SUPERMARKET issue#2

ISSN 2000-8155

DJIA>C:H

SEK90 / £8

SUPER MARKET #2

I:MI

issue artist-run art magazine

. ,,'%%% -&*%'&

Focus on

The Valuation and Devaluation

of Art

Roadtripping the

Balkans

Oleg Kulik Reich & Szyber Special Feature: Tarkawian’s

Drawings

Performance: HP Process (Hortense Gauthier and Philippe Boisnard). Photo: Katarzyna Chmura-Cegielkowska.

PER FOR MAN CE

EDITOR & CREATIVE DIRECTOR RESEARCH

PONTUS RAUD

JAKOB ANCKARSVÄRD, ANDREAS RIBBUNG ART EDITOR / GRAPHIC DESIGN ANDREAS RIBBUNG

ADVERTISING SALES NADJA EKMAN

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS IZABELLA BORZECKA • MIKAEL ASKERGREN • IRENE

ADVERTISING CONTACT

DE CRAEN • DR. ODYOKE • PONTUS RAUD • SELMAN

AD@SUPERMARKETARTFAIR.COM

TRTOVAC • SUBHANKAR DAS • MAXIM IHLUKIN • ANNA TOMASZEWSKA

Economy Meggi Sandell

CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS & PHOTGRAPHERS

Jannike Simonsson

HP PROCESS: PHILIPPE BOISNARD & HORTENSE GAUTHIER,

KATARZYNA CHMURACEGIELKOWSKA

INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION

(cover) • ANDREAS RIBBUNG (1, 3, 10–11, 18, 19, 33,

NEWSSTAND DISTRIBUTION AVAILABLE THROUGH

35) • REMON DE JONG, MARTIN STOOP • ALEXANDRA

PineApple Media/SH Circulation

BODEA (9) • PONTUS RAUD (19, 23, 26–31) • KIM DOTTY

Pineapple Media Ltd

HACHMANN (13) • JONAS OHLSON (15) • BAS DE BOER

172 Northern Parade

(16, 17) • INGELA HAMRIN (21) • NIELS BONDE (24–25)

Hilsea, Portsmouth, Hampshire,

• JUSUF HADZIFEJZOVIC (29) • THIRD BELGRADE (32)

PO2 9LT, UK

• TESS OWESON (33) • JAN WATTEUS (36) • Marie-

www.pineapple-media.com/

Noëlle Robert (40, 41, 44) • OLEG KULIK (37–44) •

Tel: +44 (0) 2392 787970

JOAKIM STAMPE, Henry Chan (45) • SEE, Björn Petrén (45) • BOGDAN SZYBER & CARINA REICH

PRINTING

(46–48), Mats Bäcker (48) • JAN GRYKA, MARIUSZ

Printon Trükikoda Ltd.

TARKAWIAN (50–56) • MONICA TORMELL (57) • ART BOMB (58) • CHRISTIAN GROSSKOPF (59) • James

PUBLISHER

L Marshall (60) • MATHIAS ROTH (61) • PETRI

PONTUS RAUD

SAARIKKO (64) ISSN 2000-8155 IMAGE PROCESSING EMELIE CARLÉN, ÅSA LOUISE MAUVAIS, ANDREAS

SUPERMARKET ISSUE is published annualy

RIBBUNG

by Supermarket Art Fair ek. för. Postal address: c/o Sandell, Dagagatan 17,

TRANSLATION

SE-646 32 GNESTA, SWEDEN

Bongi Jarne McDermott • Richard Griffith

VAT no. SE769616994001

Carlsson

Organisation number: 769616 9940

LANGUAGE EDITING

Reproduction of editorial is strictly prohibited without

SHEENA MALONE, STUART MAYES,

prior permission from the publisher (don’t push your

IZABELLA BORZECKA

SKร VDE KULTURHUS DET Hร R ร R ERAT FEL

AIDA CHEHREHGOSHA KONSTHALLEN 25 FEB-15 APRIL SPร R

GUNILLA PANTZAR

ALGD FKHKUHKJRVKD 1L JMRUGH GHW KlU

KONSTMUSEET 3 MARS-29 APRIL

ร ppet Tis-ons 12-17, Tors 12-19, Fre-sรถn 12-16 7HO ย ZZZ VNRYGH VH NXOWXU ย )UL HQWUp

Contemporary ๏ ซ๏ ซ๏ ซ๏ ซ๏ ซ

4.682:All inclusive Mรฅndagar stรคngt Kalmar konstmuseum

5. 1%, 28 9. Pontus Raud:

Editorial

1%, 14 Izabella Borzecka:

Waiting for the Apocalypse

0. 1 Will culture matter? 15. 26. 32. 35. 37. 44. 46. 49. Mikael Askergren:

When Prophecy Fails Irene de Craen:

Money, Spectacle and Spirituality

Some thoughts on the valuation and devaluation of art

Pontus Raud:

Roadtripping the Balkans

Selman Trtovac:

A mental and physical artistic space Subhankar Das:

Waiting for the lights to go green Oleg Kulik

Interview by SUPERMARKET

Focus on Performance

Little Fish. Reich + Szyber

Mariusz Tarkawian, 214 x SUPERMARKET

Interview by Anna Tomaszewska

I N B M

N I I U

V N L S

I G D E

G/ ET

SÖNDAG 18 MARS INVIGNING AV DET NYA MUSEET OCH UTSTÄLLNINGARNA: KIRUNATOPIA MARIO MERZ / WHAT IS TO BE DONE? ÅRETS SVENSKA BILDERBOK Alltid fri entré. Mer om invigningsprogram, utställningar, �öreläsningar, verkstäder och annat program på www.bildmuseet.umu.se.

Pump, detalj. Helena Mutanen

14/1 - 26/2 Helena Mutanen Närmare/Closer

3/3 - 15/4 Pontus Carlé

Tell me

21/4 - 3/6 Art Line Curator: Oscar Guermouche

50 år av populärkulturell voodoo i svensk konst Garanterad av Ulf Kihlander och Ola Åstrand

14 januari - 6 maj 2012

9/6 - 26/8 Ann Edholm 1/9 - 14/10 Peter Svedberg 20/10 - 2/12 Mariana Manner och Olle Dahl 8/12 - 20/1 Anna Jarnestad

www.varbergskonsthall.se

www.karlskrona.se/konsthall Ingår i Karlskrona kommuns verksamhet

All the values we have built up will end one day. All systems will stop flashing red and shut down one by one until darkness closes in on us. All the laughter… All shouts will fade into a space of silence… A faint noise marking what we call eternity. SUPERMARKET 2012 goes under the theme of The Waiting Room of Eternity and is rather like a poetic paraphrase on space and time. We are toying with the idea that the world will end in 2012 and that value perspectives will be slightly shifted. In the past the artwork played an important role with its potential to withstand the test of time and thus make the artist timeless. Today it seems that all that artists want is to conquer space and get fifteen minutes in the spotlights of the media. What actually evaluates an artist? In contemporary society the market value and the historical value are important indicators of artistic success, but the site has also become an important factor. If you look at the way in which Artfacts scores artists, there are some places that are more important than others. Should there be alternative ways in which to evaluate artists than through Artfacts? And what about the fact that the role of the artist is being instrumentalised for the purpose of a greater good… is this of any value? Today, when culture is being consumed as never before, government cultural budgets are being halved in several countries. In Sweden, aesthetic subjects, such as art and music, are no longer core subjects in high school curriculums, with the effect that students no longer receive grades in these subjects. What is the purpose of marginalising culture at a time when it appears to be so sought after? Is the cultural sector so expensive that its costs actually make a difference in central government budgets or could there be other reasons? Has the government as institution had its day in contemporary society? Is the capitalist system heading towards a final crash? Have we exhausted the resources of the earth and is the world going towards its end? What is happening in Europe? Centuries of industrial production should have made the European continent rich, with lots of highly educated people working efficiently and consuming culture in their spare time. How did we suddenly become so poor? Why should culture be marginalised and pay the price of a crisis that has its origin in a capitalist linchpin – Greed? All the wealth produced by workers has flowed into the coffers of a small minority. A minority of rich people that want more? Listening to current financial statements by economists is like experiencing a virtualisation of reality, working on

the psycho-cognitive level of the economy. The article about cognitive dissonance in this issue seems to reflect today’s financial crisis. Imagine a small group of people in power deciding what the world should be. When it becomes clear that it is all going to hell, they become even more convinced that they are on the right track. Economics appear inhumane and ruthless as they are not human and therefore have no guilt. We are human beings, our future depending on fluctuating stock markets that we do not control or fully understand. Within the cultural sector market mechanisms have been introduced in order to make public institutions more efficient – New Public Management. Integrating ordering and performing models, internal debiting systems and delegated budget responsibility into institutions will not result in more culture, but rather in more jobs for economists. Now that the responsibility for part of the cultural budget is being shifted to the regions in Sweden, I wonder for how much longer government financed culture will exist. Studies showing the impact of culture on a stable and equal society do not seem to provide the eye-openers they might to politics or business. Short-term solutions seem to be the single mode of capitalism. The artist-run art world has been living on the margins for a long time, and is, as always, working DIY, i.e. Do It Yourself. There are great differences between these artists’ initiatives, depending on where in the world you are. Those living in cities in the western world are struggling to be visible at all. Proximity to a centre makes it hard to acquire attention, while those living in the peripheries feel that they are isolated. The digitalised and global world that we are living in has provided the basis for an expansion of the artist-run art world and its networks. SUPERMARKET – Stockholm Independent Art Fair has rapidly become a platform for meetings between artists, curators and an interested public. We are pleased to have received great confidence from important institutions in Sweden this year. This has lead to good working relationships that we hope will continue. Thanks to Swedish Institute, IASPIS (The Swedish Arts Grants Committee’s International Programme for Visual Artists), and Swedish Travelling Exhibitions. Many thanks to all colleagues, volunteers and partners working to make this unique art fair happen! Finally… You should try to live today and not be afraid of tomorrow but if, against all odds, the world ends, I will be thinking: – Is this end the beginning of something new? Pontus Raud Editor and Creative Director 5

Remon de Jong, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Tremor Laqueariaâ&#x20AC;?, installation at Argument Vertoningsruimte, 2011, photo: Martin Stoop.

