SAN ANTONIO, TX.- Artpace announces the opening of the Summer 2015 International Artist-in-Residence exhibitions featuring artists Wafaa Bilal (New York), Fatma Bucak (London & Istanbul) and Gabriel Martinez (Houston). This Summer 2015 residency marks the 68th residency in Artpace’s twenty-year history.
Summer 2015 Guest Curator, Ian Alden Russell, says of the residency “When I thought about what the experience of the residency would be – three artists, living next door to each other in the same building where they work with a team of art professionals everyday – I felt that the most important thing was to select a group of artists that would, between themselves, form a sort of family and that their camaraderie would complement and enhance the empathy, generosity, and family spirit that distinguishes the Artpace experience.”
Wafaa Bilal, an Associate Arts Professor at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, is known internationally for his online performance-based and interactive works, which provoke dialogue about international politics. In Bilal’s 2007 project, Domestic Tension, which addressed the Iraq war, the artist spent a month in a Chicago gallery with a paintball gun, live streaming the space on the internet and inviting online participants to activate the gun’s aim to shoot at him in real time. Bilal graduated from the University of New Mexico and obtained an MFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Bilal's Canto III project was featured in the 2015 Venice Biennale’s Iranian Pavilion. Given San Antonio's distinction as "Military City, USA,” Bilal’s curiosity perfectly suits his Artpace residency. His work at Artpace continues to explore themes of international politics, focusing on the after-effects of the Iraq war on U.S. Veterans.
His project investigates chromotherapy, a method of treatment that uses color as a tool for physical and emotional healing, as it applies to veterans of the war.
Born in Iskenderun, Turkey, Fatma Bucak works in performance, photography and video media to address tensions in gender, geography, and religion. Bucak has staged performances that reference mythology, archetypes, and tormented self-representations. Interested in border relations and the lives of the undocumented around the world, Fatma Bucak’s Artpace residency analyzes the complicated relationship between the Mexico and the United States. By traveling to the Texas/Mexico border, Bucak collects the memories and artifacts of undocumented people in both countries. These remnants of their nomadic lives are integral to her Artpace exhibition. In 2013, Bucak won the 13th illy Present Future Prize and was a finalist for the Catlin Art Prize, both showcasing the most exciting and dynamic emerging artists. Bucak earned her BA from the Albertina Academy of Fine Art, Turin, and her MA in Photography at the Royal College of Art, London.
Houston-based artist Gabriel Martinez creates art experiences beyond the traditional gallery setting, hinting at social and political undercurrents. Martinez has intervened in public spaces, suggesting alternate uses and interpretations for empty lots or bus stops without seating. By installing signage or benches where there previously were none, perceptions change throughout participation in the altered landscape. Martinez’ work at Artpace continues to explore political themes and historic social issues. Martinez was a 2012 CORE Fellow at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, as well as an artist-inresidence at Project Row Houses. He received his MFA from Columbia University.
