The Elizabeth Krief and Jacques Manardo Artist Residency Program at The Invisible Dog offers artists of all disciplines and nationalities the opportunity to reside in New York City for 1-3 months, without any obligation of a final production and objective, aside from engaging with our city of fantasy, change, excess, power, possibility, hustle, and grandeur.
Everyone finds their own way and the experiments are impossible to anticipate. New York changes all who visit; we’re anxiously waiting to see what resident artists see and discover. Artists will be housed in a furnished apartment in the heart of Brooklyn near The Invisible Dog Art Center and are encouraged to live in total immersion, connect with one of the most vibrant artist communities, meet professionals from the international art world, and participate in events in New York and abroad.
The residency requires applicants to have presented work in their country of origin (USA included) or abroad, but having spent little to no time in New York City.
This 4-year-old program was made possible thanks to the exclusive support of Elizabeth Krief and Jacques Manardo.
We are pleased to announce that the eighth resident artists will be Nicène Kossentini (Tunisia) from September 1–30.
Nicène Kossentini b. 1976, Sfax, Tunisia. She lives and works in Tunis, Tunisia.
Nicène Kossentini's artwork is part of an existential quest. It explores the question of memory and forgetfulness in a present characterized by a frenetic speed which impacts our ability to think and dream. Kossentini's research area draws its resources from her family history, intimate and intergenerational tradition of storytelling, as well as Arabic poetry, literature and philosophy. The artist evokes memory through the interweaving of intimate story and collective story using different media: video, photography, drawing, installation and sculpture. The family history is thus a reflection of political and cultural history. Through her work, she captures sites and faces on the verge of disappearance and invites the viewer to enter contemplative spaces by hypnotizing the gaze as if waiting for an upcoming event. Kossentini's work is marked by signs that whisper the passing of time and its impact on memory, legacy and society. She tries to capture and make visible the imperceptible and transient moment during witch, things are disappearing. Kossentini graduated with a degree in Applied Arts from the Fine Art Institute of Tunis, Tunisia and pursued Advanced Studies in Art from Marc Bloch University, Strasburg, France. Her works have been recently exhibited at the 12th edition of Bamako Encounters Photography Biennial, Mali / MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt, Germany / Gwangju Museum of Art, Gwangju, South Korea / Museum of Contemporary Art of Algiers, Algeria / Circulo de Bellas Artes, Madrid, Spain. Kossentini’s work forms part of many prestigious collections of art, including The British Museum, London, UK / Fondation Blachèr, France / The Kamel Lazaar Foundation, Tunis, Tunisia / Museum of Modern Art, Tunis, Tunisia and Sindika Dokolo Foundation, Angola.
Nicène's approach
Mindful of her heritage and past, Nicène Kossentini seeks to uncover the lost links and buried truths of its culture and its origins. Her work thus addresses concerns of Tunisian society which have to live with a memory that tends to freeze, to flaten and become lost.
In her videos, Kossentini captures, picture by picture, the slow transformation of people and things, to reveal intimate places and bodies.
Each work is an invitation to enter into symbiosis with an uncertain and close living space. She creates singular atmospheres with minimalist escenographies, highlighting contrasts in black and white and semi visible areas. Her videos capture sights and faces about to extinct, hipnotizing the viewer's look that is sustained in wait for an inminent event. The deliberate slow movement of the camera restores the phenomenological dimension of time to better suggest the sensation of becoming a strangely enigmatic place.
In her recent videos, the artist pursues the uncertainty of the look on the viewer against his vision habits and prejudices, placing off the camera what could be a subject.
She raises the problem of identity and its elusive landmark.
www.nicenekossentini.com
www.sabrinaamrani.com/the-gallery/artists/nicene-kossentini/intro