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Cleanliness and Spaces
Works of Artists in Residence: Presentation 1/2011
KulturKontakt Austria extends a cordial invitation to the opening of an exhibition of works by the three artists Milijana Istijanović of Montenegro, Haim Sokol of Russia and Boba Mirjana Stojadinović of Serbia. The three artists are each spending three months in Vienna as the guests of KulturKontakt Austria (KKA) in the context of the KKA Artists in Residence scholarship programme. Most of the works on display were made in Vienna.
Vernissage: Tuesday, 8 March 2011, 7 p.m.
Exhibition duration: 9 March – 1 April 2011
Mon. – Fri., 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Location: Galerie ArtPoint, Universitätsstraße 5, 1010 Vienna
In the work he created while in Vienna, the Russian artist Haim Sokol explores the implications of the German word “rein” (clean, pure). He is exhibiting two installations (“Rein” and “Germania”) as well as a poem, “Rein und Zeit” (Clean and Time). The idea for these works occurred to him in Vienna when he came upon the commercial cleaning company Germania, located on Nibelungengasse.
Taking this as a starting point, Sokol observed that in Western societies, the word “rein” (clean, pure) has mostly positive connotations. At the same time, the word also plays an important role at a social and political level. Sokol says: “Western civilization, from ancient times until today, has been obsessed by this idea of being clean and pure, and to reach this goal it has not spared any means: the fires of the Inquisition, colonial massacres, segregation and apartheid, gas chambers, political and ethnic purges and so on. And of course, I see a connection between the horrors of the inquisition and the growing religious fundamentalism, both Christian and Islamic, (…) between the Jews sweeping the streets of Vienna in 1938 and new immigrants cleaning the offices in 2011, between the Nazi gas chambers and the ethnic purges in former Yugoslavia and Kirgistan (…).” Cleanliness also plays an important role in the existing hierarchical systems, which is why Sokol makes a point of calling attention to all the immigrants who, as cleaning personnel, provide for cleanliness in our society.
Boba Mirjana Stojadinović, who hails from Serbia, plays with the perception of spaces in her installation “Plan for a Room”, the title of which is an allusion to Loos’ “room plan”. She presents photographs which look like stages that people have deserted and over which fog, snow and dust are spreading. She supplements her visual works with fragile text phrases (e.g. “the idea of comfort”, “reservoir of quietness”) and with listening stations that focus on the many sounds of everyday life that are seldom consciously perceived. By also directing our gaze to the public space through the window of the gallery, Stojadinović adds an additional dimension to her work.
Stojadinović began her work “Flag” in 2006, while spending two years in the Netherlands. In “Flag”, Stojadinović presents her concept of “nation”: Out of orange fabric that is normally used for the production of the Dutch flag, she tailored a coat, unpicked the seams, and sewed the pieces back together to form a flag.
Like Stojadinović, Milijana Istijanović from Montenegro also focuses on the perception of space. She is exhibiting drawings, a sculpture and photographs which continue her cycle “Self-Conception – We are a Close Family”. The cycle centres on visible, consciously left traces in spaces that Istijanović documents in photographs. These could be traces of everyday objects or of fictive persons. Istijanović remarks: “Traces of existence of living organisms are forever separated from material and form. Someone existed there once, someone will exist there at some point… leaving behind traces of his material being.”
THE ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE PROGRAMME
In 2010, KulturKontakt Austria invited 12 young artists to Vienna as Artists in Residence. During their respective three-month stays in Vienna, these artists were also given an opportunity to present their works, including new ones created in Vienna, in four exhibitions held at Galerie ArtPoint. KulturKontakt Austria’s Artists in Residence Programme is for artists from Eastern and South Eastern Europe and Turkey, and has been offered since 1992. Since then, more than 5,550 artists have applied and more than 230 of them have participated in the programme. With its Artists in Residence Programme, KulturKontakt Austria enables artists to make contacts and engage in fruitful exchange in the Austrian and international art scenes.
COMING SOON
Exhibition
KRIEG.KUNST.KRISE
Contemporary Art in Bosnia and Herzegovina
In the exhibition “Krieg.Kunst.Krise” (War.Art.Crisis) KulturKontakt Austria will present a cross section of contemporary art from Bosnia and Herzegovina. The main focus will be on the country’s two major centres, Sarajevo and Banja Luka. In this exhibition, Curator Elio Krivdić also attempts to answer the question of what consequences the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the 1990s has had on the contemporary art of this country.
