Kaspars Podnieks' works in Białystok and kim? contribution to the "FAX" exhibition
kim?
During the autumn season KIM? Contemporary Art Centre takes part in art processes also otside the house. From October 15 in Poland, Białystok, in cooperation with kim?, the series of photographs "Unusual Place" by Latvian artist Kaspars Podnieks will be on view in exhibition curated by Rael Artel (EE) "Life in the Forest". Following the invitation of the New York based organization ICI, in late October and November kim? and selected Latvian artists are adding their contribution to the traveling exhibition "FAX" in the South London Gallery.
"Life in the Forest" is an international exhibition of contemporay art that discusses the positions and conditions of contemporary art professionals, who live and work in peripheral areas of the country, continent or cultural context. Kaspars Podnieks name and his creative practice is tightly bounded to his native village Drusti. To give the clue, peripherial character and significance of this place can be underlined by the fact that no asphalt roads lead there although the distance from Riga is only 124 km. Artist himself says, “In my creative process, essential points of reference and objects of research are connected with Drusti. I come from there and I am there. There I gain the certainty that the work will be true and thus worthwhile to the others as well.” (More information about the series "Unusual Place" and Podnieks' latest work "Communicating Vessels" is linked to the titles.)
Process of work for the series "Unusual Place"
Exhibition "Life in the Forest" is the third step in the traveling cycle Your Periphery Is My Centre, the series of contemporary art presentations in various formats that examine ambivalent aspects of the life in former Eastern Europe and its neighboring regions. The second show in this project curated by Rael Artel, exhibition titled "After Socialist Statues", till October 30 is on view at KIM? Contemporary Art Centre. (More on the concept of "Life in the Forest" and participating artists is available HERE.)
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How do artists see the potential of fax transmission today? This is one of the most visible questions that, considering the fax as an important part of the history of media art, has inspired curator João Ribas, ICI (Independent Curators International) and New York Drawing Center to develop the traveling exhibition "FAX". Continuing the autumn session kim? together with Latvian artists and art theoreticians whose interest is mainly realted to drawing, text and more communicative art and culture activities make their contribution to the event that from September 21 to November 27 takes place in the South London Gallery. (Read more about "FAX" and its contributors HERE.)
From Riga to London, works to the exhibition in progress will fax artists Arturs Bērziņš, Leonards Laganovskis, Anta and Dita Pences, Evelīna Deičmane, Edgars Gluhovs, Inga Meldere, Romans Korovins, Paulis Liepa, Kristīne Alksne, poet dzejnieks Arturs Punte and theoreticians Jānis Borgs, Jānis Taurens, Iliana Veinberga & Ainārs Kamoliņš.
kim?'s first cooperation with ICI took place in the beginning of 2011 when the traveling exhibition "Harald Szeemann: documenta 5" from the series "Exhibition in a Box" was on view in Riga.