DOCSLIB.ORG

Issue 22 US Letter.Indd

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Issue 22 US Letter.Indd ONN CURATING.org Issue 22 / April 2014 Notes on Curating, freely distributed, non-commercial Politics of Display Contributors René Block, Elena Filipovic, Rainer Ganahl, Anke Hoffmann and Yvonne Volkart, Saša Nabergoj, Paul O’Neill, Dorothee Richter, Marco Scotini, Monan Slome and Joshua Simon, Mirjam Varadinis, Anton Vidokle, Rein Wolfs Interviews conducted by Garance Massart-Blum and Milena Brendle-John, Garance Massart-Blum and Amber Hickey, Melanie Büchel and Jeannine Herrmann, Jill Keiser, Nkule Mabaso, Sylvia Ruttimann and Karin Seinsoth, Lindsey Sharman, Katharina Schendl and Ingela Johansson Teresa Diehl, Same Time, Different Landscape (2009) detail, Glicerine soap, filament, Courtesy of the artist Contents 0 4 45 Curating: politics of display, politics The Global White Cube of site and politics of transfer and Elena Filipovic translation Editorial by Dorothee Richter & Nkule Mabaso 64 Saša Nabergoj 07 in conversation with Jill Keiser Revisiting Display: Display and Backstage Dorothee Richter 69 Anke Hoffmann and Yvonne Volkart 16 interviewed by Melanie Büchel Rein Wolfs and Jeannine Herrmann interviewed by Garance Massart-Blum and Amber Hickey 73 René Block 19 interviewed by Sylvia Ruttimann Anton Vidokle and Karin Seinsoth interviewed by Nkule Mabaso 79 23 Re-Staging of an exhibition-concept Le monde est à nous Manon Slome & Joshua Simon Marco Scotini 83 28 Aesthetics of Terror Mirjam Varadinis Manon Slome interviewed by Garance Massart-Blum and Milena Brendle-John 91 Rainer Ganahl 34 interviewed by Katharina Schendl Co-productive Exhibition-Making and Ingela Johansson and Three Principal Categories of Organisation: the Background, the 97 Middle-ground and the Foreground Imprint Paul O’Neill 41 Paul O’Neill interviewed by Lindsey Sharman 3 Issue 22 / April 2014 Editorial Curating: politics and display Curating: politics of display, politics of site and politics of transfer and translation Editorial by Dorothee Richter and Nkule Mabaso This issue of OnCurating consists of a variety of texts and interviews, which were developed out of interviews from participants connected to the Postgraduate programme in Curating (www.curating.org). Many of the authors and interviewees gave lectures and participated in the programme over the last four years, adding to the dialogue in the postgraduate programme, as well as other curators in the field. In the spirit of slowing down, in sometimes rather a hastily discourse, we would like to present them to a broad public, which engages with our main topics: politics of display, politics of site and politics of transfer and translation, topics which refer clearly to the research institution where the Postgraduate Programme in Curating is situated: the Institute Cultural Studies in the Arts at the Zurich Uni- versity of the Arts. We see the curatorial discourse not primarily as a philosophical discourse with some practical outcomes. We are always interested in the power relations and politics, which structure the field. As curators and as researchers we have chosen the attitude that practice and theory are intertwined profoundly, and both materialisations have the ability “to do things” with art and with words, to intervene, to highlight. Elena Filipovic’s Global White Cube, first published in 2005, traces the gene- alogy of exhibition formats through the development and success of the white cube, its putative neutrality, and its ubiquitous architectural use in commercial galleries and art fairs. Filipovic discusses the global hegemonic shifts brought on by the white cube’s impact on contemporary art, curating, and art institutions. Paul O’Neill writes about the ‘group exhibition’ and how it has opened up a range of curatorial approaches to demystify the role of mediation, and as such has also enabled divergent artistic practices to be exhibited together under a single rubric. He does this by examining curatorial statement across a period of time show how each group show, was the result of divergent, complex, and dialectical rela- tions between the curator and the artist as co-producers, during a process of co- production, which has the possibility to lead to the construction of co-operative and co-authored group exhibition-formations. Dorothee Richter describes the relationship