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Golden Thread Gallery: Agent Absurd - 1 May 2009 to 7 June 2009 Current Exhibition |
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Agent Absurd 1st May � 7th June 2009 This summer the Golden Thread Gallery uncovers the world of Agent Absurd, an exhibition exploring contemporary Polish culture as part of the year long, UK wide Polish Season, Agent Absurd began its life on a research trip to Poland by gallery director Peter Richards. As our agent explored, he met Monika Szewczyk, Director of Galeria Arsenal in Bialystok. Together they have worked to bring to Belfast some of the most challenging art being made in Poland today featuring, Little Red Riding Hood, a miner, and a minor earthquake! The work ranges from installation, objects, to film and video. Agent Absurd is pleased to be part of the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival (don�t miss Belching out the Devil by Mark Thomas) the Irish Congress of Trade Unions Mayday Festival and �Polish Season in the UK� initiated by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute in association with the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland. Agent Absurd has joined forces to realize a series of projects that celebrates the contribution of migrant workers and ethnic minority communities with the ICTU Migrant Workers Unit, Northern Ireland Council of Ethnic Minorities, kropka.pl, Kameleon Youth Group and Belfast & District Trades Union Council. The Golden Thread Gallery will host advice clinics for workers and discussion groups, we hope you can come, and enjoy our program of events! Oh did we mention we will be open on Sunday�s from the 3rd of May, and every Sunday until September! What a nice way to spend a Sunday enjoying an exhibition with friends and family. Program of events: Exhibition Launch / reception 6.00 -8.00pm Friday 1st May Launch of New Banner for the ICTU Migrant Workers Unit, created by Kameleon Polish Youth Group, Belfast City Council�s Youth Forum and artists from the Golden Thread Gallery, 2nd May at 12 noon at the Art College and is part of the May Day Rally. Belching out the Devil � Mark Thomas Reading, 8pm Thursday 7th May, venue Golden Thread Gallery, see www.cqaf.com in Words& Ideas. Tickets �5. Panel Discussion: Perceptions of �The Other�, 7pm Thursday, 14th May, venue: Golden Thread Gallery Employment & Welfare Advice Clinic for Migrant Workers, 6-8pm on Friday 15th May, venue: Golden Thread Gallery Panel Discussion: The Absurdity of the Global Economy, 7pm Thursday, 21st May, venue: Golden Thread Gallery Polish Cultural Evening featuring artwork, music, good food, drinks & sociability, 6pm - 8pm. Friday 22nd May, venue: Golden Thread Gallery. Please contact the Golden Thread Gallery for details of artist�s talks, panel discussions, workshops, multi-lingual gallery tours, migrant workers advice clinics, etc. Gallery Opening Hours Tuesdays to Fridays 10.30am � 5.30pm Saturdays 10.30am � 4pm Sunday 10.30am � 4pm Golden Thread Gallery 84-94 Great Patrick Street Belfast BT1 2LU. Tel: 028 90330920Email: [email protected] Web: goldenthreadgallery.org.uk ADDITIONAL TEXT AGENT ABSURD Artists: Azorro (Oskar Dawicki, �ukasz Sk�pski, Wojciech Niedzielko, Igor Krenz), �ukasz Gronowski, Zbigniew Libera, Jacek Malinowski, Agata Michowska, Tomasz Mr�z, J�zef Robakowski, Daniel Rumiancew, Janek Simon. �Agent Absurd� presents a tendency in contemporary Polish art to comment on reality in an ironical and unmasking way. The main instrument the artists use, to reveal the absurdities of the surrounding world is a sense of humour. Poles have never been perceived as particularly witty Europeans. Similarly, Polish art � not without reason � is more commonly identified with romantic martyrology and pompous realisations than humorous commentary. Such artistic narratives were determined by the specific political situation of Poland: a country deprived of sovereignty during the whole of the 19th century and later, between the years 1945 and 1989, ideologically occupied by communism. The year 1989 was the turning point in Poland�s history. Not only did that year bring political and economical changes, but it also opened new opportunities for debate in art. Artists, freed from censorship began analysing the foundations of cultural identity (problems of Polishness, nation and religion), new phenomena characteristic of capitalist and post-totalitarian societies, as well as their own condition in a post communist reality in dealing with the art market and exhibiting institutions. Despite a common belief, there is a long tradition of ironical attitudes towards reality both among Poles and in Polish art. It would be enough to mention Witold Gombrowicz�s literature and the activity of such art groups as the Film Forum Workshop or Lodz Kaliska. In the days of real communism, a sense of humour, often exaggerated, allowed people to distance themselves and domesticate the absurdities of social life. Making fun of the nonsense of reality used to be an effective instrument to critique the system and the perfect method for revealing its absurdities. Irony still remains a popular artistic strategy. A sense of humour and the creation of absurd situations give rise to serious reflection on post-transformational reality and its phenomena. Sarcastic comments on the condition of art and the artist describe the mechanisms of evaluation of art, the paradigm of novelty and originality, and the place of both art and artists in society. Humour and satire allow us to look at the stereotypes rooted in common imagination, capitalism and consumerism, icons of pop culture and media images of the world, the ritualisation and automaticity of everyday activities from a different angle. Irony, the absurd and the grotesque are interesting instruments with which to analyse the imperfections of reality. The stereotype of the sad Pole despairing over unjust misfortune is one of those clich�s that should be revealed. Monika Szewczyk (Arsenal Gallery, Bia�ystok, Poland) |
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