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ART.
CULTURE.
IDEAS.

LESS IS A NEW INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL FOR
CONTEMPORARY COLLAGE ART. JOIN US AS WE
SET A NEW STAGE TO CELEBRATE COLLAGE
ART AND PRACTICE, AND INSPIRE NEW VISIONS
FOR THE FUTURE OF THE ART FORM.

Set in the historic town of Viborg, Denmark,
LESS festival celebrates how art can transform
our visual and urban landscapes through radical
art exhibitions and immersive installations. Our
inaugural festival presents twelve collage artists
working in print, sculpture and moving-image:
Penny Slinger [UK/US], Sergei Sviatchenko
[UK/UA], Nico Krijno [SA], Lucia Pizzani [BR/UK],
Noriko Okaku [JP/UK], K Young [UK], Donnachie &
Simionato [AUS], Juliet Casella [FR], James
Springall [UK], Anna Bu Kliewer [GER/UK], DR.
ME [UK], Kirsten Otzen Keck [DK].

Conceived before the pandemic, our theme of
‘NUTOPIA’ now invites new contemplation. When
the tectonic plates of our civilisation shift, we
have room for consideration of how nature and
community grounds us; and embrace that art
provides us purpose and connection, in the most
challenging of times.

HOW CAN
ART CHANGE
THE WORLD?
Artists
PENNY SLINGER
[UK/US]
Both artist and muse, Penny Slinger is a pioneering British artist. Her radical feminine surrealism was forged in her seminal collage work, ‘An Exorcism’. LESS festival presents a collection of Slinger’s photographic collage from 1969–2020 at Viborg Old Town Hall.
@pennyslinger
K YOUNG
[UK]
K Young works with ‘re-photography’, the process of reconstructing found imagery from photographic material. Inspired by a fascination with the concept of space and time, the photographic hand-cut paper collages suggest new narratives and dimensions. LESS presents K Young’s new series around social constructs, gender-roles and identity.
@kyoung_collage
LUCIA PIZANNI
[BR/UK]
Pizzani’s expressive collages investigate the fragility of the individual through photography, video and sculpture. Her work focuses on the organic and the environmental, using the body form to explore human relations to the natural world. LESS presents her new work ‘Acorazada Series’, which questions the external threat of our relationship with nature as refuge.
@luciapizzani
NORIKO OKAKU
[JP/UK]
Entwining handmade collage, animation and audio-visual performance, Okaku’s work materialises fictional surrealistic narratives and mythic scenery, exploring the formation of personal memories into the imaginary. LESS presents her new video and performance creation, ‘Entering the Rabbit Hole’.
@norikookaku
SERGEI SVIATCHENKO
[DK/UA]
Sviatchenko is an influential collage artist and founder of LESS Festival. His artwork brings together influences from Soviet avant-garde art, architecture, constructivism, surrealism, to 1960s pop culture. LESS presents Sviatchenko’s series ‘Gentle Double Melody of Nature’, homage to the Danish landscape painter P. C. Skovgaard.
@closeupandprivate
JAMES SPRINGALL
[UK]
Springall plays with humour, tragedy and social commentary to evoke a visual world at odds with our image-saturated consumer culture. He has co-curated ‘The International Weird Collage Show’ and ‘Tribute to Viborg’. LESS presents his new installation artwork ‘Why The Long Face?’.
@jamesspringall_
KIRSTEN OTZEN KECK
[DK]
Keck works with mixed media collage, rotoscoped video animation, sculpture and installation. She navigates between the individual and the collective, creating narratives about gender, history, and personal and private space. LESS presents ‘One Day’, an installation developed from The Mobile Forum group.
ANNA BU KLIEWER
[GER/UK]
Kliewer is a mixed media collage artist working with both analogue and digital, across still and moving imagery. Driven by her curiosity about alternative realities, she challenges our perceptions through surreal connections between nature and human identity. LESS presents a selection of her dreamlike artworks.
@annabukliewer
NICO KRIJNO
[SA]
Krijno describes his creative process as a private physical performance, wherein the audience becomes the camera. Through the use of discarded found materials, he shapes intertextual dialogues and assemblages. Highlighting nature, his art draws a reaction against the man-made manufacturing process. LESS presents ‘Lockdown Collages’, created during the 2020 pandemic.
@NicoKrijno
JULIET CASELLA
[FR]
Casella is a post-internet collage artist, working with raw digital footage and animated collages. Unapologetic and vibrant, her provocative work challenges contemporary social issues and stereotypes which infuse the modern world. LESS presents Casella’s work in print and moving image.
@julietcasella
DONNACHIE AND SIMIONATO
[AUS]
Artistic-duo Donnachie and Simionato push the boundaries and interpretations of digital media art. Their creative process experiments with media such as Flash animations, GIFs, PowerPoint, videos, CD and digital soundfiles. LESS presents ‘Delayed Rays of a Star’, a digital series created from a custom-made algorithm which builds images from digital archives.
DR. ME
[UK]
Authors of Cut that Out, artists and designers Ryan Doyle and Mark Edwards founded DR.ME, a design studio working with process-led collage techniques. Their work explores subjects such as plastic and global warming, using art to provoke thought on ecology and nature. LESS festival presents ‘It’s like a jungle out there’.
@drme_studio
LOCATION:
viborg denmark
artist locations
1
Old Town Hall. Penny Slinger, Sergei Sviatchenko,
LESS group show. Stænderpladsen 2
2
DR.ME. Ll. Sct.Hans Gade 7
3
James Springall. Gravene 1
4
Lucia Pizzani. Anna Bu Kliewer.
Sct.Mathias Gade 35
5
K Young. Sct.Mathias Gade 72
6
Noriko Okaku. St.Sct.Mikkels Gade 27
7
Kirsten Otzen Keck. Vestergade 24
8
Nico Krijno. Vestergade 10
9
Juliet Casella. Vestergade 11
10
Donnachie & Simionato. Vestergade 8
L
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TEAM
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Sergei Sviatchenko
CURATOR
Faye Dowling
FESTIVAL MANAGER
Lars Hamann
CREATIVE TEAM
New.Agency
in association with
LESS Festival of Contemporary Collage Art is part of Viborg cultural commitment as a member of UNESCO creative cities. LESS is founded by influential collage artist Sergei Sviatchenko and a group of business leaders in Viborg municipality. LESS is funded with the generous support of Viborg Kommune, Østjysk Vækstbånd, the Danish Ministry of Culture through Den Jyske Kunst Fond and local and national businesses.
AC Group
DAHL Advokatfirma
DAHLS VINHANDEL A/S
Europæisk Kulturregion
Invi A/S
Statens Kunstfond
gennem Jyske Kunstfond
Manguster
Modified Solutions
Nørhaven
Sct. Jørgens Boligselskab
Palads Hotel
Ricken A/S
Skiltecentret
Ullitz & Winther
Viborg Kommune
Vi er Viborg
Vision Viborg kultur og
Idræt
Wulff & Partner
Østjysk Vækstbånd