{"id":1988,"date":"2019-06-24T07:00:59","date_gmt":"2019-06-24T06:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/english\/?p=1988"},"modified":"2020-06-11T11:11:01","modified_gmt":"2020-06-11T10:11:01","slug":"gabriella-hirst-on-the-ivan-juritz-prize","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/english\/2019\/06\/24\/gabriella-hirst-on-the-ivan-juritz-prize\/","title":{"rendered":"Gabriella Hirst on the Ivan Juritz Prize"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gabriella Hirst<\/a> is an artist exploring the place of intimacy and the personal within the institutional. She is interested in the labour involved in the upkeep of illusions of permanence, with specific reference to gardening, art conservation and archive maintenance. Working across video, performance, ceramics, sound and poetry, she is inspired by cinematic tropes, slapstick routines and romantic clich\u00e9s. She was shortlisted for the Ivan Juritz Prize<\/a> in 2018.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Still from Gabriella Hirst’s Force Majeure shortlisted for the 2018 Ivan Juritz Prize<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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I entered the Ivan\u00a0Juritz<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>prize<\/span>\u00a0in my last year of an MFA program<\/span>\u00a0in fine art media at the Slade<\/span>. I was\u00a0<\/span>intrigued by\u00a0<\/span>how the award placed<\/span>\u00a0together different\u00a0<\/span>disciplines<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>of art, poetry, writing<\/span>\u00a0and music<\/span>, allowing them to sit side by side<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>Although<\/span>\u00a0I\u2019m predominantly a\u00a0<\/span>visual artist, I\u00a0<\/span>bounce back and forth between different disciplines<\/span>. M<\/span>y sculptural<\/span>\u00a0and video<\/span>\u00a0work\u00a0<\/span>is\u00a0<\/span>informed<\/span>\u00a0by\u00a0<\/span>a creative writing\/poetry practice<\/span>, amateur\u00a0<\/span>musicianship<\/span>\u00a0leaks into performances,\u00a0<\/span>and I find great freedom in using the blanket idea of an art practice to<\/span>\u00a0skip across various\u00a0<\/span>disciplines<\/span>\u00a0which can be tried on like coats, a<\/span>voiding<\/span>\u00a0any specific mastering of a craft.\u00a0So\u00a0it was a thrill when I found myself as the visual arts finalist\u00a0<\/span>alongside<\/span>\u00a0some incredible poet<\/span>s<\/span>\u00a0and<\/span>\u00a0composers<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0all of us\u00a0<\/span>seemingly\u00a0<\/span>coming from formally different disciplines, some more classical, some more experimental, yet thrown in together in a kind of creative soup.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Of course, not everybody has such a mongrel approach<\/span>\u00a0to their work, and so on the evening of the award ceremony\u00a0<\/span>it was also a wonderful experience to meet\u00a0<\/span>those who are excelling in fields with which I do not find myself crossing over so frequently\u00a0<\/span>and experience samples of the<\/span>ir<\/span>\u00a0work<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>All of the judges are incredible voices in their fields but it was a particular honor to have been judged by<\/span>\u00a0Gillian Wearing, whose practice has been enduringly<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>inspirational<\/span>\u00a0for me<\/span>. The dinner following the awards<\/span>\u00a0ceremony was somewhat surreal, in the depths of\u00a0<\/span>Somerset<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>H<\/span>ouse at the table with\u00a0<\/span>individuals\u00a0<\/span>from across visual, musical and\u00a0<\/span>literary a<\/span>rts<\/span>\u00a0whose work has been and continues to inform my own trajectory<\/span>. It was a thrill be thrown<\/span>\u00a0together with such an inspirational mix of people within this historic building, and I\u2019m very\u00a0<\/span>grateful<\/span>\u00a0to\u00a0<\/span>The Ivan\u00a0Jurit<\/span>z<\/span>\u00a0Pri<\/span>z<\/span>e and team\u00a0<\/span>for providing this experience.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As a finalist, I was given the opportunity<\/span>\u00a0to spend two weeks at Cove P<\/span>ark<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>in Scotland<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>an artist residency\u00a0<\/span>just outside of Glasgow<\/span>. I had jus<\/span>t completed my degree a month or<\/span>\u00a0so before<\/span>hand<\/span>\u00a0and was still coming down from the adrenaline\u00a0<\/span>and stress\u00a0<\/span>of the final show<\/span>. And so\u00a0<\/span>I went to\u00a0<\/span>C<\/span>ove\u00a0<\/span>P<\/span>ark without a specific project in mind to develop or\u00a0<\/span>finalize<\/span>, but<\/span>\u00a0instead with the aim of<\/span>\u00a0giving myself time to read, write and draw, of<\/span>\u00a0let<\/span>ting<\/span>\u00a0thoughts\u00a0<\/span>and ideas\u00a0<\/span>on\u00a0<\/span>which I had\u00a0<\/span>not had the time to focus during the last month<\/span>s of my degree emerge and settle.\u00a0<\/span>Cove Park provides an almost ab<\/span>surdly ideal environment for con<\/span>templation<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>I<\/span>t\u2019s the most romantic setting one could imagine<\/span>:<\/span>\u00a0residents are provided with self-contained\u00a0<\/span>studios<\/span>\u00a0with windows that look out upon\u00a0<\/span>an\u00a0<\/span>expansive<\/span>, rug<\/span>ged view of Loch Long and the mountains<\/span>\u00a0which rise up from the\u00a0waters\u00a0edge.\u00a0<\/span>The light outside changes by the minute and the whole scene will shift<\/span>, so much so that I started to feel guilty when I wasn\u2019t watching it, like I would miss some vital moment \u2013 when I would tune back in the whole scene would have\u00a0<\/span>changed<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Still from Gabriella Hirst’s Force Majeure shortlisted for the 2018 Ivan Juritz Prize<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The central working building, which has even more romantic views upon the surrounding scenery is decked out with a generous library and minimalist fireplace.\u00a0<\/span>I read and wrote and drew and walked and had long generative conversations with the other residents.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>It\u2019s so quiet-\u00a0<\/span>on<\/span>e night\u00a0fireworks went off in an invisible\u00a0<\/span>town across the bay and the\u00a0<\/span>sound ricocheted again and again back and forth across the water so that the source of them was only evident by the\u00a0<\/span>reflected flashes of\u00a0<\/span>light on low lying\u00a0<\/span>clouds.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In this otherwise\u00a0<\/span>tranquil<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>idyllic setting,\u00a0<\/span>we would joke about feeling like we were in\u00a0<\/span>some kind of 1960s spy outpost, a feeling which was only intensified by occasional sight of a trident nuclear submarine rising to the surface of the waters\u00a0<\/span>in the loch\u00a0<\/span>below before\u00a0<\/span>s<\/span>lipping back\u00a0<\/span>underneath<\/span>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0<\/span>an eerie reminder that\u00a0<\/span>Cove Park is the direct neighbor of\u00a0Faslane<\/span>, the<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>base\u00a0<\/span>of the\u00a0<\/span>UK\u2019s nuclear<\/span>\u00a0armed submarines<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>The overwhelmingly beautiful<\/span>, pristine<\/span>\u00a0setting<\/span>\u00a0paired with the<\/span>\u00a0gravity of the\u00a0<\/span>neighboring<\/span>\u00a0military\u00a0<\/span>base<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>formed, for me, a particular tension, which eventually\u00a0<\/span>inform<\/span>ed<\/span>\u00a0a line of\u00a0<\/span>creative\u00a0<\/span>inquiry- not\u00a0<\/span>specifically<\/span>\u00a0into the<\/span> submarine base but into a broader investigation into tenderness and power. Within this setting I was able to draw together <\/span>ideas of gardening, nuclearity and geological time, especially after a visit to Cove Park<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s other significant neighbor<\/span>, t<\/span>he L<\/span>ynn Park Gardens, a family-run botanical ga<\/span>rden one of the most\u00a0<\/span>bio-diverse<\/span>\u00a0places in Scotland.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The particular\u00a0<\/span>paradigm<\/span>\u00a0presented by being sandwiched between these two\u00a0centr<\/span>e<\/span>s\u00a0of care- one of plant specimens, the other of weaponry clarified a\u00a0<\/span>framework within which\u00a0<\/span>I was able\u00a0<\/span>to weave together\u00a0<\/span>disparate<\/span>\u00a0thoughts\u00a0<\/span>and ideas from the previous year<\/span>. This<\/span>\u00a0f<\/span>ramework\u00a0<\/span>has been the basi<\/span>s for my projects since leaving the residency, including a research<\/span>\u00a0project which I am now working on in relationship with Art Action UK,\u00a0<\/span>and Goldsmiths Nuclear Culture Department. And so, from plans<\/span>\u00a0of non-action, a new body of<\/span>\u00a0work is emerging.<\/span>\u00a0But more than this specific outcome, the period of quiet and reflection which I was so lucky to be gifted by the Ivan\u00a0Jurit<\/span>z<\/span>\u00a0Pri<\/span>z<\/span>e,\u00a0<\/span>allowed me to filter and absorb a great deal of the input I\u00a0<\/span>h<\/span>ad received during my intense two years of post-graduate studies. The entire experience of the Ivan\u00a0Jurit<\/span>z<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>P<\/span>ri<\/span>z<\/span>e had this similar attention<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0one of care and support, and I look forwards to continuing this dialogue w<\/span>i<\/span>th th<\/span>ose<\/span>\u00a0who provided these valued experiences.<\/span><\/p>\n

