RESIDENCE
From 19th June to 30 November 2005
Within the framework of MEETING EUROPE – LATVIA
ARTISTS: ERIKS BOZIS & KASPARS PODNIEKS
curator: DIMITRI KONSTANTINIDIS
The residence of the two Latvian artists is primarily a reflection of a desire to apollonia promote the work of European artists in the Alsace region.
The year 2005 is the year of Latvia in France, apollonia wanted to associate its European network by inviting both artists, and also relied on the interests of local partners, Les Amis du Château d’Andlau the Association for the restoration of the castle Spesbourg.
The residency project was realized within the framework of the operation “a walk in the woods” organized by both associations.
It is also part of the cycle “Meeting Europe – Latvia: Surprising Latvia“, initiated by Apollonia, european art exchanges.
ARTISTS AND THEIR WORK
Eriks Bozis (born in 1969) and Kaspars Podnieks (born in 1980) were chosen to manifest their interest in their environment. The first is endeavoring to de / re-form the urban landscape by introducing incongruous elements, like a giant bench. Podnieks is attached to the campaign. Many of his projects is to intervene directly on the natural environment.
“4 cameras,” the first work of Eriks Bozis are arranged along the way. Walking in the woods means leaving the urban world, polluted, oppressive and sometimes inhuman to rejoin nature, pure, soothing and rejuvenating so often. By placing surveillance cameras, the artist counterbalances the predisposition of the walker who is suddenly plunged into the scary world of the city. However, forests have not always been perceived as particularly reassuring places. Spirit of the woods, evil beings, elves and other strange creatures demonstrate our ancestral fears, those of us feeling watched, observed, monitored … by overpowering forces. Eriks Bozis recall here the great human capacity to establish a system of “auto-fright” as interventions of our imagination or our belief that by introducing a power of control through technology.
His second proposal is “ATM“. Between mossy rocks stands a box, specifically an ATM. In the forest! Strange! It is proposed, therefore, money, where in principle, we do not need. Eriks Bozis carries a particularly critical eye on tourism practices that lead to excessive and unnecessary use of vacationers. The establishment of this in the forest distributor underlines the absurdity of this consumption system that invades the public space, which will soon prevail even in the wildest places. Kaspars Podnieks came in Alsace with a “piece” of Latvian forest, birch trunks of photography, “The Forest“. The artist emphasizes its natural environment and at the same time, integrates it into one he meets. Simultaneously, a photograph of the forest of Andlau was installed in a Latvian wood. This is obviously not interchangeability, but an exchange and more, a plant communion, symbolizing the difference of peoples and their amazing compatibilities.
The other work of Kaspars Podnieks is “The Gate“. Down the road, we see a red door. To open, close, snapping at around … All options are possible, everything depends on you. The plunge, go from light to dark or vice versa slip from one world to the other … The artist symbolizes poetry the essence of our existence based on free will, the incessant choice for the and against the opening or closing, the acceptance or rejection … or, bypass the leak, the alternative.
With the support of:
Drac Alsace | Délégation aux arts plastiques
Région Alsace | Le site de la Région Alsace
Conseil Général du Bas-Rhin | Le site du cg67
Ministère des affaires étrangères de Lettonie