I.I.A.B. - Tirana International Contemporary Art Biannual
Isola, a neo-liberal Italian tale / Isola, una storia neoliberale italiana
DVD 2009, 14’30’’
The slideshow describes the Isola district in Milan and the contemporary art projects such as out and Isola Art Center that started there in 2001. In 2003 the 1.500 square meters of the upper floor of a former factory were squatted in order to create an Art and Community Center open to the neighbourhood. The challenge set for the centre and its participants was to avoid what nearly always happens when museums, art centres, galleries or public art projects are introduced in a working class neighbourhood: they become instruments of gentrification. Out of this awareness the centre begun to actively work against gentrification by linking the art projects to the movement of opposition to the urban plans as well as to the neighbourhood’s elaboration of counter-proposals. After the destruction of the building in 2007 Isola Art Center, out and the inhabitants invented a new type of homeless “museum”, organizing acts of protests such as having picnics in the public square, transforming more than thirty shop shutters into artworks and organizing exhibitions and meetings in spaces offered by private individuals, associations, shops and restaurants.
out
out-Office for Urban Transformation is an open group of artists, architects and researchers working in the Isola neighbourhood in Milan. out was created in 2002 in order to support the struggle of the local committee “I Mille”,Forum Isola and the inhabitants against privatization of the public space and the gentrification of the district.
Isola Art Center
Isola Art Center is an open platform for contemporary art working with the neighbourhood associations in the Isola district in Milan since 2001. In the last two years the center has experimented a new model of art centre organizing shows, meetings and actions without a specific building.
www.isolartcenter.org
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Tirana International Contemporary Art Biannual
The Symbolic Efficiency of the Frame
T.I.C.A.B – Tirana International Contemporary Art Biannual
TIRANA September 12, 2009 – The Tirana International Contemporary Art
Biannual (T.I.C.A.B.), with the participation of more than 60 artists and curated by five curators opens its first episode on 18th of September and will be inaugurated as a complete event on 2nd of October 2009. Borrowing the notion of the "Symbolic Efficiency of the Frame" as a departure point, T.I.C.A.B takes on the discussion
about the complex and manifold nature of “the real”, its many “appearances” and the various ways we relate to our history and present condition.
Hotel Dajti, the T.I.C.A.B’s main venue, was once-upon-a-time the most grandiose hotel of Albania, built by fascist Italy in the late 1930s and during the communist past only open to foreigners. Today it lies looted and vandalized in the middle of the city and with its many layers of history it will offer a perfect symbolical frame for such an artistic happening.
T.I.C.A.B has a structure of three different episodes, opening one week after each other and growing gradually, from 18th of September, 25th of September to be completed on the 2nd of October. The curatorial team of the three episodes are: Joa Ljungberg and Edi Muka, living and working between Tirana and Malmö (codirectors of T.I.C.A.B); STEALTH.unlimited (Ana Dzokic and Marc Neelen), based between Rotterdam and Belgrade; and Corinne Diserens, based in Paris and Berlin.
“Through T.I.C.A.B we aim to generate an engaged social discourse," say Edi Muka and Joa Ljungberg, co-directors of T.I.C.A.B. "Independently from which angle we look or what methodology we employ to research the symbolic efficiency of the frame - be it scientific, aesthetic, or philosophical - what interest us are the inherent gaps that manifest themselves in this constantly shifting process of
perception."
In an attempt to critically respond to the current urban and architecture development of the city – through ‘wild’ urbanization, fast capital investments and within horizon of a neo-liberal context, this year's edition aims also at expanding beyond the field of visual arts, into the domain of architecture and processes of urbanization.
T.I.C.A.B is organized by the Tirana Institute for Contemporary Art (T.I.C.A.) and will last until 22nd of October 2009. For a thorough list of participating artists, satellite events and other information, please check the official website:
http://tica-albania.org/TICAB/.
