Next month I’ll work on a new project with CYENS Centre of Excellence in Cyprus. This project will leverage innovative Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies, developed in partnership with the Learning Agents and Robots (LEAR) during a residency with CYENS Centre of Excellence in Cyprus (Nov-Dec 2023).

The final work will be an immersive and surreal 15-minute VR experience where audiences can engage in and co-create the non-linear narrative. This blending and layering of multiple narrative paths will be used deliberately as a way to transcend static historical interpretations, allowing the audience to navigate between multiple ‘truths.’

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The program is curated by Dr. Ellada Evangelou. The project is coordinated by Dr. Theopisti Stylianou-Lambert & Kleanthis Neocleous, in collaboration with CYENS Thinker Maker Space.

View CYENS website

Myself, alongside collaborator Luke Conroy, have been selected for a new research and creation project titled 'Better Images of AI'. This project will be undertaken during October and November 2023.

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The premise of the project is the proposition that current stock images are outdated and misleading, shaping unrealistic narratives. Search for images of ‘artificial intelligence’ and you'll find photos of shiny humanoid robots, glowing blue brains, or the Terminator. These images are used in news stories, blog posts, opinion articles, lectures and press releases – all the place we turn to learn about AI and machine learning

 
AI4Media teams up with Better Images of AI and AIxDESIGN to commission 3 artists to re-imagine together a better visual language for AI. Our goal is to add new images to the public discourse so we can begin to use a more representative visual language for AI. At project end, we will publish free-to-use stock images in the Better Images of AI library that avoid perpetuating unhelpful myths about AI.

I'm happy to announce that my film, "Unfolding," will be screened during the 2023 Taiwan International Video Art Exhibition (TIVA) at the Hong-Gah Museum in Taipei (Taiwan). Immersing in the theme “Living Togetherness,” the exhibition delves into the profound nature of “care” and the bonds shared between humans and the environment.

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Guided by the visionary curation of HSU Shih-Yu and Zoe Chia-Jung YEH, this year's showcase prompts us to reflect on our interconnectedness with the world.

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The exhibition runs from Nov. 4, 2023, to Jan. 28, 2024.

Opening: Sunday August 27 2023 - 6 PM
Location: Via Roma, 85035 Noepoli PZ, Italia
 

This weekend in Noepoli, Southern Italy, my latest public artwork "La Festa dei Nojesi," will officially open. This is a large (6x3 metre) art installation born from a month-long exploration of Noepoli's history and culture during a residency in August 2023. This residency was completed alongside my long-term collaborator Luke Conroy.

From ancient artifacts to local kitchens, the final work is a photomontage of 900 images that captures the town's vibrant layers. Our aim with this work is that is can capture the spirit of the town, its people, and their stories, inviting each viewer to weave their own interpretations. Rather than offering a fixed perspective, we aimed to create a dynamic artwork open to the myriad interpretations of those who encounter it.

Opening: Thursday 20 July 2023 - 8 PM
Location: Giardini del Belvedere, Mondovì

The basis for the public art installation News From Home - Mondovì was a 4 week artist-residency in June / July 2023. During the residency I conducted field research within this community - making observations, meeting the community, capturing photographs and asking the community to contribute their own photographs of objects and scenes that relate to Mondovì in the past, present and future. The outcome of this research and visual imagery was the creation of a large-scale photographic composition, that will be presented in public space during the opening on the 20th of July, as part of the Hybrid Festival.

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Image on the left: is a small preview of the large-scale (6 x 2 metres) artwork.

I am currently in Mondovì, Italy, as part of the Dialog City Residency program. Alongside my collaborator, Luke Conroy, we have immersed ourselves in this vibrant community to complete our art project.

Over the past few weeks, we have delved into the stories and experiences of Mondovì's residents. Through research, community collaboration, and observation, we have gained an understanding of the local and global perspectives intertwined within this city.

Our aim is to capture the essence of these stories through a visually captivating large-scale photographic composition. We want to reflect the rich diversity and unique narratives that define Mondoví, showcasing the objective and subjective facets of the community.

