11.01.2006, 18h at Les Complices, Zurich: Curatorial presentation by Dimitrina Sevova of
Critique of Pure Image - Between Fake and Quotation
(International Project for Low and High Technics in Contemporary Media Art)
A project of the Art Today Association, Plovdiv (Bulgaria) in collaboration with code flow, Zurich
Discussion and bar.
The project took place from 7 October to 8 November at the Centre for Contemporary Art, Plovdiv, Bulgaria. It consisted of an international exhibition and a series of performances with 30 participating artists and collectives, a theoretical symposium with 18 lectures, and an openair screening of a selection of short movies on the main pedestrian street in Plovdiv.
A selection from the photo, video and web documentation of Critique of Pure Image – Between Fake and Quotation will be exhibited at Les Complices* on 11.-14.01.2006.
Special live guest this evening: Sexismus Productions - as an extra, their slide show "Ovaries International / Internationale Eierstöcke", from Cream's Crème de la Crème event in Stuttgart (22.09.2005), or: The pre-"Fake" history of flying ovaries.
e-Mail: info(at)lescomplices.ch
fon: ++41-(0)43- 243- 8877///
wednesday: 18-22h (bar!!!)///
thursday to saturday: 14-18h///
And here’s what the project has in store for you:
We have embarked together on a dangerous adventure in search of the projection of the real fake, the real pure image and the truly great quotation, and how these pieces fit together to produce reality.
The critical reflections on this process continuously change the terminology of art. It is not only the system of concepts that changes, but the very object of art, pertaining to a decidedly European, humanist tradition in art – life, or nature. With the emergence of digital technics in art, contrary to the initial expectation that virtual cyberworlds would be created, it turned out that the interest was rather directed towards more nature. Towards even more genuineness and authenticity. This changes not only the design of the urban space, but fundamentally the concepts related to this notion. The “desert becomes more desert,” the “village more rural,” the “mountain more mountainous,” the “wrestlers more wrestly,” and the poor become aestheticizedly poor. What does this do to our perception of the global and the local, and where do we find ourselves on a personal level?
You’ll witness the presentation of a strategy with which – with the help of contemporary art practices and a number of artists and collectives whose approach does justice to this adventure – an utterly unknown, remote city like Plovdiv with its rudimentary pleasures, post-socialist exotics of concrete and other ruins and neoliberal political experiments can be turned into just as groovy a place for contemporary art as Sofia, Venice or New York.
What are your expectations towards this scene, outside of any dreams of great breakthroughs in your career? How does the dynamic of such an event unfold? To what extent can it be subversive, and will the participants contribute to strengthening the myth of the hegemonic white artist and cultural tourism in search of East European authenticity, or will they find a way to disfigure and bend the stereotypes at hand?
Participants in the exhibition:
0100101110101101.ORG, Florian Agalli and Eri Daka (LK47), Ursula Biemann, Pauline Boudry/Brigitta Kuster/Renate Lorenz, The Centre of Attention, Věra Chytilová and her fans, David Crawford, Alexandra Croitoru, Guy-Ernest Debord and his fans, Maria Draghici, Etoy, Nadia Genova, Rumen Jekov, Oliver Kielmayer, Athanasia Kyriakakos, Rudi Maier, Karin Michalski, Emil Miraztchiev, Monochrom & Georg Paul Thomann (Johannes Grenzfurthner & Günther Friesinger), Oliver Musovik, Vlad Nanca, Dorel Naste, Nebudu group (Borjana Ventzislavova, Mladen Penev, Miroslav Ničić), Veselina Sarieva, Sexismus Productions (Gaby Baldinger, Sabina Baumann, Lilian Räber), selection from the Shedhalle archive, Mirjam Wirz, The Yes Men, Artur Zmijewski, Tim Zulauf
Participants in the Theoretical Symposium:
Pauline Boudry/Brigitta Kuster/Renate Lorenz, Alice Cantaluppi, David Crawford, Maria Draghici, Etoy.ZAI and Etoy.HAEFLIGER, Indymedia Sofia, Oliver Kielmayer, LK47 (Florian Agalli, Eri Daka), Rudi Maier, Monochrom (Johannes Grenzfurthner & Günther Friesinger), Karin Michalski, Dr. Klaus Schönberger, Sexismus Productions (Sabina Baumann, Gaby Baldinger, Lilian Räber), Nina Stuhldreher, Mirjam Wirz, Vencislav Zankov, Peter Zorn, Tim Zulauf
Openair Screening with films by:
Pauline Boudry, David Crawford, Daniel Lo Iacono, code flow; from a selection by Emil Miraztchiev: Yavor Gardev, Plamen Solomonski, Kamen Stoyanov; from a selection by Athanasia Kyriakakos: Lina Theodorou, Ioanna Myrka, Chi-Jang Yin, Morgan Showalter
The project was realized with the generous support of:
SDC / Swiss Cultural Programme Bulgaria; Pro Helvetia; Goethe Institut, Sofia; Stiftung “Begegnungsstätte des Landes Sachsen-Anhalt”; Austrian Embassy in Sofia; National Fund “Culture”; Victoria Group Hotels & Resorts; Hotel Maritza; Municipality of Plovdiv
Special thanks to all participants for their contributions on all levels and their confidence in the project, to Lilian Räber for her special support, to Sabina Baumann for her Superteddy drawing that became the mascot of the project, to Alain Kessi for moral and all-round support, and to Emil Miraztchiev for having the guts to invite me to curate this project.
Dimitrina Sevova is an independent curator, theorist and artist, born 1971 in Varna, Bulgaria, graduated from the National Academy of Arts in Sofia 1997. Based in Zurich, Switzerland since 2002.