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Galerija Skuc : The 28th Biennial of Graphic Arts - 4 Sept 2009 to 25 Oct 2009 Current Exhibition |
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The 28th Biennial of Graphic Arts is a multifaceted event with a long tradition; it consists of a number of exhibitions as well as other happenings. Once again, the Biennial�s central exhibition, The Matrix: An Unstable Reality, on view for two months in Ljubljana galleries, will focus on contemporary graphic art in the broadest sense of the term. At the invitation of the International Centre of Graphic Arts, which proposed the theme of the main show, this idea was further developed and shaped by Galerija Alkatraz, Galerija Ganes Pratt, Galerija Jakopič, Galerija Kapsula, and Galerija �kuc, which are also serving as venues for the Biennial. Alongside the central exhibition, the 28th Biennial of Graphic Arts includes as well the Artist�s Book Salon, the traditional exhibition for the winner of the Grand Prize from the previous Biennial, and a number of accompanying exhibit The Matrix: An Unstable Reality The exhibition responds to certain vital questions for society and art raised by the cult movie trilogy The Matrix. Does a medium stay the same once it incorporates new technologies in its discourse? Does this increase the audience for art? What is the social power of those who possess the matrix? Is the possession of the matrix enough to also justify exclusive reproduction rights? Can we create a perfect world, whether real or virtual? The exhibition offers a selection of more than eighty internationally established and emerging artists. Their work extends from traditional and contemporary printmaking to artist�s books and interventions in the public space, in the mass media, and on computers. Artists: Afsoon, Vahram Aghasyan, Julieta Aranda, Nika Autor, BAS/Bent, Viktor Bernik, Anita di Bianco, Sabine Bitter & Helmut Weber, BridA (Sendi Mango, Jurij Pavlica, Tom Ker�evan), Chto Delat (Dmitry Vilensky), Lee Chul Soo, J�rgen Craig Lello & Tobias Arnell, Ksenija Čerče, Vuk Ćosić, Vesna Drnov�ek, Igor E�kinja, Małgorzata Etber Warlikowska, Jesper Fabricius, Jakup Ferri, Ivan Fijolić, Ye Funa, Fernando Garc�a, Samuel Grajfoner, Ivan Grubanov, Dejan Habicht, Bu Hua, Hungarian Double-tailed Dog, I�tvan I�t Huzjan, Space Invader, JustSeeds, Dejan Kaludjerović, David Kareyan, Sameera Khan, Taiyo Kimura, Iva Kovač, Jelena Kovačević, Matej Ko�ir, Borut Krajnc, Ana Lozica, Tanja La�etić, Nicola L�pez, M-City, J�n Manču�ka, La M�s Bella, Ines Matijević Cakić, Eva & Franco Mattes, Zhang Minjie, Tracey Moffatt, Ivan Moudov, Carlos Motta, Alban Muja, Nika Oblak & Primo� Novak, Ahmet �g�t, Juan Perez Agirregoikoa, Cesare Pietroiusti, Nada Prlja, radioCona, Soci�t� R�aliste, Betsabe� Romero, Francesc Ruiz, Adrian Sauer, Klaus Schafler, Nana Shiomi, Jelena Sredanović, Katja Sudec, Therese Sunngren, Swoon, Miha �trukelj, Marko Tadić, Toma� Toma�in, Nasan Tur, Ignacio Uriarte, Huiqin Wang, Patrick Ward, Maria Alicia Zamora Noguera, Moises Yag�es Fernandez, Katarina Zdjelar art director: Bo�idar Zrinski curators: G�lsen Bal & Alenka Gregorič, Petja Grafenauer, Jadranka Ljubičič, Tadej Pogačar Venues: International Centre of Graphic Arts, Tivoli Mansion, Pod turnom 3; Alkatraz Gallery, Metelkova City, Masarykova 24; Ganes Pratt Gallery, Cankarjeva cesta 7; Jakopič Gallery, Slovenska cesta 9; Kapsula Gallery, Ajdov�čina Underpass 1 (Sunday closed); �kuc Gallery, Stari trg 21 also Europlakat billboards in Ljubljana, media spaces and the 28th Biennial of Graphic Arts catalogue open: 4 September � 25 October 2009, Tuesday�Sunday, 11 a.m. � 6 pm. Venue: �kuc Gallery: In Every Respect Curator: Alenka Gregorič Artists: Vahram Aghasyan, BAS/Bent, Vuk Ćosić, Taiyo Kimura, Ivan Moudov, Alban Muja, Ahmet �g�t, Nada Prlja, Miha �trukelj, Nasan Tur, Ignacio Uriarte, Patrick Ward and Katarina Zdjelar. yes�but NO! (curated project within the exhibition In Every Respect) Curator: G�lsen Bal Artists: Sabine Bitter & Helmut Weber, J�n Manču�ka and Klaus Schafler. The linking together of different exhibition venues, all intended for the production, presentation, and contextualization of contemporary art, has positive indicators; nevertheless, it always elicits both approval (especially from the cultural policy sector) and negative responses, debates, and reservations from art professionals. What does a participating site