still here, sometimes there

Description of the project

„Still here, sometimes there“ deals with being spatially - and emotionally – split up because you live in a country, which is not your place of origin. Growing up and living in foreign countries led to the concept of this work: with this participative performance the artist seeks to initiate a reflection about what it means to live far away from your home country.

The participants of this action are young women from the direct context, that are united by one aspect: they voluntarily moved from their hometown to another country. Some of them know if and when they might be returning, but most of them don’t.

The contact was established by e-mail and a date was set, at which they should all participate to the action simultaneously: a sound file was prepared, on which they could find instructions. Additionally, personal episodes from the past and reflections about questions such as home and homelessness, belonging and longing for home could be heard, narrated by the artist in German and Portuguese.

Instructions and mp3 file could be downloaded from the website one week before the established date. The apartment of each person was defined as the starting point of the so called Audio Walk; equipped with a portable audio device and a digital camera the women started the sound file at the same time.

The artist’s voice guided them throughout the whole time, as if they would take a walk with her. They got instructions about how they should walk and what they were supposed to photograph. In the first 13 minutes, the participants walk outside of their apartment, where they should take a total of four different photos. In the last five minutes they were told to take pictures of two more motifs. There was a significant difference between the instructions: while the photographs taken outside were very concrete, the last two photographs, which should be taken indoors, are very subjective and personal.

After taking the walk the participants were requested to draw a sketch of the path that they had left behind. The photographs were uploaded to a server and the map was sent to the artist by post, being the only real and material trace of the action, since all the other transactions were made through the internet.

Finally, the work consists of three parts: the photographs and maps of the participants, a video loop of the path that the artist originally walked while setting up the performance – you can only see the floor and the walking person- and the original sound recording, which was used as the basis of the action.

The pictures are organized thematically for a presentation: it is almost impossible to find out, in which city (of the total of 21 cites in 13 countries) they were created. The last two motifs might be connected to the women that took the photographs, since they appear in a self- portrait in one of the first pictures. But it is rather difficult to assign the photographs to a specific person, which is also the reason why this form of presentation was chosen: places and objects are interchangeable; they only have a relevance to someone that can establish a connection with them. Video and audio are the elements that complete the work, since they establish an access to the action, in which each woman participated on her own (space) but in the company (time) of all the other participants.

A total of 35 participants generated 245 photographs. The artist also participated in the action.

 

 

 

About the artist

Johanna Steindorf is a German- Brazilian artist, currently living in Cologne, Germany. She graduated at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne in 2009 and lived in Berlin for a year after that. After growing up in different countries (Ecuador, India, Portugal, Mexico and Brazil) she moved to Germany in 2006.

 

„Still here, sometimes there“ deals with being spatially - and emotionally – split up because you live in a country which is not your place of origin. Growing up and living in foreign countries led to the concept of this work: with this participative performance the artist seeks to initiate a reflection about what it means to live far away from your home country. 40 women from the direct context were invited to participate: they were given instructions and a sound file, which they started at the same time and date, each one at her present location.
On the headphones, instructions of how to walk and what to photograph could be heard, as well as personal episodes from the past and reflections about questions such as home and homelessness, belonging and longing.

 

 

About been out, vol. 1
been out, vol. 1 is an all-arts competition for young artists exploring the parameters of art in the generation of digital natives. In these times of cross media and viral marketing, the open competition been out, vol. 1, organised by Bohème Précaire in cooperation with 2010LAB.tv, questions the art of the digital natives. Do they still know the meaning of art? Is there still a trade based on art?

According to the free-associating motto “go out, be out, include the outside”, the applicants should question and revalue the gridlocked meanings of urbanity, arts, architecture, and private and public sphere.

kunst.labor is the online-gallery of been out, vol. 1.
Further information: www.bohemeprecaire.com
And: www.facebook/beenout