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International Artists’ Residency, Castellón Province, Spain (PARC) Summer 2018

Paula Smolarska
Atzeneta del Maestrat

“The hips don’t lie” by Paula Smolarska Part 1

Paula Smolarska was our summer 2018 artist in residence.

She spent a week mapping out the potential of bodily movements in relation to space. Paula is interested in the process of recollection of information stored in the body and the expressive potential the body holds. At PARC the artist is investigating the movements of the hips as the physical and imaginative agent that initiates the creative process. Hips are an essential structural support in the body carrying its weight, but they also have a wide range of movement in comparison with other skeletal parts.

Paula’s residency at PARC contributes to her ongoing investigation into the construction of the poetic image in relation to the body and the built environment and the ephemeral condition they are subjected to.

She used the time of the initial week to develop a more ambitious site-specific project she returns in the Autumn to realise, Part 2.

Paula is a London-based artist working across sculpture and installation. She is interested in the production of space, which is situated within the interface of the body and the built environment. The studio-based work is centred on a playful exploration seeking to determine whether body and buildings oppose or stimulate each other. At the heart of the research lies the idea proposed by the philosopher Gaston Bachelard that dwellings are shelters for daydreaming. Here, imagination completes tactile and visual knowledge.

Paula Smolarska (b.Poland) received her MA in Sculpture from Royal College of Art in 2017. Her exhibitions include When I held you in my arms…, UCA Farnham (2018), In Response to Joachim Koester, Camden Art Centre (2017), VR Days, Amsterdam (2017), The Lounger Lover, The Faker, The Ikea Expert, Passen-gers (2016), ECA, Scotland (2016). Residencies include Sail Britain (2017) and Florence Trust (2014). A new publication including Smolarska’s work with a writer’s text has just come out by Passen-gers.

Pangaea Artists’ Residency, Castellón Province, Spain (PARC) was based at a rural smallholding (masia in Spanish) close to Atzeneta del Maestrat, Castellón. From this mountain location the studio-workshop and residence enjoy spectacular views over a valley of almond and olive groves. In the heart of a rural farming community, the masia has 40,000 m2 of tiered land climbing the side of a small mountain. This landscape is an intriguing context to work in and explore.

The PARC Residency is now closed.

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