Paweł Althamer – Anatoly Osmolovsky

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V-A-C Foundation, a not-for-profit, Moscow-based institution, committed to the
international presentation, production and development of Russian Contemporary
Art, is proud to present the exhibition Paweł Althamer and Anatoly Osmolovsky:
Parallel Convergences. This unique project brings together for the first time the
work of these artists – one Polish and the other Russian – both of whom are from
the generation shaped by the decisive shift from communism to post-communism,
experienced in Russia and the Eastern Bloc in the early 1990s, and whose work
shares many interesting parallels.
The exhibition pairs Althamer with Osmolovsky in a fluid conversation that
acknowledges the differences between their works as well as the many similarities
and overlaps. Despite the different forms and media they adopt – ranging from
sculpture, installation and video, to more politically engaged actions and social forms
of practice – the work of both artists often pivots around the idea of the body and
modes of perception.
Paweł Althamer (b. 1967, Warsaw) will be represented by works that embody some
of the central concerns tackled in his practice: collaboration, self-portraiture and the
centrality of subjective human experience. Althamer’s major video cycle So-called
Waves and Other Phenomena of the Mind from 2003-4, an eight-screen installation of
short films made in collaboration with the Polish artist Artur Zmijewski, will be shown
in its entirety. The videos document Althamer’s experiments with an array of mindaltering
substances, ranging from hashish, LSD and magic mushrooms to peyote
and truth serum, while also exploring hypnosis and the varying psychological states
engendered by all of these means. Consciousness, rather than an altered conscious
per se, is enacted in one of the videos titled Weronika (2004), which chronicles, in
graphic but objective detail, the birth of the artist’s daughter.
For immediate release
V-A-C Foundation presents:
Paweł Althamer
Anatoly Osmolovsky:
Parallel Convergences
1 June – 6 October 2013
Curated by Nicholas Cullinan
Casa dei Tre Oci
Giudecca – Zitelle
Venice, Italy
29, 30, 31 May
Open 10am–6pm
Press preview with the
participation of the curator
and the artists
30 May, 10am–1pm
Opening
31 May, 3-6pm
The video then jumps forward several years to father and daughter playing in a park
together and the way in which seeing things anew through her eyes transforms
Althamer’s perception and understanding of the world around him, and through
which the quotidian and mundane become marvellous. Althamer will also present a
large-scale new bronze cast of the work Parys, which continues the investigation into
monumental and statuesque forms of the human body that has spanned his career.
Anatoly Osmolovsky (b. 1969, Moscow) will be considered in the exhibition by a
survey of his work in all media dating from the early 1990s until now, most of which
have seldom been seen outside Russia. Osmolovsky began his career in the (then)
Soviet Union as a writer in the late 1980s and staged a series of confrontational
political performances in Moscow as the leader of the E.T.I. (Экспроприация
Территории Искусства – Art Territory Expropriation) movement. Most of his
production in those years was characterised by collective participation, working
closely with the members of the Radek Community, who saw art as a tool for protest.
These important actions will be represented in the exhibition through a series of
films and documentary photographs. In 1995, Osmolovsky founded Radek magazine,
a Russian journal that put forward a politically radical and intellectually wide-ranging
agenda, during the rise of Eastern Europe’s period of ‘wild capitalism’. By the early
2000s, Osmolovsky once again began to consider the more formal aspects of his
art practice. Osmolovsky’s move into sculpture over the last decade or so will be
examined in the exhibition through a series of major works such as Hardware and
Breads, which manifest his radical shift towards investigating the vexed legacy of
both Russian icons and the early-twentieth century avant-garde. New works by
Osmolovsky that have not previously been exhibited will also be presented.
Althamer and Osmolovsky will also collaborate together on a new sculptural work
for the V-A-C exhibition, which will evolve through an exchange of ideas between the
two artists.
Paweł Althamer and Anatoly Osmolovsky: Parallel Convergences
is curated by Nicholas Cullinan, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art
at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
V-A-C Foundation supports as donor the 55th International Art Exhibition
of La Biennale di Venezia.
A fully illustrated catalogue will be produced to accompany the exhibition.
V-A-C is dedicated to the international presentation, production and development
of Russian contemporary Art – across a multitude of forms and within the framework
of an invigorated and informed educational programme. Particularly important to
the new generation of artists in Russia, V-A-C’s focus is on practically supporting
and expanding the platform for home-grown talent, giving artists the opportunity
to experience, engage with and interrogate international cultural practices whilst
developing an authentic and autonomous artistic language. It is deservedly
considered as one of the key proponents in opening out contemporary Russian
culture to the wider world, and practically supporting and developing emerging
artists through finding new international platforms for exhibition and opportunities
for commissions as well as ways of encouraging cross-cultural exchange – especially
important in the current climate.
For all further information
please contact:
Helen Weaver
International PR+Development,
V-A-C Foundation
Tel. +44 (0)7772 159219 (UK mobile)
+39 346 2165881 (Italian mobile)
[email protected]
Notes to Editors
Full Artist/Curator biogs available on request
About V-A-C Foundation
V-A-C Foundation is a non-for-profit private institution founded in Moscow in 2009
and committed to supporting contemporary art in Russia. Our focus is directed
towards contemporary art and cultural practice with the aim of providing a platform
for creativity in the wider sense of the word. We strive to be actively engaged in
artistic production, rather than the patronage or sponsorship of ongoing artistic
processes. V-A-C is deeply committed to the growing importance of art made in
Russia as well as the new generations of artists from around the world.
www.v-a-c.ru
About Casa dei Tre Oci
Casa dei Tre Oci was designed by the artist Mario De Maria (Marius Pictor) and built
in 1913. It is an acclaimed example of neo-gothic architecture in Venice, officially
declared as a palazzo of historic and artistic interest by the Direzione Regionale per
i Beni Culturali e Paesaggistici del Veneto in 2007. Bought by Fondazione di Venezia
in 2000, following a period of careful restoration, it became a public exhibition space,
showcasing contemporary art exhibitions with particular attention on photography.
Casa dei Tre Oci has always been a place of artistic production, a centre for
meetings and debates, a studio space for artists taking part in the Biennale, hosting
internationally acclaimed figures such as Peggy Guggenheim, Sciltian, Morandi,
Fontana, Dario Fo’ and Renzo Piano. The Casa dei Tre Oci exhibition space is
managed by Civita Tre Venezia in association with Veneto Banca.