Artists’ rights give the artist financial benefit, the right to be recognized as the creator, and the right to decide how the art may be used. Artists’ rights bring motivation and resources to the creative process.

Bildkonst Upphovsrätt i Sverige Visual Arts Copyright Society in Sweden

Årstaängsvägen 5B, 7tr S-117 43 Stockholm, Sweden +46-8- 545 533 80 bus@bus.se www.bus.se

Protecting Artists’ Rights

by Izabella Borzecka Two people are standing by a country road arguing, while waiting for someone they are expecting to arrive. Who is he and for how long will they have to wait? This mysterious person is called Godot in Samuel Beckett’s play. In the same way as these two quarrelling people, waiting in vain by the roadside for the arrival of the non-definable, people have devoted their time and faith to various prophecies about the dramatic ending of the world. The word ”apocalypse”, often used to define this phenome non, has its origin in the Greek word for ”revelation”. But through several decon structions we have come to know the meaning of the word as something else, namely the end of the world. The description of the end of the world by John the Seer in the last part of the Bible is one of the best well known depic-

tions of the world’s end, having given tailwind to a great number of doomsday prophecies. The return of Jesus to earth and the beginning of a new era are dramatically revealed. The heavens are withdrawn like a scroll, earthquakes shift the locations and shapes of mountains and islands, the stars fall from the skies in the prevailing turmoil, while evil is being defeated and a new era commences. Does this not sound somewhat familiar? 2012 is the year many have been waiting for, at least those who believe in doomsday prophecies connected to the Mayan calendar. During the classical period of the Mayan civilisation, ending approximately 1000 years ago (about 250–900 AD), the “Long Count Calendar” was used to calculate life cycles. As per contemporary calculations, the end of one of these life cycles has been identified

to occur on the 21st of December 2012. According to the Mayans, after this a new time cycle will begin. This is the given date for the end of the world, according to several New Age movements. The world as we know it will be turned upside-down, violent earthquakes, burning fireballs, solar storms will hit earth and extinguish our civilisation. Is this not a repetition of John’s revelations? Perhaps there is cause for worry at a time when the world economy is collapsing, our resources are drying up and the world population is accelerating. In what ways might the concept of apocalypse shape our ideas about the end? Are we also standing at a roadside disagreeing about the expected arrival of the non-definable? And if so, what is the meaning of art at the end of time?

Alexandra Bodea, “Vision of a passing by ”, gesso and ink on canvas, 32 x 25cm, 2011.

by Mikael Askergren

Some time in the beginning of the Cold War fifties, somewhere in the American Midwest, a bored housewife gets the idea that aliens from the planet Clarion are communicating with her on a regular basis.

For years she has taken an interest in the paranormal and has invested a lot of time and commitment in studying esotericism, Scientology and spiritualism. This commitment pays off when she discovers messages from distant solar systems sneaking into texts that she has started writing. She begins to take down everything that comes to her mind (what the Surrealists would have called automatic writings). The messages from the planet Clarion include sensational predictions about the future. To her great and sincere surprise, she is informed by the

Clarionians that the North American continent will, within a not too distant future, perish in a terrible flood. She is, however, consoled by the aliens, who claim that some earthlings – among them herself – will be rescued by a spaceship on the night before the catastrophe. She begins to talk about her extra-terrestrial contacts with like-minded esoterics among her acquaintances. Thus the reputation of her abilities is spread and eventually, through friends of friends, she is brought into contact with a small group of UFO fanatics who remain her

devote followers – to the bitter end. By chance, a group of social psychologists at a major American university come across the cult connected to her. In When Prophecy Fails, a book that they will later write about the woman and the UFO cult around her person, she is called Marian Keech, or simply Mrs. Keech (this is not her real name). The research team, a trio made up by Leon Festinger, Henry W. Riecken and Stanley Schachter, make a fast decision to infiltrate the UFO cult in order to observe it from within. Their ambition is to become full members so as to be able to make comprehensive observations. These observations prove to confirm and support the Theory of Cognitive Dissonance that the research team has been working on for some time. But there is not much time. They have barely three months to infiltrate the group and gain the trust of the group members as well as to make observations on the group dynamics. Despite the rush, the team succeed beyond expectation. They are received with open arms when they approach the cult from different directions. Mr. Keech is a man with both feet on the ground, according to the authors of the book, who shows endless patience as well as carefree indifference with his wife’s esoteric claims. On the 20th of December, the night of the anticipated catastrophe, he goes to bed at nine o’clock as usual. Mr. Keech is fully aware that their house is full of people who are seriously and frightfully awaiting the end of the world and the arrival of a space ship. (However, neither Mr. nor Mrs. Keech is aware that some of Mrs Keech’s guests that night are scientist secretly studying the UFO cult at close proximity). According to Mrs. Keech, the Clarionians have announced that the spaceship will land exactly at midnight on the night between the

20th and the 21st of December. The belief of the cult is depending on the fact that the spaceship will arrive and that it will be landing at that point in time. Several members of the group have severed all ties with the secular world, burnt their bridges, no longer have a place to live, have given away everything they owned and resigned from their work, or been dismissed. If the spaceship fails to arrive to rescue them, where will they go? How do you react in a situation when everything you believe in is lost, how do you react when prophecy fails?

The Theory of Cognitive Dissonance predicts, among other things, that when an individual or a group of individuals that have invested faith and commitment to a pro phecy of some kind and this prophecy for some reason does not hold true, the faith initially – paradoxically – becomes enhanced (!) and the believer or believers in question become even more dedicated (!) to their cult. This is precisely what happens in the group around Mrs. Keech. No spaceship lands at midnight on the night between the 20th and the 21st of December.

No catastrophic flood arrives in the hours that follow. Hours pass and the cult members are grasping at straws in order to understand what went wrong.When Prophecy Fails gives an objective and distanced description of how the members of the cult seemed confused and despairing in the hours that followed the predicted spaceship landing, wandering to and fro, unable to clearly see what has happened (or, rather, not happened). However, at dawn an event takes place, rescuing the existence and self-confidence of the group. Mrs. Keech receives another message in automatic writing. This time, though, the message is not from the Claronians, but, lo and behold, from God himself. God has been touched by the strong faith among the cult members and by the light that their belief has spread across the world. As a reward he has decided to save the world from destruction. All those present (especially Mrs. Keech herself, who believes as strongly in her own abilities as do the members of her cult) receive this new message from above with excitement and joy. With the exception of one person, who thus apparently has had enough and gets up and leaves, never to return. The remaining members of the group grow more closely-knit, devoted and excited than ever in order to confirm each other in their faith: Not only have they done the right thing in joining the group and investing so much time and effort in preparing mentally for the end of the world as well as for a new existence on a distant planet, they have also managed to save the world from destruction. As expected, the research team get to observe the activity of members of the cult exploding, as a result of this confirmation of the righteousness of their common belief and intellectual invest ment. Mrs. Keech, who has never previously

congregations interested in UFOs. The book about the cult around Mrs. Keech is not only fascinating reading, it is a pleasure to read. The subject itself is obviously enough to make a fascinating text, but Festinger et al also write stylistically well and their arguments remain convincing and sharp. The authors also manage to describe the full course of events without once becoming condescending towards Mrs. Keech and her followers.

initiated any contacts with media, throws herself on the phone in order to get hold of a reporter. They have a conversation or, rather, the reporter is bestowed the privilege of listening to a long monologue about all the wonderful things that have occurred during the night, and God’s intervention in particular. The other members follow her example and also throw themselves on the phone taking turns to call all the broadcasting stations and news agencies thinkable. The mood is excited and elevated. Having been withdrawn and reserved, keeping a sort of dignified distance to the secular world, the members become increasingly extrovert and shameless over the days to come. This exhibitionism culminates on Christmas Eve, on December 24th, with the members, unashamed and without self-criticism, singing Christmas carols in the neighbourhood – to the delight of journalists and television cameras, but to the neighbours’ aggravation. The Keech family is reported to the police. The police notify Mr. Keech that if he does not make a greater effort to constrain his wife and her friends, they may have to intervene. They also imply that Mrs. Keech might be taken into care and placed in a mental institution. When Mr. Keech conveys the intentions of the police to his wife and the other cult members an, in the context, irrational and exaggerated panic (or perhaps a motivated one) erupts. Faced with the sudden threat of being arrested, the cult members disperse in different directions. Mrs. Keech is suddenly on Christmas morning, for the first time in a long time, alone with her husband in their small house in the suburbs. Thus the group/sect/cult is broken up for good, physically and spiritually – with the exception of one member who, at the time of the release of the book about Mrs. Keech’s and her friends’ adventures in outer space in 1965, is still travelling around the country talking to 12

Personally, I have only one objection: It does not take long before the reader begins to compare the cult of Mrs. Keech with the disciples around Jesus and the crucifixion with its failed space trip. The originally narrowly defined and introvert cult around Jesus turns into aggressive outreach and proselytic Christianity as a direct response to cognitive dissonance among the disciples in the aftermath of the great disappointment over their leaders shameful and painful – and disconcerting – execution. But Festinger et al are careful not to draw this parallel with the origins of the Christian church. They prevent any such interpretations of their material by arguing against it. They argue that it cannot be established once and for all that the execution of Jesus would have been

a disconfirmation of a certain prophecy; by claiming that several theologians believe that the disciples already “knew” that their leader would die an agonising death when riding to Jerusalem on a donkey – and that this death by crucifixion thus, according to these theologians, would be the confirmation of a prophecy (rather than the disconfirmation). I do not buy this argument: The crucifixion was obviously nothing but a disaster for the cult of Jesus. The claiming of the opposite by the Christian church is obviously a reconstruction after the event. (The gospels are all written after the crucifixion of Jesus and, thus, by definition reconstructions.) The triumph of the Christian church across the world does not in itself prove that the crucifixion had a purpose and was an expression of the will of God, but rather serves as evidence of the power of the psychological mechanism that Festinger et al called “cognitive dissonance”. Literature: Leon Festinger, Henry W. Riecken, Stanley Schachter: When Prophecy Fails, 1956 (Reprinted in paperback 2008). About the Author: Master of Architecture, Royal Institute of Technology [KTH], Stockholm, Sweden. Master of Fine Arts, Royal University College of Fine Arts [KKH], Stockholm, Sweden. Web site and blog of Mikael Askergren: www.askergren.com Drawings by Pontus Raud.

