A Prior Magazine presents:
issue #14-Sven Augustijnen, Deimantas Narkevicius,
Joachim Koester;
issue #15-Valérie Mannaerts, Martha Rosler, Allan Sekula.
A Prior Magazine is a contributor to this years documenta12 magazines project – an open source collaborative project between over 90 on- and off-line (art)publications. A Priors two issues of this year take their cue from the conceptual outlines of the documenta12 project. A Prior also took the occasion to extend its activities, exchange articles and organise seminars and educational sessions.
Board of editors: Els Roelandt, Andrea Wiarda, Monika Szewczyk, Raimundas Malasauskas, Dieter Roelstraete, Hilde van Gelder, Ann Demeester, Anton Vidokle, Aneta Szylak, Dirk Snauwaert, Barbara Vanderlinden.
[APM#14_modernity]
Chèr Pourquoi Pas? – Sven Augustijnen
Who killed Patrice Lumumba? And who murdered his alleged murderer? What was the role of journalist Pierre Davister? Sven Augustijnen’s investigative and elaborative project on (post)colonial events and media in both Congo–a former Belgian colony–and Belgium, recalls the thin lines between truth and fiction, the manipulation of words and data, power structures and media. Based on magazine and archived articles, real and fictional interviews the project also features an extensive series of covers from the 1960s reviews Pourquoi Pas? and Spécial. Jan Verwoert elaborates on the ‘Practical Surrealism’ Augustijnens work.
Re-visiting Solaris – Deimantas Narkevicius
Narkevicius reconsiders Solaris–the enigmatic Tarkovsky film adaptation in 1971/2 of the novel by futurologist Stanislaw Lem. An extensive text by writer Jean-Pierre Rehm and a conversation between Narkevicius and Larissa Harris, discuss Narkevicius’ mastery in addressing the contemporary and (recent) past, in the context of the wrangling of the economic and the socio-cultural condition, specifically in the former Eastern Bloc.
Königsberg / Kaliningrad – Joachim Koester
Koester travelled to the city of Königsberg / Kaliningrad together with curator and writer Anders Kreuger and literary scholar Claudia Sinnig and discovered that Kant’s beloved hometown (and Hannah Arendt’s birthplace) was now covered with shopping malls and other marks of post-communist, capitalist influence. Koester elaborated his project The Kant Walks with new photographs for A PRIOR and produced a new series of photographs: Kaliningrad is Full of Holes. With reflections on Königsberg / Kaliningrad by Dieter Roelstraete, Anders Kreuger and Claudia Sinnig.
/ VISIONS
I Am Alive and You Are Dead…
Curator and writer François Piron elaborates on the inherent tensions and contradictions of modernity starting from Glass Architecture–a manifesto written by the German poet Paul Scheerbart in 1910–and subsequently on the production of errors as an interpretative methodology or, what modernity could have been if….
[APM#15_on Life]
A Monster of LochNess Feeling – Valérie Mannaerts
Belgian artist Valérie Mannaerts presents a four-part series of new photographs: A Monster of Loch Ness Feeling yielding a vision of life in a bare, abstract form, but one that is rarely evident in contemporary theoretical discourse. In a contribution by Monika Szewczyk on Mannaerts work the question of bare life emerges as the object of ‘an experimental knowledge’. Further elaborations on Mannaerts work are contributed by Jeroen Boomgaard and Kersten Geers.
Bringing the War Home – Martha Rosler
Martha Rosler presents a verion of her series of images which powerfully rearticulates the kind of domestic, everyday, regular life in the context of (current) war(s). Accompanied by a conversation around the Martha Rosler Library between Martha Rosler, Dieter Roestraete and Anton Vidokle–shedding a different light on Roslers work as well as the critical universe that books construct.
Shipwreck and Workers–Version 3 for Kassel (2007) -Allan Sekula
Allan Sekula offers an in-dept (pre)view of his project for Documenta12, accompanied by an elaborate commentary on this new project, previous series and the broader context of Sekulas work by Hilde Van Gelder. Asserting labour as a noble poetic and essential part of human life.
/ VISIONS
‘Whats the place of art in all this?’ A conversation with Maria Hlavajova by Andrea Wiarda; Rudi Laermans on COMMONism and other things we may not share…; Dirk Lauwaert discusses Wanda… Barbara Lodens only feature film; Hito Steyerl elaborates on the uncertain status of documentary footage; Marius Babias reflects on the relations of ‘populism’, ‘public sphere’ and ‘terrorism’ in his text on Zones of Indifference.
A Prior Magazine is supported by The Flemish Community, the University College Ghent Department of Visual Arts and Design, Duvel and the Advertisers.
A Prior Magazine info and subscriptions on: www.aprior.org
Tel: +32 9 267 01 69
J. Kluyskensstraat 2
9000 Ghent, Belgium
Andrea Wiarda: andrea@aprior.org
Els Roelandt: els@aprior.org
