[artinfo] Société Réaliste -- Activities: September 2010.

Sun Sep 12 11:28:58 CEST 2010

SOCIETE REALISTE
Activities: September 2010.

http://www.societerealiste.net

===

# THE FOUNTAINHEAD & OTHER ARTWORKS, solo exhibition, at Platform3
(Munich), opening: Tuesday 14 September. http://www.platform3.de

# THE ARTISTS WAKES, collective event, at Bury Art Gallery, Museum &
Archives (Bury, Lancashire), Saturday 4 September.
http://www.bury.gov.uk/leisureandculture/museumsandgalleries/default.htm

# PRE-SPECIFICS: ACCESS X!, collective project, at Röda Sten
(Göteborg), opening: Saturday 4 September. http://www.rodasten.com /
http://www.onomatopee.net

# COOPERATION, NOT CORPORATIONS, collective exhibition, at ITS Z1
(Belgrade), opening: Saturday 11 September.
http://itsz1e.wordpress.com

# HOSTIPITALITY: RECEIVING STRANGERS, collective exhibition, at Muzeum
Sztuki (Lodz), opening: Friday 17 September. http://www.msl.org.pl/en

# COSMOPOLITES DE TOUS LES PAYS ENCORE UN EFFORT, public monument, at
MGLC, Tivoli Park (Ljubljana), produced by Aksioma - Institute for
Contemporary Art, Ljubljana, opening: Monday 27 September.
http://www.aksioma.org

===

# THE FOUNTAINHEAD & OTHER ARTWORKS

Solo exhibition, at Platform3 (Munich), from 14 September to 13 October.
http://www.platform3.de

The show's title refers to Société Réaliste's debut full-length motion
picture that is to premiere at PLATFORM3. THE FOUNTAINHEAD proposes an
experimental rereading of the eponymous 1949 Hollywood motion picture
directed by King Vidor. Based on a novel by Russian-born, American
writer and philosopher Ayn Rand, the movie advocates libertarianism
through the figure of an uncompromising, highly individualistic
architect. Rand's firm belief in rational self interest, economical
prosperity through free markets as well as her abjection of public
welfare make her the founder of objectivism as well as a committed
spokeswoman of modern capitalism.

THE FOUNTAINHEAD conveys a formal experiment: Société Réaliste
systematically erased all characters from the original movie's
footage, thus transforming the film into 111 minutes of pure
architectural setting in total silence. Deprived of its most prominent
layer – the fictional account – THE FOUNTAINHEAD discloses, almost
palimpsest-like, the film's underlying labyrinthine relations between
capitalism, Promethean architecture and doctrinaire modernism.

Deconstruction is at the core of this exhibition: to the processes
that are at work at THE FOUNTAINHEAD corresponds a series of artworks
displayed in PLATFORM3's central exhibition space: all along the
walls, WATCHING OVER THE REICHSTAG (2010) revisits history by
exhibiting step by step those (ever so slight) visual manipulations
used for the sake of propaganda. Here, not only our most
representative clichés of historical moments are put at stake, but our
visual recognition of symbols is challenged by textual works using the
typeface FUTURA FRAKTUR (2009), a hybrid of two of the most popular
type fonts forbidden by the Nazis. Symbols certainly convey power in
no matter what context: standing for an attempt to organize and
control what is disordered and arbitrary by nature, they have allowed
to shape unities such as nation states each with their own attributes
in terms of language, flags, monuments, monetary systems and national
anthems. Yet, NEW ALPHABETICAL ORDER (2009), SPECTRAL AEROSION (2010)
and CARTOPHONY OF THE LAND OF THE FREE (2009) all aim at destabilising
our well-established order for the sake of a critical revision of
commonly accepted sets of symbols, be it monetary, geographic or
political. Pushing this logic to its paroxysm, ZERO IMPACT (2010)
deals with the striking dichotomy of symbol and anti-symbol,
overthrowing it all for anarchy. COUNTERFORMISM (2009), based on the
Hexatopia typographic pattern, and QUOTE END OF QUOTE (2010) suggest
graphic rearrangements of common codes.

Curated by Marlene Rigler & Anja Lückenkemper.