T.I.C.A. c/o Delta Publicity, Rr. Luigj Gurakuqi, Pall 89, Kati 11, Tirane; tel: 0692069011; contact.ticab@gmail.com
Concept
When talking about the reality and its appearance in his book “The Parallax View”, Slavoj Zizek mentions the example of the theatre-like structure built in the South Korean border, where a large screen-like window opens out onto the North Korean part, and he asks: "Is this not a pure case of the symbolic efficiency of the frame as such? A barren zone is given a fantasmatic status, elevated into a spectacle, solely by being enframed. Nothing substantially changes here – it is merely that, viewed through the frame, reality turns into its own appearance.” He continues further down by saying that: “…it is not enough to display the mechanism behind the frame, the stage effect within the frame acquires an autonomy of its own.”
How are we then to read our overall current condition and recent past? Are we to believe the jolly promise of a forthcoming “consensual world”, depicted by many as the unavoidable future of a post-political world, or should we reluctantly try to
“re-frame” the picture put in front of us? How far can cognitive sciences take us in processes such as knowing of the self, identity formation and other ontological problems? What possible “frames” can we use to enable a more multilayered reading of reality?
Hotel DAJTI presents a perfect “symbolic frame”. Inviting the artists to interact with it, we aim at interrupting the linear flow of time to which DAJTI has succumbed. This interaction we hope, will create the necessary gaps through which we’ll be able to step out of a one dimensional reading of history, opening up to critique and analysis of our historical past and seemingly nonideological present, encouraging imagination and aiming for a deeper understanding of our contemporary condition and possible futures.
Episodes:
Episode 1 – Opening 18th of September
Franz Ackermann / Silva Agostini / Jane Alexander / Yael Bartana / Kimberly Clark / Gazmend Ejupi / Cao Fei / Yang Fudong / Shilpa Gupta / Jun Nguen Hatsushiba / Thomas Hirschhorn / Adam Leech / Ursula Meyer / Oskar Mörnerud / Erik Olofsen / Adrian Paci / Anila Rubiku / Alexander Vaindorf.
Curated by Edi Muka and Joa Ljungberg
Episode 2 – Opening 25th of September
Exhibition contributors:
Alterazioni Video / Laurence Bonvin / Co-plan / Deadmalls.com / Detroit Unreal Estate Agency / Elemental / El Puente_Lab, with Jenny Giraldo / Estudio Teddy Cruz / Bojan Fajfric / Louize Ganz and Ines Linke / Interboro / Isola Art Centre and The Office for Urban Transformation / Kartun Development Group / MAP Office / Nebojsa Milikic / Ou Ning / Leonard Qylafi / Streetfilms T.I.C.A. c/o Delta Publicity, Rr. Luigj Gurakuqi, Pall 89, Kati 11, Tirane; tel: 0692069011; contact.ticab@gmail.com
Tirana Dialogues, public discussions at Hotel DAJTI (3 - 6 October 2009), coorganised with Emiliano Gandolfi, with:
Teodor Celakoski (Right to the City, Zagreb) / Teddy Cruz (Estudio Teddy Cruz, San Diego) / Fabrizio Gallanti (Abitare magazine, Milan) / Emiliano Gandolfi (11th Architecture Biennale Venice, 3rd Architecture Biennale Rotterdam) / Emil Jurcan (Pulska grupa, Pula) / Aleksandra Kapetanovic (Expeditio, Kotor) / Nebojsa Milikic (artist and cultural activist, Belgrade) / Maroje Mrduljas (Oris magazine,
Zagreb) / Ou Ning (Shenzhen & Hong Kong Architecture Biennale) / Doina
Petrescu (Atelier d'Architecture Autogérée, Paris) / Marko Sancanin (Platforma 9.81, Zagreb) / Francisco Sanin (Syracuse University, New York and Medellín, Colombia) / Dritan Shutina (Co-Plan, Tirana) / Brankica Stankovic & Miodrag Cvorovic (RTV B92, Belgrade)
