The Book Lovers
The Book Lovers / Long-term project on artist novels (2012-2013), in collaboration with David Maroto.
Sometimes we totally immerse ourselves in a novel. We feel like we are part of it, we dream of what is going to happen next. Printed words are transcribed into events, images and places in our heads… Visual arts books have been used for years but it is only now that narrative writing is becoming an artistic practice.
Many avant-garde artists wrote but their writing was divorced from making art. In recent years, more and more projects have appeared combining literature with visual works. The strategy is reminiscent of the work of Henry Darger, who was probably the first to create a complex piece on the border of writing and art – a fantasy novel of over 15000 pages with numerous illustrations. Works created in relation to a written book do not have to be illustrations; they can serve as an autonomous work of art, a continuation or an addition to the novel. Thus the convention of an artist’s book (or book as an object) or a graphic novel where text and illustrations are inseparable and complement each other is defied. Has literature become a new tool for creating expanded narrations in visual arts? Is it justified to talk about a new phenomenon in contemporary art? What are the consequences for the production process when adopting a purely textual form, moreover a narrative? What link remains to visual arts? Is it possible to find a relation to conceptual art, or is this an entirely different artistic form?
The project The Book Lovers is divided into two parts. The first comprises a reading room and a bookstore where books written by artists can be looked through and/or purchased. The exhibition offers an opportunity to see a variety of forms and concepts. Not all novels available in the bookstore are part of bigger, complex wholes; some of them present only literary episodes of their authors. As a public art project, the artist novel goes beyond the exhibition space. The form of the book means that the work can be read in daily contexts, on the train, in bed, and so on. It becomes life experience. The reception of such work implies investment of time, unlike in the case of “one-liner” art. It favors reflection over fast consumption of the work. The second part of the exhibition features more complex projects linked to novels written by artists. It is dedicated to artists who treat writing as an artistic strategy, who have decided to use literature as an untypical tool for creating narration. Here, novels will find continuation in varying visual forms: drawings, sculptures, videos, sound pieces, installations, performances… each artist’s approach is unique.
Participating institutions: M HKA (Antwerp), Centre for the Documentation of the Art of Tadeusz Kantor Cricoteka (Kraków), among others.
Conscious Consents, Białystok, Poland
A Former Power Station, Białystok, Poland, Nov 10th 2011 – Jan 8th 2012
Works from collections: Arsenal Gallery, BWA Białystok, Podlaskie Assosiation for the Promotion of Fine Arts
Curated by: Daniel Rumiancew & Joanna Zielinska
Artists invited: Maria Anto, Zofia Artymowska, Roman Artymowski, Wojciech Bąkowski, Teresa Bejnarowicz, Jan Berdyszak, Kiejstut Bereźnicki, Piotr Bogusławski, Stanisław Borysowski, Artur Brunsz, Jerzy Budziszewski, Rafał Bujnowski, Jiří Černický, Aleksander Chomczyk, Jan Chwałczyk, Tadeusz Ciesiulewicz, Teresa Czajkowska, Oskar Dawicki, Janusz Debis, Eugeniusz Delekta, Igor Delmas, Andrzej Dłużniewski, Jan Dobkowski, Tadeusz Dominik, Kazimierz Drejas, Jerzy Duda-Gracz, Andrzej Dworakowski, Edward Dwurnik, Janusz Eysymont, Antoni Fałat, Stanisław Fijałkowski, Stefan Gierowski, Wanda