Growing House

For the 4th edition of Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art in 2022, Assadour Markarov together with Kate Egan, have worked on this creative collaboration to develop the “Growing House” international exchange project.

In partnership with China Academy of Art & Manchester School of Art MMU, Kate Egan and Assadour Markarov anticipate young artists and students from China, Hangzhou & Manchester UK, buildt mutually compatible relationships, collaborating through online workshops, including talks, and exchanges of ideas and concepts. 

 

Artistic director: Kate Egan(UK), Assadour Markarov(CN) Artistic team in UK: Amber Yearsley, Anna Louise Bulloch, Lilly Beards, Aqsa Khan

Artistic team in China: Ren Zhe, Zhu Zhixian, Li Ying, Luo Shilin, Gong Ziqing, Chen Binsheng, Tang Chenkai, Yao Wanqing, Mariya Ganeva, Wang Sicong

Translation: Ren Zhe 

 

Kate Egan

UK

Kate Egan was born in Manchester and spent her childhood in Vancouver & Mexico. After studying at Manchester School of Art MMU, she has worked simultaneously as a practitioner and lecturer for the past thirty years. Kate is curator for the Vertical Gallery MMU and lectures on the BA (Hons) Textiles in Practice programme also at MMU; her research interests are at the intersection of interactive e-textiles and art for public space. She completed a major commission for the Bridgewater International Concert Hall in Manchester in 1996 and was presented to HRH the Queen.

 

Assadour Markarov

China

Dr. Assadour Markarov is a Bulgarian artist, educator, and curator, who has been lecturing around the world, in Japan, the UK, Ireland, China, and Finland. He is currently a full-time professor at Department of Fiber Art, School of Sculpture and Public Art in China Academy of Art (Hangzhou, China).

 

Zhu Zhixian

China

Born 1996 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, P.R. China. Graduate with MA Degree in 2021 in Fiber Art Department, China Academy of Art. Today Zhixian is working and living in Hangzhou, focusing on contemporary art issues, mainly installation and fiber art.

 

Ren Zhe

China

Born 1994 in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, P.R. China. Graduate with MA Degree in 2021 in Fiber Art Department, China Academy of Art. Today Ren Zhe is working and living in Hangzhou, focusing on contemporary art issues, mainly conceptual and installation art.

 

Li Ying

China

Born 1994 in Jining, Shandong Province, P.R. China. Graduate with MA Degree in 2021 in Fiber Art Department, China Academy of Art. Now Li Ying is working and living in Hangzhou, focusing on contemporary installation and public art.

 

Yao Wanqing

China

Born 1998 in Tongling, Anhui Province, P.R. China. Graduate with BA Degree in 2020 in Fiber Art Department, China Academy of Art. Today Wanqing is studying and living in Hangzhou, focusing on contemporary art with different media including video, installation, painting and soft sculpture.

 

 

Luo Shilin

China

Born 1996 in Beiliu, Guangzhou Province, P.R. China. Graduate with BA Degree in 2020 in Fiber Art Department, China Academy of Art. Today Shilin is studying and living in Hangzhou, focusing on contemporary art, using fabrics and felting.

 

 

Gong Ziqing

China

Born 1996 in Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province, P.R. China. Graduate with BA Degree in 2019 in Experimental Art Department, China Central Academy of Art. Today Ziqing is studying and living in Hangzhou, focusing on contemporary art with the use of weaving and knitting techniques.

 

 

Chen Bingsheng

China

Born 1998 in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, P.R. China. Graduate with BA Degree in 2020 in Fiber Art Department, China Academy of Art. Today Bingsheng is studying and living in Hangzhou, focusing on contemporary art with fabric material including painting, installation and video..

 

 

Tang Chenkai

China

Born 1995 in Linyi, Shandong Province, P.R. China. Graduate with BA Degree in 2019 in Sculpture Department, Shandong Academy of Art. Today Chenkai is studying and living in Hangzhou, focusing on contemporary art issues related to spiders and netting, using them as a living component within his work, become the starting point of a whole new oeuvre.

