ArticulAction, Biennial Edition 2022 - vol.1




ENNE TESSE
IVAN ARKHIPOV
CLAUDIA GRÜNIG
YUYING SONG
MARYAM DEHBOZORGI
GREGORY A MCCULLOUGH
ILDIKO SOPRONFALVI
GERGANA ELENKOVA
NIKOLETTA TZANNE
ART  Dancing with the stone, exhibition in Beijing
a work by Ivan Arkhipov

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Nikoletta Tzanne Photo by Ildiko Sopronfalvi
C o n t e m p o r a r y A r t R e v i e w
Ildiko Sopronfalvi Enne Tesse Gregory A McCullough Nikoletta Tzanne Yuying Song Claudia Grünig
Hungary USA Canada Greece / United Kingdom China / Spain Germany
Ildiko Sopronfalvi studied I revisit and reimagine the If one views Art and My work is an attempt to She is a visual artist-researcher, Photographs give
photo design in Germany, human experience of dress Technology as structural explore the possibilities of born in China and currently doing
at the Akademie Deutsche as layers that can make components in a social various materials, the a practice-based Ph.D. in Art the impression of
Pop in Stuttgart and since “Generative Adversarial combinations and limits Production and Research at the representing
then she has published and re-define identities; Network” than artistic that may have, in order to Polytechnic University of Valencia,
offer body modifications endeavours offer a positive produce aesthetic objects Spain. And she received a Chinese reality. The
numerous publications and and transformations; evolutionary progress to that comment on different Government Scholarship from the medium of
photo series in American simulate protection; society. Technology is the emotional situations, China Scholarship Council (CSC)
and European fashion McLuhanesque medium that issues such as for her doctoral studies. She is photography
magazines. According to provide concealment; mark ultimately modifies its interested in the theory and enables me to
her own admission, her human social structures; confrontation, confusion, history of documentary,cinema,
fashion photos deal more spark narratives and group users. “Every way of being, calmness, balance, photography, especially the theme locate inner states
becomes a way of knowing.” pressure, conflict and that focuses on the figure of
with emotions and social relations; and allow for We become slaved to how movement. women, immigration, social issues in "reality".
significance, and the survival. the technology is used day The process that is being and, also the culture of digital
photographer also likes to to day, and our view of the followed for the production media. What interests me
play with colours, My work is rooted in skills world is reshaped to this of my works plays a key Her recent research output
contrasts, textiles and and practices performed to new mold. role in defining the idea includes the essay Art born during in my work is the
forms. "Environmental produce and alter clothing through the material the COVID-19 Pandemic published paradox of
awareness has been a including sewing, I see arts role as elucidating identity of the artwork. It in ANIAV - Journal of Research in "inventing
concern for a long time, mending, pattern making, and illuminating our current includes drawings and Visual Arts, Why do I live here is a
and I think it's important cutting, crocheting, paradigms of being, so to constant changes of each Documentary essay on Chinese photographs".
to pay attention to it. I weaving, embroidering open them up to a self piece by going back again immigration in Spain published in
want to open people's eyes critique. Hence the and again, by taking away AVANCA / CINEMA 2021,
if we pay a little attention, and knitting. “content” of art is pieces and adding others. International Conference Cinema I use the individual
we shop more consciously, These sustained slow boundless. Yet obviously an The continuous Art, Technology, Communication, elements of reality
both in fashion and in artist must have a focus. transformation of the Article A TRANSNACIONAL
other areas, we could moving practices, Mine seems to reside in the immanent relations of the FAMILY CHINESE IMMIGRATION as a new beginning
possibly start with an repetitive acts, rituals, translation of seeing from objects may seem IN SPAIN accepted by the journal in terms of content.
opposite process of being patterns and rhythms are one medium to another. gratuitous but still very Diecisiete and Western Feminist In doing so I create
my focus while keeping Instead of grasping at what essential to me in order to Experimental Film: Between
able to prevent humanity awareness of possible is ‘lost in translation’, my define form and idea and Experiment and Experience- an emotional
from rushing to its art explores and celebrates to reach the completion of 1960s-1980s accepted by the memory image.
demise," the artist said. deviations. the ‘Found in translation’. each piece. journal film literature.
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SUMMARY ICUL CTION
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Nikoletta Tzanne 4
live and works in Athens, Greece
Enne Tesse 22
lives and works in Beacon, NY, USA
Ildiko Sopronfalvi 44
Anna Tesse lives and works in Berlin, Germany
Claudia Grünig 74
lives and works in Köln, Germany
Gregory A McCullough102
lives and works in Canada
Maryam Dehbozorgi 126
Maryam Dehbozorgi SaGenrgjaayn aG uEpletnakova Ivan Arkhipov lives and works in Shiraz, Iran
Iran Bulgaria / Spain Russia
Maryam Dehbozorgi ( Born 20 My art - this is the body. For I have experimented with
April 1986, Shiraz, Iran ) is an me, the body is a constant different techniques, mainly Gergana Elenkova
interdisciplinary visual artist. magnitude that transforms etching, dry point, linocut, 148
In 2011 She received her into a measure of space and woodcut and painting, also
bachelor degree in Graphic time, a central tangent of created animated films. lives and works in Valencia, Spain
Design from Soore university interaction with everything Resistance of material has an
in Tehran. She is currently that surrounds us. Trusting influence on our attitude and
working on her dissertation on these three basic and image perception. Metal got
for a master`s degree in indissoluble relationships: scratched and torn, lines
painting from Soore university space-time-body, I embody became cuts. When you make it Yuying Song 170
in Tehran.She started her my ideas in corporeal (body) you had to lay yourself out, to
professional career in the installations. get angry, to resist, to sweat, lives and works in Valencia, Spain
field of art in 2014. She is For me, the basis for creating while still enjoying the process.
really into photos and films so a work of art is a creative Perception of reality mute out
that is really influenced by process, which is a and we came into a trance. My
them in her art. This interest continuous cycle. From the works is a result of this
originated in her childhood as emergence of the idea to the process. And this technique Ivan Arkhipov 194
she was enthusiast in flipping final execution of the work. states importance of the
through albums and watching In my artistic practice, this process above the result. In
home movies, first as a means idea- diffused, chaotic and 2019 I worked at a Chinese lives and works in Moscow, Russia
of entertainment and then as fragmented at the beginning, village located 50 kilometers
a tool for curiosity about her can take form at any moment from Beijing - in the Shangyuan
identity. Her earlier works caused by any perceptual art residence, where I have On the cover: , by
were collages of family stimulus.That is, the origin of been staying for 3 summer photo by
members and sometimes this idea can come both from months. Residence lacked of
internet and magazine something immaterial such necessary equipment for Special thanks to Eri Kassnel, Boris Eldagsen, David Habercom,
photographs that initially as an experience, a word, a creative work in printmaking Ivonne Dippmann, Florencia Davidzon, Meghan Mosholders, Ryder
dealt with scattered topics reflection, a conversation, an
such as immigration, image, a social problem, etc., techniques, specifically the Richards, Susan LaMantia, Elsa Vinaes, Corbette Fogue, Julia
technology growth and as well as from something most important - etching press Lekvova, Alon Peretz, Johannes Deimling, Barbara Bervoets,
identity and then with the palpable such as the tactile to create prints on paper in the Gwenyth Dobie, Viktor Frešo, Allyson McCandless, Gillian Allard,
focusing on “ self “ subject, experimentation with dry point technique. I used as a Maya Gelfman, Annie Hobbs, Jill Poczkai Ibsen, Jody Zellen, Anniek
shifted into the challenges she materials, objects and press a large stone that I had
faced in everyday life. shapes. been found nearby. Verholt, Eva Rocco Kenell, Anne Cecilia Surga and Anna Pinkas.
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Nikoletta Tzanne
My work is an attempt to explore the possibilities of various materials, the combinations and
limits that may have, in order to produce aesthetic objects that comment on different emotional
situations, issues such as confrontation, confusion, calmness, balance, pressure, conflict and
movement.
The process that is being followed for the production of my works plays a key role in defining
the idea through the material identity of the artwork. It includes drawings and constant
changes of each piece by going back again and again, by taking away pieces and adding others.
The continuous transformation of the immanent relations of the objects may seem gratuitous
but still very essential to me in order to define form and idea and to reach the completion of
each piece.
In that aspect, I recently realized the comment of Edward Allington that is as keeping a diary.
From my point of view a diary that records the formation of human reactions to different kind
of emotions.
An interview by , curator as an artist? In particular, how does your
and , curator cultural substratum due to your Greek
roots direct your current artistic research?
Nikoletta Tzanne: Hello it is a pleasure to
Hello Nikoletta and welcome to be in ARTiculAction
ARTiculAction: we would like to start this
interview with a couple of questions My five years training in the department of
regarding your background. You have a Sculpture in the Aristoteleio University of
solid formal training: after having earned Thessaloniki was crucial for the
your Bachelor in Fine Arts Department in development of my practice.In the late
Sculpture from the Aristotelio University of nineties the way to get in an art school in
Thessaloniki, you movede from Greece to Greece was the very good knoweledge of
the United Kingdom to nurture your life drawing . In the first three years of the
education with a Master in Fine Arts, that study the development of observing and
you received from the Slade School of Art, trying to depict what you see, on a piece of
University College of London: how did paper or with the use of clay concider to be
these experiences address your evolution very important along with the good use of

Bent wood, 102x50x45 cm

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the materials.It was necessary to be familiar symmetries, the tension, are being
with the properties and the technical developed in a totally different way.
characteristics of various materials. In the Improvisation allows the piece to evolve in
final two years you were free to develop your unexpected ways, therefore there is a
ideas in any way you want. I feel the need to continuous transformation of the immanent
be so analytical about my training because I relation of the sculptures when I am working.
believe that one can understand the roots of .There is a constant change by adding taking
my visual vocabulary. out and reshaping the materials.
When I moved to United Kingdom to attend The body of works that we have selected for
the Master in Fine Arts in Slade School of this special edition of ARTiculAction and that
Fine Art the transition was quite challenging. our readers have already started to get to
It was a completely different educational art know in the introductory pages of this
system with other priorities and with various article has at once captured our attention
views about the ways art can be produced. I from the way you sapiently provide to ideas
realised that being a studio based artist and belonging to the emotional sphere with
trying to implement my ideas through the such unique materic identity, able to unveil
use of drawings and material was the way I
chose in order to be developed as an artist. the immanence of reality: when walking our
readers through your usual setup and
Your works are marked out with unique process, we would like to ask you how do
multilayered visual aspect, and drawings play you consider the role of aesthetics playing
crucial role in defining the idea that you want within your artistic research.
to work on. New York City based artist Lydia
Dona once stated that in order to make art Nikoletta Tzanne: I feel that the body of my
today one has to reevaluate the conceptual work involves the idea of meeting. What is
language behind the mechanism of art the impact of interacting with someone
making itself: how do you consider the other than oneself ;How the accidentally
relationship between the necessity of intersection with various occurences affect
scheduling your performance and the us. In my artistic research over the last few
creative power of improvisation? Does years the question that arise is, although
spontaneity play an important role in your images has the potential to show sights and
artistic process? inshights which are not accesible to the eye
Nikoletta Tzanne: My relation to the process and no communication in language can
of drawings has changed over the years. It is convey, still images are not solaly made or
still a way to put down thoughts, ideas and viewed exclusively for visual communication
plans related to the implement of a piece. I in questions.Possible the idea of objects that
am also interested in exploring the are not taken up only with their capacity to
procedure independently. I realize that a advance a theme, have led me to search
sculpture should not be strictly dictated by a thoroughly their materic identity.
drawing, the balance, the contrast, the

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Balance wood, 98x54x32cm
We really appreciate your sapient use of searching for in the materials that you include
unconventional materials, that — as you have in your works? In particular, are there any
remarked once — are strongly related to your experiences that did particularly help you to
intentions. German art critic and historian develop your attitude to experiment with
Michael Fried once stated that 'materials do different materials?
not represent, signify, or allude to anything;
they are what they are and nothing more.' Nikoletta Tzanne: My experience of having to
What are the properties that you are depict forms of the human body in drawings

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and in sculptures during the first years of my were harder and were not suggested to be
study has played an important role in my worked in a direct way I was trying no matter
relation to the materials. The process of the time and the technical difficulty to adjust
putting and taking out flexible materials such them to the above way of working. When I
as clay and plaster and seeing the dramatic started my MA at Slade School of Art i realized
change that this had in the object had been that the process that i had followed was not
seemed very compelling. As I continued random and that using materials that I could
studying I realized that even materials that work directly had been allowed me to make a

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Arise, wood, 100x95x50 cm
lot of changes that was very essential to my As you have remarked in your artist's
practice. At that time i had tried to statement, your work is an attempt to create
experiment with combining different aesthetic objects that comment on persons
materials with alike qualities in aspects of attitude towards different emotional
hardness,transparency,elasticity and stiffness. circumstances: how do your memories and
your everyday life's experience fuel your

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artistic research? and memories.Observing myself and others in
that aspect, is the point of departure for my
Nikoletta Tzanne: Interacting with others and artistic research.
confronting different aspects of life, fill you up
with thoughts, feelings and lead to attitudes Breath features such captivating ambiguous
that partly have their roots in past experiences aesthetics, and we have particularly

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appreciated the way it challenges the
viewers' perception process, through
reminders to human body: how do you
consider the role of symbols and
metaphors in your creative process? In
particular, are you interested in creating
works of art with marked allegorical
features?
Nikoletta Tzanne: As I mention earlier in
the first years of my study i had had to
observe the human body in order to make
drawings and life size objects out of clay.
Furthemore I begun being interested in the
forms and the structure of the internal
organs of the human body . I believe that
my pieces carry out the memory of this
experience and the use of forms that have
references in human body, have become
part of my artistic vocabulary. My
intentions is to invent pictures that depict
emotions which often affect the human
figure, without being particularly interested
in allegorical features.
Through your works you created such
unique visual vocabulary able to trigger the
viewers' imagination, inviting them to
elaborate personal interpretations: how
open would you like your works to be
understood?
Nikoletta Tzanne: I feel there is no better
way to describe how I would like my work
to be adressed to the viewers .I would be
pleased if my visual vocabulary is able to
trigger the viewers’ imagination and to
arise personal interpretations. Most of the
times the titles in my work is an attempt to
indicate the intentions but in my opinion no
matter any suggestions the way someone is

