Supermarket Art Magazine #12

ISSN 2000-8155

SEK100/€10/US$11/£8.70

artist-run art magazine

SUPERMARKET 2022

issue#12

SUPERMARKET issue#12

Hilma Nordén, ‘Grävlingen’, wool, 2022.

HOLY FLUFF

gue

Exhib i t i o n C atalo

NANCY HOLT / INSIDE OUTSIDE

17 JUNI 2022 – 12 FEBRUARI 2023

PÅGÅR TILL 04 SEPT 2022

EVA KOTÁTKOVÁ

MATS JONSSON

17 JUNI 2022 – 12 FEB 2023

Editorial Team EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ALICE MÁSELNÍKOVÁ EDITORIAL BOARD ALICE MÁSELNÍKOVÁ, STUART MAYES, PONTUS RAUD, ANDREAS RIBBUNG CONTRIBUTING WRITERS MILENA CM, DEW KIM, STANISLAV MÁSELNÍK, ALICE MÁSELNÍKOVÁ, THIERRY MORTIER, JOE ROWLEY, AEJI SEO, LENKA SÝKOROVÁ, AUŠRA TRAKŠELYTĖ, YALOO, INYOUNG YEO CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS & PHOTOGRAPHERS PETRA OBRE (5–7), JURGA BARILAITĖ (9), VYTAUTAS NOMADAS (9, 14), ARTURAS VALIAUGA (9), LAURYNAS SKEISGIELA (9–11, 15, 18), ANASTASIA SOSUNOVA (10), BARRY DOUPÉ (10), TOMASZ KOWALSKI (10), UGNIUS GELGUDA (10, 12–13), DUALHEAD (11), KATJA AUFLEGER (11), VILTĖ BRAŽIŪNAITĖ (11), TOMAS SINKEVIČIUS (11), VYTAUTAS NARKEVIČIUS (11), ANNI PUOLAKKA (12), GODA PALEKAITĖ (12), JOSEFIN ARNELL (12), JURGIS PAŠKEVIČIUS (13), LAURA KAMINSKAITĖ (13), VYTENIS BUROKAS (13, 18), PAULIUS JANUŠONIS (15), SIMONAS NEKROŠIUS (15), LESS TABLE (15), AUGUSTĖ VICKUNAITĖ (15), AUŠRA UMBRASAITĖ (15), KAMILĖ DAMBRAUSKAITĖ (15), ALANAS GURINAS (15), IEVA TAREJEVA (15), ARUNE BARONAITE (16), DENIS VEJAS (16), RAIMONDAS DAUKSA (17), LOREN BRITTON (17), ŽILVINAS LANDZBERGAS (17), VERENA ISSEL (17), GEDVILĖ TAMOŠIŪNAITĖ (18), AXEL STOCKBURGER (18), ANTANAS GERLIKAS (18), GINTAUTAS TRIMAKAS (18), BARBORA KRAMNÁ (20), MATOUŠ KOS (20), VALERIE ŠTECOVÁ (20), JAN HOLBA (20), VERONIKA RYŠÁNKOVÁ (20), ANASTASIIA DEDULINA (20), MATĚJ SUDEK (20), TEREZA STAŇKOVÁ (20), MATOUŠ SCHOLLER (20), EKATERINA SHARGORODSKAYA (20), KATEŘINA KURSCHOVÁ (20), ELIŠKA ŠUBRTOVÁ (20), BARBORA SAMIECOVÁ (20), DAVID PAVLÍČEK (20), KATERYNA TSUKANOVA (20), ELIŠKA LUCÁKOVÁ (20), OLGA SHUSOVA (20), ELIŠKA KONÍČKOVÁ (20), FRANTIŠEK STEKER (20), INI PROJECT (21), ALBINA YALOZA (22–23), DUMBUL (24–27, 30), YEHSOL KIM (27), AEJI SEO (28–29), MIRO KIM (29), YALOO (31), CHANMIN JEON (31), GUCCI (32), DEW KIM (33, 35), SANGHEE CHOI (33), INYOUNG YEO (34), DENNIS HA (34), SEUNGWOOK YANG (35), STANISLAV MÁSELNÍK (36–39), JOE ROWLEY (40, 43–44, 47) MGM/UNITED ARTISTS PICTURE (41–42), THIERRY MORTIER (49, 50–56), GREBNELLAW (50), EFVA LILJA (54), CONNY BLOM (55), FELICIA GRÄND (55), ELLA TILLEMA (56) GRAPHIC DESIGN KATHARINA PETER LANGUAGE EDITING AND PROOFREADING ALICE MÁSELNÍKOVÁ, STUART MAYES ADVERTISING SALES NADJA EKMAN ADVERTISING CONTACT AD@SUPERMARKETARTFAIR.COM PRINTING PRINTON TRUKIKODA LTD PUBLISHER PONTUS RAUD

Cover image: Petra Obre, ’Sagrada Pelusa’, photograph, 2022

All rights to the photographs belong to the artists or galleries if nothing else is specified. © Supermarket Art Fair ekonomisk förening 2022

artist-run art magazine #12

Supermarket 2022 Team 1. A fluffy hole?

2. I become one with Fluff.

3. A deep dark void one

1. Holy or Fluff?

2. You are being carried away on a cloud of fluff – what do you do?

3. What is really hiding inside Holy Fluff?

can too easily succumb to.

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Alice Máselníková

1. I consider myself to be more Fluff than Holy. It has almost become a virtue for me. 2. The world is a robber's nest, it

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Pontus Raud

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Andreas Ribbung

darkens towards night. Evil tears its shackles and goes over the world like a crazy dog. There is a reason to be happy when you are happy, to be kind, generous, tender and good.

Therefore, it is necessary, and not the least bit shameful, to rejoice in the small world of Fluff. 3. Death and his brother sleep.

1. Fluff is lighter. Lighter means easier in Swedish.

2. I guess I’m fantasising.

3. According to a Russian female shaman I was told about last week, you can find a soul inside fluff.

1. Holy.

2. Jump.

3. Transgression.

TALKS & PERFORMANCE COORDINATOR Tal Gilad

1. Holy. 2. Relax, and ask for tequila. 3. A steampunk hamster activating its mechanism.

INFORMATION COORDINATOR

1. I’m Holy.

2. I’ll be lying on my belly, looking over the

Tania Brito

VOLUNTEERS COORDINATOR

edge, waving with my feet like a little schoolgirl and just observing the tiny little world floating around beneath me.

3. Cotton Candy and a summer breeze.

Ida Seffers

1. Fluff.

2. Enjoy the ride.

3. A large corporation looking to map your entire life, but also endless possibilities.

PRESS OFFICER Felicia Gränd

1. Fluff.

2. Sleep, eat, read, repeat.

3. Nothing but fluff.

SOCIAL MEDIA ASSISTANT Veronika Muráriková

1. As a typical Swede and do not want to upset anyone, I choose in between. Both holy and fluff. 2. Nothing – just

PHOTOGRAPHY COORDINATOR

sitting there on the cloud in my relaxing armchair feeling perfectly happy. 3. I know, but unfortunately cannot reveal the source.

Kenneth Pils

1. Fluff.

2. Enjoy the company of fellow fluffers.

3. Robin’s unending love for Batman.

1. Holy. 2. I would invite my late

PROOFREADER AND MEETINGS COORDINATOR

grandmother for tea.

3. Inside Holy Fluff you’ll find liminality. A

Stuart Mayes

NETWORKING COORDINATOR

soft and moldable threshold where the usual order is dissolving, where transition and transformation are facilitated.

Lucie Gottlieb

1. Neither I am afraid. 2. Close my eyes and enjoy the ride deeply, secretly hoping that it would land at some point again. 3. Nothing but air.

1. It fluctuates.

2. Enjoy the softness.

3. Existential

GRAPHIC DESIGN Katharina Peter

surprises.

ADS SALES Nadja Ekman

1. Fluff. 2. Strategies would include calibration, attenuation, and colour

balance. Never lose sight of the horizon, and never, ever turn your back on your crew. 3. The intangible eluctable: services, standards, and shortwaves.

1. Fluff.

2. Relax and enjoy.

3. The holy, omniscient rainbow-colored fluff

WEBMASTER John W. Fail

monster.

WEB DESIGNER Hanna Wanngård

ö

ppna dörrar

Södertälje Konsthall

Adress: Öppettider:

Hemsida: Facebook:

BESÖK OSS I SOMMAR! T E V E T R A MP OL INE N :

Från barnteve till samtida Storgatan 15, Södertälje (Lunagallerian) konst och litteratur

H ON HE T E R JUNE

Susanne Bonja Tisdag–fredag: 11.00–19.00 Lördag: 11.00–15.00 IN PURPL E Johanna Billing Söndag: 12.00–16.00 (sep–mar)

Kalmar konstmuseum sodertaljekonsthall.se www.kalmarkonstmuseum.se sodertaljekonsthall

1 2 6

Editorial Team Supermarket 2022 Team Editorial: The Holy Fluff Alice Máselníková 8 Project Space: The Case of Lithuania Milena CM and Aušra Trakšelytė 20 A Disposable World Lenka Sýkorová Focus on: South Korea 25 Trends in the Arts Scene in South Korea Aeji Seo 31 Space One: Interview with Dew Kim and Yaloo InYoung Yeo 36 The Holy Stanislav Máselník 40 Otters, Bond and Bubbles – Artist-run as Fluffer Joe Rowley 49 KVADRENNALEN: Let the Art World Unite Alice Máselníková, Interview with Thierry Mortier

Editorial: The Holy Fluff When we were contemplating the theme of Supermarket 2022 several months ago, things seemed to be getting somewhat brighter, with the Covid-19 pandemic receding, and the prospect of the coming year filled with a glimmer of hope for warmer, softer, simpler months. A lighter existence where we could perhaps let go a bit, enjoy art, meet new people, and slowly find our way back to normal, so to say. The idea behind the Holy Fluff reflects this recent mindset: the optimistically light-hearted and joyous with the serious and searching; a vision that sees our existence as one always intertwining the playful with the serious and spiritual. That is the ongoing contrast of our lives; our need for believing, questioning, uniting, connecting with something beyond the daily reality with the longing for a carefree and pleasurable existence.

When driving I once saw a car pass by with a bumper sticker that said “Are you on the Right Path?’ – for certain a religious seeker of truth behind the wheel. But whether I am on the road or not, the sticker and the question often come to my mind. Was it a genuine imploring on humanity, or just a desperate off-handedly judgmental shout in the dark? Is this not something we have all experienced? Or, rather, is this not something we do all the time, wishing for someone to tap on our shoulder and say, look, this is a good path you are on, this is how you go about it, this is where the key is hidden? In a way, I feel like I want to paste a reminder like this in front of my eyes and carry it around as an impossible halfabsurd daily reality check.

And then you wake up one day, not spirited away on a cloud of fluff as wished for, but, alas, 6

drifting off uncontrollably on some heavy nightmarish thundercloud. Suddenly the question Where are you going? becomes much more existential. In just a few weeks the situation has once again shifted, with a war in Ukraine that has affected millions of lives and raised a wave of admirable solidarity – but, also, hand in hand with bloodthirsty mongering and militantism across the society. At Supermarket we feel deeply for the people and artists of any invaded country and condemn any kind of military attack on a sovereign country, and in our small ways do all that is possible to support them.

What I find somewhat disturbing though is that it takes a war to make us most united – that we need an enemy to be able to stand together as communities. That hatred and black-and-white dichotomy are seemingly necessary to position ourselves in the world with the others. Is this really good enough? Perhaps idealistically, I believe that the true unity and capacity for solidarity should lie in us being able to share certain inner values on life, love, art, beauty – not formulated around our definition of evil, crime, punishment, ugliness, even if they come inseparable.

For this reason I see the idea of the Holy Fluff remaining valid in the light of the current world crises. Not only the one in Ukraine, but also, to name another disastrous humanitarian catastrophe, Yemen, or one of the many critical socio-political and environmental threats we see across political spectrums and the continents. That is, the idea that we need to be able to see the meaning and unite both when it comes to serious decisions and actions, but also when it comes to the small, daily things.

Milan Kundera’s novel ‘The Unbearable Lightness of Being’ depicts love as a series of coincidences and randomness so haphazard that it takes away from the essence of existence. Living only for levity means accepting that there is nothing else, only the one momentary pleasure – but what happens then when you take the pleasure away? Too much lightness means you just float away and cannot return, it means lack of depth, it means lack of what being comprises. The same thing would happen on the other side of the horizon.

Some of us are too light, some too heavy…so it is about balancing our scales every day.

Speaking of balance: each year I want to cut down on the number of articles, and each year I inevitably fail in my idea of a limited scale.

Therefore once again I am pleased to present to you a broad edition of Supermarket Art Magazine where you will find a mix of articles touching upon a range of topics, some conceptual responding to the outlined theme, others practically dealing with the art world.

The article ‘Project Space: The Case of Lithuania’ by Aušra Trakšelytė and Milena CM from apiece maps project spaces and the independent artist-run scene in Lithuania, also providing a brief overview of the scene’s recent history. Commenting on the most recent events, the Czech curator Lenka Sýkorová offers insight into the reaction of the Czech art scene to the war on Ukraine.

Also from Korea, the artist InYoung Yeo from Space One artist-run gallery brings an interview with two Korean artists based in Seoul who took part in the gallery’s programme, Dew Kim and Yaloo, to share their experiences of being active in the Seoul art scene.

Stanislav Máselník ponders the nature of the Holy as related to our daily realities and searching for a meaningful existence, using Thomas Mann’s classic The Magic Mountain as one point of reference. Sounding lighter, but really diving into murkier waters, Joe Rowley in the ‘Otters, Bond and Bubbles – Artist-run as Fluffer’ compares the position of the artist-run scene to that of a fluffer in the porn industry, where artist run-initiatives serve only as a stepping stone, the invisible help, to larger institutions.

To conclude on an optimistic note, in a detailed interview the artist Thierry Mortier talks about the art movement Kvadrennalen in ‘Kvadrennalen: Let the art world unite’ presenting his belief in the power of art to change society and stand united.

As always, I hope you enjoy reading this magazine. Do not forget the fluff despite the serenity of life.

Alice Máselníková, Editor-in-chief

In our spotlight on the South Korea, the Korean visual artist and curator Aeji Seo contextualises the trends in the South Korean contemporary art scene, and interviews one of the most recent additions to the world of artist-run initiatives, Dumbul, established in the Pangyo district of Seongnam city in 2020.