Gołkowska, Maurycy Gomulicki, Jerzy Grabowski, Ryszard Grzyb, Izabela Gustowska, Lech Hajdamowicz, Ryszard Hunger, Aleksandra Jachtoma, Władysław Jackiewicz, Teresa Jakubowska, Konrad Jarodzki, Zdzisław Jurkiewicz, Wiesław Jurkowski, Andrzej Kalina, Wojciech Kaliński, Jerzy Kałucki, Janina Karczewska, Teresa Klink, Eugeniusz Knil, Andrzej Konwerski, Anatol Korzun, Zygmunt Kotlarczyk, Aleksander Kozyrski, Lech Kunka, Maciej Kurak, Krzysztof Kurzątkowski, Jerzy Lengiewicz, Alfred Lenica, Barbara Leszczyńska-Kluza, Norman Leto, Benon Liberski, Zbigniew Lutomski, Jerzy Łabanowski, Włodzimierz Łajming, Andrzej Łubowski, Bogumił Łukaszewski, Józef Łukomski, Zbigniew Makowski, Izabela Marcjan, Adam Marczyński, Eugeniusz Markowski, Wiesław Markowski, Takeo Marujama, Alfons Mazurkiewicz, Stanisław Mazurkiewicz, Jerzy Mazuś, Henryk Mądrawski, Lucjan Mianowski, Maria Michałowska, Risto Mijałkowski, Teresa Miszkin, Anna Mizeracka, Anna Molska, Marko Monew, Tomasz Mróz, Irena Musielak, Juliusz Narzyński, Andrzej Nowacki, Jerzy Nowosielski, Lech Okołów, Janusz Orbitowski, Kazimierz Ostrowski, Jerzy Panek, Henryk Płóciennik, Agnieszka Polska, Janusz Przybylski, Julian Raczko, Józef Robakowski, Erna Rosenstein, Leszek Rózga, Jacek Rybczyński, Jacek Rykała, Allan Rzepka, Andrzej Sadowski, Jadwiga Sawicka, Jacek Sempoliński, Grupa Sędzia Główny, Jacek Sienicki, Łukasz Skąpski, Ryszard Skupin, Mikołaj Smoczyński, Irena Snarska, Kajetan Sosnowski, Jacek Sroka, Aleksandar Stankowski, Henryk Stażewski, Jonasz Stern, Adam Styka, Paweł Susid, Zdeněk Světlík, Barbara Szajdzińska-Krawczyk, Józef Szajna, Wiesław Szamborski, Marian Szpakowski, Antoni Szymaniuk, Kazimierz Śramkiewicz, Jan Świtka, Jan Tarasin, Jan Trojan, Andrzej Tryzno, Danuta Waberska, Władysław Wagner, Zbigniew Warpechowski, Marek Wasilewski, Krzysztof Wawrzyniak, Mieczysław Wejman, Aleksander Wels, Czesław Wiącek, Krzysztof Wieczorek, Józef Wilkoń, Krzysztof Wodiczko, Mikołaj Wołkowycki, Adam Wsiołkowski, Helena Zadrejko, Jacek Zieliński, Jerzy Jurry Zieliński, Jan Ziemski, Rajmund Ziemski, Jerzy Zinkow, Artur Żmijewski, Piotr Żyliński.
The following exhibition is the result of collaboration between an artist and a curator. It is based on private issues, casual connotations, inconsistencies and oblique statements, therefore we have decided to consciously reveal weak points of the collection. While selecting the works, we tried to create new, subjective meanings around previously well-described issues.
The selection we have made is often formal and aesthetic. We have tried to avoid hierarchy. Some threads are of a spectral character, some works have been taken out of historical context, reproduced or multiplied without the artist’s consent. This exhibition has an anti-educational character, its realization defies a bit logic and assumptions of the collection, which – as Bożena Kowalska states it in her essay – should play representative and didactic roles. The overriding purpose of the exhibition is not the extensive presentation of the collection, but its radical reinterpretation. The project is some kind of contradictory dialogue that searches for a compromise with the past. By changing the context, the meaning of collection and of particular works changes. In addition to this, we bring up to the attention formal differences and similarities, revealing the taste of both: the artist and the curator, taking advantage of inconsistency and outdated matters required to produce subjective narratives. How to build narratives within the collection, when things which are hidden and “rejected” are also important?
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking*
This is speed dating for artists and curators!
