PHX/BG

Convergence / PHX – BG
Nov. 7 to Dec. 22, 2014

Curator: Maida Gruden, Belgrade, Serbia
Artists: Aleksandrija Ajduković, Nidaa Aboulhosn, Edgar Cardenas, Sean Deckert, William LeGoullon, Goran Micevski, Ivan Petrović, Stefana Savić, Nina Todorović, Mihailo Vasiljević, Ryan Parra, Claire A. Warden

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
Convergence / PHX – BG is an exhibition of photographic works by artists from Phoenix and Belgrade. During her five-week stay at the ASU Art Museum International Artist Residency Program, Maida Gruden (art historian, curator, and CEC ArtsLink Fellow for 2014) had the opportunity to meet a number of local artists and ASU students to view and learn about their work and processes. This short but eventful time has brought the opportunity for Gruden to develop an exhibition at the Combine Studios gallery based on her interaction with photographers from Phoenix and recent collaborations with photographers from Belgrade.

The exhibition represents a generational cross-section of artists from their twenties to their forties. It indicates a first step in connecting the artists, audiences, photographic processes and people from two distant towns. The title Convergence / PHX – BG is intended for the viewer to consider similarities but also to raise interests for differences that enrich and intrigue our local perspectives. The same exhibition will be presented at the Students’ City Cultural Center Gallery in Belgrade at the beginning of 2015. The effects of this convergence will be to create a space for personal encounter and dialog of artists from Phoenix and Belgrade, to help develop collaborative and exchangeable projects in the future.

The artists from Belgrade whose works are presented within the exhibition were participants in a summer 2014 photo colony titled Dislocations, in Orlovat, Serbia, that was initiated by the curatorial duo maramaida of Gruden and her collaborator, Mara Prohaska Marković.

Curator Maida Gruden visits my studio to see my recent work using polaroid film to sculpt the interior of a camera onto a unique surface.

ABOUT MAIDA GRUDEN
As a visual arts programmer at the Students’ City Cultural Center (SCCC) in Belgrade and a member of the curatorial duo maramaida, Gruden is active in both the academic and alternative scenes. She is interested in involving the student community in art projects that can serve as a powerful tool for understanding society. At the SCCC, she is currently working on a residency program for international photographers to create projects with students, and she has also developed collective works involving artists, students and citizens. To learn more about Gruden’s work, visit www.maidagruden.wordpress.com.

ABOUT THE RESIDENCY PROGRAM
The ASU Art Museum International Artist Residency Program brings accomplished national and international artists, curators and scholars to ASU to develop new work with the research resources of Arizona State University and the diverse communities in Arizona. Gruden’s residency is funded in part through the support of ArtsLink Residencies, which offers artists and arts managers from 37 overseas countries five-week residencies at non-profit arts organizations throughout the US. The program enables artists and communities across the U.S. to share artistic practices with artists and arts managers from abroad and engage in dialogue that advances understanding across cultures.

RESIDENCY PROGRAM GALLERY HOURS 
open Wednesday – Friday, 2 – 6 p.m.
First Fridays and Third Fridays, 6 – 9 p.m.