20/1/2010
Yuri Leiderman
Traversee, Munich
Samizdat. Leiderman builds a kind of metastructure, in which he inserts his work; which means that he does not content himself with reproducing the syntax of the White Cube with its white walls, but that he develops and evokes existing syntactic contexts. He uses the iconic mountain construction as a kind of personal kiosk of propaganda, on which he presents his own writings and post cards, most of which unpublished yet, in the tradition of the 'samizdat'.
Of Russian artists, usually, the Western art world expects to produce and
show Russian art. Leiderman is aware of this. In his latest show 'Der Ehre
hüt von Jugend auf', he had three women dressed up in folklore costumes
reading aloud a Pushkin novel in Russian. The Essen piece is part of his
concept of 'geopoetics', by which he accordingly undermines the construction
of national identity as hyper-affirmation.
Here, as he often does and
especially also in his Munich exhibition, Leiderman builds a kind of
metastructure, in which he inserts his work; which means that he does not
content himself with reproducing the syntax of the White Cube with its white
walls, but that he develops and evokes existing syntactic contexts.
Regarding his 'Kefir work' already mentioned, it is the system of scientific
classification and finishing, reverting to diagrams, again and again; in
Essen it was a ship that carried his photos. In Munich now, he has recourse
to the tradition of Russian icons and places them in the context of Russian
art so to speak or better: he places them into a rock scape, a stereotype
deriving from the Russian Icon tradition.
Whereas in the context of the Icon painting rocks refer to a 'higher
reality', the moment, in which they are experimentally transferred into the
reality of the actual space, they become self-caricature and construction.
Leiderman uses the iconic mountain construction as a kind of personal kiosk
of propaganda, on which he presents his own writings and post cards, most of
which unpublished yet, in the tradition of the 'samizdat'.
Publications
appearing in very small self-editions have once been the reaction towards
Soviet censorship. With the beginning of capitalist times, the question of
who may publish what has been shifted to another level.
Extract from Heinz Schütz: 'Ice cracking Yuri Leiderman's Kür'.
Dr. Heinz Schütz is an art critic/ publicist / curator living in Munich;
amongst other things he is author of 'Stadt.Kunst' and curator of the
international exhibition and research project 'Performing the City'; since
1985 he has been permanent correspondant of the 'Kunstforum International'
journal.
Opening: Thursday, January 21st 2010, 7 9 pm
Introduction given by Heinz Schütz, art critic and curator, at 7.30 pm
Traversee
Turkenstrasse 11, Munich
tue-fri 11-19, Sat 11-17
free admission