[spectre] grey) (area ::: Samuel Cepeda: The Clouds have no nation

[Darko Fritz]

grey) (area - space of contemporary and media art, Korcula

Samuel Cepeda: The Clouds have no nation

4 - 14 . 8. 2009.

Opening: Tuesday 4th August . 21 - 23 h.

free entrance

"The Clouds have no nation" is a project made for grey) (area space of  
contemporary and media art in Korcula, Croatia. It consists of a site- 
specific video installation in the gallery space and a public action  
of distributing art prints by the artist himself in the city of Korcula.

"The Clouds have no nation" is part of the Cloudwalkers project (since  
2005) which explores different ways of questioning the knowledge that  
we have about reality through the clouds. Artist state "The project  
makes us remember when we were kids and tried to find real objects in  
the shapes of a cloud. I tried to have people experience and  
participate in my artwork keeping in mind  the question: why not?."

An extended exhibition presented several phases of the "The  
Cloudwalkers project". It was held in 2008 at the Centro de las Artes  
CONARTE in Monterrey, curated by Darko Fritz. During the exhibition,  
Cepeda made a interactive action with children in ages between 8 –  
11. For the first time, its results and documentation are now  
presented. Among other activities, children made drawings of actual  
clouds while looking through the transparent plastic sheet size 4 x15  
meters, placed above them. Now the same sheet with drawings is placed  
at the ceiling of the gallery space.

Cepeda chose the clouds as objects over which science has difficulties  
providing fixed answers on their physical constitution. It´s hard to  
describe them within their nature and shape, which usually last for  
less than a second because they´re changed by a huge number of  
physical dynamics that are going on in nature´s permanent flux.

The project is focused to produce, contextualize and display the  
imaginary forms triggered by the ever-changing visual appearance of  
the clouds watched by humans. This is represented by means of visual  
imagination of different people that participated in this project. The  
most important motivation for the realization of the project was to  
requestion realities throughout aesthetically means of fine arts,  
which its approach is impossible or very difficult to make, throughout  
the methodology and language of science. Artist is using and reversing  
the scientific language and methodologies. He summarized his project  
as "... ironic tendency to question the unquestionable".

The sites of Cepeda's works ranging from institutions of contemporary  
art to the public spaces, as intentional institutional critique (the  
bar, the city streets and crossroads), appropriates both political  
activist, mainstream commercial propaganda and involvement methods.

The old and new media and communication systems are used in the  
Cloudwalkers project. Making use of the polaroid photo in this project  
is significant as such media implicate instant authenticity, as well  
as including the photo-process and its distribution at once.  
Significally, at the time of preparing the first overview of the  
Cloudwalkers project (2008), the Polaroid company announced closing of  
its factories for further production of polaroid films and cameras.

Samuel Cepeda (1977, Monterrey, N.L. México) New media artist, he has  
two technical degrees one in graphic design and the other in computer  
design (1995). He graduated with a Visual Arts degree from the  
Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León in 1999 as well as a Graphic  
Design Degree from the Universidad Metropolitana de Monterrey in 1998.  
Due to his interest in New Media Art he studied an MFA in Transart  
Institute and Danube University in Austria, and an MA in Arts at the  
Universidad Autónma de Nuevo León. He is teaching at the Universidad  
Autónoma de Nuevo León and the Centro de Estudios Superiores  
Universitarios de Diseño de Monterrey.

Cepeda's artwork use video, photography, audio and digital tools as  
media to produce multidisciplinary projects with Installations, Public  
Actions, Performance, Happening, video art and digital art. Some  
exhibitions: "1ra Serie festival multidisciplinario" Mty, N.L. Mex  
(2009) public action, performance; "The cloudwalkers project",  
Monterrey (2008) Public actions, documentation, performance; "The  
cloudwalkers project_1" Linz, Austria (2006) video installation,  
performance; "Acthung-roof" Krems, Austria (2005) public installation,  
video documentation; "Identity" Santa Catarina N.L. (2007)  
Installation; "Casa de la abuela" Mty, N.L. (2002) Installation,  
Public intervention.

website Samuel Cepeda: http://samuelc.com
website Cloudwalkers project: http:www.cloudwalkers.org


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contact: Darko Fritz darko at darkofritz.net / tel + 385 [0] 91.5800193


grey) (area program 2009: Lemeh 42 (Italy) . Petar Grimani  
(Croatia) .  Ivan Marusic Klif  (Croatia) . Toni Mestrović   
(Croatia) . Samuel Cepeda (Mexico) .  Nina Czegledy (Canada) and  
Marcus Neustetter (South Africa)

participants in gray) (area program: Veaceslav Ahunov, (Uzbekistan),  
Abilsait Atabekov (Kazahstan), Dunja Blažević, Boris Cvjetanovic  
(Zagreb), Gem Sqash (Adam Hyde and Ntsikelelo Ntshingila), Petar  
Grimani (Croatia), Ulan Djaparov (Kazahstan), Ivan Faktor (Osijek),  
Kontejner (Zagreb), Lemeh 42 (Italy), Faruk Loncarevic (Bosnia and  
Hercegovina), Alban Muja (Kosova), Edita Pecotić (Korcula / London),  
Ana Peraica (Split), PRO.BA (Bosnia and Hercegovina), Radioqalia (Adam  
Hyde and Honnor Hager, New Zealand), Lala Raščić (Sarajevo –  
Zagreb), Stefan Rusu (Moldavia / Romania), Tomo Savić-Gecan (Zagreb -  
Amsterdam), Slaven Tolj (Dubrovnik), Transfer (Zagreb), Goran Trbuljak  
(Zagreb), Alexandr Ugay (Kazahstan), Dražen Vitolović (Sovinjak /  
Rijeka) i Enes Zlatar (Bosnia and Hercegovina).