Speed dating is a way of meeting a considerable number of new people within the space of a few minutes. Each “speed date” takes from 3 to 8 minutes. At the end, the participants make a list of people whom they would like to meet again. If two people have put each other on their list, they exchange phone numbers. The method of speed dating, devised by Rabbi Yaacov Deyo from Los Angeles in 1998, undoubtedly saves time and frustration. Apparently, women are able to judge whether someone would make a good husband or boyfriend within the first 30 seconds. Can decisions made in a fraction of a second bring happiness? How can we identify our ‘unconscious preferences’? Speed dating for artists and curators is a method specially adjusted for the world of art. It protects the curators and artists against the temptation to spend long hours at boring opening receptions, protracting studio visits and prevents unsuccessful and frustrating research. The method minimizes “rejection stress” and facilitates an exchange of views between the artist and the curator in record time of just 8 minutes. Speed dating promotes fast networking and offers light-speed career opportunities. The event will end with a party with the participation of artists and curators.
* a cult book by Malcolm Gladwell about making decisions within fractions of a second as well as the name of the event propagating speed dating amongst artists and curators
A Creative Commons project idea. Please contact: cswjoankia@gmail.com
Case studies:
The End of Collection (NYC)
Theendofcollection is indeed a collection: a collection of facts, stories, everyday practices, quotations and other texts. It begins with an attempt to impose order on chaos, to compile and arrange collections, and is going to culminate in madness, obsession, compulsively crammed living spaces, self-destructive habits and escape. I pay attention to the nature of the phenomenon of collecting and the very thin borderline between the process of collecting and common hoarding.
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More is More (2010)
More is More, CoCA in Toruń, 2010, curated by Joanna Zielinska, Agnieszka Pindera and Daniel Muzyczuk
Artists invited: Yomar Augusto, John Bock, Monica Bonvicini, Jordi Colomer, Oskar Dawicki, Merzbow, Hans Schabus, Gregor Schneider, Costa Vece
Less is more was the motto coined by Mies van der Rohe for modernism in architecture worldwide. The phrase became the basis for rational functionalism which condemned all ornament and proclaimed it deplorable. What did modern artists and thinkers have against glut? What is the significance of excess that was to be done away with? What common dream is hidden behind this gesture? Is it simply about a rationally constructed utopia that will enable creation of a good and happy society? Do chaos and excess pose danger?
Hito Steyerl writes: “In the early 1920es Franz Kafka wrote an enigmatic note: “What are you building? I want to dig a passage. A progress has to happen. My position is too elevated. We are digging the pit of Babel.” The startling twist in Kafkas short fragment is the transformation of the metaphor of the tower at Babel into the image of a hole in the ground.”* The massive excess of erecting a tower that enraged God is replaced by the writer with an image of an equally huge lack. The hole is, however, lack that goes beyond all understanding and should be compensated by the act of filling it back in. According to Pliny and Freud, all art originates is compensation for lack and artistic activity is a result of a desire of representation.
The danger of uncontrolled accumulation of goods is exemplified by the tragic story of brothers Homer and Langley Collyer. In 1947, police discovered their bodies in an apartment where 130 tons of rubbish were stored. It was found out during the investigation that Langley was crushed by a pile of newspapers while he was carrying food to his paralyzed brother. It took days before Homer finally died of hunger. The story of the two hoarders lead to the distinction of a psychological disorder called the Collyer brother syndrome. The Collyer story is reflected in similar strategies in the field of art. One only needs to mention Kurt Schwitters’ Merzbau or the huge archive Fabbrica Rosa created by Harald Szeemann who, on being asked how the collection was created, replied that it created itself.
These gigantic and superhuman actions reveal an attempt to cope with psychic space by means of physical action in a real place. When someone enters such psychically organized space the borders of a private psychosis of its creator are violated. Such places are most often closed and hidden in interiors which perforce reveal the psychical landscape of their“architects”.