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Balance 2_wood_80x37x34 cm

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being connected to an art piece is utterly
unpredictable.
With their reminders to the contrast between
softness and stiffness, Sleeping unveils the bond
between materiality and perception. As viewers,
we often tend to forget that a work of art is first
of all a physical artefact with intrinsic tactile
qualities, and we really appreciate the way,
through sapient materic translation, your artistic
production highlights the materiality among the
viewer: how important is for you to highlight the
physical aspect of your artworks?
Nikoletta Tzanne: It is very important . Assuming
that artwork has purpose -advancing a theme or
point of view,display an expressive property,
arouse a feeling or nothing of the above but
simply be devoted to engendering a certain idea-
in my practice that can be accomplised with the
use of forms made out of various
matterials.Experimenting with different kind of
matterials and their properties apart from being
a very interesting process gives me numerous
possibilities in defining the idea that I am
interested in.
You are an established artist and over the years
you have internationally exhibited in several
occasions: how do you consider the nature of
your relationship with your audience? By the
way, as the move of Art from traditional gallery
spaces, to street and especially to online
platforms — as Instagram and Vimeo —
increases, how would in your opinion change the
relationship with a globalised audience?
Nikoletta Tzanne: I am very interested in the
reactions of the viewers when they are looking
at my work.Most of the times I feel that there is
a moment of awkwardness which Is followed by

Distance70x35x54cm 135x55x68cm

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Flow, wood, 90x85x33cm Movement, wood, fabric, 56x22x160 cm
curiosity on the theme of the piece and the
way it is constructed. I feel that the above exhibit their work to a broader audience that
leads in a kind of familiarity with the piece otherwise would almost have been
and often the initial puzzlement is replaced by impossible.
various associations and interpretations. The
shift of Art from traditional gallery spaces to Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing
online forms give the opportunity to artists to your thoughts, Nikoletta. Finally, would you

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like to tell us readers something about your working on a new series where I am
future projects? How do you see your work experimenting with an old technique of
evolving? making objects and the idea of memory and
Nikoletta Tzanne: Thank you very much for time.
giving me the opportunity to share my views
with your readers.At the moment I am

In random order, wood, 166x118x30 cm

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Enne Tesse
Lives and works in Beacon, NY, USA
I revisit and reimagine the human experience of dress as layers that can make and re-define
identities; offer body modifications and transformations; simulate protection; provide concealment;
mark human social structures; spark narratives and group relations; and allow for survival.
My work is rooted in skills and practices performed to produce and alter clothing including sewing,
mending, pattern making, cutting, crocheting, weaving, embroidering and knitting. These sustained
slow moving practices, repetitive acts, rituals, patterns and rhythms are my focus while keeping
awareness of possible deviations.
An interview by , curator attitude to experimentwith different
and , curator techniques?
Enne Tesse: Both experiences were
Hello Enne and welcome toARTiculAction: fundamental in imparting discipline and
we would like to invite our readers to visit focus in my creative process, including
https://ennetesse.wixsite.com/worksin keeping an open dialogue with my work.
order to get a wide idea about your artistic My process involves observing and listening
production, and we would like to start this to my pieces as they develop, like listening
interview with a couple of questions to my body, and then reacting. The
evolution of my work begins with leafing
regarding your background. You have a through the pages of an Italian book on the
solid formal training: after having earned history of costume, containing sewing
your BFA, from the SUNY College at patterns for various types of clothing. I
Purchase you nurtured your education with noticed that each clothing pattern was
an MFA from the prestigious School of composed of many different parts. I believe
Visual Arts: how did these experiences this realization transferred to my work
address your evolution as an artist? In initially through the creation of sets of
particular, are there any experiences that separate wood panels placed side-by-side
did particularly help you to develop your on the wall, and then later through the use

Enne Tesse
Exhibition at Southern Vermont Arts Center, Manchester, VT, USA
in "Unusual Threads: Stitching Together the Future of Fashion" May 11-Jun 23, 2019 curated by Anna-Maria Hand.
Photo credit: Piet Mura

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of fabric in my 3D pieces. Intrigued by what else
might be found in the pages of texts, I began to
collect used books. Soon after, I had a dream of
book pages containing various lists of words.
“Weight of Words” (1989) was the result of this
dream. This work consists of 23 book pages
removed from a Latin language textbook. Each
page is mounted on a wood panel that hangs on
a string. The strings are of different lengths and
the panels are installed across the wall. Some
time later, my mother passed away suddenly and
in response, I cut up her nightgown and
stretched it over five separate wood panels. This
was my first work with fabric. Both of these
works were created with reused and found
materials. Worn fabric and yellowing book pages
produce slight variations in color that reflect the
passing of time and the sense of touch. These
elements exist throughout my work.
The body of works that we have selected for
this special edition of ARTiculAction and that our
readers have already started to get to know in
the introductory pages of this article has
captured our attention for its unconventional
beauty that challenges the logic of ordinary
perception: when walking our readers through
your usual setup and process, would you tell us
how do you considerthe role of aesthetics
playing within your artistic research?
Enne Tesse: My childhood was spent in my
family’s tailoring shop in Naples, Italy, among
the look, touch, and smell of fabric that was
stored, cut, and shaped into garments daily.
Aesthetically, my focus is on raw, untreated
materials including cotton and linen canvas, jute
twine, and bookbinding thread. I have also used
fabric swatches, kitchen towels, butcher’s twine,
cotton drop cloth, wool yarn, and nylon zip ties.
Within each individual work, I choose to remain

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Passage, 2019
Yarn, elastic bands, dress form
96 x 144 x 36 in
243.84 x 365.76 x 91.44 cm

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minimal in the use of material, color, method and
approach. My materials are associated with
everyday practical uses. Placing them in a non-
utilitarian context of art allows them to have
maximum power, and opens the doors to
unexpected visual and conceptual possibilities.
Passageis an extremely stimulating work that
was inspired by the repetitive act of slow
moving hand crocheting. New York City based
artist Lydia Dona once stated that in order to
make art today one has to reevaluatethe
conceptual language behind the mechanism of
art making itself: how do you consider the
relationship between the necessity of
scheduling your performance andthe creative
power of improvisation? Doesspontaneityplay
an important role in your artistic process?
Enne Tesse: Processes that require time to
produce results, such as the creation of hand
made fabric by knotting and crocheting, for me
represent continuation, interruption, and
therefore quantities of accumulation of time.
“Passage” focuses on my immigrant journey
from birth culture to newly acquired culture. The
intersecting tubes of wool yarn represent
segments of time that capture interruptions,
reversals, pauses, and halts of my immigrant
journey. Interlocked within the trajectory of the
journey are fear of the unknown, uncertainty of
the voyage, obstacles, struggles, frustration,
anxiety, numbness, denial of origin, but also
achievements, triumphs, accomplishments, and
victories. “Passage” was created by arbitrarily
connecting variable numbers of chain stitches to
produce intersecting tubes of wool yarn, each of
different lengths and widths. I believe my
approach toward the repetitive act of chain
stitching was actually very spontaneous and
unpredictable, like a journey can be. Tying the

Bird, 2019
Jute twine, zip ties, dress form
72 x 16 x 12 in
182.88 x 40.64 x 30.48 cm

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tubes with elastic bands, and using the wall as a phrase and take it from there. As I move
a partial support were also spontaneous acts. through my creative journey, I remain open to
“Passage” is very much an improvisation with the unexpected.
elements of performance. Spontaneity does
play an important role in my artistic process. I Through your works you created such unique
very rarely plan out my pieces or make initial visual vocabularyable to trigger the viewers'
sketches. I start with a rough idea, a word, or imagination, inviting them to elaborate

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personal interpretations: how open would experiences. I welcome viewers’
you like your works to be understood? interpretations of my work. “Bird” pays
tribute to my mother's fear of birds and can
Enne Tesse: Every work has a life of its own trigger viewers’ different interpretations. For
that begins when the work interacts with its example, the spiky zip ties may appear sharp
viewers. Creative works exist to inspire and threatening to some and at the same
thought. Viewers carry varied personal time, playful and humorous to others. As I

Anguirus, 2020
Fabric swatches, bookbinding thread, dress form
65 x 28 x 21 in
165.1 x 71.12 x 53.34 cm

Red Spine, 2019
detail

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Red Spine, 2019
Jute twine, dress form
72 x 16 x 12 in
182.88 x 40.64 x 30.48 cm
progressively worked on this piece, its surface practices performed to produce and alter
density grew to include 2,200 zip ties. clothing including sewing, mending, pattern
You are a versatile artist and as you have making, cutting, crocheting, weaving,
remarked in your work isrooted in skills and embroidering and knitting. We really

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imagery. German art critic and historian
Michael Fried once stated that 'materials do
not represent, signify, or allude to anything;
they are what they are and nothing more.'
What werethe propertiesthat you are
searching for in the materials that you include
in your works?
Enne Tesse: I am attracted to materials that
have everyday practical uses. In addition to
fabric and textiles, I have used book pages,
beeswax, glass, India ink and brick. Sources of
my inspiration are early medieval garments
including tunics, gowns, and robes and their
course-textured fabric woven from roots of
plants, goat hair, single-ply wool, linen, and
plain sackcloth. I am also interested in
materials that stain and discolor with use and
time. Fabric and paper share many of these
qualities. These subtle differences in color and
texture are to me signs of past participation of
the hand. Found ready-made objects also play
an important role in my creative process. I
would like to note that my works are not
wearable garments. They are intended to exist
on a dress form stand, which is a found object
taken from my personal history. At the same
time, the dress form is an underlying support
structure representing a given form that
approximates reality and idealizes the human
body. Other found objects I have used are
polypropylene rope, gelatin capsules, and, of
course, nylon zip ties. We are not only
surrounded by these products everyday, but
also, often forced to use them.
Unsilent Stitches was inspired by early 20th
appreciate your sapient use of materials as century suffragette clothing: do you think
wool yarn, elastic bands, nylon zip cable ties that your artistic research respond to a
and jute twine, that the viewer could particular cultural moment?
recognize as belonging to ordinary life's Enne Tesse: I do not connect with one

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particular cultural moment. In fact, my In “Unsilent Stitches”, I was drawn to the
intension is to combine cultural time periods. suffragette use of fabric and clothing as a form
A single piece may have medieval, Victorian, of communication and liberation. This work
and contemporary influences simultaneously. contains the text of a micro fiction story I

Zigra, 2019
Cotton drop cloth, bookbinding thread, dress form
72 x 16 x 12 in
182.88 x 40.64 x 30.48 cm

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wrote. I embroidered the words on four linen
towels I stitched together. It possesses qualities
of both a gown and a banner. Although loosely
tailored and draped, when placed over a dress
form, the piece becomes physically restrictive
since its arm holes are sewn shut. “Anguirus”
and “Zigra” were both inspired by Victorian
bustles and Japanese Kaiju films of the 1960s.
Your artistic practice offers body modifications
and transformations. Many artists express the
ideas that they explore through representations
of the body and even by using their own bodies:
how do you consider the relation betweenthe
ideas that you aim to communicate andthe
physical act of creating your artworks?
Enne Tesse: For me, the physical act of creating
relies strongly on the participation of the hands
and fingers. I produce my work by sewing,
folding, cutting, stuffing, and knotting therefore
using my hands laboriously. I am self-taught in
these techniques. My pieces offer body
modifications and transformations that
consequently result from properties such as
distortion, imperfection, unevenness,
irregularity, and crudeness.
You are an established and awarded artist and
over the years you have exhibited your work
nationally and internationally, including solo
and group exhibitions in museums and galleries
in the United States and Japan: how do you
considerthe nature of your relationship with
your audience?
By the way, as the move of Art from traditional
gallery spaces, to street and especially to online
platforms — asInstagram andVimeo—
increases, how would in your opinion change

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Unsilent Stitches, 2021
Linen towels, cotton thread, dress form
64 x 27 x 19 in
162.56 x 68.58 x 48.26 cm
back detail

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Unsilent Stitches, 2021
Linen towels, cotton thread, dress form
64 x 27 x 19 in
162.56 x 68.58 x 48.26 cm
front detail

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the relationship with a globalised audience?
Enne Tesse: I connect with my audience through
on-site and online gallery exhibitions, in-person
and virtual studio visits, and my website. My
work has appeared in print and online
publications, virtual exhibition tours as well as
online talks and discussions.
Withhttps://www.instagram.com/ennetesse it is
possible for me to reach an immediate audience
as well as to communicate directly with viewers
worldwide.
Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your
thoughts, Enne. Finally, would you like to tell us
readers something about your future projects?
How do you see your work evolving?
Enne Tesse: My future projects include my work
“Capture” which I began in 2019 and plan to
bring to completion. This work was inspired by
th
Giambattista Basile’s 17 century fairy tale
entitled Petrosinella, a predecessor of Rapunzel.
In this large 12ft high by 11ft wide wall piece,
cotton drop cloth straps are sewn together to
form a towering gowned figure. The figure
reaches down towards the viewer by way of
polypropylene rope strands. In the belly, the
figure carries a crocheted green wool yarn bag
containing more polypropylene rope. Also, I plan
to continue writing flash and micro fiction.
My story “Becoming” was recently published
online in Kaidankai and four micro stories will
appear in an upcoming online publication. .
An interview by , curator
and , curator

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Ildiko Sopronfalvi
Since 2017, Ildiko Sopronfalvi, the photographer, has been engaged in professional fashion- and portrait
photography. The Hungarian artist studied photo design in Germany, at the Akademie Deutsche Pop in
Stuttgart and since then she has published numerous publications and photo series in American and European
fashion magazines.
According to her own admission, her fashion photos deal more with emotions and social significance, and the
photographer also likes to play with colours, contrasts, textiles and forms.
Her photo series "Plastic or fashion?" contrasts fashion with our surrounding. Our world is neglected, Mother
Earth is overflooded with plastic, garbage, the treasures given by the earth are being lost by humanity, and
she exploits everything you can.
"Environmental awareness has been a concern for a long time, and I think it's important to pay attention to it. I
want to open people's eyes if we pay a little attention, we shop more consciously, both in fashion and in other
areas, we could possibly start with an opposite process of being able to prevent humanity from rushing to its
demise," the artist said.
The material for the exhibition was collected by the photographer for 2 years, and the theme occupies the
artist again and again, several new works are currently being created. The emotional world of the images also
makes the viewer think. The series has recently appeared in several American fashion magazines, in
accordance with fashion rules, with the main elements of animal-patterned creations and plastics as opposed
to industrial or forest environments.
On the pictures you can see the creations of Alexandra Kalomista-Könczöl. With this, the designer of the
futuristic fashion brand "Nagea" wants to pay attention to the importance of environmental protection. The
models show a collection of clothes made of plastic bags, which were set with green plants on the contrary.
With the creations of the fashion designer, he wants to send a message not only to buyers, but also to other
designers:
"Today, a fashion designer can not only be responsible for self-serving design and more profit orientation. We
have to take responsibility, lead by example, look for innovation because there is overproduction in the
clothing industry, and we produce too many garments."
An interview by , curator production, and we would like to start this
and , curator interview with a couple of questions
regarding your background. You have a
solid formal training: you studied Civil
Hello Ildiko and welcome to ARTiculAction: Engineering at the Technical University of
we would like to invite our readers to visit Budapest, and you later you began to study
http://www.fotobyildiko.comin order to Photography at the Academy Deutsche Pop
get a wide idea about your artistic in Stuttgart, Germany: how did those

