Individual residencies / Olot
KATERYNA BORTSOVA
From Monday, 22 November 2021 to Thursday, 2 December 2021
Bio
At present time Kateryna Bortsova is a painter – graphic artist with BFA in graphic arts and MFA. Works of Kateryna took part in many international exhibitions (Taiwan, Moscow, Munich, Spain, Italy, USA etc.). Also she win silver medal in the category “realism” in participation in “Factory of visual art”, New York, USA and 2015 Emirates Skywards Art of Travel competition, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Kateryna took part in international residences and conferences; she is the author of the monograph “The contribution of N. Samokish to the development of graphic arts of end of XIX – early XX centuries”.
Project
The concept of my project directly related to the travel and self-realization of man in a globalized world. I have been working on this project since 2016 and every year it continues to develop and fill with new conceptual meanings. Since the semantic basis of my project is directly related to movement and world trends, the events that take place fill its weight with deeper meanings. He was born as a response to events with a migratory crisis, and on several years later, based on studies of different cultures of the world he was to have a value philosophy. I continue my research and with the inclusion of more and more countries, my project continues to develop.
Recent major life transitions which happened both globally in the face of pandemic and locally by the war situation triggered disorienting dilemma on a collective level challenging the poetry of day-to-day life with a sense of isolation, alienation, state of hopelessness. The project explores “conceptual maps” of both individuals and collectives’ perceptions of reality, which is in constant change and acts as a muse fall on thinking about fundamental questions: Are we only accepting the reality of the world presented to us ignoring other perspectives of the truth? Are we aware and capable of acknowledging the blurry line between virtual and real, visible and invisible?
Kateryna Bortsova “Self-propulsion project”
While participating in residence Faberllull Olot, I worked on my individual project “Self-propulsion”, on which I have been working since 2016. This residence gave me a wonderful opportunity to work on my project.
The concept of my project refers to the problems arising in connection with the closing of borders due to the pandemic, to search the man's place in the global world, which suddenly narrowed to within the same country or even the region. I want to draw the viewer's attention to a paradox – closing, limitation offline and online boundless openness and links clearly manifested during a pandemic. Many places of the World, felt this situation in itself. The problem of the pandemic was joined by the unresolved problem of the migration problem, which has become aggravated throughout the World.
Therefore, it is very important for my work to visit new places, get acquainted with the social and cultural life of countries that are new to me. Having visited Olot, I was imbued with the extraordinary cultural identity of this place and Catalonia as a whole. Which gave me a new understanding of the further development of my research. The extraordinary self-identity and individuality of Garrotxa, the Catalans and their traditions served as a new impetus for my inspiration.
Main concept of my project based on notions "Movement = Change". This is an understanding of changes in the social environment, a person's place in a modern city; stratification and layering of various cultural, social changes. In addition, the project touches upon topics related to the pandemic, border closures and, of course, the growing global tendency to move away from globalization, the desire of states to self-identify, focus on internal problems, and internal self-development.
My project has reached a new level of development and I have new ideas for its further development. The results of my work can be seen on my website, as well as on social networks. During my residency, I took an active part in exposition activities. The completed video project is presented at several virtual expositions
2021 – The Embraces: Utopian Proximities online exhibition and the Acropolis Remix pavilion at The Wrong Biennale nº5
2021 – VR exhibition “Audiovisual Frontiers”, UCR, USA
While staying at the Faberllull residence, I had the opportunity to completely immerse myself in work on my project, in addition to meeting new interesting people and exchange creative experience, which helped the further development of my work.