of terms commonly used within the activity of “exhibiting”, and the promise they hold of disclosing other- wise concealed knowledge. Richter considers various historic exhibitions that came 4 Issue 22 / April 2014 Editorial Curating: politics and display into existence, from a close reading of Mary Anne Staniszewski’s study, The Power of Display (1998) in order to thereafter discuss contemporary exhibitions. Staniszewski concludes that there are three normative kinds of exhibition developed over time, the propagandist, the ennobling, and the pedagogic exhibition. Richter makes the addition of a fourth category, which she refers to as the “self-critical” exhibition. Marco Scotini in his text The World belongs to us, runs through seminal moments of the last 10 years that reveal the self exploitation and lack of control that art workers have in the art system which is poised against them in favour of big institutions and money. Scotini includes several examples that show there is no longer an outside; all institutions have been subsumed into the fold of the hypervis- ible art organisations, which he points to as being more hypothetical than real. Monan Slome and Joshua Simon, write about the Aesthetics of Terror workshop, which took at the Postgraduate Programme in Curating at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) in 2008, and generated a set of questions, leading to the development of the exhibition originally planned to be shown at the Chelsea Art Museum, New York. The show encountered many difficulties and received asylum in another institution. The exhibition and text take the events of 9/11 as a starting point and the precipitating events that followed are contemplated from a specific formal perspective and analysis is of the pictorial strategies of terrorism through certain visual characteristics of the spectacle of terror and its echoes in contemporary art. This issue also includes a number of interviews from contemporary curators in the field: René Block discusses his career spanning decades from 1964, at the age of twenty-two, when he founded his first gallery in Berlin, and touches on the risk and challenges that have followed. The interview is divided along the range of Blocks activities including curating, art promotion and financing and collecting. Block gives insight on the development of art in the early 1970s and the advent of the Inde- pendent curator made prominent by Harald Szeemann. Rainer Ganahl, talks about the nature of his production and his objective replication of the ‘often obscene and hideous’ language of economics and politics in his Credit Crunch Meals series, which deals with the obscene economic injustice revealed by the credit crisis that hit the international markets in 2008. He further expands on the notion of defining a practice, the role of the curator, the dynamic power-relation in the exhibition making process, and speaks on the relation to autonomy and commodification of objects and other aspects as explicated in his 2007 text, When attitudes becomes curating (2007). Saša Nabergoj expands on her presentation at the Kunstverein Zürich (Wäscherei) in September 2011. In this interview she explicates what is missing if there is no time for laziness, what she is trying to get out of a discourse about lazi- ness and gives insight on the artistic scene in Ljubljana, the economic situation artists of artists in Slovenia and the curator roles in ‘collaborating’ with artists. Paul O’Neill touches on artists run centres that have eventually become institutions and the instrumentalisation for art for social engineering purposes and draws out the paradigmatic problems posed by setting New Institutionalism as a short lived shift happening in the last fifteen years, with it major proponents ini- tially all in relatively small institutions, which they have all left for larger institutions. 