The video THE FOUNTAINHEAD has been produced by Jan van Eyck Academy,
Maastricht and realized by Gregg Langlois, Paris.

===

# THE ARTISTS WAKES

Collective event, at Bury Art Gallery, Museum & Archives (Bury,
Lancashire), on Saturday 4 September.
http://www.bury.gov.uk/leisureandculture/museumsandgalleries/default.htm

During the industrial revolution the tradition of the wakes took on a
new importance as workers closed the mills in each town across
Lancashire so they could take an annual holiday, with or without the
permission of the mill owners. Borrowing its name from that lost
history the Artists' Wakes celebrates the power of collective and
collaborative practices in our own precarious times. Increasing
numbers of artists are choosing to get rid of themselves, favoring an
us instead of a me, and in doing so are asking questions about the
very nature of thing they are engaging in, ﬁnding a power in unity
just like the cotton workers.

For one afternoon in September at the Bury Art Gallery in Greater
Manchester, a selection of artists whose practices engage in such
approaches will come together to present their work. A cross section
of activity has been drawn from as far away as Mexico and as close as
Whiteﬁeld. Each groups practice realises a very different vision,
tackling ideas ranging from the social and political through
institutional critique to the jocose; it is not the form or content of
the work that connects these projects but a belief in the possibility
of what can happen when we work together.

With works by The Artists' Lottery Syndicate, BMCA, Chris & Kier,
Contents May Vary, An Endless Supply, Mark Essen, Steve Hunt, The
Invisible Committee Prestwich and Whiteﬁeld Branch, Lee Joss, El Leon,
Malgras | Naudet, M Institutes, The Provincial Forge, Société
Réaliste, Symbol Archive, and Penny Whitehead & Daniel Simpkins.

Curated by Magnus Quaife.

===

# PRE-SPECIFICS: ACCESS X!

Collective project, at Röda Sten (Göteborg), from 4 September to 26 October.
http://www.rodasten.com / http://www.onomatopee.net

PRE-SPECIFICS: ACCESS X! is a two-phase project conducted via
Onomatopee for Röda Sten Kulturförening, Göteborg, and Onomatopee,
Eindhoven. The project takes its title and pronounces its setting from
Swiss researcher Vera Bühlmann's book "Pre-Specifics" to describe
design practices that engage planning and modeling as a discursive
framework or vocabulary for critically engaging design's relationship
to knowledge production and research. PRE-SPECIFICS: ACCESS X! targets
and progressively clarifies A. poetic stances and B. design strategies
for research that approach the exhibition form as a model for poetic
intervention and critical inquiry. The project aims to map, define and
display flexible parameters for designing communication and social
relations via a feeding flow of processes and development. These
mappings will offer concrete, "pre-specific" constraints, stances and
strategies for an exhibition project and conference scheduled for
Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven.

During the first phase, Röda Sten Kulturförening will be overturned
into a space for exchange, study and mapping. As the contributions
visually map out the planning process and development of the
"pre-specifics" concept, this open structure for work and research
will deliver concrete mappings and will generate outlines for overall
strategy of the artist involved and a proposal for a production in
Eindhoven. The final outcomes will be presented in a text: written by
the artist, others, in interview form or other forms. As well, the
data gathered will be collected and registered to serve as material
for the publication.

With works by Bandoni, Meroz & Paz, Florian Conradi & Michelle
Christensen, Dexter Sinister, Claire Fontaine, Ryan Gander & Abake,
Dave Hullfish Bailey, Lust, Metahaven, Olaf Nicolai, Platform for
Pedagogy, Société Réaliste, Uglycute, and Unfold.

Curated by Freek Lomme and Michael Capio.

===

# COOPERATION, NOT CORPORATIONS

Collective exhibition, at ITS Z1 (Belgrade), from 11 to 21 September.
http://itsz1e.wordpress.com

With works by Chto Delat, Dušica Dražić and Sam Hopkins, Interacting
Arts, Rainer Ganahl, Raimi Gbadamosi, Marina Gržinič, Siniša Ilić,
Vladan Jeremic, Tanja Juričan, Freek Lomme, Eleana Louka, Jenny
Marketou, Tanja Marković and Maja Mirković, Bona Park and Hyunjoo
Byeon, Madeleine Park, Elisabeth Penker, Katarina Popović, Danilo
Prnjat, Reality Check – Art and Activims, Rena Raedle, Aina Šmid,
Société Réaliste, and Ranko Travanj.

