Closer to Nature
Velasco & Hu
Velasco & Hu already worked from home before the pandemic. Since the start, they have focused on projects relating to flower blooming, bringing them “Closer to Nature” than ever before. This experience changed their relation with nature and opened up their sight on flower art.
The couple also made a series of “Pills” which are short 1-minute videos, which they call “Visual Poems.” In 2020, they made 6 pills in total.
Closer to Nature – 30 days challenge / Beauty and the Dust
Pills
Two short films Velasco & Hu believe reflect their lives and thoughts during the quarantine and the post-quarantine:
QUARANTINE. (visual poem #3)
This is a mini short film Velasco & Hu made during the lock-down. The intention was simply to do a visual diary but it has somehow turned into a visual proof of the common emotions they all shared back then.
LA NONNA INVISIBILE
Velasco & Hu made this short film at the end of 2020. It presents an invisible grandma by representing her culinary heritage through a visual feast consisting of beautiful still life pictures in motion. Through the story, they want to pay tribute to many grandmas who lost their lives, silently, during the pandemic, and keep them close in their memories.
Biography
Velasco & Hu is a creative couple formed by Carlos VELASCO from Madrid and Kate HU from Taipei. They teamed up to create transcendent, story-telling, artistic and cinematic photographs and films across Europe and Asia. They are commercial photographers by day and fine art photographers by night, specializing in still life photography.
Interview
The names would be abbreviated as “Isabel” (Isabel DIERINGER) and “Velasco & Hu” (Carlos VELASCO and Kate HU).
(之后姓名分别写为“Isabel”、“Velasco & Hu”)
Isabel: How did you organise your work and life during the pandemic?
Velasco & Hu: As our home is our workspace (apart from the shootings in rented studios), we organized our work and life in the same way as before, trying to get a balance in between.
Isabel：请问疫情期间你是怎么安排工作和生活的？
Velasco & Hu：封锁期间，我们变为在家进行创作（除租用的独立工作室以外），但是我们的工作和生活还是和往常一样，依旧希望在这两者之间尽量寻求平衡。
Isabel: What is different from before the pandemic?
Velasco & Hu: We used to work from home and we used to shoot still life photos at home, so it hasn’t been so different. But indeed, we stayed more time at home during the pandemic so we’ve tried to look for more projects to do at home.
Isabel：这与疫情爆发前有什么不同吗？
Velasco & Hu：我们之前就会在家工作，并且会拍摄一些日常，所以并没有什么不同。但其实，由于在家的时间更长了，所以我们已经疲于从居家生活中寻找素材。
Isabel: What is the biggest change you have been through or found? In other words, what is your Covid-pivot?
Velasco & Hu: We were very fortunate to be commissioned to work on a series of photographs and videos about a flower blooming during the pandemic. We spent lots of time studying the flowers before the shooting, by reading books, buying flowers to observe, testing flower arrangement and time-lapse at home. This experience changed our relation with nature and opened up our sight on flower art. We feel so much connected with nature and the changes of seasons, and all this has given us more inspiration throughout the pandemic.
Isabel：您经历过或发现的最大变化是什么？换句话说，您的“转折点”的是什么？
Velasco & Hu：我们很荣幸被允许在疫情期间拍摄有关鲜花盛开的一系列照片和录像。拍摄前，我们花了很多时间研究花，通过看书，买花等等，并会在家中测试拍摄角度和拍摄的延时设定。这次经历改变了我们与自然的关系，并打开了我们对于花卉艺术的视野。我们与自然和季节变化联系的日益紧密，所有这些都在疫情时期给我们带来了的非常多的灵感。
Isabel: What is your most proud creation since the pandemic started?
Velasco & Hu: We made a series of “Pills” which are very short, around 1-minute videos, which we call “Visual Poems”. In 2020 we made 6 pills in total.
