| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
Global
People
|
Global
People April/May 2002 Artists Muay Parivuhiphongs - Bangkok Claudia-Maria Luenig - Vienna Elena Panayotova - Sofia Barbara Wolters - Berlin sylvia wagner_weger - Vienna Curator Maggie McCormick Global People is photographs by five international artists who have a link to Melbourne and have and are influencing the cultural scene here. In this age of the Internet and www, much of Melbourne's identity is formed through global influences and connections, some are official influences, such as Sister Cities and Business Partner Cities, and some are created by individuals. Individual connections created through chance, friends, relatives and common interests, create a network of influences on this city. The people of the art world are increasingly connected across geographical boundaries, allowing ideas to flow across cultural boundaries, and in so doing create links of understanding across cultural difference. urbanart has made strong international links and the selected artists reflect these links. The artists selected are from the urbanart 2002 International project Global Fusion, Vienna, February to April, 2002. Claudia-Maria Luenig - Vienna Claudia was born in Germany, migrated to Australia in 1985. She currently lives and works in Vienna and Melbourne. She completed her Masters in Melbourne and participated in, and initiated numerous art projects and exhibitions in Melbourne and internationally opening up new opportunities and links for Melbourne artists. She is co curator of urbanart International Projects together with Maggie McCormick. 2001 she was Artist in Residence, Chengdu, China. Funded by Bundeskanzleramt, Austria. |
 |
 |
Artist
Statement The photo, taken in the market streets of Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China, reflects the strange sense of acceptance of international influence. The adoption of Western icons - in this case dress dummies in all shop windows - display the phenomena of consumer culture which has dragged Chinese society into everyday trivialities. This contradiction between the desired westernisation and the traditional is highly obvious in the consumer society and therefore somewhat a kind of cross-cultural acceptance. The entering into the WTO by China will even further push Western ideals, trading conditions and furthermore changes to existing culture and customs the Chinese nation has maintained for so many years. Claudia-Maria Luenig cv Muay Parivuhiphongs - Bangkok Muay was born in Bangkok and recently completed photography and video studies in Melbourne. Muay has been an active participant in city life and city art since she arrived in Melbourne, exhibiting both with urbanart and Citylights and organising an independent billboard event. She worked as a volunteer at the Centre for Contemporary Photography and has exhibited there as part of the Summer Salon. On her return to Bangkok she investigated possibilities for introducing new ideas into the art scene there, based on public projects taking place in Melbourne and an enthusiasm for linking the two cities. |
 |
 |
Artist
Statement Finding beauty in the ordinary within everyday life is Muay's inspiration - to make people appreciate the beauty that is overlooked but there all the time. People in the city almost always forget to look. What will happen if we shut our eyes and reflect for a moment before opening them up in a changed light? Will this tired cityscape appear any different than the one we've always overlooked? Does our perception have the power to transform the space of our surroundings? In 2000 Muay moved from Auckland, New Zealand to Melbourne to continue exploring the moving image and media art. Coming from a smaller city her interest was focused on the difference between the two cities, the colour of light, the speed of the city, together with finding new visual experiences and capturing the space around her. In 2001 Muay relocated back to Bangkok, which she calls home even though it has not been the base of her daily living for ten years. Coming back to Bangkok and looking with fresh eyes, she sees the changes in the city, the people and herself. This is the inspiration for her work , which combines the two cities of Bangkok and Melbourne. Barbara Wolters - Berlin Barbara was born in Germany, spent her childhood in the USA, has lived in Chile and currently lives and works in Berlin. She has participated in numerous Melbourne based projects and created opportunities for Melbourne artists to link to European projects. |
 |
 |
|
Artist
Statement Hands, feet, appear on blue transparencies. interrupted images form layers, the layers locate themselves within a spatial dislocation. They do not absorb the glance, but allow to proceed further. the work possesses a specific appearance of form, like hands, or feet-the artists own hands, yet the transparencies as a medium visualise process, a visual suggestion of movement. It is a work of imagination and the process which it involves. The employing of simple forms, like hands or feet suggests a reference to the individual body and individual memory; it displays a road between the beginning and the objective, a process of increase and decline, longing and dreaming. Once located, the desire to proceed becomes the starting point for a new beginning... text by Claudia-Maria Luenig computer poem extern fastcall default integer count integer timeout static private volatile operator protected public register save transmit struct switch template delete end while goto export poem by Barbara Wolters wpb.de Elena Panayotova - Sofia Elena lives and works in Sofia, Bulgaria. She participated in the urbanart project 2002, Global Fusion, in Vienna, as both an artist and forum speaker. Links created during this time with Melbourne artists in Vienna for the exhibition, are already opening up new opportunities in Eastern Europe. |
 |
 |
Artist
Statement A Dream Come True? In all our lifetime we are dreaming. Together with faith, dreams are the most powerful support helping us to stand tests and bringing hope when hard times are coming. Of course dreams rarely come true. Unpredictable and elusive, they don't submit to will or reason, but serve as a guardian angels. And something more - dreams remain the same, no matter what color the skin of the dreamer is. Children of the street. Mostly Gypsies. Homeless. Deprived of parental care. They do not go to school, have no holidays, read no books. Go to cinema only to get warm inside. Never play with toys. Never heard about computer games. Forced to earn their daily bread by begging and stealing. Act in accordance with the rules of wild life. To survive. Acquainted to cruelty, and familiar only with cheat and lie. What kind of pleasures do they have? Inhaling acetone glue - the cheapest way to escape from reality. Because reality is much rougher than it seems. Naivety soon disappears in their children's eyes while passing by luxury limousines and elegant people with happy faces. Heaven knows what these kids are dreaming about? Is it the taste of a chocolate, the warmth of mother's embrace, or the fairy Christmas tree? sylvia wagner_weger - Vienna Sylvia was born in Austria and currently lives and works in Vienna. She has participated in several Melbourne based projects. April 2002 she is in Melbourne to do a performance work at Bus Gallery linked to her street poster in Melbourne Vox Pops. She has exhibited and performed in Europe, Australia, Asia and the USA. She brings to Melbourne potential for future links between Australia and Austria. |
Artist
Statement everything i$ po$$ible depending on (y)our po$ition Headfirst/long the way we enter and view / see / experience the world / when born / as new born babies. Subsequently we unlearn the view of / our / arrival and by growing up / in our growth following the evolutional process of wo/mankind. The fact of our earliest experience leads to the ability to change the / point of / view and position. In our global time with its overgenerousity towards power of money that multiplies and legitimises brutality in any form / means it is a basic necessity to take a position / part in opposition. Generosity in different ways of thinking is asked / needed within the context of a developing global consciousness. We though have to take the challenge against the tendency of dynamically fastforward active / acting neoliberalism. Independent from what position in life, whether private or public, political and global things look / appear to be different upside down. (It might help to) turn yourself or things over. It is possible to change. It is possible to mix. It is possible to miss. mix§§ion_po$$ible it is. basis-wien.at |
 |
|