Artist talk: Weronika Bela & Ivar Hagren
Artist talk: Weronika Bela & Ivar Hagren
Welcome to a presentation and discussion with artists Weronika Bela & Ivar Hagren whose practice focus on the relation between microhistory and the history of photography often using foundfootage to re-signify the images and rethinking the potentialities of the photographic medium. Bela & Hagren are currently one of the Swedish grant holders at IASPIS, the Swedish Arts Grants Committee’s International Programme for Visual and Applied Arts. The presentation is introduced and moderated by Valerio Del Baglivo, 2022 IASPIS Guest Curator.
Artist duo Weronika Bela and Ivar Hagren are based in Hökarängen, Stockholm. Hagren & Bela’s work takes its point of departure in the history of photography, often through personal micro-stories. Their preferred medium is analogue black-and-white photography and they employ both traditional and experimental techniques in the dark room. Their practice also includes drawing, installation, archive material and text. During their residency at IASPIS, Ivar and Weronika will immerse themselves in the earlier project Meteorologiskt/privat, a photographic in-depth study of Weronika’s paternal grandparents’ life and work at a weather station in the Polish city of Przemysl, situated 5 km from the Ukrainian border. They will also research the photographic material company ORWO who held a monopoly over photographic darkroom material in the Eastern bloc market before ceasing operations in connection with the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Ivar Hagren received his BA from HDK-Valand – Academy of Art and Design, Gothenburg in 2012 and his MA in Fine Art from Konstfack University of Arts, Craft and Design, Stockholm in 2014. Weronika Bela received her BA and MA in Fine Art from Konstfack in 2013 respectively 2015. Their work has been exhibited in Sweden and internationally, including Poland, Finland and Greece.
To book a seat please RSVP to valerio.delbaglivo@konstnarsnamnden.se