Raising Dust Encounters in Relational Geography 8 December 2010 – 20 February 2011 *Press View 7 December 10am – 1pm*
Participating Artists: Rasheed Araeen, Ranko Bon, Dumitru Budrala, Navroze Contractor, Yiannos Economou, Marina Grzinič and Aina Šmid, Isa Rosenberger, Sašo Sedlaček, Vlad Nancă and Zbyněk Baladrán
Curated by novelist and theorist, Richard Appignanesi, Raising Dust is a provocative multi-media exhibition which explores contemporary notions of identity and relativity by inviting a group of predominantly Eastern European artists to respond to the poetry and politics of place.
It can be argued that the very idea of Europe is in itself a dislocation, a nomadic horizon which responds differently to the shifting perspectives and desires of its inhabitants. Each artist in Raising Dust has contributed work which addresses this proposition and foregrounds the urgency of creating an autonomous ‘space for life’ that overrides dominant mainstream distinctions. Three of the artists (of Indian, Cypriot and British descent) have extended the encounter with Europe even further east so as to fully interrogate our ideas of what comprises this continent.
Raising Dust finds its central symbol in the broom. Appignanesi was invited to write a text on this simple, everyday, household object in response to an exhibition created for the Arna Jhana Museum, Rajasthan, which devoted a three year presentation of works inspired by this down-to-earth but essential implement. As a result the genesis of how a wider exhibition might be developed to further explore such notions was born and the first version of this show, entitled, Dust, Ashes, Residua and featuring seven Eastern European artists, was presented at Open Space, Zentrum für Kunstprojekte, Vienna earlier in 2010.
For Raising Dust at Calvert 22, additional artists have joined the original participants in a response to Appignanesi’s ‘broom’ text across a range of media. The title, Raising Dust takes its double meaning (breeding and/or stirring up dust) from the descriptive name Elevage de Poussičre, given by Marcel Duchamp to the dusts which settled on his Large Glass, photographed by Man Ray in 1920. The broom remains as an emblem of basic human endurance in these artists’ reflections on waste and the geopolitical irregularities of Europe. Metaphorically it also represents a way of asserting that such issues cannot be swept under the carpet as it were, but need to be agitated, literally raising dust and watching how and where it settles.
About Calvert 22:
CALVERT 22 is the UK’s only not for profit foundation dedicated to the presentation of contemporary Art and Culture from Russian and Eastern Europe. With five exhibitions a year from both emergent and more established contemporary artists as well as a range of contextual events, performances and activities, Calvert 22 aims to interrogate existing preconceptions about the art and culture of these regions and propose new possibilities for cross-cultural understanding and exchange.
Visitor Information
Address: 22 Calvert Avenue, London E2 7JP Opening Hours: Wednesday – Saturday: 10am – 6pm; Sunday: 11am – 5pm Admission: Free Contact: +44 (0) 20 7613 2141| info@calvert22.org www.calvert22.org Nearest Tube: Shoreditch High St/ Old St / Liverpool St
