Modern Bygones

Anita Gauran and Javier Gastelum 

 

Opening Thursday, 27th November, 8‐10 pm, Friday, 28th November, 5-9 pm 

 

 

ANITA GAURAN 

Here we are in Athens, a city where the original design for our culture and our European democracy links with a contemporary capital, a special, enriching and eloquent site to be in; in a Greece that is still preserving, concerned by Anita Gauran’s present artistic research engages with the evidence left from traces of the past, revealing it in an unexpected approach.

It takes shape in a compiled patchwork that confronts a variety of materials, found objects and old photographs. These are revived in such a way that they become a new form of archaeology as much as fiction. Throughout her work, Gauran uses mediums that have a strong connection to reality, including photography, imprints and direct marks. 

In Gauran’s current work what becomes important is to experience the distance versus the proximity between history and the history of other people. In this matter, archaeology destroys as much as it reveals. During her two months in Athens, she has been manipulating photographs and objects found at flea markets by dipping them in paint, as well as experimenting with the presentation of photographs taken in Athens’ museums, creating installations that present a delicate yet eerie response to the city. 

 

Anita Gauran, born 1988 Toulouse, France, lives and works in Rennes, France. Studied at EESAB, Rennes (France). Erasmus year in ASFA (Athens School of Fine Arts). Graduated a DNSEP in 2013: Diplôme national supérieur d'expression plastique (Higher National Diploma of plastic expression). Selected exhibitions: Loin de Veracruz, Faouëdic Gallery, Lorient (56), France (2014); Millefeuille, Héllène Bailly Gallery, Paris (75), France (2013); ANdEA video programming in salon Montrouge, Paris (75), France (2013); To Catch the light, Kaiku Gallery, Fine Arts Academy of Finland, Helsinki, Finland (2013); Contemporary Approaches to Art, Melanithros Gallery, Athens, Greece (2011). 

 

 

JAVIER GASTELUM 

In his artistic practice, Javier Gastelum is interested in the street as space where social actualities take place and can be observed. Resulting works examine the representation and visual icons by which we define our perception of the city. Through intensive research into spatial theories, urban representation and history additional layers are added to his theoretical framework. 

Whilst at Snehta, Javier Gastelum has been researching the Athens Charter, a document about urban planning published by the architect Le Corbusier in 1943. The Athens Charter got its name from the location of the fourth CIAM Conference held in Athens in 1933. Ironically most of the ideas that derived from it were applied to other cities and although a broad part of the conference was held on board the S.S Patris II, it is Athens that has become known as the Charter ́s origin.

Gastelum is interested in the contradiction between the defining ideas of the Athens Charter as a reply to the chaos of the cities analysed in the Charter and the present Athens. The visual archive Gastelum has created during his two‐month residency is linked to the concept of the Athens Charter, thus serving as a starting point for further discussions about the present architectural and the urban state of Athens. 

 

 

Javier Gastellum, born 1983 in Culiacán, Mexico, lives and works in Essen, Germany. Studied BA Photography at Folkwang Universität der Künste, Essen, Germany. Selected exhibitions include: Räume für Fotografie, Sanaa, Essen (2014); Kunsthoch46, Raumlabor Braunschweig (2014); Die begabten Zuschauer, Atelier & Galerie 52, Essen, curated by Christian Lübbert and Nemo Nonnenmacher 2013); Stadt, Land, Fluss und andere Begegnungen, Farbenladen München (2013). Grants have been awarded from: GFFF (2012); Deutschlandstipendium (2013) and a scholarship at Cusanuswerk (2014).