The Journey to the East

We do not want to group the works in nationality pigeonholes; however, at the same time we do not pretend that the issues of ethnicity and nationality are invisible. Young political systems and post-communist heritage still influence art in many countries. Artistic activity is connected not only to artist’s personal resources – artistic schools, institutions supporting the artists’ work and the existence of artistic circles and presence of art critics and curators play an important role as well. These are important issues, which were presented to us in virtually every country we visited. And finally, artists make statements concerning only the topics pertaining to them and their lives.

Edwin Bendyk prophesizes, that the solution to various global problems is the creation of interpersonal relations based on love, not competition, hierarchy or domination. We are interested in love, which transgresses the notion of relation between two people. We seek positive emotions, which create bonds between people all over the world – bonds that are an alternative to government authority and economic capital.

We want to ask the artists what role they think these emotions play in post-communist society and whether building new social capital on interpersonal relations is a utopia or perhaps it can be realized.

We see our project as an open situation, creating various modes of participation and interpretation – from watching and listening to discussion, active participation and writing. We will gather objects, organize meetings, discussions, lectures, workshops, performances and installations in public space.

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Project concept:

Anna Lazar, Monika Szewczyk
 
Contributing curators:

Anna Łazar, Marianna Hovhannisyan, Magda Guruli, Lena Prents, Stefan Rusu 

Exhibition design:

Robert Rumas

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SCHEDULE
 
August 5, 2011, Friday
 
4 p.m. Briefing, the Arsenal Gallery courtyard, 2. A. Mickiewicza St. Bialystok, Poland
5 p.m. Exhibition opening ceremony at the Arsenal Gallery
           Bouillon Group, performance during the opening
7 p.m. Opening at the old power station, 13 Elektryczna St. Bialystok, Poland
live project by Lado Darakhvelidze,  Museum TV Station (MTVS) – skype performance  
Lado Darakhvelidze (Arnhem), Introduction, 5 minutes
Jimini Hignett (Amsterdam), Kingfisher (Dead Bird), 7 minutes 
Irakli  Kakabadze (New York), There is no just war, perfromance, 7 minutes
Zurab Rtveliashvili (Stockholm), Sound Poetry, 5 minutes         
Babi Badalov  (Paris), Russia is small country, sound poetry, 3 minutes    
Pamela Renner (New York), Poem for a State of National Emergency, 7 minutes
Zelda and the Unibrows (Detroit),  Song, music composition, 5 minutes
Mark McGoan ( London), Commenting on UK national media, 3 minutes
Charlie Fox/ Andrew Cooper (London), Communist Gallery, 5 minutes 
8 p.m. Anatoly Belov – concert at the old power station
  
Art Realizations in the urban space of Bialystok:
 
CHINGIZ, Modification of Azerbaijan, Branicki Palace courtyard
Jakub Szczęsny, Collector, the Branicki Gardens
Stefan Rusu, Open Flat, Jana Pawła II Sq.
Maxim Kuzmenko, Metro Bialystok, A. Węgierko Drama Theatre, 12 Elektryczna St.
Joanna Rajkowska, Red Lion, University of Bialystok, 1 Uniwersytecki Sq.
Veaceslav Druta, Swing for two, The L. Zamenhof Centre, 19 Warszawska St.
Kuba Dąbrowski, Four Photographs, Railway Station, main hall, 9 Kolejowa St.
Elżbieta Jabłońska, New Life, the old power station, 13 Elektryczna St.
Dominik Jałowiński, Swelter, live performance in the public space of Lviv, broadcasted over the internet using skype from August 6th through August 8th, 2011, 8 p.m. at Kopiluwak Café in Bialystok, 9 H. Sienkiewicza St.
 
August 6, 2011, Saturday
12 a.m. – 6 p.m. Panel discussion at the L. Zamenhof Centre, 19 Warszawska St. Bialystok, Poland
 
PANEL DISCUSSION THE JOURNEY TO THE EAST

PART I: love – communication– self–reflection – confrontation – transformation
chaired by: Maria Anna Potocka
 
Edwin Bendyk, Love, diversity, solidarity
Jahangir Selimkhanov, Nazira (looking for a new approach to the production/ interpretation of art)
Larissa Babij, Auto–communication, or the potential of non–productive practice
Magda Guruli, Am I You?
Nini Palavandishvili, Nothing to declare
Lada Nakonechna, In search of a recipient
 
2.30 p.m. – 3.30 p.m. coffee break
 
PART II: society – public sphere – politics – architecture – activism
chaired by: Agnieszka Tarasiuk
 
Lena Prents, Olga Rybchinskaya, Contemporary Belarusian art
Ewa Khachatryan, Artists in the light of color revolution
Stefan Rusu, The metamorphoses of the public sphere
Ruben Arevshatyan, Collective amnesia or blank spaces of the 60s.
Joanna Warsza, State of emergency. Examples of performative architecture in Eurasia
 
Simultaneous translation
 
7 p.m. 

TanzLaboratorium, LOVE-scape,  performance, Arsenal Gallery
 
Accompanying events realized while the exhibition duration
 
Lectures on Thursdays, meetings and presentations of documentaries and art films from particular countries, 7 p.m., old power station, 13 Elektryczna St. Bialystok
 
August 18, 2011, Thursday at 9 p.m. – Documentaries from Moldova “MOLLdova” (exceptionally in Open flat, Jana Pawła II Sq.)
 
25.08. Susanna Gyulamiryan, Women art versus Feminist art. Politics of representation, lecture
08.09. Video art from Ukraine – film presentation
15.09. Lali Pertenava – lecture on contemporary photography from Georgia
22.09. Andrej Durejka and Gallery ˇ from Minsk – discussion on a condition of Belarusian contemporary art
29.09. Piotr Piotrowski, Inter-national, trans-national, cosmo-political on transformations of art functioning in international relations, lecture
 
Workshops for children, teenagers and adults:

Armine Hovhannisyan and Samvel Baghdasaryan, Thoughts on the soil, workshops for children and teenagers

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Other editions of the project:

01.11.11 – 12.11.11
Mystetskyi Arsenal, Kijów

01.12.11 – 29.01.12
MOCAK, Kraków

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Project is realized within the Cultural Programme of the Polish EU Presidency in 2011

Organisers:

Ministry of Culture and National Heritage
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
National Audiovisual Institute 

Patrons:

PKO Bank Polski
PZU

Local organiser:

The Arsenal Gallery

Local partners:

Bialystok City
MOCAK
Polish Institute in Kiev
Mystetskyi Arsenal