Vernissage in Bucharest

Opening:
22 Dec 2008, 12:00

Venue:
Muzeul Naţional de Artă Contemporană,
Galeria Etaj 3/4, Teatrul Naţional Bucureşti,
Bd. N Bălcescu nr. 2

22 Dec 2008 – 18 Jan 2009
Thursday-Sunday 10am -6pm
Admission free

OVERcoming DICTatorships in Cracow

Opening:
24 November at 12:00

Gallery U Frycza
Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski Kraków University College (KSW),
ul. Gustawa Herlinga-Grudzińskiego 1, Building B
PL-30-705 Cracow

24 Nov - 14 Dec 2008
Weekdays 8am -9 pm, weekends 8am-8pm
Admission free.
Information on previous exhibitions.

After having presented a selection of its literary and artist approaches to the heritage of totalitarian dictatorships already in November 2007 Overcoming Dictatorships now returns with its exhibition to Cracow. This is not the only representation of the project's artists in Poland: Sándor Pinczehelyi (Pécs) took part in Mediations Biennale 2008, the first international bi-annual contemporary art exhibition in Poznań.

It seems a happy coincidence that the patron of our Polish partner university - Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski (1503-1572), a Polish gentryman and theologian of reformatory and ecumenical orientations - also took part in the Council of Trent, where our project was hosted in May 2008 (see the report). Founded in 2000, KSW offers its students an interdisciplinary approach of economics, languages and culture based on diverse international cooperation in order to prepare them for the modern challenges posed by the processes of globalisation.

Contact Agata Krawiec for more information.

Exhibition programme in Birmingham

Lunchtime Lecture Series

Tuesday 28 October, Aston Webb Rotunda, 1-2pm

Hannah Arendt: Politics and ‘Dark Times’
Dr Steve Buckler- Department of Political Science and International Studies, University of Birmingham

The lecture will examine the work of the German political theorist Hannah Arendt who made an influential contribution to the study of totalitarianism and who developed a distinctive conception of politics that was intended as a response to the vulnerability to oppression that we experience in ‘dark times’.

Click here to get information on the Series.

Film Screenings

Wednesday 29.10.08, The Rainbow, 160 High Street,
Digbeth, 7 pm

La Vita è bella, (Life is Beautiful) Italy 1999

Winner of three academy awards Best Actor, Best Foreign Language Film, Best Original Dramatic Score. A moving and poignant tale of one father's sacrifice to save not just his young son's life but his innocence. This is the story of a Jewish Italian, Guido Orefice who comes to the Tuscan town of Arezzo in 1939. He falls in love with Dora, a beautiful young schoolteacher and a fairytale romance ensues. Several years later the occasional bigotries Guido once ignored have become Racial Laws. Throughout it all, he determines to shield his son from the brutal reality governing their lives.

This determination becomes a matter of life and death when Guido and his son are sent to a concentration camp three months before the war’s end. Of her own accord Dora deports herself on the same train. Now, in this unimaginable world, Guido must use his bold imagination and every ounce of his indefatigable spirit to save those he loves.

See the full programme here.

Round-table discussion

8 October, 6.30 p.m., Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, UK (admission free)


A round-table discussion with artists participating in the Overcoming Dictatorships exhibition will be held at the internationally renowned Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, UK on 8 October, 6.30 p.m. (admission free). Chaired by the Ikon curator Nigel Prince, it will focus on up-and-coming contemporary art groups in post-Communist countries and draw parallels with the situation immediately after 1989, when the former underground art replaced the official.

Participating artists in the round-table discussion:

German photographer Harald Hauswald (www.harald-hauswald.de),

Venice-based painter Silvestro Lodi (www.studiotredici.it),

Romanian artist Vlad Nanca (www.vladnanca.blogspot.com), and

the Hungarian artist Sándor Pinczehelyi.

Overcoming Dictatorships Touring Exhibition

The Rotunda Gallery,
Aston Webb Building,
University of Birmingham,
9 Oct.-9 Nov. 2008
(weekdays, 10-5; admission free)

The exhibition explores art produced in response to the collapse of political authoritarian systems, particularly those of the Soviet bloc in 1989. It aims to create a dialogue on post-dictatorial experiences among participants from countries designated as ‘Eastern’ and ‘Western’ Europe. The 17 works deal with processes of mourning, remembering and overcoming the past. They critique old collective identity formations (i.e. the Soviet bloc, National Socialism and Fascism), questioning western political and socio-economic uniformities (including the EU) and critically engage with ‘new’ dictatorships such as consumerism, globalisation and mass media. Overcoming Dictatorships aims to challenge compartmentalised thinking and thus attempts to overcome authoritarian systems.

Starting in Birmingham, where the exhibition will be opened by Professor Dr. Dr. Gerhard Besier (Chair in European Studies, Technische Universität, Dresden and main investigator of the project which this exhibition is part of), Rt. Hon. Neil Kinnock (Leader of the Opposition, 1983-92 and UK Commissioner of the EU, 1995-2004) and Professor Michael Sterling (Vice-Chancellor of the University of Birmingham), this exhibition will travel to galleries in several European countries.

Artists participating in the exhibition:
Zbynĕk Benýšek - Zbigniew Czop - Mirela Dauceanu - Ulf Göpfert - Harald Hauswald - Silvestro Lodi - Vlad Nancă - Sándor Pinczehelyi - Michele Zaggia - Aleksander Zyśko.

Galleries presenting the exhibition:
Gallery U Frycza at the Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski Krakow University College, Cracow (24 Nov.-14 Dec. 2008); “The Gallery 3/4 of The National Museum of Contemporary Art at the “Ion Luca Caragiale” National Theatre, Bucharest”, Bucharest (22 Dec 2008.-18 Jan. 2009); Open Society Archives Gallery, Budapest (24 Jan.-8 Feb. 2009); Gallery Torre Mirana, Trent (14 Feb.-8 Mar. 2009); Gallery Castle Dečin, Dečin (13 Mar.-31 Mar. 2009); Town Hall City of Dresden, Dresden (06 Apr.-26 Apr. 2009)

The exhibition is part of the EU-funded project (scheme: Culture 2000) on ‘Overcoming Dictatorships – the Encounter of Poets, Artists and Writers’ (main investigator/lead partner: Prof. Dr. Dr. Gerhard Besier, Chair in European Studies, Technische Universität, Dresden).

For further information about the exhibition see here.