View Gabriella\u2019s short-listed work <\/span>Force Majeure (2015-16) Excerpt. Gabriella Hirst<\/a> from Gabriella Hirst<\/a> on Vimeo<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/span>About the Ivan\u00a0Juritz\u00a0Prize<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Ivan\u00a0Juritz\u00a0Prize was established in 2014 to celebrate the creative explosion of the modernist era and reward art that seeks to \u2018make it new\u2019. Postgraduate students throughout Europe either from traditional academic disciplines or from creative courses are invited to submit texts, films, musical compositions, virtual documentation of artwork, excerpts of moving image work and proposals for installation and performance. Entrants are encouraged to play with form to make us think, feel and question. The prize is a collaboration between the Centre for Modern Literature and Culture at King\u2019s College London and Cove Park, Scotland\u2019s International Artist Residency Centre.\u00a0<\/span>In 2019 w<\/span>inners in three categories (text, image, sound)\u00a0<\/span>will\u00a0<\/span>receive \u00a31000 and spend the first two weeks of September at Cove Park, engaging in a residency and showcase. All shortlisted works are given a public performance at the prize-giving and are written up in the journal Textual Practice.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Visit the Ivan Juritz Prize website<\/a> to see the shortlist and follow the Ivan Juritz Prize Twitter <\/a>to keep up with the Winner’s announcements.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Blog posts on King\u2019s English represent the views of the individual authors and neither those of the English Department, nor of King\u2019s College London.<\/i><\/p>\n

If you have any comments on this interview please use the \u2018Comments\u2019 section of this blog post.<\/i><\/p>\n

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