[Nettime-ro] Exhibition at Chelsea Art Museum, New York

[vladimir bulat <vbulat@k.ro>]

Chelsea Art Museum, New York
EXHIBITION
February 2? 25, 2006
curated by Julia Draganovic


Traveling light. Nothing to lose


Traveling light. Nothing to lose challenges many long held conceptions
in art history and practice. Myths of artistic creativity have been
tied (in the Romantic tradition) to poverty, the renunciation of the
bourgeois world of material wealth for the freezing garret - the
privations and suffering of a Van Gough, Puccini's bohemian and its
contemporary re-incarnation in the characters of Rent who glory in
being as "Us rather than Them". Contemporary art practice has, on the
other hand, bridged the gap between high art materials and the stuff of
life, aestheticizing the mundane, while at the same time, reaping the
benefits of the glamour and high prices of the art market.

 The artist works selected for Traveling Light reject both positions.
The link between creativity and renunciation and suffering is turned on
its head as is the need for the highly labor intensive or complex and
costly material that characterizes much contemporary production.

 The works in the exhibition suggest that creativity, grounded in
"modest" circumstance, in risk, deprivation and lack of basic material,
can produce fanciful flights of imagination and innovation. The harsh
facts of a tyrannical political system do not condemn production to an
expression of suffering or nihilistic pessimism. What the artists in
this exhibition share is the desire to make something out of nothing
(or very little) to take the viewer on a journey with little baggage to
show them how amazingly far one can go without even a small care
package. The works selected privilege those talents who translate their
own difficult situations into artworks, critical but not lamenting of
the circumstances in which they live.

 Enrica Borghi (Italy) for example, creates a complex mosaic of jewel
like beauty out of the foil of candy wrappers. Bruna Esposito (Italy)
challenges the inherent nationalism of flags with a video showing only
the shadow of a flag blowing in the wind. Gentian Shkurti (Albania)
recalls the mass exodus of refugees from Albania to Italy with an
interactive video game where the participants drive the "boat" to
safety and shoot down or are shot at by their would be captors. Alban
Hajdinaj, also from Albania, depicts in simple photographs an orgy of
cherry eating which could also be interpreted, in a visual pun, as an
orgy of blood. Other artists featured in the exhibition include
Lumturi Biloshmi (Albania), Robert Dragot (Albania), Christine de la
Garenne (Germany), Aurelia Mihai (Romania), Tobias Putrih (Slovania),
Stefano Romano (Italy) and Anila Rubiku (Albania).

Traveling light. Nothing to lose is presented in cooperation with the
National Gallery of Tirana, Albania and the Provincia of Modena,
Italy. It is the first in a series of exhibitions between the Chelsea
Art Museum, Home of the Miotte Foundation, and international art
institutions. This series is intended to promote an exchange of
artistic and cultural perspectives across social boundaries.

 The exhibition was curated by Julia Draganovic, Director of the
Chelsea Art Museum, Home of the Miotte Foundation and Curator for the
Province of Modena.

Chelsea Art Museum New York
556 West 22nd Street, New York, NY 10011
 tel 212.255.0719 e-mail contact@chelseaartmuseum.org
 open Tuesday through Saturday Noon to 6 pm
 Thursday Noon to 8 pm ? $3 after 6 pm
 closed Sunday and Monday


 



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