Explore the Distance (online workshop)

Workshop with Cecilia Jansson

the Workshop

The workshop will look at the technique of drawing and at the human body as one’s measuring instrument and limit. The social distancing of recent months has drawn attention to the external boundaries of our bodies. The very presence of a certain body/person can be life-threatening to some—and this is not a novelty—but the fact that a body, even your own, can present a threat for someone else is a new experience for most people. What happens when are forced to face the fact that we all live in bodies that are both mortal and potentially deadly? What can we gain from these experiences?

The workshop will focus on discussions and exercises and assignments to help participants process these current topics and be able to deliver their interpretations by creating large-scale drawings on paper. Techniques will include drawing, collage, and assemblage. One drawing per participant will be mounted and placed in Venice, either on walls or on the ground, like shadows, to interact with each other, with the city and its inhabitants.

the artist

Cecilia Jansson is known for her well-crafted sculptures and large-scale embroideries and drawings. The recipient of a Swedish Art Council working grant, she recently had a two-person show together with Geoffrey Chadsey at the Örebro Konsthall, Sweden, and group exhibitions at Sculpture Space and InCube Arts, New York; 3:e Våningen, Gothenburg; The Others Art Fair, Turin (2019). Recent residencies include Swatch Art Peace Hotel, Shanghai; The Pottery Workshop, Jingdezhen; NARS Foundation and the School of Visual Arts, New York; and Guttenberg Arts, New Jersey. She teaches sculpture at Örebro Art College, and has been a guest lecturer at the Yunnan Arts Institute, China, and a jury member at the OpenArt Biennial, Sweden. She participated in the Venice Bienniale of Visual Arts for the project Swatch Faces 2015.