Video Conversations

Thursday October 23, 2014
6:30 pm Free and open to the public
The Master of Arts degree in Curatorial Practice (MACP)
School of Visual Arts
132 West 21st street, 10th floor
New York, NY 10010

Residency Unlimited is delighted to announce the launch of a partnership with The Master of Arts degree in Curatorial Practice at School of Visual Arts (SVA). The inaugural program “Video Conversations” features a screening of films and videos by RU artists Ana Bilankov, Franck Lesbros and Rodrigo Imaz. In discussion with RU resident curator Isin Önol each artist presents their individual practice and methodologies of contemporary video and film making, process and strategies employed.

Residency Unlimited, “Video Conversations” at SVA MA Curatorial Practice, – October 23, 2014 from SVA Curatorial Practice on Vimeo.

A screening of films and videos by Ana Bilankov, Franck Lesbros and Rodrigo Imaz followed by a conversation about processes and strategies in contemporary video and filmmaking, moderated by curator Isin Önol. Presented by SVA MA Curatorial Practice in partnership with Residency Unlimited.

Ana Bilankov explores the poetics and politics of dislocation, migration, nomadism, no-places and construction of identity within “in-between-ness.” Throughout her life, she has had to move between places and languages geographically, culturally and psychologically. Her new video, set in the postindustrial landscape of New York City, evokes traveling through time and space, somewhere between a utopian and a distopian vision of the future.

Franck Lesbros works with video, installation and sculpture, constructing models that are activated as puppets for video shoots. They become the main protagonists of disturbing atmospheric action, backed by precise editing.

In his documentary film Juan Perros, Rodrigo Imaz evokes the real meanings of life in its complex interaction of will, humility, crime, greed, nature and loneliness. Imaz’s project is a tribute to the life of Juan Perros, an recluse who lives in a desert of detritus in North Mexico and his daily struggles with the forces of nature.

Video by Kate Harding.

Ana Bilankov’s ’s main themes of investigation are poetics/politics of dislocation, migration, nomadism, no-places and construction of identity within “in-between-ness.” Throughout her life, she has had to move between places and languages geographically, culturally and psychologically. Her new video set in postindustrial landscape of NYC evokes traveling through time and space, somewhere between utopian/distopian vision of the future.

Franck Lesbros develops videos, yet in some ways, one could say that his work is a hybrid between installation and sculpture. His works take as point of departure ingenious models that he constructs and activates as puppets for the shoot. They become the main protagonists of an “atmospheric” disturbing action, backed by precise editing undertaken by the artist.

In his documentary film Juan Perro, Rodrigo Imaz evokes the real meanings of life in its complex interaction of will, humility, crime, greed, nature and loneliness. Imaz’s project is a tribute to the life of Juan Perros, a recluse who lives in a desert of detritus in North Mexico and his daily struggles with the forces of nature.

With grateful thanks to the following sponsors for supporting the artists’ residencies: Berlin Senate Cultural Affairs Department and HAVC, Croatian Audiovisual Center; AtelieR National and Galerie IFF (Marseille), FONCA (Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes,Fonca), Mexico and to the Mexican film fund IMCINE for film production support for Juan Perros.
This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

The Master of Arts degree in Curatorial Practice (MACP) at School for Visual Arts is a two-year, 50-credit professional training program that addresses the exponential growth of curatorial venues worldwide and the ongoing establishment of curatorial practice as a discipline. The program emphasizes hands-on training with working professionals, a thorough grounding in history and theory, and attention to curatorial work across the visual arts, design, film, new media, performance and research-based cultural production.

Ana Bilankov’s (Croatia/ Germany) works have been shown internationally including venues such as Kino Siska (Ljubljana, 2014); Collegium Hungaricum Berlin and Media Art Fair Essen (2013); 29. Kassel Documentary Film and Video Festival (2012); Museum of Contemporary Art (Zagreb, 2012); Kino Arsenal (Berlin, 2011); Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Rijeka, 2009); 1st Moscow Biennale, Museum of Contemporary Art Moscow (2005).

Franck Lesbros (France) has shown his work internationally including Germany, Uruguay, Bulgaria, Portugal, USA, Czech Republic. He was recently selected as a finalist for the Show Room section at the Art-O-Rama Art Fair in Marseille, France. His work has been acquired by the permanent collection of the FCAC (Fond Communal Art Contemporain) and FRAC PACA.

Rodrigo Imaz’ work is currently featured at MARCO Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey, Mexico. His solo shows in Mexico include “Haciendo Agua” (2012),”Proyecto Invisible” (2012),”Parvada” (2011), “Cefalópodo” (2010), “Ya no llueve” (2009), “Sombra de la sombra” (2007). He is represented by Distrito 14 in Mexico City and is in the permanent collections of Francis Greenberger, New York and Renaissance Arts Space Museum, New York.

Isin Önol (1977, Turkey) is a curator based in Vienna (Austria). She is a PhD Candidate at the Department of Cultural Studies, University of Applied Arts, Vienna. She has worked as the project manager/director and curator of Proje4L/Elgiz Museum of Contemporary Art, Istanbul from 2006 to 2009. Önol has curated the following exhibitions this year: MOBILIZING MEMORY: WOMEN WITNESSING, Depo, Istanbul; Clusters & Crystals: Observing at Point Zero, 5th Sinopale Biennale, Turkey; Electrickle, Schauraum Angewandte, Vienna; The Unknown Unknowns, Oben, Vienna; Learned Helplessness: On Authority, Obedience, and Control, Muse Istanbul, Turkey; Open Systems 1-01-04/13, GPL Contemporary, Vienna; Inattentional Blindness, Galeri Zilberman, Istanbul.

Photo Documentation: