Still-frame from "In the same city, under the same sky...", Anna Konik, 2012
Polish artist Anna Konik presents her latest video work in the Swedish Parliament, a living commentary on the invisible walls of immigration across Europe
In the same city, under the same sky... tells the story of seven women from immigrant backgrounds who live in the district of Tentsa in the Swedish capital. The artist visits her subjects in their homes, going beyond political and social structures and into an intimate sphere of their everyday lives.
The work draws its inspiration from the "invisible walls" that separate immigrant populations from society at large in any given metropolis. According to the artist's statement on the project, she entered such an invisible wall at the end of the blue metro line, walking through the Rinkeby Torg gate in Tentsa and finding an entirely different Stockholm. This is the district of immigrants and refugees from Somalia, Syria, Iraq, Turkey, Kurdistan and Afghanistan, who share their stories of escape and the harrowing path they took from their old lives into a new life that is often just as painful and alienating. Anna Konik brings these unwanted people of Stockholm's suburbs into the spotlight and in front of the camera.
"Invisible barriers exist, and that feeling has followed me since childhood. They are ubiquitous and occur independently of the officially proclaimed democratic opinions. They exist uninterruptedly for in our heads, and go through our bodies," says Konik.
Anna Konik (born 1974) lives and works in Berlin and Warsaw. She studied at the Art Academy in Warsaw, graduating in 2000. Since 2010 she has worked as a guest lecturer in the video of the fashion department of the university's art design faculty. As an artist, she creates video installations, objects, videos, photographs and drawings. In 2009 she was nominated for two major awards for young Polish artists: Deutsche Bank's Views award and the Polityka Passport award. In 2008-2009, she lectured on new media at the International Summer Academy in Salzburg. Anna Konik has also received several important study awards and been invited to grant stays in different countries: IASPIS, Stockholm (2011/2012), SPACES World Artists Program, Cleveland, USA (2005), Leube Artist in Residency (2004), Akademie Schloss Solitude (2003/2004 ). Anna Konik's works have been exhibited in galleries in Poland and Europe and her works are both in private collections and institutions, including the Center for Contemporary Art in Ujazdowskislottet, Warsaw, Leubestiftelsens collection of Gartenau-Salzburg, Podlasieregionens Art Association in Białystok, Upper Silesian Museum in Bytom, Art Station Foundation in Poznan and Art Association in Lublin.
In the same city, under the same sky ...
Video Project, 2012
by Anna Konik
Total playing time: 1'33'' (variable, 1 channel version)
Camera work: Jerzy Karpinski, Anna Konik
Editing: Cezary Chojnowski, Anna Konik
Sound: Anna Konik, Kamil Sajewicz
Light and production assistants: Caroline Johansson, Saziye Özdemir
Translation and transcription: Zafer Albayrak, Hanna Ekwinska, Suzi Ersahin, Together Jaoshan, Therese Kellner, Liza Yousef
Project manager: Therese Kellner (Mobile Art Production)
The project has been produced in cooperation with Sweden's Mobile Art Projection (MAP) with the support of the Polish Institute and the Stockholm Culture Administration. Anna Konik's work is on display in the Swedish parliament between the 18th and 21st of June, with a debate scheduled on the 19th of June with Anna Konik and Magdalena Malm, MAP artistic director. The video is also available on the MAP website: mobileartproduction.se/projekt/anna-konik.
For more informationon the artist, see: www.annakonik.art.pl
Editor: Agnieszka Le Nart
Source: Polish Institute in Stockholm, Mobile Art Production