SOLMAZ FARHANG | ALEXANDRA FRUHSTORFER | EGE KÖKEL | LENA VIOLETTA LEITNER | ANDREA PALAŠTI
Perhaps a certain amount of delusion is needed for an art collective to think they can transform the Danube for better.
More so, it takes some courage to envision the Danube Transformation Agency for Agency (DTAFA)!
The
lecture will be held via Zoom:
Meeting
ID: 624 0547 2256
Passcode: 878600
Yet, that’s what Alex,
Andrea, Ege, Solmaz and Violetta have been undertaking since March 2021. Meanwhile DTAFA has become a home for transformational
thoughts, struggles and fears; a roof for speculating, examining, failing and learning together; a stage to tell impossible
stories about the contradictions, misinterpretations, conflicts, hopes and empathy; and in a nutshell, an agency for artistic
investigation about, around and along the Danube.
Want to hear about their thoughts and actions?
Be prepared. You may lose your way in the google map or may need to ask
Woodiana.today about
the hero of the war! You may be asked to practice some swimming strokes behind your screens or draw a brave black fish in
the stomach of a pelican.
This lecture needs no previous knowledge about the Danube. Just bring
something to write with and draw on.
Solmaz Farhang is a visual artist-researcher based in London.
She is a graduate of the Art and Science Master programme at University of Applied Arts Vienna. In her interdisciplinary approaches
she investigates the complexities and contradictions of the human psyche along with the interrelations between individuals
and societies. She strives to desacralize ignorant beliefs and question society’s prejudices.
Farhang works across
multiple disciplines. Her practice materializes in many forms, including photography, videos, multimedia installations, book
illustration and science communication projects.
Alexandra Fruhstorfer is a transdisciplinary designer
with an investigative and research driven approach. After graduating from Industrial Design, now Design Investigations, at
the University of Applied Arts Vienna in 2017 and working in London for a bit, she is now based in Vienna.
Within
her creative practice she uses design as experimental tool to question prevalent political and cultural paradigms, while trying
to embrace phenomena of accelerated technological and ecological change. She works across various media. Whether in design
research processes or in participatory workshop projects she enjoys working in collaboration with others.
Ege
Kökel is a designer who received her master’s degree in Industrial Design/Design Investigations from the University of Applied
Arts in Vienna. She is interested in the natural and social sciences and how the developments in them shape our lives and
future(s). She uses design as a tool for speculation, sense making and research.
In her practice, she tries to delve
into complex topics through tangible design means and explores both digital and analogue mediums with a focus on materiality
and aesthetics. Collaborating with others/other disciplines and exploring different viewpoints are important aspects of her
work.
Lena Violetta Leitner lives and works in Vienna and Graz. In 2017 she completed her studies
in Digital Arts at the University of Applied Arts Vienna with the founding of the "Integration Center for Migrated Plants"
(IZMP), for which she was awarded a scholarship by the Province of Styria in 2019.
In her work, she explores power
structures and social patterns through the means of irony and humor. The works, which range from installations and interventions
to (sculptural) performances, scrutinize our constructions of what is ‘natural’ and ‘foreign’ or ‘alien’. They employ language
in the form of code, text and sound, hack objects, systems and structures. An important component of her practice is networking
and collaborative and interdisciplinary work.
Andrea Palašti is an artist and educator based in
Novi Sad, Serbia. She is a graduate of the Photography Master programme at the Academy of Arts, University of Novi Sad. She
works across artistic, curatorial and pedagogical boundaries experimenting with ways of knowledge production. Her work includes
photography, video and illustrated lectures - often in playful ways. Her practice is highly informed by collaborations with
other artists/collectives, her family, students, curators, journalists, scientists and/or historians. She is a board member
of the SULUV gallery, and associate professor at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, where she teaches Elements of Visual Art,
blending her collaborative artistic research projects with educational strategies.