Kim Dotty Hachmann, “Rise and Fall”, photograph, 2011.

Vi hjälper Nisse med hans fine art!

Rose of steel Ram 99 x 77, bild 81 x 59 cm

Trädgårdsiris ”Iris Germanica” Ram 104 x 88, bild 71 x 60 cm

Mini Rose ”Magnolia” Ram 99 x 85, bild 78 x 61 cm

Dahlia ”Arabian Night” Ram 99 x 77, bild 81 x 59 cm

Foto: Nils Gunnebro. www.gunnebro.se Diabolaget. Brahegatan 38, 114 38 Stockholm. Tel 08-665 68 00. Epost kopior@diabolaget.se www.diabolaget.se

Pion ”Paeonia Duchesse de Nemours” Ram 78 x 65, bild 69 x 45 cm

Some thoughts on the valuation and devaluation of art. As soon as the words ‘value’ and ‘art’ are uttered within the same sentence, the discussion soon to follow is that of how much money that rotten shark got sold for at auction. Indeed, the ways in which we value art have changed considerably since the founding of art history and criticism. Nowadays, aesthetic judgment from an art critic – or anyone else for that matter – has little to nothing to do with the value a work of art acquires within the world. Previously, ‘art and economy were supposed to be separate realms with distinct value systems – one of them focusing on producing spiritual values, the other on generating monetary wealth. These previously hostile spheres seem to have merged into the hybrid structures of an economized culture and a culturalized economy.’ This merger of spheres has even gone as far as to result in artworks of which the price is in fact a constituent element of the artwork, and in the case of some artists – Damien Hirst being the obvious example – the price actually is the work. This state of affairs isn’t surprising at all, as art always has been a reflection of larger societal systems and ideologies. And by that rule; as long as society is defined by monetary values, so will art. But although the market seems to presently rule the valuation process of art to a large

So what are these other values? And will they, more likely than financial valuation, survive the current economic and political shifts and crisis? And what about those spiritual values of art? Do they still hold any currency?

Jonas Ohlsson, “Bad Artists Should Stay Out of Good Galleries”, 2007, courtesy FUCK Amsterdam.

extent, there are still other factors at play in the valuations process of art. If only for the simple reason that one does not come out of nowhere and sell a diamond encrusted skull for £38 million more than its material costs. And with global financial crisis underway, and a worldwide revision of the capitalist system that supports the astronomical prices artworks were auctioned off for these last years, these monetary valuation systems will soon be on the decline and other systems will (have to) take its place.

In the past the significance of a work of art could be found in the context of other works by the same artist. Holding this work against the rest of the oeuvre could establish whether or not the artist in question has renewed him or herself, has gone a radical different direction, or completed a certain idea or vision prompted by earlier works. And just as artworks gain meaning and value against other works by the same artist, there are objects of art that have significant value because of their location in history: because they are the first to instigate a movement or change in thinking, or because they bring a movement or thought to its ultimate climax. These works of art maintain their relevance for a long period of time, even so long as to be considered ‘timeless’. But is it still possible for a work of art to be considered timeless? I doubt it. Because these process of valuation in context of oeuvre or history, have become more and more obsolete as art is becoming increasingly valued by its entertainment value and artists are being remembered because of a single crowd-pleasing work. This trend is mostly seen as being caused by the rise of biennials, triennials and other big exhibition platforms that are in themselves spectacles. Many of us will not remember exactly what we’ve seen a few biennales ago, 15

but everyone (even those who did not attend it!) knows Ron Mueck’s 5 meter high sculpture of a boy uncomfortably crouching in one of the venues of the Biennale in 2001. The fact that Mueck’s career started in the film and commercial industry comes as no surprise whatsoever. The single work is thus evaluated within the context of that specific exhibition. A single work that fits the context of a single moment in an agreeable way, seems to be awarded more credit than a life-time of work seen within the changing situations during that lifetime. The problem with this kind of crowdpleasing art is that its meaning and value hardly extends beyond the moment of presentation, and is therefore strongly depleted of any other value whatsoever. However, this moment of presentation, depleted as it may be, has also become a value in and of itself. According to Boris Groys an artwork must be exhibited to be considered to be art at all. Tastes and values, as is well known and accepted, have always had histories of their own. In the Middle Ages for instance, rare and precious materials were valued over craftsmanship. During the Renaissance craftsmanship was seen as the highest good, and later still it became the genius of the artist that was considered unique and more valuable than anything else. But when we follow Groys’ thought further, and consider the fact that authorship, or artistic genius, has seized to exist, Groys makes up that ‘the artist is no longer judged by the objects he has produced but 16

by the exhibitions and projects in which he has participated.’ And this is a scary thought. Mostly, because it reminds me of the thought experiment ‘if a tree falls in a forest and there’s no one around to hear it fall, does it make a sound?’ From a scientific point of view, of course the sound of the tree, much like the work of art, exists. But what does it matter?

This is a time of radical change. Some say it’s the end of capitalism. But for many in the arts it has also been the end of government funding, as cutbacks on art and culture have been made the world over. At the beginning of summer 2011 the Dutch government, much like other countries have done before or since, announced some major and perhaps even catastrophic cutbacks on culture. The reason given by the populist politicians, besides their claim that these cutbacks are necessary because of global recession, is that if the art is good enough, it will be supported by the market. Yes, that same market that is falling apart as we speak. In the new Dutch policy for culture (entitled ‘More than quality’) the government will support

50 ‘top talents’, but it does not inform how this is decided or how artists get to become talents. According to the government, these artists have what they call a ‘proven talent’, and art will just be more ‘made for demand’. But ‘quality’ is not something that simply exists and surfaces as if magically above the clouds of the contemporary art world, there for the masses to pick. And to measure quality by the crowd, is to get art that fits that crowd; it becomes an illustration or one-on-one reflection of society, instead of being critically engaged with it. Ultimately, crowd funding has less to do with quality, than it has with marketing. As a reaction to the new situation art pro fessionals have, in newspapers and periodicals, at town meetings and national rallies, tried to defence art for its other values: art is the glue that keeps society together, art gives us insight into humanity, it shapes culture, and enriches people’s lives etc. etc. Unfortunately, these attempts, although often phrasing my own sentiments, have so far proven to be completely useless… And in the end, in what can only be seen as a desperate attempt to convince government parties to change their mind, cultural institutions tried to argue that they already are part of a creative industry that makes money and financially benefits The Netherlands. So we’re back to square one. We cannot possibly know what the future brings. What we do know is that all of the values mentioned in this text (as well as the ones not mentioned) always have and always will be influencing the way we value art. But in different times, there’s a different balancing act… Following an art world dictated by the market, the trend seems to be towards a valuation by the people and value systems that are ever more fleeting. It is as if the world’s collective concentration-span is deteriorating in search of an ever-quicker ‘fix’. And what is decisively missing, and what seems to me extremely important in deciding what is contemporary and relevant for today, is some historical memory as well as context. We are dangerously close to a situation where art, just like a computer or the newest iPhone, loses its value after just a few months when a better, faster and sleeker looking model appears on the market. So what about those spiritual values mentioned earlier? The problem with those is that they are so hopelessly difficult to pinpoint. In discussions about art and its value, spirituality is not something one can measure, show, or objectively describe. This is why, in attempts to defend the cultural scene of Holland, professionals tried to address the politicians in ‘their own language’:

money. Ultimately, talks between politicians/ their voters and artists and art-lovers always circle around the same thing and end in an impasse. And then the ones that govern are always right. What I think is necessary, and I believe it is possible with the rigorous changes happening in societal structures at the moment, is a complete change in our value system as a whole. As Ken Robinson explained during a TED conference: ‘every [education] system in the world has the same hierarchy of subjects: at the top are mathematics and languages, than the humanities and at the bottom are the arts. Everywhere on earth.’ He continues to explain that this value system meets the needs of industrialism, and the hierarchy thus reflect that which is necessary to survive at the end of the nineteenth century. What we should realize is how artificial this hierarchy actually is. We made it. Seen from an evolutionary point of view art is one of the pillars that make us human in the first place, but somehow that’s not important anymore. Now, if

we could all fundamentally change the way we think, it would not be necessary to talk about the division between economic and spiritual values, and how they relate to each other. Artists would not have to adjust to the market, and no one would view art as just entertainment. Of course, this is easier said than done. For some reason a lot of people are speculating whether the world will come to an end in 2012, but the kind of paradigm shift I am suggesting here, seems even more science-fiction than that. Speaking with the words of Slavoj Žižek: ‘It’s easy to imagine the end of the world. An asteroid destroying all life and so on. But you cannot imagine the end of capitalism.’ Still, our belief in stories about the end of the world – predicted by the Maya’s or otherwise – show our capacity in being creative. And with that creativity I can imagine a world where art is not viewed as a product for specialists, game for the very rich or entertainment for the masses, but as a fundamental part of everybody’s lives.

Growing up, the coolest guys in school are those active in theatre or playing in the school band, kids get their own studio to paint or sculpt in on their 16th birthday, all museums are free for everyone all the time, and presidents and prime ministers are also artists and have culture on the top of their agenda’s. Now that’s a movie I would watch! Irene de Craen is an art critic and curator based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. She holds a BA in Fine Arts from the Royal Academy in The Hague and a MA (with honours) Modern and Contemporary Art History from the University of Amsterdam. Besides regularly contributing to websites and magazines, she is currently project manager of FUCK, an art collective in Amsterdam Zuidoost, editor for the Dutch art magazine Mister Motley, and teacher of Contemporary Art Theory at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy. (www.irenedecraen.nl)

Left: Bas de Boer, “Template, Tissue and Bad Piss”, 2010, courtesy FUCK Amsterdam. Below: Bas de Boer, The End, 2010, exhibition view at FATFORM 2011, courtesy FUCK Amsterdam, photo: Hervé Hubert.

