Present tensions. European writers on overcoming dictatorships

A literary anthology of the same title (eds. Kristina Kaiserová/Gert Röhrborn, Budapest:CEU Press 2008) will be presented at the Municipal Library in Trent, Italy on 9 May 2008, 17:30.

The volume is an intersection of literary works on the question of how dictatorships are overcome. The range of generations, European countries of origin and artistic directions that are represented serves both an advantage and a challenge reflected by this anthology. A considerable variety of motivations drove the participating poets and writers: such as putting into words a contemporary biography of persecution, the descendant’s feeling of personal historical responsibility, or the artistic curiosity of the “outsider”. The anthology is dedicated to the imaginative power of literature, and to Central Eastern and South Eastern Europe in particular. The formerly multicultural setting of these countries suffered the most from European dictatorships and their insufficiently processed legacies. The cultural transfer exhibited here will help reduce prejudices and promote new forms of understanding with Western Europe: it aims to further a diversified but common European culture.

The presentation will included readings by project writers Lutz Rathenow (Berlin), Gabriel Chifu (Bucharest) and Alessandro Tamburini (Trent). It is followed by an international conference on "Intellectuals and Dictatorship: A Comparative Perspective 1922-1990", organised by Prof. Gustavo Corni of Dipartimento di Scienze Umane e Sociali, Università di Trento on 10 May 2008, 09:00-18:00. For further information see the press coverage and the programme.

Organised with financial support of the European Commission and Università di Trento.

Lost in Transformation

„What is wrong with Ukraine then, a country which is seen as synonymous with a permanent crisis of state, chaos and a mutual blockage of political forces today?,“ Robert Baag has asked recently on German broadcasting station Deutschlandfunk.

Based on various field study trips in the country Wolfgang Templin, former guest of the project Overcoming Dictatorships, tried to give a conclusive answer to this eminent question during a public presentation of his book Farbenspiele – die Ukraine nach der Revolution in Orange (2nd amended edition, Osnabrück: fibre, 2008) at Herbert-Wehner-Bildungswerk in Dresden on 6 May 2008, 18:00. In his introduction political scientist Jakob Lempp (Dresden Technical University) informed the audience about the shortcomings of scientific monitoring of the country’s development. Lempp warned against the potential social and institutional pillarization of the political divisions that characterize the still ongoing transformation process. Jammed between the rocketing Baltic States and authoritarian rule in Belarus – and faced with blurry perspectives of EU accession at best – experts refrain from elaborated forecasts on the issue. Therefore Templin’s accounts are extremely welcome to add flesh to bones of analyses.

Templin started out from the neighbourhood perspective, too. The past and present of Poland and Russia is deeply intertwined with the country’s fate. Whereas Poland has apparently overcome its grief over the loss of Galicia and its centre Lemberg and developed into a devoted European ambassador for Ukraine, the relations to Russia still suffer from the latter’s imperial ambitions. Templin chose the well-known protagonists Viktor Yushchenko (President), Yulia Timoshenko (Prime Minister) and Viktor Yanukovych (ex-Premier) to present the diversity of biographies, economic interests and cultural amalgamations which were the results of the wild and early years of transformation.

Templin referred to the influence which numerous Ukrainian dissidents detained in the Soviet Gulag system had on later intellectuals and reformers. In his view a majority of creative artists see themselves as independent supporters of democratic reforms, although Yanukovych also embellished his election campaign with elements of pop culture. The general attitudes in the population are more important, but they are split between more conservative or progressive opinions as well. Yet Templin concluded rather optimistically: he believes the Majdan events of 2004/05 have shown that the people are no longer willing to accept ruthless exploitation by oligarchs and compliant government. The resignation with politics which may often be found among the younger generations might lead to the empowerment of civil society and thereby to the control of corrupt elites. Faced with the author’s dissident biography one could be tempted to hope that Templin has got it right a second time.

We are grateful to Herbert-Wehner-Bildungswerk for hosting and financially supporting the event.