With works by: Edin Numankadić, Veso Sovilj, Iva Simčić, Radenko Milak and Mladen Miljanović
Vernissage: 12 April 2011, 7 p.m.
Exhibition duration: 13 April – 3 June 2011
Location: Galerie ArtPoint
Universitätsstraße 5, 1010 Vienna
Haim Sokol
www.haimsokol.com
1973 Born in Archangelsk, USSR, lives and works in Moscow, Russia
1996 – Hebrew University in Jerusalem, B.A in Hebrew linguistics and Jewish literature.
2004 – Hebrew University in Jerusalem, M.A. in Education
2006-2007 Moscow Institute of the Contemporary Art
2006 – Member of the International Association of Art
Solo Exhibitions
2010 “Myopia”, “Anna Nova” Gallery, S. Petersburg, Russia
2010 “Dead letter mail”, “Triumph” Gallery, Moscow, Russia
2009 “Punctum”, “EK. Art-Bureau” Gallery, Moscow, Russia
2009 “Curriculum Vitae”, “Art-Strelka Projects” Gallery, Moscow, Russia
2009 “Palimpsests”, “Green Art” Gallery, Perm, Russia
2008 “Earth” (together with A. Kuzkin), Stella Art Foundation, Moscow, Russia
2008 “Cryptomnesia. Relapse”, “Art-Strelka Projects” Gallery, Moscow, Russia
Selected Group Exhibitions
2010 “Erased walls”, Mediations Biennale, Poznan, Poland
2010 “Lesson of History”, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
2010 “Russian utopias”, CCC “Garage”, Moscow, Russia
2009 “Against exclusion”, III Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia
2009 II Biennale of Contemporary Art, Thessalonica, Greece
2009 VIII Krasnoyarsk museum biennale, Krasnoyarsk, Russia
2009 “European Atelier: sharing a cultural space”, Central Artists House, Moscow, Russia
2009 “Past Future Perfect”, “22 Calvert” Gallery, London, UK
2009 “Stone soup”, “Atelier #2” Gallery, CCA “Winzavod”, Moscow, Russia
2009 “The secret life of bodies”, Open Gallery, Moscow, Russia
2008 “Russain dreams’, Art-Basel Miami, Bass museum of Art, Miami, Florida, USA
2008 “Lost & found”, The New Gallery, Jerusalem, Israel
2008 “Russian Povera”, Museum of Contemporary Art, Perm, Russia
2008 “Art-index: Contemporary Russian Art”, The National Center for Contemporary Art,
Moscow, The Latvian national museum of arts, Riga
2008 I Biennale of Young Artists, Moscow, Russia
2008 “@60.artisrael.world”, Judah L. Magnes Museum, Berkley, California, USA
2007 “Coordinates”, Museum of Fine Arts, Kostroma, Russia
2006 “Breathing Memory”, “Limbus” Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel
Special projects
2009 City monument “To all who ever lived here” in Thessalonica, Greece
Awards
The “New Generation” special prize sponsored by Stella Art Foundation at the Annual Russian National Award for Contemporary Visual Arts “Innovation” for 2008
Publications
2010 “Haim Sokol 2006-2010”, Triumph Gallery, Moscow, Russia
2010 “Russian Povera”, Russia! Publishing New York
Collections
Igal Ahouvi Collection, Tel Aviv, Isarel
Collection of Loushy: Art&Projects, Tel Aviv, Israel
Stella Art Foundation, Moscow, Russia
National Center of Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia
Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Moscow, Russia
Boba Mirjana Stojadinović
http://bobaart.wordpress.com
Boba Mirjana Stojadinović (born in 1977, Serbia/Bulgaria) lives and works in Belgrade, Serbia. She received M.F.A. on Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade, Serbia (2006), as well as Institute Piet Zwart in Rotterdam, Netherlands (2008) and Faculty of Arts in Plymouth, UK. (2008).
Her work often deals with space and the experience of the immediate surroundings employing photography, text and sound in a form of installation and intervention. It often shows particular interest in the audience perception.
Awards
Nadežda Petrović Memorial award (2010, Čačak, Serbia).
