ARTEMIS PROJECTS PODCAST 2019

In this episode we speak with Japanese dancer and filmmaker Ayumi Toyabe whose dance video SATO was filmed in Tokyo in 2018. 

In this podcast, Ayumi talks about:
The significance of dancing in nature
How she went about finding the right music track
What are the differences between dancing on stage and dancing for camera 
Whether the experience of former effects the later. 

SATO will be screened on dancecinema.org from 1 May to 1 June 2019. To view SATO and for the full transcript of this interview head to https://www.dancecinema.org/sato.html
Recorded in Belgrade, Serbia on 19 April 2019.

Interview by Ira Ferris
Music Credit: DANCE CINEMA jingle designed by Trevor Brown
For more information:
www.dancecinema.org/

DANCE CINEMA: Ayumi Toyabe 'SATO' (April 2019, Belgrade)

Met in Belgrade with Dejan Golic, one of the members of Belgrade RAW to talk about the beginnings of the collective as they celebrate ten years of their existence. 

The collective was founded in 2009 by five photographers who found each other on Flicker and agreed that there was a lack of real, raw footage of their city. 

Now in their 10th year, they count eleven members and have two books under their arms. 

So what has Belgrade RAW meant for those involved and how did it influence Serbian photographic scene, hear in my interview with Dejan.

This interview was recorded at KC Magacin, during my residency at Belgrade AIR.

http://www.belgraderaw.com/
Instagram: @belgraderaw

Interview with Dejan Golic from photo collective Belgrade RAW (April 2019, Belgrade)

Gordana Zikic is founder and facilitator of Belgrade artist in residency program, and a multi-media artist exploring shamanism, ancient traditions, rituals, red colour, and role of the artist in the society.

We met in a little (and very echo-ie) apartment in the heart of Belgrade to talk about how and why she initiated the Belgrade AIR, how the program works, and what does she like the most about running it. 

In the second part of the podcast (from 11'30'') we speak about her practice, the healing powers of art, importance of freedom, her coming performance in United States, and how would she cope with meeting Marina Abramovic.

We even read a little bit of Andrei Tarkovsky's 'Sculpting in Time' (20'20'')!

Recorded  on 23 April 2019.

Website: https://gordanazikic.wordpress.com/
Instagram: @belgrade_artist_in_residence

Interview with Gordana Zikic, Serbian artist and founder of Belgrade AIR (April 2019, Belgrade)

David Pujado is from Barcelona but fell in love with Belgrade, its brutalist architecture and creative vibe, and made it his home. Here he opened a small photography dedicated gallery, then started the Serbia's first international photography festival, Belgrade Photo Month.

I set with him at KC Magacin to talk about how it all started, what type of photography he personally likes, what other art forms inspire him, and what is the role of silence in his art and life. 

Recorded at KC Magacin on 9th May 2019, as part of my residency with Belgrade AIR.

Interview with David Pujado, Founder and Director of Belgrade Photo Month (May 2019, Belgrade)

Marija Bjekic's work explores and references the 20th century utopias, the position of working class, and the architectural structures that govern the behaviour, until they collapse.

We met to discuss her hyperrealist drawings combined with  the geometric, almost grid like forms inspired by Russian Constructivism and Bauhaus.

"This forms are in very sensitive fragile uncertain balance. Human figures are balancing on them, or holding them, or building from them."

You can read more about her work here: https://cargocollective.com/marijabjekic

Or follow her on Instagram: @mma_ki

Interview with Serbian artist Marija Bjekic (April 2019, Belgrade)

UK artist Genevieve Leavold paints fluid, abstract forms inspired by microbiological and mycological shapes and colours. In this podcast, recorded in her studio in Belgrade, she tells me how she learned to value essence over perfection, why she thinks we should celebrate trees more than old paintings, and what role trust plays in her work. 

Check her work here: https://www.genevieveleavold.com 
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/genevieveleavoldartist/ 
And Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/genevieveleavold/

Interview with artist Genevieve Leavold (May 2019, Belgrade)

Goran Rister was one of the group of young artists who in June 2015 came across an abandoned building in the central Belgrade. It turned out that the building was a former workshop for the repairing of the music instruments of SFRJ army orchestra. Left to rot, the building was a treasure trove of historical objects and documents, an archive that Rister turned into a Kvaka museum, a place for reflection on the relation to the cultural heritage, what we choose to keep, what to discard.

"Kvaka 22" is also an artist run space dedicated to innovative and experimental art practices, international collaboration and general support for young artists and curators. It hosts exhibitions, concerts, performances, film screenings, talks, residencies, and more.

