In my world
Digital Collage
2020/21
Agaba Solomon Peabo
Agaba Solomon Peabo is a self-taught multidisciplinary artist born and raised in Uganda. Agaba works in various fields ranging from photography to digital art. The vibrant colours of his home country’s streets inspired his love for street style photography, which he also incorporates into collages. Peabo’s work has reached wider recognition by coming second in the Mukumbya Musoke Art Prize 2020, a prize awarded biennially in Uganda. Another success marked coming second in the Uganda Young Photographer Award last year.
The people and history of Africa have always inspired Agaba's practice. His photography is situated in a liminal space juxtaposing elements of reality and surrealism. He combines digital art, an awe for nature and his love for everything street to create strikingly afrofuturistic photographs depicting the Africa of his dreams. This vision of a better Africa and the implementation of that dream serves as a daily inspiration.
Audiovisuelle Installation/Performance
Das Wasser ist niemals einsam
2021
Can Etterlin
Can Etterlin aka Abican is a pianist, sound artist, drummer and producer from Zug. After successfully completing his Jazz Piano bachelor degree at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HSLU), he is currently studying towards a Music and Art Performance Master at the same institution. Through his clear musical play, his flair for rhythm and conveying of emotions, he explores - sometimes smoothly, sometimes with friction - the tensions between acoustic and electronic music. His practice spans across various genres such as punk, pop and free improvisation. In his artistic work, Abican moves along stylistic habits and artistic boundaries, uniting supposedly contradictory things into something of his own. In doing so, he always creates something new - be it on the piano, on the synth, on the drums or on the PC, in improvisations or compositions, in installations or in performances.
Water freezes. Water thaws. Water stands still. Water flows. Water destroys. Water gives life - but above all: it leaves traces. Visibly, tangibly and audibly.
In his first audiovisual installation, which was created during the pandemic, Can Etterlin alias Abican attempts to accompany, document and reconstruct water from its origin all the way to civilisation. A two-months long reflection and engagement with sound, perspective, structure and texture of the Lower Engadine resulted in an immersive audiovisual journey.
Flags (and other short stories)
Stickerei auf Stoff
2021/22
Denys Shantar
Born in the Ukrainian city of Kherson, Denys Shantar studied Fine Arts at the University of the Arts Zurich and graduated with a major in photography in the summer of 2019. During his studies, Shantar realised that he did not want to stay in classical photography. Already when taking up acting classes during his previous studies, Shantar embraced the task of creating the costumes for the plays. This new passion moved him to study costume design at the prestigious Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, where he received an award for the best master's thesis in the department of costume design. Denys Shantar works as a curator for "To Be Antwerp" and the "Life Is Art Gallery".
Denys Shantar often uses his own memories and those of others as a starting point for his artistic work. He utilises different materials and techniques to create narratives that move between reality and fiction. In his exploration of belonging, identity, childhood, religion, migration and queerness, he links personal with global events. Shantar sees his flags as a diary that reflects events such as the war in Eastern Europe or the murder of a gay man in Belgium last year. The flags, more than 15 in total, are made from used and recycled textiles and were sent to the artist from Belgium, Ukraine and Armenia or gifted by people close to him. "By choosing these pieces, I charge them with memories and associations, combining the personal with found objects thus fictionalising stories", says Denys Shantar.
(___Sonate___)
Performance
2022
duodendron
duodendron conveys a feeling of joie de vivre. The two musicians know how to deal with the moment, to create tension with improvisation and to tickle
all possible sound colors out of their instruments. duodendron is the element that connects, beautifies everyday life and makes the moments together seem even more beautiful.