NEW RESIDENTS AT ART HUB
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Adriana Knouf (NL/US) and Wassim Alsindi & 0x Salon (DE/UK) have been selected as residents at Art Hub Copenhagen as part of the pan-European S+T+ARTS “Repairing the Present” project. They will take up residency in March 2022.
During their residencies, Adriana Knouf will explore ‘xenology’ and more-than-human forms of space migration in partnership with the Planetarium of Copenhagen, while Wassim Alsindi & 0x Salon will critically examine – and play around with – blockchain technology in collaboration with The European Blockchain Center at the IT University of Copenhagen. Both projects have been formulated in a research framework focused on sustainability and bridging a variety of technologies, scientific fields, and artistic considerations.
The two residencies were announced via an Open Call together with nineteen other residencies throughout Europe, together comprising the S+T+ARTS “Repairing the Present” project. A group of local experts pre-selected a number of artists for each residency, and the final appointments were made by a jury composed of Emmy Laura Perez Fjalland (PhD, lecturer, researcher & writer in cultural geography), Professor Roman Beck (lead researcher and head of the European Blockchain Center), Mads Kring (head of outreach and education at the Planetarium), Gro Sarauw (artist) and Amitai Romm (artist).
Adriana Knouf and Wassim Alsindi & 0x Salon will start their residencies in March 2022 at Art Hub´s premises in the former meatpacking district in Copenhagen. Alongside the other residents in the S+T+ARTS program they will develop artworks during their residencies that in the autumn of 2022 will be presented in a series of physical and digital exhibitions at various European partner venues, including MAXXI in Rome, MEET in Milan, ZKM in Karlsruhe, and Ars Electronica in Graz. The residents will also take part in a bespoke program with an emphasis on regional network development, and local immersion and production.
JURY STATEMENTS
Adriana Knouf impressed the jury with her clear, focused, and original proposal “Amateur Lithopanspermia”. Her project poses necessary and yet under-considered questions about how women, people of color, the differently abled, and LGBTQ+ people are often excluded from space activities. Thus through her artistic practice and texts on ‘xenology’ – a knowledge of the strange and the alien – she introduces critical and innovative perspectives on questions of space colonization, political subjectivisation and ideologies of purity. Situated at the confluence of interdisciplinary inquiries, her project at the same time nourished by personal experience that confers to it a high degree of authenticity. The jury is convinced that the proposal will lead to a unique artistic and scientific exploration and is eager to discover the outcome of her residency.
Wassim Alsindi´s & 0x Salon’s collective proposal “The Art of Indifference” is a generous, playful and highly informed proposal that consists in conducting a “multi-modal programme of artistic and pedagogical experiments” in the residency year. The group’s faceted project sheds light on tensions between the social, environmental, economic and philosophical dimensions of blockchain systems and decentralised autonomous organisations. The jury found that their proposal is particularly robust in its capacity of enabling the democratisation of knowledge about blockchain technology, through inclusive and constructive critical discourses and original representations. It also presents great potential for substantial exchanges between the Danish contemporary art scene, and local and international communities of blockchain experts. The jury believes in the relevance and reach of this innovative project and is looking forward to introducing Wassim Alsindi & the 0xSalon on the Copenhagen art and tech scenes.
ABOUT ART HUB’S LOCAL EXPERT GROUP AND THE JURY
The Local Expert Group for Art Hub’s participation in the S+T+ARTS programme consists of Professor Roman Beck (lead researcher and head of the European Blockchain Center), Jeannette Ehlers (artist), Victoria Antoci (senior researcher at the National Space Institute Astrophysics and Atmospheric Physics, Technical University of Denmark), Jonathan Mirpourian (consultant in multiphysics), Simon Lajboschitz (co-founder and CEO of Khora Virtual Reality), Lea Friedberg (municipal politician, Culture & Leisure, Copenhagen Municipality), Aslak Aamot (postdoc researcher at Medical Museion, Serpentine Galleries and Diakron, co-founder at Diakron and Primer), Emmy Laura Perez Fjalland (PhD, lecturer, researcher & writer in cultural geography), Ann Lislegaard (artist), and Mads Kring (head of outreach and education at the Planetarium).
The final selection of the residents was made by a jury composed of Emmy Laura Perez Fjalland, Roman Beck, Mads Kring, Gro Sarauw (artist) and Amitai Romm (artist).
ABOUT S+T+ARTS “REPAIRING THE PRESENT”
S+T+ARTS, which stands for ‘Science and Technology in the Arts’, is an EU initiative funded by the European Commission. “Repairing the Present” consists of a total of 12 regional S+T+ARTS centres in 11 different countries, including Art Hub Copenhagen. In a variety of ways, the project will tackle the critical environmental challenges of our age on the basis of interdisciplinary collaborations between art, research and industry.
The project has received funding from the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology under grant agreement LC01641664.