The casus of Silvestro Lodi

29.03-10.04 2008

The new exhibition of Silvestro Lodi starts with the inauguration
event in Bassano del Grappa on 29 March, 6 pm.
The paintings presented were prepared in the techniques of
watercolour and mixed media on hand-made paper.
The title of the exhibition -“Casus”- comes from Latin
and plays with its ambiguity, meaning:
“that what has happened”; “that what has fallen”;
or simply “the chance”.



incontri scrimin galleria bassano del grappa
via vendramini 46a - 0424.227799 - 10/12.30 - 16/19.30 - lunedì chiuso

Overcoming - Remembering - Mourning

2008, 29/1 Jutta Vinzent, University of Birmingham,
curator of the exhibition of Overcoming Dictatorships

'Overcoming - Remembering - Mourning. Contemporary art from six post-dictatorial European countries', Research Seminar of the Department of German, University of Birmingham

Jutta Vinzent chairing a discussion of project artists
in the Bucharest House of Writers on 8 Dec 2007.
(photo: José M. Faraldo, Dresden)

"While many scholars have applied theories of dis-locations to physical migration (including myself in Identity and Image. Refugee Artists from Nazi Germany in Britain, 1933-1945, Kromsdorf/Weimar: VDG Verlag, 400 pp), I will explore the question as to how artists who experienced mental migration caused by a collective political-economic upheaval respond visually to their own specific dislocations and how they address subjects of identity and nation.

(...)

Interest in the contemporary art produced in those countries involved, particularly the former Soviet satellite states, in the west is increasing. In 2005 the Modern Museum at Oxford organised an exhibition under the title Arrivals – Art from the New Europe. It has grown out of a two-year collaboration between Modern Art Oxford and Turner Contemporary introducing the work of artists from the expanded European Union. The publication covers the ten Arrivals countries: Poland, Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Slovakia, Estonia, Hungary and Malta and includes images of the artists’ works, installation shots from the exhibitions, behind the scenes photographs and specially commissioned essays by gallery directors, curators, critics and art historians from across the EU.

The exhibition attempts to overcome its title ‘Arrivals’ (as if these countries have not been there before) and a treatment of art works which is in parts similar to what has become known in Art History as Primitivism (the new, the exotic) in the prefaces and introductions by having valuable essays from art historians, writing from the perspective of each country.

While the selection of the countries for this exhibition is based on the relationship to Europe, those for the exhibition After the Wall, shown at the Moderna Museet, Stockholm in 1999 and at the Ludwig-Museum of Contemporary Art in Budapest in 2000, primarily focused on previously communist countries. It was dedicated to art and culture in post-communist Europe.

Both exhibition catalogues are organised by countries to recognise each individual history. Different from our project, however, After the Wall interpreted art in a broader sense, including music, film and photography from 20 countries, among them all those formerly Soviet satellite states involved in this project.

The major difference to both of these shows, however, is that the works for our exhibition has grown out of workshops organised as part of the EU-funded project on ‘Overcoming Dictatorship’. These workshops offer the possibility for the artists to get in contact with each other, to exchange experiences which they have undergone in their countries. In addition, we have opened a blog as an electronic communication platform between the seven workshops.

Because of the kind of set-up, the artists had a major say about the inclusion of works. Therefore, it is not only in some sense a communal work, but also methodologically informed by oral history. The meetings which are filmed constitute primary material for this project and also for this paper..." (More)

Further presentations by Jutta Vinzent:

2008, 4/4 Jutta Vinzent, 'Ideological locations and dis-locations. Visual responses from post-communist countries', 34th annual conference organised by the AAH (Association of Art Historians, Britain; topic: Location: The Museum, The Academy and the Studio), Tate Britain, Tate Modern and Chelsea College of Art & Design, London, 2-4 April 2008

2008, 15/5 Jutta Vinzent, 'New Europe - Identities in transition. Contemporary art from six post-dictatorial European countries', Research Seminar of the Department of History of Art, University of Birmingham

History Will Repeat Itself

We are pleased to announce that the exhibition History Will Repeat Itself will be on view at Centre for Contemporary Art, Ujazdowski Castle in Warsaw from February 15, 2008. Before this the exhibition has been presented at Hartware MedienKunstVerein in Dortmund and KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin.