Check it out here: http://kvaka22.com/
Here: https://www.instagram.com/kvaka22_catch22/
Or here: https://www.facebook.com/artspacekvaka22/

Interview with Goran Rister from Kvaka 22 (May 2019, Belgrade)

In this episode of DANCE CINEMA we speak to Gemma Riggs, a London-based artist and filmmaker whose dance video YOU MOVE ME  is "a call to observe and examine our everyday movements with a detailed eye".
 
In this podcast, Gemma talks about the origins of the idea behind YOU MOVE ME, how she went about finding and rehearsing with the participants, and what function does the multi-screen grid form play in the work. We also speak about some of the philosophical concepts that emerged through the making of the project such as the question whether there is a choice to our movements or whether they are conditioned or orchestrated is some way.

YOU MOVE ME will be screened on www.dancecinema.org/ from 15 June to 15 July 2019. To view YOU MOVE ME and for the full transcript of this interview head to www.dancecinema.org/you-move-me.html
Recorded in Zagreb, Croatia on 26 May 2019.

Interview by Ira Ferris
DANCE CINEMA jingle designed by @trevorbrownmusic
For more information:
www.dancecinema.org/

“Here’s to us all being dancers, in every moment, in every day.” -  GEMMA RIGGS

DANCE CINEMA: Gemma Riggs 'YOU MOVE ME' (May 2019, Zagreb)

In this episode of DANCE CINEMA we speak to Olga Uzikaeva, a Russian dancer and choreographer interested in site specific, improvised performances and inter-disciplinary collaborations. 

We met in Belgrade, Serbia to talk about the dance video XX filmed through her collaboration with German sound artist and filmmaker Thea Soti. 

In this podcast, Olga speaks about how she branched from dancing on stage to dancing on screen, the collaboration with Thea, development of particular scenes in the video, effect that different locations had on her movement, the role of stillness in her dance practice, what makes a good and pleasurable collaboration, and how has dancing on screen made her stage performances freer. 

XX will be screened on www.dancecinema.org/ from 1 September to 1 October 2019. To view XX and for the full transcript of this interview head to www.dancecinema.org/you-move-me.html
Recorded in Belgrade, Serbia on 5 May 2019.

Interview by Ira Ferris
DANCE CINEMA jingle designed by @trevorbrownmusic
For more information:
www.dancecinema.org/

DANCE CINEMA: Olga Uzikaeva (May 2019, Belgrade)

Conversation with Swedish artist Fanny Hellgren whose works explore the properties and agencies of materials - be it paper, concrete, cloth, or water - and the way they transform when exposed to the elements such as sun or time. 

In this podcast recorded in Belgrade, Serbia where Fanny was on an artist residency, we delve deeper into Fanny’s interest in materiality and in-between spaces, the process and methodology of making works, her preferred ways of exhibiting them, and what role patience plays in both making and viewing art.

Fanny's website: http://www.fannyhellgren.se/

Jingle designed by @trevorbrownmusic

Conversation with artist Fanny Hellgren (May 2019, Belgrade)

In this episode of DANCE CINEMA we speak to Sandra Sterle, a Croatian artist, filmmaker, and university lecturer whose dance video THE FORTRESS OF UTOPIA sits somewhere in between the nostalgia for socialist past and perspectives of future.

In this podcast, Sandra talks about her experimental approach to filmmaking,  interest in variety of performative expressions, the function of absurdism in her work, and why she was interested in presenting THE FORTRESS OF UTOPIA not only as a film but also as a multi-channel video installation.

THE FORTRESS OF UTOPIA will be screened on www.dancecinema.org/ from 15.7. to 15.8.  2019. To view THE FORTRESS OF UTOPIA and for the full transcript of this interview head to https://www.dancecinema.org/the-fortress-of-utopia.html


Recorded in Zagreb, Croatia on 4 June 2019.
Interview by Ira Ferris
DANCE CINEMA jingle designed by @trevorbrownmusic
For more information:
www.dancecinema.org/

DANCE CINEMA: Sandra Sterle 'THE FORTRESS OF UTOPIA' (June 2019, Zagreb)

In this episode of DANCE CINEMA we speak to Ana Marija Marinov, Croatia-born and Berlin-based filmmaker whose dance film Cycle RE was made during a two-week Summer Media Studio in Lithuania. A tribute to Maya Deren, Cycle RE is led by the idea that nothing is truly original and everything is a part of a growing spiral of adaptation.
 
