Thomas Bayrle
From weft to warp – and back again
&
Helke Bayrle
Portikus under construction
5 October–30 December 2012
LabSen
Opening: Friday 25 October, 7pm
Centre of Contemporary Art Znaki Czasu in Torun (CoCA)
Waly gen. Sikorskiego 13
87-100 Torun, Poland
Curated by Dobrila Denegri
Since mid-’60s, Thomas Bayrle has been creating, manually and through the use of the modest means, such as drawing and collage, complex visual and graphic patterns denominated “Superstructures”: images of strong, almost hypnotic and dizzying visual impact which he constructed through the process of obsessive repetition of motives taken from the popular and commercial visual vocabulary. Very involving and seductive, on closer look, his works not only reveal a strong sense of humour, but also deep involvement in political and social problems. As a witness of frenetic post-war economic boom in the West, of absurdity of the Cold and Vietnam Wars, or of bitter disillusion with leftist ideologies, since the mid-’60s Bayrle has been depicting the contemporary world by underlining its most common, and at the same time, its most insane features: overproduction, overconsumption, overpollution, overpopulation, overexploitation.
These hypertrophic processes, which continue to accelerate day after day, echo through the mesmerizing patterns which Thomas Bayrle creates superposing bodies and machines, organic and artificial landscapes with unique graphic ability, be it drawings, prints, wallpaper, clothes, sculptures or all of these installed together, his works are like the essence of the spirit of our times: they accurately depict seductive and destructive power of our capitalistic civilisation.
CoCA Torun will present a selection of prints from the early-’70s to the most recent ones, together with some of the early animated films and installations with PVC “raincoats,” as well as a new work specially realised for this occasion.
In concomitance and in dialogue with Thomas’s work will be presented series of art documentaries that Helke Bayrle has been doing over the years. She has been documenting the activity of Portikus, among the most experimental art institutions, and out of this involvement she edited a film series titled Portikus Under Construction.
LabSen
new design for the interdisciplinary and educational space of
the Center of Contemporary Art in Torun by Ernesto Neto
Opening: Friday, 25 October 2012 at 7pm
Curated by Dobrila Denegri
On the 25th of October will be inaugurated the interdisciplinary and educational program in the ground-floor gallery of the Center of Contemporary Art in Torun, with an interior designed by Ernesto Neto, a leading and internationally renown Brazilian artist.
This new space starts with the launch of a new name, “LabSen”: the laboratory of senses.
Vision and senses are both fundamental for our way of knowing the world, and even more for our approach towards art. Especially for the art of Ernesto Neto, which seeks to extend our perceptions by going beyond visual and reaching for all other senses. It is art that should be touched, sensed, smelled or tasted. Based on this premise, Ernesto Neto conceived a special project for the multifunctional and educational space of CoCA. LabSen project will thus become a sort of open platform for interdisciplinary programs in which will be alternated different forms of artistic expression and different ways of experiencing art and its contents. Visual and performing arts, music and dance, art theory and literature will be some of the inputs of this dynamic and multifunctional space, which intends to function as a laboratory of senses; or in other (new) words, the “LabSen.”
For more information:
Aleksandra Mosiolek, aleksandra.mosiolek [at] csw.torun.pl
T +48 56 610 97 23 / M +48 666 871 624
Exhibitions supporters:
Hotel Bulwar, Malafor, Museum fur Moderne Kunst Frankfurt am Main, Polskie Radio Czwórka, CzasKultury, indexart, Fundacja bęz zmiana, o.pl, Press
