Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva is a Macedonian born artist, living in the United Kingdom, who creates ambitious sculptural works and site-specific installations. Working with materials that are unusual, precious, ordinary and ephemeral, from organic materials and foodstuffs to gold leaf, Hadzi-Vasileva’s practice questions notions of death, identity and beauty. Central to the artist’s approach is an interest in responding to the particularities of a given location, its history, environment and communities.
Pied à Terre | Artist in Restaurant
The Wish of the Witness
7 September–31 October 2011
Admission Free
34 Charlotte Street, London W1T 2NH
www.artist-in-restaurant.co.uk
This September two Michelin-starred restaurant Pied à Terre will present an exhibition of works by Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva, following an eight-month residency. Hadzi-Vasileva is Pied à Terre’s first ‘Artist in Restaurant’—an annual residency scheme for emerging artists. The Wish of the Witness will comprise ten sculptural and installation works made primarily using raw materials sourced from the restaurant kitchen, including scallop skirts and corals, quail carcasses, sheep testicles, fish skins and bones.
The resulting works are carefully balanced between the beautiful and the brutal, recomposing decomposition into exquisite forms. The Wish of the Witness follows a period of in-depth research by the artist, in close collaboration with the chefs, and is influenced by the restaurant’s daily routines and menus.
Towner, The Contemporary Art Museum
Compulsive, Obsessive, Repetitive
Until 18 September 2011
Admission Free
Devonshire Park, College Road, Eastbourne BN21 4JJ
www.townereastbourne.org.uk
Compulsive, Obsessive, Repetitive is a group show of six artists who obsessively use small-scale repetitive processes to create large-scale sculptural installations. Hadzi-Vasileva is exhibiting ‘Reoccurring Undulation’, a work made from 960 salmon skin tiles that have undergone intense cleaning and preserving processes to reveal the latent beauty of this discarded matter.
Raison D’être | Site-Specific Commission
SouthGate Project, Bath
2010–2011
www.southgatebath.co.uk
Raison D’être for SouthGate Shopping Centre, Bath, is currently in its third phase of development. The proposed work, commencing later this year, is influenced by the Bath Abbey Fan Vaulting, designed by Robert and William Vertue, with reconstruction (c.1860) by George Gilbert Scott, and the history of theatre and fashion of Bath.
As the artist comments: “The main inspiration behind Raison D’être was the history of Bath being regarded as a sacred place since ancient times, the hot springs being the focal point for legend, pilgrimage, worship, healing, enjoyment and commercial activity for thousands of years.”
For Raison D’être, Hadzi-Vasileva is creating 12,000 petal shapes, each 20cm x 10cm, made out of specially designed stainless steel woven cloth. The petals are then joined together using steel strips that will create an edge, which will be gilded with 23.5-carat gold leaf. The structures will be positioned under two arched bridges, creating an intriguing and beautiful canopy.
Parkside Place | Site-Specific Commission
Cambridge
September 2011–October 2012
www.grosvenor.com / www.parkside-place.com
Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva has been commissioned to develop new site-specific artworks for Parkside Place in Cambridge. Parkside Place is designed to be one of the most central and prestigious new residential developments in Cambridge for years. The scheme developed by Grosvenor, has been designed by Glenn Howells Architects, building contractors Willmott Dixon, and art consultants, InSite Arts Ltd.
For further information about Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva and her work, please visit: www.elpihv.co.uk
Press Contact
Jack Lewis: +44 (0)1590 682260 (+6) or e-mail: jack.lewis@artsway.org.uk
This e-flux is supported by the ArtSway Associates scheme. Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva is an ArtSway Associate.
Complementing ArtSway’s exhibition residency and commissioning programme, ArtSway Associates aims to provide legacy support for selected artists. ArtSway Associates is ArtSway’s continuing professional development programme for ten artists who have previously undertaken an ArtSway residency. The programme offers critical support, advocacy, training and seed funding for creative activity over three years.
ArtSway Associates is financially supported by The Leverhulme Trust and Arts Council England.