Dr. Odyoke

Last autumn, Swedish furniture giant IKEA announced that its global CSR operation IKEA Foundation is making a donation of 63 million USD to UN organization UNHCR. The money is to be used to help refugees on the Horn of Africa. The press release about the donation appeared at a strategically important moment. For some time, IKEA has been drawing a lot of flak from journalists investigating the founder Ingvar Kamprad’s connection with nazi organizations and clever tax evasion operations. But this kind of smokescreening is nothing new. Another Swedish company with a dubious reputation, Lundin Petroleum, has for a long time been supporting SOS Barnbyar (SOS Cildren’s Villages). An interesting fact considering that the company is also known for its involvement with certain third world dictatorships, responsible for the death of thousands of children. Recently, Lundin Petroleum has moved its focus into the realm of culture. In 2010 the company sponsored the Swedish participation in the Geneva Book Fair. A few years earlier, in 2007, the Lundin family acquired the well-known Swedish auction house Bukowskis. According to reliable sources, the Lundins have also been trying to persuade certain Swedish universities to accept donations from the company. So far unsuccessfully, it seems. The world of culture and learning is obviously at risk of ending up with some very sticky fingers.

NORRTÄLJE KONSTHALL Mexico Multitude 28/1–4/3 Mari Rantanen 10/3–15/4 Kajsa Mattas 21/4–27/5 Veronica Brovall Emil Holmer 2/6–12/8 Pernilla Zetterman 18/8–16/9 Emelie Björck 22/9–28/10 Åsa Ersmark 3/11–9/12

norrtalje.se/konsthall

Oil on canvas

Dr. Odyoke

As the structure of the conventional art market crumbles, increasing attention is directed towards artist run projects and exhibition spaces. Shortly before Christmas the Moderna Museet in Stockholm staged an evening dedicated to the artistic “do-it-yourself”-attitude. And recently Tensta Konsthall on the outskirts of Stockholm announced an exhibition,

a report and a series of lectures on the topic of alternative strategies in a changing art world. That is really something! The subcultures are suddently

becoming mainstream. But wait, isn’t something missing? At Moderna Museet it was all about the legendary “alternative” gallery Ynglingagatan 1 (that shut down in 1999). Not a single of the contemporary artist run activities in town was featured. The same goes for the activities at Tensta Konsthall. Who or what are they afraid of? The alternatives are not buried in the past or dwelling in the future. They exist, here and now. And although it is nice to be hugged by friends in the street, it is even nicer to be invited to their party…

TEMA Text & bild

PRIS 75 KR NR 3 SEPTEMBER 2011 KONSTPERSPEKTIV – SVERIGES STÖRSTA KONSTTIDSKRIFT

PRIS 75 KR NR 2 MAJ 2011 KONSTPERSPEKTIV – SVERIGES STÖRSTA KONSTTIDSKRIFT

PRIS 75 KR NR 1 FEBRUARI 2011 KONSTPERSPEKTIV – SVERIGES STÖRSTA KONSTTIDSKRIFT

PRIS 75 KR NR 4 DECEMBER 2010 KONSTPERSPEKTIV – SVERIGES STÖRSTA KONSTTIDSKRIFT

PRIS 75 KR NR 1 MARS 2010 KONSTPERSPEKTIV – SVERIGES STÖRSTA KONSTTIDSKRIFT

TEMA Den ljusnande framtid? PRIS 75 KR NR 2 MAJ 2010 KONSTPERSPEKTIV – SVERIGES STÖRSTA KONSTTIDSKRIFT

SVERIGES STÖRSTA KONSTTIDSKRIFT

PRIS 75 KR NR 4 DECEMBER 2009 KONSTPERSPEKTIV – SVERIGES STÖRSTA KONSTTIDSKRIFT

PRIS 75 KR NR 3 SEPTEMBER 2009 KONSTPERSPEKTIV – SVERIGES STÖRSTA KONSTTIDSKRIFT

PRIS 75 KR NR 2 MAJ 2009 KONSTPERSPEKTIV – SVERIGES STÖRSTA KONSTTIDSKRIFT

PRIS 75 KR NR 1 MARS 2009 KONSTPERSPEKTIV – SVERIGES STÖRSTA KONSTTIDSKRIFT

TEMA En smaksak

TEMA Radikalrealister?

PRIS 75 KR NR 4 DECEMBER 2011 KONSTPERSPEKTIV – SVERIGES STÖRSTA KONSTTIDSKRIFT

PRIS 75 KR NR 3 SEPTEMBER 2010 KONSTPERSPEKTIV – SVERIGES STÖRSTA KONSTTIDSKRIFT

OR 56 SID A – EX TR MYCK ET LÄ SN ING

TEMA Möt Storebror!

TEMA Ja, vi elsker

TEMA Grafiken på frammarsch

Trettiofemårsju bileum

TEMA Vid sydfronten

TEMA Tanke & känsla

TEMA Landskapskonst & konstens landskap

TEMA Glasklart

Ingela Hamrin, “Container”, oil on canvas, 83 x 56 cm, 2009.

Gerlesborgsskolan

ART AND EDUCATION IN BOHUSLÄN & STOCKHOLM SINCE 1943.

www.gerlesborgsskolan.se

Dr. Odyoke

French emperor Napoleon III once said that the pen was equal to 1,000 rifles. And in 1883 the French government created the first state-run organisation with the task of promoting French culture abroad. Since then, a growing number of countries have realised the advantages of using culture rather than guns to achieve a political influence. Even the European Union has adopted this strategy by creating the framework “Creative Europe” in order to boost European global competitiveness. But among nations Germany is a somewhat strange partner. Since the end of the second world war German cultural

promotion abroad has to a large extent dealt with repentance and a critical attitude towards the country’s own historical legacy. However, during the last decade, things have changed. German glory in sports (especially soccer) has created a new feeling of German pride as a generation of Germans with no first-hand experience of the war takes control of government. No surprise that Germany is one very few countries in Europe that has not announced cuts in its cultural budget for 2012. Soft power counts. This year, Germany showcases two important art events: the Berlin Biennale and Documenta 13. But the organisers of both events have made it abundantly clear that they do not intend to prop up Mrs Angela Merkel’s ambitions to make Germany the pivot of European affairs. Artur Zmijewski, chief curator of the Berlin Biennale, does his best to criticise the Berlin authorities for using art and

the artists as marketing tools and plans a political biennale. Artists interested in participating in the biennale are even asked to state their political inclination in their application. In Kassel, Documenta curator Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev follows the Documenta tradition by creating an intricate (some say incomprehensible) framework for the exhibition. Her press release states that: “Questions of personal and collective emancipation through art emerge in the process of making Documenta 13 by thinking through a number of composite ontologies that generate paradoxical conditions of contemporary life and artistic production”. Phew! I am not surprised that Mrs Christov-Bakargiev has decided “to act without a pre-defined curatorial plan”. This decision has a good chance of taking the Documenta to the same level of noble confusion as the EU summits Mrs Merkel usually attends.

Niels Bonde, “Sri Lanka”, oil on digital print, 197 x 128 cm , 2005.

In a taxi on the way to Sarajevo. Gus Viseurâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s melodies convey a little of the mystique that characterises travelling through the Balkans. The accordion livens up the darkness in the back seat of the shabby Mercedes as it makes its way down the winding mountain road towards Montenegro. We are on a quest to find the vital artist-run exhibition spaces, to gauge and take stock of the local contemporary art scenes and to assess the current situation for artists in the Balkans.

Text and photo: Pontus Raud

We have just left the dirt roads of Albania behind us and have begun to understand the true meaning of the word “infrastructure”. Back in the days of the old communist regime, normal citizens were not allowed to own cars, and this explains the lack of roads in Northern Albania. High unemployment and rampant corruption has hindered the development of any domestic art market other than the nostalgic tourist art commerce that appears to be a given constant.

During our visit earlier to Zeta Galeri, one of the few art galleries in Tirana, it became clear to us that contemporary art is hardly a priority here. There are no state institutions that promote contemporary culture in Albania. As one of the founders of Tirana Ekspres, an alternative art space established in the summer of 2011 and already a popular meeting place for culturally interested people in Tirana, Rubin Beqo explains, “Albania has never experienced a cultural revolution of that kind.

Tirana Ekspres, Warehouse Block, Tirana

Here it is the family that is the number one institution. Young people here can’t afford to move from home. They end up living with their parents till the age of thirty!” Housed in a cold, run-down warehouse in a desolate part of the Albanian capital, Tirana Ekspres has a dual function as rave scene and gallery. During the short time it has existed, Tirana Ekspres has already managed to produce seven exhibitions, albeit short ones lasting from four to fourteen days. Beqo, who holds a degree in socio logy, has, as a means of maintaining the independence of Tirana Ekspres, chosen not to apply for any financial aid.

“I believe that we need to create a process,” says Rubin, “through which we can achieve a political consciousness where you then could just spit it out… because right now we are just a bunch of people. The most important thing right now is to establish some cultural standards… and to ensure continuity.” Rubin Beqo is concerned about the negative prospects for a country with only four major cultural events per year and a population deprived of the opportunity to experience contemporary culture on a continual basis. He sees a people living in a TV culture and espousing dreams of a western culture that they would never be able to afford anyway.

