phil|cult|art RESIDENCY II
rahmung / framing
Frederik Rzewski, Little Bangs: A Nihilist Theory of Improvisation, 2017
the world is constantly changing. and time is teaching us that there is nothing to be taken for granted. what seems to be stable in one moment can collapse in the next and what we have now may be gone tomorrow.
when our surroundings become unstable, when we lose the solid ground beneath our feet, when we realize: we are falling – there is no stopping, neither is there time nor chance to turn back. in this case, the most reasonable focus seems to be: staying confident and comfortable as we are falling.
and that is something to be practiced: it’s not about learning to adapt, but about staying fine within the process of change and being aware of its (new) possibilities.
„Improvisation tells us: Anything is possible
– anything can be changed – now.“
in that sense we will focus on the skill of improvisation. improvisation, as it is often used as a tool in artistic practices, can be trained and applied to every-day-situations in one’s personal life as well as to the fragile constructions of society. being aware of its potential opens up opportunities to make change actively happen.
„It can function as a kind of abstract laboratory in which experimental forms of communication can be tried without risk of damage to persons.“
the improviser’s natural state is one of uncertainty, the professional improviser listens carefully to his/her surroundings and trusts – based on experience – that the outcome will be good.
therefore, in the second edition of our laboratory phil|cult|art residency, we will elaborate – how to practice and how to achieve –
ground_-.ing through improvisation ?*
Only at the cost of losing the basis of all my certainties can I question what is conveyed to me by my presence to myself.
– Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Phenomenology of Perception, 1945
*the process is the outcome
the question will evolve
RESIDENCY PARTICIPANTS 2023
Vanja Dabić
is a pianist from Belgrade, Serbia. In her musical practice, she explores the wide variety of musical forms, from dense repetitions of organs to the echoing soundscapes, often times seemingly void of a tonal base. In her works she mainly uses keyboard instruments, but also several traditional instruments played in an unorthodox way. She performed actively as a member of the Tse-tse Fly Middle East Collective (DBX), Kino Pleme (SRB), and often collaborates with artists who treat sound as a vehicle for exploration and spiritual connection to both the outer space and inner worlds.
Giulia Fassone
is an Italian artist based in London. She has an interdisciplinary background in Philosophy, Art History and Cultural Studies, developing her fine art practice on her own terms. Her practice encompasses sculptural ceramics, painting and poetry. Giulia also works as an educator, a chef and a gardener. These jobs or ‘side hustles’ are crucial to her practice, which seeks a synthesis and a balance between all these aspects of her experience. Her works display an experimental and conceptual approach, often expressing a critical yet humorous stance on contemporary neo-capitalist reality.
Marianna Karava
is an artist & educator from Greece. Her artistic practice ranges from contemporary dance and performance to poetry and books. Her academic studies include a BA Degree in Biology and a BA Degree in Contemporary Dance. She is a certified Yoga instructor. Her teaching experience includes movement related classes and workshops. As a dance artist she is mainly interested in the practice of dance improvisation and instant composition on stage. As a book artist she is interested in practices related to books as art objects. She has published two art-books as self-publications.
Ingrid Helena Pajo + Eugenio Marini
Ingrid Helena Pajo is an artist who explores textiles through collecting and weaving. Found materials are an integral part of this discovery, highlighting the importance of the journey and the process. She is fascinated by the potential of material arts to reflect the experience of human life. In 2021, Pajo graduated Estonian Art Academy Textiles MA.
Eugenio Marini works in the media of sculpture and installation using found objects and materials. He has studied sculpture at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma and worked with several artists in Italy and abroad. He resides alternately in Estonia, Italy and Greece. Since 2021, he has been cooperating with DOKK Art Center.
Mane Petrosyan
is an Armenian jewelry artist based in Yerevan. She believes that jewelry originates in the human body and is meant to complement it in the most natural way. An integral part of the concept of her work is to always try to speak in the language of the material that she works with and to get the best out of it, be it metal, paper, plastic or else. She is interested in developing her future designs while being inspired by Armenian culture in order to connect young generations with their heritage in every day life and to tell the world about her culture through her work.