7

Project Space: The Case of Lithuania Milena CM and Aušra Trakšelytė

Various experimental, non-institutional and

art programme was created, encouraging experi-

independent spaces dedicated to representing

mental artists of the time to search for a new

contemporary art can be described by the general

artistic language and organise informal exhibitions.

term project space which, like the phenomenon

Jutempus was active until 1997, and it marked the

itself, is not really new. With the changing political

beginning of alternative culture in Lithuania.

and cultural situation in Lithuania since 1989, the

8

local contemporary art scene gradually synchro-

The phenomenon of a project space is unique in its

nised with the global context. In 1994, as the

indeterminacy and volatility, which is why many

representatives from this scene were observing

interesting spaces have existed only for short

foreign art processes, the Jutempus interdisciplinary

periods of time, and sometimes only within the

framework of realising one specific artistic idea. Yet the most distinctive aspect of a project space is originality, and the spaces currently operating in Lithuania are best to be described by specific examples discussed on the basis of two main criteria: the creative aspect – the specificity of the space and/or curatorial practice, and the social one – what role it plays in the context of the given district, city, or the whole country.

In Vilnius, one of the longest-running project spaces is Atletika , although it has changed its location and name several times. Today it is located in a former Jurga Barilaitė, ‘Linijos ir Raukšlės. Gyvųjų sapnai mirusiųjų svajonės’, exhibition, photo: Vytautas Nomadas

school sports hall which is part of the cultural complex SODAS 2123. Atletika presents both emerging and acclaimed artists from Lithuania and abroad, while its collectively curated exhibition programme is open to experimentation, exploration of new processes in art, and ideas of various directions. As part of a larger cultural complex, which brings together more than several dozen cultural creators and non-institutional organisations, Atletika is much more accessible to the public. Currently SODAS 2123 is one of the main attraction points for independent culture in Vilnius, hosting various artistic events on a regular basis and attracting a great deal of interest from the city’s citizens and visitors.

Atletika, 2019, photo: Arturas Valiauga

Jurga Barilaitė, ‘Linijos ir Raukšlės. Gyvųjų sapnai mirusiųjų svajonės’, exhibition, photo: Vytautas Nomadas

Laurynas Skeisgiela, ‘Small Town Murder Songs’, exhibition view

9

Besides Atletika, SODAS 2123 is home to two other project spaces. One of them is Trivium, a space adapted for an artist’s studio, where the artist and writer Aistė Kisarauskaitė organises exhibitions of prominent artists from the 1990s. Before moving to SODAS 2123, Kisarauskaitė used to show exhibitions in her apartment – an allusion to the Soviet era, when artists’ avant-garde works were presented in their own homes or studios, and only to a small circle of friends. Thus, in its nature and concept, the activity of Trivium is close to the format of making the so-called informal exhibitions.

In 2020, three independent curators Vaida Stepanovaitė, Audrius Pocius and Edgaras

Anastasia Sosunova, ‘Diluvial Valleys’, exhibition, photo: Laurynas Skeisgiela

Gerasimovičius founded another project space in SODAS 2123, this time in one of the corridors of the building. This is how Swallow was born – a project space focused on managing, producing and exhibiting curatorial and artistic projects, developing arts-based educational programmes and introducing young Lithuanian and other Baltic art abroad.

The exhibition space is located inside the building, yet not behind closed doors, but in an open lobby. Such a choice to exhibit works of art in a transitional space aims to break the standards of art’s accessibility to the public.

Barry Doupé, ‘AMIGA works’, exhibition, photo: Laurynas Skeisgiela

Tomasz Kowalski, ‘FoamCity’, exhibition, photo: Ugnius Gelguda

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Tomasz Kowalski, ‘FoamCity’, exhibition, photo: Ugnius Gelguda

apiece gallery, photo: DUALHEAD

apiece gallery, photo: DUALHEAD

Speaking of the accessibility of contemporary art, perhaps one of the most open and approachable project spaces in Vilnius is the gallery apiece . Built in Naujamiestis in 2021 on the initiative of Katja Aufleger, ‘The Argument’, exhibition, 2021, photo: Laurynas Skeisgiela

independent curators Aušra Trakšelytė and Milena CM, apiece is a tiny showcase window gallery. With a space as small as 320 x 175 cm, it exhibits one single work of contemporary visual art or one design object at a time. apiece does not organise exhibition openings, and the exhibition itself is accessible to the viewer at any time of the day or week, as the artwork/ object is always visible through the showcase window. The viewer may therefore also ‘stumble’ upon the work by chance (on the way home from work or on a walk), being thus encouraged to take a closer interest in the author of the work/ object or in contemporary art in general.

For artists apiece is a new platform for presenting their work, and at the same time a provocation to express (the whole of) themselves in the format of a single

Viltė Bražiūnaitė and Tomas Sinkevičius, ‘Soft Target’, exhibition, 2021, photo: Vytautas Narkevičius

work.

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There is also a certain charm in the project spaces which are not easy to ‘discover’ even for Vilnius residents themselves. For instance, to get to the openings of the Montos Tattoo exhibitions, you have to take a Soviet elevator, whose warranty sheet probably expired even before Lithuania regained its independence. If you dare, you take it up to the third floor, eventually finding Montos Tattoo in one of the building’s former Soviet offices. The founders of the exhibition space, curator Gerda Paliušytė and artists Gediminas G. Akstinas, Liudvikas Buklys and Maya Tounta, describe it as being concerned with diverse cultural knowledges and possibilities, art histories and the reciprocity between politics and poetry. Their activities can also be seen as an extension of everyday practices, stemming from sheer curiosity about how different meanings are created. In other words, Montos Tattoo focuses on an open-ended form(at), being an ‘open vessel’ for different stories to come. The name of the place originates from the story of Monta, a friend of a friend, who lived in Vilnius twenty years ago and had an unfinished tattoo on his arm.

Anni Puolakka, ‘Feed’, exhibition, 2021, photo: Ugnius Gelguda Goda Palekaitė, ‘The Strongest Muscle in the Human Body is the Tongue’, exhibition, 2021, photo: Ugnius Gelguda Josefin Arnell, ‘Wild Filly Story’, exhibition, 2021, photo: Ugnius Gelguda

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Some of the project spaces in Lithuania stand out for their multifunctionality. One example is Editorial , a space operating in Vilnius old town since 2017. Initiated by Neringa Černiauskaitė and Vitalija Jasaitė, Editorial is dedicated to shows, talks and motions, at the same time hosting the editorial offices of the online magazines Artnews and Echo Gone Wrong under the same roof.

Jurgis Paškevičius, ‘Abstract Karaoke’, exhibition, 2017, photo: Ugnius Gelguda Laura Kaminskaitė, ‘Today’, exhibition, 2017, photo: Ugnius Gelguda Vytenis Burokas, ‘Wandering Wind’, exhibition, 2020, photo: Ugnius Gelguda

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The artist-run space Autarkia , maintained by artist Robert Narkus, in turn functions as an artist day care centre, a club of interests, an office space for putative experiences and imaginary solutions, a bistro for experimental gastronomy – Delta Mityba, an art gallery, and a project development hotel.

Previously known as the canteen for the Faculty of Electronics of Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, since 2016 the two-storey space has hosted many significant non-institutional exhibitions, numerous hearty dinners and raucous parties produced by the organisers of Autarkia or like-minded collaborators. In addition, the project space is surrounded by the first residential lofts in Vilnius, thus getting abundant attention from designers, architects and artists.

‘Kontakt’, outdoor event, 2021, photo: Vytautas Nomadas

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Less Table, ‘Studium POP’, low-fi event, 2018, photo: Laurynas Skeisgiela

Paulius Janušonis, performance, 2020, photo: Simonas Nekrošius

Augustė Vickunaitė, performance, ‘CHEMICAL FORMULA OF KORMORANT SHIT’, event, photo: Aušra Umbrasaitė

A less trendy but equally creative and multifunctional project space with a DIY concept is Studium P . Located in an apartment of a residential building rented by a small group of people, the space is

Kamilė Dambrauskaitė, performance, 2021, photo: Alanas Gurinas

home not only to those who actually live there, but also to a small stove-heated room dedicated to organising exhibitions and music events, and the secret-nonsecret second-hand bookstore Juodas Šuo.

Ieva Tarejeva, performance, 2020, photo: Simonas Nekrošius

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Another Lithuanian DIY alternative project space is located in port city Klaipėda. TEMA is an artists’ space and a creative harbour community, established in a renovated former shipbuilding site by the light artist Linas Kutavičius on the principles of recycled design. The port area is now much more accessible to the public than it was a few years ago, but various business and industrial enterprises still operate in the vicinity.

Event, 2021, photo: Arune Baronaite Space, 2021, photo: Arune Baronaite Event, 2021, photo: Arune Baronaite Space, 2021, photo: Denis Vejas Event, 2021, photo: Arune Baronaite

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Since we have moved beyond Vilnius, a few more places are necessary to mention. Also in Klaipėda, another artist-run gallery, si:said , presents artworks of Lithuanian and foreign artists. According to its founders, the idea to establish a new comfortable space for art exhibitions was incited by a lack of such places in the city and the need to create a platform for art information exchange and collaboration. si:said focuses on introducing local ‘seaside’ artists or the ones arriving from any other ‘side’.

Raimondas Dauksa, ‘Ultima Thule’, exhibition, 2021 Loren Britton, ‘Interdependency’, exhibition, 2020 Žilvinas Landzbergas, ‘iš serijos R didžioji’, exhibition, 2015 Verena Issel, ‘Wurzelpost’, exhibition, 2020

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Another important off-capital project space is located in Lentvaris, 20 km away from Vilnius. Here, the curatorial duo Lokomotif transformed a space in the railway station into a centre for contemporary art and education. Their activities include creating programmes of exhibitions, lectures, performances and educational encounters, which have expanded to other cities as well. Most of the visitors for these events come by train from Vilnius, but, according to the curators, there is also a certain interest coming from the locals.

Gedvilė Tamošiūnaitė, ‘WAROWLAND and we are not so far away, it's just water’, exhibition, 2021, photo: Laurynas Skeisgiela

Axel Stockburger, ‘Red Star’, exhibition, 2019, photo: Laurynas Skeisgiela

Lokomotif, group exhibition ‘Resort’, artist Antanas Gerlikas, photo: Laurynas Skeisgiela, 2019

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Lokomotif, group exhibition ‘Resort’, artist Vytenis Burokas, artwork ‘Beer Metaphysics’, photo: Laurynas Skeisgiela, 2019

Gintautas Trimakas, ‘Answers’, exhibition, 2021, photo: Laurynas Skeisgiela

Since 2019, the train station in Marcinkonys, a town located a bit over 100 km from the capital, has also hosted exhibitions, in this case at the initiative of the artists themselves. These shows are organised as part of a larger project called Verpėjos , an independent art initiative founded in 2017 by artist Laura Garbštienė. Verpėjos aims to explore and rethink topics concerning traditional rural lifestyle and nature conservation. Bringing together artists Laura Garbštienė, ‘Aš Kirvarpa’, exhibition, 2021, photo: Vitalij Červiakov

from different fields, rural creators and naturalists, it organises interdisciplinary workshops, symposia and exhibitions, and from 2020 an international art residency.

It is difficult to cover all the project spaces in Lithuania, as some of them are ‘too new’, and others not as ‘active’ as they used to be. Interestingly, in Kaunas, Lithuania’s second largest city, not a single non-institutional space is currently operating (unless it is operating in secret).

In general the process of project spaces is probably the most dynamic in the overall cultural field, with new alternative and

Morta Jonynaitė, ‘Skersiniai’, exhibition, 2021, photo: Lukas Mykolaitis

bold ideas uniting communities, and new spaces bringing those together. This is what keeps project spaces active. We trust that the visibility of the discussed project spaces will become increasingly important not only locally but also globally.

links of the spaces:

Milda Laužikaitė and Viktorija Damerell, ‘Vertėjos’, exhibition, 2021, photo: Justina Christauskaitė

Atletika - www.atletikaprojects.lt Swallow - www.swallow.lt apiece - www.apiece.lt Montos Tattoo - www.montostattoo.lt Editorial - www.editorial.lt Autarkia - www.autarkia.lt si:said - www.sisaid.lt Verpėjos - www.verpejos.lt

Marcinkonių stoties galerija, 2021, photo: Vitalij Červiakov

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A Disposable World

Lenka Sýkorová

Matouš Kos SUTNARKA

Barbora Kramná

Jan Holba

Matěj Sudek

Tereza Staňková

Jan Holba

Eliška Šubrtová

David Pavlíček

Eliška Lucáková

Kateryna Tsukanova

SUTNARKA

SUTNARKA

SUTNARKA

SUTNARKA

SUTNARKA

SUTNARKA

SUTNARKA

SUTNARKA

SUTNARKA

Matouš Kos

Veronika Ryšánkovavá

Matěj Sudek

Matouš Scholler

Barbora Samiecová

Jan Holba

Olga Shusova

SUTNARKA

SUTNARKA

SUTNARKA

SUTNARKA

Ekaterina Shargorodskaya

UJEP

SUTNARKA

UJEP

Valerie Štecová

Anastasiia Dedulina

Valerie Štecová

Matěj Sudek

UJEP

SUTNARKA

UJEP

SUTNARKA

UJEP

Kateřina Kurschová

Barbora Samiecová

Kateryna Tsukanova David Pavlíček

Eliška Koníčková

UJEP

SUTNARKA

SUTNARKA

SUTNARKA

SUTNARKA

Workshop on the topic of freedom led by Alain Le Quernec, Karel Míšek and František Steker, Sutnar Faculty of the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, 4–8 April 2022, photo: František Steker

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Taking care of the world we live in means taking

between history and the present is opening to us.

care of ourselves. We live in a time when we are

We are witnessing an attempt to exterminate the

drastically tested. In recent years, we had to address

Ukrainian nation and culture. Taking on co-respon-

the accelerating climate crisis. With the onset of the

sibility is part of a globalised society, and the

pandemic, we had to deal with some kind of

current situation is guiding us on where to help. The

cultural paralysis that somehow does not allow us

yellow-blue wave of solidarity that has flooded the

to return to normalcy. Since February 2022, we have

Czech art scene since 24 February 2022 is unparal-

been forced to face the war in Ukraine. A bridge

leled in the history of the Czech Republic. With the

onset of the crisis, it was necessary to make an

Solidarity

immediate decision, and this is why the Czech cultural community issued a clear signal expressing opposition to the Russian invasion. We are helping

The first Czech example of solidarity shown

Ukraine as much as we can, but what really helps at

immediately during the first days of the invasion

this stage and how to approach the situation in the

was a series of charity auctions in support of

long run is the theme of the following text.

