Free art coaching on Instagram, zoom talks about the “Joy of Missing Out”, the Youtube channel “Danis Welt” for kindergarten children, a podcast talk series about “Art and Cliché” – you can't say that the in Vienna-based artist Christian Bazant-Hegemark would have put his hands on his lap in lockdown. And now on February 22nd he is starting an English-language internet course on the perils of the art business, organized by a US art school.
“The training at art universities focuses on artistic practice, on handicrafts. As a result, many are completely overwhelmed, despite having a relevant degree, if they want to take up a career as a freelance artist afterwards,” says the 1978 Mödling born, who himself (at Gunter Damisch, Harun Farocki and Daniel Richter) graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts and wrote a dissertation on “Painting and digital technologies”. Before that, however, he worked for one of the leading video game developers in Vienna for six years. “In the video game industry, the constant exchange of know-how is a matter of course. In Vienna there are regular meetings, up to 30,000 participants come to the world's largest conferences. Something like this is completely absent in the fine arts. Learning by doing, however, is lengthy and inefficient process. “
Two years ago he found a structure based on which he will write a “Handbook for Emerging Artists”. Questions about the artistic process, the art business and personal development are discussed. The book is half finished, explains Bazant-Hegemark in an interview with the APA, and forms the basis of his online course, which aims to convey the basic concepts of pricing or working with galleries in six two-hour units. The host is the New York art school “Pushing Colored Dirt”, the participation fee is set at 100 euros “extremely low because it is still about idealism”.
The artist calmly and confidently explains his course program in his studio in Vienna-Alsergrund, which he completes in English – the only accepted working language in the game business. He seems to have benefited a lot from there. Above all, he took away: be active, take things into your own hands, deal with setbacks! “It's always about empowerment.” He admits that the lockdown caught him just as much as his colleagues: “First there was the big shock because all the events were gone, then came the great relief because all the events were gone.” And after a while of concentrating on painting, “the great project madness came”. He became active with various project partners on a wide variety of channels. Mostly without being paid directly for it. “In art, you always have to use the template anyway.”
Just waiting for galleries – Bazant-Hegemark is represented by two, one each in Vienna and Düsseldorf – would do something for one would be the wrong way. “At the end of my first decade as an artist I realized that you are just a little fish for them. You have to be active yourself.” And it is, not only when it comes to maintaining his 8,000 followers on Instagram and the 1,000 recipients of his newsletter. Bazant-Hegemark is preparing his first solo museum show in his studio on two hall models. On May 9th, a staff curated by Günther Oberhollenzer and comprising around 30 images is to open at the Angerlehner Museum in Thalheim near Wels. Expected Title: “Delayed Gratification.” This technical term comes from psychology and means that it is sometimes smarter to forego the immediate, small reward and it is better to work to ensure that the preparatory work is really worthwhile later on. A well-chosen motto, it seems.
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