Labyrinth of Memory. Faces of Evil 1939-2009
Artists taking part in the exhibition:
Mirosław Bałka (BWA Contemporary Art Gallery)
Sophie Calle (Rondo Sztuki Gallery)
Paul Chan (Rondo Sztuki Gallery)
Dominique Comtat (Rondo Sztuki Gallery)
Loïc Connanski (BWA Contemporary Art Gallery)
Chris Doyle (BWA Contemporary Art Gallery)
Köken Ergun (BWA Contemporary Art Gallery)
Harun Farocki (BWA Contemporary Art Gallery)
Chi-Jang Yin (Rondo Sztuki Gallery)
Mona Hatoum (Rondo Sztuki Gallery)
Alexander Kluge (BWA Contemporary Art Gallery)
Gordon Matta-Clark (BWA Contemporary Art Gallery)
Angela Melitopoulos (BWA Contemporary Art Gallery)
Antonio Muntadas/Marshall Reese (Rondo Sztuki Gallery)
Deimantas Narkevičius (BWA Contemporary Art Gallery)
Tony Oursler (BWA Contemporary Art Gallery)
Nam June Paik and Charlotte Moorman (BWA Contemporary Art Gallery)
Walid Raad (Rondo Sztuki Gallery)
Martha Rosler (Rondo Sztuki Gallery)
Zbig Rybczyński (BWA Contemporary Art Gallery)
Squat Theatre (BWA Contemporary Art Gallery)
Franciszka and Stefan Themerson (reconstruction by Piotr Zarębski) (BWA Contemporary Art Gallery)
Thi Bach/ Guillame Mazeline (Rondo Sztuki Gallery)
Lawrence Weiner (Rondo Sztuki Gallery)
Bill Viola (BWA Contemporary Art Gallery)
Tigran Xmalian (BWA Contemporary Art Gallery)
Dragana Žarevac (BWA Contemporary Art Gallery)
Artur Żmijewski (BWA Contemporary Art Gallery and Rondo Sztuki Gallery)
Films were shown by courtesy of:
Loïc Connanski, Dominique Comtat, Chris Doyle, Guillaume Mazeline
Electronic Arts Intermix (New York) www.eai.org
Video Data Bank (Chicago) www.vdb.org
gb agency (Paris)
Heure Exquise! (Mons-en-Baroeul)
Les Instants Vidéo (Marseille) www.instants.video.com
Foksal Gallery Foundation (Warsaw)
The Themersons Archive in Poland (Katowice)
book ‘Labyrinth of Memory. Faces of Evil 1939—2009’ — reviews of the video arts presented at the exhibition The video arts were presented within the framework of the exhibition on show at the BWA Contemporary Art Gallery in Katowice and Rondo Sztuki Gallery from July...
The exhibition is organised at the time of symbolical character, namely on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the World War Two (1939-2009), when discussions about the presence of war trauma, violence, and genocide in collective memory are undertaken anew. Simultaneously, the last decade made us realise the new threats carried by violence. Therefore it’s not an accident that the finissage of the exhibition is to be held on September 11th, at the anniversary of the terrorist attack on the towers of the Word Trade Center in New York.
Works of the most outstanding world artists of the video art are presented in Katowice. This includes as well-known originators as: Sophie Calle, Chris Doyle, Antonio Muntadas, Nam June Paik, Zbig Rybczyński, Bill Viola and Stephen Balist, the cofounder of the legendary Squat Theatre from New York. Polish artists are represented by (beside Rybczyński) Mirosław Bałka and Artur Żmijewski. The exhibition includes also the famous Europe 2 by Franciszka and Stefan Themerson.
Artists’ considerations on war don’t have an ambition of multiplying the notes on general history. During the travel through times (from the World War One up to current events) and space (Europe, the Middle East, Chile, USA, China, Korea, Vietnam) the most important questions are asked. These questions include the influence of war and terror on value systems, and the restitution of identity and incessantly threatened sense by humanity, thrown into the labyrinth of memory.
The chosen method of presentation makes an effort to meet the sensitivity of various generations of contemporary viewers, enabling to enter into dialogue also with the audience coming from outside the circle of recipients of contemporary art exhibitions. Thanks to simultaneous presentation, the show is multithread, and at the same time subordinated to a clear pictorial and dramaturgical dominant.
Marek Zieliński
Curator
