Documenta as a Fiction Workshop at Wyspa IS

Fiction touches on invented stories, fantasies and literary conventions. It sits on the side of creativity, arbitrariness and doubt. Its power belongs to the speaking subject… but also to the listening one, flickering in the instantaneous and capricious relation between the two (or more) of them. In this framework, Documenta as a Fiction is foreseen as both an event and a theoretical figure based on an actual story. Resonating the ontological dissonance between the traditional notions of document and fiction, the workshop seeks for the plots and narratives of contemporary art as well as its institutional visions, giving a space for the performative encounters of individuals.

The participants will investigate the stories and their tellers with reference to the set of narratives grown over Documenta as a discursive engine. Especially over the current Documenta that outsources a part of its intellectual power to the network of art magazines and amplifies interconnections within the institutionalised art world, opening up a broad field of criticality over the predominant language in which art is being conveyed to the public. What is story? What is narrative? What is document and what is fiction? Whose is credibility? Which languages relate to or mediate reality – those of theory or of practice? How does vision turn into visibility? How does artistic action turn into actuality?

Students of art, art history and philosophy from the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdansk, Gdansk University, the Royal College of Art in London and Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, none of whom has yet visited this year’s Documenta in Kassel, will analyse public and personal representations of this event. They will examine the languages in which art is being communicated, observe intellectual and institutional frames and create their own narratives through drawings, confessions, interviews, video, photo and textual documentations that will be frequently posted on the web at http://documentaasafiction.blospot.com. Grounded in the performativity of the group, Documenta as a Fiction is aimed at the collaborative process without conclusion. The group will reunite in Kassel on September 18-22 to confront the real and the fictions.

Participants: Maks Bochenek, Igor Duszynski, Ola Grzonkowska, Anne Hoffmann, Hiwa K., Kordian Lewandowski, Zuzanna Malicka, Ulrich Mauer, Mathias Pelda, Roma Piotrowska, Konrad Pustola.

Workshop moderators: Aneta Szylak and Magda Pustola.

Special guest: Artur Zmijewski.

Special project “Ungeklappte Arbeiten” by Hiwa K.

Conceived by Wyspa Institute of Art as a part of the workshops organised by the Brussels-based A Prior Magazine www.aprior.org participating in the Documenta 12 Magazine Platform, Documenta as a Fiction is being additionally supported by the Schwerpunkt Polen at Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdansk, Kunsthochschule Kassel and 3City.pl. Documenta as a Fiction logo was designed by LOWBUDGET www.lowbudget.pl.

When: August 2-4, 2007

Where:

Wyspa Institute of Art in Gdansk

1 Doki Street, building #145B

80-958 Gdansk, Poland

Tel./fax: +48 58 320 44 46

www.wyspa.art.pl

http://documentaasafiction.blogspot.com

Peter Fuss - For the laugh of God.

"We must buy the diamond skull for Britain" - this proclamation was made tohis countrymen by Jonathan Jones, a journalist of the Guardian to keep the"most amazing artefacts ever made in this country".Jones thus encourages the British to purchase this "work of art", made by"the treasure of Great Britain" Damien Hirst, which is currently on themarket for 50 million pounds.Our British friends, we are coming to rescue you!Like the cheap Polish labour well known to you, Polish artist Peter Fusswishes to relieve the British nation from such a great expense."For the laugh of God" by Peter Fuss will be available in the Polish car onART CAR BOOT FAIR at a competitive price of 1000 pounds. In addition, youmay also buy a limited (1000 copies) edition of signed and numbered graphicsfor only 1 pound each. You will not have to wait for tickets anymore to seea skull set with diamonds, and the time of watching Fuss's skull willcertainly not be limited to 5 minutes!To make his work, Peter Fuss used about 9870 pieces of glass polished andcut to look like diamonds, worth 250 pounds and spent 18 hours to completethe piece. Income from sale of Fuss's skull and its accompanying graphics issupposed to amount to 2000 pounds - this is eight times as much as theinvested amount!Before the skull goes to the trade fairs to London, it can be seen inPoland, during the Modelator event in Modelarnia, which will take place on28 June.

http://peterfuss.com/forthelaughofgod/index.htmlhttp://www.artcarbootfairpolska.blogspot.com/