This week, alongside my collaborator Luke Conroy, we will debut our co-created project, "Virtual Listening," at the LINZ FMR 23. This festival is in Linz, Austria, running from June 6 to 11, 2023.

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Our piece invites attendees to embark on a unique, immersive journey, traversing the festival site blindfolded and guided solely by a geolocated narration and soundscape. By prioritizing auditory over visual cues, we strive to challenge traditional perceptions and foster the creation of singular auditory memories. If you find yourself in Austria, we cordially invite you to join us at Linz FMR 23. Together, let's explore if truly, "hearing is believing."

From 6-11 of June we are in Linz to present our work ‘Virtual Listening’ as part of Linz FMR. As the common saying goes – “seeing is believing”. Whether one visits the City of Linz physically or virtually, it is largely visual perception that dominates our sense of “placemaking”. What might happen therefore, if we were instead to rely on our audio perceptions? How might Linz be perceived if “hearing is believing”?

Our work during the festival will focus upon how digitisation and virtual worlds shape and are shaped by society. In considering the socio-cultural implications of this topic, we aim to create experiences that are both critically reflective and playful.

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In ‘Virtual Listening’ we present a participatory sonic experience that reflects on the ephemeral nature of our digital and connected present through a physical experience in public space. In the work an audience is blindfolded and transported by the artists through the festival site on a specially created vehicle. During the guided journey the audience experiences their surroundings via geolocated soundscapes, generated from encounters with this particular location in both physical and virtual space.

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View LINZ FMR website

I am happy to announce that I have been invited to be a speaker at the upcoming Digital Storytelling Festival, co-organized by Europeana and The Heritage Lab. 

The festival is focused on creating connections between art, culture, and history with the contemporary world and addressing issues relevant and interesting to various communities. I will be participating in a panel discussion on AI-assisted storytelling and art-making. This session will delve into the ways artificial intelligence is shaping the future of storytelling and artistic expression.

Mark your calendars for this panel discussion on Wednesday, May 10, from 13:00 to 13:45. You are invited to register for the festival and join us in this exploration of digital storytelling.

I am excited to announce that alongside collaborator Luke Conroy, I have been chosen to participate in the Dialog City Art for Public Residency in Turin and Mondoví.

Over the course of four weeks, we will delve into community stories through research and collaboration with local residents. Our project of co-creation will culminate in a large-scale photographic composition to be showcased at the Hybrid festival. We can't wait to begin this exciting residency and see what unfolds.

On April 23 my work ‘Unfolding’ will officially premiere during the International Film Festival Karlsruhe. Unfolding is an experimental short film that reflects on the relationship between nature and humanity through an absurd ‘wellness session’. Set in the year 2070, the audience observes a session titled ‘Guided By Nature’ where a futuristic figure is instructed to undertake a variety of bodily positions and thought exercises at the instruction of an off-screen narrator.

Drawing upon the typical tropes of the 21st Century wellness industry, the session initially appears to be a harmonious and reassuring experience. Gradually, however, the session begins contradicting such expectations as it takes on an uncomfortable tone and thematic focus. Slowly the off-screen narrator is revealed to be a personification of air itself. Frustrated by playing the role of comforting guide, the narrator breaks from script and highlights humanity’s perilous yet essential relationship with the natural world.

Unfolding was created with support of Filmboard Karlsruhe through the Media Arts Film Scholarship.

In 2023, I'll work on a new project called ‘Virtual Listening’. ‘Virtual Listening’ is a participatory sonic experience that reflects on the ephemeral nature of our digital and connected present through a physical experience in public space. In the work an audience is blindfolded and transported through a location on a specially created vehicle. During this journey the audience will encounter their surroundings via a geolocated soundscape, generated from encounters with this particular location in both physical and virtual space. The aim of this work is to create a unique public art experience that investigates how digitisation and virtual worlds shape and are shaped by society. 

