Mihai-Radu Gui

video, Media, interactief, film, Digitale technologie, Digitaal, Conceptueel, Audiovisueel

Mihai Gui was born in 1989, in Cluj-Napoca, Romania and graduated in 2016 with an MA from AKV St.Joost in Breda, The Netherlands. He is a recipient of the Mondriaan Fund for Young Talent stipend in 2017. Within his own artistic practice, he focuses on questioning the established value of art in contemporary society and ask “WHAT can art DO?” and “WHY must art DO?” With these questions in mind, Mihai likes to engage multiple lines of research on particular subjects through smaller projects, and then use the knowledge gained from these to periodically research into bigger, more encompassing endeavors. He is currently either working on a personal project, or on a commission, or learning how to do something new and exciting, or all of the above.

**GROTESQUE INTERCHANGEABLE FIGUREHEADS** - An audio/video project based on found footage accompanied by lenticular prints. Within the growing allied right-wing popular movements gaining traction across Europe (and not only) there as many dangerous consistencies in their discourses as there are perilous discrepancies amongst individual agendas. The aim of the project is to highlight this through the languages ??of glitch-art and movie making.

**CATastrophical** - An A5 photobook consisting of pictures of cats I took over the past years, and an associated word containing the three letters “CAT”.

**I hate you all welcome!** - A multimedia project including audio, video and text (and unexpectedly intolerant fortune cookies). This project stems from an idea to try and teach people Dutch by using hate-speech as study material; to repurpose it as something useful: a tool for reflecting on identity and integration. In 2016 I used myself as a case study to create an initial course (I hate you all welcome!) based on right-wing discourses and ultranationalist rhetoric since, as a migrant, these also applied to me.

**Coarse on language** - Another iteration of the "I hate you all welcome!" project in which the spotlight was set on more subtle aspects of dutch culture: attitudes, miscommunication, double entendres and Marktplaats for some reason… Although different in content, this second phase was also envisioned as a means to discuss attitudes around refugees, asylum seekers and migrants in relation to our own identities while also providing a real language teaching experience.

**VR who we are** - “VR who we are” is an interactive VR installation aimed at exploring the creative process of the artists that took part in the Summer Sessions this year. By virtually rebuilding real-life land- and city-scapes relating to each of the participating makers in the Unreal game engine, Mihai opens up these spaces and associated past moments to an interactive scrutiny. He then navigates these environments together with the makers exploring how each one draws their respective creative processes from these points in space and time, while simultaneously recording these experiences. This material is then used to create a stand-alone experience that an audience can navigate independently and through which they can explore the multiple red-threads of the artists' practices with them narrating their memories, thoughts and impressions. This project was produced as part of the Summer Sessions Network for Talent Development in a co-production of V2_ Lab for the Unstable Media, and supported also by CBK Rotterdam.

**Teddy shouldn’t smoke** - A second short movie based on a collaboration with choreographer Marijke de Vos. This particular iteration came at the end of a four-day residency and focused on creating new dance material around the theme of anxiety disorders. For this project I directed, filmed and edited the piece as I researched lighting techniques that can convey a feeling of finding oneself in an artificial and uncanny reality.

**VR living in Roffa** - The project employed Virtual Reality to create an interactive archive places that were, sometimes literally, bulldozed over in the name of further developing the city of Rotterdam. In it I focused on one neighborhood - the Tweebosbuurt - reconstructed as it had been inhabited for decades at the same time as it was in the process of being completely demolished in real-life. Presented in VR alongside this was a guiding narration from one of its former inhabitants, Mustapha.

**Solid Maybe** - A collaboration with choreographer Marijke de Vos in which I shot and produced a short film that was then projection-mapped on location next to a live dance performance. The piece ran over three weeks in both Rotterdam and Dordrecht.

**VR who we are – Pavlov street** - The outcome of a four day residency for research and development of new work, with a presentation date on the 25th of April during the TimeWindow TestFest. The research focused on developing VR cityscapes based on real-life locations, and how to create a storyline that guides audiences through these.

**VR living in the Wielewaal** - An interactive VR documentary/experience set in the Wielewaal neighborhood in Rotterdam presented as seen by its inhabitants. The project follows 7 different neighbors and their relationship to their homes, asking them to reflect on various aspects of their life in the neighborhood. Audiences get to walk around a scale model of the neighborhood, discover the general area and its history, move from house to house, explore the insides and what makes these houses someone's own individual home and have a 1-on-1 discussion with each person based on an existing interview framework.

