After a month and half of burning our candles at both ends, Marcello, Valerie, Charlotte, and myself had our official opening show at LIA in the Spinnerei! Having prepped and cleaned the space the previous day (an artist studio, however organized, is never the cleanest thing), we were ready and excited for our big evening. The culmination of all our hard work came together wonderfully: we filled our studios respectively, and had our work curated in the main hall with the four other residents. I was tasked with cocktails for the opening – something my past as a cocktail bartender came in handy for – so whipped up a simple Pimm’s Cup Punch for the night.
The night started when Anna (the founder of the program) herded all the attendees to introduce us artists and give a guided tour of each of our studios. Cocktails in hand, everyone listened to her eloquently talk up each artist in their own unique way, giving the audience a more complete view of who and what they were looking at. Once touring through and talking about all the artists, we were free to mingle and chat. Much like any opening, there’s an odd sense having to be on display that I find awkward and unique, but that just might be me: I’d rather be fully there answering questions, or behind the bar helping people enjoy their night. The space in between is what gets me! But everyone we ended up talking to was very nice and complementary of our work, even if at times it had to pass through multiple languages! Words can’t describe all the artwork, so I’ll leave it to the pictures to do the rest of the talking.
