IRWIN
The Uninterrupted Production
of the Object
21 January–15 February 2014
Rampa Istanbul
Şair Nedim Caddesi No: 21a
34357 Akaretler Beşiktaş
Istanbul
Turkey
Hours: Tuesday–Saturday 11–19h
T +90 212 327 0800
F +90 212 327 0801
info [at] rampaistanbul.com
What do the idea of a state and that of art both rely on? First and foremost, recognition. There are states in the world, whose passports and documents are not widely recognized—and whose citizens are therefore not recognized; and others which are taken for granted as naturally existent entities. So too, the artists and art works recognized in the histories of art make up what we believe to be art. The ways in which the state as well as art is performed, through rituals and institutions, pervades the practice and works of IRWIN. The similarity in the way which they approach established art and the state reveals a gateway to the logic of their production.
The collective was first established in 1983 while their home country of Slovenia was still part of socialist Yugoslavia. In 1984, still half a decade until the fall of Communism, and the gradual establishment of many states through many struggles and atrocities throughout the region, IRWIN was among other collectives (such as the music collective Laibach) to co-found a collective of collectives, a future stateunder the name Neue Slowenische Kunst, commonly referred to as the NSK.
The exhibition The Uninterrupted Production of the Object covers a 30-year corpus of work that presents IRWIN’s research into and engagement with the histories that the NSK is borne of. Like a national museum, IRWIN’s production throughout the years perform, reproduce, re-signify and incorporate previous histories into their mythology—at times bringing elements of contradictory nature together. The diversity of their sources are immense and their direct references range from Orthodox Christian iconography to Kazimir Malevich’s work; from Renaissance to Suprematism.
The references of their serial works to different eras of art history always make the connection with a totalitarian past; whether it be a product of it, or a scream against it. Though the works mostly depend on imitation, mimicry, and repetition; the intricacies of IRWIN’s work complicate a straightforward vision by distorting, re-contextualizing, and re-signifying the visual culture of totalitarianisms. These images resonate with each viewer according to their own experience, knowledge, and perception of visual culture associated with an almost endless array of historical references.
IRWIN’s somewhat anachronistic objects are dispersed on the walls of the gallery, bringing these histories together in dissonance. Yet it is still possible to trace their uninterrupted production, a coherent line of research unfolding and transforming throughout the different series.
“Was is Kunst” is an ongoingseries that the group embarked on in the mid 1980s and includes many framed paintings. It is a series in which their connection with the other constituents of the NSK, primarily the music group Laibach, comes to the fore in their use of archetypal elements from Laibach imagery: the black Malevich cross, deer antlers, cogs, and axes.
The series “Was Ist Kunst Hugo Ball” perhaps encapsulate the tensions that IRWIN’s larger practice aim toward, by juxtaposing Orthodox iconography with works of the Dada movement. Paintings that emulate icons are framed along with paintings that the group copy from other traditions. This move, in a way, designates IRWIN’s practice as a continuation of icon painting tradition which is based on copying. The frames, which are very particular to IRWIN and are said to be their signature, brings these works together. The style of the frames that are in agreement despite the dissonance of the imagery they each frame, act as an element of consistency, marking a wider frame among the collage of works.
The last installment of the icons series, “Monochromes” presents a seeming divergence from the previous series in its reference to abstract art, yet far from a shift, it marks the continuation of IRWIN’s exploration of the history of art and particularly of modernism in all its difference and repetition.
Malevich Between Two Wars, an icon from the “Was is Kunst” series, reappears within the photographic images that document it in the context of religious processions, as if to convince the viewer of its iconic powers. These works are also reminiscent of NSK Guarda (which are not exhibited here), in which IRWIN collaborated with the militaries different countries, who performed a military ritual under the NSK flag. Through such collaborative actions IRWIN seeks to re-signify their image worlds.
The works may be read, in essence, an exploration into the power of images and the ways in which they harbor a potential of re-signification throughout time and history. IRWIN’s works invoke the question of why, years, even centuries after their time, these icons of Orthodox Christianity, or the monochromes which are the epitome of Modernism, are painted again. This exhibition comes at the heels of a tumultuous time in Turkey when a wide corpus of totalitarian imagery are questioned and the potentials of collectivity reconsidered, making it a timely revisiting of IRWIN’s oeuvre.
Media relations:
For additional information, images or to request an interview, please contact
Üstüngel İnanç: T +90 212 327 0800 / uinanc [at] rampaistanbul.com