History Will Repeat Itself

Strategies of Re-enactment in Contemporary Art

Artists: Guy Ben-Ner, Walter Benjamin, Irina Botea, C-Level, Daniela Comani, Jeremy Deller, Rod Dickinson, Nikolai Evreinov, Omer Fast, Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard, Heike Gallmeier, Felix Gmelin, Pierre Huyghe, Evil Knievel, Zbigniew Libera, Korpys/Löffler, Robert Longo, Tom McCarthy, Frédéric Moser/Philippe Schwinger, Collier Schorr, Tabea Sternberg, Kerry Tribe, T. R. Uthco & Ant Farm, Artur Zmijewski.

Dates: February 15 until April 13, 2008

Venue:
Centre for Contemporary Art
Ujazdowski Castle
al. Ujazdowskie 6
00-461 Warsaw
Poland

Further information:

KW Institute for Contemporary Art

Exhibition catalogue to download

This is the catalogue of an exhibition that I curated and took place at Galeria Noua in Bucharest for 4 days in November 2007.

Because the show only lasted for three days and many people didn't have the chance to see it, now there is a pdf catalogue.

Catalogue design: Dragos Platon

Download here.

Back to the future / Cu spatele la viitor

7.11 – 10.11 2007, Galeria Noua

Anca Benera
Daniel Gontz
Cezar Lazarescu
Vlad Nanca
Mircea Nicolae
Dragos Platon
Tudor Prisacariu
Sonokolor (Ciprian Dicu si Sergiu Doroftei)



The exhibition brings together young artists whose works investigate the Romanian social and cultural context from a historical perspective. The title of the exhibition, same as the 1980’s SF film (and its literal and somewhat ironic translation in Romanian), is synthesizing the spirit of the show – an exploration of the present, keeping in mind the recent history of Romania and thus proposing a cautious approach to future.




Curator: Vlad Nanca


The exhibition was supported by the Swiss Cultural Program in Romania

European Newcomers in Berlin

Social Cooking Romania

15 December 2007 – 27 January 2008
Opening: 14 December, 19h

Artistic and theoretical works broach the issue of developments in Romanian society by focussing on the subject of „food“. The conjunction of art and food or nutrition offers the possibility of analysing everyday life and the life styles as well as social and political coherences. The focus here lies on the years after the political turnaround in 1989, the fall of the „Iron Curtain“, and the developments connected to it- until January 2007 when the country accessed the EU.

The exhibition “Social Cooking Romania” shows current works of young Romanian artists that are complimented by a selection of artistic positions since the 70s and 80s. Furthermore a documentary section gives insight into past artistic projects and exhibitions on the subject.


After accomplishing a project workshop in Bucharest, Vlad Nanca is now coming to Berlin.

BREAKING THE RULES

Breaking the Rules: The Printed Face of the European Avant Garde 1900 – 1937

9 November 2007 – 30 March 2008

Georg Heym and Ludwig Kirchner: Umbra Vitae (detail), Munich 1924. Copyright © The British Library Board

Explore Europe's creative revolution of the early 20th century – one that ripped up the rule books of visual art, design, photography, literature, theatre, music and architecture, and whose effects are still felt, heard and seen today.

Mainly through the medium of print, Breaking the Rules throws new light on Cubism, Expressionism, Futurism, Dadaism, Suprematism, Constructivism, Surrealism and other movements; on the artists who changed the face of modern culture for ever; and on the cities that experienced their work, from Brussels to Budapest, Vienna to Vitebsk.

Star items include Marinetti’s futurist experiment with words, type and visual text, Zang Tumb Tuum; the Burliuk Brothers’ Tango with Cows; and the notebooks and corrected proofs of James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake.

