All That Fits: The Aesthetic of Journalism – General Feeback
“The show is really impressive”
(Keith Jeffrey, CEO of QUAD)
“There’s some good thinking behind the show”.
(Alex Farquharson, Director of Nottingham Contemporary)
“I enjoyed the exhibition very much and found it chimed at lot with a show we are currently developing for next summer which looks at direct change actions by artists in the public realm.” (Clive Gillman, Director of Dundee Contemporary Arts) “This is an ambitious show for Derby and it is certainly to the curator’s credit that such a highly original exhibition tackling pertinent and current themes has been programmed outside the context of London or a university gallery (I am not aware of any other institutions programming exhibitions on similar themes). Despite Derby not being a well-provided art destination (Quad only opened in 2008) it appears that Quad’s programme over the last three years has not pandered to populism but has presented an interesting and challenging range of work including solo shows from artists such as Ian Breakwell, Dinu Li and Jane & Louise Wilson as well as group shows such as the Format International Photography Festival. This exhibition, All That Fits, continues the trend for original exhibitions and is a good example of Quad’s uncompromising attitude. I don’t know if the exhibition will be touring but it strikes me that it would easily translate to other venues.” (David Gritt, art critic for Art Review and Artistic Assessor for Arts Council England) “Thought the show was very daring – a restrained curation, the space was really serene and quite beautiful and the (video) boxes worked very well. It was also interesting to see how much was semi hidden. I felt you managed to combine approachable / accessible with what is actually a very challenging show and conceptually intricate. Well done to all. I particularly enjoyed Katya Sander’s work – both the showing and the content and Graziela Kunsch’s library of open process and the aesthetic punch of Walid Raad and Eric Baudelaire.” (James Corazzo, Designer) “As a journalist I guess you would expect me to take a keen interest in the current Quad exhibition but I don’t think you need 25 years as a reporter to appreciate what’s on offer at the Derby arts centre. With all that’s going on in the phone hacking scandal at the moment and the changing face of the way information is disseminated thanks to the rise of the internet, an exhibition looking at current trends in journalism and art (and the blurring of those distinctions) seems acutely relevant to us all. All That Fits is currently in its third and last phase, The Militant, looking at counter images and information. I’d urge you to at least drop into the Quad Gallery and check out French photographer Eric Baudelaire’s war diptych The Dreadful Details. This striking image is no less powerful for being posed, encapsulating the nature of modern conflict with an almost biblical composition. Foreign troops prowl dusty, debris-strewn streets where a woman cradles a slaughtered child in her arms. Most tellingly, from the safety of an upstairs balcony a man captures the scene on his mobile, ready presumably to upload the horrors on YouTube. “ (Friday, July 22, 2011: Nigel Powlson in ‘This is Derbyshire’) “Firstly, compliments on the current exhibition at the QUAD, I found it very thought provoking and at times powerfully emotive, Eric Baudelaire’s piece in particular had an intense impact. *…+ regards the All That Fits exhibition catalogue. I found its format and layout quite exquisite and was very impressed with the print quality. “ (Michael Sargeant, Photographer and Curator)
Blowup: Every Artist, A Journalist
Blowup, 25 August 2011
Institute for the Unstable MediaV2_
Rotterdam, NL
This edition of Blowup will examine the tension between documentary methods and artistic expression, and address where notions of truth and beauty fit in this mix.
Lino Hellings (NL), Alfredo Cramerotti (UK), Gair Dunlop (UK)
Documentary images are a common method to measure and reflect on the monumental scale of change occurring in contemporary society. These images are also highly aestheticised, making beauty even of images of the most desolate slum or industrialised landscape. As a crossover point between art and journalism, the documentary image also allows us to question the veracity of world events from multiple viewpoints, often offering multiple uncomfortable realities instead of a single, easily-digestible worldview. In an era of a massive data onslaught that individuals struggle to cope with, the documentary image continues to offer us a human face on information, sometimes elegantly summarising a complex situation. But what balance needs to be struck between honest portrayals of reality and artistic license?
http://entropicmodern.blogspot.com/
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Institute for the Unstable Media V2_ is an interdisciplinary center for art and media technology in Rotterdam (the Netherlands). V2_’s activities include organizing presentations, exhibitions and workshops, research and development of artworks in its own media lab, distributing artworks through its Agency, publishing in the field of art and media technology, and developing an online archive.
