Monument to Transformation
FLOOR 2. PASSWORDS, CYCLE 8
FLOOR 1. IMPLEJIDADES
FLOOR -1. BLACK SWAN/MAGPIE
FLOOR -2. PAISAJES DE LUZ, MONUMENT TO TRANFORMATION
Fray Zacarias Martinez, 2
01001 Vitoria-Gasteiz (SPAIN)
info [at] montehermoso.net
MONUMENT TO TRANSFORMATION
Vyacheslav Akhunov, Ayreen Anastas+René Gabri, Babi Badalov, Chto Delat, Cristina David, Patricia Esquivias, Pedro G. Romero/Archivo F.X., Nicoline van Harskamp, Sharon Hayes, Sanja Ivekovic, Peggy Meinfelder, Ivan Moudov, Ciprian Muresan, Anatoly Osmolovsky, Dan Perjovschi, Lia Perjovschi, María Ruido, SASA[44]+MeeNa Park, Wisnu Suryapratama, Taller Popular de Serigrafía, Vangelis Vlahos, Haegue Yang
“Monument to Transformation” is a series of exhibitions, projections, publications, debates and lectures which have taken place over more than two years, in an interdisciplinary environment (art, humanities, economics and natural science theories).
The exhibition at Montehermoso is conceived as an imaginative and analytical space that – with a certain distance – enables the visitor to see and reflect upon the processes of change that started with the fall of the Iron Curtain (1989) in Eastern Europe, the student demonstrations in Indonesia in 1998 or the Revolution in South Korea (1987) and which have, to a certain extent, continued until today. The way this topic is approached is influenced by a feeling of affiliation to these changes, which are in a way co-formed by us and whose impact affects and influences us. It is therefore an attempt to look at “transformation” as a “lived out” and gradually receding process.
This way of thinking about transformation is conceived as structured in tension between various methods from the fields of the social sciences and artistic practice. The experience of transformation in “Eastern Europe” is an independent theoretical field. In the context of transformation studies, the so-called Eastern European region has its own specific elements, which originated in the geo-political division of the world, irrevocably decided at the Jalta Conference as a consequence of the Second World War. The power division of the world into East and West can no longer be mechanically adopted without reservation – it cannot be used when trying to understand the processes of cultural signifying, cultural production and representation in that region. If one automatically accepts such a division, one assumes that those geo-political power polarities are recognizable in the “cultural material” – which means that cultural production is not viewed a priori, as creation, as a polluting semiosis, but as a mere representative of the recognizability of the East-West power polarity.
Curated by Vít Havránek and Zbynek Baladrán.
January 22nd – May 30th 2010
PASSWORDS 8. STOWAWAYS. Hidden Passengers in Contemporary Art, 2000-2009.
Uli Aigner, Andrea Bowers, Patty Chang, Annette Hollywood, Katarzyna Kozyra, Christina Lammer, Karl Leitgeb, Sands Murray-Wassink.
Passwords aims to show and document the many lines of criticism and artistic creation based on feminist viewpoints that have been developed in an audiovisual format since the 1960s. The project’s goal is to reveal, question and refute the sexist mechanisms and undercurrent present in mainstream artistic iconography concerning women and femininity.
“Stowaways” is about the embarrassing, the hidden, the uncool, and the cool to catch up to. These videos are about what we do not want to think about or what we think about and do not want or what we think about and you haven’t thought about yet. The transformation of powerlessness into power by showing. […] “No group show is a justified presentation of gender, sexuality or identity. An artist curator is not a normal curator. I wanted a loose combination, I did not want something definitive, I wanted the audience to be mildly entertained and slowly drawn into some of the videos and I wanted the selection to have enough absence of sense to be truthful”.
Curated by Elke Krystufek
January 22nd – May 2nd 2010
IMPLEJIDADES
Juan Luis Moraza
The exhibition is included in the programme conducted by the centre with artists working in the context, all of whom boast distinguished careers. The works have been produced specifically for the centre’s space, and will enable viewers to approach the recent production of artists, such as Juan Luis Moraza (Vitoria-Gasteiz, 1960), who are key figures in contemporary art practices in Spain.
According to the artist, subjects such as conscience, desire, the human body, love and death, are not affected by progress, but, rather, they are eternal. In short, all those perceptive, psychic and mental complexities are called subjectivity. The exhibition presents a series of artistic trials which aim to become works of art, but whether they achieve this goal or not will depend upon how much the viewers feel them, whether they want them to become artworks. Art does not provide messages or contents – it offers unknown factors that make us feel, think, act, and makes us conscious of the uncompromising importance of materiality and the body. It is precisely this inevitably structured materiality that is offered for a reflection on contemporary subjectivity.
Curated by Beatriz Herraez
February 12h – April 4th 2010
NEXT:PRESENTACIONES/AURKEZPENAK
Ohiana Goenaga
Santiago FMosteyrín
NEXT is a bimonthly cycle of exhibitions in collaboration between Montehermoso and the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of the Basque Country. This programme tries to make visible the projects by artists undergoing a process of “professionalisation”. Ohiana Goenga (Azpeitia, 1986) and Santiago Fmosteyrín (Madrid, 1982), were selected at the last open call process.