Polish art in London / PL ART 2007

“Modelator” has instigated a PL ART 2007 project. In cooperation with Polish Cultural Institute we will take part in Art Car Boot Fair http://www.artcarbootfair.com/ 2007 in London. This event is especially important as it is the first time that Polish artists have been invited to join this fair in which the public can not only buy , but also meet with the artists and view their works of art in a relaxed atmosphere. The idea behind this particular venture is to promote a new way of thinking about Poland. We will travel from Gdansk to London in a Big Van filled with commissioned limited editions of works of art created by the crème de la crème of the Polish art scene. The journey will continue through various sites in Europe stopping at galleries in such cities as: Berlin, Dusseldorf , Antwerpia, Dunkierka, and London – Art Car Boot Fair 2007. We want to leave traces of Polish art in all visited cities, to show everyone that Poles have more to offer then the ever present stereotypes of Poles. For a small price one can become a proud owner of objects created by Magda Bielesz
Bogna Burska , Mirella von Chrupek, Peter Fuss, Artur Gogołkiewicz, Galeria Rusz
Hakobo, Low Budget, Prot Haładaj, Grzegorz Klaman, Zoya Łucewicz, Magazyn Modeli
Magda Marciniec, Honorata Martin, Dorota Nieznalska, Agata Nowosielska, Ania Orbaczewska, Lukrecja Plusz, Maciek Salamon, Malina Tomaszewska, Mariusz Waras, Ania Witkowska, Adam Witkowski, Wolny, Iwona Zając, Martyna Zdanowicz.
Music in London by Villa Rosa.

more...

7080: Worldchat/Intercultural Dialogue: The future of money

Worldchat which will take place at Wyspa IS on 22th of June is a part of project Generation 7080 ( http://www.generatie7080.nl/ ) a programme serial made by Menno van der Veen (programme maker de Balie) and held in cultural-political centre De Balie, Amsterdam http://www.debalie.nl/, examines the moral standpoints of people born between 1970 and 1989 (7080). What kind of labels indicates the generation 7080? ‘Patat’generation, Generation discharge, Generation Zero, Generation X, back seat generation? And how does the generation 7080 thinks from his perspective about problems of the present time.

Hiwa K. , Cooking with Mama

The event is accessible for everyone in the host country and contains elements of the ‘state of the art’ underground (dance) music and performances (like vj’s, poetry, stand up comedian, sing and song writers, folk music, spoken word). The idea behind this is that various groups of people meet each other. During the event people have access to ‘chat’ with cultural elite about various upfront-defined issues. On 22th of June we will discuss “The future of money”.

Program:

Performance by Hiwa K.

Performance by Honorata Martin

Initial presentation of the book “Alternative Economies Alternative Societies” by Oliver Ressler

music with visualisation by Bartosz H_12 Hervy

Efektvol

cocktail bar

June 22nd, 2007, 19.00- 00.30 hrs

Wyspa & Revolver = Books

At Revolver, contemporary art publications become an art form. By emphsizingand foregrounding the art rather than focusing on the methods and techniquesof book production we seek to redefine and question the meaning ofpublishing. The result is a decisive yet diverse program with many differentfaces: each book is unique. For us, visionary contemporary publishing thatcreates a possible definition of contemporary art as publication can onlyresult by opening new spaces and establishing positions.
Today, we are happy to announce another step taken in this direction: toincrease our impact on contemporary art, we want to create new places forour books. This will, like our publications, happen through collaboration.
We are therefore pleased to announce Wyspa & Revolver.
The launch of Wyspa & Revolver will happen on June 22nd at 7pm along withtwo other important events at Wyspa: Chat project on the World without Moneyin collaboration with De Balie http://www.debalie.nl/ <http://www.debalie.nl/> andopening of free wirelless internet access for Wyspa visitors incollaboration with D-Link program "Wireless Culture" [Kulturalnie bezKabli]. Wyspa & Revolver happens in collaboration with private enterprise3City.pl http://www.3city.pl/ <http://www.3city.pl/> . Please get to our websitehttp://www.wyspa.art.pl/ <http://www.wyspa.art.pl/> and http://www.revolver-books.de/<http://www.revolver-books.de/> for detailed information aboutpublications, access and directions.
Begining Friday June 23rd the bookstore will be open at our regularexhibition hours Thursday - Sunday 12am-6pm.