In this podcast, Ana Marija takes us through the journey of the film's development, traces the presence of Maya Daren’s filmic forms, and reflects on the importance and the benefit of having mentors to help you clarify and stay true to your central visions and ideas.

CYCLE RE will be screened on www.dancecinema.org/ from 1 July to 1 August 2019. To view CYCLE RE  and for the full transcript of this interview head to https://www.dancecinema.org/cycle-re.html

Recorded in Zagreb, Croatia on 5 June 2019.
Interview by Ira Ferris
DANCE CINEMA jingle designed by @trevorbrownmusic
For more information:
www.dancecinema.org/

DANCE CINEMA: Ana Marija Marinov 'CYCLE RE' (June 2019, Zagreb)

In this episode of DANCE CINEMA we speak to Laura Cappellesso, editor of dance film MARMO, shot in Tuscany and inspired by the vision of Italian sculptor Michelangelo Buonarroti. 

Envisioned and directed by Nancy Allison and with choreography of Laura Boato, MARMO contemplates the emergence of a work of art out of a raw material such as a block of stone, or in the case of a film, out of many hours of film rushes each having a numberless creative paths one could follow. 

In this podcast, MARMO’s editor Laura Cappellesso takes us through the journey of making the film as we consider the similarity between sculpting and editing and the idea of ‘setting the work of art free’. 

  Laura also speaks about her approach to to haptic visuality and why she felt it necessary to emphasise polarities between matter and spirit - solidity of marble and fluidity of moving bodies.

MARMO will be screened on www.dancecinema.org from 15.8. to 15.9. 2019. To view MARMO and for the full transcript of this interview head to www.dancecinema.org/marmo.html

Recorded in Venice, Italy on 9 July 2019.
Interview by Ira Ferris
DANCE CINEMA jingle designed by @trevorbrownmusic
Includes MUSIC BY Bottega Balthazar @piccola-bottega-baltazar
For more information:
www.dancecinema.org/

DANCE CINEMA: Laura Cappellesso 'MARMO' (July 2019, Venice)

In this episode of DANCE CINEMA we speak to Anja Dimitrijevic, Belgrade-born and Venice-based theatre and film maker whose dance video VALLE DELLE SFINGI was inspired by the mystical zoomorphic rocks discovered in the northern part of Italy.

In this podcast Anja speaks about how these zoomorphic rocks inspired the choreography, how the choice of sound communicated the idea of extension of time and why, although she comes from a theatre background, she finds interest in non-narrative structures that privilege abstraction and intuitive level of perception, drawing inspiration from theatre maker Robert Wilson who says: “I don’t want to tell stories but draw stories.”

VALLE DELLE SFINGI will be screened on www.dancecinema.org from 15.9. to 15.10. 2019. To view VALLE DELLE SFINGI and for the full transcript of this interview head to www.dancecinema.org/valle-delle-sfingi.html

Recorded in Venice, Italy on 15 July 2019.
Interview by Ira Ferris
DANCE CINEMA jingle designed by @trevorbrownmusic
Includes MUSIC BY Emanuele Zampieri
For more information:
www.dancecinema.org/

DANCE CINEMA: Anja Dimitrijevic 'VALLE DELLE SFINGI' (July 2019, Venice)

In this episode of DANCE CINEMA we speak to Slovenia film director and editor, Sašo Podgoršek who together with world-renowned choreographer Iztok Kovač  created a stunning dance film "Vašhava", performed by the international dance company EnKnapGroup.

Divided in three sequences, "Vašhava" starts with François Truffaut inspired scene, more precisely his Fahrenheit 451 movie where government forbids reading of books. We finish with a melancholic farewell scene, the filmmakers' homage to the industrial town Trbolje which was undergoing radical transformation as the film was being shot.

In the podcast recorded in Pula, Croatia in July 2019, Sašo talks to Dance Cinema co-Curator Ira Ferris and reveals:
- why the film was shot in this particular location
- what is the meaning of the word 'vašhava' and what are the hanging bowls that the dancers dance with in the space
- what is the narrative function and the inspiration between the four minute long tracking shot on a dancer making strange facial expressions
- how was the soundtrack developed,

and more....

