Art Today Association
Center for Contemporary Art - Plovdiv
The Ancient Bath
AUTUMN CURATORIAL SCHOOL / SYMPOSIUM /
Co-organizers of the autumn curatorial school are Art Today Association – Center for Contemporary Art Plovdiv and New Bulgarian University, Sofia, Department.
The project is implemented with the financial support of the European Cultural Foundation and in cooperation with the Museum of Modern Art (MUDAM), Luxembourg, PAVILION UNICREDIT – Center for Contemporary Art and Culture, Bucharest, and FEINKOST Gallery, Berlin, in partnership with the German-Bulgarian Meeting Centre, Plovdiv.
The Autumn Curatorial School combines the models of an educational seminar and a workshop where young curators meet recognized international curators – representatives of various institutions as state museums, private galleries, corporate centres and biennials, who present basic models of curatorial strategies. The educational seminar offers students and young professionals the opportunity to get acquainted with different kinds of curatorial practices in the frames of a series of lectures in the New Bulgarian University and a three-day workshop in Plovdiv. The thematic focus of the workshop is pointed at the elaboration of a concept for an exhibition, devoted to the 20th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall – a topic which the lectors introduce through their own curatorial projects. Both the seminar and the workshop are aimed at stimulating the dialogue between foreign and Bulgarian curators, artists, and theoreticians in the field of contemporary art.
PROGRAMME
Thursday, October 29th / Sofia:
14.30 – 15.30 " Beyond-national exhibitions of modern art today – difficulties of curating. Two exemplary case-studies", Assist. Prof. Irina Genova / New Bulgarian University, Sofia
15.30 – 16.30 "The Biennial as a Post-institution", Dr. Pascal Gielen / Groeningen University, Belgium
16.30 – 17.30 Presentation of the new book "Being an Artist in Post-Fordist Times" by Pascal Gielen and the collection for the 1st Brussels Biennial 2008, part І and ІІ, edited by him.
18.00 – 19.30 Presentation of the Institute for Contemporary Art-Sofia (ICA-Sofia), Iara Boubnova, Director of ICA-Sofia, presentations of artists from ICA
Friday, October 30th / Plovdiv:
15.00 – 16.00 "ATLANTIS. Reflections of tomorrow", guided tour by the curator Emil Mirazchiev / Art Today Association, Plovdiv
16.30 – 17.30 ARTTODAY Association - Center for Contemporary Art Plovdiv, presented by Emil Mirazchiev / director
17.30 – 18.30 FEINKOST Gallery Berlin, presented by Aaron Moulton / co-founder and curator
18.30 – 19.30 PAVILION UNICREDIT – Center for Contemporary Art and Culture Bucharest, presented by Razvan Ion / director; discussion
Saturday, October 31st / Plovdiv:
11.00 – 12.00 "Handlung - On Producing Possibilities. 4th Bucharest Biennial", Felix Vogel / curator
12.00 – 13.00 "The CHALGA Temptation. An exhibition concept", Vessela Nozharova / curator
15.00 – 17.30 Workshop I: Conceptual design of an exhibition on the occasion of 20 Years after the Fall of the Berlin Wall, Aaron Moulton
18.00 – 19.00 Workshop II: Institutions as Instruments of Critical Thinking, Razvan Ion
19.30 – 20.00 Artnews Cafe, presented by Vesselina Sarieva, director
Sunday, November 1st / Plovdiv:
11.00 – 12.30 Workshop I: Conceptual design of an exhibition on the occasion of 20 Years after the Fall of the Berlin Wall, Emil Mirazchiev
14.30 – 16.00 Workshop II: Institutions as Instruments of Critical Thinking, Razvan Ion
16.30 – 19.00 Studio Dauhaus - Contemporary Art Platform Sofia, presented by Yovo Panchev / curator & artist
Monday, November 2nd / Sofia
11.00 – Workshop with artists and curators; visiting artist studios
Short Information about the participants:
Pascal Gielen teaches art sociology and cultural policy at the University of Groningen and is Professor of Arts in Society at the Fontys University of Fine and Performing Arts in Tilburg. He is the author of the book ???Art in Networks’ (2003) and a co-author of ???An Environment for Contemporary Art’ (2004) and ???Cultural Good’ (2005). ???The Unattainable Inside of the Past’ (2007), ???The Art Institution’ (2007) and ???The Murmuring of the Artistic Multitude. Global Art, Memory and Post-Fordism’ (in press) are among his latest monographs.
Razvan Ion (born 1970) is a theoretician, curator, cultural manager and a political activist. He is the co-editor (with Eugen Radescu) of PAVILION - journal for politics and culture, co-director of Bucharest Biennale and in 2008 he was appointed as director of PAVILION UNICREDIT- Center for Contemporary Art & Culture. He has lectured at Art Academy - Timisoara, La Casa Encendida - Madrid, Calouste Gulbenkian - Lisbon, Apex Art – New York, etc. Razvan Ion is the author of the book “How Innocent is That?” (Revolver Publishing, Berlin, 2008). He recently curated "Exploring the Return of Repression" at Pavilion, Bucharest and rum46, Aarhus.
Felix Vogel (born 1987) lives and studies in Madrid, after his graduation from the Center for Media Arts in Karlsruhe, Germany. He is a curator and a critic who explores the relations between the aesthetic and the social sphere. Vogel is the editor of two books for OneStarPress (Paris) - “Renaud Auguste-Dormeuil: Fin de representation” and “Lia Perjovschi: Sense”.
