Jan 28th 2020
Velferden centre for Contemporary Art received almost 100 applications for the newly established annual residency program, which offers two artists a two-month working stay. The program gives artists from all over the world an opportunity to work in peace and quiet with their projects, surrounded by the unique landscape we have to offer in Sokndal. The artists are awarded a studio in Velferden, and will be living in what used to be a workers' residence on Sandbekk. The stay includes meetings with regional artists / curators, and will also provide a good introduction and integration into the local environment. The program was established not only to give artists an interesting opportunity to work in a place with a lot of historical value, but also to give Sokndal and the Dalane region the opportunity to meet artists from all over the world, and in this way discover new valuable perspectives in our time.
The jury, which consisted of Hans Edward Hammonds, Maiken Stene and Margrethe Aanestad, selected two young and relatively newly graduated artists to come to Velferden, in March and April 2020. The jury is very excited to see what the artists will get out of a stay at Velferden, and also in meeting each other and the community we have here.
Lisa Vipola (b. 1982), lives and works in Stockholm.
Lisa grew up in the village of Jukkasjärvi in Lapland 200 km north of the Arctic Circle, and which name means Meetingplace. Lisa uses the idea of the meeting place as a starting point to open conversations about power, weakness, authenticity and value in our society. She works with photography, video, film and text, and with various sculptural materials such as textiles, wood and hair. Lisa's artwork is autobiographical, and she often uses herself as the main character in her work.
Lisa holds a bachelor's and master's degree in visual arts from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (2018) and Umeå University of Fine Arts (2014). She has participated in the symposium The Voice and the Institution at KHiO with the publication Accessen, an autofictional novel about silence, discrimination and abuse within today's institutions. Her documentary feature film The Journey to the Miracle Man has been shown at film festivals in Sweden, Poland, Latvia and San Francisco. Lisa has exhibited at Sørlandets Kunstmuseum, the Exhibition Laboratory in Helsinki and at the Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm.
Clare Gatto (b. 1990), lives and works in Detroit, Usa.
Clare uses 3D rendering software to create and explore simulated bodies, egg sacs, and interstitial space. These digital simulations, in the form of video and photographic works, offer the in-between as an opportunity to reconsider ideas around the body as we know it and envision the physicalized self beyond labels and binaries.
Clare Gatto earned a BFA from Ohio State State University (2012) and an MFA in Photography from Cranbrook Academy of Art (2017), in the interim they co-founded MINT collective, a collaborative, multidisciplinary artist-run space in Columbus, OH. A recipient of the Mercedes Benz Financial Service New Beginnings Award (2017) and the Warren and Margot Coville Scholarship (2017), they attended Vermont Studio Center and ACRE artist residencies in 2018, and SIM Seljavegur residency in fall 2019. Their artist book Good Side, published with New Archive, is in the collection of Cranbrook Academy of Art Library and the Whitney Museum of Art Library Special Collections. Gatto is currently a member of Flex Collective in Detroit, MI, where they are working collaboratively with artists Jova Lynne, Jess Allie and Meg Kelley as directors of Bulk Space Artist Residency.
Velferden centre for Contemporary Art received almost 100 applications for the newly established annual residency program, which offers two artists a two-month working stay. The program gives artists from all over the world an opportunity to work in peace and quiet with their projects, surrounded by the unique landscape we have to offer in Sokndal. The artists are awarded a studio in Velferden, and will be living in what used to be a workers' residence on Sandbekk. The stay includes meetings with regional artists / curators, and will also provide a good introduction and integration into the local environment. The program was established not only to give artists an interesting opportunity to work in a place with a lot of historical value, but also to give Sokndal and the Dalane region the opportunity to meet artists from all over the world, and in this way discover new valuable perspectives in our time.
The jury, which consisted of Hans Edward Hammonds, Maiken Stene and Margrethe Aanestad, selected two young and relatively newly graduated artists to come to Velferden, in March and April 2020. The jury is very excited to see what the artists will get out of a stay at Velferden, and also in meeting each other and the community we have here.
Lisa Vipola (b. 1982), lives and works in Stockholm.
Lisa grew up in the village of Jukkasjärvi in Lapland 200 km north of the Arctic Circle, and which name means Meetingplace. Lisa uses the idea of the meeting place as a starting point to open conversations about power, weakness, authenticity and value in our society. She works with photography, video, film and text, and with various sculptural materials such as textiles, wood and hair. Lisa's artwork is autobiographical, and she often uses herself as the main character in her work.
Lisa holds a bachelor's and master's degree in visual arts from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (2018) and Umeå University of Fine Arts (2014). She has participated in the symposium The Voice and the Institution at KHiO with the publication Accessen, an autofictional novel about silence, discrimination and abuse within today's institutions. Her documentary feature film The Journey to the Miracle Man has been shown at film festivals in Sweden, Poland, Latvia and San Francisco. Lisa has exhibited at Sørlandets Kunstmuseum, the Exhibition Laboratory in Helsinki and at the Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm.
Clare Gatto (b. 1990), lives and works in Detroit, Usa.
Clare uses 3D rendering software to create and explore simulated bodies, egg sacs, and interstitial space. These digital simulations, in the form of video and photographic works, offer the in-between as an opportunity to reconsider ideas around the body as we know it and envision the physicalized self beyond labels and binaries.
Clare Gatto earned a BFA from Ohio State State University (2012) and an MFA in Photography from Cranbrook Academy of Art (2017), in the interim they co-founded MINT collective, a collaborative, multidisciplinary artist-run space in Columbus, OH. A recipient of the Mercedes Benz Financial Service New Beginnings Award (2017) and the Warren and Margot Coville Scholarship (2017), they attended Vermont Studio Center and ACRE artist residencies in 2018, and SIM Seljavegur residency in fall 2019. Their artist book Good Side, published with New Archive, is in the collection of Cranbrook Academy of Art Library and the Whitney Museum of Art Library Special Collections. Gatto is currently a member of Flex Collective in Detroit, MI, where they are working collaboratively with artists Jova Lynne, Jess Allie and Meg Kelley as directors of Bulk Space Artist Residency.