10 Questions with Anna Ugolkova

Anna Ugolkova graduated from the Academy of Arts, Architecture, and Design in Prague in the field of visual art in 2019, presenting the mixed media installation Island. Anna's research interests include poetry and memory in art, object-oriented ontology studies in visual art and performance, performative objects, installation studies, and trauma in art. Anna's installations consist of a variety of elements, from paintings and sculptures - found and reworked by her or created from scratch - to photographs and video art.

She has exhibited and performed at venues in the Czech Republic, Canada and Austria, including the Kampus Hybernska Gallery, Prague, Deer Lake Gallery, Burnaby, 13th Prague Quadriennal and Fries Theater, Innsbruck.

Alongside her artistic practice, she is the founder of a jewelry line, Ugalkava, where she works on the edge of art and design by creating jewelry using the ancient lost wax technique. She has presented her jewelry collections at Prague Design Week '2019, at the design festival UMPRUM Shop 2019 and 2021, and at the Earrings Show at Craft Council BC '2024. She is also a maker of pendants and rings after a Deep Blue vase collection for Toronto-based ceramicist Tamara Alissa.

ugalkava.com | @ugalkava

ARTIST STATEMENT

Anna works with the media of installation and jewelry. In her works, she questions the original properties of things and their meanings. She takes apart what she sees, looks at the components of objects separately, turns them over, spins them, and creates new stories.

Her work investigates the physiology of the body and the object, as well as its correlations and confrontations. Anna uses her body, sensations, and memories as a path to start creating new work. Through the process of creation, she pursues the materiality of things, looks for our physical and mental connections to them, and invites viewers to reevaluate the world of objects that often passes unnoticed in daily life. Experimentation is an important part of Anna's work and it is crucial for her to try to combine seemingly incompatible, varied shapes and materials, abstract and clear, concrete forms.

In her works, interweaving and analogies are very important, both of the object, the body and memory, and of different media. Anna is experimenting with shapes, sizes and combinations of materials, rethinking and altering their original purpose. She is particularly interested in a viewer's perception of the final installation, what is happening in their imagination when they observe the altered objects, how they perceive the objects, and which connections, if any, they feel for them.

She often works with found and everyday objects, fabric, clay, jewelry, ceramic, wood, colored plaster, silicone, and metal. Recently, she started to reflect on her immigration experience in the works, based on the feelings of the body going through this traumatic experience on the path to finding a new identity. She currently researches object-oriented ontology in connection with the personal experience of exploring the world of objects as a recent immigrant. Many people experience trauma and loneliness due to immigration. You move your physical body to a new environment, reconstruct your identity, and explore the world of objects anew. What do they say, and how do you feel along the way? How do you feel about your body? Can you feel the commonality of the body and the territories in which you are located? In the context of exploring a new environment, Anna resonates with metaphors of weightlessness, flickering, immersion, loss, and finding again, and she reflects all these in the installation of her works.

INTERVIEW

First of all, let's talk about your background. When did you get interested in art? And what training helped you become the artist you are today?

I became interested in art when I was about eight years old. I spent part of my childhood in Siberia, in the city of Krasnoyarsk, where I attended an art school, but it was an academic education; I painted portraits, landscapes, and still lifes. However, it gave me an understanding of how to work with different art materials and a certain compositional framework. Later, when I was about 16 years old, I began to discover contemporary art and realized that I wanted to work in this field. Unfortunately, there was no opportunity to study this in Siberia, and I began to prepare for the entrance exams to the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design (UMPRUM) in Prague. There, my journey as a contemporary artist began.
I studied contemporary art at UMPRUM from 2013 to 2019, first in the photography studio for one year and in the sculpture studio for five years. I completed my MFA in Visual Arts and presented a mixed-media installation called Island. During my studies, I experimented a lot, participated in many collaborations with other artists, especially in the field of installations and performances, and visited many different exhibitions, biennale, theater, and performance events in Europe. This gradually helped me develop my visual style and research interests, as well as start working independently.

You create installations and jewelry, questioning the original purpose of objects. Can you explain why you find this approach interesting?

This approach is interesting to me because there is a confrontation between the original meaning of things and the new one that I create in my works. I like to look for hidden potential and new meanings in objects. I'm also inspired by object-oriented ontology, which talks a lot about the inner life of objects and questions the ability of people to perceive objects without imposing the human gaze on them. If we look at the objects, we will probably firstly see the meaning we automatically attach to them and, secondly, a simple set of lines, shapes, etc. I'm trying to alter all of this by reassembling objects and creating new stories.
I find this process appealing because I work with something I see very often in everyday life. My body somehow interacted with these objects, I have some personal memories about them. Taking this into account, it opens up the possibility for me to create multi-layered work, and I am inspired by this complexity and versatility.

Your work relies heavily on "interweaving and analogies." Can you give an example of how you connect objects, the body, and memory in a piece?

