PRAVDOLIUB IVANOV, VIKENTI KOMITSKI, MIKLOS ONUCSAN, SENER ÖZMEN, CENGIZ TEKIN, GABRIELA VANGA
CURATED BY 2011
Opening: 21. May, 2011, 18h
Exhibition Duration: 21. May – 18. June, 2011
The gallery–curator project curated by_vienna opens up new opportunities of cooperation between galleries and curators. The third edition of curated by_vienna entitled EAST by SOUTH WEST describes a geographical conundrum, which is to be solved by using a contemporary art compass. Vienna’s competency regarding Central and Eastern Europe is being put to the test against the background of globalized mechanisms of contemporary art. 21 internationally renowned curators were invited to develop special exhibitions in cooperation with 21 leading Viennese galleries. The curatorRené Block has invited six artists from three countries – Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey to Galerie Krinzinger.
René Block (*1942, GE) opened his gallery in Berlin in 1964. At about the same time, he began working as a curator for the Neue Berliner Kunstverein, the Berliner Festwochen and the city’s Akademie der Künste. From 1997 to 2006, Block was director of the Kunsthalle Fridericianum in Kassel. After realizing the Nordic Pavilion for the 52nd Venice Biennale (2007), he retired from major international projects. In the same year, he founded a platform for contemporary Turkish art, TANAS, in Berlin. In May 2011 he will be the main juror of the ESSL ART AWARD CEE 2011.
“The invitation to contribute to the gallery project put on by departure was not attached to a specific, comprehensive theme, but rather specified EAST by SOUTH WEST as a geographic motto. Which is certainly a logical direction, from my more North-European standpoint: for Vienna has of course been culturally influenced through it’s role as door to the Balkans, to South-eastern Europe. It was in Vienna that the House of Habsburg was spreading West-European culture and attracting that of the Slavs and Ottomans. And Vienna has once again become – in line with this tradition and also following the political upheaval of the 1990s in Eastern Europe – a city embracing the exchange and conveyance of different cultures. Although we may not all reside in Vienna, we encounter one another here. My invitation to such an encounter, which will be the first time they all meet, was extended to six artists from the countries of Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey – three countries connected by a common coastline along the western section of the Black Sea. For this exhibition, several new artworks are being created: installations and objects by Gabriela Vanga (RO) and Pravdoliub Ivanov (BG), photographic works and a joint video by Cengiz Tekin and Sener Özmen (TR). For the duration of the exhibition, these works will interplay with objects by Vikenti Komitski (BG) and Miklos Onucsan (RO) at the Galerie Krinzinger. They will be temporarily stored in Vienna, for a reasonable length of time, before embarking upon what may be their final journey to all ends of the world to new owners.”
René Block
