Marianna Solomonidou – Cyprus,
a performer, choreographer and architect based in Athens
https://vimeo.com/user73487018
Artist statement and bio
“Having an educational background in architecture and dance and a professional experience in multiple posts, my artistic practice varies from dance and choreography to performance art and live installations, ranging from the context of theatre stages to museums/galleries and the street. Both as a performer and creator, I have been involved in cross-disciplinary collaborations to create dance, site specific performances, durational works, video art and experiment with technology and interactive stage environments.
I approach art as a field of communication, expression of emotions, experimentation and co-creation. The urban landscape, people, nature and technology are the elements that inspire me. In my works I use fiction and surreal elements to create worlds that shift between reality and the imaginary with the aim to address issues that concern today’s people and society. Images, drawings, sounds, text and spoken word are used at this stage as ways to collect personal body feedback by the performer. My recent artistic research is concerned with site-specific performances, exploring how the poetics of space can be woven into the synthetic process.
Participating in the Old School Residence would enable me to focus more on my theoretical research and especially on the practical part, the experimentation and creation of a new work. I’m interested in the way politics, commercial powers, culture and social interactions mold a place’s identity and how its inhabitants transform it to suit their needs. Ultimately, those get embodied and spatially expressed, creating a choreography of everyday life.”
Lucas Croall – Australia,
a visual artist based in Glasgow
Artist statement and bio
Lucas Croall is an Australian artist and curator with Scottish roots who specialises in printmaking and has a background in interior mural works. Croall’s paintings, prints and installations investigate notions surrounding the tensions between civilisation and the wild.
“My residency project, Tartan Dialogues, aims to foster a deep cultural exchange between Scotland and Bulgaria, using the rich folk traditions of the Veliko Turnovo District as a focal point. As a Scottish artist, I will blend the tartan patterns symbolic of my heritage with the ornamental styles of Veliko Turnovo, exploring how these cultural artifacts reflect the region’s socialist past and national identity.”
Selin Goksel – Turkey,
a painter based in Istanbul
http://www.selingoksel.com/
“I am a multi-media artist, who was born in Istanbul and decided to pursue a career in fine arts after training to be a dental technician. I am a free-lance art teacher and art therapy techniques instructor. I got my bachelors degree in Fine Arts (Painting, Sculpting and Ceramics) at Yeditepe University (İstanbul, Turkey) and graduated in 2005. I got my masters degree in Art Education from Marmara University (İstanbul, Turkey) at 2010. Since 2019, I am a member of Art Psychoterapies Association Turkey.
I have been using different materials in my artworks. I paint in oil, acrylics and watercolors on paper and canvas. I make lino and mono prints. Also I like collecting and using recycled found objects in my art, so I create sculptures with found materials, wire, resin, plywood and paper. I love to use all different kinds of materials at the same time. While making a paper or a wood sculpture, I make a painting or a print at the same time. Through these different materials, you can sense the rich vocabulary of my artworks that they speak in between.
In the past I had researches over fertile, abundant and creative Mother Goddes figurines and painted them over and over again. Nowadays, I mainly focus on women who surround my life and interested in how the traditions pass from our ancestors, from grandmothers to the younger ones. I am so amazed to see how powerful they are in life, they are mothers, grandmothers, aunties, sisters or friends to one another. Through the connection that they have, they pass the knowledge, the memories and share the joy and struggles together. I watch carefully all these women who are in my family and also who are at my surrounding, then I sketch, paint or sculpt them to honor and to remember them always.
I have painted 2 children books of Clinical Psychologist Olcay Güner(Ph.D.)”
This will be Selin’s second participation in the residency after her first stay in 2021.
