review23.06

10.07robert bartananezdraví !

Opening day of every exhibition is a social

event. People are coming not only to admire the

artworks but also, if not mainly, to see friends,

drinking beer and spend some time among

so-called art society.

tex t by Weronika trojan ska

this time, Czech born artist, robert barta, in certain sense, facilitated this tasks. In the middle of one of the rooms in Grimmuseum built installation “beergarden”. However, wooden cubic construction wasn’t a typical replica of english pub but peculiar reversed representation of this kind of places. Upside-down structure, living people outside the area of main events, seemed to disclaim prevailing im-ages of typical beer bars, but indeed reveals the veritable essence of the secluding of human being in present-day world. Ice-made glasses, in which beer was served, contra-dicted the tradition of clinking beer-mugs during toast but at the same time referred to idea of braking ice with some-one newly met.

as most of the robert barta’s works, those exhibited on the show “nanezdraví!” (23.06. – 10.07.2011), cannot exist without beholders. the observers become the original initi-ators of his installations, and as a result, not knowing when, become a part of them. as with the examples above or in piece “Keep your opinion” where the moving pedestal with guestbook on it, making the gallery visitor’s opinions “shak-able”, both in literal and metaphorical sense of this word.

In barta’s works is something absurd. they are oriented perpendicular to common line of comprehension. Cactus spinning hula hoop, framed flies collected during the long

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10.07robert bartananezdraví !

drive, melting glasses. Simulation is converted to stimulation. but this kind of absurd-ity not concerns only the reversed expectations of functionality of things. It is about

our condition in the confrontation with them. Giving new personality to the everyday objects and recreating their originality barta deceives spectators. Playing with hab-its, depictions and representations - tricked them and mocked. Calls in doubt their suspension of the world and with the result of that the seemingly evident percep-tion emerges as illusion and reveals poetic of pure non-sense. It remains only to propose a toast with ice-glasses and say: “nanezdraví!”.

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review27.05

11.06node: center for curatorial studiesunfolding space, processes, time

UNFOLDING: SPACE

PROCESSESTIME

Artist list: Stian Ådlandsvik (NO)- Curated by Victor Wang (CA), Mai Yamashita + Nayoto Kobayashi (JP), Futurefarmers (US), The First Collection by Atladót-tir & d’Ors (NL) - Curated by Lian Ladia (PH) + Jerlyn Jareunpoon (US)Julien Grossmann (FR) - Curated by Marlies Oud (NL), Isabel Simões (PT) - Curated by Sandra Kramer (DE)Soda_Jerk (AU)- curated by Guia Cortassa (IT),Kajsa Dahlberg (SE) - curated by Caterina Benvegnù (IT)

tex t by Weronika trojan ska

unfolding is a developmental process. if someone un-folds something which has been folded it doesn’t neces-sarily mean that it turns flat. on the contrary, it develops and becomes more understood. it makes things clearer by gradual disclosure and shows what was hidden before.

seven curators from node center for curatorial study collaborated with artists reside in Berlin (Kϋnstlerhaus Bethanien and glogauair artist in residency program) to create uncommon dialogues deciphering their ideas. divid-ed into small teams they spent hours and hours talking and getting to know each other, denying general opinion, that curator uses the artist’s works as utensils for objectification of own vision. revealing conceptions to each other reversed the way of thinking about an art exhibition. as a result of this specific brainstorm came into being a show referring to widely understood concept of “unfolding”. We can easily imagine unfolding piece of paper, but what about the imma-terial and intangible things?

the presentation in grimmuseum (27.05 – 11.06.2011) was divided into three parts, whose names (space, process-es and time) could be also read as descriptions of the cogni-tive operation prior to the result of the exhibition. during the process of mutual communication both curators and artists have given each other the space and time to think and devel-op their ideas and to unfold, step by step, the complexity of the artworks. However, in the final effect the show seemed not to disclose secrets of their field of activity. the exhibition appeared very clear and ordered. each room presented an-other view on the matter of complexity of unfolding, concern-ing on problems of time, space and processes. for example Julien grossman’s “la chute des monarches” and isabel

FIRST COLLECTION (ATLADóTTIR AND D’ORS) - CURATED BY LIAN LADIA + JERLYN JAREUNPOON © LAURA GIANETTI

review27.05

11.06node: center for curatorial studiesunfolding space, processes, time

simões’s “Kite” (curated by marlies oud and sandra Kramaer) showed that the notion of the space unfolds while sur-rendering to a transient movement. in soda_Jerk’s video “after the rainbow” (curated by guia cortassa) the linear time is disturbed and unfold to different perception of its course. through stian ϋdlandsvik’s (curated by Victor Wang) “convergence” appeared relationship among wholes and its parts and the conditions for their duration through time: an object has its parts essentially, and when they are taken apart, an ob-ject as a whole cease to exist (would not be the same anymore).

