15 Feb 2010

Susanne Kriemann & Mekhitar Garabedian at KIOSK's new exhibition space

ABOUT KIOSK:
From 2006 on, KIOSK has been organising a changing exhibition program by both emerging and established artists. After 3 years, KIOSK is now leaving its temporary pavilion and is moving into a new and larger gallery space on the same site. This venue is located at the former anatomical theatre of Cloquet Institute, a renovated historical building at the well-known Bijloke site in Ghent. In association with several other cultural players on the site, this former hospital and convent is evolving into an international art campus. KIOSK wants to consciously support this cultural dynamic.
KIOSK mainly focuses on monographic presentations of contemporary artists. This starting point will be translated in joint presentations in which specific characteristics of the artist and his work, like the aspect of research get particular attention. KIOSK is initiated by non-profit organization Kunstensite (KuS) in collaboration with the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (KASK) at the University College Ghent, with the support of the Flemish Authorities.

The first exhibition in the new location shows work of Susanne Kriemann (Germany) and Mekhitar Garabedian (Syria/Belgium), two artists that have a particular interest for the relations between history, identity, time and the memory of a place.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
The work of Susanne Kriemann (°1972, Erlangen, Germany) deals with the subject of research into the past of modern history. Kriemann is mainly using photography in which her own images and archive material are exhibited in the form of displays. Using an associative working method allows the artist to 'dig towards the past' and to disassociate 'the idea of modernity' from all ideological connotations and in this way analyze the writing of recent history as a formal system of organisation. In Ashes and Broken Brickwork of a Logical Theory Kriemann mixes images from her own expedition to the desert of Syria, archaeological digging sites in Mesopotamia and the photographic archive of Agatha Christie. Besides being a writer Christie also was a photographer for the British government at digging sites on Syria and Iraq. On the occasion of this exhibition, an artist book will be published by Roma Publications. The exhibition is a co-production of Künstlerhaus Stuttgart and KIOSK.

The work of Mekhitar Garabedian (°1977, Allepo, Syria) can be approached as a constant digging up of his personal and complex identity as an immigrant. Garabedian was born in Syria, but has Armenian roots: his grandparents fled from the Armenian genocide. In 1981 the family immigrated once again because of the Libanon civil war. Since his childhood Garabedian lives in Belgium. The artist works with different media such as sound, text, video, installation and photography. His work deals with the idea that history and cultural identity are constructed trough conditioning. The exhibition Young Man Blues at KIOSK shows an ensemble of textual works, a photographic project in the shape of a publication and an installation with t-shirts on which a reference to the Armenian culture is printed. The exhibition is realised with the kind contribution of Hoet Bekaert Gallery.