XXVIe INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOPS RESIDENCY PROGRAMME OF PAYS DE LA LOIRE REGIONAL CONTEMPORARY

ART FUND : CROATIA

Guest artists in residence :
KARMEN DADA, ANA HUŠMAN
GORAN ŠKOFIĆ, DAVOR SANVINCENTI
SILVIO VUJIČIĆ

Exhibition :
KARMEN DADA,IGOR EŠKINJA,
ANA HUŠMAN, ANA OPALIĆ
DAVOR SANVINCENTI, GORAN ŠKOFIĆ
SLAVEN TOLJ, SILVIO VUJIČIĆ
Co-curated by :
LAURENCE GATEAU ET SLAVEN TOLJ

About the Pays de la Loire Regional Contemporary Art Fund
A pioneer in this field, the Pays de la Loire Regional Contemporary Art Fund first set up the International Ateliers (residency programme) in 1984, at Fontevraud Abbey in Anjou, France. Through this initiative, rare in France, the Pays de la Loire Regional Contemporary Art Fund has developed a venture of artistic support, which is also a highly original way of enriching its collections. A platform for research, exchange and production, these Ateliers make up a laboratory that is both active and reactive. In return, the guest artists channel this time of energy to offer viewers a work that will then go on to be exhibited, designed as a dynamic encounter.

This year, Laurence Gateau (Director of the Pays de la Loire Regional Contemporary Art Fund) has decided to join curatorial forces with Slaven Tolj, a Croatian artist and performer, in the context of the International Workshops residency programme. A committed figure to the Dubrovnik scene, Slaven Tolj established the Art Workshop Lazareti there in 1988. He was also the commissioner of the Croatian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2005. He’s the director of Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art à Rijeka.

XXVIe INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOPS RESIDENCY PROGRAMME OF PAYS DE LA LOIRE REGIONAL CONTEMPORARY ART FUND : CROATIA

KARMEN DADA

Born in Dubrovnik (1975). Lives in Dubrovnik and Zagreb.
People are the main point of interest, so dematerialization and interactivity of her art works seem as the right approaches.
Conceptual idea forms flexible media of art expression including installation,
photography, public art, interviews, actions or any crossover. She strongly believes personal freedom should be standard and goal of every human being, therefore she’s trying to find ways through her art practice how to support others in that process.

IGOR EŠKINJA

Born in Rijeka (1975) where he lives.
Igor Eškinja’s works engender significant spatial alteration and introduce visual metaphors. In his work, Igor Eškinja establishes connections between abstraction and figuration, between planar and three-dimensional surfaces, between metaphor and sign. The artist gives shape to his architectonics of perception using simple, inexpensive materials, such as adhesive tape and electric cables applied directly to the wall or floor. He also uses dust to create motifs related to the specific context of the exhibition space.

ANA HUŠMAN

Born in Zagreb (1977) where she lives.
Ana Hušman’s interest lies in the social norms and rules that shape our daily lives. She explores how these rules are formed and the models from which they are established.
Her work lies at the boundary between cinematic image and video image, digital photographic recording, the relationship between time and frame, the process of film production and the framework for its deconstruction.

ANA OPALIĆ

Born in Dubrovnik (1972). Lives in Zagreb.
A graduate of the Academy of Dramatic Arts in Zagreb, Ana Opalić was voted Best Young Photographer in the Croatian Photography Exhibition in 1997.
Her photographic and video work explores various territories : daily life, the family unit, the natural environment, her country’s past history and wastelands.

DAVOR SANVINCENTI

Born in Koper (1979). Lives in Zagreb.
Davor Sanvincenti’s artistic practice is protean in form, embracing cinema, video, photography, sound installations and live performances. His work plays with the concept of illusion, by exploring the possible limits of illusion, by exploring the possible limits of perception and the construction of experience.
Observations and research related to scientific and artistic fields provide a framework for his work.

GORAN ŠKOFIĆ

Born in Pula (1979). Lives in Porec and in Zagreb.
Goran Škofić combines moving images, sound, collage and special effects in his video and multimedia installations.
His work calls upon objects and scenes of daily life in order to analyse and interpret the world in which we live.
In his recent works, he uses his own body as a medium for exploring the notion of the idealised body.
As part of « Croatie la voici », he is due to feature in Instants Vidéos in Marseille from 7 november to 17 november 2012.

SLAVEN TOLJ

Born in Dubrovnik (1964) where he lives.
Slaven Tolj is one of the most important artists on the Croatian scene. His radical and minimalist approach explores contemporary society, taking in the country’s history, through performances, photography and ready-mades. A committed figure to the Dubrovnik scene, in 1988 he established the Art Workshop Lazareti, one of the most active art centres in Croatia today.

SILVIO VUJIČIĆ

Born in Zagreb (1978) where he lives.
Silvio Vujičić focuses on interactions between fashion and society. He explores processes of elemental transformation such as crystallisation, corrosion, flowering, etc. He is interested in contemporary science and the vistas it opens, as well as contemporary archaeology and procedures and techniques whose interesting results fuel artistic processes.