UNIDEE research residency | Fall 2015
FALL 2015
From September to November a group of five artists have been living and working in common space of Cittadellarte, attending Unidee-University of Ideas weekly modules, while creating and producing their artworks. They were asked to deal with the main topics of the Unidee programme, such as temporality, responsibility and participation. The artists are used to reflecting on some of the themes, while for others it is the first time to engage with them. All the residencies were conceived and designed according to Unidee’s chosen method, which combines practice with theory, through workshops and seminars.
Mariangela Aponte, Juhikadevi Bhanjdeo, Rebecca Blocksome, Aya Kirresh, Muhammad Taymour, will present their research and ongoing projects on the 28th of October, a collective discussion will follow the presentations.
They are from Egypt, India, Palestine, United States, and Colombia. The artists are in Cittadellarte thanks to the following institutions or programmes: A. M. Qattan Foundation, Inlaks Shivdasani Foundation, UNIDEE in residence and RESÒ-International Network for Art Residencies and Educational Programs.
The residents are assisted in the research and production of artworks by the Unidee-University of Ideas Office (Cecilia Guida, Giulia Crisci and Roberta Bernasconi) and by Art Office (Juan Esteban Sandoval).
UNIDEE-University of Ideas, ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE OPEN STUDIOS
28th October 2015, 5.00 pm, at Cittadellarte-Fondazione Pistoletto
Mariangela Aponte (Colombia, 1983), Resò-network, is a visual artist.
She is interested in reflecting on water as an element common to all human and life forms, like a common language flowing through our daily lives. She has noticed the natural environment in Biella, contrasting with her home city of Cali. During the residency she is exploring the intersection of the two landscapes: how their similarities and differences shape the worlds where they exist, and what the expressive possibilities of materiality and intangibility are, thinking of the water as a possible sonorous and optical reflection. How do we relate to our environment through time and space?
https://aguacqua.wordpress.com
https://mariangelaponte.wordpress.com
Juhikadevi Bhanjdeo, (India, 1986) Inlaks Shivdasani Foundation grant, is a visual artist.
The stay in Cittadellarte has inspired the artist to think beyond visual (material) identity difference. She chose as the point of departure for her work the cafeteria of the Foundation, a place where people get together and exchange culture and ideas at the table. The work springs from the remnants of these ideas in the form of used table placemats as a collection of individual stories and traces of presences. Bhanjdeo has collected and preserved the used placemats, making out of them an installation.
http://juhikadevi.blogspot.it
Rebecca Blocksome, (Usa, 1980), UNIDEE in residence, is a visual artist, writer and cultural theorist.
She is using the space and the time of Unidee-University of Ideas residency to develop her art project The Book of Science, meeting mentors of modules, artists and curators to support her work. She will present the Gospel of Galileo Galilei, the first book in Volume 2 of the Book of Science, the sacred text of the Temple of Science. The Temple of Science project uses installation, performance, and digital media to scrutinize the privileged place of science in modern Western culture. The Book of Science consists of philosophical, historical, scientific, and literary texts arranged to mimic the structure of the Christian Bible. This intellectually sophisticated parody of a religious institution questions the authoritative role of both science and religion as arbiters of Truth.
www.rebeccablockso.me
www.templeofscience.info
Aya Kirresh, (Palestine, 1989), Qattan Foundation grant, is an architect and visual artist.
She is creating a threefold (ad)venture to perceive space, events and the public through memory, isolation and the creation of hubs. She takes on the responsibility of exploring, experimenting and networking with the community, local materials, landscape, architecture, and urban life. Her work starts as a recollection of sites in Biella that in a way formed a certain image of the urban fabric and life of the City, and becomes a collection of found objects and material connected to certain events during the residency. Each object and material tells its own story, but together they create a new hub to be isolated and protected as a memory.
http://ayask.weebly.com
Muhammad Taymour, (Egypt, 1985) Resò Resident, is a film and video-maker.
He is producing a documentary about the independent Italian filmmaking industry. He is using Cittadellarte as a base to meet Italian filmmakers and as a starting point to establish connections with videomakers around Biella, Turin and Milan. Taymour’s research also deals with social, political and religious aspects in filmmaking culture and tradition, touching on big questions such as: What is the current status of independent cinema? What is its history? What is the future of the independent filmmaking scene in Italy?
www.muhammadtaymour.com
https://vimeo.com/muhammadtaymour
