
-- VIEW GALLERY --
CIMO - Center for Reseach of Fashion and Clothing resents a solo exhibition by Josipa Štefanec called Husks, which will be on view at the Karas Gallery from 16 to 23 December 2020. The exhibition is part of the project BoSA - Briefing on Soft Arts.
With this curatorial project and exhibition program, the CIMO center focuses on contemporary art practices with the aim of questioning the concept of softness (traditionally associated with the field of textile art). In the exhibition program, we present several different artistic positions with the aim of contextualizing this concept in the field of visual arts and contemporary art practices.
Historically, textile materials as an equal artistic medium appeared in the artistic practices of the 1960s. Dealing with textiles is transferred from private, home and anonymous women's handicrafts and applied arts to the field of public art, mainly in the form of "soft" sculpture or installation, as well as a situation in which textile creation is associated with the so-called. '' female discourse ''.
Project activities include: curatorial research; artistic research; exhibition and public conversations with the artist. Curatorial research starts from the research of artistic work and the presentation of interpretive statements in the conceptual framework of the BoSA project. Artistic research and new production of work and / or existing in new articulation is an independent work of invited artists who are guided by their own artistic practice and methods.
In the artistic research of Josipa Štefanec, through the form of soft sculpture, she strives to redefine the boundaries of the human body. Sculptures are created by joining strips of twill which then generate an organic form. This soft husk/ membranefunctions as a kind of shelter and safe space that takes over the human body. At the same time, husks exist as a free volume that takes up space and expands the boundaries of the body in unexpected ways. The mutated body combines elements of human, animal, and mythical, resulting in unfinished bulky objects settling into the gallery space. There are openings on all buildings, which invite you to explore the interior and the volume that can move into the shell. The sculptures occupy several different positions such as sitting, standing and hanging, and each position reveals new dimensions of softness directly inscribed in the material (and the way it is cut - sewn constructed).
About the author:
Josipa Štefanec was born in 1978 in Dusseldorf, Germany. She graduated in sculpture in 2008 at the Teaching Department of the Academy of Fine Arts and in 2006 at the Faculty of Textile Technology, fashion design. In his work he actively uses the medium of textile material, working in the direction of its affirmation in contemporary art practice.
With twelve solo exhibitions (selection): Shells (2020); The Ideal Capitalist (2018); Dark Black (2016); Čičkovina (2015); Hybrids (2005); Kocka (2005), Josipa is the winner of several national and international awards (selection): AAW International Youth Salon, Alexandria, Egypt (2006); 28th Youth Salon, HDLU, (2006), and has participated in numerous group projects (selection): Fashioclash festival, The Netherlands (2018); T-Ht Award, MSU (2016); Maniac, Vienna, Austria (2015); XII Triennial of Croatian Sculpture, Glyptothek of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts (2015); Bewegter wind, Nord Hessen, Germany (2012); Textil (e) tronics, Velika Gorica (2012); International sculpture triennial, Poznan, Poland (2009); Museum Fashion Day, Casoria International Contemporary Art Museum, Naples, Italy (2006).
She works as an assistant professor at the Faculty of Textile Technology (TTF), University of Zagreb.
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BoSA project leaders: Tonči Vladislavić, Ivana Čuljak and Lea Vene
Curator: Lea Vene
Design: Ivan Klisurić
Photos: Marina Paulenka
Translation: Tihana Bertek
* The exhibition is part of the BoSA project - Briefing On Soft Arts, which is a permanent project of the CIMO center started in 2019.
* The project is supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia and the City Office for Culture, Education and Sports of the City of Zagreb for 2020, and HDLU - Gallery Karas
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