Category: ARTMargins Online: Exhibition Reviews

Linking Europe:  The Zone Festival (IV, V) in Bucharest

Zone 4 (2002)

The Eastern Europe Zone Festival, or simply Zone, began in 1993, in Timisoara. It had already acquired first a local and then a regional tradition, gradually becoming an internationally renowned artistic event. Zone was one of the first events of this kind organized after the fall of the Berlin wall.

The aim of this festival is to re-establish cultural and artistic relations between the East and Central European countries, as well as between the East and the West. Those ties had been lost because of the isolation … Read more

The exhibition opened at the Romanian Literature Museum Gallery in Bucharest, March 19-24, 2003. The address of the museum is 12, Dacia Boulevard, Bucharest.

A day before the war in Iraq started, an interesting American-Romanian exhibition opened at the Romanian Literature Museum in Bucharest. The artists Tony Brown, Dorsey Dunn, Tom Fowler, Chris Natrop, Giordano Pozzi, Tyrome Tripolli (from the U.S.A), and Carsten Stehr (from Germany) are members of the Iverni group, formed in San Francisco, California.

The group has traveled throughout Europe, and has been invited to display in many countries along with local artists. In Romania, the artists … Read more

Marek Ther at Galerie Eskort in Brno (Galerie Eskort, Orli 5, Brno, Czech Republic, 10 January – 25 February 2003)

Using an alias still has its advantages and disadvantages in the arts. It can assist in avoiding or emphasizing a direct personal affiliation with the artwork, while generating intrigue and mystery about the artist in question. It is also a means of rejecting a certain kind of sick stardom and success associated with the art world.

Yet despite the many assets, there is always an air of deceit that goes hand-in-hand with the use of an alias-along with questionable guile … Read more

Alexander Savko, “Meadow”. Galerie Paula Böttcher Berlin – November 29, 2002 until March 1, 2003

There are no big hugs in the images of this exhibition, and even though the show is titled ‘Heile, heile Welt’ (‘Ideal, ideal world’ – whereby ‘heile, heile’ is also a quote from a popular children’s song, which means ‘get better’) there is hardly a resemblance to the Teletubbyland that is the habitat of the colourful little creatures in the children’s programme.

“Tinky Winky is purple and the biggest Teletubby. His favorite thing is his special red bag. Tinky Winky loves walking, marching, dancing and … Read more

Group exhibition in the Museum of Contemporary Art, Skopje, Macedonia. April-June, 2001.

By definition, “small talk” refers to those seemingly insignificant things that we say in between the periods of discussions concerned with important, universal matters. Small talk may not change the world, but it reveals the concerns of our daily lives, it may be about a small idea, a small problem, a small joy, a small disorder, a small defeat, or a small victory.

We actually engage in small talk all the time, with friends and colleagues, family members and people we know well but only meet on the … Read more

“Actual Infinity”, The Prague City Gallery – Municipal Library, 2nd floor. Marianske Square 1, Prague 1 110 00, Czech Republic.

The baroque period in Bohemia was a time of universal education and cultural practice, and it showed a tendency toward individuality, sensuality, freedom, and imagination. Both art and architecture reflected these changes, and due to the dramatic developments in science and mathematics, The Prague Museum Mathematicum was established in 1722. This Prague version of the Roman Museum Kircheranium included natural objects and scientific instruments in its vast collection. A recent exhibition at the Prague City Gallery unveiled the conflicts and … Read more

Amateur–variable research initiatives 1900 & 2000. Göteborgs Konstmuseum, 20 May – 17 September 2000.

Curators: Charles Esche (SCO), Mark Kremer (NL), Adam Szymczyk (PL). Artists exhibited: Eija-Liisa Ahtila (FIN), Pawel Althamer (PL), Tacita Dean (GB), Maria Eichhorn (D), Hreinn Fridfinnsson (IS/NL), GLOBE (DK), Jens Haaning (DK), Susan Hiller (GB/USA), Job Koelewijn (NL), Edward Krasinski (PL), Maria Lindberg (S), Kirsten Mosher (USA), Dan Peterman (USA), Børre Saethre (N), Gregor Schneider (D), Anika Ström (S), Jörgen Svensson (S), Kathy Temin (AUS), Thorvaldur Thorsteinsson (IS), Richard Wright (SCO).

The exhibition entitled Amateur – variable research initiatives 1900 & 2000, held at … Read more

Peripheric 4, Iassy, Romania (May 18-24, 2000)

Peripheric was brought to life only four years ago, on the initiative of artist Matei Bejenaru. Iassy had until then been an isolated and conservative town with regard to the visual arts, in spite of its long and important literary tradition. Since Peripheric, this situation is completely changed: a whole new group of young artists has sprung up, hoping to focus attention on this yearly event. This year, the festival included three great exhibitions of international art, a symposium dedicated to “Strategies for Promoting Contemporary Art” that gathered artists from both … Read more

Die Sanft-Mutigen. Moscow metaphysical painters of the 60’s – 90’s: Mikhail Shvartsman, Vladimir Vaisberg, Eduard Steinberg, Ilya Tabenkin, Dmitry Krasnopevcev. 11/17/99 – 12/16/99, Russisches Haus der Wisenschaft und Kultur, Friedrichstrasse 176, 10117 Berlin.

Neues Moskau (New Moscow). Art from Moscow and St. Petersburg: Andrei Chlobystin, Vladislav Mamyshev, Timur Novikov, Inspection “Medical Hermeneutics”/Pavel Pepperstein, Yevgeniy Yufit. 11/12/99-1/9/00, ifa gallery, NeustŠdtische Kirchstrasse 15, 10117 Berlin. Open daily (except mondays, 12/23-12/27 and 12/31-1/1) 2-7pm. 4/7/00-5/27/00 ifa gallery Stuttgart, Charlottenplatz 17, 70137 Stuttgart 6/20/00-8/5/00 ifa gallery Bonn, Welckerstrasse 11, 53113 Bonn http://www.ifa.de

For Russian 20th Century Art, Berlin has proven to be quite a … Read more

Gallery Foto/Graphik Kaethe Kollwitz; Kollwitzstrasse 58, Berlin, Germany, until 8 June 1999

This open-air gallery at the site of the former home of German artist Kaethe Kollwitz regularly shows new works by various artists. It is a dynamic medium commemorating Kaethe Kollwitz’s deep social and human concern that made her one of Germany’s foremost expressionist artists. Playing on Berlin’s location between East and West, Prigov’s drawing “The Bridge” falls into the genre of his “newspaper drawings” and is open to various interpretations.

Rubinshtein Mix. . . This time, we’ll start like this (Lev Rubinshtein, “This time”, 1987): There is another … Read more

The Quest for Freedom. Moscow Artists of the 1950’s – 1970’s. Die Suche nach der Freiheit. Moskauer Künstler der 50er – 70er Jahre.

Berlin, Russisches Haus, Friedrichstrasse 176-179. Until 2/14/99, open daily 2-7 pm.

Lauenburg (Germany), Zündholzfabrik, Elbstrasse 2 (2/21/99 – 4/21/99, open mondays to fridays 10 am – 4 pm, saturdays, sundays 10 am – 1.30 pm. Closed over Easter. The full-color catalogue costs DM 35,–.

During the years following Stalin’s death, freedom in the Soviet Union first of all meant personal and political freedom. Artistic freedom from the norms of Socialist Realism, however, was more than a side … Read more