Ukrainian artists held by the independent platform INI Project.2 It searches for non-traditional formats

I would use three keywords to summarise Czech

of contemporary art presentation and promotion on

artists’ reflection on the Ukrainian situation after the Russian invasion: solidarity, conscience and support. I will give concrete examples: the charity auction of the independent platform INI Project, the two-year exhibition project The Worlds of Jindřich Chalupecký organised and presented by the Prague City Gallery and the Jindřich Chalupecký Society, and the exhibition of Ukrainian artists that I am working on with my students from the Faculty of Art and Design at the J. E. Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem as part of the curatorial workshop at the Rampa Gallery.

Inappropriateness. A game of conscience.

After the invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops, we felt that it was inappropriate to continue living a normal life without any reflection on this situation.

At the same time, we were overwhelmed by helplessness, anger and fear. It was a certain testing of the role of a citizen, an artist and a curator in society. Is it possible to create exhibitions without an artistically engaged reflection on the present?

How much does visual thinking affect the direction of society? These are the questions of today, where visual art and visual activism, as defined by British theoretician and visual culture critic Nicholas Mirzoeff, draw us into the position of direct participation that becomes a lived practice of visual culture and a way to shape opportunities for change.1 The February clash with culture, in which respect for human life is not a matter of course, has opened up a number of dilemmas. What will the cultural world do? Will it somehow accentuate the Russian war against Ukraine? We certainly had a lot of random thoughts running through our heads. the Czech art scene and abroad. Since 2013, the platform has supported a number of artists, critics,

ARTISTS FOR UKRAINE I – IV, INI Project / SPACE, Prague, February–April 2022, photo: INI Project archive

theoreticians, curators and art groups in the form of two-month residencies, the output of which are various types of presentations of newly created artworks with an emphasis on capturing the

1 MIRZOEFF, Nicholas. How to See the World. London: Pelican, 2015.

2 The project was created by Karina Kottová, chair and curator, Barbora Švehláková, in charge of production and fundraising and Lucie Rosenfeldová, in chargé of PR. More information at http:// iniproject.org/en/prostor/o-projektu

21

process of their creation, their critical reflection and

contemporary Czech art since the first post-revolu-

their presentation to the general public. The first

tionary years and strengthened its role on the

charity auction ARTISTS FOR UKRAINE was

international scene.3 It also organises the Jindřich

organised almost immediately on 26 February by

Chalupecký Award, which is a prestigious award for

Czech-Ukrainian artists Olga Krykun and Masha

young artists under the age of 35. The exhibition

Kovtun. Almost 200 artists provided their artworks

was put together, in cooperation with JCHS Director

for the auction and raised 354,600 Czech crowns

Karina Kottová, curator Tereza Jindrová and invited

(14,500 EUR) that were used for humanitarian aid in

curators Tomáš Pospiszyl and Tomáš Glanc, from

cooperation with the Ukrainian embassy and for the

the Prague City Gallery. The exhibition accentuates

protection of art during the war. However, cultural

the message of Czech theoretician, critic and curator Jindřich Chalupecký through both his activities in his homeland and international collaborations.

Jindřich Chalupecký was mainly interested in the purpose of art in modern society, which today we can see as an engaged artistic approach to societal challenges. The exhibition was planned from the very beginning not only as documentation of this prominent Czech figure in the field of visual art, but also as a reflection by invited artists on the legacy of Jindřich Chalupecký, and so it unexpectedly opened up, in the context of the war in Ukraine, the topics of truth in art, moral responsibility of curators for the interpretation of national identity and Czech art history and the search for the boundaries of the moral status of an artist and curator. Thus, the struggle

mobilisation and participation in humanitarian aid

for conscience began. Under pressure from current

was an important part of the auction. As part of aid

events, the curators started boycotting the Museum

sustainability, the INI Project also offers residency

of Modern Art in Moscow – refusing to borrow

for artists and their war-affected families in

artworks as had been planned and which were to be

cooperation with the Organisation for Aid to

presented in the part of the exhibition showing

Refugees that provides legal consultations.

Chalupecký’s relationship with the Russian avant-garde. This freed up an exhibition space, so

Conscience

instead the curators invited Ukrainian and Russian artists working in the Czech Republic to comment on the situation in Ukraine. The room soon became

An exhibition project – The Worlds of Jindřich

a space not for the expected expression of solidarity,

Chalupecký – presenting the leading figure of art

but also for confrontation.4 It has opened up a

history of the second half of the twentieth century was opened in the Municipal Library in Prague in mid-March. It was put together by the Jindřich Chalupecký Society (JCHS) that has promoted

22

3 Meaning the Velvet Revolution in 1989.

4 https://artalk.cz/2022/03/30/re-otevreny-dopis-darji-lukjanenko-kuratorum-a-kuratorkam-vystavy-svety-jindricha-chalupeckeho/

number of historical traumas and issues that are

In conclusion

crucial for the present – how to deal with the post-socialist past. The decolonisation discourse on the art of the former Soviet Union has thus become

The weakening of historical consciousness goes

the most important message of this newly lived

hand in hand with the weakening of critical

reality that presents us with new challenges. At the

thinking. Today, visual culture allows us to create a

request of Ukrainian artists, the curators emptied,

lived visual culture, in which images are connected

whitewashed and left the room as a place for

with actions, which are defined by Nicholas

contemplating the victims of the Russian war in

Mirzoeff as new cultural forms from direct action to

Ukraine with a visual reference to the yellow-blue

performance, from conversation to artwork.

symbolism of the Ukrainian flag placed in the window of the room.

Support

Support for Ukraine may be sustained by focusing on Ukrainian culture. How to involve Ukrainian artists who remain in Ukraine? Does an exhibition draw the proper attention? As part of the exhibition series on the Czech Republic’s expected presidency of the EU Council, the students of Curatorial Studies from the Faculty of Arts and Design at the Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem dedicated one exhibition to the immediate situation in Ukraine, which touches on key European values such as freedom, unity and mutual aid. The exhibition – Ukraine Has Not Yet Died – presents artworks of Ukrainian artists Albina Yaloza, Anton Logov, Oleksii Revik and Vladislav Ryaboshtan that directly reflect on the horrors of war that they experience on a daily basis.5 The theme of freedom

Learning to see the world is just the first step. So,

was also the focus of the workshop of Czech graphic

how can we help Ukraine today? For a start, we can

designers Karel Míšek and František Steker and

support Ukrainian culture on the internet. We can

French graphic designer Alain Le Quernec, in which

soon understand what the world can lose. Ukrainian

the war in Ukraine was present rather subcon-

culture is still active and exists, but it may not be

sciously because we all live this crisis.

Albina Yaloza, from the exhibition ‘Ukraine Has Not Yet Died’, Rampa Gallery, FAD JEPU in Ústí nad Labem, 14 April–12 May

the case in a few months without our participation.6 We all can support Ukraine by paying attention to it.

It is important to realise that the world is not disposable and we need to defend its values.

5 Natálie Henclová, Linda Sudová and Alice Zábranská are the curators of the exhibition.

6 From the interview of Ukrainian writer and curator Oksana Maslova for Artzóna shown on Czech television. In March she and her daughter moved from Odessa to Prague where, thanks to the help of the Czech centres, she writes theatre plays and prose as part of her creative residence.

23

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24

Focus on: South Korea

Trends in the Arts Scene in South Korea Aeji Seo

Dumbul, Open Studio, event view, Dumbul Studio, Seongnam, 2021, photo: Dumbul

25

The arts scene in South Korea has made a great deal of

sales of art through K-auction and online marketplaces

progress and is at a turning point. One reason is that due

surpassed KRW 900bn.

to complex political issues in Hong Kong and China, which previously served as the centres for the arts in Asia, many famous galleries have chosen Korea as an

The Dispersal of Spaces

alternative destination and have quickly established

In response to such reception in the art market, many

sister galleries in Seoul, the capital city. Moreover, as of

alternative art spaces, in addition to commercial

September this year the Frieze art fair from the UK, will

galleries, have appeared outside of Seoul, opening in

be held in Korea in conjunction with KIAF Seoul (The

major urban centres such as Seongnam, Incheon, Suwon,

South Korea International Art Fair). This is proof enough

Daejeon, Daegu, and Busan. Given that the first genera-

that the level of overseas interest in art in Korea has

tion of alternative spaces started in 1999 with just three

been stepped up.

locations, growing to 20 or 30 by the end of 2007, there is no doubt looking at the number of venues now, just over a decade later, that Korea’s underground art scene has undergone a tremendous change since then. Surprisingly, the government funded art organisations in Korea do not currently collect or research the statistics of alternative spaces present in the country. The essay ‘Reality of the alternative space’ (2007) written by the Center for Cultural Society and supported by the Arts Council Korea is the last official study of Korean non-traditional artistic venues and no further investigations were held. This reveals that the underground art world remains alienated. Although Korean alternative space is significantly developing, its history of just over twenty years still persists in the shadows, difficult to uncover. It seems that to facilitate the growth of the Korean art field, perhaps this Dumbul, Open Studio, event view, Dumbul Studio, Seongnam, 2021, photo: Dumbul

issue should be reformed institutionally.

The recent spell of living in isolation during the Covid-19

Such dramatic change has meant that interest previously

pandemic has also altered the view of the Korean public

limited to Greater Seoul has dispersed out into the

towards the arts. With overseas travel now less accessi-

regions. More regional artists have been given opportu-

ble, people are heading towards art venues for their

nities to participate, and cultural exchange has been

leisure. As the term ‘art-tech’ suggests, they are not stop-

activated in areas that were previously bypassed. There

ping at simply appreciating the works of art. They are

is, however, concern in some circles about the prolifera-

now directly investing in culture by choosing to purchase

tion of alternative venues across the country. This is

works of art that appeal to them. Contributing to this

because even though the number of spaces continues to

trend is the current so-called ‘MZ’ generation (Millenni-

grow, not all are able to adequately establish their own

als and Gen Z). Unlike previous generations, they

identity and organise themselves in such a way to

contribute to the ongoing social change by enjoying art

differentiate themselves from existing venues. This is

through Instagram and other similar digital platforms,

because many of them are not equipped with adequate

searching out art that appeals to them. All of this adds to

organisational structure – most likely because of

the rapid growth of the Korean art market, and new

continued lack of access to funding.

records continue to be set day by day. Last year, total

26

It requires a surprising amount of human and capital

Through conversation with each other since the early

resources to operate a venue properly. Some will say,

2000s, Korea’s alternative venues have been coming up

albeit exaggeratedly, that expenditures are typically

with ways to cooperate and co-exist. Loop (considered a

double the amount of available financial support. It is

major first-generation alternative space) focused on

inevitable that sponsorship falls short in the face of the

connecting with other alternative spaces in Asia in 2005.

ever-increasing rent and wage bills needed to operate a

Now that seventeen years have gone by, with the

venue. As such, in the case of the artists running their

advances made in online exchange since the Covid-19

own space, there are instances where the artist might

pandemic, many alternative spaces can be seen engaging

decide to be self-supporting all the way from planning

in experimental projects together with European or

through to operation.

American counterparts. Thanks to this, the audience is able to broaden its artistic horizon through exposure to

Support Necessary for Survival

more varied art exhibits.

At the same time the artists are connecting with each other, one to one and in groups, at an early stage in their

Of course, the Korean government is making an effort to

careers, putting in place a firm foundation for their

support the development of art by providing various

future in art. This is probably because artists need a

types of funding to the industry. Most notably, the Arts

supportive environment to exchange valuable feedback

Council Korea and Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture

with each other.

continue to provide support to artists and alternative venues, as do the various regional agencies, meaning

The Korean collective Dumbul were interviewed to gain

that they can continue to operate. And the venues

insight into the creation of such an environment. The

themselves have the option to meet any shortfalls by

interview is an opportunity to learn about these trends

generating additional revenues through venue hire,

in the Korean art scene and how support policies are

corporate sponsorship, or membership schemes.

carried out in the field.

However, the fact remains that the self-funded and operated or alternative venues are not aiming to generate profits. This means that they will continue to suffer from

Yehsol Kim, ‘Matryoshka’, wood, traditional Korean paper, graphite, iron, dimensions variable, 2021, photo: Dumbul

lack of financial resources. When considering all the costs involved in developing new talent, putting on exhibitions, marketing, rent, and wages, the sponsorships will continue to fall well short. The artists often find that to cover rent and other costs they have to take on additional work to top up the limited grants they receive.

Even though there has been an improvement to the overall support policy in response to such issues, the impact to date has been minimal. Despite the fact that artists and venues are in dire need of institutional support to help them to establish a sufficient foundation for independent survival in the future, the kind of help that they need at the time does not adequately reflect the real situation. And because most major sponsor activities are skewed towards Greater Seoul, there is a lack of fairness or accessibility to the sponsorships.

Strategic Positioning Nevertheless, it is important, at this point in time, to put these issues in the past and for the artists and venues to cooperate to find ways to co-exist and to remain active in their own unique ways.

27

Interview with Team Dumbul To work with somebody is not to merely share the time or space with someone but rather to open up all of the senses to each other’s movement and to react to that movement, and to capture the connection that is made at that instant and to make one’s own time that has been jointly experienced together.

Chapter One: The beginnings as a collective: Repositioning Aeji Seo: Please introduce Team Dumbul.

Yehsol Kim: I experienced burnout just as I had embarked on a professional career as an artist after graduating from my master’s course in Korea. I needed something else. Thinking back to why I got burnt out, it was because, unlike at school where one is surrounded by peers who can readily provide advice – in fact, just

Team Dumbul (bush) is named after the bush mentioned

having others around and available can be a source of

in a section of the book The Teachings of Don Juan, and it

energy – once outside the system, it was impossible to

represents the link between reality and the unconscious.

get any feedback. It was then that I heard artists Miru

It is the name for both the team and the space they

Kim and Heaseung Shin had each come back from their

occupy. In the Korean language, the word ‘Dumbul’

studies in the Czech Republic and the UK and were

brings to mind a tangled mass and triggers a mental

looking for studios. We joined up and started this workspace. We all wanted the team to remain small. Sharing the same space naturally means inconveniencing each other at times, but it can also lead to a certain kind of synergy, perhaps even as a result of that friction. Artist Sanghee Han joined up six months ago, completing our quartet.