5 Issue 22 / April 2014 Editorial Curating: politics and display He explains further the position of the individual curators who coined the term, is a by-product of the internalization of the modus operandi of the institution. Mirjam Varadinis discusses the site-specific exhibition, Shifting Identi- ties (2008), which had as one of its venues the Zurich Airport; and reflected on themes such as globalization, borders, and migration. Mirjam speaks about the complexities of working in the third space, like an airport with this exhibition, in which 67 artists participated and confronted changes in the concept of identity on multiple levels. In this almost candid interview with Nkule Mabaso, Anton Vidokle writes about his early influences and the development of his creative interests while grow- ing up in Moscow. Vidokle finds the subjective nature of curating especially prob- lematic and discusses the objective, systematic, almost scientific, practice which most of the time it is not. 6 Issue 22 / April 2014 Revisiting Display: Display and Backstage Curating: politics and display Revisiting Display: Display and Backstage Dorothee Richter In what follows, I use the terms “display” and “backstage” to somewhat loosely describe a particular relationship within the activity commonly referred to as “exhibiting,” which is said to hold the promise of disclosing knowledge hitherto concealed. This relationship,
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Participatory Art and Creative Audience Engagement
    University of Calgary PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository Graduate Studies Legacy Theses 2011 Practices of Fluid Authority: Participatory Art and Creative Audience Engagement Smolinski, Richard Smolinski, R. (2011). Practices of Fluid Authority: Participatory Art and Creative Audience Engagement (Unpublished doctoral thesis). University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. doi:10.11575/PRISM/22585 http://hdl.handle.net/1880/48892 doctoral thesis University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission. Downloaded from PRISM: https://prism.ucalgary.ca UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY Practices of Fluid Authority: Participatory Art and Creative Audience Engagement by Richard Smolinski A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF ART CALGARY, ALBERTA DECEMBER 2011 Richard Smolinski 2011 i The author of this thesis has granted the University of Calgary a non-exclusive license to reproduce and distribute copies of this thesis to users of the University of Calgary Archives. Copyright remains with the author. Theses and dissertations available in the University of Calgary Institutional Repository are solely for the purpose of private study and research. They may not be copied or reproduced, except as permitted by copyright laws, without written authority of the copyright owner. Any commercial use or re-publication is strictly prohibited. The original Partial Copyright License attesting to these terms and signed by the author of this thesis may be found in the original print version of the thesis, held by the University of Calgary Archives.
    [Show full text]
  • Said Atabekov
    Said Atabekov From the series Wolves of the Steppes (Airborne Forces), 2011 Photo print 100 x 150 cm Edition #: 2/5 + 1 AP 1 From the series Wolves of the Steppes, 2013 Photo print 100 x 150 cm Edition #: 1/5 + 1 AP 2 From the series Wolves of the Steppes (Janabazar), 2011 Photo print 100 x 150 cm Edition #: 2/5 + 1 AP 3 From the series Wolves of the Steppes (Alpamyskokpar), 2013 Photo print 100 x 150 cm Edition #: 3/5 + 1 AP 4 From the series Steppenwolf, 2013 Photo print 100 x 150 cm Edition #: 1/5 + 1 AP 5 From the series Steppenwolf (Arsenal), 2014 Photo print 105 x 70 cm Edition #: 1/5 + 1 AP From the series Steppenwolf (Adidas), 2016 Photo print 105 x 70 cm Edition #: 1/5 + 1 AP 6 From the series Steppenwolf (Airborne Forces), 2014 Photo print 105 x 70 cm Edition #: 1/5 + 1 AP 7 From the series Steppenwolf (Ferrari), 2014 Photo print 105 x 70 cm Edition #: 2/5 + 1 AP 8 From the series Steppenwolf (GWDC), 2013 Photo print 105 x 70 cm Edition #: 1/5 + 1 AP From the series Steppenwolf (ZSCA KZ), 2016 Photo print 105 x 70 cm Edition #: 1/5 + 1 AP 9 From the series Steppenwolf (Border Control), 2015 Photo print 105 x 70 cm Edition #: 2/5 + 1 AP 10 From the series Steppenwolf (Aktau Sea Port KZ), 2014 Photo print 105 x 70 cm Edition #: 1/5 + 1 AP 11 From the series Steppenwolf (Liverpool), 2016 Photo print 105 x 70 cm Edition #: 2/5 + 1 AP From the series Steppenwolf (Panasonic), 2016 Photo print 105 x 70 cm Edition #: 2/5 + 1 AP 12 Saddle (Oxygen), 2017 wood and car paint 33 x 34 x 47 cm 13 Said Atabekov (b1965) has been acknowledged internationally for his mix of ethnographic signs, recollections of the Russian avant – garde and post – Soviet global interferences.
