For our fourth artist visit at the Highline Building studio, we welcomed Shezad Dawood. Our discussion began with the logistics of maintaining our practice, and the significance of the mutual support the shared studio setting offers. A focal point was the necessity for mistakes to materialise in order for progress to be made within our practices. We then discussed Shezad’s monumental ‘Leviathan’ project, comprised of ten episodes to be released over an extended period. He spoke of the relationship between the volatile undercurrents of the Mediterranean sea and the perilous crossings of migrants on the water’s surface. Research has involved collaborating with varying specialists, from oceanographers to activists. Shezad spoke of his position as an artist in relation to these fields. The work produced under the ‘Leviathan’ umbrella spans a broad range of mediums. Shezad talked of how his time is divided between them, and their ability to compartmentalise certain strands of his practice. His painting process, for example, acts as antidotal to the large scale film shoots involved in ‘Leviathan’. We went onto discuss Realf’s work, who presented three-dimensional scans of a series of paintings, considering the taxonomy of painting. We then concluded the evening with Madeleine’s work, questioning how best to utilise sound within a space and its potential to revive ‘dead’ spaces. Realf Haygate
