ARTISTIC RESEARCH- Process
DAY 4- HENIE ONSTAD EXHIBITION- 23.11
‘The feeling of how responsible you are, about what you are doing when you are an artist, how difficult this way is, and how much you should control yourself in everything you are doing. And how responsible you are also towards the society, when you have chosen to be an artist. ‘
- ‘The Abakans...’ she stated, ‘... were my escape from categories in art, they could not be classified. Larger than me, they were safe like the hollow trunk of the old willow I could enter as a child in search of hidden secrets’
- ‘I always design the exhibitions in a special way depending on the space I have at my disposal, could you please invite me for some days at your center. After the Malmø opening I really need to know the conditions that my works will have there’. The works have life in a way then, if they need special conditions ?
- ‘We live in times which are extraordinary because of their various forms of aggression. Today new danger exists around us as if everyone were against everyone. Agora should become a symbol, a metaphor about this particular historical moment in which we need each other, in which we want to rely on each other more than ever’ (THIS!!! link to my art practice)
- about sites of contemplation: ‘the artist embarks on a series of major public sculptures and commissions around the world. She responds to the landscape and historical makeup of each individual site, varying her forms and choices of materials accordingly’.
- ‘With my exhibitions around the world, I wanted to make people aware that my captive country still has a high level old culture contributing to the world heritage, and is at the same time able to speak about the recent reality with the very personal and powerful voice of modern art... I travelled probably more than any other artist. That important was the dialogue with the whole world.’
- about her first solo show in the USA at the Pasadena museum: the larger exhibition space grants Abakanowicz the opportunity to experiment with the placing of her works, in relation to each other and to the gallery itself. She also incorporates found objects- such as a large piece of rope procurred from the local harbour.
- look into the autobiographical prose poem Portrait x20 ! (narrates her childhood experiences, including her early relationship with nature and the hardship suffered during WW2).
- Abakanowicz begins to envision her works not as discrete objects but rather as environments formed within a given space.
- the work with fibre was instrinsically linked to the way natural, living entities, such as plants, leaves and ourselves, grow and function (...) she explained how she found natural materials and prepared them at home in Warsaw ‘Along the vistula river one could find old, discarded ropes. They had their own history. They became my material. I pulled out thread, washed and dyed them on our gas stove’.
see rest of transcript of recordings here.