Opening hours:
Monday - Friday:12am - 6pm
Monday - Friday:12am - 6pm
17
December
2010
>
06
January
2011
curated by Ana Grobler and Jadranka Ljubičič
Propaganda/ Appendix2
Ul. Foksal 11/1
00- 372 Warszawa
The Alkatraz Gallery has become recognised in the field of contemporary art among the expertise, interested public as well as among general public for it has been working on it for over a decade. Those exhibiting at the Alkatraz Gallery are artists of various generations who have in common to open up issues, question the art system, conditions of production and wider social realities through different media and thematic approaches. By their awareness of the integration of the gallery space in the very micro location Alkatraz remains a residential gallery for the artists and the artistic production created »intro muras« of the Autonomous Cultural Centre Metelkova City.
Sculpturer Boštjan Drinovec and sculpturer and video artist Tomaž Furlan have their studios at Metelkova City. In their works they engage humor to address the serious issues of contemporary life, like mass media driven culture, suppressed freedom of choice and civil rights. Video artist Nika Autor uses a serious tone of approach and with it she points to the fundamental question of the role of an individual in the society that increasingly presents itself as a game of the absurd.
Nika Autor: By Products, Postcards and Report on situation of asylum seekers in Republic of Slovenia, January 2008 - August 2009
The film pair Report on the state of the asylum policy in the Republic of Slovenia from January 2008 to August 2009 and Postcards by Nika Autor critically deconstructs the dominant discourse of the asylum and migration policy, lucidly pointing to the principles of exclusion behind it. The films are a reflection upon discourses that legitimise the modus of the disciplining practices which regulate the social situation of asylum seekers, constructing their subjectivity and identities. Further, they point to marginalization and discrimination. From a completely different perspective, Nika Autor legitimises exactly what the dominant regime of representation has hidden and supplanted, revealing that what has been concealed from us is the practice of segregation. Her breaking down of how the social hegemony is inscribed into the regime of representation allows her to crucially transform the existing discourse of the asylum policy. This of course meaning that what is taken apart is the stereotypical representation since a stereotype is regarded as a crucial point of legitimating subjection and preclusion. And this is where the point of resistance comes into play, pointing to mechanisms of power and control and unveiling the ruptures in the dominant construction of reality. By unearthing the hegemonic paradigm, Nika Author seeks to show what failed to be represented and what remained unseen and omitted. Representation therefore is not a politically neutral event, for it legitimises distinctively its object of vision, functioning simultaneously as a social practice the narrative of which is clearly connected to the territory of power, interests and politics.
text: Sergej Kapus
http://www.autor.si/
Boštjan Drinovec: The Postmjodern man and Organo-patent for wasteful usage of energy
The sculptural world of Boštjan Drinovec extends between the well considered connection of the contents and form. The content of the sculptural designing is directly linked to the procedure of the sculpture’s creation, as the author, during the very process of creation keeps constantly upgrading the technique and methods applied while working on a respective work of art. The authorial style of Drinovec pertains to the technology of a modified view on the world, a more mobile than static image representing the world and the accompanying reflection on wider socio-critical views on the Creation. Sculpture The Postmjodern man, a monumental human figure, resembles a figure constructed of Lego building blocks. The metal figure, holding its head in the hands indicates the lack of self-reflection of an individual and, perhaps, the position of humanity as a whole, where the head is no longer aware of what the body is doing. Organo-opatent for wasteful usage of energy critically addresses a possible future when humanity will have more energy than actually needed at its disposal. His sculpture as a made up »document of the future« bears the role of a future aesthetic object, consisting also of the lights using up the excessive energy. The sculptural installations of Boštjan Drinovec are stepping away from the classic principle of the observation of a sculpture. His sculptural bodies establish a dialogue, communication, and an exchange with the space and spectators, thus becoming inseparable integral parts of the newly created entireness.
text: Jadranka Ljubičič and Ana Grobler
http://www2.arnes.si/~bdrino/
Tomaž Furlan: The Wear Project
The video is only a part of The Wear Project. It is a kind of analytical reflection on the simple use of interactive pieces. The pieces, or should I say sculptures, proved to be extended functions of the body in some forced process. In Wear Project videos they are used as scene props in the form of clothes for the simple function of doing something. The name Wear comes from this, which suggests that these pieces are actually clothes, but they are also functional objects made for a certain production or ritual action. As I was alone when making them, I also tried on and used these pieces. It feels pretty silly to
wear these "hard-wears", use them, and explore their purpose. So why not make it even sillier by recording it on camera? The recorded material is the payback for the effort. Therefore, the videos are not representations of the function of the pieces, but a live manner of using pieces in action. Music and accelerated movement are very important. Together they should create a new old space in which the action happens in its own environment on the introverted level of the protagonist as an emotional level of the public. It was interesting to close myself in the studio and install a camera and record myself carrying out some basic and simple kind of work and process. Not only from the artist's point of view, but also as a common person (a civilian), caught in a sphere of democratic work - rights, suppressed freedom of choice, and the individual need for physical activity. The intention, however, is to produce and use these pointless "hard-wears" to try and experiment with a simple need to create an individual action without any pragmatic or production reasons. The Wear Project is an attempt to fight against banality with stupidity. Naturally it is unsuccessful, but it is also absolutely necessary in order to remain as human as possible.
text: Tomaž Furlan
http://www.e-arhiv.org/diva/index.php?opt=work&id=619
http://www.zavod-parasite.si/eng/tomaz-furlan
Artworks
Nika Autor:
By Products, photos, 2010, 21x30cm
Postcards, Pal DVD, color, 2010, 16:9, 9', editing Nika Autor, sound Miha Ciglar, production: IRZU iand KINO!
Report on situation of asylum seekers in Republic of Slovenia, January 2008 - August 2009, Pal DVD, 2010, black & white, 16:9, 36',directing, scripts: Nika Autor, Maja Cimerman, editing Jurij Meden, Maja Cimerman, Nika Autor, sound: Miha Ciglar
produkcija IRZU and KINO!
Boštjan Drinovec:
Postmjodern man, paperboard, 2010, 35x25x50 cm
Organo-patent for wasteful usage of energy, steel, mixed electricity, plexi glass, 2007, 45x28x21 cm
Tomaž Furlan:
Wear V-VII, video, 2009, 11' 10'',
Wear VIII, in progres, video, 2010, 4' 2''
Wear I-IV, instalation: steel, foam, LCD, 2008, 30x50x 120cm
__________________________________________________________________________________________
curators: Ana Grobler and Jadranka Ljubičič
assistant, translation to Polish: Sebastian Krawczyk
translation to English: Lili Anamarija No
Sebastian Krawczyk is a volunteer at the European Voluntary Service project. The execution of this project is cofinanced by the European Commission. The content of the project is at sole liability of the author and by no means it represents the stands of the European Commision.
Photos of the opening: Ana Grobler
