Artists Statement

Anna Potyomkina

scholar visual arts  1.4. – 30.6.2025

What made you apply for the otte1 scholarship?

For me it was a chance to have a distance from the context I live in. To have an opportunity to focus on my work without interruption. I also heard really great feedback about the residency from the previous resident Olesia. So this influenced my decision also. Besides I enjoy living in small cities, so I knew that Echernforde would be a quite place where I can recover and rest.

What did you work on during your stay?

1) Curatorial text for performative show “Lost Movement” of Nana Biakova in Mykolaiv (my home city in Ukraine). Recording of the event: https://www.instagram.com/p/DKHd_evgO8T/
2) Organizing the festival of electronic music Detalizacia in Ivano-Frankivsk. Designing a public program with invited musicians, artists and other speakers. The aim of the program is to reflect and discuss the challenges that Ukrainian electronic music scene is facing today. More info here: https://www.instagram.com/p/DLQO0THIADq/
3) Started teaching my first online-course on Art for teenagers. As a part of Zminotvortsi program: https://www.instagram.com/zminotvortsi
4) Research text on the topic of magic in Ukrainian contemporary art and it’s connection to the times of crisis. The text will be published here be the end of summer: https://postimpreza.org/
5) Video-work (still in progress) which is a reflection of living in the city (Eckernforde) with so many birds.

What inspired you at the Künstlerhaus in Eckernförde?

My apartment and the entrance to the garden. Actually this space has influenced my video work a lot.

What do you take away from Eckernförde for your further artistic development?

My video experiments,
my dream-less nights because of insomnia,
my dreams of animals (9 dreams of different animals during 3 months!)
stones from the beach
quietness of the sea
recordings of birds singing