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formative years influence your evolution as
an artist? Moreover, how does the
multifaceted nature of your cultural
substratum due to your work in the fashion
industry direct the trajectory of your
current artistic research?
Ildiko Sopronfalvi: In 2016 I bought my first
SLR camera, which had been a dream of
mine for a long time. I wanted to learn
everything I could about photography, I
devoured all technical literature, I read all
the magazines, and that was the point
when I decided to start study in a
photography school. They were fantastic
and inspiring years. I got to be part of an
environment where singers, stylists,
makeup artists were learning and working
together on collaborative projects. I began
to organize photo shootings and to work
with people in a team. First I did CD covers
and image shoots for singers and bands,
and after I met a stylist I got interested in
fashion photography and that's how I got
into this world.
I started to think conceptually, planning
my shoots in advance. My projects became
more and more creative.
From my main job like a projekt manager I
have learned organizing and bringing the
project together these experiences helped
a lot.
For this special edition of ARTiculAction we
have selected Plastic or fashion?, an
extremely interesting project that our
readers have already started to get to know
in the introductory pages of this article, and
that has at once captured our attention for
the way it unveils unstable, even the

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conflictual relationship between fashion and
sustainability: when walking our readers
through the genesis of Plastic or fashion?,
would you tell us how did you develop the
initial idea?
Ildiko Sopronfalvi: I have been concerned
about the environment for a long time. I
wanted to create something extravagant and
special and otherside to put the environment
against the fashion industry. I put together
suffering models in animal skins with green
backgrounds and plastic wraps. No one was
doing fashion photography that was
environmentally conscious at the time. I put
together suffering models in animal skins
with green backgrounds and plastic wrap. I
wanted to show what mankind is doing to
the environment, what the earth, nature and
wildlife are suffering.
I wanted to make people aware of the
problem of pollution. As an artist, I feel a
responsibility to show people problems that
exist, if I have a tool in my hands, like a
camera.
The works from your Plastic or fashion? series
seem to be laboriously structured to pursue
such effective and at the same time
thoughtful, evokative visual impact: what was
your working schedule like? Did you carefully
plan each shot?
Ildiko Sopronfalvi: Yes absolutely.
I started with my first project at the
beginning of 2019. I thought it would be only
one photo shooting for a fashion magazine
but from time to time I had more and more
ideas, and I still had something to say, at the

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end I had more than 5 photo shootings for a year, which resulted in a complete
regarding this topic. collection. The last 3 photos were taken for
this collection. I would have liked to take the
I had straight concept for each photo final photo in the foreground, but it was
shooting. As I started with my project I had winter with rainy and cold weather. So I
only fast fashion products. But I wanted to came up with the idea to create a Mother
use sustainable fashion products for my Earth project.
photo material. So I approached Alexandra Suffering Mother Earth with shit trees and
Könczöl, hungarian designer of the Nagea plastic, I wanted to use it to evoke the
brand, with whom I designed the collection future. If mankind doesn't stop destroying
of nylon bags. We collected the nylon bags the land, this is what we're going to get.

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It's important to mention that the material Ildiko Sopronfalvi: When I started to collect
for the exhibition was collected by yourself the material, I only had the vision in my
for two years. New York City based sculptor head, I couldn't really find any fashion
and photographer Zoe Leonard remarked material for this topic. Fashion
once that "the objects that we leave behind photographers didn't shoot similar subjects
hold the marks and the sign of our use: like before. I was very impressed by the
archeological findings, they reveal so much Canadian photographer Burtynsky, who
about us". We'd love to ask you about the photographed ruined natural landscapes in
qualities of the materials that you include —
or that you plan to include — in your various subjects.
artworks: in particular, what does direct you
to use found materials? As you have remarked in your artist's

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statement, your vision is making creative elaborate personal interpretations: how open
photos with emotions and sense for the would you like your works to be understood?
world: through your works you created such
unique visual vocabulary able to trigger the Ildiko Sopronfalvi: The aim of art is to make
viewers' imagination, inviting them to the viewer think about the picture when

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they look at it. Everyone looks at and emotion through my photography. The rest
understands the world through their own is left to the viewer.
perspective. Your artistic practice is deeply engaged with
My goal is to move the viewer and generate social commentary and the need to raise

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social awareness. Many contemporary
artists, such as Thomas Hirschhorn and
Michael Light, use to include socio-political
criticism and sometimes even convey explicit
messages in their artworks: do you think
that artists can raise awareness to an
evergrowing audience on topical issues — as
environmental themes — that affect our
globalised and unstable society? And how do
you consider the role of artists in the
contemporary age?
Ildiko Sopronfalvi: Absolutelly. As artists,
we have a responsibility to make people
aware of the problems and to create
thought-provoking works. The more
extreme and provocative projects an artist
makes, the more they get noticed. The work
of Thomas Hirschhorn or Michael Light is
designed to move the minds of ordinary
people, and that's the aim.
Another interesting project of yours that has
particularly impressed us and that 1 we
would like to introduce to our readers is
entitled Sur les traces de Klimt, and we have
appreciated the way you captured the
grammar of body language: how did you
structured your shot schedule in order to
achieve such brilliant results? In particular
how important was for you to capture
spontaneity?
Ildiko Sopronfalvi: The idea of the gold
mosaic in Klimt style has been in my head
for a long time, but I have never found any
team for this shooting. One weekend I
spontaneously asked my team if they would
be up for a very cool Klimt photo shoot, of
course they were. I had the concept in

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mind, I wanted a gold mosaic on the face, studio light, I tried more lights due the
with mosaic jewels and gold teardrops. I shooting, Rembrandt light, beauty dish, etc.
involved a Hungarian jewelry designer
called DeLine Jewelry in this project and we We have particularly appreciated the way you
created with the makeup artist Kitti Kardos achieve such unique balance between the
together this stunning makeup. I helped to models and their surroundings, capturing such
glue the mosaics from the golden foil in the insightful resonance between the peculiar
hair and body of the model. specifics of the background and epiphanic
The only spontaneity I had was only the details, featuring such unconventional sense of

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beauty that challenges the logic of ordinary aesthetic representation of a hand, a foot or
perception, unveiling the connection a face. Obviously, it depends on the subject
between beauty and imperfection: how do what emotions I want to express through
you consider the role of aesthetics playing the model, but the photo has to have some
within your artistic research? order.
Ildiko Sopronfalvi: Aesthetics play an You are an established photographer: you
important role in my photographs. I like have been awarded in several occasions
order, coherence, lines, dynamics, the andover the years you have been featured in

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many publications and photo series in exhibition of Plastic or fashion material with
American and European fashion magazines: Nagea. We presented the collection created
how do you consider the nature of your from nylon bags to the public in a fashion
relationship with your audience? By the way, show in Budapest. And the jewellery and
as the move of Art from traditional gallery accessories were made from sustainable
spaces, to street and especially to online products, such as jewellery made from
platforms — as Instagram and Vimeo — coffee capsules. TV also came out to film.
increases, how would in your opinion change We had a similar opening in January 2021,
the relationship with a globalised audience? also in Budapest, where we presented a
dance performance in a nylon dress at the
Ildiko Sopronfalvi: I keep in touch with my opening.
audience mainly on facebook and instagram
https://www.instagram.com/foto_by_ildiko. Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing
You can meet me in person at exhibitions. In your thoughts, Ildiko. Finally, would you like
November 2020, we organised a large-scale to tell us readers something about your

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future projects? How do you see your work I won't tell you any more, in the near future I
evolving? want to come out with a citizen-bashing
piece where conventions are overturned.
Ildiko Sopronfalvi: I have lot of ideas in my
head. First of all I would like to make a photo An interview by , curator
material about different cultures with and , curator
unique style.

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Claudia Grünig
Lives and works in Germany
Photographs give the impression of representing reality. The medium of photography enables me to
locate inner states in "reality". What interests me in my work is the paradox of "inventing
photographs". I use the individual elements of reality as a new beginning in terms of content. In
doing so I create an emotional memory image.
An interview by , curator photographic works, in my painting various
and , curator quite different, sometimes contradictory
elements of reality combined with each
other in a realistic painting style. In 2015, the
Hello Claudia and welcome toARTiculAction: idea of locating surreal events in a medium
we would like to invite our readers to visit more committed to depiction led me from
https://claudia-gruenig.jimdofree.com in painting to photography. In painting,
order to get a wide idea about your artistic everything is possible. It is not committed to
production, and we would like to start this reality, but to perception. In it, wondrous,
interview with a couple of questions surreal representations are no surprise.
regarding your background. You have a Photographs, on the other hand, give the
solid formal training: you studied Painting impression of depicting something. I use this
at the University of Applied Sciences for Art notion in my photographic works to place
and Design of Cologne, and you graduated the illusion in "reality". In doing so, I use the
as a master class student with Prof. Dieter individual elements of reality as a new
Kraemer. How did those formative years beginning for the content and composition
influence your evolution as an artist? of my digital staging.
Moreover, how does yourcultural I have always worked in many "seemingly"
substratumdue to your work at very different artistic contexts. They include
Trickfilmstudios Steinmetz und Cologne my work as a photographer and painter, my
Cartoon direct the trajectory of your current work in animated film and animation, and
artistic research? my work as a stage and costume designer. I
Claudia Grünig: I originally come from consistently pursue the notion that all
painting, which still has a strong influence on artistic manifestations of one and the same
my work today. So there are many elements person are naturally interrelated. The forms
in my photographic works that show this of manifestation are different. However, the
origin. Just as I still realize it today in my act of creation is always the same for me in

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each of these media. Research and perception,
image making and the combination of the most
diverse elements, transform into a visual
language. Looking back, over the past 3 decades,
the same themes keep cropping up in my work
in all these areas. Through them, the different
media connect. So there are themes and figures
that can be found as a recurring motif already in
my early works of painting. They appear in comic
drawings, animations, paintings and in my
photographic works. With this way of working I
illuminate the respective topic with different
means from different directions. Independent of
the media, I thus effortlessly build a bridge
between the formal incompatibilities. The focus
of my artistic work today is photography.
For this special edition of ARTiculAction we have
selectedMilchmädchen, an extremely
interesting project that our readers have
already started to get to know in the
introductory pages of this article, and that has
at once captured our attention for the way it
explores and subvertsstereotypized visions of
daily experience, inviting the viewers to
question the contradictions of contemporary
society: when walking our readers throughthe
genesisofMilchmädchen, would you tell us how
did you develop the initial idea?
Claudia Grünig: In my work there are always new
challenges. And so I ask myself whether I should
& would like to accept them. For one of my last
exhibition I have done this with pleasure. I
realized the photo works of my cycle
Milchmädchen (Milkmaids) for an exhibition
with the theme milk and cow. For me it is
unusual to work on themes that come from
outside. I don't usually work to given themes.
Pictures show themselves when they want to.
They can arise when their time has come. I can't
really influence this and so I find the pictures

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Milkmaid/ Milchmädchen

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Milkmaid/ Milchmädchen

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that want to show themselves. Other pictures do
not emerge. So I waited quite a while to see what
would show itself.
In connection with milk, I first thought of the
emergence of life - embodied in mother's milk
and motherhood. The nourishing Mary (lat.: Maria
lactans/ literally: the milk-giving Mary) is a
frequently depicted motif in Christian
iconography. In visions of Mary, the miracle of the
feeding of the saint from the breast of the
Madonna is described. Other lactatio- visions tell
of the healing of diseases by Mary's milk. Lactatio
visions have been reported by both women and
men from about the age of 12 century.
Before the invention of the telescope, the Milky
Way was a common theme in mythology. From
Greek mythology comes the most famous story,
according to which the milk of the goddess Hera
splashed in a high arc to the sky, where it became
the Milky Way. Hindu myth led me to the ocean of
milk as the origin of various life forms and goods.
In this legend, by whisking the ocean of milk, the
gods eventually gain the elixir of immortality.
Since time immemorial, milk has also been
attributed special significance in many other
cultures. For me, the focus was soon on the life-
giving property of milk. That's how the idea of
infusion came about. In contrast to this is the
waste. An overabundance and surfeit in which the
pouring out of milk results in a wasteful process.
Originally, my cycle was called "Milchmädchen“
(Milkmaids) – from Monday to Friday." In its
finished version, however, this cycle contains
seven works. One for each day of the week.
Without interruption here in a daily ritual of the
recurring cycle of life becomes clear. The title
Milkmaid recalls Vermeer's Maid with Milk Jug. I
like to consider my work in a historical context to
formulate contemporary, effective and current
forms of implementation.

