Weekly Roundup (24 May 2018)

Blok’s Opening Week Picks

May 24

• Prague, Czech Republic: Martin Kohout / Adam Shiu-Yang Shaw at Polansky Gallery. Two concurrent openings in the Czech capital, two artists exploring different themes in solo shows.

• Gdansk, Poland: Krzysztof Garbaczewski – Field research at Gdańska Galeria Miejska. Krzysztof Garbaczewski’s exhibition “Field research” is characterized by a workshop and processual form, which is a commentary on the current tendency of organic penetration of practices theater and art. The exhibition is an attempt to capture what is happening at the junction of theater and art in the context of migratory motives, symbols, working methods and broadly understood performativity.

• Berlin, Germany: Mighty Good Men | Andrew J Burford & Constantin Hartenstein. The exhibition project “Mighty Good Men” explores the complexity and plurality of masculinity. What is defined as male? What form and function do ideas of masculinity have in a largely heteronormative culture? Using different materials, Andrew J Burford and Constantin Hartenstein create images that range between gentleness and hardness, vulnerability and strength, stereotype, ideal and to move personal intimacy. At Gallery in the Tower until July 8th.

• Bucharest, Romania: Postindustrial : Zâne at Rezidența BRD Scena9. “Ioana Cîrlig and Marin Raica are two Romanian artists who practice documentary photography. In order to work on the Post-Industrial Stories project, they moved in 2012 to Brad, and then to Valea Jiului, where they still live part of the time. Curated by Ionuț Cioană.

May 25

• Poznan, Poland: Poznań Art Week 2018. The program consists of several dozen exhibitions, meetings with artists, workshops and concerts organized in the city of Poznań. The event is attended by over 30 participants – galleries, contemporary art centers, exhibition spaces. One of the important points of the PAW is the End-of-Year Exhibition at the University of Arts in Poznań. POZNAŃ ART WEEK 2018 is also the stage for artistic debut those and ephemeral activities and temporary initiatives. Thanks to this, POZNAŃ ART WEEK is the only artistic event in the capital of Wielkopolska, which combines the entire environment of creators and cultural animators operating in the field of visual arts in a joint program.

• Berlin, Germany: Looking Back on a Future Exhibition by Philippe Parreno at Martin Gropius Bau. Philippe Parreno’s untitled solo exhibition at the Gropius Bau Berlin has yet to exist and will perhaps never exist as it is described here. This is not to say that it is any less real. To be sure, this show has many different modes of existence which, as of now, are purely virtual, sites of possibility which may or may not become actual. To date, the exhibition exists in various modes that have changed over time including one which can be experienced through VR headsets. Yet at this time, nothing appears fixed, the future that the exhibition takes remains open, and we can only imagine what Parreno intends to do.

• Prague, Czech Republic: Love & Resistance at Galerie A.M.180. Featuring works by Bora Akinciturk, Alfred Boman, Zuzanna Czebatul, Jakub Hošek, Ville Kallio, Emelie Sandström, Camilla Steinum.

• Craiova, Romania: STELE ÎN AVEN a solo show by Adi Matei curated by Adrian Bojenoiu. Akin to the work of a DJ, who draws a trajectory between different music styles and genres, Adi Matei’s artistic approach is rooted in blending socio-political and poetic layers with an emphasis on the new expressions of the absurd. Interrogating the role of art in the context of representation, his work is also perceived as a conceptual playground where the dialogue between past and present surfaces.

May 26

• Munich, Germany: PAM 2018: Cana Bilir-Meier: Grundstein / Foundation Stone. On October 6, 1967, the ceremonial laying of a foundation stone marked the start of construction on the Freimann Mosque. However, instead of the traditional stone, a symbolic marble slab was used. The actual foundation stone, which was never installed, is the starting point for Cana Bilir-Meier’s investigation of stories that illustrate how society is shaped by immigration.

• Venice, Italy: Venice Architecture Biennale. With the theme of FREESPACE, the Biennale Architettura 2018 will present for public scrutiny examples, proposals, elements – built or unbuilt – of work that exemplifies essential qualities of architecture which include the modulation, richness and materiality of surface; the orchestration and sequencing of movement, revealing  the embodied power and beauty of architecture.

May 28

• Moscow, Russia: Meeting with Boris Groys “Exhibition in the Internet Age”. On May 28 at 20:00 Moscow time at the Winery, the philosopher and art theorist Boris Groys, will offer listeners to reflect on the phenomenon of an art exhibition in the era of the Internet. Art is able to confront the viewer with new, unexpected and even shocking phenomena. And the Internet offers content that matches user tastes and habits. On the Internet, art becomes information about art, mixes with gigabytes of information about the latest events that we receive daily. How will this affect the art forms?

Open Call

• Call for Applications: Residency program MINI/Goethe-Institut Curatorial Residencies Ludlow 38, the Goethe-Institut New York. Located on Manhattan’s Lower EastSide, Ludlow 38 has provided for curatorial experimentation in the tradition of the German “Kunstverein” since 2008. The residency program’s mission is to introduce new, international perspectives to the local art scene and to foster dialogue within the greater aesthetic and political context of New York and the United States. Deadline to apply: May 31. For more info.

• Call for Proposals: The European ArtEast Foundation (EAEF)  is an inspiration for the 1950’s and 1960’s. The purpose of this project is to give art historians and curators the opportunity to carry out an important history of Eastern Europe. The Foundation’s goal is to stimulate the development of an important political context. Deadline to apply: June 4, 2018. For more  info.

Art News from Around the Blok

• Collector Grazyna Kulczyk Plans Multifarious Museum in Swiss Alps, as per Art News:

The museum’s programming will draw from Kulczyk’s own collection, which includes such artists as Donald Judd, Olafur Eliasson, Andrzej Wróblewski, Alina Szapocznikow, Jenny Holzer, Rosemarie Trockel, Agnes Martin, Joan Mitchell, and Yayoi Kusama, but the museum will also present site-specific commissions and temporary exhibitions. The first of these commissions will be a new sculpture by Polish artist Monika Sosnowska that will stretch the entire height of the building.

Much of Kulczyk’s collection looks to put modern and contemporary art from Eastern Europe, particularly Poland, in dialogue with the traditional canon. It also highlights the work of women artists. The exhibition by Redzisz, who previously organized a show at Kulczyk’s arts center in Poznań, Poland, in 2014, will pursue similar goals.

• Kunsthalle Wien’s Director Will Resign Due to Austria’s Nationalist ‘Resurgence’:

”The reach, impact and the possibilities of institutions such as Kunsthalle Wien seem to be put into question,” the outgoing director Nicolaus Schafhausen said. Nicolaus Schafhausen, the director of Vienna’s Kunsthalle Wien, announced on Wednesday his plans to step down from the institution in March 2019. The German curator reached a mutual agreement with the city allowing him to void his contract, which wasn’t set to expire until 2022.

In a public letter released by the museum, Schafhausen cited the rise of nationalist politics in Austria as the primary reason for his departure.