gain or lose when it decides on such a move? And conversely, what does the organizer of the event gain or lose? There are undoubtedly as many possible answers to these questions as there are reservations, and to search for the �right� answers offers no advantage when talking about the message of such exhibition projects and their accompanying events. Each segment in the graphic arts biennial, tied as it is to the specific concerns and subjective positions of the curators who work in the galleries that have accepted the invitation to participate in the event � an event of such importance for Ljubljana and the wider international public � brings new messages, a new viewpoint, and a new interpretation of the biennial�s chosen theme. A brief explanation of the biennial�s concept served as the basis for the personal interpretations of the theme and the selection of artwork and projects that, in the opinion of the individual curator, translate the topic each in its own way in the context of the biennial, always of course mindful that this remains an exhibition that takes graphic art as its point of departure. But that matrix, too, was left to the personal interpretation of the invited curator. One would like to be able to assert that there were no limitations placed on the curators, but if we are honest, we must acknowledge that the set theme combined with the fact that the biennial defines itself through a particular medium of expression determined the direction of our thinking in selecting the artwork. But since many contemporary artists use a variety of techniques in the production of their work, this did not prove to a huge obstacle when it came to choosing projects by artists whose work fit the topic in terms of content. As a result, each of the works presented flirts in its own way with the theme of the biennial and is a complete whole in and of itself; the communication between the individual pieces is sometimes more, sometimes less obvious, or rather, �legible.� The content, then, comes first, but the presented artists have been chosen on the basis of years of following their work � a fact that must be underscored today, when we see an inundation of so-called Google exhibitions. The participating artists, or rather, their works, are thus (intentionally) in line with the programming policy of the �kuc Gallery � as we were explicitly told, it was the programming policies of the participating venues that led to our being invited to collaborate on the graphic arts biennial. Within the context of the its programming policy, an important segment of which involves working with international curators, the �kuc Gallery invited the collaboration of G�lsen Bal, an internationally known curator and theoretician, who through her exhibition within the exhibition also brings an external perspective on the biennial�s theme, thus supplementing the fundamental idea of the programmed exhibition project. Artists respond differently to the space and time in which they live, the space they leave, and where they reside, for like every other rational being on the planet, they cannot escape social and political realities. Some of the works presented in the exhibition allude to the inanities of today�s world and/or convey in a subtle way their own viewpoint, usually spiced with a good measure of cynicism and irony. We might mention first of all the work of Ahmet �ğ�t, whose canvas bags, which are intended to be given to each visitor for their long-term use, display printed sentences (prohibitions); these inscriptions may not be associated with the local area, but in the context of the work Clear Blue Sky vs. Generous Earth, their provenance is not the most important thing. What strikes the eye is the fact that we live in a world of often quite absurd and senseless prohibitions, whose content we do not question; instead, we usually obey them and respect them faithfully. The artist Nada Prlja approaches the topic by underscoring, and deliberately warning us about, the power of the news media; by censoring certain content in the newspaper in a unique and graphically accomplished manner, she leads us to realizations we may be conscious of deep inside ourselves but rarely give voice to. The newspaper medium is also the tool through which Nasan Tur presents his work Ljubljana says� Here the artist strings together words or texts from graffiti found on the streets of Ljubljana, which act as a mirror of the city