Past Residents
Past Resident2015: Foundation for a Civil Society
Igor Ruf
Igor Ruf explores the relations between object and non-object as a starting point for a work of art. For him memory is the cognitive ability to reconstruct past experiences, whether autobiographical or experienced through media such as film and music. Ruf’s research ranges from unrecorded narratives spread by oral tradition to phantasmal images from childhood. His recent works address the somewhat absurd connection between his own personal fascinations and everyday objects or events. Also, he often deals with humorous self-positioning within society in general.
Igor Ruf (born 1984 in Virovitica, Croatia) graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts, Zagreb where he now works as an Assistant Lecturer. Recent solo shows include House of Tartzans Mom, Academia Moderna, Zagreb, Croatia; Exhibition of Hills, Furniture and Walking Spaces, MKC Split, Croatia; North, South, East, Jam and Boom, Plevnik-Kronkowska Gallery, Celje, Slovenia; and Bure Baruta, (with Vlatka Škoro and Ana Petrović), Kazamat Gallery, Osijek. His awards received include the Radoslav Putar Award, 2014; 31st Youth Salon Award, 2012; and Grand Prize at the XI Triennial of Croatian Sculpture, 2012.
Events & Exhibitions
Salon: Zoran Georgiev and Igor Ruf
April 14, 2015
Igor Ruf, The Factory is Following Me, 2013, Mixed media, 74 3/4 x 33 1/2 x 23 1/2 in. Courtesy of the artist.
Past Resident2015: Manitoba Arts Council
Theo Sims
Theo Sims is a visual artist whose installations often focus on the juxtaposition of the familiar and the everyday with a contextual subversion. Sims’ projects play with space as a conceptual tool. Theo fuses wit and humor with the emotional, the ephemeral and the personal. Several of his recent activities as both artist and curator lend themselves to participatory projects or collaborations with other artists, curators, musicians, writers and even politicians.
Theo Sims has exhibited across Canada with solo exhibitions at The Rooms, Newfoundland; Presentation House Gallery, Vancouver; and Illingworth Kerr Gallery, Calgary. His group exhibitions include the Montreal Biennale; Pretend: Theatre and Video, PlugIn ICA; and Ghost Dance, Ryerson Image Centre. This year Sims installed an outdoor installation in Lethbridge, Albert; a solo exhibition at the Tom Thomson Gallery, Owen Sound, Ontario; and a site-specific installation for WINDOW, Winnipeg. He has exhibited in numerous exhibitions internationally and his work is reviewed or featured in publications such as Canadian Art; Abridged; C Magazine; Circa; The Irish Times; The Sunday Times; The Globe & Mail, Border Crossings; BlackFlash; The New York Times and Maclean’s Magazine.
Theo Sims, Car Park, 2014. Courtesy of the artist. Photo courtesy of Paola Bernardelli.
Residents from Canada
Past Resident2015: Kunststiftung des Landes Sachsen-Anhalt
Anne Sommer
Specializing in the design of play and educational objects, Anne Sommer has devoted her research to the world of children. Her label, Spielmode, was inspired while Sommer was sitting in a doctor’s waiting room watching a five-year old boy playing with a colored wooden tower; the only available toy in the kid’s corner. Sommer thought that there ought to be individual toys for children. Every child should have the opportunity to keep a toy, appropriate to his or her age, on hand at any time. She subsequently launched a fashion line with integrated toys for children.
Anne Sommer (born 1983 in Berlin, Germany) moved to Halle to study Design of Playing and Learning and later studied fashion design at the Escuela de Arte y Superior de Diseño Valencia, Spain. Sommer graduated from the Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design Halle in 2013. Recent presentations and exhibitions include Interactive Kidsfotos, Designhaus Halle, 2014; spielhochvier, Designhaus Halle, 2013; Fantitastisch, Kunststiftung Sachsen-Anhalt, Halle, 2013; Brücke-Catwalk, Lange Nacht der Kultur, Kleinmachnow, 2013. Awards include Hugo Junkers Prize, 2013 and Scidea Ideenwettbewerb, 2013.
Anne Sommer, Spielmode master collection, 2013, Mixed media. Courtesy of the artist.
