Don’t stare at the sun
Works from the Daros Latinamerica Collection
27 June – 13 September 2009
Opening: 26th June, 7 PM
Centre of Contemporary Art ‘Znaki Czasu’ in Torun
87-100 Torun
Waly gen. Sikorskiego 13
Poland
Curated by: Agnieszka Pindera, Joanna Zielińska
The exhibition comprises video works, objects and installations by Latin American artists, constituting the first comprehensive presentation of contemporary art originating in that cultural region in Poland.
Works selected for the exhibition deal with magical rituals, so-called ordinary life, meeting of diverse traditions, search for identity and social problems – creating a picture of a most variegated and complex culture. It is indeed the picture that is the starting point for an analysis of the question of identity in a postcolonial, globalized world where collective cultural memory is being replaced by technical memory of archives and the media and no longer signifies what it always did.
People turn their eyes away from the sun; as 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 title of the exhibition refers directly to sensual cognition, traumatic at times, dangerous flouting of taboos, touching upon painful areas.
GONE TO CROATAN
19.06 – 27.09.2009
Artists: Jan Bas Ader, Sebastian Buczek, Hubert Czerepok, Fischli & Weiss, relsierF łewaP, Lukas Jiricka / Paul Wirkus, Marek Kijewski, Katarzyna Krakowiak, Kollektivnye Deystviya, Jacek Koprowicz, Jiří Kovanda, Jacek Kryszkowski, Zbigniew Libera, Leszek Przyjemski, Robert Rumas, Daniel Rumiancew, Syreny TV, Adam Witkowski, Julita Wójcik, Zakład Produkcji Dźwięku, Ziemia Mindel Würm
Initiators: Robert Rumas, Daniel Muzyczuk
Exhibiton design: Robert Rumas
The first European colonists in the New World disappeared leaving behind the settlements and a paper note with the words ‘Gone to the Croatan’. The Croatans were an Indian tribe living in neighbouring territories. They are said to have murdered the settlers, however, reports concerning green-eyed Indians seem to contradict that version of events. A hypothesis suggests that the settlers went on a trip into another dimension.
Social exclusion can take many forms. It may result from unfavourable circumstances, or from an autonomous decision taken by an individual whishing to be excluded. The project aims at exploring these practices and their causes with special attention given to the variety of gestures establishing private utopias.
Works and gestures that have come to light during the project ‘Gone to Croatan’ reveal real stories of disappearance and detective search for traces of what has become ghostly, and confront them with artistic fiction taking up the theme of self-exclusion. The figures of investigators fail to meet those they are trying to find. The idiots preparing ground for establishment of their own, private utopias, are looking for the sense of life. All this happens by the light of the moon, which – on the one hand – is a symbol of alienation, and – on the other – a patron of poets. The protagonists of Fischli & Weiss’ ‘The Right Way’ discover genuine spontaneity in musical improvisation by the light of the moon. It is sound that transports the emptiness created by leaving. Perhaps, ghosts are merely musical vibration of the air.
Presentation of Romeo Gongora’s I AM THE OTHER project
25 June, 6 PM
The artist revisited and revised Lygia Clark’s Estruturacao do Self by performing a series of experimental actions, for which he used tactics of appropriation, derivation, and reinterpretation. Dealing with the local context, he has produced in-situ objects, involving inhabitants of the city in these “therapy” sessions.
STUDIO+KITCHEN/new place to hang around
Located on the ground floor, STUDIO+KITCHEN is a multifunctional workshop room dedicated to creative leisure time, offering space for discussions, music events and artistic actions. The first site-specific project of that type in Poland, serves as CoCA’s community space and a display of contemporary design by Tomek Rygalik Studio.
Centre of Contemporary Art ‘Znaki Czasu’ in Torun
Waly gen. Sikorskiego 13
87-100 Torun, Poland
For more information:
Katarzyna Toczko
katarzyna.toczko@csw.torun.pl
tel. +48 56 610 97 23
mob. +48 666 871 624
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