    [Show full text]
  • Analyzing the Barometer of Responses
    Chapter 6 Don’t Touch My Holocaust – Analyzing the Barometer of Responses Israeli Artists Challenge the Holocaust Taboo Tami Katz-Freiman The national museum in the eternal capital of the Jewish people should encourage many exhibitions attesting that we are indeed liberated from the traumas of the past. If the Israel Museum could get hold of the bones of Holocaust victims, they could invite kindergarten children to build castles. Perhaps the Israel Museum should also import hair from Auschwitz to hang on it postmodern works.1 This sarcastic and radical response, published in Maariv on January 19, 1997, by Holocaust survivor, Knesset member, and journalist Joseph Lapid, following the controversial exhibition of Israeli artist Ram Katzir at the Israel Museum, reflects the problematic nature, the hypersensitivity, and the intricacy of the current Holocaust discourse in Israel. In this essay, I delve into the pressing issues of this highly delicate discourse. I attempt to locate the very root of its problematic nature, wherefrom all taboos and paradoxes stem pertaining to the discourse of Holocaust representation in 188 contemporary Israeli art. The Zionist ethos is informed by two fundamental notions: Holocaust and Heroism and Negation of Exile that are crucial to the understanding of the problematic nature inherent in Holocaust representation in Israel. In the following paragraphs, I trace the implications of these two perceptions on Holocaust representation in art, and attempt to categorize and classify modes of Holocaust representation in contemporary Israeli art in light of, or in relation to, the public sensitivity toward the manipulative use of the Holocaust. In order to elucidate some basic concepts relating to the Israeli black hole, I examine some strategies employed by current Israeli artists who are communicating Auschwitz2 in their work.
    [Show full text]
  • HAGGERTY NEWS Newsletter of the Patrick and Beatrice Haggerty Museum of Art, Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Fall 2006, Vol
    HAGGERTY NEWS Newsletter of the Patrick and Beatrice Haggerty Museum of Art, Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Fall 2006, vol. 20, no. 2 Haggerty Exhibition Explores Work of Emerging Central Asian Artists After the collapse of the Soviet Union, artists from the Central Asian states struggled to reclaim their identity and shape their emerging cultures. The exhibitionArt and Conflict in Central Asia which opens at the Haggerty Museum on Thursday, October 19 focuses on the efforts and aspirations of artists from the states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan. The opening lecture will be given in the Museum at 6 p.m. by Valerie Ibraeva, director of the Soros Center for Contemporary Art of Almaty (Kazakhstan), and scholar on Central Asian art. A reception will follow from 7 to 8 p.m. in the Museum. Erbosyn Meldibekov (Kazakhstan), Pol Pot, 2002, photograph The five featured artists are Said Atabekov, Erbossyn Meldibekov, Almagul Menlibayera, Rustan Khalfin and Georgy Tryakin-Bukharov who work Haggerty Exhibition Explores Work of Emerging Central Asian Artists in several mediums relying heavily on video and photography. Over 50 works are included. The history of the region, current conflicts as well as national traditions are all explored by the artists as they strive to express their interpretation of the relation of the Asian states to the rest of the world. Many of the works were shown at the Central Asian Pavilion at the 2005 Venice Biennale. Enrico Mascelloni, one of the foremost authorities on contemporary art of the region, is the co-curator of the exhibition with Valerie Ibraeva. He will assist Lynne Shumow, curator of education, in preparing a series of educational programs in conjunction with the exhibition.
    [Show full text]
  • Experience of Borders. the Israeli Conceptual Art at the Turn of Sixties and Seventies
    doi:10.32020/ARTandDOC/22/2020/17 VARIA ENGENGENG--- LISHLISHLISH SUMSUMSUM--- MAMAMA--- Ewa KĘDZIORA RY EXPERIENCE OF BORDERS. THE ISRAELI RYRY CONCEPTUAL ART AT THE TURN OF THE SIXTIES AND SEVENTIES The topic of the article is Israeli art in the face of geopolitical and social consequences of two wars – Six Days (1967) and Yom Kippur (1973). The article discusses the activity of conceptual artists who have taken up the problems associated with experiencing life in disputed territories, thus, for the first time in Israeli history of art, critically referring to political and social reality. The starting point for the study is the reception of the concept of political boundaries in the artistic creativity of that period. In the first part, the article introduces the political and social situation at the turn of the 1960s and 1970s, i.e. the period in which the ‘map’ of Israel underwent multiple transformations, and the beginning of the occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip affected the polarization of social moods. In the second, the atmosphere of emerging conceptualism in Israel was presented. The exhibition entitled The Borders, which took place at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem (1980), and the performance by Joshua Neustein, Project: Jerusalem River (1970) serve as the context. The third part of the text focuses on the analysis of projects relating to the concepts of maps and demarcation lines, among which were discussed the cartographic ‘games’ of Michael Druks, the performance of Joshua Neustein Territorial Imperative (1974), and Touching the Borders (1974) by Pinchas Cohen Gan. The last part of the study is an analysis of projects related to the topic of the Arab community.
