An Immersive Conversation with Martine Stig
Courtesy of the artist and Marlborough Gallery
Martine Stig (Nijmegen, 1972) lives and works in Amsterdam. She studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Art (The Hague) and at the University of Amsterdam, philosophy. She is interested in the entanglement of image, gaze, and technology. The point of departure in her work is the photographic image, the voyeuristic act: photography (verb), and the autonomic product: photo (noun). While using the medium (and moving away from it), she researches its role in the perception of reality.
Stig has published four books and some artist publications and has worked with a new publication with FW-books.
Her work has been shown at Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Aperture Foundation (NYC), Huis Marseille (Amsterdam). Her work is part of the Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam) collections, the Nederlands Fotomuseum (Rotterdam), the H+F collection & ABN/Amro collection. She has a teaching position at the Master Institute of Visual Cultures, Den Bosch. She co-founded the practice and research-based art foundation Radical Reversibility and the online meeting space WeAlgo.
I had the pleasure of asking Martine about being a researcher, how culture and society fluctuate and are regulated by norms that influence her artwork, and so much more.
UZOMAH: You teamed up with Vanessa van Dam to investigate the conventions of a classical film scenario in your book Any Resemblance to Existing Persons is Purely Coincidental: Stories of Mr Wood Bombay - Los Angeles; a Project. What was vital as an artist that helped you see the film as something that could be explored in its typical format on the screen and in a book?
MARTINE: I am interested in how certain systems and (cultural) habits change the way we look at -and change- reality. As with the Hollywood film format, we are so used to watching films that present a story following the same structure and aesthetics that we tend to ‘read’ a real-life situation that resembles a Hollywood setting in a Hollywood way. We give meaning to it accordingly and expect certain outcomes in certain situations. We even start to behave like protagonists. In Mr. Wood's project (Hollywood/Bollywood), Vanessa van Dam and I play with notions of scripted reality, serendipity, and parallel realities.
U: What is the most vital role of a researcher in the art field? What did you find during your time as a researcher within the Cultural and Creative Industries research group that showed you this importance?
M: I think that a researcher in the art field thinks and works slightly differently than a scientific researcher. By a more speculative and playful approach and a ‘thinking by doing’ methodology, we are able to broaden our narrow West-European and scientific worldview. During my research period at Caradt, I dived into the transition of the photographic medium from analog to digital. In this transition from celluloid to sensor, more than the carrier of the image changes. Photography, or the data-image, can be read by humans and machines which changes power structures. Are we sharing memories with friends and family on Facebook and Instagram? Or are we feeding the machine? Who is our audience anyway? The research led to wealgo.org*, an online video conferencing tool for biometric avatars. *WeAlgo is a novel digital playground that leverages face recognition AI & virtual gatherings to celebrate fluid, hybrid microverses and to encourage transient identities. We deploy machine vision to safeguard your privacy, not violate it. While transmitting landmark vector data only, we cut 95% of bandwidth pollution compared to a regular Zoom call.
Martine Stig. Near, 2023, series of 50 prints taken with a full spectrum camera, inkjet print on paper, 40 x 60 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Marlborough Gallery.
U: How do culture and society and how they fluctuate and are regulated by norms influence your artwork?
M: I am Interested in the entanglement of image, gaze, and technology; my art practice is fueled by technological progress and how this changes the way we look at, depict, and think about reality.
Courtesy of the artist and Marlborough Gallery
U: You use a video essay format; what makes it a technique you prefer over other mediums?
M: For the last three years, I experimented with the format of the film essay. I very much like to work with it. It is a way to share images as research.
U: Why did you help create the practice and research-based art foundation Radical Reversibility?
M: As a co-founder, what is your most significant responsibility to the foundation and art as a practice? We created Radical Reversibility to make a platform for ‘research through images’, connecting professionals from the arts and the sciences and creating a possibility to show and exchange work and research. As a co-founder, I initiate and curate exhibitions and symposia; within this context, I share my own artistic practice as well.
Martine Stig. Near, 2023, series of 50 prints taken with a full spectrum camera, inkjet print on paper, 40 x 60 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Marlborough Gallery.
U: What questions do you hope the audience has after seeing your art for the first time after partaking in one of your exhibits?
M: I always hope my audience becomes more involved in the act of seeing. I hope to seduce to wonder and look at daily reality in a different way. Can you name your favorite place to create art other than your studio? My favorite place to create art is in transit, between one place and the other.
U: What are you currently reading?
M: At the moment, I am reading The Perception Machine by Joanna Zylinska
Martine Stig. Near, 2023, series of 50 prints taken with a full spectrum camera, inkjet print on paper, 40 x 60 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Marlborough Gallery.
U: Is advancing technology like AI a good or bad thing for artists?
M: I consider AI to be something that will not disappear; it is here to stay. It is a technology that can be used for the good and for the bad. As artists and artistic researchers, we need to reflect on the technology, what it does, what it is capable of, and how we can use it differently. How can we use AI to work for us instead of against us? Be playful and critical!
For more information about Martine’s artwork, please visit her site.
