July 28, 2011

9 Art Stays International Festival of Contemporary Art



Digital artist and theorist Zoran Poposki will present a video performance and hold a lecture within the 9. International Festival of Contemporary Arts "ArtStays" and Summer Academy of Contemporary Arts in Ptuj, Slovenia on 28 July 2011.

The 9. festival edition is comprised of about 50 new projects by established and young international artists from the United States, Singapore, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, Poland, Russia etc. The festival is part of the 2012 Maribor European Capital of Culture.

Poposki will present a video performance in a public space, whereas the lecture will focus on several of his projects regarding the relationship between the socially engaged art practice and social-political issues originating from the transformation of urban space in Skopje, challenges related to art operations in the public sphere, as well as tactics for interaction with diverse publics.


Artists:

Zulkifle Mahmod (Singapore); Jeongmoon Choi (Korea); Alice Andreoli, Mariantonietta Bagliato, Resi Girardello, Valentino Menghi, Elisa Bertaglia, Chiara Sorgato, Gabriele Grones, Thomas Braida, Peppe Perone, Lemeh42, Lucio Perone (Italy); Eike Berg (Germany/Hungary); Dia Bögi, András Zalavári, Tamás Fehérváry, Adrien Dorsánszki, Krisztián Szőke, Dominika Trapp, Dia Zékány, Benjamin Nagy, Kiss Gábor Attila, Vera Romhány, Máté Csató, Katarina Sevic, Endre Koronczi, Szacsva y Pál, Beöthy Balázs, Eszter Szabó, Marianne Csáky, Csongor G. Szigeti, László László Révész, Miklós ErhardtRita Varga (Hungary); Lynn Book, Robin Starbuck, Lou Mallozzi, Mary Ting, Kristin Mariani, Jean Marie Casbarian, Shawn Decker, Martha Rosler, Nina Sobell (USA); Nicolás Dumit Estévez (USA/Dominican Republic); Knoll+Cella (Austria/USA); Sujin Lee (USA/Korea); Johannes Knesl (USA/Austria); Katharina Klement, Manfred Kielnhofer, Christoph Luckeneder, Mounty R. P. Zentara, Alexander Hengl, Daniela Auer, Theresa Eipldauer, Maria Luz Olivares Capelle, Matthias Bernhard, Mark Fridvalski, Vinz Schwarzbauer, Matthias Peyker, Sebastian Koch, Christine Katscher, Christian Bazant Hegemark (Austria); Nebojša Despotović, Miroslav Ničić (Serbia); Doris Schmid (Switzerland); Alexandre Murucci (Brazil); Zoran Poposki (Macedonia); Nemanja Cvijanović, Miljana Babić, Ivica Buljan (Croatia); Borjana Ventzislavova (Bulgaria); Jaša, Matej Sitar, Tanja Verlak, Aleksander Velišček, Suzana Brborović, Jon Derganc, Tina Dobrajc, Mito Gegič, Urška Mazej, Dušan Fišer, Nika Autor, Jurij Meden, Staš Kleindienst, Sebastjan Leben, Vesna Bukovec, Evelin Stermitz, son:DA, Maja Cimermam (Slovenia), Monika Grycko (Poland); Olga Schigal (Russia/Germany); Karoe Goldt (Germany).


Curators:

Jernej Forbici, Slovenija, Galerija FO.VI
Marika Vicari, Italija, KUD ART STAYS
Laszlo Laszlo Revesz, Madžarska, Akademija za likovno umetnost v Budimpešti
Eike Berg, Nemčija / Madžarska, VideoSpace, Budapest
Gunter Damisch, Avstrija, Akademija za likovno umetnost na Dunaju v sodelovanju s Kro Art Contemporary
Dušan Fišer, Slovenija, Tovarna umetnosti, Majšperk
Lindy Poh, Singapur
Lynn Book, ZDA, Wake Forest University & Transart Institute
Giovanni Sasso, Italija, Galerija Nuvole Arte Contemporanea
Bianca Maria Rizzi, Italija, Galerija Bianca Maria Rizzi
Matthias Ritter, Nemčija, Galerija Bianca Maria Rizzi
Ksenija Orelj, Hrvaška, Muzej moderne i suvremene umjetnosti Rijeka
Emanuele Beluffi, Italija, Kritika, Milano
Vladimir Forbici, Slovenija, Galerija Tenzor
Mitja Gegič, Slovenija, za Akademijo za likovno umetnost v Ljubljani
miha(son:DA), Slovenija, EX-garaža, Kino Udarnik & ArtFemTV

July 01, 2011

Monument: 1000 Alexandras (2011)



Made up of randomly chosen female names found on social networks of current citizens of Skopje named Alexandra, 1000 Alexandras is conceived as a multimedia monument to all Alexandras currently living in Skopje, Macedonia. 


Initially selected to be shown during the city-funded 2011 Skopje Summer Festival as a public projection onto the newly-erected 33-meter-high bronze statue of Alexander the Great in Skopje's central square, the project was prevented from being realized due to a denial of permit by the municipal authorities to use the public space of the city square citing “security concerns”. The project was subsequently converted into a video for a 140m2 video billboard located in the main square of the city overlooking the statue. However, it was again prevented from being shown by a last-minute cancellation from the company operating the video billboard, without any explanation. This makes the video the first art project censored on ideological grounds in post-socialist Macedonia.



Questioning cultural and material values, conventions and authorities, Poposki's projects celebrate the importance of the ordinary and the overlooked in his tactical use of instruments of historic memory creation/glorificati.on. Continually calling for a celebration of the present, of the creative power of the everyday and the multitude, their aim is to create a new urban alphabet of the topographic, political and affective idiosyncrasies of public spaces in Skopje.