17 Jun 2014

Update/ Post Memory - International Video Art with an Eastern Perspective at Motorenhalle, Dresden

with:
Sonia Balassanian (Armenia/USA), Leopold Kessler (Austria), Ine Lamers (Netherlands), Dalibor Martinis (Croatia), Almagul Menlibayeva (Kazakhstan), Nika Oblak & Primož Novak (Slovenia), Martina Wolf (Germany)


Until today, 25 years after the fall of the Iron Curtain, Western (and global) perception is still challenged by the changes of this era. The postcommunist territories are still called 'areas of transformation' and carry a certain exotic appeal – in the best case, if they do not remain blind spots for many Middle Europeans. But in times of geopolitical commotions as presently taking place in the Ukraine, our view may well transcend beyond these familiar and convenient limitations. The show UPDATE/ POST MEMORY aims to support this renewed perspective with artistic comments from Croatia and Kazakhstan, from Armenia and Russia.

At the same token, the recent video works by Martina Wolf, Dalibor Martinis, Leopold Kessler, Ine Lamers or Almagul Menlibayeva identify a peculiar paradox: On the one hand, the disturbances and transitions do not seem to have come to an end yet, given the ongoingly ambivalent role of democratic processes. On the other hand, the recent past seems to be conquered by an industrialized culture of commemoration. Arguments on the question of who actually possesses the supremacy of historical interpretation and interpretations themselves have increasingly become simplistic and controversial.

Young people in the city of Krasnoyarsk, who - in the film - only begin to comprehend what it meant having to wait in line; tourists, who marvel at an apartment in a socialist block building in Nowa Huta/Poland; an artist whose big birthday coincides with the longed-for EU-accession of his native Croatia; a school girl who visits the ruins of a Kazakh kolkhoz as if this was the land of Oz – these are some of the interesting topics as presented by UPDATE/ POST MEMORY.

UPDATE/ POST MEMORY concludes a long-term series of video exhibitions that started in 2008, featuring a total of seven artistic positions and focused on Central and Eastern Europe. In 2014 we would like to introduce recent works of the artists who have participated in the series throughout the last years.

Exhibition opening: Wednesday, June 18th, 2014, 8 p.m.
with an introductory tour by Susanne Altmann & Silke Wagler (director Kunstfonds, State Collections of Art Dresden)

Launching of publication & presentation of new video works by Leopold Kessler (Vienna): Wednesday, July 9th, 2014, 8 p.m.

This show is a collaboration with the series 'videoabend', Kunstfonds (Art Fund), State Collection of Art Dresden and The Academy of Fine Arts Dresden.