Newsletter 21
News from the sections:
Obituary:
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June 2003
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Prophetic corners
6th Periferic Biennial
Iasi, Romania, May 30—June 14, 2003
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IASI in northeastern Romania (ca 350.000 inhabitants) is a city most
people probably have not heard of. Still, it is a former capital (of the
Principality of Moldova, which existed until the mid-19th century) and
an important centre for culture and learning. Romania's first university
was founded here in 1860. Today, Iasi hosts seven universities. The city
has a number of cultural institutions, and many churches and monasteries.
IASI, like all of Romania, suffered physically and psychologically from
the Ceausescu regime, particularly in the late 1970s and the 1980s. Much
of the oldcity centre was ruined. It is only now that Romania is beginning
a process of serious economic and social recovery. The people of Iasi
predict that theircity will become a southeastern outpost of both NATO
and EU within five years or so.
THE PERIFERIC BIENNIAL exists since 1997. It is initiated and organized
by the Vector Foundation and its chairman, the artist and university lecturer
MATEI BEJENARU. The first editions were centered on performative practices
in contemporary art.
THE 6TH PERIFERIC BIENNIAL is the most extensive contemporary art initiative
in Romania after the fall of communism. Since 2000, the focus of the organizers
has increasingly been on creating an international contemporary art event.
This year’s edition marks the transition from respected regional
festival to aspiring international biennial.
PROPHETIC CORNERS
International contemporary art exhibition
Opening: Friday, May 30, 17:00 in the Palace of Culture, Iasi
PROPHETIC CORNERS takes place in the Palace of Culture, the disused Turkish
Bath and city locations in Iasi. It is an idea-based venture for a specific
geographic location rather than an event with a geopolitical agenda. The
exhibition is curated by ANDERS KREUGER, independent curator based in
Stockholm and former director of NIFCA in Helsinki.
PROPHETIC CORNERS explores the concept of “dealing with the future".
The title is borrowed from WALTER BENJAMIN'S "A Berlin Childhood
Around Nineteen Hundred":
"This corner of the Zoological Garden showed signs of something
about to come. It was a prophetic corner. Just as some plants are said
to have the power of letting us see into the future, there are locations
that have the same gift. Mostly, they are deserted plots, but also tree
tops facing walls, blind alleys or front gardens where no one ever stops.
In such places, everything that really lies ahead of us seems like a
past."
PROPHETIC CORNERS articulates different relations of time (the future
as a non-utopian temporal category) and place (the site as a non-hierarchical
spatial category).
PROPHETIC CORNERS accommodates both "activist" and "contemplative"
approaches to the overall theme. Both "performative" and "pictorial"
works are included, by artists and artists’ groups from different
countries and generations:
- HÜSEYIN ALPTEKIN (Turkey. Born 1957. Lives and works in Istanbul):
"Mattresses to Imaginary Destinations" (installation)
- LILIANA BASARAB (Romania. Born 1979. Lives and works in Iasi): "The
Curse" (video installation)
- ERICK BELTRÁN (Mexico. Born 1974. Lives and works in Amsterdam):
"Romania Reads" (installation and publication)
- PAVEL BRAILA (Republic of Moldova. Born 1971. Lives and works in Chisinau
and Brussels): "105/7" (video)
- MIRIAM BÄCKSTRÖM (Sweden. Born 1968. Lives and works in
Stockholm): "Stickelbärsvägen 7" (photography)
- A K DOLVEN (Norway. Born 1954. Lives and works in London and Oslo):
"between the morning and the handbag" (video installation)
- ANNIKA ERIKSSON (Sweden. Born 1956. Lives and works in Berlin and
Stockholm): "The Future Is Here" (performative project), "Klas
Malmberg Dancing" (video)
- ION GRIGORESCU (Romania. Born 1945. Lives and works in Bucharest):
a collection of films, photographs, text-based works and objects from
the late 1970s and recent years, among them "Dialogue with Ceausescu"
(8mm film)
- RÓZA EL-HASSAN (Syria/Hungary. Born 1966. Lives and works in
Budapest): "Self-Connected Tree" (photography and painting)
- HARALDUR JÓNSSON (Iceland. Born 1961. Lives and works in Reykjavik):
"Water" (text/sound installation), "Galaxy" (slide
projection), "Illuminated Emotions" (slide projection)
- CARSTEN HÖLLER (Germany. Born 1961. Lives and works in Stockholm):
"Together Into the Future" (banner for city locations)
- JOACHIM KOESTER (Denmark. Born 1962. Lives and works in New York and
Copenhagen): "Bialowiesza" (photography)
- HENRIETTA LEHTONEN (Finland. Born 1965. Lives and works in Tampere):
"Poisoned Skirt 1—2" (objects), "Ghost" (object),
"The Sky Over Tampere" (installation)
- MATTS LEIDERSTAM (Sweden. Born 1956. Lives and works in Stockholm):
"See and Be Seen. Iasi 1842" (installation)
- IEVA MEDIODIA (Lithuania/USA. Born 1968. Lives and works in New York):
"The Writing On the Wall" (painting installation)
- AYDAN MURTEZAOGLU (Turkey. Born 1961. Lives and works in Istanbul):
"At Room Temperature", "Thermo Couples", "Eavesdroppers"
(photography)
- N55 (INGVIL AARBAKKE, Norway, born 1970; RIKKE LUTHER, Denmark, born
1970, JON SORVIN, Denmark, born 1964, CECILIA WENDT, Sweden, born 1964).