Perhaps this love of stereotypes also explains why all popular singers on Albanian television are blondes. “In the future, we will need to put in place certain institutionalized forms that can help protect our subculture,” Rubin emphasises, “hopefully in five to ten years!” Sarajevo is a city that has earned itself a prominent place in the annals of history… from its status as an important administrative centre in the Ottoman Empire to the shot fired in Sarajevo leading to the First World War. And now as the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina, where buildings riddled with bullet holes are a stark reminder of the war that raged here

Alketa Kurrizo, Zeta Galeri, Tirana

Tirana Ekspres

Rubin Beqo, Tirana Ekspres

in the ’90s. We are on our way to Java Galeri to meet Damir Nikšic´, artist and old rock hero who has also lived in Italy, Sweden and the United States. The war is woven into all narratives. When I ask Damir about the population of Bosnia, he answers, “we used to be 4.5 million, 250,000 died during the war and one million fled… so approx imately three million!” We are on our way to Ars Aevi, Sarajevo’s centrally located contemporary art museum that was founded during the war as a “resistance of culture”. Several internationally acclaimed artists, including among others Joseph Kosuth, Anish Kapoor and Joseph Beuys have donated artworks to a contemporary collection destined for a new museum scheduled for completion in 2014. The next day, Damir will join his old R’n’B band for an exclusive gig in front of an elite group of Western art museum representatives on a short visit. “They have come to check up on the patient”, Damir jokingly remarks.

Jusuf Hadzifejzovic, Charlama Depot, Sarajevo

Next door, in a dormant, Russian-style shopping centre one floor below street level, we find the artist-run gallery Charlama Depot. The gallery is housed in vacant commercial spaces. Run by a group of veteran culture workers, Charlama Depot focuses mainly on the artist Jusuf Hadzifejzovic, who has over the years taken part in several biennales and exhibitions abroad. In 1994, while the war was still raging in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Jusuf Hadzifejzovic created an artwork that involved the members of his large extended family. That year, while living in Belgium as a refugee, Jusuf was invited to partake in the Cetinje Biennale in Montenegro, where his entire extended family had taken refuge and were living as secondclass citizens. Instead of adopting his normal approach and looking for material in depots in Cetinje, Jusuf

asked the Biennial organisers to invite every member of his family to the exhibition, thus creating an effective relational piece that, in addition, also offered him the opportunity to reunite with his family. Jusuf speaks warmly of the Tito era, and insists that it was a good period from a cultural standpoint. It is not unusual that people in the Balkans long for the days when Yugoslavia still existed, primarily due to the fact that Tito, although a dictator, allowed Yugoslavians to travel abroad freely, and furthermore was very interested in culture, especially film and music. Duplex 10m2 is housed in a backyard in the old section of Sarajevo. The gallery was originally ten square metres, but has now gained access to several additional neighbouring premises. Much of the young Balkan

Ars Aevi, Sarajevo

While awaiting the completion of the new Ars Aevi Museum of Contemporary Art, the Ars Aevi collection is housed in a temporary storage room / exhibition space – the Ars Aevi Art Depot at the Skenderija Centre. Amir Vuk, a Bosnian architect, has designed the space to resemble a large wooden crate where the collection is installed in an unconventional albeit very attractive form of open storage space, entirely built of OSB board. Jusuf Hadzifejzovic, work for the the Cetinje Biennale

art scene is presented here, mostly in the form of video works, and Duplex 10m2 also have a large video archive that includes works by over two hundred artists.

surface. Or as Darko Stojkov (who recently started an artist-run gallery in Banatska Dubica together with artists from Formverk in Sweden) puts it, “Here in the Balkans everyone’s divided. A part of them wants a return to the days of Tito, a part of them supports the Nationalists, a part of them wants to join the E.U. … no one is entirely whole.”

KC GRAD, Belgrade

When en route through Bosnia to Belgrade, one is constantly reminded of the war. The countries are naturally separated by mountain ranges enswathed in drapes of fog – and the nature is breathtaking. One realises what a hellish experience it must have been to attempt an escape from the war. Climbing mountains only to descend into valleys full of enemy combatants.

Statistics indicate that 20,000–40,000 women were systematically raped during the war. Many of these victims became pregnant, and today these children of war have reached adulthood. Emotions run high in all the conversations I have had with people in these countries. Everyone bears a stigma, but it seldom comes to the 30

Approaching Belgrade, I hear Nina Persson sing “…and if you want me I’m your country” while gazing over the Roma shantytown situated right before the abutment of the bridge over the Sava river. This unfathomably destitute slum, with derelict houses patched with odd bits and pieces stands in stark contrast to the newly built “New Belgrade” situated just beyond the bridge, with its grandiose glass facades and digital billboards. One of the bus passengers exclaims, “This is so embarrassing!” Belgrade with its two million inhabitants used to be the capital of former Yugoslavia and is now the centre of Serbia. “There is an opening every evening somewhere in Belgrade,” says Ljudmila Stratimirovic, one of the members of GRAD, European Centre for Culture and Debate. I hear several artists from Belgrade utter these words, and it is obvious that Belgrade is generally considered the most vibrant city in the Balkans. Pop, dance, art, poetry and debates address issues concerning a conceivable future and indicate a

desire to create and establish a strong cultural scene. The phrase “there’s an opening every evening…” becomes a mantra of sorts against the poor preconditions for culture in Belgrade. There is no art market to speak of in Belgrade, and no one seems to want to pay to experience contemporary culture. As indicated by Helene Larsson, Cultural Attaché of the Embassy of Sweden in Belgrade, many artists who visit Belgrade fall in love with the city and its art scene and express the desire to stay on, but as of yet there are no artist residency programmes in the city that cater to them. Steps have, however, now been taken to establish a guest studio programme, one of these being the artist-run Third Belgrade. Selman Trtovac has personally financed the purchase of

Third Belgrade, Belgrade

the plot of land and the construction of the building on the banks of the

Danube, housing a gallery on the bottom floor and a studio and two small apartments, that in the future will serve as a guest studio for up to two artists. Selman Trtovic’s expressed goal is to create a mental room for contemporary art in Belgrade and stresses that the main challenge going forward is to ensure continuity

in the Balkan art scene. All factions compete for the minimal funds available, and the subsequent rivalry leads to schisms among the artists. Although the situation for art in the Balkans is dire, a clear vision does indeed exist – to create a functioning institution for contemporary art.

Tirana:

Sarajevo:

Belgrade:

TIRANA EKSPRES Rr. Karl Gega, Blloku i Magazinave Tirana, Albania Mob: +355 69 36 03875 E-mail: tiranaekspres@gmail.com www.tiranaekspres.wordpress.com

DUPLEX/10m2 see catalogue

MOBA see catalogue

ARS AEVI Centar Skenderija Terezije bb, 71 000 Sarajevo Bosnia and Herzegovina Tel: + 387 33 216 919 E-mail: arsaevi@arsaevi.ba www.arsaevi.ba

GRAD see catalogue

ZETA GALERI see catalogue

THIRD BELGRADE see catalogue

CHARLAMA DEPOT Centar Skenderija Terezije bb, 71 000 Sarajevo Bosnia and Herzegovina Tel: +387 33 203 178 Mob: +387 63 947 442 E-mail: charlama.galery@gmail.com

Third Belgrade, photo: Third Belgrade

by Selman Trtovac Third Belgrade is a mental and physical space, an art cooperative and a practical implementation of a certain behavioural strategy of a group of contemporary artists from Belgrade. It builds on Alan Badiou’s thesis about the event as a defi nition of autonomous utopian space, or as a contemporary practice of networking. Third Belgrade is a title taken from Belgrade’s urban terminology. First Belgrade is the old part of the city, the second Belgrade is New Belgrade, Third Belgrade is a part of the city on the left bank of the Danube. 3.BGD’s physical space consists of a gallery as the central space, club, library and residential premises in which lectures and workshops are held. The garden of Third Belgrade is also designed as an open stage for performances and other kinds of artistic events. To understand the reasons for the emergence of the mental space that is 32

3.BGD and the decision of the group of Belgrade artists to group themselves around a common strategy, we must briefly analyse the historical and political context in which art has developed in recent decades, locally and globally. The entire superstructure of the theory of art after 1972 is based on the thesis of Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein: that a work of art is a tautology. One of the key postmodern philosophers, Jean Francois Lyotard, talks about post-modern art. Taking Wittgenstein’s thesis, he says that art can be based on a linguistic game. The American philosopher Arthur Danto has gone even further and professed the death of art! Art has become marginal, lost its autonomy and importance, and only functions as a signifying practice within culture. This means that Art can function only in a particular context, as a

discourse; it has turned into a kind of recycling industry, recycling ideas, forms and values. What we see and recognise as citation, appropriation, compilation, new reading, dictated art, pseudo-politically correct pseudo-art, and patchwork, frequently appear at exhibitions. These artistic practices have produced a general confusion which is strongly augmented by corrupted art theorists and the curators of major exhibitions. Such developments in philosophical thinking in art and culture are conditioned by the character of contemporary economic relations and the character of the distribution of political and economic power. Building on the thesis of Michel Foucault and Gilles Deleuze, philosophers Hart and Negri put forward the assumption that within contemporary capitalism there is no fixed locus of power - power, and with it exploitation,

Dr. Odyoke

What is going on in Britain? In November last year, a poll of 1,000 British painters and sculptors decided that David Hockney is the most influential artist of all time. What?! Hockney is a decent artist, but the best of his works belong to the past. The same poll put JMW Turner as runner up and eccentric Grayson Perry in third slot. No Damien Hirst, Anish Kapoor,

is capillarily spread. Marxist theses of dialectic of use and exchange value are no longer contemporary, but exploitation occupies the entire social realm! In this sense, the German philosopher Herbert Marcuse has revised the traditional definition of totalitarianism: for him, this is not only forced coordination and management of the society but also an economic and technological coordination which operates through the process of managing and handling needs. These are, therefore, false needs! For the artists of 3.BGD a question arose: what can the role of an artist be, or what is it that he has to do? What does the individual artist do for others? Here we come to the reasons for clustering, networking, for the creation of new structures on the art scene, or a new or different mental space in art and culture in general. That part of thinking about

Anthony Gormley or Tracey Emin among the top ten. Banksy is no 9, just beaten by Gainsborough and Blake. It makes one wonder how contemporary minded British artists really are. Maybe Guardian critic Jonathan Jones has a point. In an article last year, he launched an attack on the notorious British celebrity culture, that favours mediocre personalities and makes serious domestic artists leave the country (Steve McQueen, Chris Ofili and Tacita Dean among them). No surprise that this year’s top headline from the British artworld is all about the public quarrel between David Hockney and Damien Hirst on the use or non-use of assistants to produce one’s artwork. Poor Britain, what did you do to deserve this?

artistic strategy refers to how the artist wins a new space: where is this space is located and what will that space bring? We come to the question of utopia - and that is an existential question for us. Utopia today is, in the words of philosopher Fredrik Jameson, a representation of social contradictions and an attempt to define the enclave (social differentiation) within the social space. Jameson sees utopia in the context of a “positive” role in a culture in terms of the totality of representation. Based on Marx, he understands the social role of art in the context of resistance to postmodern fragmentation that affects all segments of late capitalist society. Art is precisely the element that can restore the category of the lost totality. Such thinking is essentially the position of Third Belgrade regarding the mental space for art.