 

 

Wang Sicong

China

Born 1998 in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, P.R. China. Graduate with BA Degree in 2020 in Fiber Art Department, China Academy of Art. Today Sicong is studying and living in Hangzhou, focusing on contemporary art using soft and fabric materials.

 

 

Lilly Frances Beards

UK

Born 2000 in Matlock, England, UK. Awarded Derbyshire Young Artist of the Year in 2018. Started BA Textiles in Practice at Manchester Metropolitan University in 2020. As a fiber artist, Lilly focuses on the use of textiles as a tool for confession and social commentary.

 

Amber Yearsley

UK

Born 2000 in Bolton, England, UK. Started BA Textiles in Practice at Manchester Metropolitan University in 2020. Amber is focusing on contemporary art with fabric material, mixed media and embroidery inspired by the British natural landscape.

 

 

Anna Louise Bulloch

UK

Born in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. Started BA Textiles in Practice at Manchester Metropolitan University in 2020. Anna mainly focuses on texture and tactility, lie with surface pattern design, embroidery and digital textiles.

 

 

Maria Ganeva

Bulgaria

Born in 1986 in Sofia, Bulgaria. Graduate with BA Degree in 2020 in Textiles Department in National Academy of Arts, Sofia, Bulgaria. In 2015 earned Master degree with distinction from China Academy of Art, Sculpture Department, Fiber and Space Art Studio, Hangzhou. In 2020, complete her PhD in Fiber Art Department, China Academy of Art. Maria is focusing on contemporary and social art, her work consisted of installations, tapestries, patchworks and small objects made with flexible materials and textiles.

 

Special Project: Growing House 

2022

 

There is a space, which begins to grow and change constantly; create a sound, flash a light, open your eyes (window), build a corridor/tunnel, and then connect with other spaces. It becomes a house, but it does not stop, it is still growing, it is happening.

The “House” is not only a place for the body to live, but also a psychological hint of safety and shelter. Growing House is a poetic response or antidote to the complexity of living life now, the exhausting fast pace of society driven by speed. Dr Stephanie Brown suggests that ‘the mass of incoming information has eroded our attention and our creativity. People have less time to reflect on anything as they become dominated by a need to act, a need to be online, robotically always checking. Multi-tasking stimulates internal chaos and fragmented attention.’ Growing House is a labyrinth of ‘moments’ in flux – these moments are shored up by four media: scaffolding, boxes, threads and fabric, allowing the house to be altered — a state change, in play, in chaos in contemplation and in perspective. Gaston Bachelard once said, “the house shelters daydreaming, the house protects the dreamer, the house allows one to dream in peace”, perhaps to shield us from the storm, or to remind people of the joy of life and where we are living and existing in a complex and changeable scaffolding environment.

In partnership with China Academy of Art & Man- chester School of Art, Kate Egan and Assadour Markarov anticipate young artists and students from China, Hangzhou & UK, Manchester built mutually compatible relationships, collaborating through online workshop, including talks, exchange ideas and concepts. “Art is our common language”, Kate once said that, members injected their own ideas into the space they created, realizing a “breakthrough” creation.

 

Special Project: Growing House 

2022

 

There is a space, which begins to grow and change constantly; create a sound, flash a light, open your eyes (window), build a corridor/tunnel, and then connect with other spaces. It becomes a house, but it does not stop, it is still growing, it is happening.