    [Show full text]
  • Staring Back at the Sun: Video Art from Israel, 1970-2012 an Exhibition and Public Program Touring Internationally, 2016-2017
    Staring Back at the Sun: Video Art from Israel, 1970-2012 An Exhibition and Public Program Touring Internationally, 2016-2017 Roee Rosen, still from Confessions Coming Soon, 2007, video. 8:40 minutes. Video, possibly more than any other form of communication, has shaped the world in radical ways over the past half century. It has also changed contemporary art on a global scale. Its dual “life” as an agent of mass communication and an artistic medium is especially intertwined in Israel, where artists have been using video artistically in response to its use in mass media and to the harsh reality video mediates on a daily basis. The country’s relatively sudden exposure to commercial television in the 1990s coincided with the Palestinian uprising, or Intifada, and major shifts in internal politics. Artists responded to this in what can now be considered a “renaissance” of video art, with roots traced back to the ’70s. An examination of these pieces, many that have rarely been presented outside Israel, as well as recent, iconic works from the past two decades offers valuable lessons on how art and culture are shaped by larger forces. Staring Back at the Sun: Video Art from Israel, 1970-2012 traces the development of contemporary video practice in Israel and highlights work by artists who take an incisive, critical perspective towards the cultural and political landscape in Israel and beyond. Showcasing 35 works, this program includes documentation of early performances, films and videos, many of which have never been presented outside of Israel until now. Informed by the international 1 history of video art, the program surveys the development of the medium in Israel and explores how artists have employed technology and material to examine the unavoidable and messy overlap of art and politics.
    [Show full text]
  • Said Atabekov Born 1965 in Bes-Terek, Uzbekistan
    www.aspangallery.com Said Atabekov Born 1965 in Bes-Terek, Uzbekistan. He lives and works in Shymkent, Kazakhstan. Education: 1988-1992 Kasteev Shymkent Art College Selected solo exhibitions: 2017 66 Lbs, Andakulova Gallery, Dubai 2016 Steppen Wolves, Esentai Gallery, Almaty 2015 Steppen Wolves, Artwin Gallery, Moscow 2011 Said Atabekov: The Dream of Genghis Khan, Laura Bulian Gallery, Milan 2009 Son of the East, Laura Bulian Gallery, Milan 2007 Way to Rome, Soros Centre for Contemporary Art, Almaty Selected group exhibitions: 2017 Kazakhstan’s National Pavilion at EXPO-2017, Astana Suns and Neons above Kazakhstan, Yarat Contemporary Art Space, Baku Neon Paradise: Shamanism from Central Asia, Laura Bulian Gallery, Milan 2016 TEDxAstana Women It’s about Time, KazMedia Centre, Astana 2015 Fairy Tales, Taipei Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei The Migrant (Moving) Image, A Tale of a Tub, Rotterdam Topografica, American University of Central Asia, Bishkek Arcadia, Kunstvereniging, Diepenheim Walk in Asia, Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo Strategien fur das unplanbare – himmel und himmel GmBH, M45 artspace, Munich Too Early Too Late. Middle East and Modernity, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna 1 www.aspangallery.com 2014 The Other & Me, Sharjah Art Museum, Sharjah Il Piedistallo vuoto. Fantasmi dall’Est Europa, Museo Civico Archeologico di Bologna, Bologna 777, Tengri-Umai Gallery, Almaty La vie est une légende e.cité – Almaty/Kazakhstan, Museé d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Strasbourg 2013 More Light, 5th Moscow Biennale 2013, Manege, Moscow Summoning Worlds,
    [Show full text]
  • Guide to the Maria Lind Manifesta Papers MSS.005 Finding Aid Prepared by Ann Butler; Collection Processed by Lydia Aikenhead in Summer 2011
    CCS Bard Archives Phone: 845.758.7567 Center for Curatorial Studies Fax: 845.758.2442 Bard College Email: [email protected] Annandale-on-Hudson, NY 12504 Guide to the Maria Lind Manifesta Papers MSS.005 Finding aid prepared by Ann Butler; Collection processed by Lydia Aikenhead in Summer 2011. This finding aid was produced using the Archivists' Toolkit July 14, 2015 Guide to the Maria Lind Manifesta Papers MSS.005 Table of Contents Summary Information..................................................................................................................................3 Biographical/Historical note.........................................................................................................................4 Scope and Contents