Dr. Odyoke

Wondering what megastar curator Hans Ulrich Obrist is doing nowadays? Well, together with Julia Peyton-Jones he is at the helm of Serpentine Gallery in London. Their activities put them in the 2nd slot of ArtReveiw’s 2011 list of the 100 most important people in the global artworld. (No awards handed out for guessing the winner: Ai Weiwei.) But Mr Obrist is also the judge at the Intelligent Life Arts Award, one of four yearly awards given by the prestigious organisation Index on Censorship. The 2011 recipient of the Intelligent Life Arts Award is Indian artist MF Husain, for many years persecuted for his critical works dealing with Indian politics and Hindu religion. Runners up were Iranian film director Jafar Panahi and British Sikh playwright Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti. Welldeserved awards, all right. But about the general situation when it comes to censorship of artworks? In July 2011 Index on Censorship published a case study of the British scene, “Beyond Belief”. The study offers a rather grim perspective on the artistic reality. The last few years have seen the development of an increasingly instrumental view of culture and the enthroning of the audience as the gauge of artistic value. The effect: a growing fear on behalf of art institutions for offending ethnic and religious minorities or interest groups with a strong public appeal. With friends like that, artists does not any longer need enemies.

Intelligent Life Arts Awards winner MF Husain’s work has caused controversy in sections of the conservative Hindu community, who regard his depiction of Hindu gods and goddesses in the nude as blasphemous and offensive. WTF! Check out your own ancient temples, guys! Photo: T. Oweson.

IAA WORLD ART DAY 15.4.2012 www.iaa-europe.eu

Fluctuat nec mergitur

ANNO 1988

WAITING FOR THE LIGHTS TO GO GREEN I live in a place where you can rent a baby by the hour and pinch their asses to make them howl as you approach the cars for alms stuck on the crossroads and waiting for the lights to go green. I live in a place where this poet calls up in the morning and starts complaining about my poem where I expressed my surprise to see my father jerking off in his sleep. Must be another one from the league who burns incense sticks in front of Goddess Kali and Marx hanging side by side on the wall.

Subhankar Das is a writer, publisher and film producer living in Kolkata, India. He has published fourteen collections of poetry in Bangla though his most recent collection The Streets, the Bubbles of Grass, is published in English by his arts collective, Graffiti Kolkata. He has translated Allen Ginsbergâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Howl into Bangla and is the editor of The Stark Electric Space, an anthoÂlogy of international experimental writing. He has produced six short films and owns a bookstore. 35

ONE LUCIA, Stockholm 2011. One piece, One night, One show, One love. Photo: Jan Watteus.

Dr. Odyoke

Is the business of traditional art fairs nearing its end? At least in Germany, it seems like it. Last summer, the management of Art Forum Berlin announced that it planned a merger with rival art fair Art Berlin Contemporary. A few weeks later Art Forum Berlin decided to shut down its operations completely. The reason: disagreement between the management of the two art fairs on how to run a future combined art fair. But that is, of course, not the whole truth. Eva-Maria Häusler of Art Forum Berlin laments over the lost possibilities for galleries from outside Berlin to show their artists in the capital when Art Berlin Comtemporary is taking over the scene. Meanwhile, Cologne’s ‘Kölner StadtAnzeiger’ newspaper called the cancellation of Art Forum “an unrivalled act of self-destruction” and accused Messe Berlin, the organiser of Art Forum Berlin, of “capitulating to a powerful group of galleries, which had been attacking Art Forum for years”. Though insiders confirm the suspicion that

applicationS: 1 AUGUST–15 SEPTEMBER FOLLOW US ON www.supermarketartfair.com 36

the management of Art Berlin Contemporary just considered Art Forum Berlin to be too boring to be worth saving. But the main reason for the Berlin art fair turbulence may well be the growing competition from others art fairs such as Frieze in London, FIAC in Paris and Art Basel. Mind you, not only the Germans are in trouble. Many of the Swedish galleries that participated in last year’s Danish fair Art Copenhagen were so disappointed that they staged their own one-night “alternative” mini-fair in an off-beat building in the centre of Stockholm a few months later. The rumour is that the same galleries will make a bigger and more coordinated effort in autumn 2012. If that is true, the Berlin story may be repeated in Stockholm with the traditional art fair MARKET as the eventual loser. It has also been criticised by participants for lacking an innovative spirit and paying too much attention to internal power-struggling.

Artist-run galleries regularly staging public exhibitions in their own exhibition spaces and other artists’ initiatives are invited to exhibit at SUPERMARKET 2013. Single artists or artists’ groups founded only for applying to SUPERMARKET cannot apply. SUPERMARKET has a low participation fee and no application fee, so as to include interesting exhibitors who are non-profit or not yet established and unable to take on large financial obligations.

Oleg Kulik interviewed by SUPERMARKET, January 4th, 2012. Interlocutor Maxim Ilyukhin, translation: Izabella Borzecka and Stuart Mayes. Spatial Liturgy #3. TSUM, Moscow, September 2009, photo: courtesy of Oleg Kulik.

How has the concept of performance changed for you, since you started to today? When I started to do performances in Moscow nobody else was doing it. That is, those social, open, street performances that I had imagined. There was the Collective Action group but they had a very narrow range, they drifted out of town, they were semi-underground activities. So in the beginning of street performances, I was involved and perhaps only two or three other people. Now practically

everyone is engaged in street perfor mances, street activism, street art. It is all such a total performance in Russia. The whole country has turned to a country of performers – well, on some subjective level of perception. This is very cool and interesting. I did performance not as a genre of art, but for the sake of survival in terms of the spiritual and psychological. As an artist I am not needed by anyone. When there was a situation of collapse around, of total decline, this genre allowed me to maintain my position in fields of interest, influence and understanding.

It was some way of keeping company and communication. Through scandal, hysteria and accident I drew attention to myself so that life would not feel so completely like living inside a grave. I don’t need anyone – no one is in need of anyone. It [performance] was an attempt to overcome loneliness, failure, the feeling of being thrown. It’s like yelling in the wilderness. And gradually, gradually it was growing, and more admirers came along. The genre of performance art expanded, new concepts came up – political activism, theatre performance, actions. 37

The apotheosis now is the group “Vojna” (the War group), who I think are no longer artists but political activists. They grew up in my studio, and before they became performers they were fashion designers. It is understandable that these are people who are sewing something modern – they are still tailors. They suddenly realised that they can sew fashion actions (as their work) which will also find demand, interest, response – much more powerfully than if they made clothes. In general, it’s great, we did not get bad tailors, we got good political activists. For me performance now is not art anymore. Because it’s become the peoples’ skills (anyone can do it). Which lies in the fact that writing FUCK, drawing a dick, giving authority the finger, destroying property, demonstrations and protests could all be performance. For me this is purely political activity. That is, the transition into purely political activity. This is my essential belief. In the beginning performance was more a way of life than art. And gradually it became more and more art and thanks to performance, art became something alive. As something that helps to live, as something very connected with life. Prior to that, for me, art and life were separate. Like, there is life with its own laws and, you could say, there is art with its own laws.

In general the art of the 20th century that I grew up with insisted on an autonomous reality. This one illusion, delusion or revelation, completely collapsed [and] it became clear to me that these things are very connected – one thing helps the other to survive –surviving in another way, changing life. [It became clear to me] that these things are not different realities, and that art is a tool to work with reality. Reality is a separate question for me – reality for me is many ways to work with myself, investigations of myself, and not of the surrounding phenomena. I am interested in the art which would have involved my personality, my destiny and that would be implicated in the overall process through art. This link is interesting to me. This largely came out of the performances – it’s just that for me the term “performance” has now expanded. Now I am interested in any form. Performance is a very concise form of dialogue with other people. It is compressed, and in this sense it’s not deep, not deployed. It is in demand in times of crisis, in demand at a time when you need a very brief message. And this genre does not meet all needs. It is much more rich with possibilities than sculpture, painting, drawing, dance or theatre. I generally see the future of art in the theatre – in this sense based on the temple steps (in the church).

Could you be a radical performance artist in an art institution or do you need another context? Radical performance within the institution is possible, but why is it needed? It is not radical performance that way. It is just like an advertising campaign – hit someone in the face, smash crockery, create a scandal, but it is an allowed scandal. Art should retain a legitimate form by going beyond institutions. Cultural institutions are very good but we know that there are times of stagnation and corruption. Then the institution can turn into something opposite to its original idea. Rather than maintaining the art it will keep it in some very hard borderlands – Carrion will stink. Art must be refreshed. Radical gestures are made outside of institutions, they carry a very individual, personal nature. People should have the right to assert any truth without anyone controlling them. This is a radical right and it must receive an appropriate evaluation and answer.

As an artist I am not needed by anyone. When there was a situation of collapse around, of total decline, this genre allowed me to maintain my position in fields of interest, influence and understanding. It was some way of keeping company and communication. Through scandal, hysteria and accident I drew attention to myself so that life would not feel so completely like living inside a grave.

Der Messias / Händel (version Mozart). Director, visual conception, video, costumes. Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, France, March 2011, photo: courtesy of Oleg Kulik.