Heaseung Shin: Upon returning to Korea from the UK, I felt temporarily lost. While looking for likeminded artists and a studio, I happened to come across Yehsol and Miru and I decided to join them. With a sense of belonging, we search for our connections and,

Dumbul, entrance view, Dumbul Studio, Seongnam, 2022, photo: Aeji Seo

image of a botanical jumble.

This multi-sensory term is apt for introducing this collective group, Dumbul, one that brings together four

little by little, naturally, take on our own unique roles within the team.

Chapter Two: One unified whole or a divided substance

Korean female artists (Yehsol Kim, Heaseung Shin, Miru Kim, Sanghee Han) who carry out their work through

A: We can’t not mention the first exhibition “Where does

various media.

man come from?” which was held at the Youngju Mansion in Busan in 2021. You chose as the location for

Established in the Pangyo district of Seongnam city in

your exhibition the coastal city of Busan in Korea. And

2020, the team has been active for two years in various

now the current studio is in Seongnam city. I personally

disciplines and has as its objective the production of

think Team Dumbul appears to strategically select its

artistic work, following whatever directions it sees fit.

locations. What are your thoughts on this?

Going into the basement that is their workshop, one is

Y: After the team was formed and the current space

greeted with a space that is both the workshop for the

secured, we felt first and foremost that any activity

four artists as well as a stage for preparing for their

should be done together as a team. Because we knew that

exhibitions.

the right start was important, we felt any activity should incorporate some of the uncomfortable and inevitable

28

‘clashes’, in order to amplify the unfamiliarity we had

year, or early next year at the latest, work on a team

with each other, since we were still strangers then.

project together. I believe such adjustments in priorities to be important.

It was while discussing our work, our lives, and many other subjects that, given the timing when the coronavi-

A: A question for Sanghee. As the last member to join the

rus was about to impact Korea, that we settled on the

team, it must not have been easy; how did you manage to

sense of touch – a longing for synesthesia even – as the

establish yourself in the team?

topic for the exhibition. Competition was already intense

Sanghee Han: Having joined just six months ago, I did

in Seoul however. As a newly launched outfit, even as we

find it difficult to adjust. Although my teammates now

were applying for the Youngju Mansion in Busan, our

are both friends and colleagues, I was initially intimi-

main focus was on just getting something started rather

dated at the prospect of having to accommodate and

than having some sort of outcome in mind.

make adjustments for the gaps and differences in our views, on the level of friend and on the level of col-

H: Actually, at the time, we all believed that we would

league., I have now found a place in the team, with any

not get approval. But, fortunately, Youngju Mansion looked on us favourably and I believe the exhibition greatly influenced us, from our start all the way to the present day. It was a significant event.

Y: After the Youngju Mansion experience, we gained the confidence to at least ‘have a go’ and we sent out proposals to many other institutions. One after another, the experiences allowed us to establish an identity as a team, as well as affording us many other opportunities.

However, working as a team does mean differences in views which need resolving from time to time as well as the need to tone down our individualities as artists. This I believe is both the advantage and disadvantage to being a team.

A: To function as a team, I believe

Miro Kim, studio view, Dumbul Studio, Seongnam, 2022, photo: Aeji Seo

there needs to be balance in power amongst the members. What are your thoughts?

excessive emotion and tension in the team due to differences having since been resolved.

H: It was exhausting in the beginning due to clashes of views. However, as mentioned before, with a sense of belonging comes stability. I regard Team Dumbul as a sort of ‘partition’ which can shield us from the outside

Chapter Three: Current position and future position

world, in our own hideout. Rather than exerting a direct influence, the very existence of the team itself allows us

A: Any particular reason for settling in Seongnam rather

to feel like we are being productive, as well as influenc-

than Seoul, which is more mainstream?

ing our work as individuals. In response to a recent discussion we had regarding personal sacrifices that

Y: To be absolutely honest, of course there are more

need to be made for team activities, after numerous

opportunities in Seoul. However, those opportunities

meetings, we decided this year to focus on our individual

don’t necessarily get given out fairly. All things consid-

work and activities and perhaps in the second half of the

ered, the four of us together have the ambition to breathe

29

new artistic life into the newly developed city of

was sponsored and took place over six fairly long

Seongnam, with its generous policy of supporting the

months, providing an opportunity to observe the team’s

arts. As part of this we aim to interact more with people

work as it progressed. It is an example of how we are

by holding open studios and other various events

striving to make the most of our current situation. And

including book readings.

as we continue to do so, surely at some point we will find ourselves where we want to be?

In actual fact the grant we received from Seongnam differs little from what we received from the Seoul

A: Nonetheless, there must be some concern that you are

Foundation for Arts and Culture. Rather than heading

taking the long way round? How do you overcome this

towards the ‘red ocean’ of Seoul along with everyone

concern? And what are your future plans?

else, we chose the ‘blue ocean’ of Seongnam. But because of its lack of a developed arts scene however, there is the

Y: Personally, I feel that being an artist by definition

disadvantage of not being able to visit many other

means being uncertain, regardless of how much artistic

exhibitions put on by other young artists, artists who

success is attained. Rather than trying to overcome this

might well have made for the ‘red ocean’.

uncertainty, I think we need to recognise it and accept it.

For now my focus is on continuing my work and

H: But there are advantages to this lack of a developed

preparing for a solo exhibition planned for August.

arts scene. The officials of Seongnam have a great interest in our activities and have provided enthusiastic

H: For me I’m less concerned that I’ll be arriving late, and

support. Not long ago a city worker visited our studio to

more about going the right way, even if I am late; to walk

look around and ask questions. Without a doubt however,

my own path, rather than comparing myself to others.

it is Seoul that has the most spaces and opportunities.

The next exhibition is in Incheon, so I’m focusing on that

Before heading to the mainstream we are taking a step

for now. As mentioned before, the other team members

back and building ourselves up – experience upon

this year will likely concentrate on their individual

experience.

projects. We will be resuming projects as a team perhaps as early as the second half of this year.

Y: Here we should mention the other exhibition which took place at the Seongnam Cultural Foundation, which

Dumbul, ’Where does Man come from?', installation view, mixed media, dimensions variable, Youngju Mansion, Busan, 2021, photo: Dumbul

30

Focus on: South Korea

Space One: Interview with Dew Kim and Yaloo InYoung Yeo

Space One started with two artists, a designer, and an abandoned common space in an abandoned market in Haebangchon (direct translation: liberation village), Seoul. With its first exhibition Space by InYoung Yeo in 2014, it continued independently, organising exhibitions, rooftop film screenings, and other events, as well as inviting other artists.

In its second year, Space One was reinvented with the focus on supporting diversity, independence, and international collaboration in the arts. Additionally, site-specificity became an important element for Space One as the space, the market, the neighborhood, and the city held layers of history and stories of people within the old walls and structures of Space One. The name, Space ‘1’ or ‘one’ reimagines the ‘I’ in its continuous search to reinvent the ‘I’ in relation to ‘others’ as one, highlighting the coexistence and cyclical patterns of various structures of logic and narratives. With this core idea, Space One has continued and expanded its discourses in three main topics: urbanisation, technology, and gender in diverse and inclusive formats with experts from multiple disciplines that include multi-venue exhibitions, lectures, talks, workshops, performances, and screenings in collaboration with other organisations, institutions, art spaces, and guests from Korea and abroad.

Yaloo, ‘Particles: Seoul to Vancouver’, Pink Noise Pop Up, installation view at Space One, Seoul, Korea, 2018, photo: Chanmin Jeong

31

Space One is an artist-run space founded in 2014 in

funding for young and emerging art, and challenges

Seoul Korea. Since the first generation of artist-run

of the art ecosystem in Korea.1 As Space One, I was

spaces in South Korea from the 1990s to early 2000s,

able to revisit past collaborations from 2017–2019 in

growth in the number of alternative and independ-

both a three-channel video installation and poster

ent art spaces has been on the rise. Sprawling in all

format, I love we love we love I.

corners of the cities, the direction, idea and structure of the spaces all vary.

Among the archive, two projects Gender Hierarchy: Recycling its Errors and Particles: Seoul to Vancouver, a

Throughout the past eight years with Space One I

series of exchanges with expansive programmes of

have focused on working collaboratively in

exhibitions, talks, studio visits, performances,

searching for a sense of cyclical, discursive and

screenings and more in four different countries, were some of the most exciting times for Space One. I invited two Korean artists currently based in Seoul who participated in the projects, Dew Kim and Yaloo, to share insights into their experiences in the past few years of the young and exciting Seoul art scene.

InYoung: Space One is an artist-run initiative, working in collaboration with international art practitioners, organisations and institutions. We have focused a lot of our efforts in supporting and working together with artists. We are now shifting into a more research-oriented space than an exhibition space, because to me it feels like a lot has changed in the Korean art scene in the past few years since we started Space One and even just in the last two to three years since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. When we first started Space One, there was a lack of independent art spaces but now Seoul has one of the highest number of independent art spaces in the world. I thought we could first talk about how we all met and continue on to share our experi-

‘I love we love we love I’, installation view, Daelim Museum, Seoul, Korea, 2020, photo: courtesy of Gucci ‘I love we love we love I’, three channel video still and archive poster, 2020

dispersive international art community, standing

ences in the Korean art scene.

and continuing to move around boundaries of romanticism and criticism. The past few years have

Yaloo: Space One emailed me to participate in the

been a time for reflection and this was fortunately

project Pink Noise Pop Up in 2018. It was a larger

possible with the participation of the project No

project than I thought, with artists from Canada

Space Just a Place curated by Myriam Ben Salah. I was

and Korea. Space One to me is a very international

invited as the curatorial consultant working

space, its location is also very international with a

together with the curatorial team in selecting and

lot of expats living in Haebangchon (HBC) area. I

working with independent art spaces in Seoul, as

was then invited to Vancouver the year after and

well as participating as Space One. I invited a

participated in the residency Western Front hosted

participating artist and a curator for a dialogue,

and there I developed the project Seaweed Garden –

Spaces in Conversation, addressing the intra-relations of the spaces and surrounding social issues, local narratives of the art spaces in Seoul, shifts in

32

1 Spaces in Conversation can be downloaded here: https://nospacejustaplace.gucci.com/catalogue.pdf

an ongoing project. It was a great collaboration, we

was also able to save on housing expenses,

have been in touch since then, making conversa-

otherwise I would have to live with my parents. I

tions mostly.

hate this. Also every year I get funding for my project from Arts Council Korea, Seoul Foundation

Dew: I had just moved back from the UK and had a

for Arts and Culture. After the pandemic, there has

studio space in HBC so I visited Space One a few

been more variety of funding for artists, so more

times. Youmee Hwang, an artist friend of mine, who

artists are able to receive different types of funding.

was part of the Space One team at the time, invited

But sometimes it is too much funding.

me to participate in the project, Gender Hierarchy. I remember I also designed the poster for the project

InYoung: Too much funding and too much paper-

and showed my work in Singapore in a collaborative

work! I agree.

project with Luciano Zubillaga. I continued visiting and the year after I also participated in the show at Space One. I saw Yaloo’s work at Space One for the first time as well.

Yaloo: Oh, I also saw Dew’s work in the Space One archive for the first time!

Dew: Then I started to follow her on Instagram.

Yaloo: Yes we became each other’s fans! It is hard for artists like us who study abroad and come back to Seoul to find places to show and Space One opened the doors for us.

InYoung: Yes, both projects you were part of were very collaborative projects. Gender Hierarchy was with Grey Projects Singapore in partnership with the Goethe-Institut Singapore, the next one, Gender Hierarchy: Recycling its Errors was a collaboration with project space Strizzi Cologne. Both these projects were supported by foreign institutions ASEF (Asia-Europe Foundation) and Goethe-Institut Korea. And the project with Yaloo was a collaboration with grunt gallery Vancouver and One and J plus Seoul, led by Vanessa Kwan and co-curated by me. Unfortunately we were not able to get support from Korea at the time but I think the grant system has changed quite a bit since then and is now more supportive of young and emerging art practices.

Yaloo: I agree, I published a book in collaboration with Zara Arshad based in the UK, we got the funding for the book from Incheon foundation for Arts and Culture in Korea. It was difficult to get

Dew: Yes, too much funding and too much paper-

funding from the UK. I think policies are changing,

work. It is definitely interesting how different the

and the funding bodies are listening to artists’

atmosphere here is from Europe and the US. The

needs. It is a really nice time to be here in Korea as

funding system from the government has both

an artist.

positive and negative effects.

Dew: From 2019 to now, I have participated in

InYoung: What are some negative effects?

Dew Kim, ‘Gender Hierarchy: Recycling its Errors’, panel talk with Yuk Hui and Patricia Reed, Goethe-Institut Seoul Korea, 2019, photo: Sanghee Choi Dew Kim, ‘Gender Hierarchy’, installation view, Grey Projects, Singapore, 2018

government run residency programmes. I have been able to save studio rent for three years. This really

Dew: I think the annual system can be quite

made it possible for me to continue to make work. I

disruptive. I have to change the topic of my work

33

every year, as the funding bodies change and

openness, flexibility that creates young, trendy and

support trendy topics, so the projects become very

fluffy conversations and this helps to encourage

short term projects as you have to move on to the

change on some level.

next one.

Yaloo: Of course, the US collector base is larger but InYoung: It is very fluffy! It is trendy and fast

work development shifted within me here. I feel like

changing. It is exciting and energetic in that sense

a more functional person in society, as in I do not

but at the same time, art is following that trend to

have to beg for help and apologise for not paying all

grab that funding and gets framed into government

the time. In Korea unpaid help is not acceptable as

agendas.

well.

InYoung: I think this is because there have been major problems with artist exploitation, with the hierarchical culture of age and gender among other aspects here. I think there are pros and cons to this situation. Everyone expects payment now, so it is hard to collaborate without a fee and sometimes this environment makes the art work quite stiff and trendy. I think we need both.

But yes I think we are all very grateful for the abundance of grants, opportunities and residencies in Korea right now.

What about artist-run spaces? In Euljiro, there has been a big surge of art spaces, art fairs and a very active art scene in the past few years. What are your experiences with them?