The project will be exhibited in the FMR – Biennial. This is a festival for art in digital contexts and public spaces which will take place in Linz, Austria, from June 6 to 11, 2023. In March 2023 we are invited for a one-month residency by LINZ FMR to stay at Atelierhaus Salzamt to work on the project. The project will then be exhibited as part of the festival in June 2023.

In February 2023 I'm participating in the online Glocal Class for Digital Performance of Tender Absence, a network for glocal performance art in digital spaces.

This exchange programme of workshops, talks and work sessions will take place during the week of 20-24 February 2023. The intensive week will focus on the question of how artists can work together in a locally situated and globally networked way. The digital artistic form will also be the focus of the discussion: How can we produce beyond streams and zoom meetings? Who do we address on the Internet? How can we convey our local realities globally without exoticizing them?

Over the past weeks, Luke Conroy and myself have been busy on a new project inspired by our research on the island of Farfara. During this time we have experimented with mapping the island, meeting the Farfarian residents, engaging with local issues, conducting citizen interviews and discovering local recipes. All of this research has been very different from our usual community practice, as the island of Farfara doesn’t actually exist. Or does it?

Farfara was an island of Malta that appeared sporadically on maps of the 16th century. At one time it was there, it would then disappear and after it would reappear again. Our research has been part of Farfara 2031, a project and research process which uses this mythical island as a model for testing new ways of thinking, connecting and creating virtually rather than physically. In this project, Farfara is being proposed as the European Capital of Culture for 2031. While usually this honour is given to a city that actually exists, isn’t this a little unnecessary now? We spend most of our days online, so perhaps a virtual Capital offers the most potential for connection and cultural ‘physicality’?

My project has been selected for the Euro-Mediterranean co-creation residency programme. During the residency, which takes place in Southern Italy, I will be creating a new series of public art interventions which celebrate food.

During the residency I will invite the community in Basilicata to celebrate their cultural heritage through food, sharing and art. The final outcome of this celebration will be the presentation of various large-scale photomontage artworks installed in community public space. Each of these photomontage works will feature images of a particular community individual/family and a recipe they have created. Through its presentation in public space, the community and broader audience will be encouraged to reflect upon the recipes that hold significant individual/local cultural value, bringing them outside of the home and into public space to be honoured.

Working on a new film project called Unfolding. This is an experimental short film, reflecting on the relationship between nature and humanity through an absurd VR yoga session from the year 2070, taking place in a surreal scene in which a figure undertakes a variety of bodily positions at the instruction of an off-screen narrator - a personification of air. The narrator of air reverses the typical human versus nature hierarchy. An engagement with the ‘other-than-human’ creates a meaningful opportunity to embrace imagination and reflect on previously ingrained assumptions towards the natural world. Through this film the audience is encouraged to reflect upon their previous perspectives towards nature as a passive agent. Instead, in this work, nature is acting upon them.

In September 2022 I installed my textile installation 'Solidarity Sky' during ‘Open Sites’ outdoor art exhibition in Ypres, Belgium. The work consists of hundreds of images of the sky, submitted to the project by people in over 80 different countries in the two years prior to the exhibition. The exhibition will take place between September 5th and October 2nd 2022 on and around the Ypres city walls between the Menin Gate and the Lille Gate in Ypres.

As part of the official opening of my new public artwork in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, I had a national television feature. During the interview the project curator Svetlana Kuyumdzhieva spoke about the project, alongside various shots from the install of the work. This piece was broadcast to thousands of homes as part of the National breakfast news program.

On August 14, 2022 I officially opened my latest public artwork in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. This work was created during a 6-week residency, undertaking the ninth edition of News From Home, a project which explores the overlooked and omitted stories of a community.

During the residency period I walked over 240 km in the city area, capturing 1000s of photos of the community. A selection of these photos were later cut up in Photoshop and digitally combined into a large photo-montage work. The final piece features over 500 individual layers, which come together to reflect on various stories from this community, ranging from its ancient history, its socialist past, its present day and imagined future. The final piece was printed out and pasted up to cover a 5x4 metre wall in the centre of Plovdiv.