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The works from yourMilchmädchenseries
seem to belaboriously structuredto pursue
such effective and at the same time
thoughtful, evokativevisual impact: what
was your working schedule like? Did you
carefully plan each shot?
Claudia Grünig: I think a "finished picture"
shouldn't speak of the efforts and the many
discarded attempts that have preceded it. It's
great when it seems natural and logical - just
as it is. However, until then it goes through
many invisible processes.
Many of my pictures let me go through a
considerable time until they are created. In
the process, they let me go through many
attempts until they feel like showing
themselves. When, how and under which
aspects am I committed to "reality"? YES - NO
- MAYBE is for me the flowing, sometimes
challenging, but always inspiring process that
allows images to emerge. Very often, my
photographic works are composed of
individual photos lying on top of each other.
They consist of many individual layers. Among
them there are semi-transparent and those
from which parts have been cut out. Most of
my works are - in the truest sense of the word
- multi-layered in their creation. In this
working process I invent the actual photo on
the basis of the original motifs. This was not
the case in my Milchmädchen/ Milkmaid cycle.
These photographic works do not contain
multiple layers and - apart from a few small
interventions - no image processing. They
were taken in my kitchen, which is not a
staged space. I still find it every morning as it
is.
We have appreciated the way you captured
the grammar of body language: how did you
structured your shot schedule in order to

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Milkmaid/ Milchmädchen

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Milkmaid/ Milchmädchen

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achieve such brilliant results? In particular how
important was for you to capturespontaneity?
Claudia Grünig: One aspect of these
photographs was to explore physicality. Thus
the color of the clothing, which in some images
resembles the color of the skin, is related to the
life-giving quality of the infusion. Body, clothing
and infusion combine in these works. In the
images of waste and abundance, this similarity is
suspended. However, image finding is always a
process for me. In the "original shots" new
"realities" are found in the course of my
observation and processing.
I have a clear idea witch photos I want to take
for this and what material I can work with. That
requires a little planning. On this basis,
everything else develops spontaneously.
Experiment, trial and error are included. The
personality of my models plays an equally
important role. The effect of a picture is always
carried by their presence and their individual
characteristics. Personality thus becomes an
integral part of the composition. Through them I
achieve a great authenticity. Thus, my "finished
pictures" unexpectedly lead me to results that I
do not know how to describe beforehand and
did not expect. This was also the case in this
work. Some of what I wanted to realize did not
realize. Others were found.
As you have remarked in your artist's
statement, yourpictures show inner
psychological states-forms of being and
experiencing. They transform multi-layered
states into multi-layered images and make them
tangible: through your works you created such
uniquevisual vocabularyable to trigger the
viewers' imagination, inviting them to explore
and cross the flowing boundaries between
reality and perception, urging the to elaborate
personal interpretations: how open would you

Milkmaid/ Milchmädchen

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like your works to be understood? Moreover,
are you particularly interested in arousing
emotions that goesbeyond the realm of
visual perception?
Claudia Grünig: My pictures are departure and
at the same time retreat into my own world.
By going beyond visual perception, I come
close to the truth. It corresponds to my form
of being and experiencing. What the viewer
can - and wants to - find in my pictures and
whether I arouse emotions in him, lies solely
in himself. The possible comprehensibility of
my visualization presupposes a look at
oneself. I invite the viewer to follow me.
I have always been interested in ambivalence
in the image - the rupture that lies in the
simultaneity of the illusion of a vague promise
and its dissolution when the gaze leaves the
surface. In my photographic works, the action
is at times reminiscent of whimsical skip
tracing. The great significance of the action,
and its importance, is asserted solely by the
people depicted. In contrast to this, there is
no possibility of interpretation. I like to
remove the burden of meaningful action from
my characters. Possibly straw is spun into
gold here. There are no reliable clues to the
meaning of what is happening.
Since the beginning of my artistic activity, I
have been preoccupied with themes of
identity and authenticity. I often question the
relationship between illusion and reality. Thus
arose again and again, from very different
points of view, works and cycles under the
theme - reality and its double, reality and
imitation, reality and forgery as well as illusion
and reality. By consistently breaking through
the reality of the medium of photography and
a well thought-out pictorial composition of
reality based on it, I lead the viewer into a

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Milkmaid/ Milchmädchen

Silent guest/ Stiller Gast

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Silent guest/ Stiller Gast

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world in which the laws we are familiar with
are suspended.
Another interesting project of yours that
has particularly impressed us and that we
would like to introduce to our readers is
entitled Aliee, and we really appreciate the
way explores the themes ofidentity,
stability and fragility, to shed light our own
understanding in the context of gender
identity and self-identification. We dare say
that your artistic research draws from
direct experience to distill its epiphanic
aspects: how important is for you to create
artworks rich of allegorical qualities?
Claudia Grünig: First and foremost, I like the
kind of pictorial language that is expressed
in allegories. Even more than their reference
to a specific meaning, I appreciate the
playful aspects in the use of allegorical
elements.
Allegories have a long tradition in art history.
In painting, artists have always used them to
clarify complex content through pictorial
symbols and metaphors. The representation
of allegories offers a means to paraphrase
abstract concepts and make them
understandable. In this way it creates an
image that can be experienced. However,
the creation of my works is never based on
rational considerations. I follow my intuition.
It is by no means necessary that I
understand in detail what is going on in my
pictures. They provide information on an
emotional level. And so I do not think about
the meanings of symbols before I create
pictures. They find their way into my pictures
on the basis of their optical and imaginative
qualities, which enable me to create a
pictorial language that corresponds and is
close to me. Later, the symbolism certainly

Memory/ Erinnerung

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provides information. However, I do not plan role of symbols playing within your artistic
any statements. practice?
Where my figures break open the context, the Claudia Grünig: Like food and water, the desire
space opens up for one's own perception and a for aesthetics is a basic human need. So
subjective interpretation. aesthetics also has what it takes to seduce. One
Both inMilchmädchenand inAliee you achieved runs the risk of being deceived. The beautiful
such unique balance between the models and appearance sometimes turns out to be
their surroundings, capturing such insightful deceptive. Shelters and habitats are transient,
resonance betweenthe peculiar specifics of the structures, bonds and people fragile. My gaze is
backgroundand epiphanicdetails, featuring directed at constelations that can break. In the
such unconventional sense of beauty that ambivalence between aesthetics and its fragility
challenges the logic of ordinary perception, I achieve the greatest possible contrast of both
unveilingthe connection between beauty and positions in my photographic works. In it lies for
our inner landscape: how do you considerthe me, the oscillating tension.
role of aesthetics playing within your artistic One of my works whose multifaceted symbolism
research? In particular, how do you consider the surprised me myself is a photographic work

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from my cycle "Stiller Gast“/ (Silent Guest). In new production methods emerged, led to an
the first pictures of this series, the theme of expansion of agricultural goods in the mid-16th
isolation was in the foreground. In the century. This new wealth demanded
continuation of the cycle a new theme asserted representations that represent and be able to
itself. I had planned shots with tableware and celebrate it. In its mythological exaltation, the
others with fruits and vegetables. I had bought presence of the trivial in the staging of commodity
all the ingredients for them in the morning at aesthetics, thus conquered a new place in
the weekly market. In the realization, my shots painterly representation.
soon turned into a kitchen piece, in which the Kitchen pieces became the occasion for a pictorial
depiction of the kitchen room with dishes and reflection on consumer habits and attitudes to the
food arranged in a still-life-like manner emerged new wealth as early as the 16th and early 17th
as a motif, as we find it in Dutch painting of the centuries. Today in industrialized countries,
16th and 17th centuries. everyday goods and food seem available for all of
My photographic work refers to a subject that us to every times. In the oversupply of what is
emerged in an era marked by economic available, my model "disappears" in of my
upheaval. Economic and social changes, in which photographic work almost under this opulence.

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My photographic work thus also addresses the general is depicted in the particular - or in the
ambivalent aspects of our daily dealings with individual. Thus, a work can be factual and at
food. This "silent guest" - is rich in symbols and the same time deeply personal to tap into re-
allegories. The interpretation of my work, alms of feeling.
however, also eludes a binding possibility of You are an established photographer and over
interpretation here. Oscillating between the years your works have been exhibited in
consumer criticism, the joy and celebration of several occasions: how do you considerthe
agricultural yields or an allegory of the fertility, nature of your relationship with your audience?
the interpretation lies so solely in the eye of the By the way, as the move of Art from traditional
beholder. gallery spaces, to street and especially to
Your first works from yourSilent guestseries online platforms — asInstagram andVimeo—
were made in connection with the corona pan- increases, how would in your opinion change
demic. Mexican artist Gabriel Orozco once the relationship with a globalised audience?
stated, "artists's role differs depending on Claudia Grünig: As I said in the beginning, I like
which part of the world they’re in": do you to invite my audience to follow me into my
think that your artistic research respond to a world of images. Today's ability to connect with
particular historical moment? And how do you a global audience creates great visibility for
considerthe role of artists in the contemporary artists. Without this digital dissemination
age? possibilities, this would not be possible in this
Claudia Grünig: Your statement, "The role of way. However, I appreciate the real exchange.
the artist depends on what part of the world he And so I wish for "real" exhibitions & real
is in" is absolutely true for me. From my point of encounters with real people in physical spaces. I
view, his role, his task and the reaction to it are wish for real visibility, participation, experience
always defined by context, imprinting, patterns ability and emotion.
and values. Cultural background, family environ- Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your
ment, as well as the social background play a thoughts, Claudia. Finally, would you like to tell
decisive role. Likewise, territorial and social is- us readers something about your future
sues are a contemporary challenge. Climatic projects? How do you see your work evolving?
changes, social upheavals and the Corona pan-
demic are real, tangible threats that affect us. I Claudia Grünig: Where my work may lead me in
think that in my first pictures of the cycle "Silent the future, I cannot answer. As I always do, I
Guest" I have reacted to a historical moment. follow my intuition. New influences and events
But much more than this fact, this historical mo- will play a role. And wherever they will lead me -
ment has an immediate effect on me. Thus, my I am sure that pictures will emerge that will
works are for me only indirectly a statement on surprise me.
world events. Rather, they correspond to my
own perception and feeling. Sometimes, howe- An interview by Josh Ryder, curator
ver, overlaps succeed, in which the space from and Barbara Scott, curator
the personal to the public opens up, in that the [email protected]

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Gregory A McCullough
If one views Art and Technology as structural components in a social “Generative Adversarial
Network” than artistic endeavours offer a positive evolutionary progress to society. Technology
is the McLuhanesque medium that ultimately modifies its users. “Every way of being, becomes a
way of knowing.” We become slaved to how the technology is used day to day, and our view of
the world is reshaped to this new mold. This shifts our society without preplanning- we adapt to
our new environment. We unknowingly are changed.
I see Art as the counter-leverage to this technological social shift. It embodies an “Every way of
knowing becomes a way of being”. It allows us to test run other paradigms of being, encouraging
us to see the world anew; and so, to in turn change ourselves via the enlightenment of seeing
what we have or shall become. We can see outside of ourselves within a cultural mirror, and
accept or reject what we have inadvertently become. Hence we can choose what we are to be.
These two adversarial shifts – accommodation to technology and a cultural conscious revealing
agency; move civilization forward. Like skating, both contribute and counterbalance each others
tendency's as we come into being. Arts ‘purpose’ fulfills this social function through its’ holding
a mirror up to culture’s aspects.
I see arts role as elucidating and illuminating our current paradigms of being, so to open them
up to a self critique. Hence the “content” of art is boundless. Yet obviously an artist must have a
focus. Mine seems to reside in the translation of seeing from one medium to another. Instead of
grasping at what is ‘lost in translation’, my art explores and celebrates the ‘Found in translation’.
For though technology may have convinced us humanity is a ‘tool maker’ , I firmly hold that we
are exceptional ‘paradigm jumpers’. That what makes us most unique, what underlies our
comedy; sports; literature; music; play; cinema; games; academia; scientific breakthroughs; et
al; is our innate ability to temporarily construe other paradigms of being, and then bring their
lessons back to this common reality. So it’s this found in translation that my art works seeks to
embody, regardless of their subject matter, -their disparate paradigm of being.
An interview by , curator invite our readers to visit
and , curator https://www.offmyeasel.comin order to
get a wide idea about your artistic
production, and we would start this
Hello Greg and welcome toARTiculAction. interview with a couple of questions about
Before starting to elaborate about your your background. Are there any
artistic production and we would like to experiences that did particluarly influence

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your evolution as an artist? Moreover, how
does yourcultural substratumdirect the
trajectory of your current artistic research?
Gregory A McCullough:Hi all, and thanks for
the invite. My background has definitely given
orientation to my artistic explorations. I've
studied Industrial Design, Studio Fine Arts and
Computer Animation so the foundations of
aesthetics and composition does filter how I see
things.
Having worked for many years creating the
Digital 3D synthetic environments for training
Pilots and Air Traffic Controllers, I’ve on a daily
basis used visual tools where it is the norm to
see things in a multitude of manner: initially as
wire frame; then textured; maybe zoomed in;
via procedural algorithms; statistical loads ... –
To wit, to see and analyze something I’ve had to
daily visualize it differently across multiple
representations, mediums and platforms. So it’s
normal for me to want to explore things
through many different perspectives and forms.
Even so, it is in the day to day moments that my
wonder first gets hooked on. I find that as
artists, it’s this, -how we approach the world,
our ways of seeing and knowing - that we
express ourselves through. We all might re-
present what ever those insights and moments
of awe are, but our art is rooted in our daily
experiences and the meanings we gleam
of/from them.
The bout 1.08; 2021; 76cm x 48cm, Spittling, Oil on ca
Our Cultural Substratum changes as we
strengthen our roots deeper into what is of world. There is a lot of mundane out there,
value and interest for us. The sculptor Bill Reid and to revel in the moments of wonder, the
teaches us the richness that can come from astonishment from something unexpected
that. I think what I try to creatively tap into or enduring, feeds the desire to cherish and
initially, is the wonder that surrounds us in the ‘soutien’ what I see. Keeping this open

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nvas
horizon takes practice, but it’s the start of the our readers have already had the chance to
trajectories for many of my artworks. get to know in the introductory pages of
this article — has at once captured our
The body of works that we have selected for attention for the way they invite the
this special edition of ARTiculAction —and that viewers to explore the tension between

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The bout 8.1; 2021; 76cm x 48cm, Spittling, Oil on canvas,
Art and Technology in our unstable cultural through your usual setup and process, would
scenario, highlighting the essential and you tell us how do you develop your ideas? In
indespensabile role of Art as counterbalance particular, do you create your works
the thrusts that comes from the evergrowing
technosphere: when walking our readers intuitivelly, instinctively? How important are

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depending upon the medium the
process will diverge somewhat. But
most of my works start with seeing
something that grabs me. (even if that
is a former art work)
From that intrigue comes some kind of
a study, whether a photo-study or a
digital-study or a charcoal study. Once I
have a firmer idea of what really
interests me in the concept, I will scale
that up onto canvas (usually in
charcoal) if going to a painting or I work
it through digitally if another medium
beckons. So the work shifts along the
way, evolving. Yet somewhere in the
crafting imposed by the medium, this
initial study direction loses its primacy.
It must. Creating art for me is an act of
discovery. The painting takes on a life of
its own. If it diverges from the original
study I try to follow it willingly.
So in the studies I am trying to be
specific, I have a certain destination in
mind. Yet once into the chosen
medium I do seek out randomness and
intuition. I liken it to Raku glazing,
where I will seek out techniques and
materials that I do not have complete
control over (controlled chaos?). The
final plan is an unplanned journey of
sorts. Similar to a jaunt across stepping
improvisation and spontaneity in your stones, the path isn’t laid out in detail,
practice? you just head over there. Still this is all
bounded by the original study direction,
but I do try to release control to the
Gregory A McCullough: Obviously unexpected and spontaneity. That is

