Summer 2016

During our SUMMER 2016 SEASIDE RESIDENCY, three exciting artists stayed and worked with us.

Zinnia understands beauty; from still photography to video to installation, Zinnia has natural talent for visual harmony. Her final video piece presented viewers with still videos of mundane physical barriers – from building walls and fences, to wave breakers – she observed around town. Exquisitely composed and often humorous, Zinnia’s video reflects her time as an outsider, in both the linguistic and geographical sense, in the Mangalian community.

Essi Ojanperä, Finland

From the beginning, Essi impressed us with the conceptual rigor of her projects and work habits. However, her final piece – a series of photo collages created from the images she created while living in Mangalia – revealed a more intuitive side of her art practice. Mixing the old – architectural textures – with the contemporary – beach-going vacationers – Essie’s exciting visuals subtly reveal the communist-era roots of this holiday town.

Benjamin Saint-Maxwell, France

Over the two weeks together, Benjamin whoo-ed us with his charm, cooking, and intellect. His unwavering dedication to exploring the exoticism of tourism and travel in the context of global markets expanded to incorporate the marked security presence we witnessed during our brief time on the Black Sea. Strategically located between Putin and “the west,” our Mangalian vista was frequented by military helicopters over the Mangalian tourists. Ben’s response – a sculpture using found organic materials, video footage, and Mangalian lei – presented the complex relationships between the military power, economic markets, and tourism.

We also hosted two visiting artists: Oksana Chepelyk and Nicu Ilfoveanu