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Soon I am revealing a public artwork in public! I would love to have you present at the opening to enjoy the art, some light refreshments and conversation. If you know of others who may be interested, please pass on this invitation - all welcome!

Date: Sunday the 14th of August.
Time: 19:00
Location: Back of the BNT-Regional Television Centre Plovdiv building, Nayden Gerov St 8 in Plovdiv

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Image on the left: is a small preview of the large-scale 

(3,5 x 4,5 metres) artwork.

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Super honoured to announce that I've won the UNESCO Media Arts Film Scholarship 2022.

The jury was convinced with my film idea 'Unfolding'. The human–nature relationship is reflected through an absurd and ironic ten-minute yoga routine. This routine takes place in a digitally created surreal setting where two characters assume different body positions by following the instructions of a narrator off-screen.

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The work will be realized in the next months and will be shown in the program of the International Film Festival Karlsruhe.

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Link to UNESCO City of Media Arts

Alongside my long-term collaborator Luke Conroy, my project 'News From Home' has been selected for 'Context AiR Plovdiv'. This program was initiated by the Municipality of Plovdiv and aims at creating new works, partnerships, interventions in public space, inspired by the city of Plovdiv (Bulgaria) and its eclectic mix of ancient history, socialist heritage and modern reality.

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The residency is planned for the second half of 2022 - we will provide regular updates via social media during the project.

Link to Residency social media

Coming up in November, I will be exhibiting work as part of 'Sounds of Our Cities'. This is a project based upon research and knowledge transfer between art, technology and social space. The resulting exhibitions include sound art projects developed in two cities, the Krottegem district in Roeselare (Belgium) and the Sant Andreu district in Barcelona, mounting a critical reflection upon cultural identity in relation to community and silence. Follow the link below for all the detail!

To find out more, follow this link.

The eighth edition of my project News From Home is based in the district of Sant Andreu in Barcelona, as part of the Sounds of Our Cities project. For this project I have created a series of five ‘audio postcards’ inspired by the sounds of Sant Andreu. The postcards feature an object from Sant Andreu on the front and an associated audio piece accessed by a QR-code on the back.

In November, I will be exhibiting my work in Sant Andreu and as part of this will be running a postcard exchange. In the postcard exchange, residents of Sant Andreu will be given the opportunity to send a postcard from their neighbourhood to a variety of locations around the world. These postcards will not only include our work, but also space for a personal written message.

On October 1, myself alongside collaborator Luke Conroy, will be giving an artist talk, discussing our contribution to the exhibition 'The City'. The City is a digital-based exhibition exploring artistic image and social practice in times of global change. This show is the result of a joint virtual residency that myself alongside twelve other artists and art collectives based in Europe and Russia have undertaken in May-June 2021.

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During the artist talk, we will be discussing our contribution to the exhibition - a 360-degree VR work titled 'Naked Windows'. We will discuss our inspiration behind this piece as well as the various methods that went in to its creation.​

During May and June, collaborator Luke Conroy and myself, are participating in an online artist residency titled 'The City'. We are currently writing and brainstorming ideas for our final work, with a working title of 'Naked Windows'.

This work will be an interactive 360° video. The title - Naked Windows - refers to the idea of a house without curtains, a common trait of apartments in Dutch cities. Embracing this idea, in the video the audience will occupy the role of a voyeur, invited by the artists to peer ‘backstage’ into their personal and private interior spaces.

You can follow along with our process and find out more about the project on the virtual residency page here. The vernissage of the exhibition for this project will be on the 9th of July.

During May and June, collaborator Luke Conroy and myself, will be participating in an online artist residency titled 'The City'. We were selected for this residency alongside other artists residing in the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, France, Finland, Italy and Russian Federation.

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For the residency we plan to complete a large digital collage animation, around the theme of 'The City'. The exact form and content of this piece will develop throughout the project. The project will last 6 weeks (17 May - 25 June 2021), and will be followed up with an online exhibition (to be opened on 9 July 2021).