the process of unfolding often brings about different dimension of meaning. referring to art can say that it unfolds problems and ideas to the beholders, makes their eyes are open and reveals gradually to the understanding. after this - nothing is the same.

top_JULIEN GROSSMANN - CURATED BY MARLIES OUD © LAURA GIANETTI

aBoVe_KAJSA DAHLBERG - CURATED BY CATERINA BENVEGNù © LAURA GIANETTI

review27.04

02.05sam ashleywhistle minotaure! 07

Whisperingghosts

tex t by Bar bar a Cueto

“i realize that if i got rid of the spirit that was chasing me, my life was going to be ordinary, normal and boring”, said happily sam ashley, artist of the seventh edition of whistle minotaure! really nice declaration of intentions to justify an entire life experimenting with sprits and afterlife, we would say. the problem with mind reading was the exhibition at Grimmuseum dedicated to the divination, to a non-religious mysticism and to the shamanic experiences of this old Cali-fornian. it might sound a bit too esoteric for the general pub-lic; so let’s try to answer some questions about what hap-pened on the opening.

Was sam Ashley possessed when he was playing the Drums?Good question. we are not a 100% sure, but we think he

was. the artist said that it was the performance was about sprit possession. “about the sprit that make me go in to mys-

ticism. i resisted for some years, when i was a little kind. when i was 12 years and it was giving me a lot of trouble because i was resisting it, and after few years i realize that it was giving me good advice and helping me. so i reverse my attitude and try to develop a positive relationship”.

the wall was covered up with broken machines or it was an antenna to connect with another reality? whatever you want to believe, it was called the ghost

Detector, an installation that emitted a slightly noise or a constant hullaballoo depending who is there. “it is made with a simple equipment, any of electrical device that made sound. i just take the cover up and attach some wire to ran-dom places in the circuit. what it happen is that the thing becomes instable and then, it is sensitive enough, because no one really knows what it responded to”. During the per-formance, sam ashley walked slowly among the public with his transistor so he could related the sound to the auras of the audience. it was a bit difficult, but he manage to extract some weird sounds that impressed the arty public concen-trated on the hall, where the applauses where even higher than the tune of the auras. and, if you were wondering, you shouldn’t have touched the installation.

Aha. now i understand. so how many spirits are there?For him, the world is full of spirits: “there are millions,

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02.05sam ashleywhistle minotaure! 07

billions of spirits more than non-spirits. People forget, over-look, ignore the whole thing”. Disregarded or not, he say he can see them: “they are tendencies for certain events to oc-cur and i recognise that there are certain external patterns, represented by coincidences.”

And how many spirits where at the grimmuseum?Probably, a lot. But we never know. what i could tell you

is that there were a lot of real people.

What were doing almost 600 euros at the exhibition?you, poor thing. we wish that, that was real money. sam

ashley thinks, as most of the people that the only two things that people are aware of is: sex and money. and, here we go. all that fake money was just a way to interest you in all those bewitched objects that he had collected over the years. ob-jects where he had felt some presence. and the video show what he did with them: a non-religious exorcism. and no again, you weren’t supposed to take the notes.

What happened on the basement? Probably you were a bit to scared of the deep darkness

in the basement, but some intrepid visitors went to the dun-geons of the Grimmuseum to see what was going on there. so, if you were waiting to see anything, that was not the in-stallation you were expecting. you weren’t supposed to ac-

tually see anything. sam ashley said that “the problem of mind reading is a collection of sound effects, a library that i made during the years. and the idea was to play the effects all at the same time, on in a huge file, and it chops them every 18min files, because people listen a maximum of 15 minutes so whenever they come in the space, it would be something different. Because it is a metaphor, an example of how i work”. But for us it was more like a window of the rumour of the city.

