EN ROUTE: VIA ANOTHER ROUTE
An Exhibition On Board the Trans-Siberian Train
Curated by: Adam Carr
Exhibition Departure:
Moscow, Russia Sept. 12th, 2005
Terminates:
Beijing, China Sept. 19th , 2005
In collaboration with: Natilee Harren, curator of Trans-Siberian Radio
En Route: Via Another Route is an exhibition that will take place on the Trans-Siberian train departing from Moscow, Russia and arriving at the final destination of Beijing, China where it will terminate, occupying the same moment in time as Capturing the Moving Mind: Management and Movement in the Age of Permanently Temporary War a train conference organised by the politics journal Ephemera.
The exhibition concept is one that stems from a growing awareness of the co-ordinates and constraints that often dominate curatorial methods and exhibition formats. Instead, it endeavours to explore the innovative possibilities for exhibition formulation by proposing an alternative way in which exhibitions can be composed and presented. By using the train as an unorthodox place for presentation, the show, characterised by a particular playfulness, attempts to reconsider what possibly could be considered as an exhibition, posing the polemic of what constitutes this configuration.
Challenging the traditional stillness of the gallery, En Route: Via Another Route will be a truly mobilised exhibition, when in consistent movement, will encounter an ephemeral situation, exposed to the unpredictable under constant permutation; it is this oscillation of environments that will allow an arena of dynamic possibilities to unfold.
A number of international artists have been invited to reflect on the idea of an exhibition in transit and asked to produce a work, which when placed and integrated into the public sphere unannounced, will inevitably deal with the aspects of the performative and establish a new relationship between the spectator and the work of art.
(Adam Carr)
Artists/Works:
Liam Gillick
Music for a car advert to be shot in Canada, 2004
Audio piece, 1:06 minutes
Music for a car advert to be shot in Canada will be played in irregular times on Trans-Siberian Radio: http://trans-siberianradio.org
Trans-Siberian Radio is a low power FM radio station that will operate from the Trans-Siberian train throughout the journey. An initiative organised by Natilee Harren and David Rose.
Jens Haaning
Baghdad Time (Trans-Siberian Railway version), 2005
clock set on GMT 3
Henrik Plenge Jakobsen
All That Is Solid Melts Into The Air, 2005
400 balloons, each printed with the works title in Russian and English will be handed out to the public throughout the Trans-Siberian journey.
The title of the piece derives from a Karl Marx and Frederic Engles quote.
David Ter-Oganyan & Alexander Korneev
Illegal Library, 2003
DVD, Book
Russian book prices boomed in consequence of the drastic financial crisis (in August 1998) many people turned to the act of crime, stealing books in order not to stop intellectual development. A stolen book will be presented, accompanied by video documentation of the very act of theft.
Gabriel Kuri
Have To Run, 2005
A short note will accompany a deserted meal, describing that the person who purchased the meal had to suddenly leave, inviting any person to consume it. The note will be translated into the native language of the country the train is situated, until the meal is consumed.
Marepe
Leve esta carta para mim (Take this letter for me), 2005.
Courtesy: the artist and Galeria Luisa Strina. São Paulo, Brazil
A number of typical Brazilian airway envelope’s each contain a poem written by the artist. Marepe’s address is stamped within the sender side of each envelope in the event that the reader wishes to send a reply back.
Jonathan Monk
Nothing Altered, 2005
Nothing Altered offers Keith Arnatt’s statement- “Is It Possible of Me to Do Nothing as Part of My Contribution to this Exhibition” (1970), in 2 translated versions: Russian and Chinese. The work will be made available to passengers as photocopied sheets, who are encouraged to read out the text live over the Trans-Siberian Radio station.
Roman Ondák
New Territories, 2005
performance
100 business cards distributed freely to the local people who board the Trans-Siberian train. Each card contains the same fictitious address bearing the name ‘Siberian Street’
Paola Pivi
Untitled, 2005
Several disposable cameras will be handed out to the conference participants to capture the experience, which on completion, will be sent back to the artist for development.
Kirsten Pieroth
From Moscow To Beijing, 2005
Courtesy: the artist and Klosterfelde, Berlin.
pedometer
The Trans-Siberian train covers a distance over 7867km: what is the distance a guard covers onboard the same train?
Superflex
GUARANÁ POWER
bottles of Guaraná Power soft drink, DVD, posters.
Bottles of Guaraná Power will be made available to the train passengers.
For further information: http://www.superflex.net/tools/supercopy/guarana.shtml
The title of the exhibition:
Lawrence Weiner
En Route: Via Another Route
sculptural fragment
Courtesy: the artist and Marian Goodman Gallery, New York.
Adam Carr is an independent curator based in London
For further information, please contact: info [at] er-var.co.uk