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The project is co-financed by EUNIC, the European Union National Institutes for Culture, and moreover by the Consulate General of the Netherlands, the Danish Cultural Institute, the Goethe-Institut, the Institut Francais, the Finnish Institute and the Instituto Italiano di Cultura (in St. Petersburg).

Photos of the official launch of the 'Talk To Me' - De Heygraeff audio tour. Over the past three months I have been working in the 'Re-creatie' program, within the context of Reinaerde, a care organisation in the Netherlands for adults with severe disabilities.

'Talk To Me' - De Heygraeff audio tour invites the audience to listen to five audio pieces in around the context of 'De Heygraeff', where Reinaerde is located. Each of these interviews is with a fictional character, that is 'other-than ‘human'. Although absurd and humorous in nature, the topics that each conversation touches upon offer an insight in to some of the many perspectives around the disabled care context. 

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Photo by Ben Nienhuis

On the 26th of March, I will be presenting the outcome my artist residency in the 'Re-Creatie' program. Over the past three months I have been working in this program, within the context of Reinaerde, a care organisation in The Netherlands for adults with severe disabilities.

The project I have created, alongside collaborator Luke Conroy, is titled 'Talk To Me'. This project is an audio tour, that invites the audience to listen to five audio pieces in around the context of 'De Heygraeff', where Reinaerde is located. Each of these interviews is with a fictional character, that is 'other-than ‘human'. Although absurd and humorous in nature, the topics that each conversation touches upon offer an insight in to some of the many perspectives around the disabled care context.

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We will be presenting the outcome of the residency in an online presentation at 15:30-17:00 CEST, on Friday 26th March 2021. 

From January to March 2021 I will be working with Luke Conroy on a new edition of our project 'Talk To Me'. This new edition will occur as part of our selection for the Artist-In-Residence 'Re-Creatie' program in Woudenberg, The Netherlands. This program brings together the areas of art, social design and reuse in the unique context of the care organisation Reinaerde.

Our aim in this new edition of the project is to make new connections between this organisation where people with a (severe) mental and physical disability live, and the (recreational) environment around them. As much use as possible will be made of residual materials from the organization and the surroundings. In this way, care for people and material come together in one place: physical and social repair.

Soon my ongoing documentary project News From Home will have a publication. This project, which has taken place in 8 countries to date, will soon be published in a limited-edition 16 page newspaper. I have dedicated much of the past two years to this project and I am excited to give it a new audience and share its stories further.

The final touches are being put on the newspaper now, with the distribution to be announced in the coming weeks. To find out more you can head to the project's Instagram page.

Alongside artist Luke Conroy, I am currently (October - November 2020) undertaking a residency in Barcelona as part of the SOUNDS OF OUR CITIES project. This is a European project of cultural cooperation based upon research and the transfer of knowledge among the spheres of art, technology and social space. It is led by the City of Roeselare, Idensitat, Dear Hunter and Aalborg Universitet. The project focuses on two local contexts (Krottegem in Roeselare and Sant Andreu in Barcelona), as a critical reflection upon cultural identity in relation to the concepts of community and silence.​

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We will be working on our project 'News From Home' during the residency - capturing various sounds from the local community of Sant Andreu (Barcelona). We will develop an exhibition of our work from this period, to be displayed next year.

There is now a virtual tour of my exhibition 'Tasman' available online, for those that are unable to make the exhibition because of COVID restrictions and distance.

The tour can be done on a mobile device, however the best experience is from a desktop computer. You can move around the exhibition space, as well as click on various links to view images of work details.

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Project is supported by Stroom Den Haag.

On the 18th of September I have a new solo exhibition opening at Concordia in Enschede in The Netherlands. The exhibition, produced with Australian artist Luke Conroy, is based upon the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman.

This project stems from our shared interest in this figure and our shared history, as this Dutch man 'discovered' Tasmania in 1642 and this is the island where Luke grew up. 

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The works included in the exhibition will be a combination of digitally printed collages and manual techniques.