Dew: Seoul artist-run spaces are also very dependent on funding. I think it is a

InYoung Yeo, ‘Particles: Seoul to Vancouver, dot.dot.dot’, installation view grunt gallery, Vancouver, Canada, 2019, photo: Dennis Ha

similar situation to artists, they cannot run if they do not get funding, this is how we Yaloo: I feel that is contemporary Korea to me. We

survive in this same financial system. But some

are still young and upcoming, so maybe it is fluffy,

spaces are very unique, whereas other spaces I feel

maybe that is how it is, being in this peninsula and

like they do not have much direction. The funding

trying to survive. Government funding here

for exhibitions includes rental fees so some of the

requires you to invite others to participate. So to

art spaces simply offer space and survive with the

have a solo show, you have to hire a graphic

rent they receive. This also makes it difficult to

designer, installation staff, a technician and others.

create and sustain their own direction.

As far as I know, as an emerging artist in the US, you have to do everything yourself unless you have

Yaloo: There are so many art spaces now. For me

a gallery representation. So here, you see better

there are two types of spaces, ones that are

quality and polished work. I think it is also an

dynamic and charged, for example space ‘of’ and

opportunity to grow fast as a young artist.

‘Space Boan’ located in the middle of a very busy area, they are both abandoned modern buildings

Dew: I agree. Compared to my experience in London

with raw structures; and the other types of spaces

having to do everything myself, here I have a larger

are the renovated and white cube spaces like Space

imagination for my work as I can hire a 3D modeler,

Onsu. Oh, it is like old Space One with the raw old

designer, choreographer, makeup artist, and even a

walls versus the new Space One with white walls!

personal trainer for my music video.

Dew: I find the art space Osisun quite interesting, it

34

InYoung: Yes, there are two sides to this shifting

is a bit isolated location-wise, but I had an exhibi-

environment. I think there is a certain amount of

tion there and they do not depend on government

funding. They want to run their space independent-

but to empty some of the previous ideas that we’ve

ly and they are supportive of artist experiments and

held onto, and enable and create lightness to open

the process. They are quite different from other

up to new aesthetics, ideas and ways of thinking.

spaces, It is also run by an artist and he sustains the space from another design studio that he runs.

They do not follow the system of the Korean art scene. So I respect that.

InYoung: What about commercial galleries and NFTs? Yaloo: I do not have much experience in that area. I make video work so it is difficult to get into the commercial gallery scene. NFTs, I think everyone is making NFT platforms. I am quite skeptical though because there are no collectors, no community, and I think media art and critical discourse on media art should be the base but I think it is not good enough yet here.

Dew: My work is not very sellable either. I think since last year people are buying more though. Art fairs are growing and people are getting excited about Frieze coming to Korea. Young people are also into purchasing artists’ ‘goods’. It is quite common in Korea for young artists to think about making ‘goods’ to sell. I am preparing for NFT but I do not know much about it. I am in a more experimental NFT project, so it is not so much about selling but rather for people to experience metaverse or different worlds. I think it is really an experimental stage for NFTs right now.

InYoung: It is an exciting time for Seoul and Korea with a lot of experimentations, young initiatives, and of course with Frieze, Busan Biennale this year, Seoul Museum of Art opening an Archive space in

Biography:

Pyeongchang Dong among the already very active art scene. Of course there are both critical and hopeful aspects to this fast changing art scene here.

But I thought I would end this conversation with some thoughts on ‘lightness’. I had the honor of being part of the Viewing Program 20/21 at The Drawing Center New York curated and led by Lisa Sigal, where the conversation began with Calvino’s observation on lightness.

“Whenever humanity seems condemned to

Dew Kim explores the meaning of beings excluded and discarded from the world moving towards normality, and the intense impulsive energy generated there. He also visualises the queer narrative through the process of transforming the body by objectifying himself, and attempts to break the boundaries of the social structure and binary thinking.

Hu Need-you (aka Dew Kim), ‘When the Water Blushed’, Osisun, Seoul 2021, photo: Seungwook Yang

Yaloo is a South Korean born extravagant visual storyteller working with digital media. She received a BFA & MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) focusing on film, video,new media and animation. Her works have been part of a number of solo/group shows and festivals in the cities such as Chicago, Portland, New York, Quebec City, and Malmö.

heaviness, I think I should fly like Perseus into a different space.” -Calvino Our conversation was of course about our drawing practices in relation to our art practice but for this conversation, I thought this quote was quite fitting, as a way to not escape as Calvino goes on to explain

InYoung Yeo is an artist based in Seoul. Her work expands from artistic materialisation of text, drawing, and installation works to curatorial projects with interdisciplinary approaches in topics of gender, A.I. and urbanisation as her main area of research. Exploring forms of patterns, numbers and dimensions based on various structures and coincidences, her questions start from researching differing micro-narratives with a focus on the cyclical ‘relation’.

35

Stanislav Máselník, ‘The Altar’ (Ronchamps Chapel, France), digital photography, 2017

The Holy Stanislav Máselník

36

On first appearance, thinking of the holy is one of

thought in the same manner and put this even more

those themes belonging to a dusty antiquary and a

simply: “time temporalizes itself only as long as there

theme for conversations between gray-haired

are human beings”.3 In other words: without humans

academics in their ivory towers. In our time, we have

there is no time and no sense of its importance, which

forgotten about such matters in favour of ‘more

comes together with our peculiar condition.

pressing issues’ and only the few poetic souls chime in that it is perhaps the holy that has abandoned us.

However, such lived time is not a given; it is not an

And the numbers speak for themselves. While in

ever-present feature of our experience. Instead, we

Sweden, 52% identified themselves as Christian in a

tend to lose sight of it for ‘more pressing issues’ and to

2018 survey by Pew Research Center, far fewer

fall into “everydayness” as Heidegger called it in the

regularly attend church (12%), as a key indicator of

book Being and Time.4 We often happen to be awakened

religious practice. The difference between those who

back to our fundamental condition only when the

were raised Christian in Sweden (74%) and current

daily course of affairs is interrupted by a crisis. Such

figures (52%) indicates that in terms of the official

a krisis, if understood in the sense of the ancient

creed, Christianity is suffering net losses accompa-

Greeks, is not some new, groundbreaking turn of

nied by net growth in the numbers of religiously

events: it is a decisive moment, but in such a

unaffiliated people. Differences between Western

way that we are thrown back and over

European countries exist, but minor qualifications

against our own inner possibilities. Only

confirm the general trend, which is a decline.

because we are already morituri,5 can we

As a result, if we look at the holy through the prism of

again grasp and realise that our time is

affiliation to Christianity, we are led to conclude that

finite.

1

Europe is well on the path to a fully post-religious age.

Might this be, however, a far too restrictive view?

Now, what do such heavy thoughts on

Firstly, as a glance at Islam and other traditions such

time and human existence, carried by

as Buddhism or Japanese Shintoism attests, not all

events we would rather forget, have to do with

religions are pursuing the same path as Christianity

the holy? Should one rather not expect the holy to

in Europe. Secondly, Christianity itself is quite

be something more spiritual, perhaps even joyful and

prospering on other continents, notably in Africa and

lighthearted? Do we not feel closest to ‘beyond the

Latin America. Thirdly, and crucially, the holy might

ordinary’ when enjoying a drink and good music in a

not be the same as being attached to any official

circle of friends, ‘spirited away on a cloud of fluff’ so

religion or even to having a faith, which would require

to say? These two strands of thought do not

us to look at its subsistence in Europe more closely. To

have to be mutually exclusive. It might be

find out if we as Europeans are losing access to it, we

that all such ways of being and experienc-

are pushed to seriously ask what the holy is.

ing, whether in anxiety or happiness, share the same ground, which is our

Despite the above developments, it cannot be

human nature with its temporal

neglected that certain familiarity with a ‘higher plane

character. This has been precisely the

of existence’ did not abandon our daily experience. In

argument of Heidegger’s extensive work.

the form of an ill-defined sensation of anxiety or fear

Under the shadow of our finite existence,

of death, it returns with a striking force in such

being itself resurfaces for us as a question.

tumultuous moments as we have been living through

Even the most usual happening, because ‘it is’,

in the last two years. This does not come as a surprise

rather than ‘it is not’, can emerge as question-worthy

if we, like Thomas Mann in The Magic Mountain,

and extra-ordinary. It is in this vein that Aristotle

connect the passing of time with “the mystery that is

tells us that “every realm of nature is marvellous”,

man”.2 The time presented in this enchanting novel

before he continues with a story of the ancient

does not happen as a linear quantity: it has its

philosopher Heraclitus.6 Heraclitus, visited by curious

instants when it drags in boredom, occasions when it

strangers seeking a sample of the thinker’s reputed

seems to disappear in a heartbeat, but also junctures

wisdom, found them perplexed when all he had to

that are felt as historical. Mann’s time is the lived

offer was an invitation to his stove, “for here too the

time: it is not a time of a mechanical clock, and for

gods are present.”7 Was it a false modesty, or a deeper

that reason only a war or a pandemic open up our

understanding of what is at stake in our existence,

eyes to the fact that some of its happenings are more profound. German philosopher Martin Heidegger

1 2

Pew Research Center 2018 Mann 1996, 729

3 4 5 6 7

Heidegger [1953] 2014, 92 Heidegger 2008, 383 ff.

Latin for “those who are about to die”.

Aristotle 1912, V:645a 17 ff.

Ibid.

37

which people usually fail to notice? Similarly, in the hymn ‘At the Source of the Danube’ by Friedrich Hölderlin, we can read the following lines:

they share the offered interpretation. For that to happen, however, there must be some common ground between the artist and viewer. Otherwise, all attempts to glimpse beauty and sublime, or recognise the mastery of a craft, would turn hollow. They would

We name you, compelled by the holy, we name you Nature! And new, as from a bath From you emerges all that is divinely born.

have no meaning of their own, and any individual not suffering from ‘false consciousness’ would need to accept their true nature, which would be an expression of a feeling, thoughts, or will of another individual.

In the extensive analysis of this poem, Heidegger

Yet, this is not the case. Despite the fact that

remarked that in a later version, Hölderlin crossed out

subjectivism is taken almost for granted, in our actual

the word “nature” in favour of speaking of “the holy”

behaviour we betray our quest for shared meaning

alone.8 As nature – not only ours as humans but in the

and understanding, be it in art, or in life outside of it.

sense of everything that surrounds us and emerges into our life – is “older than the ages” and first of all makes everything appear.

For that reason, it stands even “higher

This would hardly be possible if human beings did not share the same temporal nature, which has the capacity to reveal our surroundings and our existence in the aspect of the ‘holy. Whenever we sit down to a

than the gods of Occident and Orient”,

family table and submerge in a comfortable chatter

Hölderlin’s work teaches us.9 The holy, in

with the closest ones, whenever we shiver in a small

other words, is not primarily an aspect

church when passing by burning candles (even if we

or characteristic of a god, or of one

are not believers), whenever all of us gather in a holy,

religion or another. The holy is being itself, in its uncanny disposition to show itself to our understanding under a multitude of shapes

yes, the holy, moment of joint admiration of works of art, in our deeds if not in our words, we partake in the silent beyond of our limited earth-bound selves.

– as questionworthy, if only we notice so.

Does it really have to take a crisis for us to come to this understanding? Are there not any lighter ways how we can take note of the ‘holy’ aspect of our existence? Perhaps there is no better example to look at than that of art. However popular subjectivist interpretations of art may be, whenever the community of artists, galleries, curators, and visitors meet, they expect to partake in something higher than someone’s self-expression. If the art were (only) an articulation of private thoughts or feelings, what reason do we have as the audience to recognise them as beautiful or, for that matter, even as ugly? Surely,

Sources Aristotle (1912), De Partibus Animalium. Translated by J. A. Smith and W. D. Ross. Vol. V. The Works of Aristotle( Oxford: Clarendon Press).

Heidegger, Martin (2000), Elucidations of Hölderlin’s Poetry. Translated

by Keith Hoeller. Amherst (New York: Humanity Books).

——— (2008), Being and Time. Translated by John Macquarrie and Edward Robinson.

——— (1953), 2014. Introduction to Metaphysics. Translated by Richard Polt and Gregory Fried. 2nd ed (New Haven and London: Yale University Press).

Mann, Thomas (1996), The Magic Mountain and The Making of the Magic Mountain. Translated by H.T. Lowe-Porter (London: Minerva).

Pew Research Center (2018), Being Christian in Western Europe. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2018/05/29/ being-christian-in-western-europe/.

one’s subjective expression in art presupposes that other, ‘individualised egos’ find a connection to it, and therefore must first identify what is being expressed and, secondly, in the ideal circumstance, accept that

8 9

38

(Heidegger 2000, 80–81) (Heidegger 2000, 81–82)

Stanislav Máselník, ‘The Holy’, series of digital photography, 2017–2022

39

Otters, Bond and Bubbles – Artist-run as Fluffer Joe Rowley

Illustrations by Joe Rowley

40

Image Collage - (left to right) Rosie Carver/Gloria Hendry, Solitaire/ Jane Seymour, James Bond/Roger Moore - Live and Let Die, 1973 Credit: MGM/United Artists Pictures

For those of you not aware, a fluffer is someone who works

Burnetts identifies the kickback for these characters as a

on the set of porn films whose job is to get and keep the

much greater degree of agency in contrast to the Bond Girl.

male performers hard. They aren't the ones we see on

Bad Girls are professionalised and “efficient women” (Bold,

screen. They are hidden behind the camera; a MacGuffin of

C., 2003) with unique skillsets and a greater degree of

desire, somehow sordid and often placed closer to a

corporeal, spatial, social and sexual mobility and freedom

prostitute in the scale of sex work than a porn star. When

than Bond Girls.

you think about it though, fluffers are the ones with the

These Bad Girls are regularly racialised and othered in

real power over the actors and audience. The very success

various ways, in a similar way as henchmen in the series,

of the piece is firmly in their hands.

to identify them as nonconforming to the colonial-patriar-

This text is going to place artist-run in the fluffer role,

chal norms presented in both Ian Fleming’s books and the

tracking the development of the character through

films. Burnetts identifies Rosie Carver (Gloria Hendry/Live

cinematic references, soap-powder and the mechanics of

and Let Die-1973) and May Day (Grace Jones/A View to a

cultural ecology, positioning big institutions as Bond Girls

Kill-1985) as prime examples of this practice through

submissive to the normativity of our leading man, the

traditional racial tropes and negative codings persecuted

policymakers, in contrast to the liberated fluffer characters

by Western subjectivities coupled with yearning for the

of artist-run.