Curated by Maja Ćirić and David Goldenberg.

===

# RECEIVING STRANGERS

Collective exhibition, at Muzeum Sztuki (Lodz), from 17 September to 17 October.
http://www.msl.org.pl/en

HOSTIPITALITY: RECEIVING STRANGERS aims to raise the question of the
situation of immigrants, or more broadly, of our relation to
strangers. Our relationship to strangers makes migration — now a key
factor in transforming life — one of the most crucial and urgent
problems for societies to deal with. “Hostipitality” is a notion
coined by Jacques Derrida to show how closely hospitality is
intertwined with hostility. Because of this interconnection, it is
easy to treat guests as enemies. The term is especially helpful in
describing what happens to immigrants, whether legal or not. They are
received with a hospitality which is lined with barely concealed
hostility. That is, even if hospitality is granted them, it is often
accompanied by the suspicion that the stranger has hostile intentions.

The exhibition explores the radical aesthetics proposed by artists
confronting increasingly restrictive politics and growing resentment
against immigration. This aesthetic is, on the one hand, created by
works depicting a gloomy landscape of exile where the immigrants are
condemned to live. On the other hand, it is created by pieces that
provide critically or analytically oriented perspectives on our
approaches to receiving strangers. Through this juxtaposition, the
exhibition is meant to prompt reflection on our attitudes, views and
actions to make a contribution to a public debate concerning the
immigrants' situation in Poland and the EU.

With works by Monica Bonvicini, Gast Bouschet & Nadine Hilbert,
Alexandra Croitoru, Jens Haaning, Agnieszka Kalinowska, Kolektyw
Minaret, Adrian Paci, Joanna Rajkowska, Doris Salcedo, Société
Réaliste, and Krzysztof Wodiczko.

Curated by Kamil Kuskowski and Jaroslaw Lubiak.

===

# COSMOPOLITES DE TOUS LES PAYS ENCORE UN EFFORT

Public monument, in Tivoli Park (Ljubljana), in collaboration with
Aksioma and MGCL, to be opened on Monday 27 September.
http://www.aksioma.org

Following the invitation by Aksioma to produce a monument for the
MGLC’s Tivoli Park pedestal, Société Réaliste has produced a new
artwork under the form of a sculptural installation. Under the title
of Jacques Derrida’s book COSMOPOLITES DE TOUS LES PAYS ENCORE UN
EFFORT (“Cosmopolitans of all countries yet another effort”), this
work is a 3D formalization of the calculated form of an average state.
The sculpture ﬁgures a kind of standard tombstone for any state.
Presented vertically, one of its side is carved with the calculation
method applied to design it while on the other side is carved a
textual composition using the compiled words of national anthems.

This pseudo-monument stands in the confrontation between the majestic
and ceremonious sculpture, the abstract ﬁguration of the notion of
state and the pseudo-logical methodology of its construction.
COSMOPOLITES DE TOUS LES PAYS ENCORE UN EFFORT intends to evoke and to
represent the necessary escape and excess from detention within
historical forms of political domination and to remain in the same
time the parody of a monument.

Produced by Aksioma.

===
STILL ON
===

# VOUS ETES ICI, collective exhibition, at Musée des Beaux-Arts (Dunkerque).
# OVER THE COUNTER, collective exhibition, at Műcsarnok (Budapest).
http://www.mucsarnok.hu
# PRACTICING MEMORY, collective exhibition, at Museo del Presente /
Fondazione Pistoletto (Biella). http://www.cittadellarte.it
# TRANSIENT SPACES, collective exhibition, at NGBK / Kunstraum
Kreuzberg (Berlin). http://www.transientspaces.org

===

/// coopérative société réaliste, eroding the specters of Paris, since 1871.
http://www.societerealiste.net

-- 
/// coopérative société réaliste / Paris / depuis 187! / Budapest / since 19?9
http://www.societerealiste.net