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“Intensify the contact to the galleries and art institutions in the eastern and south-eastern Europe”
Thanks to the support of KONTAKT twelve galleries from Central Europe are again represented at this year’s viennAfair, the art fair in Vienna. Report has chosen four of these galleries.
Of the gallery owners that were present at last year’s viennAfair the majority were satisfied – but most of these were from Austria. There were international visitors, but only a few of them. The galleries from Central Europe, above all the younger ones, were able fill their address books but were less successful as regards sales.
Nevertheless: Almost all CEE (Central and Eastern European) galleries that took part last year (including Galerija Gregor Podnar from Ljubljana and Raster from Warsaw), will come to viennAfair again this year, along with a number of new ones, such as Gandy Gallery from Bratislava and Galeria plan b from Cluj in Romania. The new fair director, Viennese musician and curator Edek Bartz wishes to “expand and intensify the contact to the galleries and art institutions in the eastern and south-eastern Europe”. With the support of an expert advisory committee (chairperson Rosemarie Schwarzwälder from Galerie nächst St. Stephan), Bartz hopes to build on the success of 2005, when 92 galleries from a total of 19 countries showed their art programs and the fair had 10,600 visitors.
Galerija Škuc, Lubljana (SI)
Introduced internationally
Galerija Škuc is top dog in Ljubljana: practically all artists from Slovenia that later emerged at exhibitions in São Paulo, Berlin or New York were first introduced by being shown in Škuc: the group OHO, who provoked attention with their street actions, the legendary IRWIN, who make a monkey of (not only) politicians with their puzzles, and finally, Marjetica Potrč, who won the prestigious Hugo Boss award for her installations in 2000. This non-commercial gallery was founded in 1978 in the aftermath of the 1968 student movement. For these former revolutionaries appearances at art fairs are no longer something new, last year, too, they were a guest at viennAfair and also at ARCO in Madrid and Arte Fiera in Bologna.
www.galerija.skuc-drustvo.si
Galeria plan b, Cluj (RO)
Celebrating premieres in the interest of image capital
A premiere in two respects: Galeria plan b from Romania is showing at the viennAfair for the first time and this is the gallery’s first ever appearance at an art fair. After all, plan b was founded only about six months ago by Mihai Pop and Adrian Ghenie, who were able to persuade two finance companies to support their gallery. They like to work with galleries from Central and Eastern Europe. And so Pop and Ghenie invited David Kulhánek and Ondřej Chrobák, the directors of the Display Gallery in Prague, to curate an exhibition with them.
plan b has shown four exhibitions to date, including one of Ciprian Muresan who was born in 1977 and who is also showing at the viennAfair – together with the Romanian artists Victor Man and Cristian Pogacean. As in their own building in Cluj plan b principally shows work from other countries, at the fair in Vienna they wish to concentrate on the Romanian production of art. According to Mihai Pop what they expect from participating is not so much good sales figures, instead he says: “we are now at a stage when image capital is more important than financial capital.”
www.plan-b.ro
Galerija Zvono, Belgrad (CS)
Focal point: young painting
One discerns a certain note of pride: “Unfortunately Zvono is still the only private gallery in Serbia that devotes itself principally to the work of young artists”, it says on the homepage of Galerija Zvono.
The program of the gallery of Ljiljana Tadi_ that was founded in 1993 has a definite bias towards painting: explosive monochrome works by Milovan Destil Marković, severe geometric pieces by Igor Marsenić or Pop Art landscapes by Ivana Kličković. Zvono, too, is no newcomer to the fair. For Tadić taking part in viennAfair 2005 was, “The most important event of 2005. We come from a country where there is no market for young art.” The first participation last year showed her, “How little we know about the art market.” For this year she hopes, “To officially meet a number of collectors.” Tadić is optimistic for the future: “I know many young artists who have left the country and are now showing an interest in our art scene.” Nevertheless, the situation is not an easy one: “The political and social conditions in Serbia have created a vacuum: interest in art has been put on hold.”
www.galerijazvono.com
CAC, Vilnius (LIT)
Points with bandwidth
Since last year’s Venice Biennale at the latest CAC, the Contemporary Art Center in Vilnius (or: Šiuolaikinio meno centras), is known even to non-insiders. In the Lithuanian Pavilion at the Venice art show the largest exhibition institution in the Baltic region impressed with one of the few successful national presentations. The artist Jonas Mekas, a native of the country who emigrated many years ago, was invited to make the show. Only recently they exhibited the IXth Baltic Triennial of International Art in their own building. Founded in 1968, CAC has been operating at an international level for some considerable time: “We have well-established links with institutions such as De Appel in the Netherlands, the Frankfurt Kunstverein and the Zacheta Gallery in Warsaw”, explains Simon Rees, head curator of the CAC. Theyalso took part in last year’s viennAfair. After all, he asserts, CAC is eminently qualified to present the bandwidth of Lithuanian art.
www.cac.lt
The following additional galleries are also represented at this year’s viennAfair with the support of KONTAKT:
Galeria Noua, Bukarest (RO)
www.galerianoua.ro
Galerie H’ART, Bukarest (RO)
www.hartgallery.ro
Remont Galerie, Belgrad (CS)
www.remont.co.yu
Display, Prag (CZ)
www.display.cz
Raster, Warschau (PL)
www.raster.art.pl
Gregor Podnar Galerie, Ljubljana (SI)
gpodnar@siol.net
SPACE/Galerie Priestor, Bratislava (SK)
www.priestor.org
Gandy Galerie, Bratislava (SK)
www.gandy-gallery.com
Nina Schedlmayer, who was born in 1976, lives as a free-lance art critic and journalist in Vienna where she writes for profil and artmagazine.cc among others.
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