Past Residents
Past Resident2020: Bunka-cho - Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan
Zai Nomura
Zai Nomura describes his work as a kind of “indecisive point” between death and life. His abstract work drifts between artificial and natural, sculpture and photography, and static and dynamic. According to Nomura, this kind of indecisiveness is based on the ephemerality and vulnerability of the Japanese environment in relation to natural disasters and nuclear experiences.
Zai Nomura has exhibited work at Aichi Triennale; gallery αM, Tokyo; and ARTCOURT Gallery, Osaka, among others.
Zai Nomura, Soul Reclaim Device (A portrait of my departed sister), 2018, water tank, water, inkjet printer, PC, 40 x 50 in; 36 x 35 in
Zai Nomura, Untitled (CMYK), 2015, performance with glass, ice, wax, fire, and burner, dimensions variable
Zai Nomura, Life (498600s), 2019, Lambda print and wood, 30 x 30 in. each
Zai Nomura, Same wave never comes, 2015, acrylic resin, 15 × 20 in. (38.1 × 50.8 cm)
Zai Nomura, Japanese Breakfast, 2015, Lambda print, 40 × 60 in. (101.6 × 152.4 cm)
Past Resident2020: AES+F
Ustina Yakovleva
Ustina Yakovleva creates paintings, graphic works, and objects. A large part of her practice is informed by graphic works consisting of identical individual strokes that create abstract compositions; an automatic writing of sorts that binds time into material form. In her works in other media, she follows similar principles: embroideries evolve into organic structures, fabric sculptures grow to resemble continents or icebergs, or possibly electronic circuits rooted in empty air.
Ustina Yakovleva has exhibited work at the 5th Ural Industrial Biennial of Contemporary Art, Ekaterinburg; Winzavod Center for Contemporary Art; Museum of the Artistic Exploration of the Arctic, Arkhangelsk, all Russia among others.
Events & Exhibitions
2020 Summer Open Studios
August 25–August 26, 2020
Ustina Yakovleva, Untitled, 2019, installation, 25 objects, dimensions variable
Ustina Yakovleva, Mollusk IV, Mollusk V and Mollusk VIII, 2016, cotton fabric, natural pearls, sugar quartz, silk thread, and mono thread, dimensions variable
Ustina Yakovleva, Mollusk XVI, 2018, artificial leather, silk thread, beads, and mono thread, 8 × 78 × 6 in. (20.32 × 198.12 × 15.24 cm)
Ustina Yakovleva, Mollusk XVII, 2019, cotton fabric, beads, silk and synthetic thread, 14 × 82 × 8 in. (35.56 × 208.28 × 20.32 cm)
Ustina Yakovleva, Untitled, 2017, ink and silk thread on canvas, 16 × 20 in. (40.64 × 50.8 cm)
Residents from Russia
Past Resident2020: AES+F
Polina Kanis
Polina Kanis’s works interrogate the suspended moment and expose the dialectical relationship between action and non-action, dissolving the boundary between human and non-human. The artist aims to create shifts in accepted temporalities to decentralize the ‘normal’ human temporal perspective. She considers re-describing and re-sensing our surroundings as crucial for developing an alternative outlook on the planetary.
Polina Kanis has exhibited work at VISIO, Florence; Russian Federations’ pavilion of the 2020 Venice Architecture Biennale; and The Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, Amsterdam, among others.
Polina Kanis, Adaptive Degradation, 2018, video, sound, and metal
Polina Kanis, Toothless Resistance 2, 2020, video and sound installation, 31 min
Polina Kanis, Don't Turn Around, 2019, video installation, 31 min and 33 sec
Polina Kanis, The Procedure, 2017, three-channel installation, 24:39 min
Polina Kanis, Toothless Resistance 2, 2020, video, 16 min