Untitled 2017

Concept by ANA AHA,  Artist and Co-founder of Talent S p a c e

The painting Untitled 2017 (600x158cm, acrylic paint, textile marker on canvas) represents the collaborative effort of seven individuals working together for the first time in a workshop on cross-cultural storytelling. 
All of these individual authors shared first hand experiences with the complex challenges of migration and displacement. 

Untitled 2017 documents experiences its creators initially were not able to verbalize. Rooted in the rhythmic processes of sharing a studio space and engaging in collaborative creativity, it negotiates different forms of visual language and knowledge, bearing testament to the capacity to project the communal, despite the participants’ various cultural backgrounds. In an atmosphere based on mutual trust and collective responsibility for the outcome of the project, the various authors managed to transform their individual and cultural differences into a pool of resources for a highly differentiated visual narrative.

 Produced over the intense period of three months, Untitled 2017 also reflects the volatile biographical conditions of the participants and the constant thread of possible deportation. In many ways, the painting operated as both, an outlet and a focal point.
Untitled 2017  branched out from an existing project called Cross Cultural Storytelling: The participants were working together for several months illustrating a satirical story of Syrian language teacher, writer and drawer Ali Ayzouki. Each of the participants was invited to influence and change the story in her/his own way. Artistic workshops were organized, exchanging knowledge in the field of arts and literature.During this project, the participants and other members of started to work on canvas.
Participants: 
Parisa Darakehee, Iran, Designer and Photographer
Nader Rahmani, Iran, Bachelor of graphic design, Advertising Academy Vienna
Lazar Djordjevic, Nederland, Student, University of Applied Arts Vienna
Ali Ayzouki, Syria, Arabic language and literature teacher, writer and illustrator 
Ali Kianmehr, Iran, Calligrapher
Text by ANA AHA, Clemens Rettenbacher, Andreas Kattner 
Translation by Rebekka Kimla 

Thanks to:
Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary (TBA21),
University of Applied arts Vienna,
Advertising Academy Vienna and  
VHS Urania Vienna for making this project possible through their support. 
Special thanks to Alarabi Rhabi for his professional help and hanging the work.

The Talent S p a c e platform was initiated in May 2016 by Andreas Kattner, Artist, Professor WAK Vienna, Vienna based artist ANA AHA and Clemens Rettenbacher, Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary (TBA21), focused on cultural and social conditions of migration. The platform supports research, shared learning, communication, cooperation, innovation, networking and integration.
Talent S p a c e focuses its practice on individual and group related talents, their unfolding, activation and refinement. ‘Talent’ in this context forms a common denominator beyond nationality or social status, referring to complex configuration of interests and skills and the mean to develop them.
*Author’s  comment: In further development of activities of Talent S p a c e, the  notion of talent  should be discussed.