Epidemic
27 September–29 December 2013
Microutopias of the everyday
Exhibition of the collection of CoCA Torun
11 October 2013–12 January 2014
Centre of Contemporary Art Znaki Czasu in Torun
Waly gen. Sikorskiego 13
87-100 Torun, Poland
Epidemic
27 September–29 December 2013
Artists: Ewa Axelrad, Tymek Borowski, Izabela Chamczyk, Mateusz Kula, Jan Manski, Arek Pasożyt, Liliana Piskorska, Joachim Sługocki, Izabela Tarasewicz, Natalia Wiśniewska
Curator: Piotr Lisowski
The title and the form of the Epidemic exhibition refer to Lars von Trier’s Epidemic (1987), a film from the Europa Trilogy by the Danish director. Combining documentary and fictional elements, the film constitutes an attempt at presenting the process of working on a script. Autothematic reflection on the film introduced by von Trier provides the starting point for the Epidemic exhibition, which is—first and foremost—an attempt to test the idea of an art exhibition as a medium. It examines contemporary categories of artistic production in the context of relations between artists, curators, audiences and institutions. Its structure refers to the category of the essay film (Chris Marker), where different narrations and methods of representation occur at the same level and the boundaries between fiction and reality blur.
Microutopias of the everyday
Exhibition of the collection of CoCA Torun
11 October 2013–12 January 2014
Curated by Izabela Kowalczyk
Featuring selected artworks from the collection of CoCA Torun, the exhibition explores the problem of relations and diverse forms of life, including private, public, organic, post-human, local and artistic life. The exposition is also meant to highlight the importance of art in the contemporary world as visual arts tend to be underestimated in our country, artworks are regarded as frolics of jaded artists, and there is no time in the educational process assigned to the preparation of children for the reception of contemporary art. Artworks presented at the exhibition hosted by CoCA Torun explore the questions of social relationships, associations with nature in all its aspects, with objects and machines, but they also correspond to the place of display as well as to one another in a most intriguing fashion. Connections develop that are not limited to strict barriers of identity but accent the need of openness and dialogue. Art is not meant to save the world, and it is by no means equal with politics, but it still takes on ethical challenges and is accompanied by “democratic care.” In this way, actions taken by artists interested in new and better models of reality create what may be called microutopias of the everyday.
LOCIS
The CoCA in Toruń, together with two partner institutions, Leitrim County Council Arts Office and Botkyrka Konsthall in Stockholm, is launching LOCIS: a two-year program of artistic residencies and cultural exchanges between Poland, Ireland and Sweden.
LOCIS is designed as a knowledge-sharing project which seeks to create opportunities for younger artists to work together, regardless of their place of residence, and to enable them to establish collaborative relations and dialogue with internationally renowned artists/architects who will also be involved in the project. Each residency program will engage younger artists from Poland, Sweden and Ireland not only to work together, but also to work with Jarosław Kozakiewicz, Jonas Nobel and Dominic Stevens. The renowned Polish artist and architect Jarosław Kozakiewicz will be leading the residency in Ireland, Jonas Nobel, an artist and member of the design & architecture collective Uglycute, will lead the residency in Poland, and the architect Dominic Stevens the one in Sweden. Even though the residential and research programs taking place in the three partner institutions are independent, they will all share a certain common interest in the issues that concern space and how it is used/transformed by human beings.
In all three countries, LOCIS will be developed as an artist-in-residence program lasting three non-consecutive weeks, and will be concluded with a final exhibition and seminar. This first edition of the LOCIS program begins in July and will be concluded by the end of 2013, while the second edition will be realized through the year 2014, engaging a different group of artists working on other subjects.
The programme is funded under the EU Culture Programme and by the three project partners.
For more information:
Katarzyna Toczko
katarzyna.toczko [at] csw.torun.pl / T +48 56 610 97 23 / M +48 666 871 624