In addition to browsing books, manifestos, flyers, posters and even album covers, you can see remarkable films and listen to rare historic recordings.

http://www.bl.uk/breakingtherules

COLD WAVES

Written – directed by Alexandru Solomon

Synopsis

This is the unique story of a love and hate triangle built around something one cannot see, touch or weigh: radio waves.

I grew up with it. Every evening, in an underground atmosphere, my father listened to Radio Free Europe as anyone else did. It meant more than information. While Ceausescu’s propaganda had less and less to do with reality, Free Europe’s Romanian section provided - apart from news – some hope. We had no idea it is a CIA operation. Simultaneously, in thousands of houses and blocks across the country, millions of people performed this daily ritual. And, the next day, the words of Free Europe were on everybody’s lips.

On the other side of the Wall, in Munich or Paris, the Radio personnel listened too. They had physically escaped the country but they lived its nightmare on a daily basis. They were hunting any information coming out of the country, meeting immigrants or tourists, receiving secret messages and scanning the Romanian press for hidden hints. But soon they found themselves to be hunted in a more violent way.

Back there in Bucharest, Ceausescu and his men listened to the radio. A special unit – called the “Ether group” – was set up in the Romanian secret police in 1980. While the Romanian population was lead by fear, the Romanian leaders were themselves afraid: of Radio Free Europe. They were enraged because they couldn’t stop the radio waves reach every Romanian household and because they imagined RFE influenced Western cabinets. So they decided to silence the Radio.

The regime engaged in a war. Ceausescu employed Carlos the Jackal. An eccentric alliance was thus forged, between a national-communist dictator and international terrorists. They placed bombs at RFE’s Munich headquarters, editors were attacked in Germany and France, three of the directors died after being X-rayed.

Our film uncovers this unknown and peculiar episode of the final stage of the Cold War, from 1977 until Ceausescu’s downfall in 1989. It strangely predicts our era, that blends extremisms of all colours.

Apparently, what we thought is good prevailed: Radio Free Europe finally won the battle. A Romanian President declared in 1997 that, in winning the Cold War, “RFE has been a lot more important than the armies and the most sophisticated missiles. The 'missiles' that destroyed Communism were launched from Free Europe…” He was right: since then, mass-media replaced conventional weapons in contemporary conflicts. Meanwhile, America – as unchallenged superpower - turned towards other areas of the globe: today, RFE broadcasts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Terrorism found another God, fundamentalism replaced Marxism. Faces might have changed, but if you listen to the voices from the past, you might understand what goes on today.

Treatment: On style or about visualising radio

A film about a non-visual medium could be a bad idea. My approach is to convert this apparent visual poverty into a creative principle. Because, compared to TV, radio holds a certain mystery. As a listener, you never saw the faces of the editors, their studio or surroundings. As a speaker, one could have only imagined his listeners or the Romanian apartments, streets and farms he was talking about. Those in Ceausescu’s apparatus struggled to see with their minds’ eyes the people concealed under the voices. The magic of unveiling all these pictures and confronting our collective characters will nourish our film.

“Cold Waves” brings together three collective characters that have never met before: the listeners, RFE’s personnel, the regime and his killers. “Cold Waves” adds pictures there where one only heard voices.

Motivation
While Ceausescu was alive, we knew who was Good (the West, mainly the USA) and who the Evil was. Since then, things turned to be more complicated. We have to learn and see beyond black and white. “Cold Waves” is meant to do that. Look at our Radio Free Europe editors: you could be fighting for the right cause and still be part of a dirty game.

More about the film here.

Silvestro Lodi mostra personale

Giovedì 29 novembre 2007 ore 17,30
Bistrot de Venise, Venezia
rassegna a cura di Emanuele Horodniceanu
Le opere rimarranno esposte fino al 12 dicembre 2007

Le Bistrot de Venise, Calle Dei Fabbri, S.Marco 4685
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