The bout 3.02021, 76cm x 48cm, Spittling, Oil on canvas,

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part of discovery, regardless of the
anticipation.
Marked out with careful choice of tones —
variable in such wide range that encompasses
thoughtful nuances of your portraits and of
Hillside In Sunlight as well as vivaciuos, almost
bold tones in the Bout— your artworks are
marked out withrigorous geometry that —as in
the stimulating Swimming Lesson— provide
your works with visual fluidity and sense of
movement: how do you structure your process
in order to achieve such brilliant results? In
particular, how does your ownpsychological
make-updetermine the nuances of tones that
you decide to include in your artworks?
Gregory A McCullough:I am of the school of
thought that the viewer has to complete the
artwork. It’s like a comedian can never explain
the joke, the audience either puts it together or
it flops. So allowing the viewer the space to
determine where the edges lie; where the form
begins or the background dissolves, I think is
crucial to support the engagement of the
viewer. Seeing art is a discovery for them too.
I find the rigorous geometry of the backgrounds
juxtapose with the agency of the participants.
That the backgrounds tend to be as geometrical
as they are, is likely from my work in flight
simulator visuals.
The realistic textures used there need to be
aligned, tiled and are often quite rigid for
architectural needs. Things get simplified and Swimming Lesson 4.4A, 2021, 152.5cm x 91.5cm, Spittlin
distilled in a sense. The forced balance of the
‘backgrounds’ in my art, is likely a visual legacy myself. There is a lot to be said for clarity
from that experience. and boldness, but nuances of tones and
meaning are aspects of discovery like an
Nuancing is part of this engaging the viewer and inside joke. You aren’t alone to realize

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G, Oil on canvas
something, the artist has left something there resides in the translation of seeing from one
for those willing to look. Another human had medium to another. Do you think that the act
come this way... of translating itself may correspond to the
A central aspect of your artistic research creation of new meanings? In this sense, we

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Swimming Lesson 8.2, 2021, 152.5cm x 91.5cm, Spittling, Oil on canvas
dare say that your artistic research sheds Gregory A McCullough:I do agree that
light the McLuhanian bond, elusive still many gems are found in these acts of
ubiquitous, between medium and message: translation. I have a grouping of works that
do you agree with this interpretation? have coalesced over time that illustrate your

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slide film (-meant to be viewed with a
loup). That original work was also the
source for an oil painting on multiple
surfaces, which later was the source for
divergent digital works. (IE: Portrait in
Blue) Each media re-framed the portrait
and our perspective on the subject.
So yes, certainly this translation between
media speaks of new ways of knowing.
We really appreciate the effective socio
political criticism that elegantly
pervades your artistic production, able
to raise awareness to an evergrowing
audience on the unbalanced incursion of
Technology that affect our media
driven society. Many contemporary
artists, such as Thomas Hirschhorn and
Michael Light, use to include socio-
political criticism and sometimes even
convey explicit messages in their
artworks: how do you consider the role
of artists in our unstable society?
Gregory A McCullough:I think the
artists role remains one of revealing how
they/we know of the world. (Every way of
knowing becoming a way of being) There
were times when that role was to reveal a
patrons view of the world. I feel today,
that for us, it’s now more to elucidate how
individual members of society see the
world. As technology becomes every
more pervasive, we need to make
conscious how the usage of its tools have
silently changed how we interact with the
point. They started with some chalk studies of world. (Every way of being, becoming a
my reflection in a granite bench. Later that way of knowing.) Artists by speaking to
paper work was the source for another what is dear to themselves, allows the
portrait done in scraffiti on an exposed 35mm audience to see other ways of knowing.

The Goalie 5.0 , 2021, 76cm x 51cm, Digital work, Acrylic print

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They get to juxtapose that with their own ways
of knowing. Artistic culture then can act as a
General Adversarial Network to Technologies
influence on our ways of being. It can counter
balance this unconscious influence on society’s
future.
Need this be explicitly a social political criticism?
I’m not sure. I can see both critical and
subversive means of addressing and engaging
an audience. I think which is the better
methodology is best determined by the artist
themselves. I prefer engagement to making a
point. Maybe my works are too obscure or
timid, but I think that subtle murmurs are more
persuasive to whom I think my audience might
be.
Your artworks reflects such unique
convergence between real world and the realm
of perception, and at the same time they are
sapiently imbued with powerful narrative drive:
how does your memories and youreveryday
life's experience fuel your creative process?
Gregory A McCullough:I think all creativity is
personal. It might be confluential with another,
but it’s rooted in ourselves, in our being. Our
being, hence our agency is formed in how we
engage with life. To wit, your ‘everyday life’s
experience’. So there is an elemental feedback
loop in living and being creative.
I often wonder if my desire to continually seek
new understandings is founded in my childhood
experience of riding in my parents car, watching
the world slide by and hearing my Dads’ saying–
did you see that? He wanted to share his
amazement. Then every year, on hearing the
singing of the Christmas carols .. “do you see
what I see?” …it makes me wonder? Is that all

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UV mapping 0, 2010, 76cm x 51cm, Digital work, Acrylic print

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Red Laser Light Drawing 4.3, 2010, 76cm x 51cm, Laser light drawing, Acrylic print

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my art is really about? Is it just an asking of:
hey isn’t that cool? For ultimately, even if art
is fundamentally simply about our ways of
knowing the world, isn’t that knowing only of
value if shared with others?
You are a versatile artist and your artistic
production challenges the logic of ordinary
perception, urging the viewers toa
participative effort, and especially to
question the nature ofthe act of looking
itself: Scottish artist Peter Doig once
remarked thateven the most realistic work of
arts are derived more from within the head
than from what's out there in front of us, how
do you considerthe relationship between
reality and imagination, playing within your
artistic production?
Gregory A McCullough:You make me recall
a grouping of works of mine that directly
challenged our urban paradigm of seeing.
The paintings hinged upon our night sight,
using our retina’s rods- low light sensitive and
hyper motion selective. The paintings were
to be seen under normal lighting and then in
darkness. As the lights went down certain
pigments were UV retentive so started to
self-illuminate in the dark as others were
obscured and disappeared. The paintings’
hierarchy of structure was thus shifted as
specific areas of the paintings came to the
fore and others receded dependent on the
lighting condition. It was exploring how we
actually see, questioning why does art history
rest only upon our conal vision and why is the
structural hierarchy in a painting static? I’d
say it was a juxtaposition of reality with our
paradigms of what we consider normal. Why
do we assume that this is how it should be?

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It’s this current paradigm of reality versus
other paradigms of knowing the world that I
want to juxtapose and bring into our
conscious. How we actually engage with
reality shapes our paradigms of knowing, by
contrasting those with other ways of
knowing, I hope we can re-engage
consciously with reality. Jumping between
these other paradigms of knowing and our
reality – as we do with humour and play – is
essential to our humanity (possibly exclusive
in our expressions of it). Imagination is a
vehicle to access some of these other
paradigms for potential being. As I find art
as a kind of story telling for me, having the
imagination to step outside of the box, is
key to understanding the box.
Some of your works feature characters
engaged in strenuos activities, as boxing
and skating: other works seem to suggest
hesitation, and even fear. In each of them,
there's a human figure that appear to
struggle, that engages the viewers on the
emotional aspect: do you aim to create
allegorical images able to trigger the
viewers' imagination, inviting them to
elaboratepersonal interpretations? And
how open would you like your works to
be understood?
Gregory A McCullough:I think all art is Hillside in Sunlight, 2019, 40.5cm x 30.5cm, Digital work,
personal, even when viewed in mass
public venues. Audience engagement via the basis for an appreciation of the other
corporal muscle memory and identification layers of meaning is laid down. Hopefully the
is a direct root to empathy. audience will stick around to find them.
We all strive to overcome something, so That the art audience brings as much to the

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Hand transfer on Aluminum
art work as the artist, is the root of sharing inability to see. So yes, I hope the works
understanding. Although my intent may be are in many ways open ended.
obscure, that would be a reflection on me
the artist, rather then the audience’s Direct relationship with the viewers in a

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The Decision
physical context is definetely the most stories that art may convey. If you read far
important one, in order to snatch the spirit enough into McLuhan, he expresses the
of a work of Art. However, as the move of notion that to understand what the affect of
Art from traditional gallery spaces, to street any media will be, you simply study how the
and especially to the online realm — as media is used. So if you are swiping left and
Instagram — increases: how would in your scrolling through your mobile to see art, then
opinion change the relationship with a art is being mediated by the pixel and the
globalised audience? And how do you social sharing, we pass it along- which might
considerthe nature of your relationship with be more important then seeing it. Whereas
your audience? in the art gallery, though often felt as cold
Gregory A McCullough:The online and sterile, what happens when the artwork
audience clearly will change the kinds of is hung on the wall or stuck on a pedestal, is

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Signal Noise 4.9, 2017, 71cm x 89cm, Industrial Scuffing, Oil on canvas

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Portrait in blue, 2021, 48cm x 53cm, Digital work, Acrylic print

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the object loses its functionality. It’s no do appreciate and see the significance of
longer “what does this do”, “what is it good whatArticulaction does via the digital realms!
for”- you instead are forced to engage with
the artwork on an intimate personal level, as We have really appreciated the multifaceted
you do with a person. Whom is this? How do I nature of your artistic research and before
relate to it? You are more open to leaving this stimulating conversation we
conversation and exchange with the artwork would like to thank you for chatting with us
in the gallery setting. and for sharing your thoughts, Greg. What
projects are you currently working on, and
Two different technologies and media, two what are some of the ideas that you hope to
different ways of interacting with art ... explore in the future?
So is the audience changing – from one that
promotes an intimate engagement with art to Gregory A McCullough:Thanks, it has been
one that encourages a mobile passing over to fun. I hope I haven’t diverged too much from
other viewers? Creating an Artwork whose your questions. I tend to circle around things
purpose is to grabs eyeballs? Maybe these quite a lot, becoming obscure in my telling.
aren’t two distinct audiences? Do we My studio has recently moved and one of my
distinguish between the gallery goer and the current projects is a series based loosely on
art book collector?. But definitely the art will thoroughbred racing. It is a new sport to me
diverge depending on the venue. (the found in the area, and I like the quandary of it:
medium as the message)
is it a jockey-horse collaboration or are they
There is a lot to say for both audience venues, just along for the ride?… yes, more athletes I
I tend to still work in a manner that gives suppose, more striving and overcoming, more
preference to the in person medium. Maybe I passion and story-lines. And the tones of
have a legacy tendency to view the digital burnt sienna on some of the horses- a visual
realm as more of a RSVP/ introduction to the joy to behold. It’s rarely one thing that grabs
audience, even when I do realize there is my interest in a series and this one has several
much more there in terms of communal hooks already for me.
reactions that can be shared across time
within the digital realms. I just prefer that one Also I’ve been procrastinating on building a
can physically approach my work and discover Forsythe press, and I hope to complete that
details. Zooming in with a pinch of the fingers by summer time. So I am likely to begin to
isn’t comparable. Currently I hesitate to use then re-explore the medium of hand pulled
Instagram for copyright reasons, not so much prints some what in the near future.
audience concerns. So in terms of my
relationship with the audience, it remains with
the artwork acting as the intermediary. I An interview by , curator
privilege that interaction of artwork/audience and , curator
rather then the digital artist/audience. But I

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Maryam Dehbozorgi
Lives and works in Shiraz, Iran
Maryam Dehbozorgi (Born 20 April 1986, Shiraz, Iran ) is an interdisciplinary visual artist. In 2011 She
received her bachelor degree in Graphic Design from Soore university in Tehran. She is currently working
on her dissertation for a master`s degree in painting from Soore university in Tehran.
She started her professional career in the field of art in 2014. She is really into photos and films so that is
really influenced by them in her art. This interest originated in her childhood as she was enthusiast in
flipping through albums and watching home movies, first as a means of entertainment and then as a tool for
curiosity about her identity.
Her earlier works were collages of family members and sometimes internet and magazine photographs that
initially dealt with scattered topics such as immigration, technology growth and identity and then with the
focusing on “ self “ subject, shifted into the challenges she faced in everyday life. With the help of photos
as reliable documents, she could connect with her past and move through lost time. photographs were torn,
burn and mixed with all kinds of materials and sometimes they were photographed and used in video art or
painted. Most of her subjects had been images of herself and the city where she inhabited.
Today She makes her works with the inspiration from her life and the concept of “ self “ and her challenges
to express them more broadly and in relation to society. To achieve this goal she uses the familiar objects in
everyday life in combination with photos and employ them to create her art.
Her works are shown in various group exhibitions in the field of graphic design and visual art in Iran and
abroad and also she held her first solo exhibition in 2020 in Hamras Gallery in Tehran with the collection of
photographed collages entitled “ fly between walls “ .
An interview by , curator regarding your background. You have a
and , curator solid formal training: after having earned a
B.A of Visual Communication, you nurtured
your education with an M.A. of Painting,
Hello Maryam and welcome to that you received from Soore University, in
ARTiculAction: we would like to invite our Tehran: how did this experience address
readers to visit your evolution as an artist?
http://maryamdehbozorgi.com in order to Maryam Dehbozorgi: I would say attending
get a wide idea about your artistic art school only gave me the opportunity to
production, and we would like to start this grow my knowledge and awareness in my
interview with a couple of questions professional path, but I can`t say that has

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Personal Photo, 30 * 28 / digital collage

