With an eye towards the complicated nature of inherent and enforced structures, American multidisciplinary artist Zody Burke criticizes the absurdity found in learned systems of colonialism, capitalism, and the modern arena, while leaving a liminal space for larger ways of being together. Working with sculpture, sound, and other media, Burke has sought to establish that societal concepts of identity, symbolism, and hierarchy, particularly in the context of Americanhood, are as tenuous as we see to craft them, and yet they paradoxically shape practically every facet of our lives.
Recently, her work has been informed by experiencing brutal police violence firsthand during the protest actions of summer 2020. In a recent project in Ireland, Burke completed a piece in which miniature police figures were placed among lichen, armed with batons, beating down other figures placed beneath them. The lichen, passive inhabitants of a dilapidated wall, imposed themselves into a built space, utilizing their own terms of symbiotic growth and relationships to establish their own systems of living. The juxtaposition of the police is an inherent element of Burke’s work: brutality changes the structures themselves, and while something may feel inherent or inevitable, these are still creations of our own understanding.
Taylor “Tex” Tehan is an M.A. Graphic Design student from the United States and an interdisciplinary practitioner. Working with textiles, sound, metal, wood and film, his work is influenced by the landscape, nostalgia, speculative futures, mythology and romanticism of the American West. His most recent work for the 2022 Young Sculptors Award was a multimedia interactive installation influenced by his time working in the National Parks Service.
Previously working in the fashion industry, Tehan has worked as a designer for various brands, including a recent traineeship on the Menswear Design Team at Louis Vuitton in Paris. His interests meet at the cross section of fashion, music, contemporary art, film and graphic design, with a strong emphasis on experiential-environmental themes.
Joonas Timmi is an Estonian artist & designer who explores the contemporary identity of craftsmanship by combining traditional woodworking techniques with VR-modeling, 3D-printing and CNC-milling. In his work, he expresses the relations between functionality and sentimentality in objects using furniture as the main medium. Each piece aims to be a somewhat functional artifact with an emphasis on biomorphic form with anthropomorphic charisma. His latest work, "Traction" chair, was exhibited in the exhibition "Present Yet-to-Be" (Tallinn, Hobusepea gallery) in January 2022. The installation combined meandering forms of plywood with textile to create throne-like structure, inspired by the idea of alternate realities.
Lauri Raus is an Estonian songwriter & guitarist, most notable for his work in contemporary country/shoegaze ensemble Holy Motors. Through his work, he engages with western musical tropes from a distance, transfiguring his own interpretation of Americana into something subtly different and altogether unique. His band is signed to New York-based indie label Wharf Cat which has enabled him to tour the USA, allowing him to rupture, expand, and transform his relationship with the musical tradition he uses as a foundation for his art. He studies anthropology at Tallinn University.