“primitive” or the “dark Other” as positioned by bell hooks (hooks, b., 1992).

The dichotomy between fluffer and star is illustrated well

Grace Jones’ scene-stealing May Day demonstrates this

in the James Bond film franchise. Charles Burnetts looks at

through being characterised by a degree of animalism,

this phenomenon, identifying that pretty much all of the

aggression and a masculine/androgynous gender coding,

female characters in the, generally problematic, franchise

classic tropes in racial stereotyping, which spills into the

fall into two loose categories – Bond Girls and fluffer

realms of caricature. Gloria Hendry’s Rosie Carver shows

characters or “Bad Girls” (Burnetts, C., 2015).

another side of this othering in the especially problematic

The Bond Girls are positioned as the object of desire which

Live and Let Die (1973), which puts Bond up against an

will be attained by the hero, an object to be possessed by

all-black criminal conspiracy masterminded by black-

the ambassador of colonial-patriarchal masculinity. They

nationalist Vodou caricature Dr Kananga (Yaphet Kotto) in

conform to “criteria of superior physical beauty and the

an absurdly racist and exploitative reaction to the Black

promise of feminine virtue and passivity”* as defined and

Power Movement. Carver is a CIA agent notionally working

normalised by hetero-normative, hegemony.

with Bond, but who turns out to be a believer in a “black

The Bad Girls in contrast are usually more closely aligned

ideology (coded: criminal)” (Burnetts, C., 2015) in the form

to the villain of the piece, fulfilling more diversely coded

of Vodou, which also stands in opposition to the Western

gender roles and narratives whilst at the same time being

Christian/Atheist symbol of Bond. This hits on another

more disposable, less valued and regularly othered.

problematic coding: the rationality and purity of (white)

41

Image Collage - (left to right) May Day/Grace Jones, James Bond/ Roger Moore, Stacey Sutton/Tanya Roberts - A View to a Kill, 1985 Credit: MGM/United Artists Pictures

Western Christianity in opposition to the hysteria and

We find ourselves again observing the fluffer as other and

savagery of other possible belief systems, especially

deviant. Somehow problematic. They are allowed to

polytheisms (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) and

exercise their agency with the object of their desire but not

Apocalypto (2006) are other great examples).

wholly on their terms and with an object of desire which is simultaneously their enemy/oppressor.

All of this feeds into the specific male gaze of James Bond.

A kind of male gaze which could be placed in correlation to

What is present in this example from the film world (and

that of many institutional structures in the Global North/

others, see: The Fluffer (Westmorland & Glatzer, 2001) for a

West. As a white Western male enforcer for the premier

more “R” rated example focused on homosexual love, desire

colonial nation-state (Britain), exemplar of toxic masculin-

and obsession) is how the interplay of coded roles within

ity through the ages and forever coded with a very

the characters tells us, the audience, what we are supposed

conventional hetero-normativity, Bond is the perfect

to want. This has a correlation to semiotician Roland

poster-boy for the patriarchy. May Day is much more

Barthes. In his super-short essay in Mythologies (1958),

dominant sexually, adhering to the “wild animal sexuality”

Soap-powders and Detergents, Barthes identifies the damaging

construct discussed by bell hooks in connection to the

qualities of soap-powders and detergents and the semiotic

commodification of the black female body (hooks, b., 1992).

tools advertising uses to cover this fact.

This is mirrored not only in many of the other non-white

Firstly there is the discourse of “whiter than white whites”, an

female fluffers but is a general trope within female

oldie but a goodie which is still with us in advertising for

characters in Bond generally (Bold, C., 2003). It undermines

laundry detergents. He links into the idea of maintaining

the agency of these Bad Girls, subordinating them through

normative behaviours. This forwarding of a value system

“to-be-looked-at-ness” (Mulvey, L., 1986) to both an othering

based a) on appearances and b) a very specifically male-

through the notion of forbidden or incomprehensible desire

coded kind of appearances also seeks to nurture a kind of

simultaneously with an othering based on nonconformity

neo-liberal competitive spirit; an encouragement of

to gendered norms. The subjugation of the female-coded

consuming this or that to outdo the appearances of your

object by a male-coded subject flows through the core of the

peers. It also, I think, links into the ideas I mentioned

fluffer as a kind of container of instrumentalised agency.

earlier around whiteness and purity and how that relates to non-white bodies and non-white cultures. The whiter your shirt the better and more rational and professional and clean and pure you are. It is marketed at a very white-western conception of the world.

42

There is also foam. Foam is the great enemy of clarity.

are broken promises, press-release templates and virtue signalling posts made by bullshit pedalling corporations.

“As for foam, it is well known that it signifies luxury. To begin with, it appears to lack any usefulness; then, its abundant, easy, almost infinite proliferation allows one to suppose there is in the substance from which it issues a vigorous germ, a healthy and powerful essence, a great wealth of active elements in a small original volume. Finally, it gratifies in the consumer a tendency to imagine matter as something airy, with which contact is effected in a mode both light and vertical, which is sought after like that of happiness either in the gustatory category (foie gras, entremets, wines), in that of clothing (muslin, tulle), or that of soaps ( filmstar in her bath). Foam can even be the sign of a certain spirituality, inasmuch as the spirit has the reputation of being able to make something out of nothing, a large surface of effects out of a small volume of causes (creams have a very different 'psychoanalytical' meaning, of a soothing kind: they suppress wrinkles, pain, smarting, etc.).”

(Barthes, R., Mythologies, pp36)

Bond Girls are foam. They cover up the body in the bathtub that is our dear fluffer. They don’t want us seeing the naughty bits but still want you to think they are hot. This is “the art of having disguised the abrasive function [of the detergent] under the delicious image” (Barthes, R., 1958, pp37). The abrasive function in James Bond films is an upholding of the norms represented by Bond. This is where the metaphor starts coming round to the culture sector. In a much more on-the-nose kind of way, the delicious image could be The Louvre in Abu Dhabi, a beautiful shiny new building full of beautiful objects with a famous name attached and the legitimacy that comes with it. It is a culture washing exercise that exists to obscure the actions of a policymaker in a cloud of pretty bubbles.

Artist-run often presents the alternative to that narrative – without the explicit connections to government or a private investment fund they have the agency to present their own narrative. This isn’t to say that it is always a positive or healthy narrative, sometimes it is downright toxic sludge (see LD50 in London, 2017 - https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/feb/22/art-gallery-criticised-overneo-nazi-artwork-and-hosting-racist-speakers), but there is the freedom to exist outside of the normatively prescribed version of society.

First, let’s frame out artist-run a little. When talking about artist-run I am talking about non-profit based collectivised practices, autonomous or at the very least semi-autonomous from institutional (state or private) frameworks and

I am a big fan of the ephemeral but I also think there are

controls, initiated and cultivated by artists (I’ll get to them

different kinds of ephemerality that have different kinds of

later). In Artist-Run Spaces Gabriele Detterer and Maurizio

ethical durability. Foamy things are the least durable. They

Nannucci position this trajectory as coming out of the

43

Global North/West avant-garde movements of the 1960s

various forms of cultural output. No studios?- make a

and 70s, especially driven by global collaborative practi-

studio. No gallery opportunities for young artists or artists

tioners and collectives like Fluxus, more publication driven

from marginalised backgrounds?- make a gallery/project

platforms like Printed Matter (New York-based collective-run

space. Nowhere to screen print?- set up a print shop. etc.

bookshop and publication project: Edit DeAk, Sol LeWitt, Lucy Lippard, Walter Robinson, Pat Steir, Mimi Wheeler,

A possibly contentious term in all this is artist. There are

Robin White, Irena von Zahn), and General Idea (artist group

questions as to what is and isn’t qualified artistic practice

based in Toronto, Canada, who initiated File Magazine to

in the broader academic discourse around artist-run. I feel

extend their Gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art) approach to

like Mousse Magazine’s publication anthology The Artist as

a printed media: AA Bronson, Felix Partz, Jorge Zontal) and

Curator (ed. Filipovic, E., 2018) is a good exploration of the

the project space movement within the field of exhibition

complex interactions between artist-curator-institutional-

as led by pioneering project spaces and galleries spaces like

body and that particular subject has enough in it for

PS1 in New York.

several books worth of content so I’m not going to get

Artist-Run Spaces focuses on North America and Central

bogged down with it here.

Europe with Artpool (initiated in communist-ruled Buda-

A growing level of transdisciplinarity, interdisciplinarity

pest, Hungary in 1979) a kind of anomaly in the mix. The

and intersectionality between artistic–artistic fields and

idea was proliferating across Western and Northern Europe

artistic–non-artistic fields which has further greyed this

and the ideas of many at the vanguard of the artist-run

area, the curatorial boom from the 90s to now has made it

revolution, particularly Fluxus with their more ephemeral

both impossible to define what is and isn’t an artist. It has

and gestural practice, quickly establishing themselves in

also, in my opinion, rendered it a moot point. For me, the

cultural hubs globally. By the 90s artist-run had become

character of the artist within the artist-run doesn’t need to

kind of old hat, meshing neatly with existing artist studio

be a specialist in visual arts or any kind of arts. Instead, I

formats, night-life and queer culture, underground music

would define it as someone with an ethos of agency and

and subcultures in a more general sense to become a kind

drive when approaching a collectivised project which loose-

of plankton bloom of micro to mini-projects. Some of the

ly (or very firmly) fits in the culture sector. By this I mean

vanguard organisations were either subsumed by or took

they are committed to using art, or culture in a more

on institutional forms, PS1 is a great example of this, now

nebulous sense, to express their concerns and passions

standing as one of the leading institutional spaces in New

both as an individual and within a collective.

York. Others withered and died leaving spaces that were

Ephemeral Care, for example, I position as artist-run.

quickly filled up by the next bright young things. In

However, Connor Brazier and I are the only two involved in

whatever circumstance artist-run initiatives tend to

the project in possession of a formal art-making back-

emerge to cover a perceived lack within the resources and

ground, neither of us are still practising but we do have

options available to a community of folks working with

certificates that tell us we are artists. The other members

44

come from art history/curating/arts management,

eye is just as often pretty one dimensional.

literature/critical whiteness studies and governmental

In an effort to mitigate stagnation institutional bodies

environmental policy. For me, they are no less artists. Not

often look towards artist-run for inspiration. They may

everyone will agree with that and that is fine, the point I

take ideas, people and concerns from this pool to act as a

am trying to make is that I am not super interested in

kind of foam covering their inactivity and disinterest in

fighting over labels and definitions of what a person is or

making actual changes. Zarina Muhammad has written

isn’t, I’m interested in their contribution. Many of the most

two great texts for The White Pube highlighting the use of

exciting projects come from cross-disciplinary practice and

freelance non-white creatives by major institutions to

experience, every painter inserts some of their lived

create a facade of inclusion, diversity and representation

experience into a painting, every person involved in an

(The Problem with Diaspora Art, Muhammad, Z., 2018, The

organisation does that same.

Problem with Representation, Muhammad, Z., 2019). Also

I am of course from that definition using artist-run as a

worth a look on the subject is Jade Foster’s text Art,

catch-all for a broad set of “job titles” so to say. It is also

Curating, Systems and Stuff: Black Performativity Thriving in

pertinent to point out that artist-run in this context

Spite of, for Ephemeral Care’s publication The Exhibition is in

concerns presentational practice. Either in terms of

Transit vol.1 (2021).

providing a platform for presentation or being the presenter itself, the field of artist-run is inherently driven by output:

Here we start to see the correlation to the position of the

exhibition. To clarify this, I position the exhibition as

Bond Girl presented earlier. Institutional bodies are, to all

anything made public, from the Latin exhibre - to hold-forth

intents and purposes, submissive to the patriarchal and

or hold-out. It could be a performance in the street, a

normative James Bond of policymakers. They operate as

painting in a gallery, a reading in a coffee shop, a publica-

foam for these policymakers; concealing, luxuriating,

tion in paper or digital form, a desk in a shared studio,

purifying. There are of course always exceptions to the rule

attendance at a residency, a post on Instagram; whatever

and the latitude of the institution generally reflects the

– use your imagination. As long as one other person sees it,

local and national politics of the country it is in. There is

even if that is just a studio-mate who passes by your desk

also the grey area of established institutional spaces with

and looks over your shoulder; it’s public, it is exhibition.

strong connections to and consistent backing from

Whilst that may seem a little fuzzy I think it is paramount

government funders but which are technically independ-

in understanding several of the points in this text. I also

ent. These often come out of artist-run organisations which

hope it doesn’t lead to a retreat to the artist’s garret and the

have managed to persevere, spaces like Gasworks (London),

delusion of masterwork or genius.

Röda Sten Konsthall (Göteborg), Index (Stockholm). In Sweden there is a particular history with socially collectiv-

What I would like to counterpoint this field with is the

ised institutions (Fotograficentrum in the case of Index for

more traditional museological/academic realm of presenta-

example but also regional networks like Konstfrämjandet)

tional practice. Here again, I want to stress that I am

popping up in the 1970s which feel as though they may

thinking about the exhibition aspect here, but again maybe

have superseded the kind of artist-run activity that was

it is worth expressing what I am covering in that. Any

happening contemporaneously in the UK and USA. This

published academic research or any outwardly facing

different basis for collectively driven cultural spaces has

research methodology (focus groups, seminars, lectures,

concurrently altered the approach to artist-run from both

interviews) for me would constitute an exhibition. An

sides. Policymakers seem (at least in my experience) more

exhibition, as we all should be familiar with in artist-run,

keen to back things with a connection to these older

is still an exhibition if there is only one visitor. When

structures or which are established, even in regards to

considering the more institutional side of the cultural

funding directed at initiating projects. From inside

sector we often encounter a more constrained vision of

artist-run it feels like these structures have encouraged a

possibilities than we may find in artist-run. Institutions are

reluctance to exist outside of a certain level of comfort,

more inherently shackled to the whims of board members,

which could also be read as a more concrete understanding

stakeholders, regional government, and the demands of

from those involved in the scene about their rights and

funders. With their greater resources, and to a degree

worth than is present in the UK, for example.

recourses, comes a constriction of agency and nimbleness.

