Amy Croft & Demoraum at Grazer Kunstverein
Amy Croft & Demoraum Akademie Wien, Studienraum kuratorische Praxis
Curated by Sören Grammel
OPENING:
Tuesday 19 January 2010, 7.00pm
EXHIBITION CONTINUES:
Saturday 20 February 2010
EVENT:
The exhibition has been devised as the context for the Demoraumseminar 'Gegenwart Kuratorischer Praxis (Present Curatorial Practice)' which took place on 13 - 15 January 2010. Speakers include: Diana Baldon, Diedrich Diederichsen, Sören Grammel, Marion von Osten and Hedwig Saxenhuber. For more information see the website.
VENUE:
Grazer Kunstverein, im Palais Thinnfeld
Mariahilferstraße 2, A-8020 Graz
LINK:
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Exhibition at Demonstrationsraum, Vienna
Curated by Sören Grammel
OPENING:
Tuesday 12 January 2010, 7.30pm
EXHIBITION CONTINUES:
Wednesday 13 - 15 January 2010
EVENT:
The exhibition has been devised as the context for the Demoraumseminar 'Gegenwart Kuratorischer Praxis (Present Curatorial Practice)' which will take place on 13 - 15 January 2010. Speakers include: Diana Baldon, Diedrich Diederichsen, Sören Grammel, Marion von Osten and Hedwig Saxenhuber. For more information see the website.
VENUE:
Demonstrationsraum, Academy of Fine Arts, Studio Building, Lehárgasse 8, 1060 Vienna, Exhibition Space 1st floor north
LINK:
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Studying at Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien
Studying at Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien
DATES:
November 2009 - ongoing
LINK:
Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien
Performative Art and Sculpture with Prof. Monica Bonvicini
In November 2009 I joined the class of Prof. Monica Bonvicini, continuing my studies in Vienna, Austria.
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'Made in the Dark' Haus der Architektur, Graz
An exhibition by Amy Croft and Stefan Eichhorn
OPENING:
Wednesday 2 September, 7pm
EXHIBITION CONTINUES:
Thursday 10 September 2009 (Tuesday - Sunday, 10am-6pm)
VENUE:
HDA im Palais Thinnfeld, Mariahilferstraße 2, 8020 Graz
Produced with the support of Pepinieres
Made in the Dark is an exhibition developed by artists Amy Croft and Stefan Eichhorn from their residencies in Graz, which took place between March and June 2009. During their residencies Amy Croft researched the participatory housing estates of Eilfried Huth, while Stefan Eichhorn developed a contemporary mailing rocket, in homage to the Graz based rocket-researcher Friedrich Schmiedl (1902-1994).
While each artists' project developed independently the exhibition title points to an approach of self-building or D.I.Y, shared by both of the artists' chosen subjects and conjures up images of the lone inventor in his garden shed or the home-maker, unrestrained by architectural fashions . Far from this being a melancholic attitude, Made in the Dark celebrates such demonstrations of individual ingenuity and self-expression.
For the exhibition Amy Croft will develop new work responding to the various forms of her research which included interviews with the residents of 'Am Leopoldsgrund', Puntigam (built: 1976-1982) and 'Eschensiedlung', Deutschlandsberg (built: 1972-1992), documentary photographs of the homes and archival material. The notion of making a public exhibition of such a personal subject as 'home' is an important consideration for Amy and will be transferred into the final works by engaging the audience at different levels of intimacy and proximity.
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Group Exhibition: This is the front
This is the front room is the first exhibition of our collective 'The Elephant in the Corner' consisting of five women artists, Zoe Anspach, Katie Aston, Virginia Phongsathorn, Eira Szadurski and myself.
OPENING:
Friday 10 July, 6.30-9pm
EXHIBITION CONTINUES:
11 – 19 July 2009 (Open: Fri-Sun, 12-6pm, admission is free)
EVENT:
Sunday 19 July, 2-4pm; Publication launch and film screening
Free, no booking necessary but limited capacity.
VENUE:
Madamme Lillies , 10 Cazenove Road, Stoke Newington, London, N16 6BD
This is the front room is the first group exhibition organised by the predominantly London based collective ‘The Elephant in the Corner’. The group was founded in March 2008, through a mutual interest in testing what female collectivism can evoke today. The exhibition presents new works by each of the founding artists, Zoë Anspach, Katie Aston, Amy Croft, Virginia Phongsathorn and Eira Szadurski.
Within the group each artist maintains her own practice and autonomy. As such, This is the front room suggests no overarching theme but is a live experiment in how sustained debate can manifest in an exhibition. In its nature, this approach tests what the counterpoints are between the artists' collective identification with certain references or opinions and the more individual concerns held personally and expressed within the work.
Of the same title, is the inaugural publication of Interval Publishing. The book 'This is the Front Room' includes selected material from the Elephant in the Corner wikispace (www.theelephantinthecorner.wikispaces.com) and has been edited by Gemma Sharpe, after ongoing and close dialogues with the group. The publication assembles and contrasts various points of interest that have informed This is the front room, in light of the group’s collaboration to date.
While developing both the exhibition and publication the short story 'The Yellow Wallpaper' by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1892) has been a key discussion point. Drawing on the themes of this text, the artists have selected a number of video works to be screened at an informal gathering, on the final day of the exhibition. Selected works include, Key//Lines by Peter Venus (2007, 2'00”), Dear Tom; A Chapter founded upon common Observations, in which is contained a few curious Matters by Mayling To (2009, 9'10") and Broad Travel, by Virginia Phongsathorn (2009, 3'00”, 16mm).
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Residency in Graz: March -June 2009
During this three month residency in Graz (Austria) which has been awarded by Haus der Architektur and Pépinières européennes pour jeunes artistes, I will research the participatory housing projects of the architect Eilfried Huth in 'Am Leopoldsgrund', Puntigam (built: 1976-1982) and 'Eschensiedlung', Deutschlandsberg (built: 1972-1992).
”It was a dream, but we woke to the reality. We saw on the one hand the devastation of the landscape through thousands of free standing houses –my home is our chaos –and on the other the desolation of high rise blocks of flats in the West and in the East.”[1]
Huth’s statement –My home is our chaos – with it’s juxtaposition of the individual ‘my’ and its implied sense of ownership with the collective ‘our’, will be a point of departure for my research at Pepinieres Osterreich, Graz. This statement or warning, reflects Huth’s belief in the importance of collective housing over individual family homes, for their ability to offer a sense of social cohesion as well as ownership and participation for their tenants.
“…individual creativity is of central importance: Legitimated personal contribution is the starting point for new creativity and production of thoughts. It will bridge the gap of misunderstanding between art and mass population will.”
This endeavour to find a new equilibrium between the collective and private manifest in ‘self-help housing’ in the 1960’s when he introduced strategies to collaborate with tenants in creating new housing programmes.
Developing ideas and research can be found on my wikispace..
Work produced in response to the residency will be exhibited at HDA in September 2009. For more details see:
'Made in the Dark' Haus der Architektur, Graz
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