Although the project's name is borrowed from political and economic terminology, in this project name "Curse of Bigness" has a more social and philosophical character. This phrase was proposed more than 100 years ago to describe the negative effects that firms and corporations experience when they reach a large size and excessive concentration of influence and power. Among these effects are both those that were a real "curse" for consumers - the impact on prices and policy, and those that negatively affected the firm itself - a decrease in susceptibility to risks that may prevent them from remaining in demand.
This project is about the bigness of human - their desire to have influence on a larger range of factors and the fear of what remains now and will most likely forever remain outside this range. The theme was viewed from the point of view of the philosophical teachings of Stoicism and references to similar practices in the literature and visual culture of the post-medieval period up to the present day.
Within the framework of the project to date, the following have been created: a short reflective essay, a publication and a collage of ceramic tiles.
This publication is a small curated anthology of visual and textual stories, phenomena and bittersweet reflections on them, mapping various inspirations for my research. References to philosophy, history and literature serve as a material to consider adversity and courage - significant parts of modern Being, of our diverse society in today's complex world, where only a few can look with confidence to the future. The ability to face life's trials despite one's own vulnerability to fate was the main inspiration for this project.
The first part of the publication is a small essay (soon available to read) that reveals the theme of fear of the unpredictable future. The second part is a companion text to my semester's work "The Curse of Bigness", presented at the Academy of Arts in Nuremberg. And the third part is a collectionof 4 short stories - each as one story, as one example and as a space for interpretation. The narrative is both to unearth hidden sorrows under the surface of a seemingly happy life, and to expose the pleasure under the surface of an absolutely decadent life.
There is always hope, but there is always fate.
And the odds are not always in our favor!
From the publication:
«When you think of a mouse hole, the first thing that comes to mind is a cartoonish image - a symmetrical arch-like shape consisting of a semicircle and a rectangle. It is not known for certain where this form was first used to describe a mouse hole, but it is known for sure which example is the most popular and most viewed. When, at the end of the first half of the 20th century, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera decided to make a cartoon about Tom and Jerry, they did not think about the fact that the drawn mouse hole will be that recognisable...»
«Although the mouse is not a particularly memorable symbol, it has been found for a very long time, mainly in literature. She is mentioned as in Aesop's fables as early as the 6th century BC, in folk tales, in the tales of the Brothers Grim and later post-medieval works as "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" up to the 20th century with Kafka's "Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse Folk" and White's Stuart Little and Mickey Mouse. Although most of the time it is mentioned in works for children, it is almost always mentioned in a positive and/or educational context. In the 20th century, along with the invention and spread of television, the image of a mouse (or other mammal) also came into visual art...»
Accepting the fact that an object of art can be "read" (viewed, listened to, touched) and to some extent "understood" (it can evoke at least emotions, and at best also reflections), the use of symbols and signs can help develop and describe complex topics, make them more general and global. The artist can only decide whether to use these symbols or not. So, for example, instead of the fable "The Lion and the Mouse", Aesop could have written a fable about two people - the question is how many more pages would he have to write to convey the difference between a lion and a mouse in the context in which they are presented in a fable. Or Blek le Rat, who set the trend for stencil graffiti - how else could he present the current urban environment of that time and marginalised members of the society as by using rats? Or would these rats he painted in Paris have the same meaning if they were painted on a canvas against a forest background?
From the publication:
"What are our practices of gathering individual and collective experiences that we live intensively in times of war? What optics can art offer for viewing and what language for understanding and addressing these multiple experiences of war in public space?
Are we capable of speech at all?
What of this do we scatter in the field of the common future?
The residency "To disperse, to collect, to look" lasted from August 22 to September 16, 2023 in Chernivtsi and brought together five participants from different cities of Ukraine."
a.k.a. @vinouuus
(b. 1999) is a Dnipro-born (UA) and Nürnberg-based (DE) graphic designer and visual artist.
ivanhanzhaa@gmail.com
Visual storytelling in my artistic practise serves as a medium to perform my main graphic designers task, structuring of the information, in a way that allows to design potentially novel contexts.
Sourced from my personal interest in literature and my curiosity about semiotics, cultural nuances and themes of belonging and vulnerability, my practise aim to investigate phenomena of the multiplex modern socio- and geopolitical landscape - with recurrent, sometimes satirical references to literature, political, ethnographic and naive motifs.
In my works I often use ceramics and self-made mineral glazes, which I see as a durable alternative for the delicate paper and as a physical manifestation of both clear thinking proceses and vague suspense/unpredictability of the final result. I see the interaction of individual sculptures or their characteristics as an important part of broadening of my practise.
Education:
2016-2020 - BA Digital Management - Warsaw University of Technology (PL)
2021-now - Diploma Fine Arts/Graphic and Communication Design - Academy of Fine Arts Nuremberg (DE)
Exhibitions:
April 2024 - Thinking Wires - Städtische Galerie Schwabach, Germany (Group)
Press:
April 2024 - Thinking Wires - publication to the exhibition in Schwabach
February 2022 - FREIHEIT - Mini-magazine in Nürnberger Nachrichten Newspaper
Although the project's name is borrowed from political and economic terminology, in this project name "Curse of Bigness" has a more social and philosophical character. This phrase was proposed more than 100 years ago to describe the negative effects that firms and corporations experience when they reach a large size and excessive concentration of influence and power. Among these effects are both those that were a real "curse" for consumers - the impact on prices and policy, and those that negatively affected the firm itself - a decrease in susceptibility to risks that may prevent them from remaining in demand.
