Welcoming Culture, Stephan Romer
2015 “Who has not asked himself at some time or other: am I a monster or is this what it means to be a person?” -Clarice Lispector
Self. Our most intimate relation and yet at times elusive. Living as we do, so locked within our own experience, we cannot say whether the experiences of those we live alongside
align with ours. Who has not wondered, perhaps quite often, whether the things we feel, see, experience, are normal or unique? Even those who may seem vastly different from us, who come from faraway places and speak languages we do not understand, even they start from the basic premise of being human. It is this we all share. It is the notion that it is better to ask a question in a crowded room, however silly it may seem, because very likely it is a question on the minds of many
others.
Stefan Romer has
a specific idea when it comes to artist interviews. He thinks of them as an “imaginary facing of art history” a challenge that makes him a little nervous. Despite this intimidating game of Duchampian Chess, he spoke to us from Berlin about his life and work. Romer takes a broad view of work when it comes to his actions as an artist. Reading, for example, is to him part of the process. It is a way to feed his brain, ultimately gaining knowledge and potentially influencing his artistic work.
Friends have struggled to see how something like reading could be work, a plight not unfamiliar to artists. Often others do not understand that the work of an artist is not only broad in scope, but also legitimately work. Reading, while for some a leisure activity, can indeed be a work endeavor for the artist. Presently Romer is working on a multimedia performance piece. The piece titled Recoda centers around the idea of coding in our every day lives. The elements of the piece are leveled images
and text.
Romer visually references old sci-fi films and layers this with scraps from historical texts. The complex performance piece runs around 50 minutes long and features Romer himself as a sort of narrator. The story is about a woman working in the New Media industry questioning whether her work makes sense and has
meaning. This line of questioning is entirely relevant to artists and to the world at large especially as we continually redefine what constitutes the public sphere in our age of decreasing privacy. Romer’s work questions how we can continue to critique what is going on around us in an increasingly coded age. Themes of identity, family, community, and of course art production in the context of the digital age are addressed. The performance is touring at present. To hear more about this and other
upcoming work from Stephan Romer including a current book project, listen to the complete interview. Nathaniel Popkin is the author of Everything is Borrowed, a novel releasing in June, 2018. The story imagines a stories from historical past, recent past, and present all taking place in the present
day. Centered on the actions of an anarchist, the book examines in part how we sometimes seduce each other in to self-betrayal. Popkin’s story uses a disillusioned architect as a catalyst to the discovery of the story of the anarchist. He pulls from “the vast fabric” of Philadelphia, the city in which he lives and where the novel takes place. Prior to this novel, Popkin wrote three non-fiction books about the city of Philadelphia. His non-fiction books consistently examine the “hidden” city of
Philadelphia. Popkin says he borrows fragments of people’s lives and places to help them stand up again. The theme of belief and the ways in which it can be blinding are also explored, particular in the story of the anarchist in his upcoming novel. In his own life, the spectacle of re-edification of the Torah throughout Jewish religious education heavily influences this theme. Popkin has long been tuned into concepts of otherness, immigration, foreignness, issues that are certainly coming to a
head in our present sociopolitical culture but are also nothing new under the sun. To hear more about Nathaniel Popkin’s work and a deeper analysis of his upcoming novel, listen to the complete
interview. |
Weekly Grants &
Resources for Artists Every week you will find updated resources here to apply for grants, find residencies and
more.
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If you have been following the blog, you know that we are dedicating every Thursday to a selection of opportunities for artists curated from around the world. As a career artist, part of your regular practice should be identifying and applying.... | “I’ve just returned from an exhibition
I was in, in Carmel, CA. Incredible time of sharing and inspiration. I was told by someone I met to go to a particular gallery in Carmel where the director was sure to like my work. I did, and he did. I went back.... |
In our continued Thursday series on available opportunities, we bring you four unique grant, fellowship, and residency opportunities. Each of these are slightly different in their geographical reach, award money, and application requirements.... | Having the confidence to ask for what you need can be one of the hardest parts of shaping your career as an artist. It’s not easy to approach galleries and say that your work is worthy of their walls.... |
These are positive and / or negative reviews of galleries, art fairs, consultants, writers, online pay to play offers, residencies and more – all written by artists so that other artists can beware of situations where institutions treat artists badly, or that end up costing the artist money or are
outright scams.
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