Interview with Artist Kristen-Innes Stambolic on Digital Art, Dance, and Collaboration
Artist Kristen-Innes Stambolic
With a background in dance and fine arts, artist Kristen-Innes Stambolic is taking the art world by storm. Keep scrolling to read more about Kristen’s multi-genre art practice, collaboration projects, NFTs, Instagram filters, and so much more!
Hello! Thanks for chatting with us. Tell us a bit about your background, training, and art practice.
Thank you for having me! I’m a Toronto-born and based artist. My work exists in the digital world at the moment. My current practice uses dance, animation, projection, and relies on constant collaboration with dancers, musicians and other digital artists. I fell in love with dance in high school, and after that, I graduated from the School of Toronto Dance Theatre in 2018. Animation-wise, I learned from my lovely sister, Caterina Stambolic, who is also an artist and from YouTube tutorials.
I know you have done a lot of genre-crossing work, in particular, art that dips into both the realms of dance and digital art. We really love interactions between art genres here at Purple Glow (and anyone like us on Instagram is truly missing out if they aren’t following you) so I was wondering if you could talk about the intersection of dance and digital art. Or perhaps just your thoughts on such genre-crossing art.
Personally, the intersection of dance and digital art found me. I have always been curious about video art and animation; when I stopped dancing it felt like a natural progression for me. I wanted to still feel connected to movement and dance and that’s when I found myself in this digital world, tracing over dancers and exploring what dance could be.
In a broader sense, it has been really interesting to witness the current evolution of genre-crossing art during this covid time. I think it’s really cool that dancers are experimenting with different ways to show dance and using digital spaces to do that. I also think that when we are able to return to live dance performances, it will be really interesting to see how those genre-crossing and digital explorations will inspire live work. I love genre-crossing, I think that it pushes our imaginations and, by nature, incorporates many artists, which makes the process and product that much more special.
From dance videos with animated lines to Instagram filters, your digital work seems to have a deep connection to not just movement but I would say human experience in particular. What are your thoughts on this dichotomy between works that live in the digital world and interact with the physical?
The line animations over movement exist in the digital world but are completely based off of experiences in the physical world. When someone is dancing there are energy lines that are all around initiating movement, coming from how we move, and interrupting movement. I’m obsessed with trying to recreate these energy lines with animation and give those energy experiences that we have when we dance to the person viewing the video.
Creating Instagram filters is currently my favourite thing to do. Being able to create art and then see people bringing it into their world, and literally onto them, is just so cool. It makes me feel connected to people and is a completely different way to share art and ideas in a very personal way.
How do you think the pandemic has influenced your work and your practice, if at all?
I think the pandemic has given me the time and space to explore my work like never before. Being able to work on my art and practice every day is something I have never experienced and am extremely grateful for.
On Instagram, you shared that you made your first NFT, non-fungible token—a form of digital content linked to the blockchain. (As I understand it!) Can you explain more about this and the process of creation?
Yeah that was a really amazing experience! I was introduced to NFTs through a virtual co-working space for creatives from across the world called Edit Party. All of my work exists in a digital space so the idea of someone being able to own one of my animations was so exciting to me. I minted my first NFT on opensea and it sold to another NFT artist, Fannypack, who creates incredible work. I’m not sure what the future holds for me in NFTs but I’m very excited to see how the NFT community will evolve and grow, especially for artists.
I see you worked with multidisciplinary artist Susanna Haight and clothing brand RUA CARLOTA for their launch with Les Fleurs Studio. What was it like working on this project and collaborating with so many interesting people/brands?
Collaboration is at the core of my practice, so when people or brands who inspire me want to create something, it’s just the best feeling. Working on the Rua Carlota project with Susannah Haight dancing and Jonny Micay filming was so incredible because I was able to work with people who are extremely passionate and skilled at what they do. The animation I was able to create from their amazing work is something that I am very proud of and has inspired many works since. I am currently collaborating with musicians on videos and filters and I can’t wait to collaborate with even more artists and brands that inspire me.
What’s in the future for you? Do you have any projects coming out in the short-term or even long-term stuff you are working on?
I’m working on my own practice constantly and trying to push myself to make new things every day. I’m also very excited to be creating filters and video content for some musicians like RamonaVee, Grace May, and the folk band Mear. In the coming months, I will be creating work with new dancers which is incredibly exciting for me as well. My main goal for the future is to create visuals for musicians and artists in a collaborative way and just to keep growing and exploring.
Wow, I just had so many questions, we’ll definitely have to touch base with you in the near future. So for now, is there anything you always want people to ask you that no one has/we haven’t?
I mean the only thing I think I’d want people to know is that I haven’t been doing this for very long and that digital art seemed so intimidating to me at first. Through many generous artists, I have learned so much in such a short period of time, and I feel like I really am finding my voice and artistic vision. If you are thinking and wanting to try something new, do it.
You can follow Kristen on Instagram here!