PRESS INFORMATION
Vienna, November 2008

The artist Lucia Nimcová (born 1977) belongs to the representatives of contemporary Slovakian photography who are also well-known internationally. KulturKontakt Austria and Bank Austria Kunstforum have invited her to present her works in Vienna. Lucia Nimcová was our guest at KKA as an Artist in Residence in 2004.

The development of Slovakia into a democratic state after the fall of the Iron Curtain and the communist ‘after-pains’ are important themes in her works.
“Changing between the West and the East is always very painful, as one always misses something. It is much easier to work in the West, because people there take art seriously; on the other hand, I can’t really make a judgement about life there, because I don’t fully participate in it. [...] As an artist in Eastern Europe one needs a thick skin and has to come to terms with a spartan lifestyle. And then you are still not immune against the local context killing you after all. I would say… I am more established outside Slovakia than I am there. Maybe I was just fortunate”, comments Nimcová on life as an artist between East and West.
Lucia Nimcová makes references to her Eastern Slovakian roots in her work: for the project ‘Unofficial III’ she scoured the picture archive of the Cultural Centre in her birthplace Humenne. She orientated herself towards the photographs she found there in her own work. Her photographs show people who ultimately appear untouched by systems and political transformation, who are fighting for their place in society today as they did then, who in spite of their modest living conditions have not lost their sense of humour and who can laugh about the difficulties in their everyday lives. Nimcová’s perspective of people in Humenne is characterised by solidarity, and is never condemning.

Private preview:                    
Friday 5 December 2008, 7 p.m.

Duration of the exhibition:    
06. 12. 2008 – 25. 01. 2009 
Monday - Sunday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Friday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

At:
Bank Austria Kunstforum/tresor,                             
Freyung 8, 1010 Vienna 

A project of:     
KulturKontakt Austria and Bank Austria Kunstforum

The starting point and inspiration for Nimcová’s first film project, tresor, are the films of Slovakian directors which were banned during socialist rule. In this work the artist develops and supplements the film sequences which were censored at that time. The name of the film is derived from the fact that the films researched by Nimcová were kept under lock and key at the time.
In Unofficial III, her first film is shown alongside photographic projects. Lucia Nimcová comments on her new work with film and video as follows:  “All the important visual stages which I ever went through in photography were usually inspired by music. It was therefore only a question of time before music became a part of my work. I waited for the right moment, for the moment when I simply had to do it.” 

 
A catalogue will be published for the exhibition.

KulturKontakt Austria sponsors artists from Eastern and South Eastern Europe with the support of the Federal Ministry of Education, the Arts and Culture.

       
 
SHORT BIOGRAPHY:
Lucia Nimcová
Born 1977 in Humenne, Slovakia; currently lives and works in Amsterdam and Humenne.

1996–2003  Institute of Creative Photography, Silesian University, Opava/Czech Republic
2007–2008  Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam/Netherlands

Prizes (selection):
2008   Leica Oskar Barnack Award, Germany
2007   Fotografia Baume & Mercier Award, Italy
2004   Mio Photo Award – Kasahara Michiko Prize, Japan

Residencies (selection):
2008   International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP), New York, USA
2007   Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten Amsterdam/ Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, Netherlands
2004   Künstlerhaus Schloss Wiepersdorf, Germany
2003   Artist in Residence, KulturKontakt Austria, Vienna

Individual exhibitions (selection):
2008   ‘Unofficial I’, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, Italy
          ‘Unofficial II’, Bratislava, Slovakia
2006  ‘Instant Women’, Art Hall Gallery, Tallinn, Estonia
2005   ‘Peripheries’, Funkeho Kolin, Czech Republic
           ‘Slovak Women’, Photosynkyria 05, Thessalonica, Greece
2004   ‘Slovakia 003’, Slovak Institute Prague, Czech Republic
2001   ‘About myself/From the Hospital’, House of Photography Poprad, Slovakia

 
Lucia Nimcová: www.luco.sk