Monthly Archive: December 2003

Kunst & Verbrechen: Art without Crime. Hebbel Theater am Ufer, Berlin, 10.31-11.02.2003

The book “Blue Lard” by Vladimir Sorokin was taken to court in 2002 on the first of November by the Putin-linked youth movement “The United Ones” on pornography charges. The Propagate-man of pornographic literature was going to the detention cell of the police-department in Berlin.

On the weekend of October 31st a new theatre-project opened in Berlin. The Project, became an investigative zone in which the laws of art, the business side of the art world, and the law itself were all under examination.

“Kunst … Read more

The project “Russian Art 1860-1940 in Western Museums: Information Database on the Internet” is a new development of the major Cultural Heritage Database Project with the web address art-russia.org. The entire project is implemented under the patronage and with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation.

The Project is funded by a number of foundations operating globally, such as the Solomon R.Guggenheim Foundation, the Judith Rothschild Foundation, New York, and Galerie Gmurzynska, Cologne & Zug; and by the Russian government, the Russian Cultural Initiative Foundation, and the Rosizo State Museum and Exhibition Center.

The Initiator … Read more

Site Specific Art Projects in St. Petersburg, July 2003

2003 saw the Russian City of St Petersburg celebrating its 300th anniversary. The traditional Birthday mix of nostalgia and future plans and possibilities is manifest in the festivities with particular emphasis on cultural exchange.

This has brought with it increased international interest much focused on the city’s architectural heritage and future physical and cultural expansion.

A brief internet search brings up various conferences highlighting these themes: The International Architecture Forum’s “St. Petersburg: window on the future” and “Preserving the World’s Great Cities,” the Faberge workshop on architectural preservation, “New uses for … Read more

Grzegorz Sztwiertnia, The Painter’s Eye and Hand, 6 May – 18 June, 2003, Zderzak Gallery, Cracow.

For many years Grzegorz Sztwiertnia has been playing with various definitions of the artist’s persona and its relation to artistic production.

During the 1990s, the thirty-five year old artist was recognised, hiding himself behind a screen of his erudition and mockery, only by a limited number of viewers.

Such an attitude allows him to examine the sick body of culture and focus on the missing elements of our incomplete cultural mosaic.

Sztwiertnia has mastered both the brush and the pen; in addition to … Read more