Texts: Richard Grayson, Daniel Muzyczuk, Agnieszka Pindera, Joanna Zielińska, Ilya Kabakov, Gregor Schneider & Ulrich Loock, Matthias Ulrich
Editing by Daniel Muzyczuk, Agnieszka Pindera, Joanna Zielińska
Translations: Monika Ujma, Edyta Kubikowska
Design and typography: Yomar Augusto
Typesetting: Wojciech “Kiwi” Jaruszewski
Supergoup Azorro (2010 – 2011)
Ideal exhibition, CoCA in Torun, 2010, curated / designed by Joanna Zielińska
Artists: Oskar Dawicki, Igor Krenz, Wojtek Niedzielko, Łukasz Skąpski
Ideal Exhibition is the most comprehensive presentation of Supergrupa Azorro’s output to date. The title as well as the formula of the show implies, however, ironic approach to the very idea of retrospective. The prestige and significance of the exhibition are stressed by the arrangement relating to the history of the avant-garde, inspired by the Neoplastic Room designed by the famous avant-garde artist Władysław Strzemiński for the Muzeum Sztuki Nowoczesnej in Łódź. The exhibition includes a selection of video works as well as an archive including objects, drawings and various documentation which form an integral part of the artists’ work. The choice of exhibited materials signalizes a fresh approach to the activities of the group whose work has already entered the official canon and achieved recognition in Poland and abroad. By placing special emphasis on particular themes in their work, the exhibition offers space for reinterpretation of Azorro’s output. Some of the exhibited works are new, such as, for instance, Ideal Exhibition, Ideal Sculpture or The Last Film. The exhibition demonstrates that the end of Supergrupa Azorro that has been talked about for some time, is mere rumour.
The image of the world in Azorro’s films is distorted and immersed in absurd. The artists humorously pose questions whether artists are allowed to do anything they feel like doing, whether art is over, or whether everything has been done before? Crucial for the concept of Ideal Exhibition is the creation of an archive that sheds light on their artistic work and methods, being at the same time a collection of seemingly useless artifacts and curiosities which have not been shown to the public before. The archive is an ironic comment typical of Azorro – mocking topical themes, the artists once again question the sense of artistic production and the condition of the artist in contemporary world dominated by art market.
Movies:
Editing by: Krzysztof Gutfrański, Joanna Zielińska
Translations: Łukasz Skąpski (Azorro’s films), Monika Ujma
Photography: Wojciech Olech, Supergrupa Azorro, Rudolf Steiner
Design and typesetting: full-metal-jacket.
Other exhibitions by Supergroup Azorro:
As Good As It Gets in Arsenał Gallery, Białystok, 2010
The Last Show 1, Goldex Poldex, Kraków, 2010
Don’t stare at the sun (2009)
Don’t stare at the sun. Works from Daros Latinamerica Collection / Nie patrz prosto w słońce. Prace z kolekcji Daros Latinamerica, CoCA in Toruń, 2009, curated / designed by Joanna Zielinska and Agnieszka Pindera, id: Full Metal Jacket
Artists invited: Mauricio Alejo, Juan Carlos Alom, María Fernanda Cardoso, Clemencia Echeverri, Regina José Galindo, Teresa Margolles, Ana Mendieta, Ernesto Neto, Javier Tellez.
Our bodies have a remarkable ability to immortalize transitory places and objects in the form of images. Hans Belting says that the collective cultural memory that provides us with images is also retained in the institutional memory of archives. An art collection is one such archive – “a place outside of time”. The exhibition comprises video works, objects and installations by Latin American artists.
Key ideas for an understanding of the exhibition are oblivion (repressed experience) and memory, on which the artists draw in their tales of desire, of sensual perception of the world, of a “longing body”, experiences frequently too difficult to be expressed – hidden in simple instincts, traditions and pre-Columbian rites, and also of events in the social and political histories of the places they come from. Another departure point is the body defined as the place where memory dwells. Jacques Lacan writes: (…) I speak through my body without realizing this. I always say more than I think I do.
People turn their eyes away from the sun, and Georges Bataille writes: the erection and the sun scandalize, in the same way as the cadaver and the darkness of cellars. Human eyes tolerate neither sun, coitus, cadavers, nor obscurity, but with different reactions. The phrase “don’t stare at the sun” in the title of the exhibition refers directly to sensual cognition, traumatic at times, a dangerous flouting of taboos, touching upon painful areas.