"Vašhava" will be screened on www.dancecinema.org from 1.10. to 1.11. 2019. To view "Vašhava" and for the full transcript of this interview head to www.dancecinema.org/vashava.html

Recorded in Pula, Croatia on 19 July 2019.
Interview by Ira Ferris
DANCE CINEMA jingle designed by @trevorbrownmusic
Includes MUSIC BY Charo Calvo & Miquel Casaponsa
For more information:
www.dancecinema.org/

DANCE CINEMA: Sašo Podgoršek 'Vašhava' (July 2019, Pula)

This Artemis Projects podcast is with China-born, Berlin-based dancer, choreographer, painter, musician, and video artist Dan Su, with whom I met in Berlin to talk about her experimental dance video "Wood in Mood" in which she explores the transformation of one form into another, and allows for the energy of the environment to inform her movements. 

We speak about the influence her background in painting has on her editing choices, her holistic approach to nature, and how dancing on screen and on variety of sites, inspired the new approach to dancing on stage. 

To view "Wood in Mood" see: https://vimeo.com/267398713
For more about Dan Su see: https://www.dancesu.com/
Follow her on instagram: @serdanly

Music track used is extracted from "Wood in Mood" soundtrack by Manuel Carbone (Cravune).

This podcast was recorded on 24 July 2019 in Berlin, Germany.

Conversation with dancer and filmmaker Dan Su on 'Wood in Mood' (July 2019, Berlin)

In this episode of DANCE CINEMA we speak to Australian artist Lux Eterna about her butoh and bodyweather inspired dance film AURA NOX ANIMA shot in the dunes of Anna Bay in Port Stephens, Australia. 

Through the use of slow pace and wide shots, AURA NOX ANIMA brings us back to our bodies, reawakens the awareness of our susceptivity to the natural order, and encourages contemplation of the cyclical nature of life where decay and renewal superimpose to create a liminal place of passage into something yet foreign and new. 

In this podcast Lux talks to Dance Cinema co-Curator Ira Ferris about:
- the origin of the idea to make AURA NOX ANIMA
- the way that the dancers responded to the location
- how the film relates to haptic visuality and embodied / non-voyeuristic gaze
- why editing of the film felt magical

and more....

"AURA NOX ANIMA" will be screened on www.dancecinema.org from 15.10. to 15.11. 2019. To view "AURA NOX ANIMA" and for the full transcript of this interview head to www.dancecinema.org/aura-nox-anima.html

Recorded in Sydney, Australia on 30 September 2019.
Interview by Ira Ferris
DANCE CINEMA jingle designed by @trevorbrownmusic
Includes soundtrack from the film: soundscape by Lux Eterna and 'Overlands' by Moby
For more information: www.dancecinema.org

DANCE CINEMA: Lux Eterna 'AURA NOX ANIMA' (September 2019, Sydney)

This Artemis Projects podcast is with Swedish artist Fanny Hellgren whom I called over Skype to talk about her series of works 'Withering Postures' exhibited at the Nevven gallery in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Made of paper-pulps and transformed into a large-scale wall-tapestries, 'Withering Postures' bring attention to commonly discarded materials, making us rethink what can be of value and what can be beautiful.  

Always left in the state of changeability and often in the state of impermanence, Hellgren’s works bring attention to time, pointing to the fragility of all matter and reminding us, the viewers, of our own materiality. 

In this podcast, Hellgren talks about the inspiration behind her working methodology, the question of archiving the impermanent works, concept of alchemy, and how she tries to defy the rules of gravity. 

We also address Oscar Wild’s statement that “all art is quite useless” and Agnes Martin’s that “Art is the concrete representation of our most subtle feelings.”

The podcast features sounds from Fanny's studio and short snippets of music from album PERSEVERANTIA by Danielle de Picciotto and Alexander Hacke (I don't own rights to this music). 

This podcast was produced on the Gadigal land of Eora nation, traditional custodians of the land. We pay our respect to their elders – past, present, and emerging.

Thank you for listening to Artemis Projects podcast. For more about our projects see www.artemisprojects.com.au

Fanny Hellgren's website: www.fannyhellgren.se/

Artemis Projects' text for the exhibition catalogue: https://www.artemisprojects.com.au/fanny-hellgren-withering-postures

Conversation with artist Fanny Hellgren (Dec 2019, Sydney/Gothenburg via Skype)

PODCAST-CONVERSATIONS with artists and art theorists, from visual to performing arts, discussing conceptual frameworks and philosophical outlooks. Also some SOUND-COLLAGES, assembled together on variety of themes, such as: sleep, silence, intuition, collaboration, failure, and more. 

Available via iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/artemis-projects/id1462300886

PRODUCER & HOST: Ira Ferris (https://www.artemisprojects.com.au/projects-ira-ferris)