People must take responsibility for their own actions outside of art institutions, just as the performers of 90s did. My friends Alexander Brener and Anatoliy Osmolovsky who initiated the project “Against all parties” hung that inscription on The Lenin Mausoleum on Red Square in Moscow. It was a very bold gesture –

radical, cultural, and consistent – and it was not clear how it would end – it was like “kids did this”. It was cool. So I think it [radical performance in an institution] is possible but it would be foolish and not needed. That is, it would be bad because the institution wants to pull something to itself what it is not

necessary. Is it possible to have sex in the modern museum? You can, but it is not its place, [it is not necessary]. Radical performance is so radical that it can only exist outside of institutions. There should be more in-depth analysis and study of reality – if artists want to be linked with the reality.

Der Messias / Händel (version Mozart). Director, visual conception, video, costumes. Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, France, March 2011. Photo: Marie-Noëlle Robert.

Vespro della Beate Vergine, 1610 / Cl. Monteverdi. Director, visual conception, costumes. Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, France, January 2009. © Marie-Noëlle Robert.

Spatial Liturgy #3. TSUM, Moscow, September 2009, photo: courtesy of Oleg Kulik.

Radical performance is so radical that it can only exist outside of institutions. There should be more in‑depth analysis and study of reality – if artists want to be linked with the reality. Radicalism, as it should be, is connected with reality, with pain, with truth, with accusation, with other such political-journalistic stuff, it is better to not bring it to the institution. Well, unless it is needed, if the atmosphere has become stale then of course you can.

Radicalism, as it should be, is connected with reality, with pain, with truth, with accusation, with other such politicaljournalistic stuff, it is better to not bring it to the institution. Well, unless it is needed, if the atmosphere has become stale then of course you can. If you take a Soviet museum, even if you set it on fire, it is not a good performance. Even if it was a super totalitarian museum, with super totalitarian art. Somehow, in some sense, it is a repellent thing, that is, if one can get rid of it [the Soviet museum], then [one can] also [get rid of] the strengths of its vulnerability and openness. There won’t be any sense in this but repetitious spitting and boorishness. How do you see the future of the performance art scene? There will be performers throughout time. Relatively speaking what was previously done as a performance was meaningful action. Something that is a performance becomes a meaningful action – an intervention on the territory of reality. The unprepared viewer is immersed in some manipulation of the situation through art that is a closely observed and studied [performed] reaction. You make some gesture or action, like in work of Pawel Althamer, where suddenly people in one place are beginning to behave foolishly – as they would not do themselves, but as if directed by a script. The random people that pass by do not even realise that it is a performance. This is what we have and what is going through us – meetings, the revolution – that is the future of performance – social activism.

not a religious activity itself, it is a communicative activity. As Dmitri Prigov mentioned, “art is not the last zone of truths, (it) is the area (of) penultimate truths.” This is what is interesting – art deals with eternal issues, as well as religion does. There is still the matter of personal ego, and we must deal with the ego. We cannot just destroy it, or say that it is garbage, it’s only Satanists who destroy the ego – this is like destroying the flesh, or, destroying something else. And it is difficult to find the right relationship with this source of energy [the ego]. To get to know yourself, and not [to get to know] political activism – all that is garbage – it’s like the hair on your ass. It’s not necessary to pull that [hair] out that is deeply rooted, but one need to relocate them carefully and place them where they are needed. Take Eduard Limonov, as an example, he was never an artist, he was a writer and was writing radical stuff. He became a politician – excellent. He went over to the other side. One often has to turn to politics, just like Limonov, and not just run around like rabbits so to speak. Once caught in the ass – I’m an artist. Released, I hop – I’m a politician.

Der Messias / Händel (version Mozart). Director, visual conception, video, costumes. Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, France, March 2011. Photo: Marie-Noëlle Robert.

Art, fortunately, has become a vital crossing point. A lot of people who have high social demands and temperaments come to art because they do not know how to express themselves. They are not artists, not because art is something lofty, I do not think that art is something very lofty. Politics, noble politics, or philosophy, or railroads – it’s all just more important things and more serious. Simple people simply cannot be there – to get into these areas. People are pretty fragile. And because there is a strong likelihood of corruption there. Through art these [simple] fellows can be steered and lead like penguins. It is as if these [corrupt/ed] people are on a trampoline – they jump into policies, jump into the economy, jump into business, jump, jump and somewhere out there they are still jumping. And they will always already be engaged in seemingly constructive, conscious activity that strongly influences reality. Art does not (strongly) affect reality, and that is thankful. There is another task for art – it inherits a religious space. This task is more existential, art is preparing people for religious types of activities – this is

Stockholm Fringe Fest Helena Bunker, Adam Potrykus, Alex Genberg, Lina Karlmark “Images I Never Seen Before”, 7a11d International Performance Festival in Toronto, photo: Henry Chan.

Joakim Stampe Performance artist, co-founder and project manager of Live Action Göteborg. Has the performance scene changed since you started, and if so, in what way? Both my own perception and that of the general public with regard to performance art has changed radically in the past few years. What has struck me the most when travelling worldwide to both small and major festivals is the fact that performance art can turn up in the most diverse of places and contexts. Here are two examples that are so far apart, that one can wonder whether they really have anything in common at all. Take, on the one hand, the Vietnamese miners, who, because they are illiterate, cannot write down their complaints but instead gather outside the mayor’s office and use their bodies to tell about the gruelling nature of their work down in the mines and the negative impact the harsh working conditions have on their family lives. And the other example with Lady Gaga standing in the V.I.P line at MoMa in New York in order to sit at Marina Abramovic’s table at “The Artist is Present”. This shows performance art as both a hammer and a gilded frame.

Why is performance art so popular today? There are several reasons for this, the main one being that it is perhaps the most ”human” art form. It is created Here and Now by the artist him or herself, and therefore extremely mobile. Ever since the new director of MoMa (Klaus Biesenbach, born 1967, with a background as performance curator) put the spotlight on performance art with the previously mentioned Marina Abramovic and other major exhibitions, a tsunami of performance art has reached Sweden as well. Furthermore, the art market has started working out ways to exhibit and even sell performance art to collectors.

What is performance to you? Performance art is a surrealistic dream of the conventional, an artistic expression that demolishes the framework of order and flourishes with creative freedom. Performance art is the result of a revolution against rules. It welcomes an infinite pool of ideas to evolve - the only thing one can expect is the unexpected. Performance art represents the thoughts and ideas of the artists and their interpretation of society; it puts on a raw and personal display of the troubles and joys of life. Now when performance is on everyone’s lips, does it risk losing something? The concept of performance might have lost some of its mysticism due to its commercial approval, however the experience of a performance in itself will never cease to captivate.

Has performance become too popular, and does it risk losing some of its form if it is brought into the high Institutions? Everyone is a performance artist nowadays, aren’t they? Ha ha, I personally have nothing against the fact that performance art is in focus now. And I think there’s more than enough room for everyone to practice it. Institutions also have an outside, don’t they?...Much of the most interesting art can be experienced outside the white cube, with street and performance art as my personal favourites.

See, “Poow!”, at Stoff 2011, photo: Björn Petrén.

REICH + SZYBER Little Fish “The Hidden”, 1986, at the recently shut down power station Elverket, Stockholm, photo: B. Szyber. 46

The film Seven gives a definition of the performance artist. The theme is Lust and two cops enter a leather workshop, where the murderer has ordered a harness with a carving knife at the crotch. One of the cops asks the owner, somewhat indignantly: - Didn’t you ask yourself what he was going to use this for? The owner looks at them and answers: - No, I thought he was one of those performance artists… you know, somebody who gets up on stage… pisses in a cup and drinks it.

Bogdan Szyber recounts this Hollywood episode when I ask him what performance is. Bogdan and Carina Reich have worked as a duo for 30 years and are among Sweden’s most experienced performance artists. Having trained at the theatre, they wanted to break its conventions. CR: We revolted against theatre by ignoring the concepts of time, space and production costs… We tried using other concepts… and ended up calling it performance art. Performance art no longer has any of the boundaries regarding content that it had in the 60s and 70s. It has dissolved. Performance takes place in the mouth of whoever wants to use the concept. 25 years ago performance art was underground and a way of distinguishing yourself… a bit sectarian.

BS: To us, it is a purely contextual question. You are defined by your audience and by where you exhibit. I read a book from the Research Series about a Dominatrix who went in to a large space with hundreds of people. She entered the room with two of her slaves, a male and a female… and she ”Branded” them in front of the audience… that is she burnt her mark into their bodies… I mean, here we have an audience… we have costumes… fantastic costumes! …leather, patent leather and latex… we have a choreography… we have parts… But this is definitely not performance art and it is not theatre… it is some kind of… sex. But if we had done this in a gallery space, it would have been performance art, since it has to do with the body, authenticity and pain. When we did our weird things with mice, chains, a lot of shouting and bodies in strange rooms in 1986, people from the Fluxus movement came to see us. They said: “We already did that in the 60s!” And we said: “Fuck off! Now we are doing it in our twenties!”

Left: Bogdan Szyber and Carina Reich 2011. Photo: Mats Bäcker. Below: “Falcon Crest”, Moderna dansteatern, 1990.

Somehow, I guess each generation has to live through this… Bogdan and Carina have worked together with performances at the Royal Swedish Opera as well as the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm and toured in England and France, among other places. They have been requested to do workshops at several art colleges in Sweden and abroad. BS: The interesting thing about art students is that they will put on a costume… they use lighting… and are supposed to function in front of and audience for about an hour… in some kind of performing situation… and they keep repeating: “But I definitely don’t want to act!!”

The art world is usually quite selfreferential. The audience perspective is not quite accepted, to be popular and accessible. There are lots of codes within the art world and a lot of people are excluded from these codes. We move on to cultural politics and how times are changing, the fact that performance art is increasing steadily and usually takes place in institutions. You might ask yourself what is a subversive action today? Does performance art still contain this kind of action? BS: Yes, but then it must take place in a different space than the institution… it has to be in the space of the community… back to the homeless….

