Welcome Patrícia J. Reis

This month we welcome Patrícia J. Reis  to ResidenceSEA. Patricia is an artist from Lisbon, Portugal who currently lives in Vienna, Austria. In her work she pursues new ways of interaction and sensorial engagement with the public in the interdisciplinary field of art and technology. During her stay at ResidenceSEA, she will work on the project entitled Medusa Vs Odalisque  in collaboration with the Polish artist Dorota Walentynowicz.

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Medusa Vs Odalisque is a participatory installation inspired by the battle between Medusa and the Odalisque described in the fictional novel Infinite Jest (1996) by David Foster Wallace.

In a first stage of the installation the participant is invited to enter a close dark space where two pedestals offer the holographic representation of two fiction characters dancing with the back to the viewer. In a second room a delayed projection of the participant previous interaction is beamed on a wall. The video projection acts as a mirror reflecting his or hers performative act of visual pleasure, a self-recognition of his or hers role as a voyeur. Following on Wallace novel, the audience is submitted to a sort of punishment perpetuating the Medusa myth. The spectator is sensorial affected through visuality, metaphorically is ultimately disembodied by their own perception of the scene.

During the residence period the artists will start an open call followed by a casting in order to select the two candidates for performing the fictional character role displayed in the video holographic image.

 Open call: casting! casting! casting!

We are looking for 2 actors with no preference in gender.  The actors will be asked to perform a dancing movement with their back to the camera. The recorded image will be presented as a holographic video. The technology used is inspired in the phantasmagoria technology of the 19th century.

Requirements: (Dancing experience preferred. Actors need to be in good control of their bodies).

Contact: Patricia J. Reis: artist@patriciajreis.com

Follow her project also on our FB page

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Short biography of Patricia J.Reis

As an artist and researcher she is interested in the intimate cultural and political relations between the subject of vision and the body of representation, in photography, video and interactive media. She is looking for a different type of visuality, with a haptic approach. She uses interactive technology to stimulate other corporeal perceptions. Furthermore, she takes a feminist approach in her work focusing on the female roles in digital media and on the lack of female participation in producing new technologies and art. Patricia is a member of Mz* Baltazar’s Laba feminist hackerspace  in Vienna, Austria.

Patricia Reis has exhibited nationally and internationally. In 2013 she was awarded the Media Art prize from the Edith-Russ-Haus für Medienkunst in Germany and in 2011 she received a grant from the Foundation for Science and Technology in Portugal. Click on the links to know more about her research.

In 2011 Patricia graduated with a masters thesis in Production and Creation, in the Technological Art Master program, at the Lusófona University, Lisbon, Portugal, with the title Inside out: Myself as Diana – Audiovisual participatory Installation. Female representation and its relation between public and private. In 2016 she received her Ph.D. degree in art with the thesis Underneath the skin another skin: Body, screen and interface for an interactive haptic visuality presented at the University of Évora, Portugal, with summa cum laude distinction. She was a fellow researcher from National Science Technology Foundation of Portugal (2011-2015). From 2006 to 2012, she was teaching Photography, Video and Digital Arts at the Polytechnic Institute of Beja, Portugal. Currently she teaches at the Universität für Angewandte Kunst in Vienna and at the Kunstuniversität Linz, Austria.