What artists are doing now. Stas Ginzburg in New York
An inspiration and mutual solidarity project for the creative industries
In the current situation, clearly our top priority is to take care of our families, friends and fellow citizens. Nevertheless, while public life is paralyzed and museums, galleries and cultural institutions are closed, in many of us neither the urge to work nor the creative spark have disappeared. In fact, quite the opposite is happening in what is turning out to be a time that befits self-reflection and the generation of new ideas for the future. Although we are at home and self-isolating, we all – artists, creatives and Arterritory.com – continue to work, think and feel. As a sort of gesture of inspiration and ‘remote’ mutual solidarity, we have launched the project titled What Artists Are Doing Now, with the aim of showing and affirming that neither life nor creative energy are coming to a stop during this crisis. We have invited artists from all over the world to send us a short video or photo story illustrating what they are doing, what they are thinking, and how they are feeling during this time of crisis and self-isolation. All artist stories will be published on Arterritory.com and on our Instagram and Facebook accounts. We at Arterritory.com are convinced that creativity and positive emotions are good for the immune system and just might help us better navigate through these difficult times.
From his studio in New York American artist Stas Ginzburg answers a short questionnaire by Arterritory.com:
Is there any project you are working on right now in your studio? And, if yes, please characterize it in some words...
Since the start of the quarantine in New York, I began a series of one-hour long video performances in my Brooklyn apartment. I perform very simple actions, often staying in one spot, fixating my gaze on one object such as a clock, my own shadow or reflection. As life outside came to a halt, I wanted to stay even more still inside exploring issues of isolation, passing time, confronting myself and our new reality.Racing Against the Clock. 2020
What is your recipe for survival in the time of almost only bad news?
Early into the quarantine I realized that I no longer have the mental energy to focus on a book or even to make it through a full-length movie. The daily number of deaths in New York has been unfathomable. The escalating pace of devastating headlines gave me so much anxiety that it put my brain in a lockdown as well. There was nothing to do but to face myself with no distractions. The first piece I did, Confronting Oneself, Unrecognizing Oneself, Accepting Oneself, was me looking at my own reflection in a full-length mirror for one hour. I discovered that by staying still and focusing all my attention on one simple task gave me a way to absorb, process, and grieve for what is happening around the world and, particularly, in my own city.Shelter-in-Place, 2020
What we all (each of us personally) could do to make the world a better place when this disaster will end? It is clear that the world will not be the same anymore, but at the same time...there is magic in every beginning.
This pandemic is an opportunity for all of us to recalibrate our compass. We all can feel at times that the world is moving too fast, we try to do too many things at once and, as a result, we become less tolerant and patient. In my work I take the idea of staying still to the extreme but my wish is to preserve some part of this momentum in the post-virus future. My hope is that by slowing down we can break the cycle of immediate gratification and make decisions that are geared towards long-term benefits for ourselves, our relationships and the state of our planet in general.Metamorphosis, 2020
The art world and the culture sector is one of the most affected. What is the main lesson the art world should learn from all this?
My wish is to see more work out there that comes from the guts, has something sincere to say and adds true value to our culture and humanity as a whole. Less is more!It's Okay to Touch My Face, Now, 2020
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Stas Ginzburg (b. 1984, Orenburg, Russia; based in Brooklyn, NY) graduated from Parsons School of Design, NYC where he studied photography. Since then he expanded his practice to sculpture, installation, and performance to explore his interfaith background, memories of growing up in post-Soviet Russia, and his life as a Jewish refugee in America. Ginzburg's work has been shown in venues across the United States including: Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Honolulu Museum of Art, National Museum of Nuclear Science & History, and LA Center for Digital Art, among others. His works are in the collections of Museum of Art at the University of Oklahoma, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, and Kunstwerk Museum in Eberdingen, Germany. Ginzburg has shown his performances in Humboldt University in Berlin and Weltkunstzimmer in Düsseldorf, Germany.
