Arteles Catalogue 2023-2020

Fall into Focus program / SEPTEMBER 2023
Emma van Dobben
Netherlands
www.emmavandobben.com
About
Visual artist, mainly working with photography and video.
My wish is to always take in my direct environment with
full attention and curiosity. My current project is about the
difficulty of truely having attention. My mind is often in the
future, making plans. I hardly ever do nothing. While waiting
for the bus my mobile is my loyal companion. I will make my
attention span, or the lack of it, visible. During my stay in
Arteles I ll work further on this.
Tuned space
What does it mean to truly be somewhere? What does it
mean to be in this place? To stop myself from always being on
the go without feeling grounded, I decided to visit the same
place every day. It's a spot in a Finnish forest near the remote
house where I stayed for two more weeks. I would sit there
alone on a small 4 by 4 meter plot surrounded by four trees. I
went at different times of the day, hoping to become familiar
with the essence of this place, to let the environment come
to me. Those four trees, the big rock, the low bushes, and the
spiderwebs. I was curious about how this place would affect
me, and I wanted to capture that in photos.