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Child’s Play, a project curated by Guillaume Désanges, detail, 2008,
credit: Asociaflia Vector, Iaøi
lui Mladen Stilinović, emblematicæ, de altfel, pentru practica acestui artist de formaflie
conceptualæ interesat de analiza interacfliunilor complexe ale semnelor vizuale
øi lingvistice. Stilinović capteazæ în mod vizionar lupta artiøtilor în depæøirea procesului
de tranziflie impus de situaflia socio-economicæ a flærilor nevorbitoare de limbæ
englezæ, unde îmbræfliøarea necriticæ a culturii globale duce la o devalorizare a celei
locale.
Un alt spafliu de expunere l-a reprezentat Sala de Sport a Facultæflii de Artæ, un fost
grajd pentru cai a cærui trecutæ condiflie a fost reactivatæ de hazard: la ieøirea din clædire
se putea vedea într-una din zile un cal înhæmat la cæruflæ, cæpæstrul fiind legat chiar
de balustrada de la intrare. O situaflie, de altfel, sugestivæ pentru contextul în care
a trebuit sæ opereze bienala – pe de o parte, o instituflie de artæ contemporanæ care
se stræduieøte (øi chiar reuøeøte) sæ se ridice la standarde internaflionale, o construcflie
care cîøtigæ premiul pentru arhitecturæ contemporanæ etc., pe de altæ parte, în acelaøi
oraø, un cal legat de unul dintre spafliile de expunere; se putea un exemplu mai
bun de totalæ schizofrenie?
Idee ilustratæ, altminteri, øi în tabloul vivant al lui Yuri Leiderman, un performance
care, pe durata vernisajului øi în ziua urmætoare, a ocupat intrarea în Cubul Teatrului
Naflional. Intitulatæ Geopoetica –15, lucrarea reprezenta douæ femei în costume
populare ruseøti care tæiau varzæ pe fundalul unui portret înræmat al lui Jules Vernes.
Artistul, invitat pentru a doua oaræ la Periferic, creeazæ un sistem de referinflæ de
sine stætætor, în care legæturile dintre semnificafliile øi încærcæturile istorice, dihotomiile
vechi/nou, tradiflie/inovaflie îøi dau întîlnire, aparent, în mod aleatoriu, într-o sincopæ
a discursului zilnic normal øi logic.
Dacæ ar fi sæ identificæm o esteticæ relaflionalæ avant la lettre în Ungaria, atunci lucrarea
lui Miklós Erdély stæ drept mærturie a puterii relafliilor interumane create de momentul
1956. Lucrarea Unguarded Money [Bani færæ pazæ] constæ într-o fotografie a uneia
dintre cutiile amplasate în diverse locuri din Budapesta pentru colecta publicæ de
bani în beneficiul rudelor celor morfli în timpul revolufliei. Acfliunea a constituit un
succes øi au fost strînse sume mari de bani. Unguarded Money are toate ingredientele
ilustrînd, conform lui Nicolas Bourriaud, influenta teorie a esteticii relaflionale
de la mijlocul anilor ’90, dupæ care funcflionalitatea produsului artistic e mai presus
decît contemplarea, pluralitatea interpretærilor øi implicarea privitorului sînt încurajate,
iar autorul colectiv nu mai reprezintæ o curiozitate. În acest fel, „microutopiile“,
intervenfliile la nivel local sînt favorizate øi susflinute, în pofida directivelor
generale care vizeazæ societatea în ansamblu.
Conformîndu-se conceptului bienalei, relafliile dintre jocurile mecanismelor sociale
øi cele ale strategiilor politice menite sæ exercite un control asupra artelor vizuale
– on one hand, a contemporary art institution trying (and even
succeeding) to rise to international standards, a construction winning
a prize for contemporary architecture etc, on the other hand, within
the same city, a horse tied up to one of the exhibition venues; what
better example for a total schizophrenia?
This idea was also illustrated by Yuri Leiderman’s “tableau vivant“,
a performance which, on the duration of the opening and the next
day, used the entrance to the National Theatre cube. The work entitled
Geopoetica – 15 presented two women wearing Russian folk
costumes slicing cabbage with the framed portrait of Jules Verne in
the background. The artist, invited for the second time at Periferic,
creates a reference system of its own, wherein the ties between the
historical meanings and valences, the old/new and tradition/innovation
dichotomies meet, seemingly accidentally, as a break in the
everyday normal and logical discourse.
If we were to identify a relational aesthetics avant la lettre in Hungary,
then Miklós Erdély’s work reveals the power of the inter-human relations
created at the 1956 moment. The work Unguarded Money consists
in a photograph of one of the boxes placed all over Budapest
for a public collection of money meant to help the relatives of those
who died during the revolution. The action was a success and large
sums of money were collected. Unguarded Money has all the ingredients
needed to illustrate, in accordance to Nicolas Bourriaud, the
influent theory of the relational aesthetics from the mid 90s, according
to which the functionality of the artistic object is more important
than contemplation, the plurality and the involvement of the viewer
are being encouraged and the collective author is no longer seen as
a curiosity. Thus, the “micro-utopias“, the interventions at a local
level are being favored and supported in spite of the general directives
regarding society as a whole.
Conforming to the concept of the biennial, the relationships between
the plays of social mechanisms and those of the political strategies
meant to exercise a control on visual arts are being synthesized and
explored by CCCK (The Center for Communication and Context Kiev)
as an exhibition in exhibition. It is an installation based on documentation
which raises questions about the Soros institutions and the
“gratuity“ of granting such European financing, calling for a meditation
on the reverse of making gifts (because apparently nothing is for
free) and the further cultural implications within the post-communist
European space (where “the gift“ is the essence of the Soros Foundation,
which can take the form of a neo-colonialism, and the “masters“
are the capitalist system based on the ideas of conquering and
monopoly). Thus the biennial has succeeded to take a critical stance
towards the mythology of the gifts received from “masters“, unveiling,
at the same time, a whole set of relations and power systems
around the permutable notion of “truth“ and the derivates, temporarily
and geographically delimited, which it generates.
In the same train of thought, one should say that the film created by
the curator Hila Peleg, A Crime against Art (2007), documenting a
performance wherein known names of the international art life played
different parts in a trial against the abusive way of exploiting the
artistic system for the benefit of personal image. Through embracing
a critical stance towards the artistic and curatorial practices, the film
is in fact meant to reaffirm the position of the participants, revealing
once more the mechanism which compromise, but also activate the
ascension in the world of art.
The Casa Pogor Museum, the third exhibition space, which during
the 19th century hosted the literary society Junimea, has invited the
artist Dora García with a sculpture made out of her favorite books
translated into Romanian, followed by a public debate with the participation
of students from different Iaøi faculties. And since books
are often used as a gift, the work questions the conceptual influence
which the universal literature translated into Romanian had before
and right after 1989.
A novel project for Iaøi was the temporary architectural structure
Info Point placed in front of the A. I. Cuza University and which only
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