Horsecross presents
Ergin Cavusoglu
VOYAGE OF NO RETURN
curated by Iliyana Nedkova
31 January – 3 March 2009
SCOTTISH TIDES – POLISH SPRING
Izabella Gustowska | Igor Krenz | Julita Wojcik
curated by Iliyana Nedkova and Urszula Sniegowska
7 March – 4 June 2009
Horsecross, Mill Street
Perth, PH1 5HZ, UK
VOYAGE OF NO RETURN Ergin Cavusoglu
This exhibition features Horsecross’ most ambitious commission to date – a multi-channel video installation, shot at the Scottish port of Oban and inspired by Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities, as well as Marcel Broodthaers’ film Un Voyage en Mer du Nord. This is the first solo exhibition in the artspace.
Voyage of No Return testifies not only to the artist’s uncanny eye for detail but the ‘consummate visual poetry’ which lies at the heart of his work. Pivotal in this installation is the notion of a city and its harbour, which knows just departures. Cavusoglu’s work examines the condition of being adrift and placeless, of bypassing contingent borders and family ties. He comments on the ‘dissonant transitions that lead us beyond the return to places of origin, or the reach of ultimate destinations’.
Also on view are three of the artist’s earlier films, recreated as 22-channel video installations showing on the Threshold Wave dominating the artspace. Included are Midnight Express, Empire (after Andy Warhol) and Fog Walking – which together induce a sense of nocturnal transience and gloomy foreboding.
Midnight Express interprets the passage of trains as a poetic representation of the divide between East and West; the image moving from one screen to another mirroring the trains’ journey. Empire (after Andy Warhol) slows down the transition from dusk to night; an intricate interplay of light and dark silently gliding across the screens. Fog Walking allows for occasional glimpses of silhouettes: chateaus and statues are caught fleetingly through the all-encompassing fog, creating a sense of ominous suspense.
Voyage of No Return is showing alongside Cavusoglu’s personal selection of works from the Horsecross collection. A new limited edition under the same title is to be unveiled later in 2009.
SCOTTISH TIDES – POLISH SPRING Izabella Gustowska | Igor Krenz | Julita Wojcik
Migration – and its counterpart homecoming – is increasingly recognised as a positive state of mind and embraced by artists as part of their practice. Yet Scots and Poles have been doing it for centuries. Horsecross becomes a home away from home for half a year for three prominent Polish artists.
Three new works will be commissioned, produced and acquired for the Horsecross collection showing as 22-channel video installations at Threshold Wave area as part of the artists’ first solo exhibitions in Scotland.
Izabella Gustowska’s work is celebrated for its pioneering use of video. Much of her oeuvre could be summed up in the word ‘ona’ – Polish for ‘her’ – evolving narratives of the contemporary woman and the male gaze. Be it a girl riding her bike or identical triplets – Kasia, Ewa and Magda, two roller skating students or a stranger with her accordion.
Igor Krenz is probably best known internationally for his approach to film-making as ‘a logical mind game’. Krenz’s video vignettes are often tales about life cycles, cause and effect, improbability and accuracy, held together by playful scenarios.
Julita Wojcik claims to be ‘an average girl’ who does not ‘feel the need to pose or aspire to be somebody else’. A chronicler of the ‘provincial hometown aesthetics’, her work endeavours to expose the gender division of labour. In her performances Wojcik often adopts the personas of the traditional housewife versus the professional artist.
Voyage of No Return produced by Horsecross for Threshold artspace in partnership with 55degrees, Glasgow and Haunch of Venison, London. Supported by the University of Portsmouth and the Scottish Arts Council.
Scottish Tides – Polish Spring produced by Horsecross for Threshold artspace in partnership with 55degrees, Glasgow and the Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw. Supported by the Scottish Executive’s Homecoming Scotland, Adam Mickiewicz Institute and the Scottish Arts Council.
Both exhibitions are accompanied by new issues of Read More – Horsecross journal of critical writing (ISSN 1755-0866 Online). Specially designed, each issue features a newly commissioned essay about a selected work from the collection.
Launched in September 2005, Threshold artspace is about positioning Perth and Scotland within the contemporary art world at large through commissioning, producing, exhibiting, publishing and collecting.
Horsecross is an independent agency delivering cultural activities at Threshold artspace, Perth Concert Hall and Perth Theatre. Threshold artspace and Perth Concert Hall sit on the site of the original Horsecross – Perth’s 17th century horse market. The name is synonymous with bustling regeneration activity in the heart of the city.
For further details please contact Iliyana Nedkova, Horsecross Creative Director (Contemporary Art) tel: +44 (0)1738 477743 e-mail: inedkova@horsecross.co.uk or iliyana@arcprojects.org
