Tia Čiček / Andrej Beštak & Anja Leko
Curator / Artists in Residence May–June 2024, Slovenia / Coratia /
© Sara Rman // © Aleksandar Selak
Tia Čiček
Tia Čiček holds an MA in Art History from the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana. They worked as a curator and producer of contemporary art in various spaces such as the Centre for Urban Culture Kino Šiška (Ljubljana) and DobraVaga (Ljubljana), and have been the artistic director of the Škuc Gallery (Ljubljana) since January 2020. From July 2022, they have been co-leading the World of Art School for Curatorial Practices and Critical Writing at SCCA-Ljubljana, Slovenia. In 2018, they attended the course at the International Summer Academy of Fine Arts in Salzburg, Thinking with works of art led by Ruth Noack and Grace Samboh, and finished the curatorial programme at the World of Art School for Curatorial Practices and Critical Writing. Their main interests lie in work theory and ethics of care, through which they try to rethink conventional exhibition-making and contemporary art production. They are a part of the curatorial conversation platform bad curating inc.
STATEMENT
During their residency at the MQ, Tia Čiček is reflecting on ongoing projects through a caring and nurturing approach. They wish to immerse themselves in a conducive environment for curatorial practice, using provided accommodations and funds as a foundation for focused work. This period allows Tia to engage with projects and reflect on her curatorial journey, gaining clarity amidst Vienna's cultural hub. Recognizing the residency's intrinsic value for rest and rejuvenation, she balances the cityscape's vibrancy with serene countryside surroundings. Beyond the professional realm, Tia values personal growth, aiming to foster connections and collaborations within Vienna's arts scene and viewing the residency as an entangled experience, recharging creatively and contributing to the international arts community.
Andrej Beštak & Anja Leko
Andrej Beštak and Anja Leko are an artist duo from Croatia, working together since 2020 in the field of experimental visual art practices, combining installations, performances, CGI, and video works. They consider themselves storytellers in space using visual language and sounds rather than words to create an emotional dialog between artwork and the audience. Finding inspiration from their private lives or random information theory stumble upon, Andrej and Anja create stories that delve into instinctual, intuitive, and spiritual dimensions.
STATEMENT
For the residency period we will explore the historical context and impact of rave phenomena. Transformative elements of dance in large groups and impact of the specific subculture on contemporary sense of body and body in relations to community.
The goal of the time spent in MQ residency is to create a digital personality, avatar-like entity that serves as a polygon for visitors to explore and experience trance-like sensations in the controlled space combining sound, video performance and VR experience created in Blender and Unity softwares.
We draw the correlation between rave culture and shamanic ritual practices and how rhythm, lights and community can create an environment characteristic of spiritual experience.
Our research would focus on elaborating and isolating sensations within the rave experience that are parallel to some of the spiritual outcomes such as the feeling of euphoria, time distortion or sense of unity all leading to altered states of consciousness.
For this project we are interested in finding a way of creating a space that serves as an alternative to broken religious institutions and purely hedonistic club culture. Freed from any ideology or cultural influence, focusing on bodily experience.
Some examples of creating such an experience are movement meditation in traditional Chinese medicine such as Tai Chi, Qi Gong, Liu Zi Jue, Marina Abramovic work ‘’Freeing the Body’’ (1976), Japanese Dance of Darkness.
External Links
Instagram
@tiacicek
@andrej4x4
@bbycore.hr