The DARV Art and Technology Workshop is a five-day experience where artistic projects are created by students and pupils and implemented in augmented reality with the help of mentors – the DARV Collective. Performances, objects and art installations will make unexpected connections between the real and virtual worlds. The works will be presented in a guided exhibition in the public space of Arad on May 26, 2023, at 6:00 p.m., at the Alexandru D. Xenopol Arad County Library.
Together with the students from the College of Arts "Sabin Drăgoi" Arad and the students from the Faculty of Design of the University "Aurel Vlaicu" Arad, the invited artists will focus on climate change in Arad, which will be addressed through analog and digital means. The aim of this endeavor is to raise awareness about climate change.
The workshop is designed, led, implemented and co-organized by DARV Collective: Violeta Ivanova (conceptual artist), Mihaela Kavdanska (media artist) and Florian Weinrich (programmer).
The results will be presented in the form of an augmented reality exhibition in the public space and will be freely accessible to the public, both locally and virtually after the event.
Violeta Ivanova was born in Bulgaria in 1985. After she completed her BA at the Academy of Art in Sofia, Bulgaria, she continued her studies at the University of Art and Design in Linz, where she completed her MA in the class of Prof. Frank Louis in 2015, majoring in Sculptural Concepts/ ceramics. He works in the field of conceptual art, with a focus on site-specific objects and installations. Violeta Ivanova experiments with unconventional materials and a wide variety of mediums. Parallel to her individual projects, she often works with artists from different fields. She is the winner of the Diocesan Art Award 2016 and the Forum 2017 grant in Linz. Violeta Ivanova has been working as a freelancer in the field of art since 2016. She is a member of the Salzburger Kunstverein and a representative of the Artist-Run Alliance and the Albert Institute, Tel Aviv for Austria. Lives and works in Linz.
Mihaela Kavdanska works as a media artist, creative director, artistic researcher, curator and producer of artistic and cultural events. Born in Bulgaria, she graduated from the National University of Arts in Bucharest, Faculty of Fine Arts/Painting in 2001. 17 years of artistic and organizational activity followed, being established in Romania where she co-founded and co-produced together with Dilmana Yordanova the festival AVmotional and art and technology studio KOTKI visuals. In 2019, she completed the Master's program in interactive art Interface Cultures at the University of Art and Design in Linz. She settled permanently in Linz in 2018, where she initiated the artistic collective DARV and the association FURNA art & culture. Since the late 1990s, she has been working on personal and group projects presented in galleries, museums, dance centers and theaters in Europe, the USA and Asia . For the past 10 years, Mihaela Kavdanska has been exploring the creative balance between art and technology in the context of interactive art. It focused on the creation of immersive audio-visual installations, interactive performances and intermedia dance performances in which the connection and unity between different artistic mediums play a leading role.
Among other artistic residencies and awards, in 2015 she was awarded the Matei Brâncoveanu National Award for mid-career artists with national and international achievements in the field of visual and media arts, as well as the Energie AG Preise und Talente award at the European film festival Crossing Europe from Linz.
Florian Weinrich is a programmer, software developer and interaction designer born in Linz, who has been working on art and also commercial projects for several years. After completing his education in media technology, he worked for media agencies and startups. In 2019 he became a freelancer and since then he has been working on national and international projects together with other artists as well as media agencies in Europe. Currently, he develops augmented reality applications, generative and interactive art, being based in Linz and Berlin.
Partners:
Colegiul de Arte „Sabin Drăgoi” Arad
Facultatea de Design, Universitatea Aurel Vlaicu Arad
Consiliul Județean Arad prin Biblioteca Județeană „Alexandru D. Xenopol” Arad