Isabel：自大流行开始以来，您最喜爱的创作是哪个？
Velasco & Hu：我们制作了一系列简短的“药片”，大约1分钟左右的视频，我们称之为“视觉性的诗歌”。在2020一整年期间，我们总共制造了6粒“药片”。
Isabel: When did you start this project/artwork?
Velasco & Hu: It actually started before the pandemic back in the beginning of 2020, but we continued the project during the pandemic with lots of footage shot at home.
Isabel：您是什么时候开始创作这个项目/艺术品的？
Velasco & Hu：它实际上是在2020年初疫情爆发之前开始的创作的，但是我们在疫情期间继续进行了这个项目，并在家里拍摄了许多创作过程的影像。
Isabel: What inspired you to embark on this project/start creating this artwork?
Velasco & Hu: We wanted to visualize our emotions, feelings, and tangled sentiments.
Isabel：是什么驱使您着手进行此项目/开始创建此艺术品的？
Velasco & Hu：我们想具像化我们的心情，感觉以及复杂的情绪。
Isabel: What does this artwork mean to you?
Velasco & Hu: An inner picture of our emotions, an encounter of lost feelings, a visual diary of moments, a journey of artistic search.
Isabel：这件艺术品对您意味着什么？
Velasco & Hu：意味着我们内心的情感，一次与失落的相遇，一个记录瞬息之间的视觉日记，一次关于艺术探索的旅程。
Isabel: Has the pandemic had an impact on your work/work plan? (Was there any change in your thinking focus?
Velasco & Hu: Yes, unfortunately, we become more hesitant in planning projects that will involve many people, and we would have to think of a plan B to execute our projects in a smaller scale. That’s also why we made those “pills” as the footages could be made at home, on the street, during our trips without involving others.
Isabel：大流行对您的工作/工作计划有影响吗？您的思维重点是否有所改变？
Velasco & Hu：是的，不幸的是，我们在计划涉及多人的项目时变得更加地犹豫，我们不得不进行一些妥协，并以较小的规模去策划我们的项目。这也是我们制作这些“药丸”的原因，这使我们可以在家中，在街上或在不涉及其他人的旅途中去进行拍摄。
Isabel: If this applies, is there any funding for freelancers or artists in your city or in your country?
Velasco & Hu: There are subsidies and loans provided by the government in general.
Isabel：如果适用，您所在城市或您所在国家/地区的自由职业者或艺术家是否有任何援助基金？
Velasco & Hu：一般而言，政府会向我们提供补贴和贷款。
Isabel: Have your feelings about art now changed from your first encounters with it, or rather before the pandemic? If so, how?
Velasco & Hu: Our feelings about art are constantly changing, but with the pandemic, we now look for connections with nature and inner emotions more than ever.
Isabel：从您第一次接触艺术开始，或者在疫情爆发之前对艺术的感觉和现在相同吗？如果不尽相同，哪里被改变了呢？
Velasco & Hu：我们对艺术的感觉在不断变化，但是由于疫情的爆发，我们现在比以往任何时候都更希望去寻求自然与内在情感之间的联系。
Isabel: Do you think the arts will mostly remain/move online after the pandemic?
Velasco & Hu: Not at all, we think most of the arts still need to be appreciated “in person”.
Isabel：您认为艺术在疫情之后还会持续在线上发展吗？
Velasco & Hu：并不，我们认为大多数艺术仍需要我们“亲自”去欣赏。
Isabel: How do you see the relationship between technology and art?
Velasco & Hu: Positive, as technology serves as a good tool to create art and a good platform to exhibit art.
Isabel：您如何看待科技与艺术之间的关系？
Velasco & Hu：科技会为艺术带来积极的影响，因为科技既是表达艺术的辅助工具，艺术的展示平台。
Staff
Host: Isabel DIERINGER
Contact Person: Isabel DIERINGER
Planner: Isabel DIERINGER
Text: Isabel DIERINGER
Translator: Jiaqi GAO
Proofreading: Calum BAIRD