Veneta Androva (born in Sofia) is a visual artist who graduated in Fine Arts from Weißensee Academy of Art Berlin and also obtained a degree in History of Art and Philosophy from Humboldt University of Berlin. In her works, she combines diverse media and sources, such as archival, documentary, or computer-generated material and paintings, all related through animation in simulated environments. She took part in numerous shows in Germany and Bulgaria, as well as Austria, Argentina, Brazil, Poland, Czech Republic, Spain, and Israel, where she did part of her studies at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in 2016–2017.
Androva is also a recipient of several scholarships, such as the Elsa-Neumann-Scholarship, the Artist Scholarship from Cusanuswerk, and the Mart Stam Scholarship. In 2020, she was also nominated for her work “From My Desert” for the German Short Film Award. Recently, she received the Prix Ars Electronica 2021–Award of Distinction for her film “AIVA” in the Computer Animation category, as well as the Golden Horseman for Animated Film, and the LUCA Gender Diversity Award at Filmfest Dresden. Her films have been selected to screen at numerous international film festivals, including the International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film; ARS ELECTRONICA-Festival for Art, Technology, and Society; MONSTRA Lisbon Animated Film Festival; FILE Electronic Language International Festival; European Media Art Festival (EMAF); Kassel Documentary Film and Video Festival; Go Short-International Short Film Festival Nijmegen; Sofia International Film Festival; Short Waves Festival; 25FPS International Film and Video Festival, and Short Film Festival Hamburg.
She is currently based in Berlin.
Androva explores sociopolitical, economic, and gender issues through stories that she places within adaptive systems such as social networks, trade markets, politics, or gambling. She combines different sources of material with paintings, all related through animation in simulated environments. Using computer game aesthetics, her narratives question social constructs of power and their distribution. By juxtaposing seemingly incompatible elements-artificial intelligence and gender (AIVA, 2020); capitalism and love (FROM MY DESERT, 2019); gambling and peace (OASIS, 2018)-she explores questionable and problematic themes of the present.
edited by Wiktoria Bednarczyk
AIVA_Trailer from Veneta Androva on Vimeo.
Meet AIVA – the female humanoid artist. She is in her mid-thirties, young and beautiful. But not only that, she is also unbelievably creative. This female AI artist, who was designed by a cis-male engineering team, has the task of contributing more diversity to the art world and to offer a female perspective.
AIVA is studying the male nude, preparing preliminary sketches for her next masterpiece. Exploring different postures in male nude painting, she is examining masculinity in its diverse forms and shapes.
From My Desert _ Trailer from Veneta Androva on Vimeo.
FROM MY DESERT accompanies a young investor into the freeport in Geneva to a meeting arranged by his art dealer to review the terms and conditions of his most recent asset. When the purchase contract is concluded, the artwork will be stored in the tax-free zone for the next several years, until its market value increase makes a resale lucrative. Through labyrinthine aisles in the style of computer games, the computer-generated character moves through the strictly secured warehouse, built to preserve the anonymity of its customers, to a private, air-conditioned showroom. There, the investor meets the famous portrait of Martin Luther (1528) by Lucas Cranach the Elder.
“He was exhilarated about this first meeting. This kind of investment was new to him. Tangible assets were not his main forte, but since 2008 the art market had become more stable and profitable choice. He opened the heavy bullet-proof door to the private viewing room. […] He was mounted on the wall and illuminated by various spotlights. On this occasion, they saw each other for the first time. “Oh yeah, you’re all mine now,” said the investor out loud. […] He looked him deep in his eyes and was so impressed at how vividly they were painted. […]”
However, what’s supposed to be simply a tangible asset turns out to be so much more. Suddenly, the investor thinks he hears the painting speak, then he receives a friendly smile from Luther. A budding friendship begins between the investor and the reformer, they talk about “typical guy stuff” – such as how to use political power and loyalty to get ahead, and let others do the work while pursuing own interests. Soon, the young investor develops unknown erotic feelings for the serious and manly-looking Martin. Whenever he can, he visits him for a tête-à-tête in the “dark room”. However, Martin’s attention expires when the investor, who can’t bear the thought of losing his “beautiful prisoner”, becomes weak and loses sight of the common goal: the profitable resale.
Intelligent and with humor, Veneta Androva traces the grotesque absurdity of an art market that has degenerated into pure speculation and the questionable role of freeports, conjuring up the mutual attraction of “Protestant ethics and the spirit of capitalism” (as in the famous work of Max Weber published in 1905), and amalgamates in the hand-painted, animated portrait of “Martin” – in the installation it is already located in the transport box instead of in the museum – digital animation and painting.
Text: Eva Scharrer
OASIS_Trailer from Veneta Androva on Vimeo.
Welcome to Oasis. You find yourself in an adaptive system – such as traffic, economics, social networks, trade markets, politics and poker.
You have been introduced to the system; you can now start the journey. Walking through a computer-generated desert you follow a fantasized and yet unknown quest as you are guided by an avatar’s voice, occupying both roles of moderator and narrator. Along the path, elements appear and vanish as they came; screen, pictures or surfaces of projections, they will bring you information about the place of desire you are heading to.
Close up.
Oasis: 2800 square meters of gaming floor, 220 slot machines, 35 tables. This insulated and particular edifice was built in Jericho in 1998 as a casino. It represents the first largest private investment in the Palestinian territories, as well as the first major cross-border development project, involving Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Jordan. In the midst of a complex geopolitical situation, it was meant to be a fertile spot for investment and gaming all the while instrument for facilitating communication and peace processes before being infested with corruption and conflicts. It closed its doors in 2000 shortly after beginning of the second Intifada. The so called „casino of the peace process“ remains till today fully equipped and hopes to reopen as soon as the Israelis are allowed to freely access Jericho.
Casino entrance sealed up. Back to the checkpoint of the entrance of the city. Soldiers in watchtowers. Soldiers walking around. A flag.
The movie combines documentary and archive video material with animation work and simulated environments that are related under a multilayered narrative spine. The narrator’s voice uses the textual form of an audio described films, based on original scripts of archive material. Paintings of film stills from video archive are animated and placed in the simulated environment, combined with the original sound. Situated in the protagonist’s position, the viewer is the player, involved in an intricate immersive display also given by the moderator’s tactical game strategies or the narrator’s comments and documented observations.
Text: Veneta Androva & Marie DuPasquier