Daros Latinamerica is the largest collection of contemporary Latin American art in Europe, currently comprised of over 1,000 works by some 100 artists. The collection covers the entire range of contemporary media and materials including sculptures, paintings, drawings and photographs, as well as videos, installations and sound pieces. While the collection focuses on art created during the past 20 years, key works of the 1960s and 70s are also included. Daros Latinamerica’s aim is to develop an ever more complex network of relations and encourage a variety of approaches to the collected works, and thus contribute to a broader understanding of Latin American art today. The institution is committed to fostering an ongoing exchange among artists and with the public.
Don’t stare at the sun / catalogue
Texts: Agnieszka Pindera, Joanna Zielińska
Translation: Monika Ujma
Design: full metal jacket
Romeo Gongora’s project I‘m the Other accompanies the exhibition Don’t tare at the sun. Works from Daros Latinamerica Collection.
With his project I am the Other Romeo Gongora refers to Lygia Clark’s series of actions entitled Estruturação do Self. The Brazilian artist developed her own therapeutic method called structuring the self, or therapy of touch. Clark used “relational objects” made of ordinary materials, such as plastic bags filled with water, stockings with feathers or stones, shells or pieces of rubber pipes. The therapeutic sessions run by Clark in the 1970s enabled participants to “reestablish contact with their corporality, rediscover the feeling of organic union with the world and others, leading to disappearance of the cause of trauma, that is separation of the subject from the object world” (quoted after K. Tomczak Wysocka, „Dotykoterapia” Lygii Clark, www.obieg.pl/artmix/9065).
Drawing inspiration from Clark’s notes, Romeo Gongora devised his own project in which he not only deals with the legacy of the cult artist but also reflects upon the phenomena of ready-mades, alienation and opposition between viewers/observers and participants in the artistic action. As a form of revisiting and reinterpreting Lygia Clark’s project, Romeo Gongora conducted a series of sessions to which he invited people living in Torun. For that purpose, the artist assembled a variety of found objects. Gongora compares the process of working on the project to mutual repulsion and attraction between opposites, both in relations with the participants, as well as in the context of his own artistic attitude, struggling with Lygia Clark’s charismatic figure.
Romeo Gongora – (Canada/Guatemala) – graudated from UQAM (2005), exhibited at Musée d’art contemporain w Montrealu, Galerie de l’UQAM (Montreal), Centre d’art contemporain OPTICA (Montreal), Centre de diffusion et de production de la photographie VU (Quebec), Gallery 44 (Toronto) and Centre de photographies actuelles DAZIBAO in Montreal, amongst others. Collaborated with Centro de la Imagen (Mexico City) and Centre Culturel de Neumünster (Luxemburg). Since 2007 he has been the resident artist at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten (Amsterdam). In 2009 he represents Canada as an artist in residence at the Künstlerhaus Bethanien (Berlin).
Studio + Kitchen (2008 – 2010)
Studio + Kitchen Project / Pokój z kuchnią, CoCA in Toruń, 2009 – 2010, curated together with Agnieszka Pindera, Daniel Muzyczuk and Krzysztof Gutfrański, design: Tomek Rygalik Studio, graphic design: Hakobo
Multifunctional workshop room dedicated to creative leisure time. Located on the ground floor, Studio + Kitchen offers space for discussion meetings, music events and artistic actions. It is also a place for friends to meet for informal chats. The first site-specific space of that type in Poland, it serves as the gallery’s community space which is, at the same time, a display of contemporary design. Dedicated in its entirety to local community, the room is open to every one. One can come here to read a book, enjoy a cup of coffee or simply chat. Educational facilities for children and the youth are also provided.
The designer has abandoned the straightforwardness of everyday objects, furnishing the room with sculpture-like tables, benches and seats. The arrangement of objects ensures that the room serves its function as a meeting place, while being, at the same time, a site-specific design project. The concept was inspired by the architecture of favelas (widespread shanty towns growing around the cities in Brazil with buildings constructed of the cheapest materials, mostly recovered from other buildings or rubbish dumps) and the idea of creative recycling. With time, the objects are to be moved and reappropriated, they will wear out.
