, The Hague, Netherlands

Entrance is free and there is an excellent café in the same building.The Gallery is fully accessible to wheelchair users.

www.deserters.co.uk




Donnerstag, 27. März 2025

Summary of Same but Different – Equinox to Equinox

Same but Different – Equinox to Equinox is a short duration performance festival took place on

Sunday 23 March 2025 from13:00 to 14:00 at the Hof in Dordrecht.

On March 23, 2025 I was one of the performance artists participating in Equinox to Equinox2025 at the Hof square in Dordrecht, the Netherlands. The festival took place between 12 and 1 p.m. and lasted exactly one hour. Everything was based on improvisation, trial and error, and experimentation. During this hour, I did several short performances. The first was a performance in which I created a small site-specific installation with simultaneous movements related to the installation. In the second performance, I moved between the house fronts in the square, sometimes carrying small objects from one place to another. In the third, I used the high windows of one of the buildings, turning my back towards the audience and the square. Facing and touching the window, using my hands and upper body I conducted my performance

Everyone was welcome to participate in openness and solidarity, embracing diversity and acknowledging each other’s individual circumstances, difficulties and conflicts. There is no fixed programme with consecutive performances but everything takes place simultaneously, collaborations can arise spontaneously.

Same but Different – Equinox to Equinox isan international event for public action for freedom for all people. Every year on the Equinox (in March and September), the duration of day and night is roughly equal around the world. In the spirit of cosmic equality, the event is a global connection for people performing together in public space.This sharing of time and space brings us closer together, as a temporary (global) community to encourage, through performance art, non-violent expressions for locally specific conditions.

Participants: Topp & Dubio, Annie Abrahams, Engel P-Luck, Frans van Lent, Marita Bullmann, Eduardo Amato, Yelena Myshko, Aida Kristina Dedeic, Yvo van der Vat, Kathrin Wolkowicz, Johannes Christopher Gérard, Geerten Ten Bosch, Joseph Deuss, Ienke Kastelein, Ellen Rodenberg, Maarten Schepers. Curator / Organization Frans van Lent 

Link to one hour video showing whole event 

https://222lodge.nl/index.php/2025/03/25/equinox-march-2025/














Donnerstag, 20. März 2025

“Frequenz” (Frequency)

Two of my works, a photographic work “Frequencies in Lines” and the video work “Birch Alley”, will be presented at:

“Frequenz” (Frequency)
23/03/2025 – 13/04/2025 -opening 23/03/25, 14 h
QQArt
Forststrasse 73, 40721 Hilden, German
y

The private cultural center is celebrating its 25th anniversary. Starting as an art school, it has evolved into a venue for art, music, theater, film, and much more from the cultural scene. Since 2010, the QQArt gallery has hosted an annual, internationally thematic exhibition – now a biennial – every two years. The selected themes focus on "art and technology," each featuring a word from physics. This year's exhibition theme is "Frequency." (Frequency)




Mittwoch, 19. März 2025

KITOKI video_dance exposition

 Two works “View behind the Curtain” and “Dark Paths” are presented at KITOKI video-dance exposition in Brussels, Belgium

KITOKI

video_dance exposition

23/02/2025 – 05/04/2025 opening 23/03/25 ,18-21h

auJUS /Avenue Jean Volders, 24 / Brussel 1060 / Belgium

open 16-20 h and by appointment / also online: kitoki.io

“View Behind The Curtain” was made in collaboration with Jana Schmück (Bautzen, Germany) and “Dark Paths” in collaboration with Tsai Hsin Ying (Kaohsiung, Taiwan)

In an era where artistic expression and social equity are increasingly vital, the Kitoki Foundation emerges as a catalyst for creativity and collaboration. Our mission is to foster a vibrant community that celebrates diversity through the dynamic interplay of dance, art, and shared knowledge.

Video dance festival: local in person exhibitions and online gallery and networking for developing VideoDance as a genre in contemporary art.






Dienstag, 18. März 2025

“Same but Different – Equinox to Equinox”

 I will be performing at “Same but Different – Equinox to Equinox” – a short performance festival

Time: Sunday 23 March 2025 from 13:00 to 14:00

Location: Het Hof Square in Dordrecht, Netherlands

There is no fixed programme with consecutive performances but everything takes place simultaneously, collaborations can arise spontaneously.

Participants so far: Topp&Dubio, Annie Abrahams, Engel P-Luck, Frans van Lent, Marita Bullmann, Eduardo Amato, Yelena Myshko, Irmgard Himstedt, Gernot Bogumil, Yvo van der Vat, Jolanda Jansen, Kathrin Wolkowicz, Johannes Christopher Gérard, Roland Farkas, Yvette Teeuwen, Thomas Reul, selina bonelli, Ienke Kastelein, Ellen Rodenberg, Maarten Schepers and more.

However everyone is welcome to participate in openness and solidarity, embracing diversity and acknowledging each other’s individual circumstances, difficulties and conflicts.

Curator/ Organizer Frans van Lent





Montag, 17. März 2025

MATA HARI, - OUVERTURE CRI DE FEMMES 2025

 

My video work “Dark Paths” with Tsai Hsin Ying is presented at


MATA HARI, - OUVERTURE CRI DE FEMMES 2025


13/03/2025 - 31/03/2025

Galerie Emergenc'Art,

Entrée de Valombreuse, Petit-Bourg, Guadalope

MATA HARI is a prism, a gateway. Entirely subversive, the aim here isn't to celebrate her history, but to question all the small, common and redundant stories within our own, without trusting in the universal. Women in struggle are everywhere.

