Harun Farocki, Anderi Ujica, Melik Ohanian
dal 20/9/2007 al 10/11/2007
Segnalato da
20/9/2007
Harun Farocki, Anderi Ujica, Melik Ohanian
Lunds Konsthall, Lund
Portraits of Nicolae Ceausescu.The title is a paraphrase of the Latin expression spectemur agendo, which the philosopher Hannah Arendt translates as "let us be seen in action, let us have a space where we are seen and can act".
See Us Act
Portraits of Nicolae Ceauşescu from the National Museum of Contemporary Art in
Bucharest.
This autumn's first exhibition at Lund Konsthall is about revolution, and about art
and politics. The focus, however, is not on how art can change the world, but on how
it conveys the causal chains and strong emotions that lie behind political upheaval.
The title is a paraphrase of the Latin expression spectemur agendo, which the
philosopher Hannah Arendt translates as 'let us be seen in action, let us have a
space where we are seen and can act.' Political action, for her, starts with our use
of language to influence and convince each other. Such action makes us visible as
political beings, and is therefore a liberating force. Revolutions, Arendt says, are
finally always about freedom.
The artworks in the exhibition allow viewers to experience political action. They
use different methods to let us see other people act. But isn't our viewing also an
act?
In the film Videogrammes of a Revolution (1992) by the German experimental filmmaker
Harun Farocki and his Romanian colleague Andrei Ujica we are catapulted back into
the events in Romania in December 1989, which led to the execution of the dictator
Nicolae Ceauşescu. Yet the film shows that what we don't see may be just as
important as what we see. No one can tell for sure what actually happened during the
'Romanian Revolution'.
The installation September 11, 1973_Santiago de Chile 2007 (2007) by the French
artist Melik Ohanian juxtaposes the sound track from The Battle of Chile (1976) by
the Chilean documentary filmmaker Patricio Guzmán and Ohanian's own footage from
today's Santiago. The work, premiered at the Venice Biennial this summer, creates a
space that allows us to travel between two points in time.
We have also been able to borrow some thirty official portrait paintings of the
Romanian dictator Ceauşescu from the National Museum of Contemporary Art in
Bucharest. They have been selected by Mihnea Mircan, a curator at the museum, which
is housed in the oversized palace Ceauşescu built twenty years ago on the ruins of
old Bucharest. Today these portraits have become interesting historical documents,
but they also remind us of what happens to art when politics is forced on it.
Our warmest thanks to the Romanian Cultural Institute in Stockholm for the
collaboration and their generous support for this exhibition.
The filmmaker and artist Andrei Ujica will give a lecture at Lund Konsthall during
the last weekend of the exhibition, 10-11 November. The exact time will be announced
later.
Opening: Friday 21 September at 5-9 pm
Lund Konsthall
Mårtenstorget 3, Lund, Sweden
Free Admission