Residency: /barbaragurrieri/group
artists' residency programme
uqbar is pleased to announce the launch of its artists' residency programme. After Danil Akimov and Oleg Blyablyas in December 2010, the collective /barbaragurrieri/group, initiated 2005 by Barbara Gurrieri and Emanuele Tumminelli (1978 and 1977, live and work in Vittoria, Sicily, Italy) will be the second guest of the programme. The collective will spend the month of May 2011 researching in Berlin. Towards the end of their residency, uqbar will host a public presentation of their work.
Artist statement /barbaragurrieri/group
"We are interested in two subjects: human behaviour and changes in society.
Sometimes these two elements are linked, other times, there aren’t any connections.
The projects start from our local area which give us the input for our activity. We figure out these and we try to show it in every dimension: economical, architectural, cultural and political, in they are the result of a deep observation of the reality which surrounds us.
We are reflecting on the economy of our area as a microeconomy system compared with globalization and, through it, we are trying to understand and get a general idea of the “entire structure”.
Even if Sicily is seen as a transit territory, it is a filter to endless crossings. In particular, starting from the reality of our city referring to our daily context, we analyze it as symbol of a typical Italian city. Therefore, the region is considered as physical and cultural container.
As regard to our research about human behaviour, we observe relationships between different people, between us and others.
Sometimes, our privileged register is ironic and social, with the aim to give back many images, sometimes contradictory of mechanical habits; images that, thanks to subtle ironic mediation, change until they assume a grotesque and paradoxical character.
Furthermore, in general, we are reflecting on elements about the hesitation of the human being. We focus on man, as a catalyser of daily experience, and his necessity to trust someone and to confide in someone. We are trying to figure out this code. At the centre of this project are links among people who want to give themselves a sense to their life.
We invite the public through his own emotional – physical – intellectual background and we try to “place” them materially in space to try to understand the perspective movement of reality and if horizontal perspectives open out from it.
Our research moves around different media."