and its soul. The magazine medium is the tool of artist Taiyo Kimura, who in a chosen magazine cuts out the eyes in any photograph where a person or his eyes is depicted. Entitled Feel Your Gravity, this work, in which countless eyes watch us through layers and layers of paper, sends chills up the spine, both in its direct communication with the viewer and in the way it translates the idea itself � namely, the medium�s gaze on our reality, or perhaps our own distorted gaze on the media as the messenger of the common truth. Three projects use the book as their medium. In Katarina Zdjelar�s work, Another Publication, 164 books on the same basic theme create a single whole, and although each one has its own complete story in its text, the books acquire their ultimate meaning in their joint installation, for each cover is the work of a different artist. The artist-run space BAS is also represented by books. They operate their own publishing enterprise (Bent) and have an extraordinary international collection of artist�s books, which is based on voluntary donations from artists. The artists whose books they have published and who are being presented at the biennial have prepared micro-inserts for the exhibition project to round out the whole presentation of the collection. Vuk Ćosić, too is using the medium of the book, or booklet, to present his well-known work Deep ASCII; specifically, this is a �flip book.� In the spirit of the Web, the medium for which the work was originally created, this pocket-sized book aims at broader audiences; it is available to anyone who, rather than clicking on the computer, prefers to reach into the pocket in their coat or pants and �read� the work in a somewhat different manner. In Black Oval, the artist Ignacio Uriarte uses technologically simple means (a photocopy machine) to address the problem of reproducibility and the potential errors and inevitable deviations from the original idea that come with it. The lengthy process that reveals the mistakes that arise when you photocopy the same element over and over is encapsulated in a �fast� animated video presentation � especially welcome to those consumerist souls who don�t have the time to watch the analogue demonstration (through a presentation of the photocopies) of the initial element�s mutation. Deviations from established matrices are also at the center of artist Alban Muja�s work San Pellegrino Made in Kosovo. By renaming of a universally known brand of water, without, however, altering the visual identity of the bottle or label, the artist draws attention to our all-too-frequent pre-assessment of reality on the basis of a quick and cursory glance at some identifying element, code, form, or even personal I.D. Ivan Moudov�s project uses wine, a beverage usually found at contemporary art openings, and thus makes a witty contribution to the opening ceremony, where wine will be served along with San Pellegrino water. The artist produces and bottles wine himself (in collaboration with professional vintners), and has thus created his own registered label, Wine for Openings; this wine he bottles in a predetermined edition in the context of the art system. In various ways, the urban environment with its emphasis on the architectural landscape influences the living habits, social networks, and status of individuals in the ramified structures of the world in which they move and live. This topic is at the forefront of the works of the artist Miha �trukelj, who creates errors in photographs of urban landscapes through electronic media, and then as he translates them into the classic medium of the print, deprives them even more of their actual appearance. The artist Vahram Aghasyan focuses on architectural achievements that flirt with the predefined social hinterland of those who use particular structures. In Ruins of Our Time, his focus is on suburban bus stops, which have become sad monuments to their own past and a dark shadow of the future thanks to changes in the political and social setting. Patrick Ward�s concern, on the other hand, is to play with the architecture of the gallery space itself � a space intended for showing art. By relocating his art project outside of the gallery, he makes us want to look for the object and its significance. When we find it, however, it places us before a stark message that speaks only of its own existence: This is it! |
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