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"Collaborations in curating, research and writing
to create translocal knowledge and experience.
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Eastern Europe  

Loophole to Happiness

Trafó House of Contemporary Arts
11 November – 30 December 2010

Muzeum Sztuki Łódź
27 January – 27 March 2011

Futura Centre for Contemporary Art Prague
May-August 2011

AMT Projects Bratislava
September - October 2011


Curated by Maja and Reuben Fowkes

Participating artists: Adam Chodzko, Petra Feriancova, Siniša Labrović, Ciprian Muresan, Csaba Nemes, Nada Prlja, Janek Simon, Péter Szabó and Katarina Šević.

The group show Loophole to Happiness takes as its starting point the existence of loopholes on the margins of social and economic systems that enhance personal freedom and offer the potential for pleasure and fulfilment. The exhibition examines the possibility of imagining exceptions, finding escape routes and evading the smooth surface of the neo-liberal capitalist order from the particular standpoint of worker’s resistance strategies in socialist Eastern Europe.

Loopholes in the rules and rationale of the contemporary social and economic order are discovered in unexpected places, from painterly evocations of social celebrations during communism, to meditations on the freedom of play in public spaces enjoyed before the advent of risk society. The aspiration for happiness and self-fulfilment is contrasted with the mental pollution emanating from information overload, along with a focus on attempts to revive non-capitalistic forms of knowledge and promote uneconomic attitudes in human relations...(more)

 

Revolutionary Decadence

Diana Kingsley, Not Your Friend, 2008Museum Kiscell / Municipal Picture Gallery Budapest
16 October - 29 November 2009

Curated by Maja and Reuben Fowkes

Participating artists include: Diana Kingsley, Eike, Dominic Hislop, Katerina Sević, Alexander Schikowski, David Wilkinson, Rudolf Hervé, Allan Siegel, Catherine Bürki, Claudia Martins

Revolutionary Decadence deals with the contribution of foreign artists to the Budapest art scene since 1989, and will include works from three main sub periods. The first wave (1989-1995) was characterised by the importance of personal connections, alternative spaces and an idealistic outlook. The second wave (1996-2000) saw a shift from spaces to images, an increasing institutionalisation of the art scene, and a stress on identity politics. The third wave (2000+) reflects the experience of the increasingly post-national globalised world and a transnational paradigm of artistic belonging...(more)

Revolution I Love You

Mladen Stilinović, Tamás St.Auby, Zofia Kulik, Stefanos Tsivopoulos, Oliver Ressler, Fia-Stina Sandlund, Miklós Erhardt, Heath Bunting, Marko Lulić, Tamás Kaszás, Jean-Baptiste Ganne, Nancy Davenport

Venues:
Centre of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki
(5 May – 30 August 2008)

Trafó Gallery Budapest
(12 September - 19 October 2008)

International Project Space Birmingham
(13 November – 19 December 2008)

‘Revolution, I Love You’ is a slogan from May ’68 that recalls the exuberance, deep desire for change and belief in the possibility of freedom illuminating a precious moment of universal revolt.   The exhibition investigates 1968 as an interlude of liberty and global resistance, focussing on the interplay between the politics of the street, radical philosophy, and the explosion of creative responses in the period. It considers the modalities of the unrest across Europe against the backdrop of contrasting economic and political systems in East and West...(more)

REHAB
Ivan Ladislav Galeta (HR), Csaba Nemes (HU), Amanda Dunsmore (IRL), Rudolf Pacsika (HU), Denis Krašković (HR) and Balázs Beöthy (HU)

Labor Gallery
29 February - March 26 2008

Galerija Balen
30 Oct - 15 Nov 2007

They tried to make me go to rehab, I said, "No, no, no." (Amy Winehouse)

REHAB is a refuge where we can hide when we want a break from contemporary lifestyles and the damaging influence they have on our mental and physical well-being. In a system in which we're constantly obliged to be socially responsible, in the moments when we want a rest from continuous pressure to conform to social norms, REHAB is an emergency exit. REHAB is also a state of mind, a decision to press pause and unwind, a refusal of ideological conditioning and a rejection of the slavery of political engagement, a shrugging off of the burden of social responsibility and responsible socialising. REHAB purifies us and offers a chance to refresh and recharge our creative energies...(more)

2007

Revolution is not a Garden Party
Michael Blum (Austria), Nick Crowe (UK), Igor Grubić (Croatia), Sanja Iveković (Croatia), Gergely László / Péter Rákosi (Hungary), Nils Norman (UK) and Adrian Paci (Italy).

Trafó Gallery Budapest
26 October – 26 November 2006

Holden Gallery Manchester
3 February - 28 February 2007

Norwich Gallery
21 March - 21 April 2007

Galerija Miroslav Kraljević Zagreb
14 June - 6 July 2007

The international exhibition ‘Revolution is not a Garden Party’ considers the resonances of social and political revolution in contemporary art against the backdrop of the 50 th anniversary of the Hungarian Uprising.

