systeMY / systemUS - A Review

As promised earlier I will attempt to give you an over-view of the exhibition opening I attended on Friday evening. Friday was for me and, more importantly the artists and curator, the culmination of a week of on-site preparation and many months of personal work.

The exhibition is at Lodz Dom Kultury (Culture House) and more specifically Galeria Imaginarium on the ground floor of the building.

I am not a professional art critic and have no real idea how to write a review and thus I will attempt to give you a virtual tour of the exhibition and allow you to draw your own conclusions as to its effect.

Entering through the glass doors you can not help but notice the striking logo of the exhibition designed by the exhibition's curator Mariusz Sołtysik (PL). The bar code logo pertains to the automated process found as a central theme of the individual exhibits of SysteMY/stystemUS.

The first thing you will notice is three large flatscreens displaying three videos of Dmitry Strakovsky (USA) entitled "The Mall; The Wheel; The Departure." Filmed in a shopping centre, mountainous area and aircraft; these films have a strikingly spooky similarity from what are essentially three very different realms.

Keyword: communities by Travis Shaffer

 Opposite these films lie the work of Travis Shaffer (USA). The work, "Keyword: communities" the artist uses Google search to map community centres in the UK, USA, Manhattan and Kentucky. Next to these large scale maps are two small books entitled "34 Parking Lots in Los Angeles" and "Real Estate Opportunities/A 2010 International Investment Guide. Both books look at the distribution of resource with the second plotting the ten most indebted countries following the 2008 financial crash.

The next piece you notice as you walk through is a collection of photographs by US artist Talena Sanders. The photos depict the rich Mayan cultural history found in ethnic Guatemalan traditional dress and fabrics. Opposite these are two vidoes and accompanying pieces by Ela Wysakowska-Walters called "Pocket Dictator" which was reviewed by me here.

On the same side of the room is a vidoe by Karolina Głusiec entitled "Perfornance 2011." The work is an animated film bringing to life the structure and sound of a pianola. The video becomes hypnotic in its simple beauty.

Wall 38 by e.w.walters

Opposite this film are two somewhat complimentary pieces. The first by Ela Wysakowska-Walters is an interactive sculpture called "Wall 38". The visitor must plug a headphone jack into one of 38 sockets and then construct their own experience based on the "indefinite references" they hear, continuing onto other sockets as and when they wish. Next to this lies a sculpture by Anna Macleod called "Polar Tension". The piece uses magnets to construct a seemingly impossible arrangement of metal sheets and strings.

Access all Areas by Anna Macleod

Macleod's work has the honour of holding the last position of the room in the form of "Access All Areas. Water Optics" which uses similar optical illusions to bring attention to the disproportionate use of water in the world.

The Erotic life of XAU by Dmitry Strakovsky

 Last but by no means least, Strakovsky's work returns in a second room shield by large black curtains. "The Erotic Life of XAU" looks at the position of aesthetics in the world through an analysis of the artificial position of gold within the world economy.

As promised this was a virtual tour of the exhibition. Intentionally i have not gone into huge detail as I do not wish to spoil the effect. I therefore simply recommend going to the exhibition in Lodz (ul. Traugutta 18) which is open until 2nd July 2011.

The creation of a cultural reservoir by the drainage of culture

This year Poland is to hold the European Presidency for the first time. This prestigious and important role has many facets, however perhaps the most controversial and least widely known is that of culture.

As part of the presidency Poland will host the European Culture Congress 2011 to be held in Wrocław .The Polish government state that as part of the objectives for the presidency:

On culture, the leading subjects of the Polish Presidency will include development of social innovation and intellectual capital (through investment in culture, support for participation in culture and promotion of cultural and artistic education of persons of all ages) and negotiations on further editions of the Culture and Europe for Citizens programs.

There will also be events all around Poland as part of the presidency. All very well and good. What however is not stated in this positive statement is where the money for investment will come from. Inevitably the money has been moved from other cultural projects.

Budgets of Art institutions and universities have been drastically slashed this year. The ministry of culture website states that applications for funds have now closed for 2011, and its only March!

I understand that Poland is a bit short of money and that at the same time it wants to put on a good show. Yet by dealing with the problem in this way the lifeblood of regular artists has been cut.

Young aspiring artists depend on government grants to help them develop their ideas. This involves travelling to festivals and competitions. Does the government's policy meant that all students in 2011 will be left out in the cold?

Pocket Dictator

Post-Conflict Video

If you have any megalomaniac tendencies, then marriage to an artist will perhaps allow you to fulfil your evil desires. I am in fact married to an artist and thus my delusions of world conquest were more than catered for in my wife's latest project :)

The following exhibition review is by no means an objective and unbiased account of a contemporary Polish artist; in fact its a more than prejudiced review as I was the principle protagonist in the work. Therefore please read on in the light of the fact that I am 100% behind this work and in fact was to some extent a collaborator in its making. 

Pocket Dictator

The work has the title of Pocket Dictator and was created by Elzbieta Wysakowska-Walters, an MA student at Poznan University of Fine Art (Formerly Poznan Fine Art Academy). The work is however two works which share a theme. One is centred around the concept of the modus operandi of dictatorships and how infact many of the discerning features of dictatorships can be seen in pluralists democracies whilst also the close relationship of dictatorships and democracies is high-lighted. Two separate pieces illustrate this point: firstly a video featuring myself referring to the main points in an accompanying essay I wrote showing how the art of spin-doctors and sound-bites can in fact be compared to passages of Hitler's Mein Kampf. The other piece is a mobile phone with a ring tone and SMS message tone which is the voice of a dictator. The ring tone is a roaring political speech akin to the Nuremberg Rally, whilst the text message thanks the external donator for the money given. This dual nature of dictators is referred to in the video ad essay where dictators are often supported by outside forces: often democracies. 

The Meeting Point: Pocket Dictator & The Conflict Book

The second part of the work consists of a conflict book and accompanying video. Both works aim at showing the cyclic nature of conflict and as such the relationship conflict has with people. The video discusses the post-conflict situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina and the somewhat  bizarre relations the International Community had with the region. 

 

Bio-Rhythm of Conflict

The Conflict Book

The work was displayed at the Kaiser's Palace in Poznan during in the week of the 7th March 2011. This short time will hopefully be more than made up for in a future exhibition; details of which are to follow.

Democracy and Dictators

A full exposé will appear on a work related website created by my wife and so details will follow.

HUB or SChAB

Hub or Schab – an exhibition which did not happen.
by Mariusz Sołtysik

participating artists:

Agnieszka Chojnacka (PL)
Christine Mackey (IRL)
Ela Walters (PL)
Wiktor Polak (PL)
Mariusz Soltysik (PL)
Dmitry Strakovsky (USA)

place: Mediations Biennale, Poznań, Poland www.mediations.pl
date: 11/09/2010

The above exhibition took place as part of the Poznan Biennale, however it was organized by Lodz based artists and involved an international cast as the list above shows. The exhibition consisted of six videos simultaneously playing in the same room. The life-size projections told differing stories but rested on the same basic brief: to construct a video in which you talk about a piece of work or your work in general. By doing this Mariusz Soltysik risked bringing together a mish-mash of images in an incoherent deluge, yet this bold stroke on the curators side allowed for true artistic freedom and when placed together the six films created a symbiant whole that more than superceeded its component parts. HUB or SChAb illustrates well the often chaotic competition that exists within many 'curated' exhibitions, where works scream out for attention. These works from six very different artists draw the viewer in, enticing them to discover more about the artist and their work. HUB or SChAB allows us to enter the thought process of the artists.
For more details please visit the artists' websites.