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been the only motivation in my journey. I perpetual, tangible and familiar objects in my
started my career studying graphic design in life. The photos were reliable documents and
which the process of visual communication narrators that I wanted to distort them so that
took place through image, space, color and I could break down their frameworks and
typing; A visual language that aims to connect coherence; In fact, I wanted to portray my new
with a specific audience, but it has never been reality by distorting and manipulating the
enough for me to create advertisements and photos that were the result of recorded reality
make dialogue with only a specific group of in a moment of time in order to create a
people. I wanted to share my inner concerns dialogue between me, my thoughts and
with a wider group of people, free from any feelings with the audience. Thus, with the
imposition of taste and limited to a desire to change the photos, I combined them
conventional technique, and to establish a new with other objects such as yarn, plastic,... and
connection and action between the "I" and the even color, and it was this research process in
"other". For this reason, after graduating from the use of various everyday objects which is
graphic design, it took me quite a few years to accompanied by images, that change my path
find my place as an artist in the art world. to experience and the use of Various artistic
Eventually attending an art class gave me the styles. So finally it can be said that in my work,
opportunity to find my artistic path by letting this search and surfing between different
go of my thoughts on paper and making media has started with the same enthusiasm
various collages. Since I use a variety of media for exploring and experimenting with photos..
to produce my works, I decided to continue my The body of works that we have selected for
studies in painting; It is a vast world of this special edition of ARTiculAction — and
techniques, colors and experiences that I was that our readers have already started to get to
able to learn during my M.A. know in the introductory pages of this article
You are a versatile artist and your practice —has at once captured our attention for the
encompasses Photography, Video, Collage way you invite the viewers to explore the
and Graphic Design: what does direct you to concept of the Self, engaging the viewers into
such cross disciplinary approach? In particular, deep emotional engagement: when walking
are there any experiences that did particularly our readers through your usual setup and
help you to develop yourattitude to process, would you tell us how do you
experiment? develop your ideas?
Maryam Dehbozorgi: Photos and images are Maryam Dehbozorgi: For me, exploring
an important part of my works. I have been photographs was a way to find the meaning of
interested in photos since I was a child, identity and self. In my early works (collages
flipping through family photo albums and and videos) and in my collection “personal
watching old movies has always fascinated me, photos” (4 * 3), I used my own photos as part
sometimes I passed my free time and of the composition of the works; For me, it
loneliness looking at photos over and over was a kind of exploration of the meaning of
again. That is the reason the initial works I "self" and a kind of return to the inner world
made were with the help of photos; those to discover how to express my inner desires,

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Fly Between Walls Fly Between Walls
39* 26.3 / yellow lingerie, pin, shadow / photography 25 * 17.5 / plastic bag, water, fabric, shadow / photography
demands and concerns also I seek to create The series of “fly between the walls” is the
duals in my works; Contrasting duals such as result of my experience of the most inward
self / other, familiar / unfamiliar, inside / and common human feeling "fear". This
outside, fantasy / reality, etc. collection is in the context of my encounter
For example, in the "Flying Between the Walls" with an unfamiliar space and situation; What
series, the familiar / unfamiliar duo, and in the resulted was a fear created out of ignorance.
"Being That" series, me / someone else's duo The body`s shadow with a black and flat
came together. surface is a symbol of fear; Black shadows,
separate from the body and without identity,

Fly Between Walls
25 * 17.5 / floral fabric, shadow / photography

Fly Between Walls
40 * 26 / green socks, pin, shadow / photography

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are always terrifying. I wanted to combine storytelling, Personal Photo challenges the
shadows with familiar everyday objects to logic of ordinary perception, urging the
face my fears and become familiar with viewers toa participative effort, and
them. So they combined with wigs, fabrics, especially to question the nature of the act
socks, newspapers, etc and created a new of looking itself: Scottish artist Peter Doig
and fresh image that was more once remarked thateven the most realistic
understandable and lovable. work of arts are derived more from within
the head than from what's out there in front
Your artistic research had at once been of us, how do you considerthe relationship
focussed on the connection with your past between reality and imagination, playing
and move through lost time, while today within your artistic production?
you draw inspiration from your life and the
concept of “ self “ in relation to society: Maryam Dehbozorgi: The essence of art is
how do yourmemoriesand your direct, inconceivable without the element of
everyday life's experience fuel your artistic imagination, because both the artist in the
research? process of creating the work of art and the
audience in front of the work, depend on it.
Maryam Dehbozorgi: Each person's past in Imagination can break the boundaries of
the form of memories contains important reality and create a connection between the
information about him/her, so retrieving this artist and the real world outside his mind.
information can be effective in knowing The concept of reality about personal photos
yourself and the world around you. I take is something that is generally accepted;
inspiration from my personal issues and these photos show the individual identity on
background to express larger and more the identity card, national card, passport,
general issues, as it is said that history is the etc. by specifying the framing and having the
beacon of the future, my history and past specified features in size, color, etc.
can also inspire me to move forward in the
future. Here my visual elements are old The knowledge that each person has about
photos. In my opinion, the challenges I face the general form and structure of such
during my life can be common with the photos with limited and conventional
issues and concerns of the society where I framing is challenged in my series, personal
live. So I start with myself and by probing my photos; In these works, my imagination
own past, I raise common issues with today's moves beyond the dry and formal
society through my work. In many of the boundaries of these photos and breaks their
collage works, I include pieces of images of hard space. As the Italian artist Giorgio de
my city and a photo of my face and strive to Chirico puts it: A work of art must be able to
leave a trace of the space, place and time express what lies behind it, and I apply
that belongs to me. . In general, I must say dream and imagination beyond the usual
that I like to portray this duality of the past principles and logic. In fact, daydreaming
and the present. helps me discover the hidden potential of
the reality of these photos. In the face of
With its unconventional as well as powerful these images, the audience disconnects from

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their usual perception of the real world and
turns to fantasy. Therefore, in my works,
fantasy is placed next to reality in such a way
that a complete work is made. I use reality to
create a work that stimulates the
imagination.
We really appreciate your sapient use of
images that reminds to familiarity, that are
able to create poetic metaphors through
sapiently selected means: how do you
consider the role of symbols and evokative
elements playing within your artistic
process? And how important is for you to
create artworks rich of allegorical qualities?
Maryam Dehbozorgi: By encoding my
thoughts in the form of iconic symbols, I
create a way to make concepts more
understandable to the audience. I convey
another concept and message through
everyday and familiar objects that have the
same meaning between people and the
public; in fact, symbols help me convey my
thoughts; They express truths that require
interpretation and thought in order to be
understood. I like to challenge the audience
in my works, that's why I put my mental
truths and thoughts in front of their eyes in
the form of camouflage in symbols. In my
work, objects that are tangible and familiar
in appearance are de-familiarized in meaning
so that more time is spent exploring them by
making the forms difficult. In fact, here
another duality is created in understanding
the meaning and making the work. I prefer
to create a sense of curiosity and research in
the audience. Here the audience is free to
think, search and even fantasize. This
acquaintance of the audience with some
visual elements and having a background
knowledge of it that has been used in a new

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Being That50*33.8 / net, wig, mirror, artificial flower / photography

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Being That50* 33.8 / floral fabric, mirror, wig / photography

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whole and composition, gives him clues to
create a better relationship with the work, and
makes him curious about his surroundings so
that The other things he deals with every day
take on new meanings for him..
730 daysis a stimulating series that reflects true
stories that took place in a cafe and that you
captured from its kitchen. Moreover, other
works, as the interesting Unknown Dots are
marked out with enigmatic ambienc able to
trigger the viewers' imagination: how
important is for you to invite the viewers to
elaboratepersonal interpretations? And how
open would you like your works to be
understood?
Maryam Dehbozorgi: As I said, I prefer the
audience to freely analyze the work and make
their own personal impression of it. The "730
Days" series, which depicts the days of my work
in a café space,includes depicted stories that
combine reality (the space photographed from
the café) and imagination (my mental realities by
adding pictures painted on photos). In the face
of these images, the viewer can both guess the
story that took place behind each image and is
free to construct the story formed in their mind.
The "Unknown Dots" series was also created
after the death of my 14-year-old cousin from
cancer. Scattered and irregular dots on the
surface of the punch card that contain digital
information are combined with regular, distinct
dots that serve as the main information trying to
create a structure and shape. Order and disorder
are shown side by side. The multiplicity of these
colored dots and their unbridled reproduction,
puts the viewer in a challenging and illusory
atmosphere and his imagination activates in the
face of this entanglement and struggle between
these points.

Being That33.8 * 50 / wig, mirror / photography

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Unknown Dots34* 26 / laser cut on punch card and digital drawing
It's important to mention that most of the findings, they reveal so much about us". We'd
subjects from your previous artistic production love to ask you aboutthe qualities of the
had been images of herself and the city where materialsthat you include— or that you plan to
you inhabited. New York City based sculptor include — in your artworks?
and photographer Zoe Leonard remarked once
that "the objects that we leave behind hold the Maryam Dehbozorgi: Photographs and images
marks and the sign of our use: like archeological form the basis of most of my works, and since it

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Unknown Dots 32.3* 30 / laser cut on punch card and digital drawing
has always been important to me to look back, my work, which is sometimes used in
most of these images have included family combination with photos.
photographs, images of myself and the city in
which I live. In addition to these pictures, I also I must say that in the path of art and the
use online photos and pictures from magazines creation of new works, I intend not to limit the
to make collage works, and the use of everyday reference to the past to my personal space and
and familiar objects is also an important part of I want to expand my artistic view in a wider

Unknown Dots
29* 26 / laser cut on punch card and digital drawing

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space and by inspiring the history and culture
of the country where I have lived and grown
up.
You are an established artist, and over the
years your works have been exhibited in
many occasions, including your recent solo
Fly Between Walls, at Hamras Gallery, in
Tehran: how do you considerthe nature of
your relationship — especially in public spaces
— with your audience? By the way, as the
move of Art from traditional gallery spaces,
to street and especially to online platforms
— asInstagram and Vimeo— increases, how
would in your opinion change the
relationship with a globalised audience?
Maryam Dehbozorgi: The experience of my
first solo exhibition from the "Flying Between
the Walls" collection at Hammers Gallery was
very enjoyable. Although I had participated in
several group exhibitions before, it was a very
different experience for me to face the audi-
ence directly. One of the important principles
and foundations of art is to communicate
with the audience. Showing in public spaces
such as galleries, gives the audience the op-
portunity of physical and tangible communi-
cation, and see the audience's reaction to the
work at the same time can be very important
to understand the effectiveness of the work.
as sometimes the presence of the audience
becomes necessary to complete the work; In
the "Flying Between the Walls" exhibition, a
yellow dress, which was one of the objects
used in the works, was installed on a part of
the gallery wall and The shadow of the audi-
ence was falling on the dress as soon as they
were in front of the dress by adjusting the
light and it created a kind of wonder against
the shadow for the audience and made the

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feeling of fear more tangible for them. Perform-
ing this work was possible only in the public space
of the gallery. Of course, given the importance of
the gallery, I can`t deny the fundamental role of
online platforms in introducing artists and display-
ing works.
Social media like Instagram and other platforms
connect the artist to the bigger world and use a
variety of languages to present works and con-
nect with professional gallery owners and artists,
which is why I show many of my video works on
the Vimeo platform
https://vimeo.com/user33378930, works that
didn`t have the opportunity to be shown in public.
Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your
thoughts, Maryam. Finally, would you like to tell
us readers something about your future projects?
How do you see your work evolving?
Maryam Dehbozorgi: I truly appreciate the
challenging questions and thank you for your
time. Every artist seeks to grow and expand their
ideas in a broader and more professional space,
and I am no exception. I will continue to study the
creation of dualities, exploring time, the meaning
of identity, exploring myself and those around
me, and in this way I will pursue different
experiences and use more diverse media in the
field of presenting my works. I would like to add
that, these days I am working on a new project
related to the idealistic view of humanity, which I
hope to be able to show to the public soon.
An interview by , curator
and , curator

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Gergana Elenkova
My art - this is the body. For me, the body is a constant magnitude that transforms
into a measure of space and time, a central tangent of interaction with everything that
surrounds us. Trusting on these three basic and indissoluble relationships: space-time-
body, I embody my ideas in corporeal (body) installations.
An interview by , curator colorful palette of multi-faceted
and , curator experiences. On the one hand, at the Plovdiv
Academy of Music, Dance and Fine Arts I
received extensive specialized education in
the field of Fine Arts. My teachers tried to
Hello Gergana and welcome toARTiculAction: break and change the old established
we would like to invite our readers to visit academic model.
https://gerganaelenkova.wixsite.com/gergana They taught us to be inspired by the new,
elenkova in order to get a wide idea about but without leaving the rigorous academic
your artistic production, and we would like to frameworks of classical genres in art. For
start this interview with a couple of me, this solid foundation of training is of
questions regarding your background. You great importance for my skills and my way
have a solid formal training: after having of expressing myself as an artist. In Spain, a
earned your B.A.T. from the Academy of new challenging cultural horizon opened up
Music, Dance and Fine Arts of Plovdiv, you before me. The interactive and innovative
moved from Bulgaria to Spain to pursue your teaching methods in the Master in Artistic
M.F.A., and you later nurtured your Production at UPV motivated my creative
education with a PhD in Art, Production and potential to experiment with a wide range
Research that you are currently pursuing at of different and novel artistic languages,
Polytechnic University of Valencia: how did beyond the conventional. Looking for new
these experiences address your evolution as forms of plastic expression, I chose this
an artist? In particular, are there any faculty, for which I am grateful, because in it
experiences that did particularly help you to I have rediscovered myself, beyond my role
develop yourattitude to experimentwith as a painter.
different techniques? So I have also had the opportunity to exhibit
Gergana Elenkova: In retrospect, the path I in different parts of the world and meet and
have taken as an artist could be described as a work with very interesting people.

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For this special edition of ARTiculAction we have
selectedInstalaciones Corporales, an extremely
interesting project that our readers have already
started to get to know in the introductory pages
of this article. What has at once captured our
attention of your artistic research is the way it
highlights the relationship between the body and
its surroundings: when walking our readers
throughthe genesisofInstalaciones Corporales,
would you tell us how did you develop the initial
idea?
Gergana Elenkova: To better understand the
genesis of the Instalaciones Corporales (Body
Installations) project, I will have to briefly
describe the background that led to its creation. I
come from a country where my first years of
creativity went through the transition period
from totalitarianism to democracy. Most of the
people remembered the old and did not want to
forget it, and we young people did not know it,
and we wanted to live with a free spirit following
the western model of development of society.
The influences from the turbulent times that we
were going trough led me to expressing my
rebellious nature trough the project Instalaciones
Corporales where I wanted to show my vision on
the effects of the relations of different types of
power on the subject. The works series reflects
Michel Foucault's Biopower theory, which
interprets the subject's body as the nucleus
through which power relations pass.I have titled
the works as body installations because they
propose to be built for and by the body. A body
that is the product and reflection of the socio-
cultural structure, and itself becomes the
representative of powers that are inscribed upon
itself.
We really appreciate your sapient use of
materials that reminds leather, and even skin,
that the viewer could recognize as belonging to

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ordinary life's imagery. German art critic and
historian Michael Fried once stated that 'materials
do not represent, signify, or allude to anything;
they are what they are and nothing more.' What
werethe propertiesthat you are searching for in
the materials that you include in your works?
Gergana Elenkova: In my view the use of forms
and materials are of important knowledge for the
construction and transmission of concepts and
messages in my works. For example it is not the
same thing to draw an idea, you meant to present
in 2D format and then take it to a another level by
adding the dimension of space. The means by
which you present your concept naturally change
and evolve the concept itself. In the creation of
theInstalaciones Corporales all the formal,
conceptual and perceptual aspects that I want to
articulate are taken into account.
The installations give opportunities for interaction
with the body, where the object starts to
manipulate and change the body and in turn the
body begins the process of resistance - the
inevitability of action and reaction. Apart from
their stability and the hardness, the use of wood,
steel rivets, brass and leather lead to certain
symbolism. In this way, the different narrative
possibilities that materials have play an important
role in the production of meanings. A symbology
that brings to light the visual capacities, that
matter and its forms offer us and that express the
concept of subjection. Ultimately the body
installations are a reflection of the structural forms
of power and of the subject subjection to them.
Your artistic production feature such
unconventional sense of beauty that challenges
the logic of ordinary perception, unveiling the
connection between beauty and imperfection: how
do you considerthe role of aestheticsplaying
within your artistic research?