The collective lives and works in Copenhagen: "SHOP" and "LAND"
(participatory projects);
- JOAO PENALVA (Portugal. Born 1949. Lives and works in London): "366
Rivers" video), "Kitsune" (video);
- LIA PERJOVSCHI (Romania. Born 1961. Lives and works in Bucharest):
"Endless Collection: Newspaper" (publication), "Endless
Collection: Globe" (objects)
- QUASAR (Romania. Science-fiction association in Iasi): presentation
of their activities from the 1970s until now
- ARTURAS RAILA (Lithuania. Born 1962. Lives and works in Vilnius):
"Forever Lacking and Never Quite Enough" (video and poetry
installation), "Primitive Sky" (video)
- NINA ROOS (Finland. Born 1956. Lives and works in Helsinki): "Introduction
to a Place: Picture Track 1" (painting)
- BRUNO SERRALONGUE (France. Born 1968. Lives and works in Paris): "Expo
2000" (photography)
- PRANEET SOI (India. Born 1971. Lives and works in Amsterdam): "Capturing
the World’s Memories" (painting), "Iasi Mural" (painting
installation)
- MIKA TAANILA (Finland. Born 1965. Lives and works in Helsinki): "The
Future is not what it Used to Be" (video)
- THORVALDUR THORSTEINSSON (Iceland. Born 1960. Lives and works in Los
Angeles): "Wanted" (poster project), "The Most Real Death"
(video, with HELENA JÓNSDÓTTIR)
- DRÉ WAPENAAR (The Netherlands. Born 1961. Lives and works in
Rotterdam): "Tents" (photographic documentation)
- ERWIN WURM (Austria. Born 1954. Lives and works in Vienna): "One-Minute
Sculptures" (performative installations)
PROPHETIC CORNERS will be documented in an extensive illustrated catalogue,
edited, designed and printed in Romania during the summer of 2003. The
catalogue will be available from the Vector Foundation in Iasi.
A selection of the works exhibited in Iasi will also be shown at the
National Museum of Contemporary Art in Bucharest on June 27—July
25, 2003.
DEALING WITH THE FUTURE
International seminar with curators and academics
Saturday, May 31, 14:00—18:00 at the Goethe Zentrum, Iasi
Moderated by: MATEI BEJENARU, ANDERS KREUGER
Invited speakers:
- BRANKO DIMITRIJEVIC (Serbia. Director of the Centre for Contemporary
Art, Belgrade);
- VASIF KORTUN (Turkey. Director of Proje4L and Platform Garanti Contemporary
Art Centre, Istanbul);
- MARIA LIND (Sweden. Director of Kunstverein Munich);
- ALINA MUNGIU-PIPPIDI (Romania. Sociologist at the University of Fiesole,
Italy)
- IRINA SANDOMIRSKAJA (Russia. Professor of cultural studies at Södertörn
University College, Stockholm)
VIDEO P6
Young video artists from Romania and the Republic of Moldova
Opening: Saturday, May 31, 11:00 at the French Cultural Center, Iasi
VIDEO P6 – 1
Romanian Programme, selected by: MATEI BEJENARU, IRINA CIOS (Bucharest),
RON SLUIK (Chisinau)
Participating artists:
- DAN ACOSTIOIAEI (Iasi)
- DANA BUZATU (Timisoara);
- AUREL CORNEA (Iasi);
- CRISTINA DAVID (Bucharest);
- OANA FELIPOV (Iasi);
- NATALIA GHINGHINA (Rm. Valcea);
- VALENTIN PUDERZA (Bucharest);
- EUGEN SAVINESCU (Cluj);
- MONA VATAMANU & FLOE TUDOR (Bucharest);
VIDEO P6 – 2
Moldavian Programme, selected by: MATEI BEJENARU and LILIA DRAGNEVA (Chisinau)
Participating artists:
- PAVEL BRAILA (Brussels / Chisinau)
- LILIA DRAGNEVA & LUCIA MACARI (Chisinau)
- VEACESLAV DRUTA (Chisinau)
- VALENTIN TARNA (Chisinau)
- STEFAN RUSU (Chisinau)
HISTORY OF THE PERIFERIC BIENNIAL
Documentary exhibition
Opening: Saturday, May 31, 20:00 at the "Cupola" Gallery, Iasi
Organized by: Vector Foundation, Iasi
THE 6th PERIFERIC BIENNIAL IS SUPPORTED BY:
City Hall of Iasi; Södertörn University College (Stockholm);
Nordic Cultural Foundation (Copenhagen); IASPIS (Stockholm); Romanian
Ministry of Culture (Bucharest); FRAME (Helsinki); Mondriaan Foundation
(Amsterdam); DCA (Copenhagen); Pakmaya Ltd. (Istanbul / Pascani); Office
for Contemporary Art (Oslo); Swedish Institute (Stockholm); Rijksakademie
van Beeldenden Kunsten (Amsterdam); Moderna Museet International Programme
(Stockholm); Sindan Cultural Foundation (Bucharest); Kultur Kontakt Austria
(Vienna); Swiss Cultural Programme in Romania (Bucharest); AFAA (Paris);
Central Art Commission (Helsinki), Ministry of Education and Culture (Reykjavik);
Embassy of Sweden (Bucharest); Royal Norwegian Embassy (Bucharest); French
Cultural Centre (Iasi); Goethe-Zentrum (Iasi); “Moldova” National
Museum Consortium (Iasi); ICCA (Bucharest); National Museum of Contemporary
Art (Bucharest), Romanian National Radio “Romania 3” (Bucharest)
KSA:K (Chisinau)
Last updated :
09/25/2003
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