Michelangelos assignment, 2017

Video 27:08

Property of Uku Sepsivart

Courtesy Uku Sepsivart

L’idea viene da una frase citata da Michelangelo, che dice “La scultura è nella pietra (o materiale) ed è compito degli scultori portarla fuori da lì”. Negli ultimi anni, attraverso la mia arte, mi sono avvicinato alla natura e I suoi processi congeniti. La prima idea era quella di realizzare un video con uccelli che partecipassero alla realizzazione di una scultura. L’idea mi venne in inverno, quando, in giardino stavo dando da mangiare agli uccelli. Mi piaceva vederli venire a mangiare la mattina.

Ho già lavorato con i castori. Dopo aver lavorato con i castori ho pensato alle possibilità di collaborazione con gli animali (senza forzarli, catturarli o nuocerli). Per me il “giardino della rosa” potrebbe essere una sorta di giardino utopico dove natura e uomo vivono in equilibrio. Mi interessa l’interazione tra natura e civiltà. Il mio studio, dove suolo lavorare e dove ho realizzato questo lavoro d’ arte, in passato era un giardino di rose.

My idea has developed from a sentence that is quoted from Michelangelo, which states “The sculpture is in the stone (or material) and it’s the sculptors assignment to take it out from there.”

I have been into nature and natural processes in my art for recent years. The first idea was to make a video with birds contributing to the chiseling of a sculpture. I had the idea while I was at garden feeding the birds in the winter; I liked to observe them coming to feed in the mornings. I have worked with beavers before. After exhibiting with beavers I have thought about possibilities of collaboration with animals (without forcing them, capturing them or harming any of them).

For me the “Garden of the Rose” could be kind of utopian garden where nature and humans are living in harmony. I am interested in the intersection interaction between nature and civilization. Furthermore, the garden where my studio is and where I create my artwork, used to be a garden of roses in the past.

Uku Sepsivart is born 1988 Estonia, Rakvere. He has obtained both his MA (2015) and BA degree (2009) from the department of sculpture and installation of Estonian Academy of Arts. In 2012 he started MA studies in the same department. During the studies Sepsivart has taken additional courses in Finland – in 2009 in Villu Jaanisoòs studio and during 2013-2014 in Helsinki Art University. The artist has been taking part in several street-art festivals and has released a book about street-art together with Tõnis Palkov and Andres Siplane. In 2012, Uku Sepsivart was awarded the Young Artist Prize (by non-profit organization Noor Kunst and Estonian Academy of Arts). In recent years Sepsivart has been practicing process art and opened up nature related topics. Sepsivart cooperates with animals, and from these encounters new works of art arise. The results of his artworks open up new lines of thinking and offer new experiences concerning the division of labour between animals and humans.