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Gergana Elenkova: Working on the issue of
power undoubtedly takes us away from the idea
of beauty but also it is not its purpose to
question the dichotomy between perfection
and imperfection. I believe that my body
installations question the usual aesthetic
understanding, thereby expanding the
boundaries of the dialogic structure. They go
beyond the pure formal representation until
they reach another level of sensitizing the
viewer and activating their consciousness in a
more direct way. The use and repetition of the
materials and forms in the elements of each
piece allow me to develop their own visual
language and capture new experiences. These
representations of a metaphorical character
form the visual and tangible vocabulary of my
works.
As you have remarked in your artist's
statement, for you, the body is a constant
magnitude that transforms into a measure of
space and time, a central tangent of interaction
with everything that surrounds us. Many artists
express the ideas that they explore through
representations of the body and by using their
own bodies: how do you consider the relation
betweenthe abstract featureof the ideas you
aim to communicate andthe physical actof
creating your artworks?
Gergana Elenkova: The body installations turn
the body into the subject and object of the
artistic act and into a terrain and canvas, on
which ideas are exhibited. I believe that the
body is not only a shell that envelops the
subject, but is also a matter that has sensitivity
and resistance in each interaction. For this
reason, I have used the body as a support to
represent the influence of power relations on
the subject. I establish a metaphor with which I
intend to provoke people to listen to

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themselves and to realize that they are not a limit, or the body as physical resistance,
only an object of control and manipulation. among others. And as Merleau-Ponty says:
These fundamental factors generate various "My body is the common texture of all objects
strategies that take the body as a connection and is, at least with regard to the perceived
between the corporeal and the spiritual. The world, the general instrument of my
body as mediator of perceptions, the body as 'understanding. "

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Jaula is a body installation for the head that has
communicated us the sensation of retention:
even ofoppression. Through your works you
created such uniquevisual vocabularyable to
trigger the viewers' imagination, inviting them
to elaboratepersonal interpretations: how open
would you like your works to be understood?
Gergana Elenkova: Let us turn our attention to
my work "JAULA" ("CAGE"). This work refers to
a cage that encloses the subject's head, as if it
were placed in a jail. And as is known, a cage is
made of resistant materials and its properties
are stability and rigidity. However, my work
provides a “hybrid” version of the cage: hard,
flexible and foldable at the same time. It is like a
symbiosis of a solid matter that changes its
physical state from solid to soft.These
transformations of the material of the piece are
linked to the idea of "hard power" and "soft
power" that are interconnected and are often
used together. I think that to understand the
idea of a work that is not always explicit, like
"JAULA", it is necessary to analyze it. This act
marks the beginning of performance: a
purposeful interpretative process that activates
imagination, building associative relationships in
the viewers head. The experience of the author,
recorded in the work is complemented by the
experience of the viewer interpreting it. Thus,
the possibilities of new communicative
connections between the creative conscience
(respectively the work) and the viewer form
natural feedback. This type of feedback,
generated by the experience of the viewer, in
turn creates new reading of the works, thus
enriching their meaning.
New York City based artist Lydia Dona once
stated that in order to make art today one has
to reevaluatethe conceptual language behind
the mechanism of art making itself: how do you

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consider the relationship between the creating a work of art is a creative process,
necessity of scheduling your performance and which is a continuous cycle. From the
the creative power of improvisation? Does emergence of the idea to the final execution of
spontaneityplay an important role in your the work. In my artistic practice, this idea-
artistic process? diffused, chaotic and fragmented at the
Gergana Elenkova: For me, the basis for beginning, can take form at any moment

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caused by any perceptual stimulus.That is, the with materials, objects, shapes, etc. I like to
origin of this idea can come both from experiment, that's why improvisation and
something immaterial such as an experience, a spontaneity play an important role for me, and
word, a reflection, a conversation, an image, a accompany my process in each transformation.
social problem, etc., as well as from something All this intuitive and imaginary process offers
palpable such as the tactile experimentation me infinite possibilities to explore and discover

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new ways and artistic languages to shape and women in contemporary art scene. For more
communicate my ideas. than half a century women have been
We have really appreciated the originality of discouraged from producing something
your artistic research and before leaving this 'uncommon', however over the last decades
conversation we want to catch this occasion to there are signs that something is really
ask you to express your view on the future of changing. How would you describe your

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personal experience as an artist on this more and more female artists occupy a
aspect? And what's your view on the future of defining place and position. Personally, I don't
women in such interdisciplinary field? think my work has been neglected, but in
Gergana Elenkova: Yes. It is a fact that male Bulgaria the position of women in art is still not
artists are better represented in the art scene, equal to that of male artists. Women are
but in contemporary cultural development systematically, undeservedly, given much less

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space in the narrative of the major museums ethereal nature of digital images opposite the
and galleries. Violations of women's rights can tactile longevity of material objects. It is
only be accounted for through systematic important to note that having a uninterrupted
action, that is, they should never give up feedback from your audience can be incredibly
chasing and expressing their creative vision. useful and stimulating for an artist that is open
With my works I set myself the task of making to dialogue with their viewers.
vocal the position that "art of women" ,and
women as a whole, have in society and their I believe that in today´s world art and artist
value within it. themselves should be very flexible and very
adaptive if they have a hope to survive, which
The lack of understanding of why artistic are qualities that are suited for the digital
actions related to "women's art" are in dire world.
need is obvious. The universal issue of
women's rights and their place in the art Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your
world is a clear sign that Bulgarian society thoughts, Gergana. Finally, would you like to
urgently needs a constructive and informed tell us readers something about your future
discussion on the issues of representation, projects? How do you see your work evolving?
which is also in the context of my body Gergana Elenkova: In the last couple of years I
installations. have set aside my installation projects and I
You are an established artist and over the took a step back to my roots, expressing my
years you have internationally exhibited in ideas in the form of drawings and illustrations. I
several occasions: how do you considerthe use primarily basic materials such as pencils,
nature of your relationship with your watercolors, ink, etc. I feel that this way of
audience? By the way, as the move of Art working is very complementary to my creative
from traditional gallery spaces, to street and process at the moment because it is very
especially to online platforms — as spontaneous and immediate.
Instagram@gergana_elenkova_art—
increases, how would in your opinion change Even if the type of work I do has evolved in this
the relationship with a globalised audience? way I still analyze and use the human body as
center piece of my artistic vision. If you of your
Gergana Elenkova: The traditional gallery readers would like to see some of these works
show will always have a irreplaceable position they can visit my Instagram page
in the way an artist presents their work, https://www.instagram.com/gergana_elenkova
however it is true that the role of social media _art
and their rapid expansion becomes impossible
to ignore.
In my opinion art in online platforms gives
way to the compressed experience instead of An interview by , curator
contemplation but that of the quick and easy and , curator
access instead of the elitist art scene
experience. Its the difference between the

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Yuying Song
She is a visual artist-researcher, born in China and currently doing a practice-based Ph.D. in Art Production and
Research at the Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain. And she received a Chinese Government Scholarship from
the China Scholarship Council (CSC) for her doctoral studies. She is interested in the theory and history of
documentary,cinema, photography, especially the theme that focuses on the figure of women, immigration, social
issues and, also the culture of digital media.
Her recent research output includes the essay Art born during the COVID-19 Pandemic published in ANIAV -
Journal of Research in Visual Arts, Why do I live here is a Documentary essay on Chinese immigration in Spain
published in AVANCA / CINEMA 2021, International Conference Cinema Art, Technology, Communication, Article
A TRANSNACIONAL FAMILY CHINESE IMMIGRATION IN SPAIN accepted by the journal Diecisiete and Western
Feminist Experimental Film: Between Experiment and Experience-1960s-1980s accepted by the journal film
literature.
An interview by , curator Spain, where you are currently
and , curator pursuing your Ph.D: how did those
formative years influence your
evolution as an artist? Moreover, how
Hello Yuying and welcome to does the multifaceted nature of your
ARTiculAction: we would like to invite cultural substratumdue to your
our readers to visit Chinese roots direct the trajectory of
https://songyuying0203.wixsite.com/yuy your current artistic research?
ing/photography in order to get a wide Yuying Song: First of all, thank you for
idea about your artistic production, inviting me to this interview. I think
and we would like to start this every stage of life is crucial for me, all of
interview with a couple of questions these experiences are what motivate
regarding your background. You have a me to pursue the field of art research
solid formal training: after your studies now. In fact, before entering university,
in Amination at the Harbin Normal I was very fond of literature, and then I
University, China, you nurtured your chose to study art for various reasons.
education with an MA in Artistic But I still believe that literature and art
Production, that you received from the are inseparable, both are a medium for
Polytechnic University of Valencia, emotional expression and

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communication, giving me strength in many
confusing moments of my life. During my
four years of undergraduate studies, I was
exposed to many art-related disciplines,
such as Chinese and Western art history,
Animation, Photography and Film, etc. The
basic theoretical studies of these disciplines
provided me with the direction to pursue a
Master of Fine Arts in Spain.
The traditional Chinese culture deeply
influenced me, and I felt a strong cultural
shock for a long time after I came to Spain.
It was a challenging time for me to live and
study independently in Spain, which is
completely different from China. On the
other hand,the differences between
Eastern and Western cultures, learning and
growing in a multicultural context have
taught me how to think critically and
express my ideas courageously.
The body of works that we have selected
for this special edition of ARTiculAction and
that our readers have already started to
get to know in the introductory pages of
this article, has at once captured our
attention for the way its unique
sensitiveness, able to create such unique
combination between intellettual
engagement and aesthetics: when walking
our readers through your usual setup and
process, would you tell us something about
the role of technology and editing
techniques within your artistic practice?

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Yuying Song: Thanks for the compliment, I
think the progress of art is inseparable from
the development of technology. To some
extent, it has contributed to the evolution
of art forms and styles and given artworks
certain characteristics of the times, but I
think technology and techniques should be
used as auxiliary tools for art creation, and it
is more important to improve observation
and creativity and find your style. For
example, as far as photography is
concerned, I believe that an excellent work
of photography is not determined by its
superior technology, but by the
photographer's sensitive insight and the
ideas conveyed.
Over the centuries, photography has
evolved from black and white to color, from
film to digital, and each era has produced
many excellent photographs and talented
artists, such as my favorite artists Fan Ho,
Vivian Maier, and Martin Parr, whose works
have no complicated post-production, but
capture the fun and beauty of ordinary life
with simple compositions.
Your works seem to belaboriously
structuredto pursue such effective visual
impact, and at the same time to capture
spontaneity: how do you structured your
shot schedule in order to achieve such
brilliant results? In particular, do you
careful plan each shot or do you create
your works intuitivelly, instinctively? How
important are improvisation and

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spontaneity in your practice?
Yuying Song: Compared to many
traditional arts, images give the public a
wide range of participation, a more open
attitude, and spontaneous creation that
reflects the keen observation and
creativity of the creator, making it more
flexible.Many of my photographs come
from the street, and most of the time I
create them spontaneously. Whether it is
an architectural landscape or a crowd of
people, they are all beautiful scenes worth
recording in my eyes.I like to explore the
relationship between individuals and the
environment through the lens because real
life will give the most moving emotions to
the photos.
Would you tell us how does youreveryday
life's experience fuel your creative
process?
Yuying Song: Art comes from life, and I
think life is the inspiration for all artistic
creation. Now we live in a fast-paced
world, and creativity is often
hindered฀many times people lose
themselves. When I want to escape from
the world for a short while, I like to read an
interesting novel or watch a horror movie,
both of which will immerse me into
another world, and I believe that a relaxed
and happy state will generate more
creativity. In addition, I love to visit local
art museums in different cities. The art

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exhibits and architecture of different
periods attract me to explore the history
and stories behind it and get inspiration
from it.
Your artistic practice is deeply engaged
withsocial commentaryand the need to
raise social awareness. Many
contemporary artists, such as Thomas
Hirschhorn and Michael Light, use to
include socio-political criticism and
sometimes even convey explicit messages
in their artworks: do you think that artists
can raise awareness to an evergrowing
audience on topical issues that affect our
globalised and unstable society? And how
do you considerthe role of artists in the
contemporary age?
Yuying Song: Yes. they can . I agree with
this view. I believe that artists and society
interact and influence each other. Both the
artist and his work reflect some extent the
social characteristics of the time in which
he lives, and his creations are influenced by
the reality of society, while the artists'
works also have an impact on the viewers'
thoughts and aesthetics.They express
social issues through their artworks, which
in my opinion is positive and brave. The
world we live in is not perfect, of course,
not only artists, but each of us should be
brave enough to express and explore
complex social issues for the world to
become a better place.
It's important to mention that you created

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a multiscreen documentary essay on
Chinese immigration developed at the
Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain,
and that your current PhD research is
centered on the impact of COVD-19 on
Chinese immigration: would you tell us
something to our readers about this as
topical as interesting aspect of your
current artistic research?
Yuying Song: My Ph.D. research is related
to two important issues today:
immigration and Covid-19. I am working on
an essay documentary about the impact of
Covid-19 on Chinese immigrants living in
Spain. Immigration is a complex social
phenomenon, It has been and is a topic of
great interest to all sectors of society, and
due to the mobility and instability of
immigrant groups, they are at increased
risk during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chinese immigrants, as the second-largest
immigrant group in the world. Since the
first case of Covid-19 appeared in Wuhan,
although its origin is still not conclusive,
many disinformation and conspiracy
theories have subsequently emerged,
exposing the Chinese immigrant
community to many criticisms and greatly
affecting their lives in the immigrant
countries. I hope that the research on this
topic can break the traditional stereotypes We have really appreciated the
and make the public understand more originality of your artistic research and
about the Chinese immigrant community before leaving this conversation we
and accept them with a more open and want to catch this occasion to ask you to
tolerant mind. express your view on the future of

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women in contemporary art scene. For whose areas of interest encompasses the
more than half a century women have figure of women, how would you
been discouraged from producing describe your personal experience as an
something 'uncommon', however over artist on this aspect? And what's your
the last decades there are signs that view on the future of women in such
something is really changing. As an artist interdisciplinary field?

