Pavel Braila: "Chisinau – City Difficult to Pronounce"

From 19 October to 25 November, KulturKontakt Austria will be showing new video works and photographs by the Moldovan artist Pavel Braila at Galerie ArtPoint. Braila, who was a KKA Artist in Residence in 2001, is now one of Moldova's most important contemporary artists. His works have been presented at renowned international exhibitions and venues such as documenta 11 and the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin.

Vernissage: Tuesday, 18 October 2011, 7 p.m.
Exhibition duration: 19 October – 25 November 2011
Location: Galerie ArtPoint, Universitätsstraße 5, 1010 Vienna

In 2007, Pavel Braila's work “Barons' Hill” (2007) was exhibited at the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin and attracted considerable attention from the media. The six-part video work documents the endeavours of Moldovan Sinti and Roma to achieve wealth and recognition, as exemplified in spectacular architectural structures.

His most recent, four-part video work, which he created for the exhibition at Galerie ArtPoint, deals with life in Chişinău throughout a full year and offers impressions of Moldova's capital during all four seasons. Braila's work, with the provocative title “Chişinău – City Difficult to Pronounce”, poses more questions about the city of his birth than just the one relating to the correct pronunciation of its name.

Braila examines life in the Republic of Moldova in the post-Soviet era and attempts to cast light on its identity. He seeks the gaps in written history: His films and video works are his response to the complete lack of film and photo material about the city of Chişinău since 1986.

In the era of the Soviet Union, both public life and everyday life were precisely documented in films and photographs. But when the USSR dissolved, this type of documentation also came to an abrupt end, and with it the written history of this small country. Like blank pages in a book, the last 25 years remain unrecorded – even though Moldova has undergone far-reaching changes and intensive political, societal and cultural transformations during this period in particular.

In his artistic oeuvre, Braila meticulously and painstakingly records the present for the eyes of tomorrow. In doing so he is making an important contribution both to the cultural heritage of his homeland and to the historical documentation of the early 21st century.

The videos presented in the exhibition “Chişinău – City Difficult to Pronounce” will be supplemented by photographic works by Pavel Braila. In addition, Braila will be showing three documentary films:
“Chişinău - 500” (Moldova Film, 1966)
“My White City” (Moldova Film, 1973)
and “Kishinev” (Moldova Film, 1975)

Parts of the videos will be released in 2012 as Volume 3 of the KKA video edition on Pavel Braila.

A Brief Biography of Pavel Braila

The artist and filmmaker Pavel Braila was born in 1971 in Chişinău (Moldova). His video works and performances have been presented at numerous international art exhibitions and films festivals since the mid-1990s. Pavel Braila lives and works in Chişinău.

Education
2003 Le Fresnoy, Nationale Atelier for Contemporary Arts, Tourcoing (France)
2001 Jan van Eyck  Accademy, Maastricht (Netherlands)
1997 University of Moldova, Chişinău (translator)
1994 Technical University Moldova, Chişinău (electrical engineer)
 
Residences/Grants
2001 Artist in Residence KulturKontakt Austria, Vienna (Austria)
2005  Künstlerprogramms des DAAD, Berlin (Germany)

Group Exhibitions (selection)
2006 „Why Pictures Now“, MUMOK, Vienna (Austria)
2003 „Blut & Honig – Zukunft ist am Balkan“, Sammlung Essl, Klosterneuburg (Austria)
2002 „Shoes for Europe“, Video, Documenta 11, Kassel (Germany)

Solo Exhibitions (selection)
2010 National Museum Brukenthal (Romania)
2009 Gallery Jan Dhaese, Gent (Belgium)
2008 Yvon Lambert Paris (France)
2007 Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin (Germany)
       Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, Schiedam (Netherlands)
       Kiasma – Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki (Finland)
2006 Baltic Art Center, Visby (Sweden)
       Galerie Im Taxispalais, Innsbruck (Austria)
       Jan Dhaese, Gent (Belgium)
2005 MIT List Visual Arts Center, Boston (USA)
       Baltic Art Center, Visby (Sweden)
       List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts (USA)
2004 Yvon Lambert, Paris (France)
2003 Kunstbuero, Wien (Austria)

Selection of Films
1996  Unde, unde, undeva
1998  Shortcut to the Moon
2000  Handmade Song
2001  Loudspeaker
2002  Shoes for Eu¬rope; 105/7
2004  Le Cadeau
2005  Barons’ Hill
2006  Eurolines Cate¬ring or Homesick Cuisine
2007  Plush Wonder

Awards
Ward of the region Nordrhein-Westfalen (Germany) within the „Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen“ for his film „Definitively Unfinished“.