Meet Your Maker: Steven Cybulka

Having spent a decade working in the building industry, he now employs this knowledge in the construction of sculptural works and installations that explore the ways in which we experience space.

Despite only recently graduating with First Class Honours from a Bachelor of Arts and Applied Design at the University of South Australia, Cybulka has already undertaken a SALA residency at the Adelaide Festival Centre, where his work is now permanently installed, and completed a major public art commission for the Ergo Apartments.

Cybulka’s work at Ergo Apartments

He has also been identified as one to watch with work currently on exhibition in Primavera 2016, an annual exhibition of artists aged 35 and under at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney. Primavera 2016 explores the idea of embodied cognition – the belief that the way we understand the world is not confined to the brain but rather begins first in the body with our experiences in the physical world.

Demonstrating the capacity for art to create physical responses, the exhibition features work by eight young Australian artists that “affect the viewers’ body in different ways, through the lungs, the muscles or the nervous system, meaning that the viewer will be unable to view the exhibition without some part of their body feeling it,” says curator Emily Cormack.

Cybulka discusses his work Dimensions (2016) for Primavera

Cybulka’s architectural intervention, described as the exhibition’s skeletal system, both provides a framework within which other works are presented whilst standing as a work in its own right. Incorporating subtle yet disorientating shifts in angle and gradient, the structure impacts the way visitors both experience the space and surrounding work.

With a reputation for uncovering new artistic talent, Primavera has showcased the work of some of Australia’s most recognised and celebrated contemporary artists, including Shaun Gladwell, Mikala Dwyer and Jonathon Jones. Given Cybulka’s achievements to date, we wouldn’t be surprised to see him listed among them in the future.

Steven Cybulkais featured on the Well Made website.
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