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review16.06

19.06bartolomé ferrandojoan casellasextension series 10

“The realiTy which is being born among

The parTicipanTs is a simple realiTy:

energy. so There is in us flow movemenT

raTher Than a flow of images…”

(Jerzy grotowski)

tex t by Weronika trojan ska

our tradition is based on the action. before we used words we were communicating through sounds and ges-tures. However, nowadays we are marked by the word cul-ture, but we still often seem to be going through the motion of the imitative aspects of our performing past as a way of looking for our present, our here and now. Performance art is one of the peculiar activities which are very strongly positioned in space and time. it’s going beyond the limits between experience and imagination.

combine Performance art with experimental poetry tendencies, two established spanish performance artists, bartolomé ferrando and joan castellas, showed on 16th of june results of week-long residency in Grimmuseum, which was the 10th part of “extension studies” (Perform-ance art program curated by andrés Galeano). created in their actions real-time discourse between performer and audience, went beyond frameworks of general thinking about words as a graphic and communication signs. Words have been materialized in gestures, movements and sound, portraits a multidimensional reflection of “everything” ex-isting in their inner world. taking research into artistic lan-guages, which take root in the core of communicative need, revealed reality underlying the verbal and visual appear-ance. through various means of expressions they created new parlances of communication.: ferrando referring to

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19.06bartolomé ferrandojoan casellasextension series 10

the musical improvisation brought into being new spoken language based on oral tradition, while casellas focusing on physical and mental relationship between him, partic-ular place and audience outlined the area of connections among what is “right here”.

the nature of poetry as an individual way of expression

makes it nearly impossible to define. Using surrounding space as a stage, artists showed their own way of under-standing the associations between Performance and action art and Poetry and make clear that the latter is something more than words. Poetry is an action. Poetry is a commu-nication. Poetry is an imagination. Poetry is an art.

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review18.04

24.04tim jeeves / bill aitchisonextension series 09

tex t by bar bar a cueto

a week of residency every month and a half to develop an idea for a performance. that’s the motto, the tag line of the extension series of the Grimmuseum. but, what’s hidden in these words? andrés Galeano, curator of this series, explain to us the meaning behind this idea: “extension series are not just a series of performances, but a place where i could see things that i’m interested as well as showing them to the berliner public. these series have both a theoretical and a practical part: three days of residency where the artist live at the museum to spread their original idea and adapt it to the spaces and, of course, the day of the performance; af-ter it, an open talk to let the public know about the artist performance and background so they don’t go back home without understanding what they have seen”.

So, what’s new in this Extension Series 9? “even though the curatorial line is changing, this year

it is focused on different countries because there are re-markable regional differences. the 9th edition is dedicated to england and the so-called live art, based on the spoken Performance and heir of the experimental theatre. and bill aitchison and tim jeeves, the artists, belong to the Per-formance lecture.”

3 bliStErS. No morE.

tim jeeves wanted to make his audience conscious of the concept of time: yesterday, today and tomorrow. “in the twenties, i should be partying, when i’m 30 i should be hav-ing a family, in my forties i should be content. and when i’ll be 70 or 80 i should be looking back in my life and feeling very wise and then i could die”. but this line is easily break-able, easily changeable. his own sickness served him as a starting point. the used blisters of the pills he has already taken were handed out to the audience. “i am very interest-ed in this medication, these sort of treatments that prevent something happening in the future, and i take these tablets because i don’t know what’s going to happen. its just less likely for something occur, and at the same time i know that there are some side effects that may make me more sick in the future”.

Voices of temporality is a reflexion about the fragility of time, a metaphor where the public can react, where they can be the ones that decide their own timeline. he said, “the au-dience have the responsibility towards making the perform-ance working”. but, what happens in the end? We will never know, his voices of temporality were never discovered, were

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24.04tim jeeves / bill aitchisonextension series 09

never heard. tim jeeves gives the audience the power of stopping it when 3 of those handed out blisters were placed in a picture frame, but they decided to end his performance even before the first question. he never expected this coitus inter-ruptus, this premature surrender brings up the question: was the German public prepared for his british politeness?

bill aitchiSoN iN chiNGliSh?

Yes, of course. after three moths in china, surrounded by non western culture and almost always among people that didn’t speak any english, bill aitchison started getting into the language, into chinglish, “i wanted to get into this lan-guage as a way of getting inside of the thinking of how people are framing me, because so much of the cultural thinking is inside of the language”. through this mixture of english and chinese he started telling the audience his own experience in china. in his adaption of the client is always wrong for the Grimmuseum, he had been working on the translation and writing his own subtitles so, basically “more on the written form and in the timing, so the subtitles are related to my speech”.

and that’s the start of his the customer is always wrong a piece developed after a bad experience with a aviation com-pany on his journey to china. the beginning of this adventure through the nonsense of dealing with a new and extremely different culture. a hilarious monolog relating his life in chi-na, the ridiculous experience of buying useless plastic junk at a chinese market, all accompanied with erratic mimic movements. and as a companion to reinforce this crazy lost in translation: a fish soft toy as an interlocutor and a creepy singing doll that spins around him. “i am going to adapt this performance surrounding me with these things, that in chi-na are not particularly remarkable because there are lots of this bright and loud stuff everywhere. but i was kind of aware when i was choosing them that they would look pretty much made in china”.

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