Past Residents
Past Resident2014: KdFS Kulturstiftung des Freistaates Sachsen
Peggy Buth
Peggy Buth works conceptually and process-related, often based on long term research. She uses a variety of media including photography, film or video, sound collage, performance, and installation. Her examinations focus on the materiality of media, processes of transformation and translation between different media, as well as different modes of representation.
Peggy Buth graduated from the Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig, Germany in 2002 and was a postgraduate researcher at the Jan van Eyck Academie Maastricht, Netherlands, 2004-2005. Solo exhibitions of her work have been held at the Exhibition Research Centre, Liverpool John Moores University, 2013; Centre d’art contemporain, Parc Saint Léger, France, 2011 and Stuttgart’s Württembergischer Kunstverein, 2009; group shows include Weltkulturen Museum, Frankfurt am Main, 2013; Kunstsammlung Nordhein-Westfalen K21, Düsseldorf, 2012; Bétonsalon, Paris, 2011; and the Brussels Biennial, 2008.
Peggy Buth, Tervuren (Desire in Representation), 2004-2009, Photography, Dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist.
Peggy Buth, O My Kalulu! (Desire in Representation), 2009, HD-video, 39 min. Courtesy of the artist.
Peggy Buth, Fieberraum (Desire in Representation), 2005-2009, Mixed media, Dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist.
Residents from Germany
Past Resident2014: Alfred Kordelin Foundation
Saara Ekström
Saara Ekström works primarily with photography, video and film, but also uses drawing, sculpture and other techniques, which she frequently combines into complex site-specific installations to form multi-layered and suggestive experiences. The nature, feel and behavior of material is one of the foundations for Ekström’s work. Through both natural and artificial materials, Ekström creates worlds in which the counterpoints of ugly and the beautiful, cold and the hot, visible and the invisible, the uncontrolled and the controlled and solid and liquid revolve in an endless cycle. Birth and death, growth and withering, beauty and unpleasantness challenge one another. Ekström’s ‘aesthetics of unpleasant’ question the culturally bound hierarchies of value attached to the materials.
Saara Ekström (born 1965) has shown her work in both solo and group exhibitions in Finland and internationally in the United States, Japan, Brazil, Holland, Belgium, and Austria among others. In 2011 – 2012, Ekström had solo exhibitions at Kiasma, Helsinki and at the Kuntsi Museum, Vaasa. In 2012, she collaborated with composer Francesca Verunelli in a video-opera shown at the 56th International Festival of Contemporary Music, Venice and her work was shown at the Festival Voies Off, Arles. She is currently preparing for a touring mid-career exhibition in Sweden, Denmark and Finland. Ekström has received nominations and awards from foundations such as Ars Fennica, Carnegie, Stina Krook and the Wihuri Sibelius Prize. She currently lives and works in Turku, Finland.
Saara Ekström, A great loss, 2014, C-print, 35 x 43 1/3 in. Courtesy of the artist.
Saara Ekström, Man before a mirror, 2012, HD video. Courtesy of the artist.
Saara Ekström, Breeding, 2011, C-print, 35 x 43 1/3 in. Courtesy of the artist.
Saara Ekström, Rosario, 2011, HD video. Courtesy of the artist.
Saara Ekström, Limbus, 2011, C-print, 59 x 59 in. Courtesy of the artist.
Residents from Finland
Past Resident2014: Edge of Arabia and Art Jameel
Foundland
Foundland Collective (Ghalia Elsrakbi and Lauren Alexander) is a design, research and art practice, based between Cairo, Egypt and Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The collective’s work draws on graphic design, art, writing and research in order to formulate small and large scale projects, self-initiated and commissioned. Since inception in 2009, the collective have focused on critical analysis of topics related to political and place branding, manifesting their speculations and ideas through visual and written manifestations like exhibitions and publications. Since 2011, Foundland’s focus shifted to the Middle East with special interest in Ghalia’s homeland, Syria. They gather observations from media, activist groups and social media trends of political expression, and grow an expanding database of visuals and information; history in the making. By drawing unexpected relations and connections, they create alternative narratives to media reporting through innovative image making and personal interpretation.
Ghalia Elsrakbi (born 1978, Damascus) completed a BA Graphic Design at ArtEZ Hogeschool voor de Kunst, Arnhem, followed by a Masters in Design at the Sandberg Institute, Amsterdam. In 2009, she followed a research postgraduate at Jan van Eyck Academie in Maastricht. Since 2011, she has been involved with various activist groups promoting creative dissidence in Syria and since 2013 is based in Cairo, Egypt.
Lauren Alexander (born 1983, Cape Town) completed a BA Graphic Design at the Stellenbosch University in South Africa, followed by a Masters in Design at the Sandberg Institute. In 2009 she pursued an MFA at the Dutch Art Institute in Arnhem. She is member of the tutoring staff at the Royal Academy of Art in the Hague.
Foundland has presented exhibitions and festivals at Kadist Art Foundation, Paris, 2012; Impakt Festival, Utrecht, 2011 and 2012; BAK, Utrecht, 2012; and Damascus Visual Arts Festival @ DEP, Istanbul, 2013.
Events & Exhibitions
Foundland: Escape Routes and Waiting Rooms
July 30–September 26, 2014
Foundland, Escape Routes and Freedom Mirages, 2013, Installation. Courtesy of the artists.
Foundland, Journey to Ard al amal (Journey to the land of hope), 2012, Video installation. Courtesy of the artists.
Foundland, Simba, the last prince of Ba'ath country, 2012, Publication. Courtesy of the artists.
Foundland, Escape Routes and Freedom Mirages, 2013, Video installation. Courtesy of the artists.
Foundland, Dis-orientation poster series, 2012, Printed posters. Courtesy of the artists.