‘FOLLY GESTURES’ A PUBLIC TALK BY TANJA DEMAN AND LORENZO NASSIMBENI

'Sommerfreuden' - photographer: Dr. Thomas Knoll Second image: Building designed by 26'10 South Architects.
‘Sommerfreuden’ – photographer: Dr. Thomas Knoll
Second image: Building designed by 26’10 South Architects.

On Wednesday 9 November, visual artist Tanja Deman and architect and artist Lorenzo Nassimbeni delivered a collaborative public talk entitled ‘Folly Gestures’ at David Krut Bookstore in Parkwood. In following their first in their series of public talks, ‘Urban Stage’ (2013), Deman and Nassimbeni return to explore the notion of the the construction of meaning through the relationship between artistic intervention and the urban landscape. Consolidating their interest in the relationship between art and architecture, the talk investigates how a public artwork can be created through a direct and referential response to the urban environment, as a physical, conceptual and cultural extension of a public space.

BIOGRAPHIES
Tanja Deman

Tanja Deman is a visual artist born in Split, Croatia. She obtained her BFA and MFA from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. In recent years, her work has been exhibited in a large number of exhibitions including, Kunstmuseum Bonn /Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb / 15th Venice Biennial of Architectur, National Croatian Pavilion, (concept and curator Dinko Peracic), / Arsenale, Venice / The Central House of Artists, Moscow (CHA) / MUNTREF Centro de Arte Contemporáneo, Buenos Aires / Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Rijeka / Museum of African Design, Johannesburg / Danubiana Meulensteen Art Museum, Bratislava / Museo Revoltella, Trieste / TENT, Rotterdam / Unseen, Amsterdam. Tanja received several awards for her work and many of her works are part of public and private collections. In 2015 Tanja  was invited to realise a large public project ‘Sommerfreuden’ which marked the Viennese urban landscape of the summer of 2015.
 www.tanja-deman.com

Lorenzo Nassimbeni

Lorenzo Nassimbeni is a South African architect and artist based in Johannesburg. He works in the medium of drawing, printmaking, mural work, surface design and sculpture. Noteworthy group exhibitions featuring his work would include the 54th Biennale di Venezia, Padiglione Italiano nel Mondo, Arsenale (2011), 10th Triennial for Form and Content 2011 – Materials Revisited, Museum for Applied Arts, Frankfurt (2011), Trienalle di Milano, L’architettura del mondo. Infrastrutture, città e paesaggi nel mondo contemporaneo (2012), the 14th Venice Architecture Biennale, at the Fittja pavilion, curated by the Botkyra Konsthall (Stockholm, Sweden) and the FNB Joburg Art Fair (2014, 2016). Significant public artworks include a mural for BRT MyCiti Bus Terminus scheme (Potsdam, Blaauberg, Cape Town-2014), a mural at the Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital, Johannesburg (in collaboration with 26’10 South Architects-2016) and the mural at Westbury Park, Westbury (in collaboration with IYER Urban Design Studio-2016). He is represented by David Krut Projects.