[due to visa restrictions Mane will join this year’s residency from the distance]
insta
CONTRIBUTORS & GUESTS
Jovana Štikovac
born 1997 in Belgrade and currently living in Barcelona, Spain, doing a PhD in Humanities in the University of Pompeu Fabra. She holds a BA and a MA in painting form the University of Arts in Belgrade, the Faculty of Applied Arts. Apart from painting, she has been doing photography, graphic design and music production. Lately, she created her own knitting brand piqe studio.
Jovana has participated in the first edition of GRUND residency. This year she will be present as creative assistent.
Carlo Sella
(he/they) is a theatre actor, director, and educator. He is currently working at the intersection of art, activism, and political theatre. With the ShiftSlow association, he organizes artistic residencies and courses focused on the theme of degrowth and community e.g. Alt Shift Festival. His most recent individual creation is an interactive monologue in a cabaret-style format, exploring the social and environmental struggles stemming from the global waste trade.
Carlo has participated in the first edition of GRUND residency. This year he will hold a workshop on improvisation.
Workshop at GRUND: „Cross and Delight – A Story Telling from the Senses“
SA, Aug 5th + MO, Aug 7th 2023, 16-19 pm
Our only way to access reality is through our senses, and we continuously reveal and obscure information from the world in order to survive. At the heart of this facilitated space is a collective exploration of what insights we can gather from our senses and which stories emerge from them. The object of this research is the space of GRUND at the specific moment of the residency, considered both in its physical and social dimensions. The objective of the activity is to provide a ground for inspiration, trust and awareness to flourish during the residency.
Giulia Ravarotto
I’m a dancer, I love to transform places in spaces. I started dancing when I was a child and then the drawing came out in support of the dance. Lately poetry came in support of the two. People and nature, still or in movement, they inspire me a lot. I love to be simple and I love to create connections. I love to dance in Urban spaces. I love stories and I love to not say all.
Giulia has participated in the first edition of GRUND residency. This year she will hold a workshop on somatic bodywork.
Dance Performance „Tender and Concrete“
FR, Aug 4th (around 5pm)
The first dialogue between each other
Different frames of different textures
Concrete and tender at the same time
and always us
Workshop at GRUND: „From Bodywork to Movement“
SA, Aug 5th (10:30-12:30 am)
We are constantly falling and constantly supported. In this exchange we will explore our ways to have an easy and clear access to the support of the ground, in order to go directly into the action and to taste the poetry of our dances. Some bodywork will sustain us during the process.
Dimitrije Ivančić
is a graduate student at the Translational Synthetic Biology lab at UPF university in Barcelona, where he develops CRISPR based viral for therapeutic purposes, and explores uses of DNA as creative media.
Workshop at GRUND: „Building a Microcosm„
SO, Aug 13th (5-7 pm)
Winogradsky pioneered containerisation of microbial life as a tool for exploring organization of microbial societies. In the workshop, we captured microbial life in a bottle. This microbial life will organize and interact, driven by sun light energy, to create a living media that will keep transforming with time.
Vera Gsenger
is a singer and songwriter, guitarist, electric bassist and violinist. Her alchemical style of transforming emotions into music was shaped by her stays abroad. Thus, different cultures from Paraguay to the USA, Ireland, England and Spain take influence in her songs.
With her music, which could be described as „jazz-folk“, she wants to convey original sounds, whistling tones and whooshing rhythms.
YouTube | Spotify | insta | web
live at GRUND: FR, Aug 4th, 2023
Zhe Pechorin
tends to create an introspective sonic journey through the landscapes of our inner depths. By experimenting with the elements of ambient, moving rythms, industrial and noise she focuses on translating the emotional complexity into an energetic experience that has a liberating and healing power. Using analog synthesizer, microphone, field recordings and software, the artist demonstrates a variety of sounds in her live acts as well as several collaborations with artists who practice video art, performance, theater and more.
