Lea Vidakovic, Sisters (video still), 2012

Interview: Lea Vidakovic

Luca Curci talks with artist Lea Vidakovic during Hidden Rooms exhibition in Venice.

Lea Vidakovic (1983, Serbia) is a multimedia artist, who works in the field of art installation and puppet animation. 2010 BA in animation, Norway. 2006-2010 studied graphic art at the Academy of fine arts, Zagreb, Croatia, graduated in 2011. 2012 MA of audiovisual arts – animation, Royal Academy of Arts (KASK), Belgium. 2014 – PhD researcher in animaton at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, with interest in fragmented narratives in animated installations and films. She has exhibited internationally on solo and group exhibitions, animation festivals, and is a winner of several art, and film awards. A member of Association of Croatian Artists (HDLU) and of Association of artists from Vojvodina (SULUV).

Lea Vidakovic, Sisters (video still), 2012

Luca Curci – Your work was exhibited during Hidden Rooms exhibition in Venice on November 2014: can you talk about your personal experience in Venice with International ArtExpo?

Lea Vidakovic – I wish I had the chance to be in Venice in person, but unfortunately it wasn’t possible for me at the time. However, it was good to be informed about the course of the event through social media, which made me feel partially There.

Lea Vidakovic, Sisters (video still), 2012

L. C. – Can you talk about the artwork you presented in Venice? How is it linked with the festival’s theme?

L. V. – “Sisters” is a synchronised puppet animation triptych made during my MA studies at the Royal Academy of Art (KASK) in Belgium. It evokes the atmosphere of old Dutch paintings, where sisters are trapped in melancholy, facing the loss and emptiness over the missing one. This work has already travelled a lot, yet each show and venue makes it a different experience. I was glad it ended in Venice as one of its final destinations. Both the thematic and the venue were just perfectly fit. Memory..hidden rooms.. hidden identities.. is all this work is about.

Lea Vidakovic, Splendid Isolation, 2009

L. C. – What are you currently working on?

L. V. – I have just finished my new puppet animation movie “The Vast Landscape – porcelain stories” which was produced in Croatia in the past two years. At the moment I am a PhD student in Singapore, doing a practice based research on fragmented narratives in animated installations and films.

Lea Vidakovic, The Vast Landscape – porcelain stories, 2014

L. C. – What is art for you?

L. V. – I don’t really think about it. For me it’s a necessity, I guess. Probably like life itself. Some things just pass by you, but then some others touch you very deeply. The thing is to recognise those that matter.

Lea Vidakovic, Splendid Isolation, 2009

L. C. – What do you think about International ArtExpo organization?

L. V. – All went very quick and smooth, it was a pleasure.

L. C. – Do you think International ArtExpo organization can represent an opportunity for artists?

L. V. – It surely can!