Star-Dust
With Karmen Dada, Igor Eškinja, Ana Hušman, Ana Opalić, Davor Sanvincenti, Goran Škofić, Slaven Tolj, Silvio Vujičić
26th International Workshops residency programme
Pays de la Loire Regional Contemporary Art Fund: Croatia
November 17, 2012–February 3, 2013
Part of the Croatian Festival in France, “Croatie la voice”
September–December 2012
Frac des Pays de la Loire
La Fleuriaye, 44470 Carquefou
T 02 28 01 50 00
www.fracdespaysdelaloire.com
www.croatielavoici.com
Co-curated by Laurence Gateau and Slaven Tolj
A pioneer in this field, the Pays de la Loire Regional Contemporary Art Fund first set up the International Ateliers (residency programme) in 1984, at Fontevraud Abbey in Anjou, France. Through this initiative, rare in France, the Pays de la Loire Regional Contemporary Art Fund has developed a venture of artistic support, which is also a highly original way of enriching its collections. A platform for research, exchange and production, these Ateliers make up a laboratory that is both active and reactive. In return, the guest artists channel this time of energy to offer viewers a work that will then go on to be exhibited, designed as a dynamic encounter.
This year, Laurence Gateau (Director of the Pays de la Loire Regional Contemporary Art Fund) has decided to join curatorial forces with Slaven Tolj, a Croatian artist and performer, in the context of the International Workshops residency programme. A committed figure to the Dubrovnik scene, Slaven Tolj established the Art Workshop Lazareti there in 1988. He was also the commissioner of the Croatian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2005.
Karmen Dada
At the Ateliers Internationaux, she was especially interested in the mission of the Fracs to circulate their works as much as possible, while keeping a large degree of independence from the Fracs in other regions. She was concerned with the actual visibility of the works and the accessibility of the collections to the general public. This process of research on the unprecedented nature of the Frac network produced a piece which can be seen as a visualisation of the Fracs’ similarities and differences.
Igor Eškinja
The artist gives shape to his architectonics of perception using simple, inexpensive materials, such as adhesive tape and electric cables applied directly to the wall or floor. For Star-Dust, Eškinja conceived a dust carpet inspired by local textile patterns and Nantes’s past as a centre of slave trading.
Ana Hušman
During her residence at the Frac, Hušman continued her work on the social norms that govern our lives. She was especially concerned with the situation of Croatian emigrants in America, who learn their parents’ language and customs from books dating back to the 1960s and might encounter completely different realities when returning to Croatia today.
Ana Opalić
A graduate of the Academy of Dramatic Arts in Zagreb, Ana Opalić was voted Best Young Photographer in the Croatian Photography Exhibition in 1997. Her photographic and video work explores various territories: daily life, the family unit, the natural environment, her country’s past history and wastelands.
Davor Sanvincenti
Davor Sanvincenti’s artistic practice is protean in form, embracing cinema, video, photography, sound installations and live performances. His work plays with the concept of illusion, by exploring the possible limits of illusion, by exploring the possible limits of perception and the construction of experience. Observations and research related to scientific and artistic fields provide a framework for his work.
Goran Škofiić
For Star-dust, Goran Škofiić extended the range of materials he works with and suggested an interaction of a ventilator with a video on a screen. In a second piece, he altered the traditional mode of projection by installing a rotating video projector and thus explored the effects of this on the perception of the video itself.
Slaven Tolj
Slaven Tolj is one of the most important artists on the Croatian scene. His radical and minimalist approach explores contemporary society, taking in the country’s history through performances, photography and readymades. A committed figure to the Dubrovnik scene, in 1988 he established the Art Workshop Lazareti, one of the most active art centres in Croatia today.
Silvio Vujičić
Silvio Vujičić continued his exploration of natural sciences during his residence by focussing on the sublimation of caffeine as a visually interesting chemical process. He produced a machine rendering this process visible to the spectator and presents the crystallisation of sublimated caffeine on glass and textile.
And also…
Christine Laquet, A Brief Story of Everything
17 November 2012–6 January 2013
Christine Laquet presents new works in the Frac in the frame of the Instantantanés’ programme.
