FAD caught up with Davide Balula while he was getting ready for his new exhibition at Alison Jacques Gallery A Light To Repeat [ ] On The Wall. We where able to ask him about his work and his take on reality.
1 Can you tell us more about your work
My pleasure
and what are the main ideas you would like to express?
Main ideas are hard to reduce into short lines but I would say that I am trying develop something that involves flexibility and perpetual change, so as an idea it would be like a bacteria that feeds on context, which could potentially itself be integrated into other organisms.
2 How do you start the process of making work?
I place a bucket outdoors and read into what I find there the next day. Depending on the weather, either the bucket or its harvested content becomes the work. Most of time, the ART lands right outside the container so I try to keep a large opening. I suppose I consider the idea more important than the form that walked you through it. It is therefore important to consider that what is not there might as well be a part of it.
3 Do you consider the viewer, when making your work?
If I consider showing as part of it, i’d say yes, always. Not his eyes specifically though. (By “viewer” I assume you mean: “the person who experiences the work”?)
4 Your work concerns nature: burnt wood, soaked canvases but you are
also showing WiFi sculpture – Is technology now seeping into nature?
I value technological evolution and knowledge legacy, so beyond me being a human I believe that it always has. The phone is the new stick. They both simply create a different type of smoke as residual matter.
5 Do you struggle to know what is real ?
Not when I consider that reality can be shared (not only through language). But I am not including social media here, just implying that your own life is not limited to your personal body.
6 Did you always plan to show the two types of work in this exhibition together?
Yes
7 When the time comes will you upload yourself ?
I do rely on remote servers every time I press “SEND”. But i can’t tell exactly how much of my body heat is added to the temperature of their processors.
About
Davide Balula was born in France in 1978 and currently lives and works in New York, NY. His work is included in museum and public collections including Centre Georges Pompidou, Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris; Fonds National d’Art Contemporain, Paris and Musée d’Art Contemporain du Val-de-Marne. His work has been included in group exhibitions at Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Palais de Tokyo, Paris, Wiels centre d’art contemporain, Brussels; Bielefelder Kunstverein; Madison Museum for Contemporary Art; Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami and Museums Quartier Wien. Davide Balula is one of the four artists nominated for the 2015 Prix Marcel Duchamp. With thanks to Michelle D’Souza Fine Art, London.
Davide Balula A LIGHT TO REPEAT [ ] ON THE WALL through to 8th AUGUST 2015 Alison Jacques Gallery
16-18 Berners Street London W1T 3LN www.alisonjacquesgallery.com