YOU WON'T FEEL A THING: On Panic, Obsession, Rituality and Anesthesia

Bogna Burska, Arachne

States of uncertainty, undefined fears, rapid perceptual cracks, irrational behaviours, unshaped longings for the relief that never comes or does not come on time. Self-aggressions, medications, meditations and anaesthetic replacements. The rituals with no reason, needs with no desires. Obsessions of unclear origin and panic attacks impossible to cure. You won’t feel the thing captures the state of mind of the individual under the pressure of contemporary reality. Shaped by success and its weak foundations, post-therapeutic, globalised and medialised, this reality enforces a rational approach to life and privileges the so-called “social” and “professional” behaviour. This is the reality of fraudulent, stimulated, collective reactions, of false prophets and failed social projects, marked by crises of both rationality and spirituality. Personal feelings are channelled and manipulated by social, psychological and economic pressures. The systems of knowledge production let us have it to a certain degree under control.
In reaction to this situation, overwhelmed by panic, obsession or the desire for anaesthesia, individuals perform personal rituals that extend, suspend or freeze time to allow themselves to experience their private selves. Ignoring the all-pervasive social relations that generally frame and inform the self, this exhibition looks inward to focus on internal and personal reality. It tracks the uncertain sensations, perceptual gaps and slight cracks in reality. It approaches fear on the level on which it might pass unnoticed. It is heading toward the places where satisfaction, success and pleasurable addictions and consumption are no longer able to cure the unbearable disintegration of self.

Paweł Althamer, Kardynał

The emotions of the individual are informed and stimulated by spatial relations. The way we observe space and our own situation is necessarily emotionally coded. Interiors and exteriors impact our physical selves and mediate the expression and experience of our emotions. The small amount of space occupied by our bodies is a very special place – the nest, the womb, the shelter, the chapel, the prison. You won’t feel the thing will reveal our ability both to embody and emotionalise this space.
In the labyrinth of forking paths that is the Kunsthaus Dresden building itself, amplified by the spatial, astonishing and unpredictable works and objects, the spectator will discover numerous video works presenting an individual engaged in repetitive activities or private rituals. All the works will show the individual in heightened borderline states – in extreme situations of cold, pleasure, loneliness or pain. These works create a kind of subjective time that has nothing to do with linearity or story-telling. Looped or warped, the works suspend time, creating an individualised, unbalanced space in which extremes of emotion are anaesthetised through repetition. By tracking the ritual containment of emotional extremes in art today, this exhibition hopes to provoke a similar irrational, cathartic experience in the viewer and, thereby, both to reveal and to examine those strategies of containment that are available to us today.
Artists:Pawel Althamer, Bogna Burska, Ursula Doebereiner, Lili Dujourie, Angelika Fojtuch, Steffen Geisler, Lise Harlev, Ellen Harvey, Hiwa K., Agnieszka Kalinowska, Grzegorz Klaman, Piotr Kopik, Jill Mercedes, Sebastian Meschenmoser, Dominika Skutnik, Pawel Kruk, Dominik Lejman, Yvette Mattern, Ivan Moudov, Anne Olofsson, Dominik Pabis, Susanne Weirich, Monika Weiss, Artur Zmijewski

Curated by Aneta Szylak

2 June- 15 August 2007

Wyspa Institute of Art is open from tuesday to sunday from 12.00-18.00.

TRANSVIZUALIA : MEDIASCREAM007

TRANSVIZUALIA 007: MEDIASCREAM!

FESTIVAL OF AUDIO-VISUAL AND MULTIMEDIA FORMS

18th-21st OCTOBER 2007 // GDYNIA, WAREHOUSE AT POLSKA STREET, 30

A KuKu Sztuka Association, supported by the City Hall of Gdynia presents an interdisciplinary artistic event entitled TRANSVIZUALIA. Festival of Audio-Visual and Multimedia Forms, that inscribes itself into a group of innovative Polish festivals.

