Ola Vasiljeva
Qualcuno si è seduto sulla mia sedia
Quartz Studio
Via Giulia di Barolo, 18/D
10124 Turin
Italy
T +39 338 429 0085
F +39 011 826 4640
On Tuesday, January 30, 2018 at 6pm, Quartz Studio is delighted to present Qualcuno si è seduto sulla mia sedia, the first solo show in Italy by Ola Vasiljeva (Latvia, 1981).
Borrowing from moments of history, literature and counter-cultural movements, Ola Vasiljeva creates imaginary environments in which sculpture, drawing, video and found objects commingle. Vasiljeva is concerned with an experience that is mediated through devices that double as thresholds or membranes, instruments such as—the cinema screen, the curtain, the back stage dressing room, or the stage or pedestal, stage instructions, props, costumes, and tools suspended between use and ritual, mimicry and fiction. As if theatre sets at intermission, my environments are often littered with telling clues of unseen performances, obscure and often absurd activities.
For the show at Quartz Studio, the artist extends the imaginary territory of the next door tailor’s shop. The props and furnishings in the installation evince an alive disorderliness, as though they stood surrogates for the characters to whom their existence seemingly testifies. Activated by the interest in the foreboding and in the covert, the installation blurs the line between reality, imagination and simulation. Qualcuno si è seduto sulla mia sedia presents new sculptural and drawing works, made by the artist during her stay in Turin.
Ola Vasiljieva’s is one of the three exhibitions in program for 2018 at Quartz Studio organized thanks to the support of Fondazione Sardi per l’Arte. Founded in 2014 by Pinuccia Sardi Cagnucci and her passion for art, the Foundation’s objectives comprise the promotion of important characters of the artistic panorama of the 1900s, amongst which Carol Rama, and the retrieval of documents and artistic archives regarding these artists or people connected to them. Moreover, the Foundation fosters young and upcoming artists, critics, curators and non-profit actors. Since 2017, the art historian Lisa Parola, is the curator of a two year cultural and educational program for Fondazione Sardi.
Ola Vasiljeva (Ventspils, Latvia, 1981) lives and works in the Netherlands. The recent solo exhibitions include The Decline of the Showpieces at Grazer Kunstverein, Graz, 2017; The Dong with A Luminous Nose at Fons Welters Gallery, Amsterdam, 2017; Gold Is the Metal With the Broadest Shoulders at Supportico Lopez, Berlin, 2017; Zefiro Torna at Passerelle CAC, Brest, 2017; You’ve got beautiful stairs, you know at Kunstverein München, Munich, 2016; Coeurtregetour at Galerie Antoine Levi, Paris, 2016; En Rachâchant at Vleeshal Markt, Middelburg, 2015; The Limp of A Letter at BOZAR, Brussels, 2015; University at Galerie Antoine Levi, Paris, 2015; Jargot at Art in General, New York, 2014; The Limp of A Letter, Prix de Rome, De Appel, Amsterdam, 2013; Cinq à sept at kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga, 2013. Her work is part of the collections of CNAP, France, FRAC des Pays de Loire and Vleeshal, Middelburg among others. Ola Vasiljeva is represented by Antoine Levi, Paris and Supportico Lopez, Berlin.
The project is realised thanks to the support of Fondazione Sardi per l’Arte. Quartz Studio and Fondazione Sardi per l’Arte thanks the artist and Antoine Levi, Paris. The exhibition will be open from January 31, 2018 to April 5, 2018, by appointment.