This project is about the bigness of human - their desire to have influence on a larger range of factors and the fear of what remains now and will most likely forever remain outside this range. The theme was viewed from the point of view of the philosophical teachings of Stoicism and references to similar practices in the literature and visual culture of the post-medieval period up to the present day.
Within the framework of the project to date, the following have been created: a short reflective essay, a publication and a collage of ceramic tiles.
This publication is a small curated anthology of visual and textual stories, phenomena and bittersweet reflections on them, mapping various inspirations for my research. References to philosophy, history and literature serve as a material to consider adversity and courage - significant parts of modern Being, of our diverse society in today's complex world, where only a few can look with confidence to the future. The ability to face life's trials despite one's own vulnerability to fate was the main inspiration for this project.
The first part of the publication is a small essay (soon available to read) that reveals the theme of fear of the unpredictable future. The second part is a companion text to my semester's work "The Curse of Bigness", presented at the Academy of Arts in Nuremberg. And the third part is a collectionof 4 short stories - each as one story, as one example and as a space for interpretation. The narrative is both to unearth hidden sorrows under the surface of a seemingly happy life, and to expose the pleasure under the surface of an absolutely decadent life.
There is always hope, but there is always fate.
And the odds are not always in our favor!
From the publication:
«When you think of a mouse hole, the first thing that comes to mind is a cartoonish image - a symmetrical arch-like shape consisting of a semicircle and a rectangle. It is not known for certain where this form was first used to describe a mouse hole, but it is known for sure which example is the most popular and most viewed. When, at the end of the first half of the 20th century, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera decided to make a cartoon about Tom and Jerry, they did not think about the fact that the drawn mouse hole will be that recognisable...»
«Although the mouse is not a particularly memorable symbol, it has been found for a very long time, mainly in literature. She is mentioned as in Aesop's fables as early as the 6th century BC, in folk tales, in the tales of the Brothers Grim and later post-medieval works as "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" up to the 20th century with Kafka's "Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse Folk" and White's Stuart Little and Mickey Mouse. Although most of the time it is mentioned in works for children, it is almost always mentioned in a positive and/or educational context. In the 20th century, along with the invention and spread of television, the image of a mouse (or other mammal) also came into visual art...»
Accepting the fact that an object of art can be "read" (viewed, listened to, touched) and to some extent "understood" (it can evoke at least emotions, and at best also reflections), the use of symbols and signs can help develop and describe complex topics, make them more general and global. The artist can only decide whether to use these symbols or not. So, for example, instead of the fable "The Lion and the Mouse", Aesop could have written a fable about two people - the question is how many more pages would he have to write to convey the difference between a lion and a mouse in the context in which they are presented in a fable. Or Blek le Rat, who set the trend for stencil graffiti - how else could he present the current urban environment of that time and marginalised members of the society as by using rats? Or would these rats he painted in Paris have the same meaning if they were painted on a canvas against a forest background?
a.k.a. @vinouuus
Ivan Hanzha (b. 1999) is a Dnipro-born (UA) and Nürnberg-based (DE) graphic designer and yet another visual artist currently studying at Academy of Fine Arts in Nuremberg.
Artist statement
Visual storytelling in my artistic practise serves as a medium to perform my main graphic designers task, structuring of the information, in a way that allows to design potentially novel contexts.
Sourced from my personal interest in literature and my curiosity about semiotics, cultural nuances and themes of belonging and vulnerability, my practise aim to investigate phenomena of the multiplex modern socio- and geopolitical landscape - with recurrent, sometimes satirical references to literature, political, ethnographic and naive motifs.
In my works I often use ceramics and self-made mineral glazes, which I see as a durable alternative for the delicate paper and as a physical manifestation of both clear thinking processes and vague suspense/unpredictability of the final result. I see the interaction of individual sculptures or their characteristics as an important part of broadening of my practise.
Education:
2016 - 2020 - BA Digital Management - Warsaw University of Technology (PL)
2021 - now - Diploma Fine Arts/Graphic and Communication Design - Academy of Fine Arts Nuremberg (DE)
Exhibitions:
April 2024 - Thinking Wires - Städtische Galerie Schwabach, Germany (Group)
Press:
April 2024 - Thinking Wires - publication to the exhibition in Schwabach
February 2022 - FREIHEIT - Mini-magazine in Nürnberger Nachrichten Newspaper
Contact:
+48 577 277 108
ivanhanzhaa@gmail.com
a.k.a. @vinouuus
is a Dnipro-born (UA) and Nürnberg-based (DE) graphic designer and yet another visual artist.
Driven by exploration of symbolic forms, I seek to question and play with meanings given to these forms, objects, concepts and contexts.
Visual storytelling in my artistic practise serves as a medium to perform my main designers task, structuring the information, in a way that allows to evoke potentially novel experiences. Recurrent, sometimes satirical references to political, ethnographic and naive motifs are evoked by my personal experience and nearness to themes of self-identification and belonging.
Education:
2016-2020 - BA Digital Management - Warsaw University of Technology (PL)
2021-now - Diploma Fine Arts/Graphic and Communication Design - Academy of Fine Arts Nuremberg (DE)
Contact:
+48 577 277 108
ivanhanzhaa@gmail.com