Solo Exhibitions
2010 „A Guide through Exhibitions and Cities“, Cultural Centre Grad, Belgrade, Serbia
2010 “Stuck in the Sound”, Contemporary Gallery, Zrenjanin, Serbia
2009 “A Hole in the Whole”, Cultural Centre Rex, Belgrade, Serbia
2006 “Entrance”, Faculty of Fine Arts Gallery, Belgrad, Serbia
2005 “Gallery”, Belgrade House of Youth Gallery, Belgrade, Serbia
2003 “Punkt”, Independent Artist Association Remont Gallery, Belgrade, Serbia
2002 “Walkers / Whisperers = Talking to a Shadow = Dismemberment of a Shadow”,
Belgrade House of Youth Gallery, Belgrade, Serbia
1999 “Neutrino”, Cultural Centre Gallery “Laza Kostić”, Sombor, Serbia
1998 “An Inventory of Personality”, Student Cultural Centre, Belgrade, Serbia
Publications
2010 Stuck in the Sound, catalogue, 60 pages, Serbian/English, published by Contemporary
Gallery Zrenjanin, Serbia
2008 Rotterdam revisited. Revisiting Belgrade, catalogue/artist book, 80 pages,
Serbian/English, published by DEZ ORG, Belgrade, Serbia
Milijana Istijanović
Born in Sombor 1982. Graduated from Faculty of Fine Arts in Cetinje, University of Montenegro, department of sculpture, in the class of Prof. Pavle Pejović, where she also earned her MA degree. She received the annual Faculty Award for sculpture. Member of Association of Fine Artists of Montenegro.
Group Exhibitions
2010 Winter Art Salon of Herceg Novi, Monetegro
Traditional Annual exhibition of the national association of visual artists of
Montenegro, Podgorica, Montenegro
Contemporary Montenegrin Sculpture, Danilovgrad, Montenegro
INTERNATIONAL TRIENNIALL OF THE EXTENDED ART MEDIA 2010, Belgrade, Serbia
International TV Festival Bar, drawings and photos document of intervention in
the space Montenegro Art Auction, Quimper humanitarian association Les Cerfs-Volants de Goulven, Quimper; France
2009 Winter Art Salon of Herceg Novi, Montenegro;
Traditional Annual exhibition of the national association of visual artists of
Montenegro, Podgorica, Montenegro
Contemporary Montenegrin Sculpture, Danilovgrad, Montenegro
“GirlPower Festival”, drawings, Koprivnica, Croacia
31.Montenegrian Art Salon,13th November, Blue Palace, Cetinje, Montenegro
2008 Traditional annual exhibition of the national association of visual artists of Montenegro;
Art Pavilion, Podgorica, Montenegro
Art Fair, Exhibition of stone sculptures, Sculpture Colony in Grbalj Town gallery
(Permanent exhibition) Kotor, Montenegro
City Hall of Nürnberg, drawings, Nürnberg, Germany
Art Colony Cetinje Gallery ,,Most,, -Cetinje, Tivat, Berane, Bar, Podorica, Montenegro
XXX Montenegrian Art Salon,13th November, Blue Palace, Cetinje, Montenegro
2007 Drawings and Sculptures, Modern Gallery, Old Town, Budva, Montenegro
2006 “Annual Student Exhibition”, drawings and sculptures, Cetinje, Podgorica, Montenegro
2005 “CETINJE LIBERATION DAY”, Cetinje, Montenegro;
“DRAWINGS BIENNIAL”, Belgrade, Serbia;
2004 “Shame to throw away”, Sculpture Exhibition, Podgorica, Montenegro;
Student drawing exhibition, Blue Palace, Cetinje, Montenegro
Solo Exhibitions
2010 “Self-conception“, City Gallery, Kotor, Montenegro
2009 “To the essentially”, Modern Art Gallery, Old Town, Budva, Montenegro
City Gallery, Kotor, Drawings and Sculptures, Montenegro
Awards
2006 ANNUAL AWARD FOR SCULPTURE, Faculty of Fine Arts Cetinje, University of
Montenegro
Realized outside sculptures
2009 Sculpture in front of the English Embassy, Cetinje, Montenegro
2008 “Garden Sculpture”, Old Town, Kotor, Montenegro
