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Cymru yn Ewrop
Exhibition 12 November – 22 December
Following the success of our short film project ‘Cymru yn Ewrop’ during lockdown, this is an exhibition in Pontio’s public spaces by artists from Wales who live and work across Europe.
As well as offering these inspiring artists a platform, providing an insight into their life and work beyond the UK, the project nurtures cultural connections and celebrates what Wales has to offer on the European stage. It also highlights the importance of maintaining international relations post-Brexit.
With Freya Dooley, Steven Emmanuel, Owain Griffiths, Gethin Wyn Jones a Hannah M Morris.
More about the artists:
FREYA DOOLEY
Freya Dooley was the 2021 Creative Wales Fellow at the British School at Rome, Italy. Her creative practice incorporates writing, sound, moving image, installation, and performance. At the launch event she will present the film ‘A Certain Way of Feeling Something’, developed during her residency in Rome, and ‘Song for a Congregation’ will be on show for the remainder of the exhibition.
Works:
A Certain Way of Feeling Something, 2021-22
Single-channel HD film with stereo sound and English subtitles, 16mins
Taking its title from a quote by Pier Paolo Pasolini and combining an original musical score with a collection of personal footage, A Certain Way of Feeling Something is a music-video which draws parallels between personal and political desires, where bodies fall in and out of synchronisation in collective movement. More here: https://www.freyadooley.com/#/a-certain-way-of-feeling-something-film/
Song for a Congregation, 2022
HD film with stereo sound, 3m15s
A short film centred on the Talking Statues of Rome, also known as the Congregation of Wits. This group of static stone characters absorb the anonymised voices of the public, acting as sites for political and institutional criticism, exchanging gossip and news with one another from their corners across the city. Since the 16th Century, all the statues stand in public spaces and are still active participants in public political discourse today.
With thanks to the support of The British School at Rome and Arts Council Wales.
STEVEN EMMANUEL
Steven Emmanuel is a Welsh artist living in Nürnberg, Germany. He grew up in Towyn and attended Ysgol Emrys ap Iwan in Abergele. In 2000 he left Wales to pursue his studies at the University of Brighton (2005) and the Royal College of Art, London (2010). His short film was commissioned as part of the Cymru yn Ewrop online project during lockdown. And for this exhibition he’s created 'There's sadness in my heart', presented on Pontio's front windows. The piece expresses a personal sense of grief and sadness regarding the UK's decision to leave the European Union.
GETHIN WYN JONES
Gethin Wyn Jones is originally from Llanelwy and he studied Fine Art in Bath Spa University before completing a Masters Degree at Northumbria University, during which he spent time as a guest student at the Kungl.Konsthgskolan, Stockholm in 2015 and decided to stay in Sweden.
The film which he made for the Cymru yn Ewrop during lockdown is a nod to Andy Warhol's 'Empire' from 1964. Instead of the Empire State Building in New York, the focus here is the large neon sign of Hagsätra, filmed from the artist's bedroom at summer solstice. Hagsätra is a multicultural suburb in the south of Stockholm, and for years the sign was out of action. It has very recently been repaired and illuminates and spins once again above the rooftops.
For his new film, 'Magnetic', shown on Pontio’s White Wall, he's used a well-known Guinness advert that he recorded accidentally on a VHS tape as a teenager. Re-composed and re-edited, the film brings out alternative interpretations around the male body and consumerism. The original advert was inspired by an artwork by the artist Walter Crane and directed by Jonathan Glazer (Under the Skin).
HANNAH M MORRIS
Hannah M Morris lives and works in Leipzig, Germany. She's a visual artist, usually working in print, drawing and collage. Her simple, playful line drawings have been scaled up for Pontio's spaces, including hands and drops of water resembling tears. She says, "A gulf exists between life in Cardiff and life in Leipzig. The gulf is also between my past self in Wales, and my future self in Wales. The hands of my past and my future will connect one day in Wales, but not quite yet."
OWAIN GRIFFITHS
Owain Griffiths is a sound artist, producer/musician living in Leipzig. For this exhibition, he's created a sound work, recorded in Leipzig city centre, exploring fluidity and movement of travel from the high street to the train station. It's an audio postcard from Germany to Wales, a portal bridging Leipzig and Bangor, using a medium that doesn’t involve a postage stamp.
www.instagram.com/owaingriffiths_/
Hannah and Owain collaborated to create this short film during lockdown.