By policymakers, I don't just mean those in government

These aren’t agile jerboas able to change direction in a

who are expressly dealing with culture. Yes, the folks

flash, they are more like elephant seals, stranded on land,

making the decisions in local and national culture

flailing and lumbering. There are also larger questions of

departments are involved in this group though it also

prestige and the constraints of social norms to consider for

includes a vast amount of other people involved in steering

these bodies which can further stagnate the offering. They

social, political and economic direction and priorities. This

are conventionally attractive, appealing to the broadest

also includes more tangentially those lobbying government

denominator of consumers and whilst often easy on the

on behalf of various companies, charities and interests.

45

Policymakers exercise control through economic means,

follow the dictates from culture policymakers at various

dictating, what is acceptable to distract the herd of the

levels of government or shareholders and trustees in the

general population with (Chomsky, N.,1988), whilst

case of public or private institutions respectively. Artist-

concurrently blinding said herd to the injustices placed

run can work between the lines a little more, be a little

upon them and serving the polemic of the perceived public

more nimble and whilst perhaps not having the choice to

(politicians) as upholders of a specific status quo. They

sink thousands of currency units into production can at

allow nods to the real concerns, acting as a pacifier for

least make a choice over exactly who and what they stand

some disgruntled elements through their foams, just

for and how they want to stand for it.

enough to look good but never quite enough to be good. We also should look back to Barthes here and consider the

Cultural ecosystems, just like biological ones, are locational

positioning of peers in a relationship of competition. In the

and express the relationship of energy transfer in that

same way as there is an insistence on pitting the most

location. In biology, we have food-webs that basically tell us

economically unstable/disadvantaged element of society

what eats what. In culture, it is the same except, as we

against itself (Jones, O., 2011), we see the pitting of the most

know, it’s dog-eat-dog (insert punchline drum track).

economically unstable/disadvantaged element of the

What food-webs tell us is how an ecosystem is structured

culture sector against itself.

and they can also explain to us how things exist in balance.

Whilst policymakers have a firm hand on the leash of

For example, we know from observing food-webs that if you

institutions they also have a decent hold on artist-run,

take the main predator out of an ecosystem it will destabi-

which if they want to get paid are generally beholden to the

lise the whole structure. No sea otters mean too many sea

same funding avenues. This encourages a normalisation

urchins which eat pretty much everything else. That

and formalisation of process, format and themes through

means the ecosystem becomes a monoculture of urchins

an economic incentive for those toeing the party line.

– not good.

If the big state institutions are the “delicious image”, the “abrasive function” here is the upholding of a set of social

The same is true if you take anything else out from the

norms dictated by a global social elite with a dedication to

food-web too. No kelp still means a monoculture. This is

prioritisation of whiteness, patriarchal hegemony and

also true in culture. If you were to take out the largest

disorganisation amongst the oppressed.

institutions everything else would destabilise. Same result in the case of no artist-run. In the same sense, we can

With our Bond (policymakers) and Bond Girl (institutions)

position a food-web with various levels of complexity and

cast that leaves only the role of Fluffer open to artist-run.

detail from a very direct kelp-urchin-otter tripartite to a

What a relief!

more nuanced net of contingencies and influences with

From everything we have looked at so far we should be

attached caveats for the influence of species (almost always

starting to see that whilst the fluffer may not get much

humans/specie humans introduce) from outside of that

screen time, is marginalised and discriminated against, it

food-web. In a cultural sense, this is where things like

is the fluffer who dictates the direction and tempo of the

lobbying organisations that have an impact on a set of

plot. The fluffer is the one with the agency to make or break

policymakers can have an impact on every other part of

the whole shebang and the more the fluffer realises that,

the ecosystem.

then the more power the fluffer has [ed. Well…until viagra

In a biological food-web the energy moving around is the

comes]. An artist-run initiative is in an excellent position in

stuff that keeps everything alive. In a cultural food-web, it

contrast to other fluffers. Artist-run as a field has the

is memetic energy. By this, I don’t mean the meme as in the

latitude to make its own rules, its own opportunities and,

image and caption combo but instead, the concept as

as evidenced by the past fifty or so years of art history, is

originally established by Richard Dawkins in The Selfish

an increasingly potent force in dictating and shaping how

Gene (1976): a unit of cultural information transferred by

cultural ecosystems evolve. Latitude and possibility do not

imitation.

automatically mean socio-economic independence from

Artist-run, as a broader field, would probably cover

the whole capitalist shitfight we live in but it does mean a

everything in the diagram from phytoplankton and kelp to

degree of socio-economic agency. We can choose to do

Abalones. Artist-run organisations can range in size and

something without state funding, without any funding if

complexity but ultimately hold the greatest energy mass

needs be. I’m not advocating that artists (or anyone) should

within the web. This isn’t to suggest that they are the

be content to work for free, and on the other side of that

primogenitor of cultural energy but instead that they are

coin, you of course have an equally powerful agency to

plentiful and intrinsic in keeping that energy moving

choose not to do certain things. But I would say however

around. They are, without fail, the spaces which have the

that as an artist-run you have the power to decide in a way

most agency to do what they want, to follow their desires

a state or private (corporate) institution does not. They are

(perhaps where the comparison with plankton derails

contractually obliged to pay a set rate, they are obligated to

slightly) and articulate those things that are actually

46

Californian kelp forest ecosystem food-web, photo: Joe Rowley

important to developing sustainable societies. There are

respect for the power that a unified artist-run scene can

problems with resources of course but when has that ever

have. Artist-run and subcultural spaces under various

kept a good idea down?

guises have been the seat of activism, organised collective actions and protest throughout the 20th and 21st centuries.

Artist-led is not of immaterial foam but fluff. Material, vital

Policymakers know the power of culture, of images, of

and here to stay. Artist-run is the dangerous, deviant,

music and literature (just look at the insane constraints on

obsessive, over-skilled and under-paid mass.

school literature selections in the UK) and as with all

Deviant in that they don’t, and have no intention to,

things the existing power structures would prefer to

conform to a set of social norms which are damaging to

control the means of production through economic

society. Identifying and speaking out about issues within

drip-feeding and encouraged normalisation.

society has been done through culture for centuries; from music to political cartoons, poems to paintings. Where a

The big take away I think is that I’m not training to position

large scale public institution is to a degree hamstrung by

this as a good vs. evil scenario. In the same way as the

the political situation that it is attached to artist-run has

food-web for the California kelp forests, we need a bit of

more latitude to speak out. Whilst artist-run is a propri-

everything for a healthy ecosystem to exist. Hand in hand

etary space for many cultural professionals it is also a

with that is the importance of everyone having an equal

proprietary space for the ideas and politics they will carry

opportunity and an equal voice. Artist-run gives that

with them through their careers.

opportunity so much more readily than larger institutional

Obsessive in that they are passionately engaged with

structures. If you don't feel like you are being represented,

driving change and supporting concerns instead of creating

change that, present the art and culture you want to see,

an illusion of responsibility, diversity and representation.

that you feel represented by. To close on cinema, as we

There is something in passion and commitment to an idea,

opened, watch Amatörer (Pichler & Lundborg, 2018); think of

method or cause that can often be deemed obsessive but

the latitude and skills you have, think of the way you want

that is generally only when folks want to oppress that idea

to be represented and want to represent your communities,

or those people. We’ve seen this in various movements for

stay passionate about the causes you care about. Take

social justice from suffrage to #blacklivesmatter. The

lessons from larger structures and get that funding for

pursuit for justice in many areas has been deemed

sure, but always do it with an eye to your own agency and

obsessive (coded: insane) repeatedly through history until

your own desires.

that cause eventually becomes a social norm.

Dangerous in that if artist-run as a global field wanted to,

Embrace flufferhood. Fluff the way you wanna fluff.

we could eat policymakers alive. They may not be scared of us, but in the same way as I am not scared of bears but appreciate I wouldn't win that fight, they have a healthy

47

48

KVADRENNALEN: Let the Art World Unite Alice Máselníková, Interview with Thierry Mortier

‘Vänligen rör inte konsten’, 9 mobile gatupratare (literal translation ‘street talkers’), photo: Thierry Mortier

49

Over the past few months, the art movement KVADRENNALEN has been popping up in various instances all over Sweden, listing and promoting exhibitions, performances and other events from various sectors of the art world, flagshipping its manifesto both online and offline. In its scope reminiscent of the recently discovered ten-armed octopus ancestor Syllipsimopodi bideni, aptly named after president Joe Biden, KVADRENNALEN is continuously growing in order to gather more voices and achieve its goal. Which is? To show that the artworld has the capacity to stand united, fight for a cause, and share similar values. How does the movement operate – and what is the meaning behind this recent addition to the art world? Find out more in our interview with KVADRENNALEN’s initiator, Belgian artist based in Stockholm, Thierry Mortier.

political threats to the free artistic expression in Sweden – through art. The important part is to also bring the message across to the general public, not just the regular art audience, but the entire voting public: that art is essential for society, and consequently for them. It is essential because of art’s independent critical voice; because art is the manifestation of their society.

It is not a fun idea, but a necessary idea. Free artistic expression is under threat here in Sweden, as well as throughout Europe and the rest of the world.

Personally I saw what happened in Flanders, Belgium, once a populist government took over. There are artists originally from Poland and Slovenia that joined KVADRENNALEN because they know what politics has done in their homeland to those art scenes. I always assume this is general knowledge already and I believe that in the art world it is to a certain extent. You, Alice, and Andreas Ribbung understood it immediately because you already knew, and it is why you gave KVADRENNALEN a programme slot at Supermarket 2021. But even if I am wrong about this being general knowledge, the consequences are even more important: when free artistic expression is under threat then the freedom of expression of the people is under threat. That means that we need to convince the public of art’s imporGREBNELLAW, ‘OONA/NANO/ONAN/ANNO/ANON/NONA’, Candyland, Stockholm, 21 January–6 February 2022, photo: Thierry Mortier

tance in their personal lives, and do that before their votes are cast, since it will have immediate and direct consequences for everyone working in the arts… as much as everyone outside of the arts.

What is KVADRENNALEN? How exactly does it work to implement these KVADRENNALEN is an open invitation to everyone in

ideas in practice? Can you give us an example of

the art world to voice the same message: (free) art is

what KVADRENNALEN does, and has done?

essential in (a free, democratic) society, and do it with

50

what we do best: art! It is an idea I presented to the

KVADRENNALEN is not so much the ‘acting agent’, it

Swedish art scene several months ago in connection

is rather the result of many agents’ actions. But, a

to the 2022 election year in Sweden: to create a

great question that needs some explanation. For nine

platform together where, for nine months, from 11

months in 2021, I and over time a number of artists

January 2022 (opening day of Riksdagen – the Swedish

and art professionals, like Anna Koch (Weld), Conny

parliament) until 11 September 2022 (election day),

Blom and Nina Slejko Blom (CAC), and too many to list

across all disciplines and across the nation, the

here now, spoke with all the different layers of the

Swedish art scene gets to voice its concerns about the

Swedish art scene, meaning public, private, semi-

public organisations, artist-run spaces, artists and we

Is it possible today to think that art can change

found a couple of issues. The first one was that

politics, or change people’s minds? Has it ever

KVADRENNALEN could not be political itself, we are

been possible?

artists and art organisations, we know art, not politics. The second one is that ‘the art world’ is a

I really like the formulation of the question, because it

label given to us from outside of the art world even

shows the challenge at hand. KVADRENNALEN is not

though the general perception is that ‘the art world’ is

set up to change the outcome of the election, that

divided, we are still labelled as one homogenous

would mean that it is doing politics and it does not do

group. These two observations formed the basis of the

that. The aim is to change the misconception around

KVADRENNALEN manifesto: art is essential in society

art in society. The thinking is this: if artists and art

and the art world is united in their belief in art. By

organisations can show the general public that art is

keeping the message pure in terms of art KVADREN-

essential for them then the general public will never

NALEN avoids being political. It wants to change the

vote for a politician that wants to take away some-

general misconception that art is not essential, which

thing that is essential for them. Indirectly that would

means we are not speaking for one or another political

change both politics and the people’s minds. But, the

agenda, we are speaking up for art, and we can

question as to whether art ever had the possibility to

approach art from a societal perspective. The second

change anything is particularly interesting, because it

one is really special: we, the art world, are labelled as

opens up another perspective: what persuaded the

such by the general public, by the politicians, by the

people and the politicians that art is not essential in

media. Whether we actually feel connected, united,

the first place? Was that a collective observation? Or

whatever word we do not like to accept here, does not

is it a nurtured perception, and if so who nurtured it?

matter. We are viewed as a group, which actually

If not art, then what has the potential to generate

makes us a group.

change? Personally I believe it is impossible not to

But, apart from that outside perception, there is also a

create change with art. There are already too many

lot of truth here. I believe that every artist, irrespec-

examples in art history, Goya, Picasso, Santiago

tive of their discipline, believes in art, and when you

Sierra, Jenny Holzer, Valie Export, Hans Haacke,

have approximately 30,000 artists working today in

Martha Rosler, Kara Walker, Otobong Nkanga, Francis

Sweden that all believe in the same thing, namely art,

Alÿs, Theaster Gates, … the real question is however,

that actually means that they are all united in their ‘belief’ in art. To state that the art world is divided is ignoring the one thing that allowed the outside perspective to label it as a single group. KVADRENNALEN is working to get these two pillars across, both

Björkö konstnod/HYBRID, opening of KVADRENNALEN, 11 January 2022, photo: Thierry Mortier

internally and externally. How do you show that the art world is united in their belief in art? You put an umbrella over all the individual efforts that all the individual actors in the art world are setting up. If you have an art show in Landskrona on the same day that you have a music performance in Umeå and a dance performance in Dalarna then the perception is countered that we, the art world, do not work together. It’s all about the perception, because political policy is actually made on perception. The art world is seen as divided? Then show, really show visually, that this is not true.

As to what KVADRENNALEN actually does? It allows individual efforts from artists, art spaces to be perceived as the collective effort of art, and if we keep that up long enough then there will be a turning point, where every individual effort is going to get a push from the collective, and where the platform, created by all the individual actors, will push through the public debate to allow artists and art spaces to speak for art.