On the 15th of August, a new project titled 'Talk To Me' will be exhibited on the Pampus, an artificial island in The Netherlands.

Talk To Me is a sound installation that gives nature on Pampus a voice. What does a tree, stone or blade of grass have to say? Absurd sounds and fictional dialogues make us think about a different, more sustainable world.

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I hope with our creativity and imagination to stimulate meaningful engagement, connection and appreciation with and for the earth.

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More info about the project

Together with Luke Conroy I was able to secure funding from Stroom Den Haag and CultuurSchakel this month, to help support the online project Solidarity Sky. This is a virtual community driven artwork with the aim of bringing people together through sharing personal images of the sky. On the website, users are invited to become the artist in this project, contributing their own ‘piece of sky’ that will join a larger ‘virtual sky’ made up of thousands of images from across the world.​

Solidarity Sky intends to encourage creative participation, unite people across real and imagined borders and foster hope through shared visions of something we all hold common – the sky above our heads.

Together with Luke Conroy I have been selected for Klimaatmuseum to work on the Pampus island (NL). We have proposed to develop the project ‘Talk To Me’. This is a humorous and thoughtful sound project which aims to explore the possibility for Human communication with the ‘Other Than Human’. It does so through the creation of various absurdist, fictional dialogues with objects/entities around the Pampus island. 

Together with the Australian artist Luke Conroy I am working on a new audio project which will be presented at the 'Sounds of our Cities' event in Barcelona. This is an European project of Cultural Cooperation carried out between City of Roeselare, Dear Hunter, Aalborg University and Idensitat. It aims to explore urban areas, focusing on the locality, including local audiences and reflecting on cultural identity in relationship with the community.

The central artistic activity of the project is the development of two sound art exhibitions, which will be embedded into specific sites in the urban environments. We are excited to be part of this project and work on some 'audio postcards' as part of the exhibition.

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On the 24th of December, 2019 I was in Russia to open the exhibition 'News From Home' Petrozavodsk. This project was the work of myself and Luke Conroy and consisted of 16 collages and 38 photographs. As part of the opening there was a postcard exchange organised as part of our the project. Forty four locals from Petrozavodsk wrote a message on a postcard designed for this project.

These postcards will be sent to to people in 18 different countries around the world including Australia, Japan, Korea, China, Iceland, Finland, Spain, Philippines, India, The Netherlands, Russia, U.S.A, Canada and Indonesia. 

ICE FOLD /// Group exhibition at Sim Gallery in Reykjavik. 

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Opening this Thursday on the 28th November from 5PM till 7PM at SIM Gallery.

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For this exhibition we have chosen to experiment with creating a ‘moving postcard, to provide an insight in to Icelandic stories beyond the typical ‘tourist gaze’. Each of the scenes presented collaged photographs that the artists have captured during their stay in Iceland during November

I started the residency at Viborg Kunsthal in Viborg, Denmark. I'll stay here for 6 weeks. In this project I'm exploring the area of Viborg- it’s places, people and their stories. The ultimate aim of this project is to complete various ‘postcards’ which act are anti-iconic postcards. Rather than iconic images of Denmark, that the outside world or tourist is used to seeing, we want to create works based around people, stories and objects that are usually hidden.

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Project is supported by Viborg Kunsthal and European Cultural Foundation (ECF).

We held an Artist Talk about our project News from Home at the медиа-центр vыход/ media center vykhod in Petrozavodsk. We had an amazing audience and a Russian television station came to film the presentation. This presentation was a good closure for our stay at the Karelian Art Residence. We are leaving with more experiences, lots of stories and we are looking forward to come back for our exhibition in December 2019. 

After completing News From Home in Germany, The Netherlands and Finland, we have now landed in Russia. In July we will be researching and working in the city of Petrozavodsk as part of AiR Karelia. In December this year we will present the results in Медиа-центр Vыход/ Media Center Vykhod.​

Thanks to Stroom Den Haag for their generous support of the News from Home - Petrozavodsk exhibition that will be held in December 2019 - February 2020. Opening will be on the 24th of December 2019.