Taking up this issue’s theme of ‘The Diary of an Artist in Confinement Interesting Times’, Selections invited artists to share their thoughts on work, art and life in general since the beginning of the year. We guided them with the following questions:
What image(s) illustrate(s) 2020 for you so far?
If you were to write a note, a reminder, a memory to yourself, or to the world, in a time capsule, and you were to open it 15 years from now, what would it say?
If you had to describe the year 2020 in brief, what would it sound like?
Some of you have dedicated this year so far to working continuously in your studio; some others have found themselves completely demotivated and have halted everything. What have you been doing? Please describe in detail and share with us the work you have been doing during this period.
The pandemic has changed our perception of time and our relationship to our homes. What is your experience?
How do you see the future of art?
Have you been reading?
Some chose to respond in a diary form or with visual storytelling; others provided their answers at varying length and in different ways. Each provides a unique insight into and reflection of the most extraordinary period of our lives to date.
What image(s) illustrate(s) 2020 for you so far?
If you were to write a note, a reminder, a memory to yourself, or to the world, in a time capsule, and you were to open it in 15 years from now, what would it say?
If you had to describe the year 2020 in brief, what would it sound like?
Some of you have dedicated this year so far to working continuously in your studio; some others have found themselves completely demotivated and have halted everything. What have you currently been doing? Please describe it in detail and share with us the work you have been doing during this period.
What is the tool you have used most during this time? Please share a picture and describe it.
The pandemic has changed our perception of time and our relationship to our homes. What is your experience?
How do you see the future of Art?
Have you been reading? If yes, please share the name and author of the book(s), as well as an image/scan of a page(s) that you find meaningful.
For over a decade, the Dubai-based Iranian artists, Ramin Haerizadeh, Rokni Haerizadeh, Hesam Rahmanian have practised a model of how to collaborate, creating a self-sustaining creative life; how to build an aesthetic and undermine it; how to be politically acute and humorous, generous and eccentric. Their home is a working studio which is also a film set and movie theatre, a library, a museum and research centre. Their collaboration translates into multiple forms and often evolves around other artists and friends from different walks of life. The trio’s work is often referred to as a landscape where the complex nature of processing is integrated in the nested system that forms the landscape of their shows.
A VERSION OF THIS ARTICLE APPEARED IN PRINT IN SELECTIONS #53.