Vitrine
Atopia’s Vitrine is a project for experimenting with video art in the
public space. Using four large projections on the street level Vitrine
offers a possibility for artists to explore the dynamics of multi-screen
video environments in the public domain.
During the winter, when it is dark enough to project outdoors in Oslo, the four screen videoworks are exhibited on Atopia's Vitrine everyday from 15:00 in the afternoon till the next morning. The exhibition is to be viewed from the outside on Sannergata.
The second season of Vitrine project: November 2009 - March 2010
The second season of Atopia's Vitrine project started on Thursday, 19 Novembe 2009.
Vitrine will run through March 2010 presenting works of 5 artists from various countries.
For this project we had sent out an open call for artists and we received 85 applications from 17 different countries. Atopia's curator group has chosen 5 artists whose works are commissioned and will be exhibited one at a time on Vitrine this winter.
Artists and Dates:
- Miguel Jara (Colombia) 19.11 - 03.12.2009
- Jonathan Monaghan (USA) 03.12 - 17.12.2009
- Heike Baranowsky (Germany) 07.01 - 21.01.2010
- Andrew Salgado (UK) 21.01 - 04.02.2010
- Michael Wurstbauer (UK) 04.02 - 18.02.2010
Atopia's curator group for Vitrine 2009-10 consisted of:
Samir M'kadmi (artist/curator), Linn Lervik (artist) & Farhad Kalantary (artist/curator/coordinator of Atopia).
Jonathan Monaghan (New York, 1989) is a young artist working with 3D computer software to create digital sculptures, prints, and animations. He is currently earning his MFA at the University of Maryland, USA.
Calling All Angels is a digital animation work that shows various creatures undergoing transformations in a 3D environment.
Made for Atopia’s four-screen outdoor exhibition space the work attempts to engage the physical space in a dialogue with the virtual. In this setting the creatures appear to signal a physiological distress and uncertainty.
Calling All Angels is visible from the street everyday from 15:00 until the next morning (3 – 17 December 2009).
The Second Season of Vitrine Project: Dec. 2009 - March 2010
Atopia is pleased to open the second season of Vitrine project with the work of the Colombian artist Miguel Jara.
Miguel Jara (Bogotá-Colombia -1983) is a young visual artist working with video and animation. He has received his Masters degree in visual arts from the National University of Colombia, 2008, and he is based in Bogotá.
In the Woods is a new animation work of Miguel Jara, which is commissioned for the Vitrine 2009-10. Jara’s gripping compositions are built with the simple act of drawing with pencil on paper. His animations focus on the natural forces and elements and work with the dynamics of the multi-screen setting of Atopia’s Vitrine. Jara portrays the constant battle of life through the gaze of wolves, the rumblings of the skies, and the flight of birds. He attempts to translate powers of the nature into the transient context of a normal street scene. In this process our street becomes the scene of a fairy tale, where the Nordic wolves roam around the neighborhood and once again put their claim on this territory.
In the Woods could be viewed from the street everyday from 15:00 until the next morning (19 Nov – 3 Dec. 2009).
Installation view, In the Woods by Miguel Jara
The first season of Vitrine project: December 2008 – March 2009:
For the first season of Vitrine five artists were invited to produce new works for exhibition in the period of November 2008 to March 2009. Working with the ideas of transience and the encounter of moving images with the moving public, the invited artists created exciting works that were on display throughout the winter.
Liberating the Multi-Voiced Bodies
by Samir M'Kadmi
Exhibition period 21 Feb - 7 March 2009
"Liberating the Multi-Voiced Bodies" is a new video installation by Samir M'Kadmi made for Atopia's Vitrine. This is a multi-screen video installation that addresses several issues pertaining to the art in public space. Using double standards and gates of accessibility it questions the Legitimacy of the public itself. Who do we call public? What is the public comprised of?
On the other hand the work is concerned with the issues of human rights and the freedom of expression from a global perspective. "Freedom of expression can no longer be conceived as a regional or national matter but a global issue. Societies all around the world are interdependent and so are the rights of their inhabitants" from such a perspective Samir M'Kadmi's work foregrounds the repressive regimes of North Africa and wonders about their impact on the freedom of an individual passerby on the streets of Oslo.
Samir M'kadmi is an artist and curator, working in the field between art and technology. He places his research on the interaction between fine arts and socio-political and environmental issues. He perceives the artist as a social actor and a critical power. His work calls into question the traditional and persisting definitions that detain the artists to the role of commodity producers only.
Klöckner Track Variations
by Greg Pope
Opening: Saturday, 7, 02, 2009 at 18:00
(7 – 20 Feb. 2009)
Greg Pope was born in UK, 1960 and studied art at Brighton Art College, 1985.
After exploring punk rock bands and absurdist performance, he founded Brighton based Super 8 film collective Situation Cinema in 1986. From this group came Loophole Cinema (London 1989)—using 16mm multi-projection techniques, performing numerous events around Europe until 1999. They also
produced “The International Symposium of Shadows” in London in 1996. Working collaboratively and individually, Pope has made video installations, live
art pieces and single screen film works since 1997.
“Klöckner Track Variations” was shot on 16mm film in a deserted industrial zone in Germany in 1993. This four screen video installation is a reinterpretation of the original footage and it brings the site of Atopia’s Vitrine into a dialogue with a distant place in time.
WATER AND GLASS
by Jeremy Welsh
Opening: Saturday, 24, 01, 2009 at 18:00
(24 Jan – 6 Feb 2009)
WATER AND GLASS is a four screen video installation made for Atopia’s Vitrine project. The imagery of the four videos are combined of panoramic shots of landscapes, images of water drops in close up, and reflected urban landscape seen in the glass surfaces of modern architecture. This work continues the investigation of space, time and image that has characterized many of Jeremy Welsh’s recent works.
Jeremy Welsh (UK, 1954) is an artist, writer and curator who is a Professor in Fine Art at Kunsthogskolen in Bergen, Norway. Welsh has been working with video and electronic media since 1980 and his works have been exhibited widely around the globe. He has also written extensively on art and electronic media in various magazines, catalogues and books.
In the Middle of the End
A video installation by Bull.Miletic:
Opening Thursday, 18, December 2008 at 18:00
(18 – 31 December 2008)
BULL.MILETIC is Synne Bull (Norway, 1973) and Dragan Miletic (Serbia, 1970). They have studied art at San Francisco Art Institute (MFA 2003, 2000), and they live and work in Oslo, Norway. Their works have been exhibited in various venues in the US as well as in Europe.
“In the Middle of the End” is a four screen video installation produced by Bull.Miletic for Atopia’s Vitrine project. It shows black & white images of glowing light bulbs as they swing in the darkness. In these carefully timed sequences the moving light bulbs appear to successively crash against the glass of Atopia’s projection window and explode.
Prelude
A video installation by Farhad Kalantary
Opening: Sunday 14.12.2008 at 18:00
(14 - 18 December 2008)
“Prelude” is a video work by Farhad Kalantary that will start the new season of Atopia’s Vitrine Project.
