Weekly Roundup (25 January 2018)

BLOK’S OPENING WEEKEND PICKS

January 25

• Cluj, Romania: A program called CLUJ afterSCHOOL hosted by Sabot will present a new work by Anca Brânzaș, a chapter of her long-term research into the seemingly dormant young art scene in Cluj.

January 26

• Prague, Czech Republic: A slew of openings this week in the Czech capital: Tomáš Roubal — Metal at City Surfer Office, Monika Žáková I Appearance at DRDOVA Gallery, Zorka Ságlová Bílá/White at Hunt Kastner, Blanka Kirchner – Vrstvy událostí at Nevan Contempo, Vilém Balej a Ryan O’Rourke: Hypernaturalizmus at Nau Gallery, Ondřej Petrlík, Černý Lev / Black Lion at Svit.

• Warsaw, Poland: Paulina Ołowska Amoresques: An Intellectual Cocktail of Female Erotica at Foksal Gallery Foundation. An exhibition exploring the role of pornography in celebrating feminism. Hmm. Let’s see!

• Riga, Latvia: After nearly being forced to close this year due to a loss of funding, Four to Seven Gallery launched an IndieGoGo campaign to stay alive that worked. A new show by Adam Shiu-Yang Shaw will open called “Benevolent Nerves” that examines intersections of food and culture.

• Berlin, Germany: The Tranny Tease by Slavs and Tatars – transmediale Vorspiel. “Through the lens of phonetic, semantic, and theological slippage, The Tranny Tease explores the potential for transliteration–the conversion of scripts–as a strategy equally of resistance and research into notions such as identity politics, colonialism, and faith”. Performance part of transmediale, a massive art / technology festival happening over five days in the German capital. For more info.

The Tranny Tease by Slavs and Tatars, Courtesy Transmediale Vorspiel, 2018

• Maribor, Slovenia: “Hi, can you hear me alright?” at UGM Gallery opens this week featuring Nika Ham, Emil Kozole, Iza Pavlina, Dorotea Škrabo, Valerie Wolf Gang. Curated by Jure Kirbiš. A common thread in the exhibition is exploring the role of communication in art.

“Hi, can you hear me alright?” at UGM Studion, Courtesy Maribor City Art Gallery, 2018

January 27

• Poznan, Poland: “Ocean X” at Łęctwo performance by & the romantic horse (Agnieszka Kucharska / Ola Zielińska). The one-time performance will explore sound and oceanic textures in art.

• Riga, Latvia: Ķekargalvis Nr.1 at LOW Gallery. Together with Popper Publishing, the first edition of “”Hydra Head” will be presented in a gallery format.

LAST CALLS

January 25

• Warsaw, Poland: Finissage of “Gotong Royong: Things We Do Together” at Ujazdowski Castle Center for Contemporary Art. The last weekend of events includes performances by Styrmir Örn Guðmundsson, Enrico Floriddia, Jan Moszumański, and a talk by Artists-at-Risk (AR) together with Erkan Özgen. A guided tour of the exhibition between curator Marianna Dobkowska and architect Maciej Siuda will take place January 25th at 18:00. Free.

• Bratislava, Slovakia: “Breaking Balance” at Hit Gallery closes on January 25. Featuring Hila Amram, Einat Arif-Galanti, Yaron Attar, Tal Frank,Hadar Mitz, Hadas Satt, Yehudit Shlosberg & Itamar Mendes Flohr, and curated by Sally Haftel Naveh, the exhibition examines  a selection of works by Israeli artists and deals with many strategies of subordination, domestication and exploitation of nature and its resources.

Breaking Balance, Hit Gallery

OPEN CALLS

• Rijksakademie residency 2019 : “The Rijksakademie offers some 50 artists a residency place (for 1 year, with extension to 2 years) with the aim of providing space for research, experiment and production. In addition to facilities such as its own workshop, work budget and stipend, there is an adequate research and production infrastructure. There is no fixed program, dominant style or ideology. The Rijksakademie offers time, people and opportunities.” Deadline to apply: 1 February 2018

• Curatorial Program for Research has several fully funded research programs available for emerging curators. “The Curatorial Program for Research (CPR) is pleased to announce its open call for curators to participate in CPR 2018: Dimming the Northern Lights. In this program curators will travel to the Nordic region, visiting Faroe Islands, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. CPR’s sixth fully-funded research program will take place from August 2 – 27, 2018.” Deadline to apply: 15 February 2018

• Open call for projects during PQ 2019 in Prague. One for architects, dancers and choreographers called “Formations” for practitioners “concerned with the patterns we encounter in nature, urbanism and architecture,” and one for “Fragments” seeking “national curators to select only one item (an object, a model, sound or lighting file or a costume) designed by one of the most celebrated designers whose work keeps inspiring new generations of artists and audiences.” Deadline to apply: 28 February 2018
  

• International Festival Odessa Photo Days Open Call 2018: “The festival is a non-profit platform for photographers and anyone interested in this media. In the course of three years, with the efforts of our team, volunteers and photographers, the Odesa / / Batumi Photo Days festival has become well-known in different parts of the world, appeared on the international map of photo events and has implemented a number of special projects, both in Ukraine and abroad.” Deadline to apply: 1 March 2018

REARVIEW MIRROR

• Polish artist Zuza Golińska, with her work “Future Twice,” has won the Delfina Foundation’s Artvue Arteprize 2017.  As the winner of the prize, Golińska will receive $15,000 as well as a three-month residency at Delfina. The other three nominees were Sahil Naik, from India; Australian artist Kiah Reading; and Lukas Zerbst, from Germany.

Zuza Golińska, 2018

Zuza Golińska, Future Twice, 2018

• Two Berlin museums have returned works to the heirs of a Jewish collector who liquidated them during World War II, according to the Foundation of Prussian Cultural Heritage. The works in question include 11 works from the Museum of Decorative Arts and the Skulpturensammlung that had belonged to Margarete Oppenheim. It was found the works were sold under suspicious circumstances to the National Socialists in 1936.

• Franciska Zólyom, director of Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst in Leipzig since 2012, has been appointed as curator of the German Pavilion for the 2019 Venice Biennale.

• Exhibition at MoMA (NYC) announced: “Toward a Concrete Utopia: Architecture in Yugoslavia, 1948–1980” opening July 2018. “Situated between the capitalist West and the socialist East, Yugoslavia’s architects responded to contradictory demands and influences, developing a postwar architecture both in line with and distinct from the design approaches seen elsewhere in Europe and beyond.” Sounds great!

“Toward a Concrete Utopia: Architecture in Yugoslavia, 1948–1980”, Courtesy Museum of Modern Art, 2018

Blok is committed to providing coverage of under-reported art events, news, and exhibitions from across Central Europe and beyond, including artists and curators from the region working or exhibiting abroad. If you have an event, opening or breaking news for us to cover please email us at: editor@blokmagazine.com