Simona Luchian

Simona Luchian was one of the selected artist for the first edition of LIVEstudio in 2015, the residency program organized by Metronom.

Metronom:  Simona, how do you remember this experience? What have you perceived as the value of having worked here in Modena?

Simona Luchian: LIVEstudio was my very first residency and I remember it as a very productive and fruitful experience, where I had the chance to work full-time on my project, accompanied for the first time by a direct confrontation / discussion with the gallery itself and other institutions or personalities that collaborate with Metronom. Modena has the plus value to house one of the most important center for photography in Italy, Fondazione Fotografia.

During LIVEstudio you worked and reflected on a new project ‘L’incastro’. In the project statement you point out the increasingly necessity of hybridize the sculptoreal language with the photographic one. How have you developed this reflection? Are you still working on this in your recent projects?

 The development of this reflection was automatically generated during the years : it was a kind of evolution of my personal relationship with the camera. I have never been a pure photographer, technologically moved. At a point, I feel there was a personal rejection and a lack of interest in capturing images of reality. Now what belongs me of photography is the capacity of focus the intuitions of an invented and sculpted world : in this way any single shoot becomes something more, the closing of inner expressive mechanisms. In my mind it’s not the hunt for real, but the chance of generate and be actively part of infinite parallel dimensions of which you are the creator. In my recent projects I am going on exploring this practice: photography – final work – doesn’t exist without being carefully thought and drawn on a sketchbook.

Do you feel Metronom residency helped you gaining more critical distance by your body of work or was more a concentration of forces and creative instinct?

I do think that helped in both ways. Taking part in a residency is a responsibility towards the people who chose you and necessarily becomes a test and a deep critical discussion between the artist and the work. Concurrently the residency in Modena was obviously a moment of concentration and creativity, giving the spacial possibilities and the experience itself.

You will be committed to two important residencies in New Zealand during the first half of 2017. How do you evaluate the experience of artist residence as the creator of contacts and relations?

Surely the residence experience is a unique occasion in which enter in contact with other artists, curators, writers, journalists and interested audience… The quality, the reliability and the usefulness of a residency are directly connected by the blooming of new relations and opportunities. The artist should be given the necessary space and time in order to confront and reflect the most during the construction of his project. Moreover, the hosting institution should guarantee the occasions not only during, but also once the residency has ended, as an ongoing net of relation. This could be the key of satisfying and proficient residency program.

—

Simona Luchian (Piacenza, 1989) lives and works in Auckland, New Zealand. She studied Philosophy at University of Pavia, with a focus in esthetic, and Photography at Academy of Fine Arts in Milan. In 2015 she was the recipient of LIVEstudio at Metronom in Modena. Shortlisted for two years in a row at Francesco Fabbri Award for contemporary art, in the section dedicated to contemporary photography, in 2016 she was selected for the special Award at Talent Prize, chosen by Terzo Pilastro Foundation – Italy and Mediterranean, with the chance to feature her works in a dedicated exhibition at MACRO Museum in Rome. Her work has been presented in numerous art magazines, such as ArtNoise, InsideArt and Phroom Magazine. She used to work for international artists as Paola Di Bello, Paolo Ventura e Liuba Picini. In the first half of 2017 she will be hosted in two international artistic residency program in New Zealand.

Cover image: Simona Luchian, L’incastro, mixed media, 2015

© Simona Luchian, courtesy Metronom

12/01/2017