HERE AND EVERYWHERE
Olga Schigal, born in Russia
Olga Schigal presents a camper – her camper – as a sculpture and as a performance. A nest, into which she would like to move permanently, a mobile home, with nothing superfluous, without any territorial, sentimental or spiritual association. Shoonya, therefore, is the name of a means of transport and of a work. The term derives from yoga and indicates the meeting point between solid and void, a matrix from which anything might originate. The creation of a connection with something else, and also a connection with visitors, since Olga Schigal welcomes them in her house on wheels and tells them her story. It is, at one and the same time, inside and outside the exhibition, inside and outside the art system, poised on the ridge, with no roots in anything but itself.
Claudia Alexandrino, born in Portugal
The Portuguese origin of the designer Claudia Alexandrino, known as an illustrator under her pseudonym Shut Up Claudia, means that the idea of saudade has strong connotations for her. At the same time, she is fully aware of the difficulty of making this concept comprehensible and sharing the sensation. She has therefore decided to decompose the idea, simplifying it as far as possible, using childish references and simple, immediate symbols. Two stylized houses are linked to each other by a dashed line, twisting and broken, indicating the complexity of the completed itinerary. Steps and a podium symbolize objects which have been aimed for and reached. Past and present coexist in the same scene. The title of the work, Matar a saudade, is an expression indicating the moment when this indefinable feeling disappears, when the desire to see again a person, place or thing is satisfied. It is the phrase Claudia Alexandrino says when she returns to Portugal.
