Day 29
What can I say, I am already so excited to come back to this!!!
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Friday, June 29, 2012
Day 27 + 28
I am packing my things to return to Serdica and start with phase 2:
Re-assembling all the material into a new form.
It´s not going to be as dramatic as taking the house down,
but much more a challenge to figure out the best way.
On my way I am going to stop in Graz.
Tonight will be the private view for the new exhibition at Camera Austria.
'The Biography of Images' curated by Ruth Horak.
And tomorrow I think it is 3pm there will be a guided tour
by her and some of the participating artists.
So if you are around please join us!!!
Look-out (from Woodworks), C-print 2010
http://www.camera-austria.at/ausstellungen.php?ausid=1901497401&check=1&sel=
... big news!!! there finally is water at the site
They discovered and revitalized the old access.
So I guess it's time for a open air shower!
I also found an official dog tag.
I think it's time to also pay the local authorities a visit.
Reading for sure was the most favorite action for contemplation.
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Monday, June 25, 2012
Day 23 + 24
After a lazy Sunday in Kamptal/ Lower Austria I am back on track and on to my research.
This is one of the x-ray photographs I mentioned before.
On one of them Julyana's birth year was mentioned.
Due to the fact, that the house in Serdica was abandoned for almost 30 years,
the coins I found are still Yugoslavian Dinar.
So the house was never lived-in since it became the Republic of Slovenia, after the
10-Day War and the declaration of independence on June 25 1991 and the Brijuni Agreement (Croatian: Brijunska deklaracija, Slovene: Brionska deklaracija), a document signed on the Brijuni islands near Pula, Croatia, on 7 July 1991 by representatives of the Republic of Slovenia, Republic of Croatia and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia under the political sponsorship of the European Community.
Many documents I found, show the closeness to the now Austrian border.
Like this page out of Bunte magazine.
... and again some more inspiration
Andy Goldsworthy
... and of course Gordon Matta Clark.
Splitting, 1974
Conical Intersect, 1975
Office Baroque, 1977
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Day 21 + 22
I already found out that a daughter of Julyana is living in Styria, Austria.
I am planning to get in touch with her and I hope to find out as much as possible
about the history of the house in Serdica.
About where this all is coming from
I decided to post a part of a recent exhibition text.
To me it makes more sense to have someone else talk about and analyze my work.
I decided to post a part of a recent exhibition text.
To me it makes more sense to have someone else talk about and analyze my work.
It brings in a different view and notion, important perspectives beyond my own nose.
This text was written by Karin Pernegger, the curator of my show 'Sites of Desire'
at factory/ Kunsthalle Krems, which will close down tomorrow.
The focus of the photographic works and installations by Michael Strasser (b. 1977) oscillates
between an analysis of space and the body which is then translated into artistic processes.
In his work, he contextualizes the physical body between sculpture and architecture
while decoding the design and dwelling function of space.
Strasser’s work is a meditation on the ways that the relationship between space and people
can be changed - if, for example, something is taken out of a particular living space or
if found material is transformed into a sculpture. Within the scope of his artistic practice,
he has worked with the appropriation of found space and architectural situations as part of
an investigation into cultural and institutional systems of representation. He has thus
expanded an architecture-critical examination to include anthropological questions in
addressing, excerpting, framing and staging the human element of space and architecture.
One of the inspirations for his work was the book Mensch und Raum (1963) by
Otto Freidrich Bollnow, the founder of “Spatial Anthropology”. [...]
Karin Pernegger (2012)
Some more inspiration for phase 2 of the project.
Wood stack, Hamburg Germany
Stacked stone wall, Kroatia
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Day 19
Although I am not in Slovenia right now the work on the project continues.
During the last 2 weeks working on the house I found different kind of materials,
like photos, letters, postcards, documents ...
These are the first hints to uncover the history of the place and form the base
for part of my research along the physical transformation of the architecture.
For most of the texts I am going to need translation, but some of the mail also was in German.
Over the next days I am going to present some of this found footage.
This is one of the first photographs I uncovered in one of the kitchen cabinets.
This postcard is one of quite a few. Most of them were send to Julyana Gaber,
the last resident of Serdica 75.
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Day 18
Today is my last day in Serdica for now.
Two other projects need to be finalized.
Luckily I managed to bring down all the walls right in time.
When I come back in 10 days I basically can start with phase 2.
Reassembling all the material into a new form.
Saturday at 6 pm opens a wonderful project curated by Veronika Hauer and Magda Tothova.
A sculpture garden at the Danube bath in Kritzendorf. There will be 5 openings until the end of September
and this one is the first.
www.sculptured.org
It´s definitely time to recover from the intense last days!
And I am so happy and a little bit proud that I managed to take down the house
without having a digger come.
That's how I envisioned it before I actually started.
to be continued ...
Monday, June 18, 2012
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Day 16
Today was the first day of recovery within 2 weeks.
Brigitte and Gottfried enjoyed for the last time for now the view on our new recreation spot.
Thank you so much for all the hard work and help!!
Now after all the dangerous works is done,
visitors and helping hands are more than welcome!
On my way back to Südburgenland I took photos of the distinctive points to Serdica 75.
The former border point Bonisdorf (coming from Jennersdorf)
The first village on the way south is Sotina. Take a right in direction of Kalch.
Pass by the saw mill and at the road sign that marks the end of Sotina take a sharp left turn
almost 330 degrees back.
After about 300 meters before the woods take another right.
Follow the street. After a steep curve to the left up the hill you pass a farmers building on the right.
The second farmers building on the right sits below my working place.
Again you have to take a 330 degree turn to the right this time
and follow the dirt road a little further up.
It´s an adventure, but definitely worth it!!!
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