Cities log
with contributions from a/o Belgrade, Kotor, Novi Sad, Podgorica,
Prishtina, Pula, Skopje, Tirana and Zagreb, designed with Ajdin Basic - for detailed information see the website. The Cities Log includes works by and documentation from Lorenz Aggermann, Eduard Freudmann, Can Gülcü / Sabine Bitter and Helmut Weber / Luise Donschen and Archis Interventions Prishtina / Fifth Park / First Archi Brigade / Insider B92 / Vladan Jeremi? and Rena Rädle / Civil Initiative Muzil / Right to the City, Zagreb
Tirana Guide to Parallel Urban Realities, co-organised with Polis University Tirana, with: Marc Armengaud (AWP, Paris), Ivan Kucina (Faculty of Architecture, Belgrade) / Endri Marku (Polis University, Tirana) / Gezim Qendro (Polis University, Tirana) / Miguel Robles-Duran (Cohabitation Strategies, Rotterdam) / Piet Vollaard (ArchiNed, Rotterdam) / Aleksandar Zograf (cartoonist, Pancevo) and students Polis University
Curated by STEALTH.unlimited (Ana Dzokic and Marc Neelen)
Episode 3 – Opening 02 October
Francis Alys / Sandra Boeschenstein / Vincenzo Castella / Tacita Dean / Marta Dell’Angelo & conversazione (guests to be announced) / Peter Friedl / Sugar Jar / Amar Kanwar / Elena Kovylina / Pierre Leguillon features Diane Arbus: A Printed Retrospective/ David Maljkovic / Aernout Mik / Santu Mofokeng / Jean-Luc Moulène, Marc Touitou and Manuel Joseph in collaboration with Milosao newspaper/ Anri Sala / Alexander Schellow / Rosemarie Trockel / Luca Vitone / Paola Yacoub
Contemporary Dance Nights:
Jérôme Bel "Pichet Klunchun and myself", date to be announced
Latifa Laâbissi, "Self Portrait Camouflage", 10 October 2009
Film program in collaboration with the Marubi Multimedia and Film Academy, Tirana: to be announced
Curated by Corinne Diserens
T.I.C.A. c/o Delta Publicity, Rr. Luigj Gurakuqi, Pall 89, Kati 11, Tirane; tel: 0692069011; contact.ticab@gmail.com
Funds
This year's edition of T.I.C.A.B is made possible thanks to the financial contribution of Raiffeisen Bank, Princ Claus Fund, AbiA – Austrian businesses in Albania, Abissnet and Metro, Polis University, Co-Plan, the Swiss Cultural Programme in the Western Balkans, as well as a number of foundations and embassies: Mondriaan Foundation, Culture France, International Artists' Studio Program in Sweden (IASPIS), Goethe Institute, Foundation for Albanian Visual
Art (FAVA), Albanian Foundation for Economy and Environment, the Embassy of France, Institut für Auslandsbeziehung (ifa), The Netherlands Architecture Fund / HGIS, Tirana International Airport, Pro Helvetia, the Embassy of Austria, the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Embassy of Switzerland and the Embassy of the United States in Albania.
About TICA
Tirana Institute for Contemporary Art (T.I.C.A) is the first centre for contemporary art in Tirana, offering a permanent platform for the Albanian and international contemporary art in the country. Besides organizing T.I.C.A.B., T.I.C.A has been running an international residency program, it regularly offers exhibitions and activities such as seminars, talks and workshops. This year T.I.C.A is starting the implementation of the long term collaborative project -INDIVIDUAL UTOPIAS-, developed with Pro.Ba, Sarajevo and KUDA, Novi Sad, supported by SCP.
Contacts:
Edi Muka – T.I.C.A.B. Co-Director and Curator
+355692069011
contact.ticab@gmail.com
Press contact:
Fabiola Haxhillari - Coordinator and Press Officer
+355692023485
contact.ticab@gmail.com
Tirana Dialogues
Programma Episode 2
Isola, una storia neo-liberale italiana |
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