The Treefisters and TOAST associations collaborate on the event “hOle’s Lovers,” where six artists from all over Europe are called to express their love and thoughts towards natural holes. During the one-month residency at Bait del Simela, above the Trentino Dolomitic mountains, conceptual works will indeed be born from the splendid nature, which gives the artists the cold and clear mountain air, the scent of wild grass, and the soft music of nature.
What is missing from art today is the relationship between the artist and nature, the lack of experimenting in contact with the true beauties that humanity has found in its hands and has long been trying to completely destroy, in favor of continuous and relentless profit. However, the capitalist system is becoming too tight for today’s young artists, who avoid the big puppeteers and spread their own poetics, still romantic and with hints of perversion that make the language bizarre, amusing, and stimulating.
Thus, Pierangelo Giacomuzzi and Davide Baiocco have invited artists from independent realities that populate our territory to live inside a hut immersed in the splendid Trentino mountains, creating a shared artistic environment where the concept of Land Art resurfaces to the eyes of critics, gallery owners, and art experts. These will then be projected into the immense natural exhibition space.
The artists Helena Hladilová, Nicola Degiampietro, Dominik Stahlberg, Namsal Siedlecki, Pierangelo Giacomuzzi, and Veronica Pellegrin, in addition to creating new works for the event, will meet the public and journalists on May 3rd at the Istitut Cultural-Museum Ladin de Fascia (in the province of Trento) to introduce themselves and explain their residency work, which will end on May 5th. The hOle’s Lovers artist residency is an exchange between nature and artist, where the former once again lends itself to artifice, but where the artist revives the beauties that nature still offers us.
Interview Franzmagazine Dominik Stahlberg, Fronteacciaiocromato
Who are you?
Apart from the fact that this question cannot be answered with absolute certainty, I am a 35-year-old male reflector of my strange surroundings. I have been living and working mostly in Carrara since around 2007, which is, as is well known, in Tuscany. Sculpture and installation are my favorite playgrounds, but I never completely got rid of the stone eater in me, which is why marble here in Carrara holds me in chains and forces me to misuse it as a medium for my thoughts. This has the advantage of continuous production of three-dimensional art objects, but the disadvantage of the absolutely brutal province. Carrara is beautiful and at the same time incredibly ugly! But since I am not a native, I don’t have to deal with this in the ultimate sense. I have a perspective of escape.
However, thanks to the internet, I manage to overcome this cultural wasteland and accompany projects all over Europe, exhibit, and above all, travel. What else am I? No!art activist / stone sculptor / pirate / amateur astronomer / dog owner / doubter / tattooed / smoker, and I love gorging myself on the “finer things” in life. In the end, however, it’s easier to approach this question by asking: What am I not? I am not an asshole.
Why are you a Hole’s Lover?
When I first heard about the “Tree Fister” project, I was excited from the start. The concept is so crazy that it will either interest no one or become a runaway success. I’ve always liked these spontaneous ideas, in this case sprung from the thoughts of my Toast colleague Pierangelo Giacomuzzi (editor’s note: Toast = workshop for young art initiatives in Carrara). Many such inspirations unfortunately remain trapped under the skull, so I have the utmost respect for Pier’s work in bringing different people together and seeing what can be extracted from this topic revolving around “tree fisting.”
Nature + Art + Emptiness/Hole = ?
An experiment.
Nature and art vs. hole and emptiness, the eternal battle between good and bad, which we all carry within us. I believe the art lies in setting priorities and never forgetting that we are part of nature, that the hole and the emptiness will get us all soon enough, and the meantime is to be filled with art in the broadest sense. Of course, it depends on having enough to eat and a roof over your head, but we Europeans are still (for now) among the fortunate ones. Every day, I walk for about 2.5 hours through the beautiful nature of the Apuan Alps (with my dog), I see the seasons come and go, squirrels jump, and hear the wild boars squeal. Unfortunately, I lack the German romantic streak to glorify nature in all its splendor; I belong to it, take it as it is, and take my trash with me when I visit. However, as a child of the Nordic flatlands, I have discovered my affection for the mountains. Fantastic! Mountains! Absolute sympathy points for the location of the art residence! …even if it’s probably still freezing cold.
I learned a lot about holes and emptiness during a three-month stay in Jerusalem’s Old City earlier this year, and I will try to process that during the residency (at least in part). Among other things, I had the dubious pleasure of participating in restoration work in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and am still reeling from severe culture shock. I didn’t expect it: if you’re looking for hatred, lies, discord, and especially vanity, that’s the right place. The situation in the holiest church of Christianity is worse than in the worst port bar, and I’m not exactly thin-skinned. Six denominations that won’t grant each other even the butter on the bread. This religious tourism, the deliberate patronizing of millions of people, frightens me. I have nothing against belief or disbelief or whatever, but this industry, this profane money and envy machine, left me somewhat stunned. At the tomb of Jesus… if only he knew! Nevertheless, I had the opportunity to implement some art projects there, including a photo series of believers at the Stone of Anointing. I will integrate this into an installation during the residency, taking that fetish as inspiration but with different signs. Away from the hole and emptiness -> back to nature!
Hole/Emptiness vs. Environment/Nature: conducive or limiting for creativity?
Tricky. Personally, I prefer to work in closed spaces; I get my inspiration from our society. I’m not an abstract forms junkie. The vastness of nature feels limiting to me, I can only guess at this system but not understand it. Depicting it is out of the question, you always lose. Moreover, after staring at this wonder for too long, I always start searching for meaning, and that doesn’t get me anywhere. What does excite me, however, is the exchange with other creatives, everyone approaches such a topic differently, bringing their experience and passion. This is where I see similarities and differences, more of the latter, but that’s another issue…
If we manage to get through this week without cabin fever or disputes, that’s already a victory. Artists are notoriously not easy-going people. But I am fully optimistic! I also find it amusing how we will explain our concept to any visitors or locals and how we’ll manage to pull it all together I’m curious.
Speaking of -> Treefister! I’ve participated in several sculpture symposia and art projects worldwide, and I must say the most important thing about “working together” is to get a certain dynamic going. If that doesn’t happen, if everyone just does their own thing, the project is a failure. The art is in setting aside your ego and fostering dialogue so that you come out richer than you went in. Unfortunately, that’s the exception rather than the rule. But maybe that’s where my romantic streak lies, who knows. Since, at 35, I’m already among the old guard of the Hole’s Lovers (new German: “spoiled meat”), I will hold back on dispensing wisdom because I’ve always hated it when someone tried to explain the world to me. Anyway… I’m going to make sure I have a lot of fun.
What hinders your creative work?
It’s hard not to fall into clichés here. But suffice it to say, when I feel “unloved,” my work drifts into an aggressive-destructive habitus, which is sometimes necessary but… constrains me in the long run. I don’t want to promote a cuddly approach here (“No cock is as hard as life!”, H. Schimanski), but affirmation, in whatever form, is essential. The term “unloved” is more of a general nature in my case.
What promotes it?
My dear wife. Projects like this one. Moderate alcohol consumption. A life-affirming attitude. Sex.
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Since April 29, 2013, they have been residing in the Bait del Simela until May 5 at 2,000 meters high in the middle of the Dolomites (here’s what it looks like up there right now):
www.treefisting.blogspot.it