TV-IDEA:

TRANSVIZUALIA: Festival of Audiovisual and Multimedia Forms is an interactive visual and musical experiment dealing with issues of interrelation between and coexistence of arts as well as multimedia synthesis of contemporary art and technology. It generates a space of media accumulation in order to discover their energetic and emotional potential. Transvisualia is based on presenting a close mutual relationship between visuality and sound and creating a balance between suggestive lasting of an image and firm influence of different musical forms.

The festival is well inscribed into the series of internationally recognizable events that mirror and shape the consciousness of the contemporary highly technological and information-based society. It presents progressive media dynamics in search of new perspectives, contexts and interpretations.

TRANSVIZUALIA 007: MEDIASCREAM!

[STIMULATION-SIMULATION]

The current edition of Transvisualia: Mediascream! (re)constructs polyphony of narration that stratifies images and sounds with a high amplitude of emotions. We are living in a fascinating multimedia world in which directly, with no distance at all, we experience the repeated amplification of a signal and the omnipresence of screens and technology.

At the point of intersection of many views and forms, a s(t)imulated place of brief interactions comes into being. It allows for freeing the energy and emotions. The „Scream” of multimedia will be at the same time seductive and irritating, physiological and strange, compact and cathartic. The alternative reality of facts and media artefacts will subtly affect the audience leaving long term changes in their perception. The process will be initiated of simulating sensations, liberating the meanings, provoking and manipulating. Our own emotions and the strange ones; the primary and the fabricated ones; the individual and those common to all of us. The transfer of data, images and sounds; the circulation of energy, the attack and passion. It's the process of our false self-identification; a kind of entering and exiting different worlds; an approval of quick transformations and unexpected (re)actions. The festival is also a formation of self-identity through absorption of fast messages, liberation of views, submission of oneself to a multimedia revolution – be it simulated or authentic. It is a confrontation of one’s body, thoughts and personality with a vivid tissue, a synergy of arts and multiplicity of interpretations.

The current edition of Mediascream! deals with the unpredictable, bodily and emotional experience of multimedia and with the (im)possibility of real dialogue and exchange.

Lena Dula / Director TV 007

PROGRAMM CONCEPT:

During the four days of projections, performances, concerts and other music-related events the Warehouse at 30, Polska Str. [4500 m2] will transform into an alternative, multimedia reality. During the Transvizualia festival we will present works inspired by the slogan: MEDIASCREAM! [Stimulation-Simulation]. Call for artists will be sent round the world. The works shown in the particular festival sections will be selected by the festival programme committee. All of the festival coordinators will invite selected artists to participate in the festival and they will chose workshops and projects as accompaning events. The festival will be promoted through different local and nationwidel media and supported by PR professionals.

Transvizualia will also adopt various additional public spaces (street-art events). A wide range of accompanying events is planned at the festival club organized within the space of the Warehouse.

The educational character of the festival is underlined by a series of workshops entitled „Transmedia Form Laboratory“, which aim at confronting and familiarizing the audience with new technologies.

The whole event is organized with the help of well-experienced cultural managers, curators, artists, art critics and other professionals.

CONTEST SECTION:

There are two contest sections within TRANSVIZUALIA Festival: MEDIACREAM! - the main contest module and MODELATOR Young People's Section – contest directed to students of fine arts academies. There will be one main prize awarded in both contest sections. Additionally, the artistic and programme directors will award a special prize to a selected festival event that reflects the character of Transvizualia MEDIACREAM! Edition most accurately.

The contest regulations give a detailed description of entry submission and selection procedure. It is available on www.transvizualia.com.

PROGRAMME MODULES:

The idea of the festival is based on a hybrid combination of many complementary sections whose role is to stimulate artistic events as well as activate reception of diverse audiences.