note........................................................................................................................... 4 Arrangement note....................................................................................................................................... 7 Administrative Information...........................................................................................................................7 Controlled Access Headings.......................................................................................................................8 Collection Inventory...................................................................................................................................10 Series I: Manifesta 2...........................................................................................................................10
    [Show full text]
  • The Alternative Spaces Residency Program Number 3
    Wright State University CORE Scholar Exhibition and Program Catalogs Robert and Elaine Stein Galleries 1980 Quintessence: The Alternative Spaces Residency Program Number 3 The Wright State University Department of Art and Art History Follow this and additional works at: https://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/restein_catalogs Part of the Art and Design Commons, Art Practice Commons, and the Fine Arts Commons Repository Citation The Wright State University Department of Art and Art History (1980). Quintessence: The Alternative Spaces Residency Program Number 3. Dayton, Ohio: Robert and Elaine Stein Galleries, Wright State University. This Catalog is brought to you for free and open access by the Robert and Elaine Stein Galleries at CORE Scholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Exhibition and Program Catalogs by an authorized administrator of CORE Scholar. For more information, please contact [email protected]. • • • • • , QUINTESSENCE L Lovingly dedicated to the memory of Sharon K. Schrodi The Alternative Spaces Residency Program Number3 The City Beautiful Council of Dayton, Ohio The Wright State University Department of Art and Art History Project Director: Paul R. Wick, Administrator, City Beautiful Council QUINTESSENCE is the catalogue of The Alternative Spaces Residency Program administered by the City Beautiful Council and the Wright State University Department of Art and Art History, Dayton, Ohio. Funding provided by the Ohio Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts, a Federal agency, is gratefully acknowledged. QUINTESSENCE Copyright© 1980, City Beautiful Council. Dayton, Ohio All Rights Reserved Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number 80-54455 ISBN 0-9602550-1-X This catalogue may not be reproduced in whole or in part.
    [Show full text]
  • Israel Culture Scene
    Israel Culture Scene UPCOMING EVENTS Israel Magic 3 - Summer in Istria Numerous visitors had a chance to enjoy magic of Israeli artists, musicians, dancers and singers that performed during last two summers in Croatia as part of the cultural program organized by the Art &Culture Embassy. This year, summer cultural Mona Lisa Live Exhibition, Tel Aviv. July 1-August 1, 2013. program will take place in Hatachana, the Old Railway Station in Tel Aviv beautiful Istria from August 3-9, Mona Lisa Live, a groundbreaking multimedia exhibition bringing the works of the 2013. Renaissance period including Da Vinci and Michelangelo, will come to Tel Aviv during July 2013. Mona Lisa Live will combine music, animation and special effects, with huge "Israel Magic 3 - Summer in Istria" projections to bring new life to classical works of art within the setting of the quaint will present number of Israeli artist, alleyways of Florence in the Renaissance period. Great for art lovers and families alike, including Carmel A-Cappella, with kids activities following the exhibition. Sheketak, The mentalist Lior Mona Lisa Live comes to Tel Aviv from July 1 to August 1, 2013, and is open seven days Suchard, Carmel Quartet, wind a week. instruments artist Amir Gwirtzman, Acollective, Chef Shaul Ben Aderet will present Israeli Cuisine, and more… Conceptual and Minimalist Art Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art American-Israeli Professor Michael Adler whose 50 piece art collection covering a period between the 1960 and 1990s, donated to the Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art six years ago, is currently on display. Israel Coming Festivals: In focus is an underrated but truly significant period in Israeli art when some dozen young Israelis, despite resistance from the local art establishment, turned to conceptual (ideas) art, sometimes with a socio-political slant.
