Project ATOPIA
"Dreams of Not-Belonging"
video screening
30.01.09 - 27.02.09
Curated by Farhad Kalantary
Dreams of Not-Belonging is a compilation of five short videos by the artists who have been the force behind the project Atopia.
Artists and their work:
- Michel Pavlou (co-founder of Atopia)
“Traveling”
- https://www.ingerlisehansen.com/(co-founder of Atopia)
“Static”
- Greg Pope (Worked with Atopia in 2006-7)
“Moonwalk”
- Linn Lervik (Working with Atopia since 2007)
“Shades of Gray”
- Farhad Kalantary (co-founder and coordinator of Atopia)
“Tea House”
Dreams of Not-Belonging is a self-reflective and critical title on the initial concept of Atopia, which was formulated in terms of one’s relationship to a location and space.
The name Atopia is from the Greek noun a-topon, which means without a place, and this name was to serve as the main theme of the Atopia project. Our intention was to explore the possibilities of the atopic existence and the protection of our foreignness. This was in direct response to the dominating politics of identity within and outside of the art world during the turn of the millennium.
Atopia was founded in June 2003 and over the past six years it has evolved into a center for film and video art in Oslo, and it has become an umbrella for various projects concerning artist’s film and video works. Through such involvements and with years of sweet and bitter engagements with the cultural landscape of Norway in general and with the contemporary artists’ community in particular our reference points have unavoidably shifted. Even though I will always be a foreign, I have assumed new references, which are at the basis of the concept of home. After all home is a point of reference. Our relationship to foreignness and to being at home is shaped by time and it changes over time. Over this time Atopia has acquired new points of reference and for many others Atopia itself has become a point of reference.
Home is here now.
Farhad Kalantary
- Jan, 2009