The furniture designed by Tomek Rygalik are made of OSB panels. Raw aesthetics of a building site will give a new aura to the space of the CoCA. The designer says: A project often springs from the idea that something may be used for some other purpose. An open mind is crucial. Industrial appearance and firm texture of OSB counters the minimalist, cold and elegant architecture of the Centre. The project designed by Rygalik is based on simple, functional and utilitarian design. The Room has an auditorium and moveable performance space which may serve as a DJ console or sitting area if necessary, with various sofas, tables and stools, as well as the children area. Natural plants are an important factor facilitating relaxation. There is a reference library, as well as a place for playing games.
The room also has a Kitchen made by Elżbieta Jabłońska, available to guests during various events taking place here. The work from the CoCA collection displayed in the space is both functional and integration-stimulating, softening the sterile architecture of the gallery and creating an aura encouraging free exchange of ideas.
Angelika Markul. New Moon (2009)
Angelika Markul is one of the most interesting artists of the new generation. The artist made her debut with the Sen Muchy (A Fly’s Dream ) exhibition in Galeria Foksal in 2006. During the inauguration of CoCA in Torun (2008), she presented her spectacular foam sculpture entitled Iceberg.
Markul uses an extremely specific repertoire of forms, combining video images with installations constructed of glass, wood, black foil, eye irritating lamps, or industrial ventilators. Certain elements constantly appear in her works, forming new configurations and arranging the space differently. During the NEW MOON exhibition – an extensive presentation of Angelika Markul’s art – CoCA’s interiors will become a giant installation, composed of her previous videos, sculptures and a site-specific project.
The title of Markul’s exhibition is derived from one of the phases of the Moon, in which it can’t be seen from the Earth. This particular season is described in many cultures as an extremely fortunate period, the time of purification, balance, transformation, or the time of sowing. Paradoxically, the works of Angelika Markul manifest neither harmony, nor alleviation. The highly sensual world, created by the artist, is disturbing, even repulsive; a world on the verge of decay, that makes us avert our eyes. The artist is fascinated with places covered with dirt and mantles of snow. The eye of the video camera leads us throughout nooks frozen in time, through attic spaces that seem neglected, where we can witness micro catastrophes… While manoeuvring through this world, the viewer is forced to lean on one’s senses and intuition. Reality mixes with irrational, overscaled landscapes, inhabited by trapped exotic plants and animals. Movie scenes take place in the radically composed, dramatic background, illuminated with pale, glimmering light, surrounded by ‘latex’ forms and wheezing ventilators.
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Angelika Markul was born in Szczecin. She has lived and worked in Paris since 1997. In 2003 she graduated from Paris Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux Arts in multimedia, directed by Christian Boltanski. Collaborates with the Galerie Frédéric Giroux in Paris and Kewenig Galerie in Koln. She has participated in many international exhibitions, both group and individual, e.g. in Paris (Fondation Cartier, Museum d’Art Moderne Contemporain de la Ville de Paris, Méta Zone, MK2 Bibliotheque, Museum Luxembourg , Grand Palais du Louvre, Hudson au Grand Palais, Chatelet Theatre, Cosmic Galerie a Paris, Galerie Frédéric Giroux), at Castello di Rivoli, at Museo d’Arte Contemporanea in Turin, at Spazio Culturale La Rada in Locarno, at Kewenig Galerie in Köln, at Trondelag Senter for Samtidskunst w Trondheim, at Substitut in Berlin, at the ART BRUSSELS 2007, at Galerie Salvador Diaz in Madrid, at Musée BankART LIFE a Yokohama in Japan, at Warsaw Foksal Gallery, at Galeria Miejska Arsenał in Poznan, at CSW Zamek Ujazdowski in Warsaw and at the CoCA Znaki Czasu in Torun (her ICEBERG installation was presented during the inauguration of the Centre, on 13-14 June 2008).
Texts: Joanna Zielińska, Jarosław Lubiak, Agnieszka Pindera
Editing by Joanna Zielińska
Translation: Monika Ujma
Photographs: Wojciech Olech, Robert Ronowski, Angelika Markul
Design and typesetting: www.full-metal-jacket.pl
Written in English and Polish
