Individual residencies / Olot
JOHANNA FAILER
From Monday, 20 September 2021 to Monday, 27 September 2021
Bio
Johanna Failer, born 1993 in Wertingen (Bavaria), is a Dresden-based painter, video artist and co-founder of the art criticism blog halbsieben. After studies in painting and conceptual sculpture both in Dresden (HfBK) and Brussels (ARBA_ESA), she graduated from a post-graduate program in Dresden in 2020. Parallel studies of philosphy.
Her work was shown in several group- and solo exhibitions, between others in Dresden, London, Berlin, Brussels, Skopje, Portalegre, as well as in international filmfestivals. Between other scholarships and artist residencies, most recent projects where realised during her stay in the Cultural Center Abattoirs de Bomel in Namur, Belgium, as within an eight month residency at Antonio Gala Foundation, Córdoba.
Project
As a long-term project, I am working on an animated short film under the title "I woke up in the hammock and I couldn't move".
The motionless awakening in a hammock provides the framework for the narrative of an adventurous journey. This journey leads into the depths of the dense jungle, and - at the same time - into the depths of the human psychological condition.
The literary narration, that accompanies the images, will take the viewer by the hand on the journey and is therefore the centrepiece of the film. I want to work on it during my stay in Olot.
Progress and pause
I arrived on 27 September, from an arid southern town where a few days ago we were trapped by smoke and ash from the fire in Sierra Bermeja. I arrived in the rain, and clearing my lungs in the fresh air, I felt: this is the place for work and rest.
I'm very happy to have been part of the artist residency at Faberllull, which has benefitted me on different levels: firstly, I'm glad to have had the time and space to advance my projects – I say projects, because what I've come to do is not research for a new exciting project (as is required with many residencies), but to do the "boring" work that every project also requires, that is: to finish things.
For any creative process, it is extremely valuable to have a space to work without having to justify how interesting or socially important this work is. Because the reality of our professions in the artistic and research field is that a huge part of it is administrative and post-productive tasks.
These processes do not usually gain the attention of any scholarship or residency, and yet in our routines – as we all know – they never calmly find their space.
Secondly, I am grateful for the structure of the Faberllull residency, where I found the perfect balance between concentrated work and exchange with the other residents, especially during the communal dinners.
I had the opportunity to meet four interesting and diverse writers and poets, playwrights from different parts of the world and a brilliant researcher, through whom I discovered a hitherto unknown field.
The exchange of perspectives has enriched us all, I'm sure, and during the day we were motivated by the excitement of sharing experiences and jokes in the evening.
Mention should also be made of the third gift that the week in Olot offered me – the breathtaking landscape of La Garrotxa with its sleeping volcanoes, its mountains and green hills, the many rivers and the wild and lush forests.
Thanks also to Gavina and Pepa, who always kept an open ear, and who showed us several trails through the idyllic surroundings. Thanks also to the Founder of Faberllull, the city council of Olot and the staff of the Hotel Riu Fluvia for making this experience possible.