Oskár Čepan

(2020-2022) Master’s degree in Intermedia (Academy of Fine Arts and Design, Bratislava) (2016-2020) Bachelor’s degree in Photography and New Media (Academy of Fine Arts and Design, Bratislava)

GROUP SHOWS

Ctrl + ↑ for Coyote Time (Trafó Galéria, Budapest, HU, 2024),Whoever settles down in a perfect home, will have to move (Glassbox, Paris, FR, 2023), Will I Ever Look Into Your Eyes Again? (Šopa Gallery, Košice,SK, 2024), , FALL OPEN STUDIOS (AiR 351, Cascais, PT, 2022), Fossora (Bratislava City Gallery,Bratislava, SK, 2023), The Burn Before The Burnout (Karlin Studios, Prague, CZ, 2021), Temporary Connection With Dancing Plant (A Promise of Kneropy, Bratislava,SK, 2022), Dissapearing Body (Schaubmar´s Mill, Pezinok,SK, 2021); NOWLESSNESS ACT III (Kunsthalle, Bratislava,SK, 2021); Garden Dialogues (Atelier XIII, Bratislava,SK, 2021); Wild Things Community Screening (HOTDOCK project space, Bratislava,SK, 2021)

RESIDENCIES

november 2023- residency in MuseumsQuartier in Vienna, Austria.

NOMINATIONS

2022 the winner of the open call for female artists from the V4 countries of the Secondary Archive platform (Platform for female artists from Central and Eastern Europe) 2021 Rotterdam Photo Festival shortlist 2019 PHMuseum Photography Grant, PhEST shortlist 2018 CZECH PRESS PHOTO, Canon Junior Award finalist

Statement

I stand for a creativity that is sensitive and engaged. It does not neglect the socio-political contexts in which it is situated and to which it responds. At the same time, it is the same creativity that does not renounce the playfulness and curiosity with which it explores the potential of visual language as a tool for communicating social issues. My work is framed by a shared sense of a young generation of late capitalism that lacks an alternative in times of global climate catastrophe and accelerating technological development. Working with elements of fiction and the New Weird genre, my works interrogate the generative potential of digital art. I work with the moment of chance in the technique of photogrammetry, which I use to translate physical objects into 3D space. I intentionally develop the unexpected glitches that a computer algorithm will create when building a 3D object. I am interested in the creative potential of technology and the role it can play in the process of building a new sensibility and relating to the planet in the 21st century. In my artistic research I draw on studies from fields of biology, climatology, and technology development. At the same time, however, I support an intuitive process of creation that could seem in contradiction to these sources of inspiration that are based on the premise of rationalism and logical thinking. I enjoy exploring the mutual relationship between the rational and the intuitive in the hope of connecting them. The words of the French artist Camille Henrot resonate in me- according to her, myth and science do not necessarily stand in opposition to each other: 'Science originates in conviction and faith. What is more, mythological foundations were very often used to form theories that were later scientifically proven. Faith is often the origin of intuition that later becomes a physical or scientific law (...) "1. A myth is something that we do not usually regard as true. It is an imaginary story anchored outside our regular reality built on rational interpretation of the world. However, when we return, for instance, to the ancient mythological stories from the cradle of European civilisation, their metaphors suspiciously remind of the patterns of discrimination present in contemporary society. This is also why, in my work and artistic research, I work with posthumanist theories that fittingly point to the discrimination that had already been present in this ancient world that we consider the origin of democracy. I am currently dedicated to remaking these mythologies using feminist and queer ecological perspectives. I situate stories of the interrelationships of the human body with non-human bodies in 21st century contexts. We need new mythologies that manifest new ways of relating to the planet, to more-than-human beings, and to ourselves.

1 Camille Henrot "Gross Fatigue" https://vimeo.com/87586331, 2014