SamE

Introducing this year’s residents at SobaZaGosteMaribor! Following a successful open call, which attracted 114 applicants, the selection committee—composed of Irena Borić, Živa Kleindienst / @zivakleindienst , and Simon Žlahtič / @simon.zlahtic —has chosen 5 artists. The first residencies begin in May, followed by others in June, July, and October. Joining us will be: Vlad-Lucian Brăteanu, Zuzana Svatik, Amir Husak, Sam Eadington, and Petar Vranjković. Congratulations! We look forward to collaborating with you in Maribor! Predstavljamo letošnje rezidente_ke SobeZaGosteMaribor! Po uspešnem odprtem pozivu, na katerega se je prijavilo 114 kandidatk_ov, je komisijav sestavi Irena Borić, Živa Kleindienst / @zivakleindienst in Simon Žlahtič / @simon.zlahtic , izbrala 5 umetnic_kov. Prvi rezidenci se pričneta že maja, nato sledijo v juniju, juliju in oktobru. Z nami bodo: Vlad-Lucian Brăteanu, Zuzana Svatik, Amir Husak, Sam Eadington in Petar Vranjković. •• Vlad-Lucian Brăteanua / @vladbrateanu navigates the boundaries between public and private spaces, and finding signifiers for (in)visibility are translated into works that raise questions on precarity, fragility and stability in neoliberal societies. Zuzana Svatik / @zuzana_svatik examines how objects and public interventions mediate power, gender, and social hierarchies, often challenging normative structures through humor, irony, and performative gestures. Amir Husak / @culturelimbo works in the fields of film, sound, and essayistic and interactive forms, exploring non-fiction media as a social practice with a focus on migration and memory. Sam Eadington / @sameagainandagain draws on the physical reality of the built environment, his practice is defined by a return to the intentionality of the hand through ethnographic modelmaking and full-scale installations. Petar Vranjkovi / @petar.vranjkovic in shaping memories and the idea of storytelling through artistic narratives, particularly intimate history of the individual, which is an interpretation of the heritage, tradition, and culture of a community and time.

Another Headshot Cheers @sameagainandagain

Playing with plaster during the ‘Stick-on Bricks and the Phenomenology of Flatness’ residency in Berlin. Combining the media of physical modelmaking and film, the project provokes a re-evaluation of architectural design principles and encourages a more profound connection between making, architecture and the human experience of our built environments.

The enshitification of contemporary architecture as a result of the pervasive use of digital and supposedly ‘intelligent’ technologies in design processes was the inspiration for the (ongoing) research project titled ‘Stick-on Bricks and the Phenomenology of Flatness’. Using physical models combined with video-based research in collaboration with @glo_botomy the project is a growing archive that explores the prevalent flatness in contemporary architecture and its impact on society and the environment. We examine this contrived flatness as it converges with the wider cultural shift towards digital technology, influencing architectural design, human perception of space, and bias towards surface over solidity. Using models and filmmaking as research, we seek to question and innovate how we communicate architecture, particularly through audiovisual means. The first phase of the project was undertaken during a residency in Berlin thanks to @fieldstations_ev @filmexplorer.ch

1:500 model of the @unilancashire Preston campus made from timber offcuts with the university buildings clad in paper. Made with @_baxendale @e_cat_erina_ @other_peoples_dreams and @unilancashire_engineering technical team #architecturemodel #sitemodel

Some WIP images from the making of the 1:500 @unilancashire campus model with @_baxendale @e_cat_erina_ @other_peoples_dreams and the @unilancashire_engineering technical team #architecturemodel #sitemodel

Once carried to site, the triangular structure was perched upon stones protruding from an ancient wall and suspended from a lamp above. The fabric was then released to create a prism of darkness inside which the familiar square outside could be seen and experienced in an unfamiliar way. Sunlight bouncing off the buildings opposite passed through a small hole on the fabric and projected the image of outside very faintly on the inside. After a few minutes sitting in the dark and allowing the eyes to adjust to the darkness, the inverted image slowly appears. And glimpse of light, whether from the outside or a screen, renders the projection invisible to the eye. Many thanks to @peppefrisino @post.disaster.rooftops for bringing your students to experience the ephemeral installation, I hope some of them remember it. #cameraobscura #artinstallations #artistresidency #temporaryarchitecture #parasiticarchitecture

In parallel to the models of steel structures, a pop-up camera obscura was designed, tested, fabricated and installed in a small square in Taranto’s Citta Vecchia. As our surroundings become overfamiliar we can become blind to their qualities. As with the models, the idea behind the camera was obscura was decontextualisation as a means of amplifying focus and intensifying experience. The structure was designed to be easily transported and assembled in a parasitic manner, leaning against and hanging from the existing buildings and infrastructure, becoming a part of it. A triangle made sense as it is strong, always stable if fixed at 3 points and references the diagrammatic explanations of the camera obscura phenomena. The design was developed as a model then fabricated and tested on a rooftop before being deployed in public. #cameraobscura #artinstallations #artistresidency #taranto

Made from painted greyboard, the models stood as fragile decontextualised sculptures, each one constructed according to drawings produced from detailed surveys of the structures. Test models explored scale, materiality, and the amount of context to be included or omitted. Model making was always going to be my preferred medium for this project as it demands a rigorous, methodical and intimate process that cannot be rushed, and therefore has an inherent relationship with both time and space. The models have since been deconstructed into their constituent beams and rest in a miniature scrapyard in my flat, far away from Taranto, waiting for their next role. #architecturemodel #artistresidency #taranto #modelmaking #bts

From the moment I arrived in Taranto’s Citta Vecchia I was fascinated skeletal steel frames erected against, between and around the precarious facades that define the labyrinthine streets of ancient town. Initially I’d envisaged a project that would document the changing character of street furniture as we move towards increasingly standardised urbanscapes. These rusty structures were far more interesting, assertive and numerous than the sparsely scattered bins, benches and bollards that lined the perimeter of the island. As I learned more about city’s troubled relationship with the nearby ILVA steel factory these structures became even more poignant. Steel as a material and industry has had unimaginably catastrophic implications for the health of local individuals and communities alike, but was an economic lifeline for many. Still the city struggles with its industrial neighbour, while relying on the material to support the city it caused to empty and subsequently decay. These steel structures seemed the obvious thing to document to capture a specific moment in time in a specific place. #architecturemodel #artistresidency #taranto #steel #infrastructure

My project was titled ‘Don’t worry, it’s just for now’ and was concerned with the way temporary structures affect our phenomenological interpretations of places, the identities we ascribe to places, and in turn the way we shape our identities in relation to the places we inhabit. I have long believed that temporary, informal and everyday moments of ‘design’ have a far more meaningful impact on our lived experience of places than the ‘iconic’ pieces of architecture that politicians and architects excrete upon us. The 1:20 models explored this idea in response to the specific contexts of Taranto’s Citta Vecchia. #architecturemodel #artistresidency #taranto

Over a year has passed since the exhibition Lasting Impressions at @palazzo_ulmo in Taranto, IT, and all I posted was a sketchy reel so I’ll now post more photos and thoughts on the project having had a bit of time to reflect. #architecturemodel #artistresidency #taranto #steel #infrastructure