The “House” is not only a place for the body to live, but also a psychological hint of safety and shelter. Growing House is a poetic response or antidote to the complexity of living life now, the exhausting fast pace of society driven by speed. Dr Stephanie Brown suggests that ‘the mass of incoming information has eroded our attention and our creativity. People have less time to reflect on anything as they become dominated by a need to act, a need to be online, robotically always checking. Multi-tasking stimulates internal chaos and fragmented attention.’ Growing House is a labyrinth of ‘moments’ in flux – these moments are shored up by four media: scaffolding, boxes, threads and fabric, allowing the house to be altered — a state change, in play, in chaos in contemplation and in perspective. Gaston Bachelard once said, “the house shelters daydreaming, the house protects the dreamer, the house allows one to dream in peace”, perhaps to shield us from the storm, or to remind people of the joy of life and where we are living and existing in a complex and changeable scaffolding environment.

In partnership with China Academy of Art & Man- chester School of Art, Kate Egan and Assadour Markarov anticipate young artists and students from China, Hangzhou & UK, Manchester built mutually compatible relationships, collaborating through online workshop, including talks, exchange ideas and concepts. “Art is our common language”, Kate once said that, members injected their own ideas into the space they created, realizing a “breakthrough” creation.

 

Special Project: Growing House 

2022

 

There is a space, which begins to grow and change constantly; create a sound, flash a light, open your eyes (window), build a corridor/tunnel, and then connect with other spaces. It becomes a house, but it does not stop, it is still growing, it is happening.

The “House” is not only a place for the body to live, but also a psychological hint of safety and shelter. Growing House is a poetic response or antidote to the complexity of living life now, the exhausting fast pace of society driven by speed. Dr Stephanie Brown suggests that ‘the mass of incoming information has eroded our attention and our creativity. People have less time to reflect on anything as they become dominated by a need to act, a need to be online, robotically always checking. Multi-tasking stimulates internal chaos and fragmented attention.’ Growing House is a labyrinth of ‘moments’ in flux – these moments are shored up by four media: scaffolding, boxes, threads and fabric, allowing the house to be altered — a state change, in play, in chaos in contemplation and in perspective. Gaston Bachelard once said, “the house shelters daydreaming, the house protects the dreamer, the house allows one to dream in peace”, perhaps to shield us from the storm, or to remind people of the joy of life and where we are living and existing in a complex and changeable scaffolding environment.

In partnership with China Academy of Art & Man- chester School of Art, Kate Egan and Assadour Markarov anticipate young artists and students from China, Hangzhou & UK, Manchester built mutually compatible relationships, collaborating through online workshop, including talks, exchange ideas and concepts. “Art is our common language”, Kate once said that, members injected their own ideas into the space they created, realizing a “breakthrough” creation.

 

Special Project: Growing House 

2022

 

There is a space, which begins to grow and change constantly; create a sound, flash a light, open your eyes (window), build a corridor/tunnel, and then connect with other spaces. It becomes a house, but it does not stop, it is still growing, it is happening.

The “House” is not only a place for the body to live, but also a psychological hint of safety and shelter. Growing House is a poetic response or antidote to the complexity of living life now, the exhausting fast pace of society driven by speed. Dr Stephanie Brown suggests that ‘the mass of incoming information has eroded our attention and our creativity. People have less time to reflect on anything as they become dominated by a need to act, a need to be online, robotically always checking. Multi-tasking stimulates internal chaos and fragmented attention.’ Growing House is a labyrinth of ‘moments’ in flux – these moments are shored up by four media: scaffolding, boxes, threads and fabric, allowing the house to be altered — a state change, in play, in chaos in contemplation and in perspective. Gaston Bachelard once said, “the house shelters daydreaming, the house protects the dreamer, the house allows one to dream in peace”, perhaps to shield us from the storm, or to remind people of the joy of life and where we are living and existing in a complex and changeable scaffolding environment.

In partnership with China Academy of Art & Man- chester School of Art, Kate Egan and Assadour Markarov anticipate young artists and students from China, Hangzhou & UK, Manchester built mutually compatible relationships, collaborating through online workshop, including talks, exchange ideas and concepts. “Art is our common language”, Kate once said that, members injected their own ideas into the space they created, realizing a “breakthrough” creation.

 

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