Strategies against the map
21.02. > 24.02.
Workshop
This workshop will be based on a series of explorations into the area surrounding “a ilha”. The limit of the explorable area will be set at a 20 min walking distance from the studio, located in the Lisbon neighbourhood of Anjos.
We invite participants to interact with one specific narrative, place, person, group or idea within this area. “a ilha” stands at the heart of a very varied and mutable urban scenario, from more or less gentrified areas to downright dodgy spots, from streets winding up the city's famous hills to busy avenues. From the 19th century cemetery of São João to the Instituto Superior Técnico, a university dedicated to science and technology, or the abandoned Miguel Bombarda psychiatric hospital, there are plenty of different situations one can delve into.
We are fascinated by the interplay of memory and imagination, and by the way photography can shape places into speaking objects. Photography is meant to be the main medium used by participants, but we are also very interested in multidisciplinary approaches. We encourage people to make some research before the workshop, but we also believe in chance encounters and aimless wandering. “a ilha” will be always open to the explorers, who can use it as a place to gather stuff, order ideas, and make work.
Group sessions will be held every evening, and will include some food for thought provided by Andrea Grützner & Federico Clavarino. Participants will also receive collective feedback during the morning sessions, in which the progress of every project will be discussed.
An exhibition with the results of the workshop will be held at the main gallery of "a ilha". Participants will have access to Inkjet printers in order to produce the exhition, with special low prices.
Andrea Grützner
Andrea Grützner‘s interests involve the perception of space, historical and memorial structures, visual irritation, the familiar and the unfamiliar (Erbgericht – 2013-2015). Working mostly with the analog process, and sometimes assorted lights and filters, Grützner creates straight colour photographs that are at the same time abstract and representational, ambiguous and descriptive. In her last body of work (das Eck – 2015-2016) she navigates urban spaces and focuses on the graphic structures that order our surroundings, using her camera to deconstruct functional spaces. Andrea also gives several workshops, mostly dealing specifically with spaces in photography, colours and light. She lives in Berlin and Konstanz.
Federico Clavarino
Federico Clavarino works with symbols. His photographs, often close-ups, represent one subject at a time, a detail, and place it firmly in front of the viewer, leaving no chance to distraction. They are the playing cards of an unknown game, forming a syncopated and hyperbolic narration. Clavarino works mainly with the book form. Italia o Italia (Akina, 2014) is built over the ruins of an unresolved empire, a place in which monuments can be rescaled by the act of looking. The book establishes a continuous duality that makes its way through a labyrinth of contrasts and similarities. The Castle (Dalpine, 2016) is a series dedicated to Europe. Starting from its history, following the signs it has left on the skin of the cities or hid in protected museum rooms, searching for those elements that identify an entire culture, working alternatively as principles of sharing and separation.
Information
Minimum participants: 6
Maximum participants: 12
Workshop language: English (Federico also speaks Spanish and Italian, Andrea also speaks German)
Price and Deadlines:
320€ - Until the 20th of February (Limited to existing vacancies)
Contact for registration: lab@artbooks.xyz
Dates: February 21st to 24th (Wednesday to Saturday)
Timetable: 10 am – 7 pm
Duration: 36 hours
Exhibition: Saturday February 24th, opening 8-11pm
Target Audience
The workshop is open to everyone: photographers, artists, researchers, flâneurs, historians, or just curious people.
Requirements
Digital camera or mobile phone that can take photographs.
Laptop to export and process the images.