calendario eventi  :: 

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12/9/2012

Three exhibitions

Art Stations Foundation, Poznan

MOVING IS LIVING

14 Sept. – 31 Dec. 2012
Art Stations gallery, Stary Browar, Poznań

Artists: Carlos Cruz-Diez, Loris Gréaud, Gerhard Von Graevenitz, Sebastian Hempel, Žilvinas Kempinas, Tim Knowles, Victor Vasarely

curators: Justyna Buśko, Ewa Dziewolska-Kawka, Marta Kabsch, Kamila Pakuło

The MOVING IS LIVING exhibition at the Art Stations gallery provides another look at works from the collection of Grażyna Kulczyk in which pieces by classic names from the world of optical and kinetic art are shown alongside works by extremely interesting young artists who have never yet been exhibited in Poland.

Movement is natural to all beings in the material world. It is a ubiquitous phenomenon, but its nature defies attempts at understanding and definition. Movement means change – art commonly makes use of this potential, both formally and conceptually. Introducing movement to art is tantamount to consenting to unpredictability in the creative results. The MOVING IS LIVING exhibition features works of art that confront the phenomenon of movement, proposing three perspectives by which to approach it. Each of these contexts – physics and kinetics, philosophy and perception, nature and chance – makes the viewer aware of the elusive nature of movement.

The first part of the exhibition is centred around work involving physical movement in a literal sense – thus, the language of science is used as a tool for interpretation. Reflections based on this perspective are offered by Professor Grzegorz Musiał, a lecturer in the Faculty of Physics at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. Physics is used to quantitatively describe processes that are constantly taking place on the Earth and to explain the laws governing nature. Does knowing formulae and definitions from physics help us to understand movement as it is used in the work of artists such as Loris Gréaud, Sebastian Hempel and Gerhard von Graevenitz? Are we so sure that movement can be calculated with exact precision? Science helps to ask questions about the nature of movement, but it is still confronted with unpredictability in many phenomena. Movement includes an element of randomness – even maintaining a given direction is unpredictable in terms of the details. In the most elementary description of Nature – quantum physics – one can only determine the probability of a system being in one of a number of possible states.

The process by which humans perceive motion proves to be an equally elusive issue. Viewers can see movement in works whose elements actually move in relation to one another, but they can also see it in those that are static, and which provide only the illusion of movement. Optics is concerned with the study of this process in relation to the physical characteristics of the human eye, yet it is unable to predict and describe the entirety of the viewing experience. This is because it is determined not only by visual impressions, but also by elusive and subjective factors that shape this experience. Philosophy has offered reflections on how the objective (physical) and subjective (emotional) perception of art operate in combination. The phenomenology of perception developed by Maurice Merleau-Ponty provides some of the tools used to analyze the psychology behind the perception of movement. For example, in the work of Carlos Cruz-Diez, Victor Vasarely and Sebastian Hempel, one can see that movement is not something external to a work of art, or merely an internal feature of the work – it is realized in the relationship between the work and an active viewer, and its final effect is beyond the control of the artist.

The last theme of the exhibition is the relationship of art to the dynamics of the natural world around us. The phenomenon of movement observed in Nature is unpredictable – this enigmatic quality captivates and inspires artists. In art, handing the power to create over to nature means giving up control over the final shape of the work. In his series "Tree Drawings", Tim Knowles allows tree branches moved by the wind to draw. These works do not so much portray movement, as they give it – in this case, that of nature – the power to create, the right to authorship of a work. Žilvinas Kempinas makes use of the kinetic potential of banal materials, such as magnetic tape. Setting it in motion represents a conscious decision by the artist, but the final path of the black line’s "dancing" in the air is beyond his control. The artistic outcome here is therefore completely unpredictable – works of art "live their own lives", and the process by which they are created (and the logic governing this process) remains unknown to the viewer (and the artist), as it is not clear whether movement in nature is defined by chance or by a force as yet undiscovered by humanity.

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Installation by Piotr Kurka
Journey to a Place of Freedom with Closed Eyes

14 September-10 October (daily 12:00 noon -7:00 p.m.)
Studio Słodownia +1

The project is an attempt to raise awareness of the fluid boundary between what is private and what is public. It is taking place in a location that is particularly rich in meaning and context: a public space in the city centre where the energy that fuels the societal machinery of imitation is concentrated and constantly circulating.

In the centre of this common area, there will be a readily visible area that (seemingly) belongs to a different culture, but which contains universal and symbolic items that anyone can easily recognize, regardless of their social and cultural background: stones, a chair/seat, a light/lamp. Each of these items is enclosed within spiralling circles that have been raked in fine gravel – as in a Zen garden. The stone garden delivers a shock in the form of reflection about travelling to a place anywhere in the world-image. The point at which we can travel anywhere in the world is often associated with unlimited freedom.

The placement of the installation in such a highly concentrated location, where people move about uncontrolled in a chaotic and unpredictable manner, leads us momentarily to keep drifting and uncertain ontologies focused in a single point. This point is illuminated. The light shows the way, it is a symbol of knowledge. The spiral circles around the chair and stones combine what is private and what is universal. The true path is always spiral. In the light illuminating it, there is a hidden eye. . .

Zbigniew Herbert wrote about stones that they: “... cannot be tamed, to the end they will look at us with a calm and very clear eye...”
Piotr Kurka, Poznan 2012

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Unknown Territories

14 September-10 October (daily 12:00 noon -7:00 p.m.)
Studio Słodownia +1

The circumstances that surround us, both in the world, about which we know more and more, and in our personal relationships, which are facilitated by the ubiquity of text messaging, there is a vast area that remains unknown, undefined and undisclosed. It exists in every aspect of the actions taking place both inside and outside of us. It is just as present as the enormous volume of information and knowledge available to us each day.

Instructors from the Faculty of Multimedia Communications at the University of Arts in Poznań will attempt to engage this phenomenon. The exhibition will include works by, among others, Izabella Gustowska, Andrzej Syska, Piotr Wołyński, Andrzej P. Florkowski, Sławomir Decyk, Krzysztof Łukomski, Michał Bugalski, Żaklina Piechanowska, Dominik Lejman…

Press contact:
Grzegorz Ciemciach tel. 061 859 61 22
g.ciemciach@artstationsfoundation5050.com

Marta Kabsch - GK Collection manager
tel. 061 859 61 24 / m.kabsch@artstationsfoundation5050.com

Opening 13 Sept., 7 p.m.

Art Stations Foundation
Polwiejska 42 - Poznan

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