Aaron Moulton has previously worked as an art critic at FLASH ART in Milan. Then he founded the FEINKOST Gallery in Berlin, which he presented in a number of leading fairs for contemporary art. Assist.
Professor Irina Genova is the Director of the Department of History of Culture at New Bulgarian University and the instructor of the doctoral seminar “The Visual Image”.
Emil Mirazchiev is a co-founder of the Edge group, the director of Art Today Association and a founder of Center for Contemporary Art - Plovdiv, The Ancient Bath. His latest curatorial project is "ATLANTIS. Reflections of tomorrow".
Art Today Association
presents
ATLANTIS I
Hidden Histories – New Identities.
Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
www.atlantisprojects.eu
The project started in June 2009 with the exhibition Rohkunstbau in Sacrow near Berlin, it then continued in Bratislava and Vienna, crossing the Slovak-Austrian border, went subsequently to Thessaloniki and will finally end in Plovdiv, Bulgaria with the exhibition:
REFLECTION OF TOMORROW
Curator: Emil Mirazchiev, co-curator: Jakob Racek
www.atlantis.arttoday.org
10 October - 10 November 2009
Opening – 10 October 2009 (Saturday), 18.00 p.m.
Participants:
Аbb? Libansky,Adelina Popnedeleva, Alexander Yuzev, BURGHARD,
Bora Petkova, Venelin Shurelov, Georgi Georgiev – Jorras, Dan Tenev,
Doychin Russev, Evantia Tsantila, Emil Mirazchiev feat David Cerny,
Ergin Chavushoglu, Ivan Moudov, Yohannes Artinyan, Kamen Stoyanov,
Katerina Apostolidou, Krasimir Terziev, Lazar Lutakov, Luchezar Bojadzhiev, Lora Parmakova, Maria Papadimitriou, Milko Pavlov,
Max Neupert, Nadya Genova, Natasha Kyupova, Nedko Butsev, Orlin Nedelchev, Pravdolyub Ivanov, Plamen Assenov, Sevdalina Kochevska,
Simeon Stoilov, Francis Hunger.
Actions and installations in public spaces:
Dan Tenev – action – Common Grave / Memorial of amity – 4th of October, from 11.00 until 16.00
Dan Tenev – action – Central Square – 9th and 10 of October, from 11.00 until 16.00
Abb? Libansky – installation – water mirror at the Gyuro Mihailov’s monument, opening on 10 October, from 20.00.
Art Today Association
Center for Contemporary Art - Plovdiv
The Ancient Bath
XV WEEK OF CONTEMPORARY ART
4 September – 2 October 2009
AFTER EGO
Curator: Svetlana Kuyumdzhieva
Opening – 4 September 2009 (Friday), 6.30 p.m.
Performance of Venelin Shurelov TABULA RASA (Wunderkabinet) -
4 September 2009 (Friday), 6.00 p.m.
Seventeen artists from Bulgaria, Kosovo and Serbia participate in the exhibition:
Svetozara Alexandrova, Jelena Boki?, Ana Vilenica, Stanimir Genov, Lulzim Zeqiri, Fitore Isufi-Koja, Prodan Markov, Nikoleta Markovi?, Vladimir Mitrev, Ivan Moudov, Alban Muja, Danilo Prnjat, Kamen Stoyanov, Nata?a Teofilovi?, Jakup Ferri, Driton Hajredini, Venelin Shurelov.
The selection of the participants is realized in active collaboration and thanks to Ana Vilenica for the Serbian participants and Alban Muja for the artists from Kosovo.
The Week of Contemporary Art in Plovdiv celebrates its anniversary this year. During the last 15 years it has strengthened its position as one of the most important art events in the country. It has already become an annual tradition to have different curatorial concepts and authors from all over the world in the Center for Contemporary Art “The Ancient Bath”.
The project AFTER EGO materializes the idea of the end of the egocentric era in art. We cannot destroy borders, dethrone identities, transform outdated values and leave the Ego untouched. It is the force that has been fighting for independence and sovereignty for centuries and is never fully content with the achievements. Predatory and self-sufficient, the Ego allows no interest in anything else but itself. This stops the communication with the social environment and the adequate presence in it.
Already 8 years ago, in her concept for the 7th Istanbul Biennale Yuko Hasegawa announced the end of the age of individualism and created the term “egofugalism” to express the aspiration towards an intentional rejection of the ego as a defining factor in the relationship between man and the world. This opening of personality was formulated by her as a new survival strategy.
Precisely this strategy and the idea for the already cultivated new Ego bring together the authors in this exhibition. They participate themselves in their art as a direct communicator. The body and the image of the artist are the most powerful mediator in his/her contact with the environment. Almost like the classical Alter Ego, but charged with much more important functions. This avatar of the artist is completely free and almighty, but it works actively mainly for overcoming the Ego and removing all conventions in communication. Namely this is the new image – AFTER EGO.
The exhibition presents videos, installations, performances and photographs where the artists have already become material, media, object, and the direct bearer of their own messages. The participation of the artistic AFTER EGO gives a new meaning to these artworks. Just as the portrait of Dorian Grey, it reveals most often the real self of the character-author and his position towards a world unhindered by scruples.
This position is even more significant when it comes to artists from the new generation, who can not be defined as solely Balkan or East European, because their AFTER EGO seeks after the most engaging way to overcome the local problems and complexes.
The authors presented in the exhibition have substantial biographies, awards and participations in prestigious international forums. The Bulgarian public has the opportunity to see the art of many of them for the first time.
The exhibition is realized with the kind support of the Municipality of Plovdiv and Robert Bosch Stiftung, with the assistance of Jacob Racek.