Artists: Wojtek Blecharz, Zorka Wollny
Arts Territory will be taking artists Zorka Wollny and Wojtek Blecharz to Iran in November 2018 to research and work on a cross-border collaborative project encompassing music, sound, movement, and performing arts. During our research we will meet local practitioners and art institutions in Tehran, Yazd and Shiraz.
We will be exploring the contemporary art, performance and music scene in Iran as well as will research the legacy of the Shiraz Festival of Arts where Stockhausen and Xenakis presented their new works via looking into archival materials, and opening dialogues with relevant groups and individuals. Zorka Wollny will be meeting small cultural groups, women’s groups, and particularly groups of women making music, involved in making electronic music, and on vocals. As a university art teacher, Zorka is interested in meeting art students in Tehran, leading workshops, and having conversations with her Iranian peers.
The resulting work will be presented in London and Tehran in 2019.
As a part of the research artist will give a talk at New Media Society Tehran. During her talk Zorka will focus on the subject of choreographing music. She will discuss what kind of work it is to create acoustic compositions for institutions, factories and empty buildings. Her work functions at the boundary between the theatre and visual arts and are strictly related to the architecture. She collaborates—in a director-like mode—with musicians, actors and dancers and, every time with members of local communities too. Zorka will also look at the importance of preparation, collaborations, topics and audience.
Wojtek will give a presentation on his 3 operas-installations: “Transcryptum”, “Park-Opera” and “Body-Opera”. He will discuss the new approach to the libretto in his works, the role of sound as well as the participation of the audience.
The Arts Territory team will be staying at Kandovan Residency which is part of the Pejman Foundation. This research will be taking place in partnership with the Pejman Foundation with the support of New Media Society.
Part of artistic residency at Kandovan, Pejman Foundation. Supported by the Arts Council England’s Artists International Development Fund granted to Kasia Sobucka.
ARTISTS BIOGRAPHIES:
Wojtek Blecharz was born in Gdynia (Poland) in 1981, in 2006 he graduated with honors from Frederic Chopin Music Academy in Warsaw (Master of Arts), in 2015 received a Ph. D. in music composition at University of California San Diego. Since 2012 Blecharz has been curating the Instalakcje music festival at Warsaw’s Nowy Theater, featuring non-concert music: sound installations, performance installations, sound sculptures, music videos, music theater and Blecharz has also directed both of his opera-installations Transcryptum (2013) commissioned by Grand Theater National Opera in Warsaw and Park-Opera (2016) commissioned by Theater Powszechny in Warsaw. Currently preparing the third opera installation Body-Opera commissioned by Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (premiere November 2016).In 2013 he was selected as one of winners of the IMPLUS International Composition Competition in Graz. In 2015 a theater/choir piece with Blecharz’s music Mutter Courage und ihre Hunden directed by Marta Górnicka, commissioned by Staadtstheater Bruswick was acclaimed as one of the best 60 performances in Germany. Recently Blecharz premiered his new installation Axis commissioned by Goethe Institute in Warsaw and Polish Institute in Berlin; composed and directed a new theater piece SOUNDWORK for 8 actors, commissioned by TR Warszawa; new piece for Syrian and western instruments Music for invisible places, commissioned by International Contemporary Ensemble to celebrate to 50th anniversary of Lincoln Center in New York. In October 2016 Blecharz will be participating in Ari Benjamin Meyers’ 15-day installation at Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin composing daily for 4 hours at the museum.
Zorka Wollny was born 1980 in Krakow, Poland. Lives and works in Berlin, Germany. Her works function at the boundary between the theatre and visual arts and are strictly related to the architecture. She collaborates—in a director-like mode—with musicians, actors and dancers and, every time with members of local communities too. Her works have been exhibited at the most prestigious contemporary art institutions in Poland: Zachęta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw, Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle in Warsaw, Museum Sztuki in Łódź, Wyspa Institute of Art in Gdańsk, National Museum in Krakow, National Museum in Gdańsk, National Museum in Szczecin, Wrocław Contemporary Museum – and form part of their art collections. Most recently her works have been presented at: the Hebbel am Ufer Theatre in Berlin (2018), CTM Festival in Berlin (2018, 2015), Savvy Contemporary in Berlin (2017, 2016), De Appel in Amsterdam (2017), Heroines of Sound Festival in Berlin (2017), International Studio&Curatorial Program in New York (2017), Tartu Museum of Art (2017), Edith-Russ-Haus für Medienkunst in Oldenburg (2016), Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London (2014), Jazz and Experimental Music Festival in Istanbul (2014), Akademie der Künste in Berlin (2013. She works as an associate professor at Stettin Art Academy.