VR living in Wielewaal (test)

Datum: 07-09-2022 t/m 11-09-2022

Locatie: ArsElectronica

In samenwerking met: V2_

Based on the previous research around the use of VR as a tool for exploring and informing about the housing situation in Rotterdam, an initial test version of an ongoing project focused on the Wielewaal neighborhood was presented at ArsElectronica in Linz, Austria. The presentation included a short walkable experience in the Tweebosbuurt as well as an indoor reconstruction of a scan of a house in the Wielewaal, alongside a 3D interview with one of its inhabitants.

https://vimeo.com/753785292/73d9a92f8f

VR living in Roffa (test 2)

Datum: 01-04-2022 t/m 03-04-2022

Locatie: TimeWindow

A three day residency and exhibition program supported by TimeWindow Rotterdam served as the backdrop for researching interior LiDAR scanning and reconstruction of homes in VR. The goal was to explore the interaction of people with distant or removed environments as well as the interplay between the physical and conceptual dimensions of a "home" in absentia.

VR living in Roffa (Test)

Datum: 25-09-2021 t/m 26-09-2021

Locatie: TimeWindow

In samenwerking met: GRAW, TimeWindow

The project employed Virtual Reality to create an interactive archive places that were, sometimes literally, bulldozed over in the name of further developing the city of Rotterdam. In it I focused on one neighborhood - the Tweebosbuurt - reconstructed as it had been inhabited for decades at the same time as it was in the process of being completely demolished in real-life. Presented in VR alongside this was a guiding narration from one of its former inhabitants, Mustapha.

https://vimeo.com/677093299/01cc76d4de

Solid Maybe

Datum: 01-05-2021 t/m 07-11-2021

In samenwerking met: Teddy shouldn't smoke, WORM Rotterdam, DOOR Dordrecht

A collaboration with choreographer Marijke de Vos in which Mihai shot and produced a short film that was then projection-mapped on location next to a live dance performance. The piece ran over three weeks in both Rotterdam and Dordrecht.

Artist in residence

Datum: 23-04-2021 t/m 23-04-2021

Locatie: TimeWindow, WORM

In samenwerking met: Teddy shouldn't smoke

A short film shot for Teddy shouldn't smoke that was presented during the TimeWindow TestFest 2021. The focus was on creating and atmospheric one-taker that conveyed the feelings of anxiety and fear at the core of the dance piece.

https://vimeo.com/543179305/6e2b9cba4c

Artist in residence

Datum: 20-04-2021 t/m 22-04-2021

Locatie: Teilingerstraat 110

In samenwerking met: TimeWindow; WORM

Four day residency for research and development of new work, with a presentation date on the 25th of April during the TimeWindow TestFest. The research focused on developing VR cityscapes based on real-life locations, and how to create a storyline that guides audiences through these.

https://worm.org/production/timewindow-test-fest-2021/

Artist in residence - Solid Maybe

Datum: 01-10-2020 t/m 14-10-2020

Locatie: Teilingerstraat 110

In samenwerking met: TimeWindow Rotterdam; Teddy shouldn't smoke

A two week residency for initial research and development for a new collaborative AV/Dance piece, premiering in October of 2021. The focus of this was combining dance and film, and specifically focusing on how techniques from film can guide choreography and yield novel ways of presenting a live performance next to a short film.

https://vimeo.com/533866197/59457e6d5b

VR who we are

Datum: 14-07-2020 t/m 01-09-2020

In samenwerking met: V2_ Lab for the Unstable Media

The Summer Sessions are short-term international art and technology residencies for emerging artists and designers. A network of cultural organizations all over the world sponsors and hosts the residencies. During this period I researched VR as a means of embedding audiences in real-life locations and with a focus on what type of storytelling can emerge.

https://v2.nl/archive/articles/interview-with-mihai-gui

Artist in residence

Datum: 04-09-2019 t/m 14-09-2019

Locatie: De Brakke Grond

In samenwerking met: TimeWindow Rotterdam; Amsterdam Fringe Festival

A 10-day artist in residence hosted by Amsterdam Fringe Festival at their main location.

I hate you all welcome/CATastrophical

Datum: 07-02-2019 t/m 10-02-2019

Locatie: Art Rotterdam @ Prospects and Concepts

In samenwerking met: Mondriaan Fonds

Part of the Prospects&Concepts group exhibition organized by the Mondriaan Fund during Art Rotterdam 2019. The project is an extended research based on the graduation project with the same name focusing on language and it's building of identity.