Absolutely. When I start working with an object, I study its spots, colors, materiality. I am looking for its analogies to the human body and what its geometry reminds me of. Then I think about what emotions that original object evokes in me and what complex memories it may reveal. In my drawings and sculptures, I combine the original qualities of the invented or existing object with the memories it evokes in me. So it is always a kind of self-therapy, helping me to experience the emotions from the past and, at the same time, to understand the object more deeply, to let it develop a life of its own.
I try to work on this using a kind of poetic structure: using memory as rhythm, bodily similarities as words, and the original object as the basis, theme, meaning of the work.

What draws you to experimenting with different shapes, sizes, and material combinations in your installations?

Rethinking materials and experimenting are important to me. I believe that when I connect different elements between each other, new boundaries and meanings of materials appear. It seems to me that the most interesting moments occur when the relationship between the installation objects begins. 
Often, the material itself or the shape of the object dictates to me how it will be placed in the installation and what combination will be required. I like to play with balance and try to harmonize objects with each other, combining small shapes with large ones and sharp ones with soft ones. I think this emphasizes their uniqueness.

Your focus is on viewer perception. Can you describe how you create installations that trigger the audience's imagination?

In my installations, I try to change the general perception of viewers about ordinary objects that they see every day. When they see them in other contexts and connections, it inevitably raises many questions. It seems to me that in art, it is important to combine the incongruous and use humor and provocation towards the audience. I believe that in this way, the work became thought-provoking. By distorting the original functions of objects, disassembling them, or combining them with different materials, I simply give room for reflection on how many different meanings they can contain and how fragile all these meanings are.

When viewers interact with your altered objects, what kind of connections do you hope they might feel?

I believe it will be enough for me if it can inspire viewers to think differently than they are used to, more critically and broadly. I believe that art demonstrates one of the options for perceiving the world around us. I guess I also hope that in my works they will feel the connection between all objects, and especially between nature and man-made objects. Often, we separate these fields from each other, forgetting that we need to be thoughtful and remember how important the nature around us is and that we need to live in harmony.

Can you walk us through the steps you take when developing a new installation or piece of jewelry?

I usually start by imagining the location where it will be displayed, such as a beach, garden, or gallery. This determines what objects I will create and how they will be connected to space. I have never exhibited individual works because the relationships between objects are very important to me.
Then, I usually plan out the rough shapes of the objects and their concept and also think about the materials I will use. The shape of the found objects largely dictates what additional elements I will use. Having decided, I made a sketch of what the installation will look like in space. Only after that did I begin to create all the objects for the installation. In all my planning, I always leave room for experimentation, as sometimes a mistake can result in a better result than the original color or shape I wanted to create.
When it comes to jewelry, the ideas come from my sculptures and drawings, I perceive my jewelry pieces as wearable objects. They repeat the color and lines of my sketches, the concepts of my sculptures. Working in the field of design and art, I see how much they take from each other, and this develops my practice both technically and conceptually.

Are there any recurring ideas or themes that emerge throughout your work?

Yes, absolutely. I work a lot with the theme of contradiction and confrontation. I often use symbols of sharp objects, such as a needle or a spearhead. Water, needle, shell, and cage are some of the symbols I often work with. The needle may be soft, and the cage may be dented. I connect them either in separate works or in installations. For me, these are things in which something is hidden, which can transform something, change something. For example, I find it interesting to think about the interaction between a needle and water. Water cannot be pierced with a needle, but the process can be imagined, and I am inspired by this contradictory, performative image.
Contradiction also manifests itself for me in the fact that I combine things that people are accustomed to perceive separately as completely different. I'm interested in finding and creating different connections between objects and materials and showing their contradictions as something balancing.

Do you have any future projects planned for which you'll continue exploring these ideas?

Yes, I have currently just started a two-month summer residency at the Alberta University of Arts in Calgary, Canada, and I want to develop a large-scale installation of objects there. During my residency, I would like to continue working on my experimental installations of found natural/everyday objects, which I transform into sculptures by adding various materials. I also hope to participate in another residency in Vancouver, Canada, which is located on the west coast of the Pacific Ocean, resulting in a one-day, site-specific installation on the beach consisting of sculptures made from altered ocean debris and objects of nature. This installation, among other things, responds to environmental issues, and I plan to call it Raised Ocean Floor.

And lastly, what is your biggest goal for 2024?

My biggest goal for 2024 is to create more site-specific installations in galleries and outdoors. Work more with connections between meanings and materials. And work with a larger scale and space. I hope to have a couple of exhibitions this year.
Regarding jewelry, in May of this year, I went to Tbilisi, Georgia, and took part in a workshop on cloisonné enamel. This technique began to develop in Georgia about 1200 years ago and is still very popular today. I would like to deepen my knowledge of enamel and create more works in this technique, transferring elements of my drawings into jewelry. I would also like to try implementing enamel details in my art installations.

Artist’s Talk

Al-Tiba9 Interviews is a promotional platform for artists to articulate their vision and engage them with our diverse readership through a published art dialogue. The artists are interviewed by Mohamed Benhadj, the founder & curator of Al-Tiba9, to highlight their artistic careers and introduce them to the international contemporary art scene across our vast network of museums, galleries, art professionals, art dealers, collectors, and art lovers across the globe.