Carina and I cannot create Edge in the institution… We have done institutional work for ten years now… We cannot create Edge there… I mean, look at me as a fish… and I might be a very brightly coloured fish…. but I am in an aquarium… I have to get out of that context. CR: Yes, or exceed the contextual rules… What you see at a theatre… even if it is provocative… the provocation takes place within the safe choices of the theatre… there is an audience and the agreements of the stage… it is entertainment… even if it is sad or provocative, in the end, it is entertainment. The sad thing is that what might be revolutionary, political, provocative usually becomes safe in this box… that is the Institution. by Pontus Raud

by Anna Tomaszewska “He draws really fast and really well, he draws everything and always, regardless of the situation and weather conditions”. This is the portrait of Mariusz Tarkawian drawn by Jan Gryka, artist, curator and Tarkawian’s teacher. Last year’s edition of SUPERMARKET proved how right he is. Tarkawian, who had been invited to Stockholm together with Galeria Biała, meticulously documented the art fair from beginning to end. He not only drew, but also wrote down selected fragments of utterances made by people he was observing. At times, if you did not know he was an artist, it was easy to take him for a reporter taking notes. Sometimes he drew from hiding, watching and listening in on what was going on around him from a certain distance, at other times he did those things while holding conversations and basically looking into the eyes of his interlocutor. Mariusz Tarkawian (born in 1983) studied art at Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin (Poland), where he currently works as an academic teacher. He is the author of a series of drawings which form closed projects, including Rysunki Podejrzane (Peeped Drawings), Potencjalni Artyści (Potential Artists), W Poszukiwaniu Sztuki (Looking for Art). The last of the mentioned cycles constitutes his personal concept of the history of art. He meticulously catalogs all his drawings. As he himself claims – he does not create an objective history, but his own interpretation of it. He is an astute observer of the world of art – both as documentalist and futurologist. In April 2006, he set up a graphics company called Szybki Bill (Speedie Gonzales), Graphic Artist for Hire. He was the only Polish representative at Manifesta 8 in Spain. His works can be found in many collections around the world. Recently – in addition to drawing – he has been involved in composing electronic music and multimedia. Tarkawian’s collaboration with the Biała Gallery in Lublin began in June 2005, while he was working there as a volunteer helping to prepare a large exhibition, and spent every spare moment drawing everything that was happening there at that time. His drawings were included in the exhibition as an account of its preparation process. This was not an isolated incident, he later documented the process of setting up and taking down several other exhibitions. Tarkawian draws what he sees, also during vernissages. This was the situation in Kulturhuset, in Stockholm. A full documentation, consisting of 214 drawings, including the “copies” of other artists’ works, forming a cartoon-type account of SUPERMARKET, was displayed on the last day of the fair in Biała Gallery’s stall.

Since you’re intrigued by the relationship between what is and what could be – what did you modify while documenting SUPERMARKET? Should we even use the term documentation here? Why are some of the participants of SUPERMARKET naked in your drawings? As far as I remember, I did not introduce any bigger modifications. I tried to be like a graphic Polaroid and for example I did drawings of some works of art which I spotted at SUPERMARKET, each time noting the name of the author and the title of the work, so you could use the term documentation in this case. I often draw people naked; the works of Spencer Tunick and Vanessa Beecroft are among those which inspire me to do so. Have you shown your documentation of the SUPERMARKET art fair anywhere else other than in Kulturhuset? Have you kept it? Yes, exactly one month after the fair, in March 2011, I presented the drawings at an exhibition in Warsaw entitled „Rysuj i nie marnuj czasu” (Draw and don’t waste time). I realised they would perfectly fit the concept behind the exhibition. They even received a positive review on Obieg.pl, a Polish web portal on art. After the exhibition, all the drawings were returned to me and I have them archived at home. Do you still draw or have you now switched over to music and the multimedia? I still draw and I always will, but that doesn’t stop me from experimenting with music and visualisa-

tions with Dariusz Kociński. If I were to spend my whole life doing nothing else but drawing, I’d probably bore myself to death. Are you still into anticipating what works contemporary artists might create in the future (the cycle: W Przewidywaniu Sztuki / Anticipation for art), or do you no longer find the subject interesting and consider the project as finished? The series still amuses me, that’s why I don’t want to end it yet. I’ll probably do so it when I actually succeed in anticipating some artist’s work. Could you tell me a bit more about the project launched as part of the group exhibition at MOCAK (Museum of Contemporary Art in Cracow)? It begins at exactly the same time as this year’s edition of SUPERMARKET. The idea is to create a gigantic comic strip on the wall. As I was going through my 2500 drawings from the Looking for Art series, which presents the works of other artists from around the world, I noticed how easy it was to spin various tales by arranging the works in a particular order next to one another. With 2500 drawings at my disposal, I create cartoon panels from them. One work corresponds to one panel. There will be information about each work used in the comic strip, provided on a separate piece of paper, so visitors to the exhibition will get a chance to test their knowledge of contemporary artists and their works. Photo: Jan Gryka

All the 214 drawings: www.free.art.pl/biala/2011_tarkawian_supermarket.htm 56

Monica Tormell, “Apocalypso”, collage, 2011.

Dr. Odyoke

According to the recently published Cultural Statistics Pocketbook 92% of European citizens believe that culture and cultural exchanges should have an important place in the policies of the European Union. Yet the budget to support European cultural co-operation is less than 0.05% of the total EU budget. At the same time, the cultural sector provides 4.9% of European GDP. Someone missing the point? Meanwhile, some European countries are downsizing their cultural budgets drastically. In the Netherlands and the UK governments are cutting support for arts and culture by 25–30%. Greece, Spain and

Italy are planning even deeper cuts. In some cases – Greece and Italy are maybe the most noticeable ones – a gross national budget deficit accounts for the cuts. But in other cases, such as Hungary and the Netherlands, political considerations are obvious. As Dutch populist politician and amateur film-maker Geert Wilders puts it: “The cabinet must start cutting deeply into all those leftist hobbies that are just wasting billions on the European Union, development aid, subsidies for the environment, art and housing, citizenship courses and all the rest of it”.

In response to the drastic cuts in government funding of the arts in the Netherlands, artists and arts organisations in the Netherlands and elsewhere were setting off “art bombs” in protest on Midsummer’s Eve 2011.

Christian Grosskopf, “Silent Day”, oil on painted canvas, 26 cm x 35 cm, 2011.

James L Marshall, â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Black Cat (Revised)â&#x20AC;?, false wall, conduit, fluorescent light fixtures, dimensions variable, 2011.

Matthias Roth, “Goebbels Villa”, photograph, 2011.

Kulturtidskriften

Sveriges bästa kulturtidskrift!

Möt oss på Supermarket 2012 - Stockholm Independent Art Fair

www.cora.se

Artists’ Choice

An important role of this magazine is to help promote exhibitions in artist-run spaces worldwide. In almost every city, these types of artists’ initiatives, independent and self-organised, are becoming increasingly more common. 80 spaces from 30 countries are participating in SUPERMARKET 2012. Here are a few more from around the world…

super bien!

UNIT/PITT Projects

DOLL ESPACE D’ART CONTEMPORAIN

Galerija Škuc

Schwedter Strasse 232

15 East Pender Street,

Avenue César-Roux 4

Stari trg 21,

D 10435 Berlin, Germany

BC V6A 1S9 Vancouver, Canada

1005 Lausanne, France

1000 Ljubljana, Slovenija

superbien@gmx.de

info@helenpittgallery.org

info@espacedoll.ch

galerija.skuc@guest.arnes.si

www.superbien.de

www.helenpittgallery.org

www.espacedoll.ch

www.galerija.skuc-drustvo.si

pART-Room Gallerie

Escape Gallery

Herrenstrasse 26

Nagornaya Street 23/2,

76133 Karlsruhe, Germany

Moscow, Russia

info@part-room.de

info@escapeprogram.ru

www.part-room.de

www.escapeprogram.ru

Local Project 45-10 Davis St, Long Island City, NY 11101, USA info@localproject.org www.localproject.org

The Physics Room Gallery ST PAUL St Gallery One 40 St Paul St Auckland, New Zealand stephen@physicsroom.org.nz www.physicsroom.org.nz

BARBUR 6 Shirizli Street, Nachlaot, Jerusalem, Israel barburinfo@gmail.com www.barbur.org

Igor Metropol

MoKS

Beethoven utca 1/b. III/12.

64616 Mooste, Põlva maakond,

1126 Budapest, Hungary

Estonia

info@igormetropol.org

moks@moks.ee

www.igormetropol.org

www.moks.ee

Aid & Abet Station Road, Cambridge CB1 2JW, UK info@aidandabet.co.uk www.aidandabet.co.uk

PIST Inperdisciplinary Project Space Istanbul Dolapdere Caddesi Pangalti Dere sokak No 8 A/B/C Pangalti Istanbul, Turkey pist@pist.org.tr www.pist.org.tr

George and Jørgen 3 Howson Road SE4 2AL London, UK george@georgeandjorgen.com jorgen@georgeandjorgen.com www.georgeandjorgen.com

TPTP

SOMA

Transient Projects To People

Calle 13 # 25, esq. Revolution,

18 Rue de Thorigny,

Col. San Pedro de los Pinos

75003 Paris, France

Mexico DF O3800, Mexico

totptp@gmail.com

info.somamexico@gmail.com

www.tptpspace.net

www.somamexico.org

A BLINDSIDE Level 7, Room 14, Nicholas Building 37 Swanston St, Melbourne 3000, Australia info@blindside.org.au www.blindside.org.au

Proyectos Ultravioleta 11 calle , Zona 1 Guatemala, Guatemala, 5-36 B proyectosultravioleta@gmail.com www.uvuvuv.com/uv/index.html

Ve.Sch Schikanedergasse 11, A-1040 Wien bureau@vesch.org www.vesch.org

Centro de Investigaciones Artisticas (CIA) Tucumán 3758 Buenos Aires, C1189AAV, Argentina info@ciacentro.org www.ciacentro.org

Petri Saarikko, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Take Offâ&#x20AC;?, dimensions variable, digital matte painting, 2004. 64