Curator: Stéphanie Melyon-Reinette








Freitag, 21. Februar 2025

“Collage Music 31” - “Agua y Grava”

 Collage Music 31

My sound and music piece Agua y Grava” (Water and Gravel) is included in the album Collage Music 31” (edition IFAR4’33”/277), Label Institute For Alien Research, Bath, UK

Released on February 21th, 2025.

Compiled and arrange by Shaun Robert.

More information:

https://ifarmusiqueconcretecompilation.bandcamp.com/album/collage-music-31

Agua y Grava” (Water and Gravel)

The work does not follow a particular style or category. The piece combines the sounds of water and waves flowing over gravel and rhythms of a piano, forming a piece of music.







Dienstag, 11. Februar 2025

The Anthropocene Foundry Los Angeles 202

 My video workdisorientated displacement” is part of:

The Anthropocene Foundry Los Angeles 2025

January 18th – March 1st. 2025

Tuesday – Saturday 11am - 5pm*

Torrance Art Museum, 3320 Civic Center Drive, Torrance, CA 90503, USA

The Anthropocene Foundry Los Angeles 2025 – is consisting of 6 video programs, for each week another program composed of 2 parts. The sources for curating/selecting - of thematic and technical nature alike - are standing under the motto of “Finiteness /Infinity”:

The Anthropocene Project, including about 500 international artists, created and curated by Wilfried Agricola de Cologne for The New Museum of Networked Art - dealing with the human impact on nature and the natural living environment manifested in two comprehensive media collections – video art & sound art, and focused on animation, e.g. animate’C24 – the retrospective of Cologne Art & Animation Festival (2010-2025) pointing to the human impact in terms of the artistic creation itself. The video artists composing different types of self-created footage, partially using the latest technology (artificial intelligence), are based on a specific subjective view on the Big Creation (our world) forming new types of reality of the world they are living in. They do not only reflect the existing but go far beyond to visions of the future referring to the finiteness of life as well as the infinity of the Creation. By being confronted with, the audience @ Torrance Art Museum becomes the foundry of a new human existence, at least in the imagination.

Thanks to the curator Wilfried Agricola de Cologne




Mittwoch, 5. Februar 2025

Singletary Center Visual Music Festival;

 Singletary Center Visual Music Festival;

Saturday February 8th , 10am – 5pm;

Singletary Center for the Arts, University of Kentucky; 

405 Rose St, Lexington, KY, 40506, USA


My work "q9" is presented

The Singletary Center presents the inaugural Visual Music Festival in the SCFA Recital Hall. Join us for a day of dynamic expressions of abstract art featuring a curated program of multimedia works from an international collection of contemporary artists. Experience the harmonies of light and sound as we explore what goes on in the mind while listening to music!

The films are made entirely with abstract imagery, avoiding representation. That is: no cars, no people, no landscapes, no texts, etc. • The soundtracks do not feature any words, lyrics in any language.









Dienstag, 4. Februar 2025

MOVEMENT AND LIGHT

My video work “nothing will stay as it was” will be screened on February 6, 2025 at

MOVEMENT AND LIGHT

with film and video contributions from 61 filmmakers


Film and video screenings on four different days

06. Feb.- 13.Feb. - 20. Feb.. - 27.Feb. 2025 always starting 18.00 h

Team GISELA,

GISELA-Freier Kunstraum-Lichtenberg,

Giselastraße 12,

10317 Berlin, Germany

Directions: S-Bhn. Nöldnerplatz /Bus 240 Open Tues.-Fri. 10am-4pm, Thurs. 10am-6pm, Sat. 2pm-5pm, Sun. and Mon. closed


nothing will stay as it was 

2024 / 5:52 min. /16:9 /sound stereo / color & b/w The work aims to approach the concepts of light and movement from a different perspective. The light segments in this video are formed by sunlight falling on the floor of a room divided by a window with lattices. The light fields move almost unnoticed, changing their direction and shape as the sun moves. Nevertheless, the sunlight forms a striking, firmly delimited light space on the floor. The second movement element has a kind of mechanical-repetitive character and is performed by a person. The light fields, empty at the beginning, are filled with objects such as stones, small branches and leaves. The person changes the spatial scenery by removing, replacing or placing something differently. Light and shadow shape the character of the object and field. A third movement, which is not visible but noticeable, are the sections of “empty time” between the actions and yet progresses







Samstag, 1. Februar 2025

Transforming: Here and Now

The exhibition “Transforming Here and Now” presents a selection of eight photographs from my socially and community-engaged art projects.

Transforming: Here and Now

31.01.2025 – 07.02.2025

Groundfloor, Faculty of Arts Building, University of Warwick, University Road, Coventry CV4 7AL ,UK

The exhibition illustrates how individuals and communities assert their agency through environmental initiatives and creative expressions, from community-building environmental projects to reflections on urban, rural, and virtual spaces. These diverse works offer multi-layered perspectives on how different environments foster self-expression and social engagement in our rapidly evolving world. The exhibited works span diverse media and geographies, reflecting urgent social and environmental concerns across the globe. Through various artforms, the artists engage with themes of resistance, identity, and ecological justice. From grassroots activism to digital spaces, their works reveal how communities navigate and transform their environments in pursuit of change and a better future. The exhibition is presented alongside the After Postcolonialism: Global Theory, Local Transformations conference, which brings scholars together to examine the intersection of postcolonial theory and lived experience.

Transforming: Here and Now is an art exhibition featuring canvas art, photography, installations, and video works by twelve international artists: Ann Chang, P.A. Echague, Francesca Mauricio, Manesa Hulia Diaz, Joannes Christopher Gerad, Vardit Goldner, Joe Li, Natalie Lo, Alexandro Casales Navarrete, Moses Sodipo, Konstantina Tompoulidou, and Ngo Chun Tse.

Thank you to the curatorial team