Culture Quest – residency at the Seismological Observatory in Timișoara

August 28, 2023 by Sabina Suru Photography, Research, Residency, Workshops Comments Off on Culture Quest – residency at the Seismological Observatory in Timișoara

August 20-28, 2023
Artistic research residency at the Seismological Observatory in Timișoara 
Analogue photography and mordançage workshops
In the framework of the Culture Quest #3 program
An Indecis project, powered by Asocia
ția Foc și Pară
Part of Timisoara 2023 – European Capital of Culture

Big thank you’s:
Mimi Ciora
drd. Adina Rău
Mircea Ilcău

 

Just got back from a funky short residency in Timisoara, at the Seismological Observatory of INCDFP – National Institute for Earth Physics, in the framework of Culture Quest #3, organised by the wonderful people of Indecis Artist Run Space & Asociția Foc și Pară!

 

I was there, along with wonderful Andrei Tudose, collaborating on the research for our upcoming project Welcome to the Relative End of the Road not Taken, commissioned by Simultan for this year’s festival, which we will develop within Marginal, in the framework of Timisoara 2023.

I had an entire week of amazing discussions with drd. Adina Rau, head of the Observatory and gentle carer of their spectacular archive of historical seismograms and a museum-like collection of seismographs, and browsing through the incredible archive of the institute, where they have seismograms on silver-based photographic paper, even on smoke-blackened paper. I’ve recorded everything I could, and I’m really excited about activating these documents into an anti-interactive video work.

At the end of the residency, we’ve spent a couple of days with a funky crew of teenagers, invading the Observatory’s pantry and turning it into an impromptu darkroom, before invading the garden where we improvised an outside alternative lab. During the first days, the youth played with various approaches to print making on silver-gelatin paper (I’m not one to encourage traditional approaches, am I?), they seemed to have a lot of fun! On the next day, we went outside and played with a technique called mordançage, technically separating the gelatin image from the paper and remodeling the image. It was quite a challenge, but the young practitioners did an amazing job working on these prints, in preparation for their upcoming exhibition. I loved the idea that, while I was the artist in residence, it wasn’t I who was going to have an exhibition at the end of the program, but the young people participating in the workshops and I loved the participants’ focus and dedication in working on their pieces!

Workshop Culture Quest 3 at SeismoLab Timisoara
Workshop Culture Quest 3 at SeismoLab Timisoara
Workshop Culture Quest 3 at SeismoLab Timisoara
Workshop Culture Quest 3 at SeismoLab Timisoara
Workshop Culture Quest 3 at SeismoLab Timisoara
Workshop Culture Quest 3 at SeismoLab Timisoara

photo credit: Mircea Ilcău

The Culture Quest project creates a conducive context in which invited artists and researchers, and participants found collective working solutions through an affective connection, as well as exchanges of ideas and skills, using art as a learning process. Concepts learned or borrowed come from the exchange of experiences between mentors and participants and provide real insight into how art and the natural sciences intersect and influence each other.

The 2023 program included residencies, theoretical presentations, experimental laboratories, sustainable mechanisms and non-formal education strategies, organized through collaborations between the young generation, artists and institutions dedicated to scientific research in Timișoara.

Except from program presentation text

 

*later update:
Just received images from my young colleagues’ exhibition (gallery below), at the closing of this year’s Culture Quest program.
They made such beautiful works, I’m very happy to have had the chance of working together. ^_^

Culture Quest 3 exhibition Timisoara
Culture Quest 3 exhibition Timisoara
Culture Quest 3 exhibition Timisoara

Contributors

Indecis Artist Run is an independent space located in Timișoara, Romania. As non-profit non-hierarchical organization, the aim is to promote and cultivate dynamic relationships between contemporary art and artists of all kinds.
https://www.instagram.com/indecisartistrun/

The Seismological Observatory in Timișoara is part of the National Seismic Network, coordinated by INCD – National Research-Development Institute for Earth Physics and has as its main objective the seismic monitoring of the Banat region of Romania.
https://www.facebook.com/SeismoLab/

Residency line-up

Andrei Tudose (curator in residence)
Sabina Suru (artist in residence)
drd. Adina Rău (researcher / archive)

 

Big tank you’s:
Mimi Ciora / Indecis + Asociația Foc și Pară
Seismological Observatory Timisoara
INCDFP – The National Institute for Earth Physics
Timișoara 2023 – European Capital of Culture
Mircea Ilcău