The very name of the Autostrada Biennale holds the promise of a journey, such as a road trip along the awe-inspiring highways linking far-flung corners of the tiny landlocked state at the heart of the Balkans. Continue reading Letter from Kosovo
In her essay for the catalogue accompanying Paradise Lost, the inaugural Roma pavilion which she curated at the 52nd Venice Biennale in 2007, Tímea Junghaus wrote: “Of course, in an ideal world, Roma artists would be able to exhibit in any of the European pavilions, but it is a fact that no artist of Roma origin has been presented at the Venice Biennale throughout its 112-years.” Continue reading Małgorzata Mirga-Tas
This Critics’ Pick appeared on artforum.com: Kader Attia, Mimesis as Resistance, 2013–16, HD video, color, sound, 16 minutes 7 seconds. Installation view. This open-air museum, like all others, is an elaborate fiction. Confined to an island and only accessible by a footbridge, the place—with its traditional wooden buildings, original furnishings, and costumed interpreters—appears to be caught in a time warp. Commissioned by the nonprofit Checkpoint Helsinki and curated by Joanna Warsza, “Finnish Landscape” features ten local and international artists subjecting this bucolic yet artificial landscape to critical scrutiny.An outline of Seurasaari looks like an elongated leaf in Erik Bruun’s arresting … Continue reading Finnish Landscape
This report from Manifesta 10’s Public Program appeared in the Art & Performance Notes of PAJ: Pavel Braila, The Golden Snow of Sochi, 2014. Courtesy Zagidullin Rustam En route for St Petersburg on July 17, I heard the news about the Malaysia Airlines plane shot down in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, claiming 298 lives. The tragic incident colored my brief stay in the city and lent an added urgency to the Public Program of Manifesta 10 that brought me there in the first place. The host city funds the roaming European biennial of contemporary art, which celebrated its … Continue reading Manifesta 10: Public Program
This report from the 4th artgeneve appeared on artforum.com: Left: Dealer Massimo Minini and Andrea Bellini, director of the Centre d’Art Contemporain Geneve. Right: One of the spinners in Ahmet Ogut’s Fair Wage. (All photos: Agnieszka Gratza) CONVENIENTLY LOCATED FOR THE CITY AIRPORT, if not much else, artgenève is a ten-minute walk from the arrival gate. Though styled as a salon d’art, there is nothing salon-like about the vast complex known as Palexpo—short for Palais des Expositions et des Congrès—that has housed the fair since its inception. Now in its fourth edition, artgenève prides itself on being more intimate and … Continue reading Private Eyes
This report from the Artist Organisations International congress appeared on artforum.com: Left: Curators Florian Malzacher and Joanna Warsza. (Photo: Agnieszka Gratza) Right: Artist Jonas Staal. (Photo: Lidia Rossner) “WE CAN LEARN A LOT FROM PIRATES,” artist Jonas Staal assured us. We had just finished the “Violence & Non-Violence” panel that closed day two of Artist Organisations International (AOI), a congress initiated by Staal with the Berlin-based curators Florian Malzacher and Joanna Warsza and held at the Hebbel am Ufer complex in Kreuzberg. According to Staal, “pirate ships run on a model of direct democracy.” The metaphor wasn’t totally off; we … Continue reading Artist Organisations International
This review of Strike: Opera at Leipzig’s Schaubühne appeared on frieze.com: Ulf Aminde, Strike: Opera #3, 2013, performance documentation, Schaubühne, Leipzig. All images courtesy: Museum of Contemporary Art Leipzig (GfZK) Dramatis Personae (in order of appearance): ULF AMINDE, Berlin-based artistJOANNA WARSZA, curator of ‘Performative Democracy’ at the GfZK Leipzig BENJAMIN MEYER–KRAMER, teacher on the Cultures of the Curatorial program, Academy of Visual Arts, Leipzig FRANCISCA ZÓLYOM, director of GfZK Leipzig ANNA SCHMIKAT, artist based in Leipzig JENNY BAINES, artist based in London LENKA KUKUROVA, activist and curator, GfZK Leipzig FELIX MEYER, Berlin-based artist AGNIESZKA GRATZA, writer from London … Continue reading Strike: Opera
Conversation Pieces 