Federico Clavarino

“AN IMAGE OF WATER”
A 3-MONTH WORKSHOP WITH FEDERICO CLAVARINO

This three-month intensive in Santorini is a rare opportunity to work on an extended basis with artist Federico Clavarino in a small, carefully curated group setting.

The focus of the workshop is the notion of creating images of water, an elusive and essential element in our lives. Work produced during the program will be featured in an exhibition in the summer.

To maintain a personalized experience, we will only be accepting six applicants.

DESCRIPTION

In Santorini, wherever you look there is water. After a few days there, it becomes the canvas of your vision, its beginning and end. Water is both what separates the island from the rest of the world, making it what it is, and what connects it to everything else. It is both a road and a wall. For Santorini, as a consequence of the eruption, water is also both its “inside” and “outside.” Water is also a source of nourishment and life: Think of fishing, swimming, diving, irrigating. It is, of course, also a powerful storytelling engine: from The Odyssey to more contemporary tales, the crossing of seas is at the center of many narratives.

More generally speaking, water is what our own bodies are made of, for the most part. Water is thirst. As a fluid, it takes the shape of whatever contains it. Depending on the situation, it will reflect or refract light, and it can be a mirror or a window, like a photograph. Water is, of course, a powerful symbol.

During this workshop, six photographers are going to pick up the challenge of creating an image of water. How can we succeed in creating an image for something so elusive and yet so important to us? We are going to look at a lot of examples of works that have addressed this topic as well as similar challenges, within and outside the medium of photography, and we will all work on a project that will possibly take us from the island to somewhere else.

There is no limit to the approaches people can adopt. Projects can be documentary nature, for example, dealing with how water informs the lives of people (fishing, tourism, migration, etc.), but they might also, for instance, address water as matter and use it as part of photographic processes, or adopt more poetic approaches that rely on metaphor or oblique narratives.

Participants will be expected to be familiar with photographic processes (analogue, digital, and/or algorithmic), but we strongly encourage the participation of practitioners coming from other fields. The more diverse the group we manage to put together, the better.

We think of the workshop as a way of assembling a research group whose aim will be to explore ways we can turn water into art. Our hope is that participants will be able to take a lot from the experience by acquiring creative tools, by expanding their knowledge base, and by letting the encounter with others as well as the place itself change the way they work, as well as themselves.

HOW IT WORKS

The workshop will consist of 3 on-site sessions in Santorini devoted to research and/or making, depending on the nature of your project.

Session 1:  5-Day Workshop, May 1- 5
We will lay the groundwork for your projects: initial explorations, first ideas, and input from Federico.

Session 2: 6-Day Art Residency, May 6-11
The residency period will be devoted to research and/or making, depending on the nature of your project.

Virtual sessions: June and July
You will be working one-on-one with Federico during scheduled Zoom sessions.

Session 3: 6-Day Workshop, July 26-31
The second workshop is the lead-up to the exhibition, spanning final edits, layout, and installation.

The Exhibition
Federico will serve as curator “An Image of Water,” an exhibition featuring a body of work produced by each of the participants. The exhibition will take place in Santorini on August 2 and will run for approximately a week. The venue will be announced soon.

SPECIAL TERMS

• Participants must commit to the entire workshop, not just part of it. We cannot offer refunds if you cancel or miss part of the workshop.
• The fee includes lodging for all three sessions, plus breakfast every day and some meals during the two workshops.