WAP EXPTENDED, AiR BKN

AURIKE QUINTELIER

SHORT BIO
Aurike Quintelier is a visual artist and architect based in Ghent and Brussels, Belgium. Her practice has many layers, often working cross-disciplinary, and looks for the places where art and architecture meet. Driven by idealism and research while operating on a variety of scales, the projects vary between actual buildings/structures, and more conceptual projects. In the latter she uses art or architecture to express herself or to react to a topic she find intriguing (or enfuriating). Every project has a strong emphasis on experiment and exploration, trying to find a way to communicate. In function of the message, the medium changes; medium follows message.

The research Aurike is currently conducting, "Building Out Whispering. Con-structions on the Imagination of Place”, finds itself on the intersection of architecture and art. It explores the possibilities of how spatial interventions/integrations can engage with different aspects of place, space, environment, and make abstract topics such as climate change and its consequences discussable. Could these temporary interventions in a landscape help imagine the future identity of a place? Does our identity as humans shift? The project focuses on the symbiosis of human and nonhuman, where the human is considered part of nature, in opposition to the dualism inherent in western systems of thought. Aurike aims to reveal how all aspects of place are entangled (its history, geology, possible futures, eco-systems, etc.) in order to create structures that bring closer nature and culture

PROPOSED WORK
Proposed work: As a form of correspondence and dialogue, the aim is to create several smaller speculative spatial 'con-structions' in-situ, a form of world-building, that uncover existing interdependent relations in the landscape, in alliance with the community. I intend to walk as a form of connecting and corresponding with the Björkö environment and with community members, as well as a way to share my work with people. During a previous residency in Björkö Konstnod, the project "It matters what stories tell stories, friendly parasites", led to the act of the 'exhibitionwalk'. The walk was a performance to attempt to bring community members, who had been a huge part of the world-building practice, into the con-structing, into the world built. I aim to explore this method further, and use walking as a starting point and end point in the project, as a form of communication and connection

I have attached a small organigram in an attempt to communicate with you better how I see the residency, it's a kind of circular movement where it starts and comes back to the practice of walking (as it perhaps did last time without realising or identifying that).
week 1 - walking as communication, relating - drawing, withdrawing
week 2 - testing in-situ
week 3 world-building, con-structing
week 4 - walking as communication, relating - drawing, withdrawing

Studio: Dates: 23 Oct to Nov 30

https://www.aurikequintelier.be

JUANMA GONZÀLEZ

SHORT BIO

Juanma González is a Spanish artist who works and lives in Botkyrka.
His work combines experimental and traditional practices – drawing, photography, site-specific installation and art intervention. González uses walking as a method of knowledge and art production. Over the past 9 years, his research interests have been concerned with the act of walking as a practice for artistic production. He has developed walking projects and art exhibitions in Sweden, Finland, Norway and Spain. He received an MFA from the Royal Art Academy in Stockholm in 2016, and is a co-founder of artist-run collective Flat Octopus, where he curates art interventions in places outside the art circuit in Stockholm.

Recent exhibitions and projects include: LAND ART 2023 at Dikemark (Norway), I Skogen at Alsters Herrgård (2023, SE), Crosswalking in LA at Durden and Ray (2023, USA), Camiños Creativos at Museo Gaiás (2022, Spain) and Landscapes of other places at Supermarket Art Fair in Stockholm 2022.

PROPOSED WORK
I aim to continue with my research-based process that I started for my stay at BKN in February. My findings by walking in the nature of Björkö led me to experiment with different materials and techniques. The result was a series of paintings and drawings titled Död Ved Ger Nytt Liv. Since then, this work has been developed on different contexts and materials. In Karlstad (Sweden), I built a labyrinth-form installation with wood collected in the surrounding forest following a poem composed by the Swedish writer Gustaf Fröding. "Du banar dig fram, du växer, du höjer dig fot för fot" (Jun’23) was part of I SKOGEN art exhibition at Alsters Herrgård supported by Värmland Kommun. For LAND ART 2023 in Dikemark (Norway), I created a second one, that took place in a former psychiatric hospital; “The healing labyrinth” (Aug’23) was made on organic matter collected in the surrounding gardens (mainly, leaves).

I would like to go back to Björkö to discover what is happening this time, in the fall. What kind of new findings will I get for my staying? How will a different session expire me for creating art? What is the next step in Död Ved Ger Nytt Liv series? What will it come up with after meeting and living with fellow walking artists?

There are sites on the island that I didn't explore. There are techniques that I would like to test on. There are histories that I want to listen to. There is a table where I want to share my food. There are steps that I want to walk on... All of this is on Björkö and, at the end of my residency, it becomes art.

https://www.juanmagonzalez.com

WALKING AS PRACTICE, 2023

WAP NOVEMBER

SPECIAL PROGRAMS