… the tragedy bloomed. And deceit became knwoledge. Exhibition by Michele Manzini
English:
“When we recognize the cultural rather than political or physical traits of a context we can call it cultural geography.
“For example, this is what happens when the relationship between artists and the public is based equally on the two sides in order to generate, first knowledge (the ‘what’), and then meaning (in what terms). An artist’s ability consist in pushing himself beyond this artist/viewer dichotomy to create a third space, a cultural geography, an attempt to communicate. And not just communication between artistic and historical disciplines, but above all between “other” undertakings: economy, industrial design, philosophy, agriculture, law, town planning or whatever is most relevant in a particular place at a particular moment. Artists relate together spheres of activity and knowledge through a set of disciplines – and at every step they question themselves about what, how, and why. At least at this point.
“Every event linked to a cultural geography sets off a new challenge for the next action: new formats, new physical and mental spaces, new kinds of relationships, new times. Artists do not invent but simply transform existing infrastructures as the public slowly becomes receptive to them. They might start from museums of natural history and books about the economy to arrive at YouTube and the San Remo festival. They can incorporate buses, advertising hoardings, and scientific measurements. Art comes about when knowledge comes into conflict with the imagination, and this is a healthy, productive, and relevant conflict. “The work of an artist is a centre for possible studies. Not surefire but imaginable ones. And thus doable for the very fact that we can conceive of them.”
Alfredo Cramerotti, 2011
The show by this Veronese artist, who for years has been involved with the theme of landscape, will therefore be characterized by a kind of dissemination of the exhibition across various interpretative planes and levels. A curatorial approach consisting of semantic shifts, the dismantling of conceptual apparatuses, anomalous choices of exhibiting, iterations, invasions of other fields, talks, and the production of texts that describe aims which, at times, are divergent with respect to the artist’s figurative interests and his solid theoretical underpinning.
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Italiano:

” Possiamo definirla geografia culturale, quando riconosciamo tratti culturali anziche’ politici o fisici di un contesto.
” Per esempio succede quando la relazione tra artista e pubblico si poggia equamente su ambedue le parti per generare prima conoscenza (che cosa), e poi significato (in che termini). L’abilita’ di un artista sta nello spingersi oltre questa dicotomia artista/spettatore, creando uno spazio terzo, una geografia culturale, un tentativo di comunicazione. Non solo tra discipline artistiche o storiche, ma soprattutto tra pratiche ‘altre’: economia, design industriale, filosofia, agricoltura, legge, urbanistica o quello che e’ piu’ rilevante in un determinato posto e un dato momento. L’artista mette in relazione sfere di attivita’ e conoscenza attraverso un ‘set’ di discipline – e a ogni passo si interroga sul cosa, come e perche’. O almeno a questo punta.Ogni evento legato a una geografia culturale fa scattare una nuova sfida per la prossima azione; nuovi formati, nuovi spazi fisici e mentali, nuovi tipi di relazioni, nuovi tempi. L’artista non inventa, semplicemente trasforma le infrastrutture esistenti man mano che il pubblico si apre a queste. Puo’ partire dai musei di storia naturale e dai libri di economia e arrivare a YouTube e al Festival di Sanremo. Puo’ incorporare autobus, tabelloni pubblicitari e misurazioni scientifiche. L’arte succede dove la conoscenza entra in conflitto con l’immaginazione, ed e’ un conflitto sano, produttivo, rilevante. ll lavoro di un artista e’ un centro per studi possibili. Non certi, immaginabili. E percio’ fattibili, proprio perche’ riusciamo a concepirli.”
Alfredo Cramerotti, 2011
La mostra dell’artista veronese, da anni impegnato sul tema del paesaggio, sarà quindi caratterizzata da una sorta di disseminazione dell’evento espositivo su più piani e livelli interpretativi. Un approccio curatoriale fatto di slittamenti semantici, smontaggio degli apparati concettuali, anomale scelte espositive, iterazioni, intersezioni, invasioni di campo, talk, produzione di testi che descriveranno traiettorie talvolta divergenti rispetto alla ricerca figurativa dell’artista e al suo solido corpus teorico.





















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