Inese Verebe
Main discovery for me this year became the term generative art, applying it to create graphic outcomes, as well as by distorting photography using random areas of pixels. Discovery of these approaches inspired me to explore digital versus analog themes by bringing analog photography into projects and deconstructing it with code. I was led by 90s era nostalgia in post-Soviet space, that is also the time of my childhood, rediscovering things about my own identity.
What is E story? Could you imagine an old soviet era playground surrounded by blockhouses, there are no swings, as they were destroyed by scrap metal collectors after Soviet Union collapsed. But you are a child and you do not dream about a beautiful playground, mostly because you have never seen one and your imagination is good enough to figure out a game from rusty E shaped pieces of metal found inside broken power transformers used inside black and white image television receivers you found on the ground.
If I did not not dream about the playground, what was I dreaming about as a kid? Finally being introduced to Western Culture, that started to leak into our television, I would dream of trendy outfits that pop stars are wearing in the music videos, but all I could have is old fashioned jeans my mother brought me from a secondhand store.
Do I still want all these things now, grown up and living in the huge economically developed Glasgow city with high street shops on every corner, or did time shape me a way that I started to appreciate the little I have without feeling shame that these old fashioned jeans cost pennies? The desire to fit into a particular environment and to be like everyone else might be damaging for your own identity and it is always about finding balance between accepting rules of the place and to be true to yourself.
Secondhand Time
Music in the video is The Tune That Goes 'EEE' by Adam Neely
The name for video visualisation was borrowed from the book by Svetlana Alexievich Secondhand Time: The last of the Soviets, where the author was interviewing people who lived in the Soviet times.
Inside 1-464
1-464 is the number for Lithuanian blockhouse series project, the construction of which began in the end of 1950s and had modification till 1999s. I used to live in that type of house majority of my life.
East End Visas and Immigrations
Is a performative installation made in collaboration with first year GSA students: Peter Gillies (Sculpture and Environmental Art), Katrina Hoffmann (Product Design), Dimitar Zamfirov (Architecture).
The idea of the East End travel visa office came to our minds when we started questioning ourselves: Are we actually fitting the East End area of Glasgow or we are foreigners, who do not have a right to judge people living there? A performative installation, offering an interview, but there are no right or wrong answers, all that should be right is your attitude. Each element, starting from the interview form, to the lanyards worn, are each considered an art piece itself. Something similar Banksy did with his Gross Domestic Product installation. Ironically, sometimes you have a perception that you are not going to fit into a particular environment, cultural differences, language barrier, but in the end nothing of it matters. More important is who you are as an individual, and then you feel more organically in the place far from your roots.
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