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Project DoDai
Project conceived and coordinated by BridA
(Sendi Mango, Tom Kerševan, Jurij Pavlica) Cesare
Pietroiusti & Alenka Gregorič.
Artists:
Elena Bajo, Dafne Boggeri,
BridA (Sendi Mango, Tom Keršvan, Jurij Pavlica), Morwenna
Catt / Duncan Burnett, Beatrice Crastini, Vuk Ćosić, Emilio
Fantin, Dušan Kirbiš, Warren Neidich, Luigi Negro, Sally
Noall, Giancarlo Norese, Slobodan Peladić, Cesare
Pietroiusti, Therese Sunngren, Miha Štrukelj, Giorgio
Valvassori and
Marcela Vanzo.
The project runs from December 17, 2008 to
January 13, 2009 at Galerija Škuc and you can also
contribute to the project at
http://www.brida.si.
You are kindly invited to attend the closing
of an exhibition on Tuesday, January 13 2009 at 8 pm at
Galerija Škuc.
Irrespective of the hysteria of the last few
months of the financial crisis, which is imbuing all pores
of economic, political and social life, of all the guessing
about how the situation which has arisen is going to impact
upon the different spheres of our lives, the present
exhibition provides, when speaking about art and its market
orientation in the Slovenian space, the résumé,
respectively, the result of the confrontation of the views
of the various actors within the domain of contemporary art and
its market orientation - a pressing theme also within the
local space during the last few years. We have initiated the
creation of the project together with the artists of the BridA group (Sendi Mango, Tom Kerševan, and Jurij Pavlica)
about a year ago; however, the initial steps of the project
were aiming at completely different goals. Our discussions,
in which the artist of Italian origin, Cesare Pietroiusti, has been
taking part upon the ulterior invitation of the artist, were
most frequently focused in particular at questions focused
on the marketing of the contemporary art, the advantages and
weaknesses generated by the latter, and where Slovenian art
has been located in this context.
In particular, the view from outside, where
we can expose the point of view of Pietroiusti in the actual
communication, who not only is not acquainted with the
specificities of the Slovenian (non-)market of contemporary art,
but is so much more acquainted with the specificities of the
far more advanced Italian market, and whose practice is
founded just on anti-marketing oriented artistic production,
has well installed the course and implementation of the
exhibit project DoDai - Add. First of all, the discussions
generated questions about so-called "art" tourism, the
production mechanisms, as well as the positive and negative
market outcomes concerning contemporary art. We have established
parallels between great international manifestations of
contemporary art – biennale, triennial, document (“grand tour” -
from Venice via Muenster and Kassel to Basel) to the juxta-position
with art fairs, which (at least some of them) strongly
parry to the spectacle of the large non-market
manifestations of contemporary art. We have not searched for great
answers with which we could draw a conclusion and write down
what is right and what is wrong, better or worse, more or
less harmful, authentically binding for contemporary art’s
production. Just the opposite, the answers have launched new
questions and dilemmas, which have not however been
presenting any novelty in the local environment, and even
less in the international environment.
Likewise the question of audience,
respectively the general public, played an important part in
the creation of the exhibition project, that is, the part of
the system which should present to every acting subject in
the public sphere one of the most important articles of our
activity. If the general public does not play an important
part, then we should ask ourselves why should we act in
public, why should we spend public financial assets, and why
should we conduct our activities in public premises?
Nevertheless, the most important audience of contemporary art is
the general public, who are being encouraged by artists
through their works and using the means of various artistic
methods and practices, to reflect, respectively, confront
everyday routine. If this factor is not in the forefront of
the activities of a contemporary art public institution, then
quite soon we can approach the logics of commercial
galleries, whose principal motivational power is capital in
the hands of a handful of individuals who provide for the
survival of these premises.
For some people the presentation, assuming
the image of a public gallery presentation, is rather
simple, perhaps even naive and non-spectacular. And this is
just about it. We did not wish the seeming spectacle, which
should dictate answers to pressing issues, but we were
searching for the way in which we could address,
respectively, encourage the general public in the best
possible manner to take an active part in the project via
the internet, by visiting galleries, thus contributing
through the means of such general public engagement to the
designed final form.
For this reason the artists of the BridA
group and Cesare Pietroiusti invited about twenty artists
from different countries who they have made friends with,
respectively, whose artistic work they are acquainted with
and respect, and consequently wish to present to the general
public. For this reason the exhibited works have no
conceptual framework through which we could expose questions
or theses; there is only one moment uniting these works –
the works in the gallery as those contained in the website
are waiting for the audience to respond with comments,
interpretation, critique, or any other personal effusion.
There is no financial reward for writing, yet there is a
possibility that the artist either from enthusiasm, or from
any other personal impulse, will gift his work to the writer
of text, who according to his opinion will touch the core of
his work. The social capital of an individual is the only
component by means of which the project operates, since it
is going to be a guideline for the possibility of possessing
the artistic work presented in the gallery. The writer of
the best texts following the judgment of the artists, the
majority of whom will participate in the closing event, will
be gifted with the works of artists without ceremonies and
speeches on the last day of the exhibition.
The decision, however, is the exclusive right
of the artist and therefore the works might not pass to
another owner and will return to the artist's ateliers,
cabinets, shelves, hard discs, etc.
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