51

what do you mean with “to change people’s minds, or

just as much belief in art today as before? A big part

politics”? All the people’s minds? All the politics? Most

of KVADRENNALEN’s message is to actually reclaim

change takes a lot of time and it becomes difficult to

or ignite the naive belief in art, and in our own

pinpoint the one thing that created the change,

strength. No real change has ever come out of purely

because it almost never is just one thing. An old

realistic probability calculations. If KVADRENNALEN

Belgian example, the story goes that the Belgian

was not a naive idea, it would not stand a chance. If

revolution for independence started because of an

we do not believe we can actually change the

opera performance in Brussels in 1830, where the

misconception about art in society then there is no

public stormed out of the ‘The mute girl of Portici’ and

point in trying.

started the fight against the Netherlands. Was it the opera piece that gave the Belgians their courage or

The vast majority of criticism KVADRENNALEN gets,

insight, or was it a culmination of events and the

has very little to do with the idea of KVADRENNALEN

opera just hit the right nerve at the right time? When

itself, but has everything to do with the individual

the Yes Men made their Dow Chemical piece and got

perspectives that do not allow naiveté as a viable

Dow Chemical to admit something in public that they

option. Yet it is perhaps the only option that has not

were determined to never reveal, did that change the

yet been tried. Across the globe we have seen

world? Actually, it did. Dow Chemical made an

protests, demonstrations and rallies by all different

admission they would never have made otherwise.

art scenes to protest against censorship, budget cuts and much worse in some countries. What all those

But I understand that you are also asking whether it is

actions have in common is that they happened after

still possible ‘today’ to have that belief in art’s

the fact, after the censorship, the cuts, the much

strength and there I need to agree that it feels more

worse… and it is always too late. Why not try and

probable that the art world has lost its belief in its

stand together before the radical political shift

own strength, although honestly I do not know if we

happens? If the worst case scenario does not become

can make the comparison today. Perhaps there is just

reality then we will still come out stronger because

as much activism today as in any other time in

we will have worked together… so there is no bad

history? If you read about Guy Debord’s frustration

outcome here. And, if the worst case scenario does

with the art world in the 1960s, then perhaps there’s

become reality and we did not even try something else this time, then we will only have ourselves to blame, don’t you think?

Maria Lundberg and Andrea Diaz, ‘VOICES: From inside to here’, curated by Juanma González, Flat Octopus, Retorikkabinett at Färgfabriken, 13 March 2022, photo: Thierry Mortier

You make it sound like joining KVADRENNALEN is the only ‘right way’ to make art credible or to be united or to convey a message.

That is not the intention, but I can see where that perception is created, and I have not found a way around it. There is a nuance that really is key which the KVADRENNALEN manifesto addresses by stating the difference between ‘art’ and ‘art in society’. It is not threats to art, but threats to free artistic expression that concern KVADRENNALEN and those threats are societal, meaning they are coming from politics and the general perception. To be more specific about KVADRENNALEN as ‘the only right way’. From the start I have said if you have a better idea than KVADRENNALEN, then KVADRENNALEN will join that! So it is not that KVADRENNALEN is the only right thing to do… I believe the only right thing to do as an artist or as an art space when you are being threatened is to do something… and perhaps a little more specific, something you have not tried before, because everything we have tried until now is what got us to where we are now – under threat.

52

I know that KVADRENNALEN is not the only option, but it is the only option I could come up with. I also understand that it is much easier to criticise an idea that is in front of you than to come up with a better idea. A lot of people, including artists, understand everything that is happening and they also see what is ahead, but that does not mean they have figured out what they themselves can do about it. When we applied for funds, which we did not get, we were told that there was actually a movement that had a similar thinking. It was called 1000 Days of Culture and was set up in 2019 by seventeen big art institutions to show the importance of art in society. By the time we found out about the initiative it had already been stopped.

One of the big goals of KVADRENNALEN is to show the public that the art world will unite under threat.

The only way to show the public one big art world, is to do just that, meaning the art world cannot afford two or three or fifteen different movements all trying to do the same thing that would be completely counterproductive and actually show division. It does

‘Vänligen rör inte konsten’, 9 mobile gatupratare (literal translation ‘street talkers’), photo: Thierry Mortier

not mean that KVADRENNALEN is a replacement for all the good work that is already being done to safeguard the free artistic expression here in Sweden.

So many artist-interest groups are doing all the

our art colleagues on board, and we still make art

necessary lobbying work now, a lot of organisations

history. Because that is what we are doing. Never has

are setting up talks and lectures and more. All that

this been attempted before the fact! Meaning, never

work is needed. KVADRENNALEN just tries to fill a big

has an art scene stood up before a radical political

void that is not being addressed yet: voice the art

shift happens. After the fact, no problem, then the art

world’s concern with what the art world actually

scene anywhere in the world finds each other to go

knows best, art! KVADRENNALEN is set-up as a

demonstrate against the cuts, censorship, forced

complement to all the other work that’s being done

political directives… Unfortunately it is always too

and it is something every single artist, art space, art

late then. The only thing to do at that moment is

institution can do right now: bring art to the people

damage control.

and have the conversation with the public. No

But let’s say that we only get 10% onboard, after

threshold, no membership fee, just bring your artistic

months of showing the label KVADRENNALEN out

responses to the political threats we are facing… and

there, people are going to start noticing a change, the

show it to the biggest possible audience!

media will pick it up and then we, the art scene, can make a seemingly little tweak, but with a huge

What are your hopes with KVADRENNALEN?

impact. Instead of doing what we always do, installing shows and performances individually in our own little

There are two – the naive, idealistic hope, and the

bubbles, we do exactly the same thing but we show it

realistic one. The idealistic one is that by 11 Septem-

under a collective label and for a collective cause to

ber this year the entire Swedish art scene, artists, art

which every single artist owes their livelihood: art.

spaces, art institutions, all alike, will have figured out

That in itself is already quite a radical move!

that the time to act is now, and that it is up to us,

Now, the radicalism of KVADRENNALEN might seem

each and everyone of us, to act. Just imagine, 30,000

unimpressive, but that is only a superficial percep-

artists and all the art institutions and venues

tion. KVADRENNALEN is transdisciplinary – visual

standing together, and showing just that very thing to

artists working with musicians, authors, theatre

the public, media, and politicians – that they stand

producers, dancers and others. These different catego-

together. A pure coup de force… and it only takes one

ries do not make sense in our cause: they are all

decision to do so.

artists, they all manifest society through their work.

The realistic hope is that we get 5% or maybe 10% of

KVADRENNALEN has no hierarchy; emerging and

53

established artists work side by side. This is because

Valie Export, Jenny Holzer and Hans Haacke are out

when art is under threat, every artist is under threat.

there, brewing absolute masterpieces… so I hope that

KVADRENNALEN is nationwide, it is not about

they will bring that work in front of the public who

Stockholm versus another city or versus art outside of

need to see it – now.

the urban landscape. KVADRENNALEN is not even an organisation, it is an idea, and an idea that does not

So where is KVADRENNALEN now?

even belong to me, or to you, or to any individual actor, it belongs to all of us as a collective, whether we

Right now, we are only at the start, but by the time

want to accept that or not. There are plenty of

this gets printed we will be half way through already.

colleagues out there that have a hard time accepting

And it feels as if every day we are in yet another situa-

that the art world is a collective… which it very much

tion. We opened KVADRENNALEN in January with

is, although perhaps not self-declared, meaning if the

decentralised openings. Everyone who was already onboard or interested got the invitation to open KVADRENNALEN themselves. It was the only opening format that felt right. When you set up a decentralised ownership, where everyone who joins actually decides what KVADRENNALEN is going to be, then it makes little sense to have a centralised opening in one city, in one art venue. So we had spaces open KVADRENNALEN, but also artists and all in their own manner and with their own voice. Since the opening, every couple of days we have had spaces and artists join, bringing events, works, performances and others to the calendar. The movement is growing, which is brilliant.

So where is KVADRENNALEN now – it is right on schedule. It is slowly growing towards critical mass, which I hope we can achieve around the summer, so we can really have a massive amount of different art voices speaking up for art when the election noise is heading towards its climax, so we, as one art scene, can push through the public debate and let art and artists speak for art, instead of politicians and policymakers that speak about art, which are two very different things. In short, KVADRENNALEN is on, it is happening, it’s here and whoever wants to put their art in the calendar just needs to reach out.

How does this accumulation of events differ from other art calendars that do this?

Efva Lilja, ‘Med Kärlek’, Retorikkabinett at Färgfabriken, 24 March 2022, photo: Thierry Mortier

Oh, that is not too difficult. The KVADRENNALEN calendar is a consequence, it is the form that emerges when all the efforts are brought together. Regular art calendars list events to inform a public where to find

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outside world calls us ‘the art scene’ then that is what

what and most often monetise that service. They list

we are.

individual efforts from actors in the art field. The

In both versions, I like seeing great art appear on the

KVADRENNALEN calendar shows the collective effort

platform, because that is what it is here for: to offer a

of all the artists and art spaces that are creating the

platform for contemporary art to respond to the

platform, it is there to show the collective voice to the

political threats we are facing. We all know that we

public of course, but also to the media, to the

can do it, we all know our heroes, we all know the

policymakers… and it also functions as a protection

brilliant artworks from the past that were addressing

of the idea. KVADRENNALEN is an idea that is being

the political issues of that time and they all did it with

executed right now, and ideas can easily get hijacked.

great art. I know that the Swedish Santiago Sierra,

I am not saying that it will happen, but it can. Since

Conny Blom, Conceptual Art Centre Bukovje/Landskrona, Kill the poor, artist talk, Retorikkabinett at Färgfabriken, 4 March 2022, photo: Felicia Gränd

KVADRENNALEN is not an actual organisation our

towards the outer political threats but the internal

failsafe is the calendar. If an event is not in the

politics of the art scene itself are just as much a

calendar it is not an official KVADRENNALEN event.

threat. An example, I still believe, and to this date

That does not mean the event or the organiser has

nobody has contradicted me on this, that KVADREN-

bad intentions, perhaps they just forgot to send

NALEN should not have started from the artists… It

through their event details, but the possibility is

should have started from the public art institutions

always there that someone wants to discredit the

that have the assignment to execute the Swedish

movement or worse. Our calendar serves entirely

cultural policy goals (or Kulturpolitiskmål as it is

different purposes than other art calendars, it is there

known in Swedish), that is what they are paid for with

to list but also to show the collective nature of the

taxpayers’ money. The public institutions should be

movement and protect it.

the first line of defence when the cultural policy goals are under threat. But, when we asked public culture

What are the biggest obstacles?

institutions to join they were the first ones to state that the independent art actors should do this.

It is not easy to figure out what one can actually do in the face of political threats and that is exactly what

So, since you mention you have never done

KVADRENNALEN is asking everyone. So that is the

this – what are the threats?

first obstacle, it is a big ask. Another is the concept of decentralised ownership, as most people have

Too many to list. Just take a look at what the art scene

difficulties with accepting that kind of ‘empower-

in Poland, Hungary, Slovenia is facing. How many

ment’ because it is quite confrontational to have to

political appointments are being made in those

answer “what do you want to do?”, when the question

countries’ institutions and museums. Look at what

comes with the expectation that once you figure out

happened in Flanders, Belgium, where the first thing

what to do, that you also execute it. And, then there is

that happened when the populist government was

the state-of-affairs we are all faced with: too much

formed is that the minister of culture disappeared,

work, too much pressure, too many good causes to

not the function but a person with culture as a full

fight for, on top of that we just went through two

time responsibility. Bolsonaro did the same in Brazil,

years of pandemic, there is a war in Ukraine… How

where the whole ministry of culture disappeared and

does anyone figure out what to prioritise when we are

its function is now under the ministry of tourism. In

constantly in crisis mode? A whole different level of

Flanders, the signal was given, and it was also stated,

obstacles are the internal political threats – just for

that art and culture are just hobbies which means

the record, KVADRENNALEN never specified which

that the function of a minister of culture should also

political threats are being answered from the

be a hobby for a real minister. A textbook example

platform, so it is easy to assume that it is only

how the perception is created that art and culture

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does not matter. The irony is that the ruling populist

when it gets cut here and there, in a strategic manner,

party actually states that culture is the most

the consequences keep piling up. But to be really

important thing in society from their point of view, as

blunt, the most important threat in a free, open

shown in their ‘Flemish canon of art’ that they are

democracy is to lose the critical voice of free artistic

building now. Exactly the same rhetorics as here in

expression. When that is lost, then we lose the

Sweden, except in Flanders it is about Flemish culture

freedom of expression for every person in Sweden. So

and exporting good Flemish art.

what is really at stake are our democratic values.

Art history has already taught us what it means when

Losing free artistic expression is always the first

politicians start making lists of what they believe is

symptom of a failed state.

good and bad art. The art world should never fear politicians that have no interest in art and culture, it

What happens when/if KVADRENNALEN

is the politicians that show an interest that we need to

accumulates the ‘critical mass’ and gets the

fear. Those are more of the big threats. Less obvious,

message out there? What if it does not change

but just as bad are all the small, little strategic cuts

anything, the threats are turned into attacks and

we are facing that are directed at short term political

art in Sweden gets restricted?

gains but have long lasting effects in the structure of the art world for example when funds are taken away

We will have tried something that had not been tried

from the culture school system – then the egalitarian,

before on this scale. We will have worked together

inclusive and accessible system to bring art into the

across disciplines, across the whole country, across

lives of people at an early age is suddenly gone, the

all the different levels… and that alone will have

same happens when entry fees are installed at the

made us stronger. It will even prepare us for reinvent-

state museums, again this comes at the expense of

ing ourselves when needed. Art does not disappear

accessibility for the people… and these policies are

when we lose our democratic structures, but our

actually installed under the false banner of fighting

survival will need to be rethought, reorganised, and

elitism. It is the change of political policy that is going

we will just have learned new ways of working togeth-

to make the art world elitist at every level. There is

er by setting this up. We will also have seen, made

nothing wrong with having an ‘elite’ when it is the

and shown some great art. In short, just by setting up

consequence of having a broad base. The policies we

KVADRENNALEN something will already have

see happen when populist politics take over is that

changed, it already has, regardless of how many

the base, the egalitarian part, is cut to promote the

threats will have been addressed. I have not figured

top… in the long term that means we get lost

out a single downside yet to standing side by side in

generations of artists that could not develop because

an art world where everyone has each other’s back…

the base and the middle part of the structure was not

have you?

there when they needed it. I could actually keep on listing here. The art world is a connected structure,

Ella Tillema, ‘Ge mig ett vapen som fungerar’, Passagen Linköpings Konsthall, 20 January–17 March 2022, photo: Thierry Mortier

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