    [Show full text]
  • Selected Bios/Statements/Images
    SSeelleecctteedd BBiiooss//SSttaatteemmeennttss//IImmaaggeess Author’s note: With this essay, my intention is to publicize the artists of Central Asia. While I have written the contents of many of the following biographies, some text has been borrowed directly from various publications, press releases, websites, and other sources. In addition, some are texts that the artists have submitted to me within the past three years. Most bios do not list an exhibition history. Instead, they provide a general sense of the artists’ thematic direction, preferred media, level of achievement, and public exposure. Lida Abdul (Afghanistan) Born in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 1973, Abdul lived in Germany and India as a refugee before going to the U.S. Her work fuses the formalist traditions she was learned in the U.S. with the numerous aesthetic traditions—Islamic, Buddhist, Hindu, pagan, and nomadic—that collectively influenced Afghan art and culture. She has produced work in various media, including video, film, photography, installation, and performance. Her most recent work has been featured at the Venice Biennale 2005; Kunsthalle Vienna; Museum of Modern Art Arnhem, Netherlands and Miami Cantral; CAC Centre d'Art Contemporain de Brétigny; and Frac Lorraine Metz, France. She has also exhibited in festivals in Mexico, Spain, Germany, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Afghanistan. She was a featured artist at the Central Asian Biennial 2004. Recently, she was in Kabul, Afghanistan, working on projects exploring the relationship between architecture and identity in post-war Afghanistan. Lida Abdul, Untitled. Video, 2004. Leeza Ahmady (Afghanistan/USA) Leeza Ahmady was born and raised in Kabul, Afghanistan, and arrived in New York City in 1987 as a young teenager.
    [Show full text]
  • D'ont Touch My Holocaust
    “D’ont Touch My Holocaust” Analyzing the Barometer of Responses Israeli Artists Challenge the Holocaust Taboo Published in Impossible Images: Contemporary Art After the Holocaust , a collection of articles edited by Shelley Hornstein, Laura Levitt, and Laurence J. Silberstein, New Perspectives on Jewish Studies series, New York University Press. Based on a paper for the International conference: Representing the Holocaust: Practices, Products, Projections, Berman Center of Jewish Studies, Lehigh University, Pennsylvania “The national museum in the eternal capital of the Jewish people should encourage many exhibitions attesting that we are indeed liberated from the traumas of the past. If the Israel Museum could get hold of the bones of Holocaust victims, they could invite kindergarten children to build castles. Perhaps the Israel Museum should also import hair from Auschwitz to hang on it postmodern works.”(1) This sarcastic and radical response, published in Ma’ariv on January 19, 1997, by Holocaust survivor, Knesset member, and journalist Joseph Lapid, following the controversial exhibition of Israeli artist Ram Katzir at the Israel Museum, reflects the problematic nature, the hypersensitivity, and the intricacy of the current Holocaust discourse in Israel. In this essay, I delve into the pressing issues of this highly delicate discourse. I attempt to locate the very root of its problematic nature, wherefrom all taboos and paradoxes stem pertaining to the discourse of Holocaust representation in contemporary Israeli art. The Zionist ethos is informed by two fundamental notions ―Holocaust and Heroism‖ and ―Negation of Exile‖ that are crucial to the understanding of the problematic nature inherent in Holocaust representation in Israel.
    [Show full text]