Past Residents
Tobias Dostal
Tobias Dostal works to rid the film medium of the classic canvas by restaging the movie in a space with sculptural elements – rebuilt 16 mm projectors and projection screens made of wood or paper constructions, for example. Addressing the roots of the film and similar artistic approaches in the past is crucial to his work. After extensive experiments in a variety of media, formats and techniques and dealing with artistic approaches such as the “Expanded Cinema” and structural film and the history of film, he found his visual language through the use of celluloid film.
Tobias Dostal (born 1982 in Bad Hersfeld, Germany) studied drawing, film and skuplture at the Braunschweig Universitity of Arts. His Film installations have been shown in group exhibitions at the gallery of La Esmeralda, New Mexico; Kunstschaufenster am Hallenbad, Wolfsburg; End in Nation, Kapitelsaal, Bad Hersfeld; Films about being God, Kreuzberg Pavillion, Berlin; Metamorphosen, Allgemeiner Konsumverein, Braunschweig and the Up and Coming Film Festival, Hannover.
Events & Exhibitions
Salon: Tobias Dostal and Sofie Thorsen
January 7, 2014
Tobias Dostal, The Two Sphinx, 2012, 16mm loop installation. Courtesy of the artist.
Tobias Dostal, The Two Sphinx, 2012, 16mm loop installation. Courtesy of the artist.
Tobias Dostal, Gedankenkuppel, 2011, 16mm projection, paper, wood, text, and mirror. Courtesy of the artist.
Tobias Dostal, Paradise, 2011, 16mm projection, wood, and textile. Courtesy of the artist.
Tobias Dostal, Kinora, 2012. Courtesy of the artist.
Residents from Germany
Past Resident2013: Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem
Jan Lesák
Jan Lesák studied Fine Art Photography but deviates from this traditional media in an attempt to break the boundaries of established genres and disciplines. Lesák’s present day work is based on post-conceptual principles and is in direct relation with the theory he discusses in his doctoral dissertation. The broad foundations of Lesák’s dissertation lie in his belief that for today’s artists it is next to impossible not to react and draw inspiration from existing works of art, formal structures, ideas and theories. Lesák’s central work The Case for a Rookie is based on a transcript of movie elements into an object, which is represented by a long term and persistent mechanical process that generates the final outcome of the work. Jan Lesák’s theory and practice often deal with sameness, alienation and the crisis of subjectivity.
Jan Lesák (born 1984) lives and works in Prague. In 2010 he graduated from the Department of Fine Art Photography at the Faculty of Art and Design – Jan Evangelista Purkyne University, where he is currently enrolled in the Visual Communication doctoral program. As part of the program, he has been an external lecturer for the master’s program students of the Department of Photography. In 2007, he studied at the Faculty of Communication Design, University of Applied Sciences, Berlin, and in 2009 he interned at Contemporary Art Projects, London. His solo exhibitions include The Case for a Rookie, Fotograf Gallery, Prague, 20011 and Reflection, m.odla gallery, Prague, 2010. Selected group exhibitions include 2012 – Sweetness of death, Small tower, DOX Center for Contemporary Art, Prague, 2012; Magic Circle, Embassy of the Czech Republic, Brussels, 2011; Prague Photo, Exhibition Hall Mánes, Prague, 2010; Making Worlds, Emil Filla Gallery, Ústí nad Labem, 2010 and Photomonth, Shining, Divus Gallery, London, 2008.
Events & Exhibitions
Salon: Jan Lesák and Law Man Lok
February 5, 2013
Jan Lesák, The Case for a Rookie, 2011, Digital C-print, 24 × 18 in. (60.96 × 45.72 cm). Courtesy of the artist.
Jan Lesák, The Case for a Rookie, 2011, Timeline motion and digital c-print 4 pc, 12 x 9 in, 16 x 12 in. Courtesy of the artist.
Jan Lesák, The Case for a Rookie, 2011. Courtesy of the artist.
Jan Lesák, The Case for a Rookie, 2011, dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist.
Residents from Czech Republic
Past Resident2013: Institut Français
Farah Atassi
Farah Atassi paints interiors associated with the industrial world from the 1930s to the beginning of the 1970s. Her paintings often include references to modernism in the form of objects located in the depicted space, things like models of industrial landscapes, children’s toys and furniture. The empty interiors are in sense inhabited by these objects whose status is equivocal in as much as they are artistic references, which are also evocative of workers’ lives. In some works they are installed, like the displays, or simply piled up. In others, they are tools that no longer fulfill their function.
Born (Brussels, 1981) to Syrian parents, Farah Atassi lives and works in Paris. She is one of the most well-know of a very young generation of French painters. Having graduated from the National School of Fine Arts in 2005, she is represented by Xippas Gallery, which presented her first solo show in 2011. She also had solo shows at galerie Edouard Manet, Gennevilliers and Les Eglises Art Center in Chelles. Her work is included in the collection of the Musée national d’art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris and is currently on view in the exhibition Fruits of Passion. In 2011, she participated in the 6the Curitiba Biennale in Brazil and in the exhibitions 2000-2011 : Soudain, Déjà, curated by Guillaume Désanges, at Ensba, Paris and Pearls of the North, Palais d’Iéna, Paris. In 2010, She was included in the group exhibition Dynasty at the Musée d’art moderne de la Ville de Paris and the Palais de Tokyo. In 2012, she was awarded the first Bredin-Prat Prize for contemporary art.
Farah Atassi, Rec Room, 2012, Oil on canvas, 67 × 79 in. (170.18 × 200.66 cm). Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Xippas.
Farah Atassi, Workshop III, 2012, Oil on canvas, 79 × 71 in. (200.66 × 180.34 cm). Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Xippas.
Farah Atassi, Playroom II, 2012, Oil and glycero on canvas, 79 × 71 in. (200.66 × 180.34 cm). Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Xippas.
Farah Atassi, Toy Town, 2012, Oil on canvas, 79 × 63 in. (200.66 × 160.02 cm). Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Xippas.
Farah Atassi, Toy City, 2012, Oil on canvas, 79 × 63 in. (200.66 × 160.02 cm). Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Xippas.