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Yuying Song: When we are exploring this phenomenon is changing, we still have a
issue, it means that true gender equality long way to go.
has still not been achieved, and although
society is progressing and the topic of Women artists or women's art has long
gender equality is constantly being been marginalized, with gender identity
discussed by the public and this and stereotypes imprisoning their

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of the social problems caused by sexism
and that people have equal rights and
should not be confined by gender.When
it comes to the development of women
in interdisciplinary fields, I believe that
gender differences do not prevent them
from innovating and developing in any
discipline, and I believe that we will see
more and more excellent women in
various fields in the future.
In a controversial quote, German
photographer Thomas Ruff stated that
''nowadays you don't have to paint to be
an artist: you can photography in a
realistic way". Provocatively, the German
photographer highlighted the short
circuit between the act of looking and
that of thinking critically about images:
as an artist interested in digital culture,
how do you considerthe role of
photographyin our contemporary age,
constantly saturated by ubiquitous
images?
Yuying Song: Wow,this is indeed a
controversial quote, which may be
refuted by the words of the Norwegian
painter Munch, who said: "The camera is
ultimately inferior to the brush and paint,
it cannot show heaven and hell. But I
development.As Simone Beauvoir argues think both artists' views are too one-
in Second Sex, "One is not born, but rather sided and I don't fully agree with them.
becomes, a woman", many women's There is more than one way of art,
works face the problem of being whether it is painting or photography,
"shaped", but I As a female artist, I hope both are indispensable in the whole
that more and more people will be aware history of image development.

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Thousands of years of painting have we now Perhaps the works of art that we
established a large and solid aesthetic now consider to be aesthetically pleasing
principle for mankind, including were not as highly regarded in other
photography, which was also born out of times. But one thing is for sure, a work
thousands of years of painting. Images that is truly full of beauty will not be
have placed us in a consumer society, and buried in the dust of history. The most
although it has contributed to the age of meaningful aesthetic study may be to
images, it has also domesticated the appreciate works of different genres and
visual arts. styles with an open and tolerant mind.
We have particularly appreciated the You are an awarded artist and you
way you achieve such unique balance received thesegundo puesto de premio
between the characters and their en la exposición de graduación de la
surroundings, capturing such insightful universidad: how do you considerthe
resonance betweenthe peculiar specifics nature of your relationship with your
of the backgroundand epiphanicdetails, audience? By the way, as the move of Art
featuring such unconventional sense of from traditional gallery spaces, to street
beauty that challenges the logic of and especially to online platforms — as
ordinary perception: how do you Instagram andVimeo— increases, how
considerthe role of aesthetics playing would in your opinion change the
within your artistic research? relationship with a globalised audience?
Yuying Song: Every perception of beauty Yuying Song: I believe that artists and
is different, and beauty is a spiritual audiences need to communicate with
dimension of human beings. I like Hegel's each other, and artworks are the medium
view of aesthetics, which he called "the of communication in which artists
philosophy of art", that beauty is the resonate with audiences through the
sensual embodiment of an idea. For me, expression of their works, thus satisfying
there is no "Paradigm" of aesthetics, it is this communication need.With the advent
not static, the definition of beauty is of the digital age, the forms and spaces
different in every era, many art trends for displaying art are changing, and online
that are sought after by contemporary platforms are becoming more and more
people may have been unappreciated popular with the public, and of course. I
centuries ago, this is due to the aesthetic also like to share my photos on my
bias of the times, so it is difficult for us to Instagram page
define beauty, maybe the artworks that https://www.instagram.com/yuying95 ,to

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record and share my daily life and to create
more creative desire.
On one hand, this form of online art sharing
has contributed to the "democratization"
and "globalization" of art, as online art can
transcend geographical limitations, such as
the closure of museums and art galleries
during the Covid-19 blockade. This led to the
development of art platforms and the birth
of many online exhibition museums.On the
other hand, the online platforms cannot
replace art institutions such as museums,
because they cannot replace the experience
of direct communication between the
viewer and the work, or the narrative role
that the work plays in the exhibition space.
Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing
your thoughts, Yuying. Finally, would you
like to tell us readers something about your
future projects? How do you see your work
evolving?
Yuying Song: Thank you, for my future
work, I hope to finish my Ph.D. research and
documentary production, of course, I very
much hope that my work will be included in
some art exhibitions, after that I will return
to China to continue to work in the art-
related industry.
An interview by , curator
and , curator

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Ivan Arkhipov
I have experimented with different techniques, mainly etching, dry point, linocut, woodcut and painting,
also created animated films. Resistance of material has an influence on our attitude and image
perception. Metal got scratched and torn, lines became cuts. When you make it you had to lay yourself
out, to get angry, to resist, to sweat, while still enjoying the process. Perception of reality mute out and
we came into a trance. My works is a result of this process. And this technique states importance of the
process above the result.
In 2019 I worked at a Chinese village located 50 kilometers from Beijing - in the Shangyuan art
residence, where I have been staying for 3 summer months. Residence lacked of necessary equipment for
creative work in printmaking techniques, specifically the most important - etching press to create prints
on paper in the dry point technique.
I used as a press a large stone that I had been found nearby. With that stone I was able to print a series
of four prints (“Stone” and “Passions” series) , and also I have created about 10 more works in woodcut,
linocut techniques and paintings. When I returned to Moscow, in the wave of pandemic 2020, this idea
formed further. This experience in Shangyuan allowed me to look at a lot of things from a new
perspective and I continued to work. This restriction in the material, this location and complete isolation
from the comfort zone-all this eventually formed this work and allowed us to look at a lot of things from a
new perspective.
Experience is something you’ve never done. The deeper you go, the more frightful this experience is. By
combining printed graphics, objects and animations, I want to talk about person, person loneliness in the
world, about seeking and delusions, about gradually gained experience.
An interview by , curator leaning towards expressing myself through
and , curator different forms of creativity. I could draw or
sculpt for hours. Creative process was always
the best game for me, and at the same time –
Hello Ivan and welcome to ARTiculAction: we self-evolution and world cognition. I didn’t
would like to invite our readers to visit understand all that then though, it was just
http://ivanarkhipov.com in order to get a wide interesting – to form new worlds inside my
idea about your artistic production, and we works. For example, in my notebooks I have
would like to start this interview with a couple of been making up widescale stories and
questions regarding your background. You have different surprising situations for my
a solid formal training and you graduated from characters, not really putting my mind
the faculty of graphic design at MIEM NRU through plot and consistency of the story. In
Higher school of Economics: how did this the end, such unconscious, childlike approach
experience address your evolution as an artist? for art became primary for me and influenced
all my further actions. Growing up I tried not
Ivan Arkhipov: Since my early childhood I was to lose it and kept appreciating individuality. I

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liked my own vision and how I project my vision. Of
course, later I’ve had a lot of doubts under social
influence and rules domination, but I managed to
keep my core.
I’ve always been bad at studying. At first I was
struggling at Moscow State University of Food
Production, but didn’t graduate. Then I had an
experience at the Design faculty at High School of
Economics. There I’ve realized that design and art
are two different ways and that I have to choose. I
chose art. On the example of many of my friends I
understood for myself that art education is not
always good for an artist. In many ways it interferes
with finding and keeping your own language in art.
You are a versatile artist and your practice
encompasses printed graphics, objects and
animations: what does direct you to such cross
disciplinary approach? In particular, are there any
experiences that did particularly help you to
develop your attitude to experiment?
Ivan Arkhipov: First of all it is a desire for such an
experience. A desire to get out of the comfort
zone, to try out something never before done and
to find yourself in a new role or situation.
Experience as it is – it’s something you’ve never
done before. The deeper you go the scarier it gets.
An example of such experience was my 2019
summer trip to Chinese village nearby Beijing,
where I’ve worked for three months at Shangyuan
art residence.
The body of works that we have selected for this
special edition of ARTiculAction — and that our
readers have already started to get to know in the
introductory pages of this article — has at once
captured our attention for the way you invite the
viewers to explore the feelings connected to human
experience through a new perspective, unveiling
the elusive bond between authenticity of feelings
and truth: when walking our readers through your

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Stone serie Dancing with the stone exhibition, fragment, 2019, Beijing

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usual setup and process, would you tell us how do
you develop your ideas?
Ivan Arkhipov: I experiment with different
engraving techniques, mainly with dry point. This
process contains of etching dashes and lines with
a firm needle on a metal board and then making
prints of it on paper or any other flat surface.
When I’ve been preparing for the trip, I’ve
gathered all the materials and tools for such
techniques. I had no idea about what I would find
at the place. And when I finally got there, I’ve
discovered that Art residence was missing the
most important thing – an etching machine. So,
for a series of large prints I used as a press a
massive stone that I`ve found nearby. With that
stone I was able to print several series of metal
etching prints. Also I`ve created about 10 more
works in woodcut, linocut techniques and
painting. All works combined were presented at
«Dancing with the stone» exhibition at the
Shangyuan Art Museum Gallery.
Making prints with that stone, using it as a press
was like dancing. It felt like some ritual… Unlike
the etching machine the stone prints appeared
unpredictable – uneven, rough, ragged but at the
same time - organic, natural.
New location and material restrictions helped me
to look at many things from different angles and
forced me to act outside the box. The deeper I
got the more fearful I was. Those unknown states
and material resistance influenced shaping of
images at my works, such as «The Stone» series.
Along with the prints I’ve decided to exhibit the
metal sheet filled with dye.
Only some time after I began to decrypt that
image inside my head: The Stone appears to be an
enormous experience that humankind have had
collected through existence.

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An experience of pressure, evisceration, cruel memories and your direct, everyday life's
and harsh reforming of nature according to experience fuel your artistic research?
human needs.
For how more long can humankind hold this Ivan Arkhipov: I find important to balance
tension towards the world? between reality and subconciousness. I could
dive into the dark deep, and then come up to the
Your artistic research is deeply engaged with surface and find something breathtaking in
human experience, and as you have remarked in casual daily routine. So I am trying to look wide
the ending lines of your artist's statement, you and not to get stuck on one direction. It helps to
want to talk about person, person loneliness in let new interesting ideas in. Sometimes it comes
the world, about seeking and delusions, about up from the past unexpected. Sometimes you
gradually gained experience: how do your find an idea from an old sketch that you threw at

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the bottom of a drawer a long time ago and now important is for you to highlight the physical
it turned up to be modern and actual. aspect of your artworks?
We definitely love the way Passions and Ivan Arkhipov: Yes, those works were made with
Expiation provides to sensations belonging to the great physical effort. It is a mixed technique of
emotional sphere with such unique materic wood engraving and metal etching. Resistance
identity. We sometimes tend to forget that a of the material influences forming of image. You
work of art is a physical artefact with tactile have to give all of yourself to it, to get angry, to
struggle, to sweat and at the same time you
qualities, and we really appreciate the way, your enjoy it. The perception of reality is getting
artistic production highlights the materiality muffled. An artwork is born as a result of all that.
among the viewer: as an artist particularly But for me the process is more important than
interested in the resistance of materials, how the result.

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While the shapes of your works sometimes
communicate contrast, as in Connection and
Temptation, the geometries that you choose are
particularly delicate and communicate sense of
release. How do you structure your process in
order to achieve such brilliant results?
Ivan Arkhipov: I let the process go. I guess it
helps to get a result. At the beginning of the
work on a fresh idea it is not completely clear,
what will come out at the end. And I can put a
structure only on myself – to prepare myself as a
tool. I can organize a workshop time, get all
needed materials – and then use it. Growing
inside an idea is unpredictable process and the
moment of it`s birth cannot be controlled. So I
can only catch the wave of a proper state.
Some of your works feature characters engaged
in strenuos activities, as in Stone: other works
seem to suggest delicacy, as Mother. In each of
them, there's a human figure able to engage the
viewers on the emotional aspect: do you aim to
create allegorical images able to trigger the
viewers' imagination,inviting them to elaborate
personal interpretations? And how open would
you like your works to beunderstood
Ivan Arkhipov: Physical and emotional image of
a person can convey a vast spectrum of feelings.
Sometimes I see that my images crack viewers
open, though I never do think about what will
viewers feel from my works beforehand.
Genuine sensation is all that matter. Every work
could be perceived as a very personal thing or as
a range of some spots. And that is genuine. Very
often a viewer can tell a lot more about my
works than I know about them. I suppose, every
my work has its own main message, but
honestly I do not fully understand some of them
still.
Your artistic production challenges the logic of
ordinary perception, urging the viewers to a

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participative effort, and especially to question
the nature of the act of looking itself: Scottish
artist Peter Doig once remarked that even the
most realistic work of arts are derived more
from within the head than from what's out
there in front of us, how do you consider the
relationship between reality and imagination,
playing within your artistic production?
Ivan Arkhipov: They are connected as I’ve
said earlier, and for me (and not only as an
artist) it is all about balance.
You are an established artist, and over the
years your works have been exhibited in many
occasions, both in Russia and abroad: how do
you consider the nature of your relationship
— especially in public spaces — with your
audience? By the way, as the move of Art from
traditional gallery spaces, to street and
especially to online platforms — as Instagram
— increases, how would in your opinion
change therelationship with a globalised
audience?
Ivan Arkhipov: The speed of Information flow
is very high nowadays and virtual
communication is dynamically increasing. I
would say that it rises the value of live
communication, especially for last couple of
years during the pandemic times. People
yearn for reality. Instagram would never take
a place of it, but this platform now tends to
connect an artist with its audience from all
the world.
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/arkhipov__ivan
Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing
your thoughts, Ivan. Finally, would you like to
tell us readers something about your future
projects? How do you see your work evolving?
Ivan Arkhipov: Thank you for your interest.
This year I am preparing an exhibition,

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containing my works from the last two years. I new materials. Do not want to reveal specifics
am mixing engraving and painting in them, and now, you will see it all at it’s time.
also I’ve made an animation, composed of All photos by
etching prints and metal plates. I have a lot of
plans. I intend to do more experimenting with