The exhibition consists of new and recent works that examine the global economic and political context against which revolutions take place, as well as the intersection between personal and artistic heritages of revolution. It expresses the sorrow of failed political struggles in the past and the future, and considers the shared experience of a communist past and the post-communist reality. Other concerns include the experience of revolutionary literature, the gendered images of resistance fighters in contemporary media, and the legacy of 1956 for the relationship of art and revolution...(more)

2006

Beata Veszely: On the Way to Heaven

Galerija Balen Slavonski Brod, 8 September - 7 October 2006

The Hungarian artist Beáta Veszely investigates the experience of the impossible, experience that can only be approached through extreme physical and spiritual endurance at the limits of the possible. The artist practices horse archery, through which she connects a sense of deep spirituality, closeness to animals in the natural landscape, and the old knowledge of the nomads of the Eurasian Steppes...(more)

Jane Frost: Living at the Edge

Galerija Balen Slavonski Brod, 21 April - 14 May 2006

Jane Frost is the initiator of the international collaborative project Living at the Edge, or L@tE, which deals with communities that live along waterways or fenland, questioning the historical, social, and ecological effects of reclaimed land from the Fenlands of East Anglia to Bangladesh. The workshops in Slavonski Brod and the exhibition in Galerija Balen will form part of the L@tE project. Jane Frost is a researcher at Norwich School of Art, where she is investigating the possibilities in the communication of expressing belonging to a community and an understanding of the history and future of the environment...(more)

Endre Koronczi: "Powersave On"

Central European University Budapest 30-31 March 2006

Endre Koronczi’s “Powersave On” takes the form of a video loop made up of images collected by the artist from the corridors and classrooms of the environmental studies department of CEU. The film mimics the mode of scientific observation, slowly panning across found objects and scenarios to recreate the atmosphere of life on the seventh floor. The artist’s quasi-anthropological approach is reflected both in his concern to express the specific ambient of the depictions of nature and ecological degradation in the midst of an institutional environment, and his avoidance of direct value judgements of the locale he observes. Nevertheless, we can sense a subtle and non-violent critique of the sustainability of the institutional structures of academia, specifically the carefree use of energy and resources...(more)

Ruri: Endangered Waters

Liget Galeria Budapest, 28 March – 8 April 2006

The Icelandic artist Ruri, in her series of photographic and sound installations Endangered Waters, archives elements of the natural landscape that are threatened with extinction as a consequence of human intervention. She catalogues the qualities of individual waterfalls in Iceland , preserving their unique sounds and appearance, for a future in which they may have ceased to exist. Her work is dedicated to exposing the huge environmental costs of Iceland’s exploitation of hydroelectric power by highlighting the threat to the survival of Iceland’s waterfalls posed by extensive dam building and the fact that two thirds of the energy produced is used by the multinational aluminium industry at below market rates. Her practice is rooted in conceptual art and challenges traditional landscape categories. Along with installations, she uses sculpture, multi media and performance to produce environmental art on a grand scale with a strong spiritual dimension and a real political edge....(more)

Iva Matija Bitanga and Leo Vukelic: Possible Theatre

Galerija Balen Slavonski Brod 24 February 26 March 2006

The exhibition focuses on the idea of performativity in the work of these artists, who although they do not deal with classical performance as a form of artistic expression in which the artists carries out an action live in front of a public, in their video works and series of photographs they often use the language of performativity...(more)

2005

Alem Korkut: Rain

Galerija Balen Slavonski Brod March 2005

Alem Korkut emerged as one of the most inventive sculptors of the young generation in Croatia. He has especially attracted critical attention for his use of new media to research the methods and processes of traditional sculpture. For the exhibition Rain, Alem Korkut (1970)showed new works that thematically mark a shift from the human figure and portraits characteristic of the artist's recent production, towards sculptural consideration of the representation of nature...(more)

2004

Heath Bunting: Natural Reality Superweed

Galerija Balen Slavonski Brod April 2004

The focus of Galerija Balen's annual marking of Earth Day in 2004 was on the issue of art and biotechnology, with a particular stress on food production. To celebrate international Earth Day, Galerija Balen invited British artist Heath Bunting to present his outstanding work 'Natural Reality Superweed' for the first time in Croatia...(more)

Unframed Landscapes

Balázs Beöthy, Ivan Bura, Péter Császar, János Fodor, Andrea Huszár,Tibor Iski Kocsis, Csaba Nemes, Ana Opalic, Matko Vekic

Gallery of Extended Media, Zagreb 10 - 30 June 2004
Ecology Pavilion Mile End Park, London 20 May - 6 June 2004
Institute of Contemporary Art Dunaújváros 16 January - 13 February 2004

The group exhibition Unframed Landscapes offers a reassessment of landscape as a genre in contemporary art. The conventional understanding of landscape implies a picturesque view of the countryside - images of ruined castles, a lonely tree in the puszta and romantic seaside villages come to mind. This understanding of landscape has, however, been revealed as culturally-constructed, the product of political ideologies, and conveying human domination over nature. Furthermore, landscape is perceived through a frame by a distant spectator, who remains alienated from the object of his gaze. Nature as a theme in contemporary art acts as a barometer of our ecological attunement...(more)

2003

Sociability

Galerija Balen, September-October 2003

Marijan Crtalić, Danko Frisčić, Denis Krasković, Frane Rogić and Igor Zlobec belong to a wider circle of artists which began to hang out at the Academy in Zagreb and often organise common projects and group exhibitions in various combinations. At the same time, they conscientiously built their own individual careers. Most of these artists share a studio address, which has become a place of informal creative sociability. Recent collaborations include projects like the happening in the newly opened shopping centre in Zagreb, a video reconstruction of Doctor Tulips Anatomy Hour, as well as a big group show entitled Zeravica 2: Pepeo in the Bjelovar City Museum...(more)

2002

Human/Nature
Viktor Daldon, Slaven Tolj, Sandra Sterle, Ivan Šeremet, Denis Kraškovic, Ivana Franke, Luko Piplica, Alem Korkut

Trafo Gallery, Budapest 16 May - 11 June 2002
Galerija Balen and Muzej brodskog Posavlja, Slavonski Brod, 17 September - 4 October 2002

The intriguing idea of Human/Nature is open to a number of interpretations. It includes the notion of a dichotomy between civilisation and the natural world and holds out the possibility of overcoming it. It also involves the tricky concept of 'human nature' that has divided philosophers for centuries between advocates of a harsh 'law of the jungle' and believers in the intrinsic goodness of the 'noble savage'...(more)