Basic sections:

Mediascream!: multimedia exhibition of works sent to the festival and inspired by its theme. It will be held throughout the whole festival;

TV-Liveacts: a rich programme of evening and night artistic events, which provide a symbiotic combination of visuality, music, performance and other media – depending on the project. Part of it will be live music performed by acknowledged Polish and foreign artists who explore new musical horizonts;

Transmedia Form Laboratory: a series of workshops on audio-visuality and usage of new techniques/technologies, e.g. video/digital camera – high definition / innovative graphic software / music videos / vj / animation / video-art / multimedia workshop of imagination;

Videodrom: platform of video-art – a review of Polish and international video-art [presentation of resources, e.g. Electronic Arts Intermix, Tank TV etc.];

Cinema:rotations – a diverse programme of film reviews: film retrospect – Masters-Visioners / Screening of avant-garde films: Avant-garde Revolutions with a unique music setting / Experimental short-films from around the world – TV Shortcuts];

Visioncreations: graphic battles and VJ +DJ presentations – visualisations as a means of artistic expression, wide presentation of well-known and celebrated VJs and Djs invited to confront each other in the image and sound battles;

„Modelator“ Young People Section: section for young people and debutants, a review of selected projects of Fine Arts Academy students;

Additional sections:

Trans-telepanel: a moderated discussion with the use of multimedia.

Street-Art: artistic actions in the city space inspired by the theme of the festival;

Festival club + Pink Flamingo – arranged in the Warehouse, with a complex programme of various interdisciplinary events;

Mediascream! artistic open-air project – a possibility to organise summer open-air workshops for students entitled Mediascream!, whose effects will be presented during the festival;

Transvizualia Magazine: published on a CD and accompanied by artzine dedicated to new media /art /synthesis of art / innovative music, and distributed throughout Poland [publishing date: December 2007];

www.transvizualia.com – the festival web site will gradually transform into a detailed data base and service devoted to the synergy of media and experimental art.

FESTIVAL PRODUCER:

A KuKu Sztuka Association is a group of people who have been active in the field of culture, art and cultural education for many years. We cooperate with various distinct personalities of cultural life of the Tricity and the rest of Poland. Our main aim is to stimulate the creative activity through establishing places for gathering and exchanging ideas; enabling an effective dialogue and the process of shaping the Tricity culture.

Until now, the association organised open-air screenings entitled Film od Morza (Film off the Sea) within the 31. Polish Film Festival in Gdynia and a multimedia exhibition Lech Majewski – Artist of Image. Image of Artist, that promoted the founding of the Pomeranian Science and Technology Park. The Association was nominated to the „Sztorm Roku 2006 (Storm of the year)“ award by „Gazeta Wyborcza“ local newspaper and to Mayor of Gdynia City Hall.

The Association plans for 2007 are: Transvizualia 007 Festival of Audio-Visual Forms, The Planet of Creativity literary workshops, Days of Oliwa Park, Midsummer Night of Miracles: WonderWreaths, the 4th edition of Planete Doc Review, next edition of open-air Film off the Sea, Lemoniada. In Memoriam Stanislaw Lem film-review, Areas of Freedom – review of films and symposium in cooperation with the European Solidarity Centre. We are also planning to initiate the A KuKu Sztuka publishing house.

We are permanently supported by Gdynia City Hall, Gdansk City Council, Pomeranian Film Foundation, University of Gdansk, as well as many local and nationwide media partners.

www.akukusztuka.eu // info@akukusztuka.eu

MAIN ORGANISERS:

Director TV 007: Lena Dula

Art Director: Maciej Szupica

Creative Coordinators: Adam Witkowski (mixed media) // Adam Kamiński (graphics) // Natalia Cyrzan (music) // Paulina Neugebauer (Film) // Piotr Szwabe (street-art) // Łukasz Gronowski (video-art) // Modelator Group: Maks Bochenek, Ola Grzonkowska, Roma Piotrowska (Modelator Section)

PR//Marketing specialist: Emilia Orzechowska

CONTACT:

www.transvizualia.com

www.myspace.com/transvizualia

www.transv.blogspot.com

e-mail: info@transvizualia.com

DIRECTORS:

Lena Dula // len@transvizualia.com

Maciej Szupica // zupika@transvizualia.com

COORDINATORS:

Adam Witkowski // media@transvizualia.com

Natalia Cyrzan // music@transvizualia.com

Paulina Neugebauer // kinorot@transvizualia.com

Sekcja Modelator// modelator@transvizualia.com

PUBLIC RELATIONS/MARKETING:

Emilia Orzechowska // pr@transvizualia.com

ARTZIN // Editor-in-Chief:

Lena Dula // artzin@transvizualia.com