Mihai Iepure-Górski and Dominika Trapp
artists in residence October 2018 /
Mihai Iepure-Górski from Romania
Biography
MIG (Mihai Iepure-Górski) was born in Alba-Iulia, Romania. He currently resides in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Education: Mihai successfully graduated with master degree in arts the courses at the University of Art and Design, Cluj Napoca, Romania in June 2007.
Solo shows: Take, eat!, White Cuib, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, nov 2017; Reverse progression, Pilot, Paintbrush Factory, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, june 2017; Since we're talking about mountains, Sandwich Gallery, Bucharest, Romania, mar 2017; Words in a Room, curated by Diana Marincu, :BARIL Gallery, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, nov 2014
Group Shows: Command Alternative Escape, curated by the 24th edition School for Curatorial Studies, Venice, Italy, may 2017; Electro-Putere AIR, curated by Silviu Padurariu, Galeria ElectroPutere, Craiova, Romania, sept 2016, Art Capital: Almost Objects, curated by Lili Boros, Vajda Lajos Múzeum, Szentendre, Hungary, sept 2016, Appearance & Essence, curated by Nathalie Hoyos and Rainald Schumacher, Art Encounters Biennial, Timisoara, Romania, oct 2015, Survival Kit 4 Festival, Riga, Latvia, sep 2012, European Travellers - Art from Cluj today, curated by Judit Angel, Műcsarnok, Budapest, Hungary, apr 2012
Statement
A prophet in exile
In a scenario where art is a religion with history of art being the doctrine/dogma, artists become interpreters, teachers and performers of the law and "congregations" gather in awe for their sermons with the occasion of shows and exhibits. In every generation there are those that are particularly gifted, specially blessed and favored in the eyes of the Gods, those that have a special ease in understanding and practicing that which is difficult and it often happens that these are the ones chosen to be leaders, forebearers and prophets. For the sake of an exercise, we will assume that me, Mihai Iepure-Górski, were such artist, or a prophet so to speak.
During the time of my stay there, the apartment space in Vienna will become a place of seclusion, isolation and solitude where traces and signs of heavens shall be searched for and recorded for the purpose of writing a NEW (you got that right) sermon. It will also work as a shelter away from my detractors, accusers and opponents from my own locality and country. As it often happens in the case of revealed doctrine, it is not clear what the end of my secluded effort shall be, what I have clear at this point is that I will be documenting in writing, drawing, photographs and/or video every effort and step taken during my exile.
Dominika Trapp from Hungary
Biography
(1988) graduated as a painter at The Hungarian University of Arts, Budapest in 2012.
In her recent research-based projects she deals with the relation of the individual to global/local trends and theartist’s competence within this context. In her curatorial work, she attempts to create dialogue for communities that are separated from each other because of cultural, political, geographical or other reasons.
Statement
During my residency in Wien, I would like to continue my ongoing project: Peasants in Atmosphere. My project is an attempt at an interpretation of the heritage of traditional Hungarian culture along critical considerations, and also at bridging the progressive strains of contemporary art and the new generation of the Dancehouse Movement (Táncház Mozgalom) in the form of collaborative work based on extensive research.
During the project, I founded a band which is constituted of authentic folk musicians, punk singers and musicians from the experimental field – who all are from different cultural backgrounds with one specific connection to folk culture. Throughout the accompanying research, emphasis was placed on the study of the works of artists collectives of the past – one could say progenitors – that with progress in mind found inspiration in the culture of Hungarian peasantry. The result of the project was a staged musical piece and a publication which summarized the research.
Our new topic is The Last Witch Trials in Hungary. As in the previous research, this time I also would like to use critical approach. In the context of folk culture, feminist point of view is quite controversial and rarely applied. By taking it on, I would like to examine the traditional interpretation and the connecting sociohistorical studies of these problematic female fates alongside with feminist theories about witches. My role in Peasants in Atmosphere is founder, researcher, organizer, manager, spokeswoman and editor of publications – but I haven’t made any physical art pieces yet. During the residency, I would like to continue my research and to elaborate the concept of the new musical piece, alongside with the scenery, the costumes and other relating artworks. The result of my retreat would not solely serve my own artistic unfoldment, but my bandmates’ too. The whole aim of the Peasants in Atmosphere project is to invite people to engage in a symbolic synthesization process of worlds which seem to be apart from each other. Nowadays in Hungary, we can witness a politically driven division of our society, which pulls apart communities and strongly affects the cultural scene. Certain topics and types of approaches are stigmatized; examples include our folk heritage which can be easily exploited by political will – as our current era or historical examples can show. Our project goes against stigmatization and tries to create subversive discussions.
www.trappdominika.hu
https://www.facebook.com/parasztokatmoszferaban/
www.libatopvisionarycuisine.tumblr.com
www.csakoda.hu