SoundCloud | bandcamp | insta
live at GRUND: FR, Aug 11th, 2023
Gummimamba
Nobody knows exactly what will happen that evening. Only one thing is certain: it will be impetuous. Martin Ohrwalder plays the trumpet par excellence, Lukas Laimert the drum set and Philipp Ossanna works the electric guitar. The trio plays freely, creating a joint improvisational work.
live at GRUND: FR, Aug 18th, 2023
Halal Hardcore
a Viennese experimental guitar and synthesizer duo combining ethereal downtempo beats with heavy basslines and a rippling processed guitar sound.
Genre: Tech No Wave
YouTube | SoundCloud | insta
live at GRUND: FR, Aug 25th, 2023
how
we invited emerging artists / researchers / philosophical thinkers (all disciplines) to join our curated phil|cult|art residency
– to take part in guided philosophical discussions and workshops related to the frame topic
– to go on phenomenological excursions and connect with other artists and the local community
– to collectively experiment „practicing space“ with us together in an artistic commune atmosphere
when/where
the residency took place from July 31st – August 27th 2023
in a historical farmer’s building, located in the center of a Tyrolean countryside-village (30km from Innsbruck), surrounded by a garden, forests and the alps
questions? home@grund1535.com
LITERATURE
[selection]
I Ching : The Book of Changes, 1000-750 BCE, translated by Richard Wilhelm/Cary Baynes, 1950.
Andra McCartney, „How am I to Listen to You?“ Soundwalking, Intimacy, and Improvised Listening, in: Negotiated Moments : Improvisation, Community, and Social Practice, hg.: Gillian Siddall, Duke University Press, 2016.
Byung-Chul Han, The Disappearance of Rituals: A Topology of the Present, Polity Press, 2020.
Frederic Rzewski, Little Bangs. Towards a Nihilist Theory of Improvisation, Columbia University, 2017.
Gary Peters, Improvising Improvisation : From out of Philosophy, Music, Dance, and Literature, The University of Chicago Press, 2017.
Heraclitus of Ephesus, Fragments, 500 BCE, translated by Brooks Haxton, Penguin Classics, 2003.
Johan Huizinga, Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-Element in Culture, Angelico Press, 2016.
Kenkô and Chômei, Essays in Idleness: and Hojoki, 1244/1431, translated by Meredith McKinney, Penguin Classics, 2013.
Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Phenomenology of Perception, 1945, translated by Colin Smith, Routledge Classics, 2002.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow : The Psychology of Optimal Experience, HarperCollins, 1990.
Mikko Salmela, “Joint Improvisation as Interaction Ritual”, in: Susanne Ravn u.a. (Hg.) Philosophy of Improvisation : Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Theory and Practice, Routledge, 2021.
Suzuki Tadashi. Culture Is the Body, translated by Kameron H. Steele, Theatre Communications Group, 2015.
Tracy McMullen and Judith Butler, „Improvisation within a Scene of Constraint : An Interview with Judith Butler“, in: Negotiated Moments : Improvisation, Community, and Social Practice, hg.: Gillian Siddall, Duke University Press, 2016.
Wendelin Küpers, Phenomenology of the Embodied Organization, Palgrave MacMillan, 2015.
Wolff-Michael Roth, First-Person Methods : Toward an Empirical Phenomenology of Experience, Sense Publishers, 2012.
–On flows the river ceaselessly, nor does its water ever stay the same. The bubbles that float upon its pools now disappear, now form anew, but never endure long. And so it is with people in this world, and with their dwellings.
– Kenkô and Chômei, Essays in Idleness: and Hojoki, 1244/1437.
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GRUNDlos | pics: Jovana Štikovac / design: GRUND1535
funded, supported and inspired by:
[Gefördert durch das Land Tirol im Rahmen von TKI open]
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