Perpetual Battles
27 May – 25 July 2010
BAIBAKOV art projects
Paveletskaya Naberezhnaya, 2/18
Moscow, Russia
info [at] baibakovartprojects.com
www.baibakovartprojects.com
We must hear the distant roar of battle…
- Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish
BAIBAKOV art projects will inaugurate its new exhibition space on the Paveletskaya Naberezhnaya with “Perpetual Battles,” a group exhibition that considers the creative potential of conflict, engaging artists who actively isolate, investigate, and aggravate the violence underlying the everyday experience of contemporary society. The exhibition features new works and site-specific commissions by Adel Abdessemed, Saadane Afif, Wilfrid Almendra, Latifa Echakhch, Claire Fontaine, Cyprien Gaillard, Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige, Thomas Hirschhorn, Oscar Tuazon, Ida Tursic and Wilfried Mille, and Raphael Zarka.
In Discipline and Punish (1975), philosopher Michel Foucault posits that conflict is not something outside of society, which launches an attack; it is something that constitutes the very fabric of society, allowing for the development of new order. Drawing on Foucault’s seminal text, “Perpetual Battles” acts as an echo room, amplifying the not-so-distant roar of battle, as it resounds in contemporary art and theory. Violence emerges in manifold forms: from philosophical attempts to describe or incite political upheaval, to the “fight clubs” of disenfranchised populations, to war-games that recast conflict as mass-media entertainment.
“Perpetual Battles” will be complemented by a forthcoming bilingual reader, which surveys the complex philosophical arguments around the issues of violence, beginning with Georges Sorel’s 1908 Reflexions sur la violence, and carrying through to the contemporary debates of Alain Badiou, Etienne Balibar and the Invisible Committee. As a special feature of the reader, philosopher Mathieu Potte-Bonneville, author of After Foucault, will contribute a commissioned article exploring the evolution of the “distant roar of battle” within Foucault’s writing and its resonance within the broader French philosophical landscape.
The exhibition opening will feature a performance by Koudlam.
“Perpetual Battles” is a featured exhibition of the Year of France in Russia 2010.
“Perpetual Battles” will launch BAIBAKOV art projects’ new space at Paveletskaya Naberezhnaya 2/18, a former Soviet House of Culture in Moscow. Located on the Paveletskaya riverbank, the site features over 13,000 square feet of exhibition space, a lecture hall for public programs, a rooftop with 360º views of Moscow, as well as exterior spaces for public sculpture. BAIBAKOV art projects will occupy two floors devoted to rotating exhibitions and public programming. The main exhibition hall features twenty-six foot ceilings enabling large-scale installations. A lecture hall and reading lounge provide spaces for public programs.
Founder and Director of BAIBAKOV art projects Maria Baibakova explains, “We have taken bold and exciting step with our move to a new home at Paveletskaya, an historic House of Culture. I couldn’t be more thrilled with the opportunities this venue presents.”
For updates on BAIBAKOV art projects upcoming events, please visit: www.BAIBAKOVartprojects.com
For further information please contact:
Rebecca Matalon
Black Frame
530 West 25th Street. #603
New York, New York 10001
+1 212.226.2196
rmatalon@framenoir.com
