BUCHAREST BIENNALE 5 – Tactics For The Here and Now
Curator: Anne Barlow
Participants: Abbas Akhavan (IR/CA), Marina Albu (RO), Haris Epaminonda (CY/DE), Klas Eriksson (SW), Ruth Ewan (UK), Aurelien Froment (IE/FR), Ciprian Homorodean (RO/B), Iman Issa (EG/USA), Janice Kerbel (CA/UK), Jill Magid (USA), David Maljkovic (HR), Marina Naprushkina (BY/DE), Ahmet Öğüt (TR/NL), Vesna Pavlović (RS), Anahita Razmi (DE), Wael Shawky (EG/FR), Alexandre Singh (FR/USA), Mounira Al Solh & Bassam Ramlawi (LB), Rinus van der Velde (B)
Within the current context of the shifting nature of politics, economics, and culture—conditions that are increasingly referred to as precarious times—artists often have to negotiate risky positions, contested territories, or situations in which cultural activity interacts with, or provides a counterpoint to, conditions of flux. Bucharest Biennale 5 profiles the work of artists whose agency lies less in overt statements, but rather in investigative or indirect strategies that possess their own kind of power.
By its very nature, work that is investigative expresses a kind of resistance to both the speed and changing nature of things and the increasing sense of instability that pervades everyday life. Several projects in the Biennale involve a reworking of specific histories from the civic to the personal, producing a different kind of “knowledge” that is not always about nostalgia or narrative, but is rather a deliberately constructed perspective on the contemporary. For some, the act of researching, uncovering, and presenting things that are below the surface has been aided by the Internet, whereby obscure or otherwise concealed data may be sought out, enabling new combinations of imagery and meaning that are open-ended or associative in nature. Whether relating to symbols of former eras, or personal or collective memories, these images are complex representations of past and present—imaginative ‘spaces’ that are characterized by a degree of uncertainty that make them more challenging to decipher.
For other artists in the Biennale, tactics of subterfuge or infiltration are intrinsic to their practice, allowing them to circumvent or negotiate existing systems that they find questionable or challenging. Their methodology reflects a practice that is evolving, dynamic and responsive, something that is essential for situations that change quickly or are not yet fully understood. Often using techniques that rely on the art of seduction or manipulation, these works can still contain sharp social or political critique, merging aesthetics and political and cultural commentary in ways that initially mask underlying meanings.
The deployment of such informal approaches is particularly resonant in a city such as Bucharest, where the infrastructure and contexts for artistic practice are in the process of evolution. BB5’s projects take place in non-profit spaces and public venues and sites in the city, and act as statements and overtures of various kinds, from the critically engaged to the playful in nature. While many projects are situated within these venues which include Pavilion Unicredit, the Political Research Institute, artist-run space Alert Studio, former factory space Make A Point, and the House of the Free Press, some exist only in the public domain, using existing forms of distribution or presentation outside artistic venues to offer audiences different ways of engaging both with these works and the ideas within the Biennale. (extras from “Tacttics for the Here and Now” by Anne Barlow, published in PAVILION #16- journal for politics and culture, edited for Bucharest Biennale 5).
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Sheltered
“Sheltered” is a small initiative that attempts to confront its visitors with the basics of human space needs in order to reactivate in each observer the primary tools of space analysis. The way we acknowledge our relationship with our immediate boundaries is definitive in our positioning in today’s world. The contemporary idea of shelter, house or personal space is the result of a continuous extension of their meaning by integrating alongside higher standards in ergonomics and risk management a huge amount of made up commercial criteria destined to dilate the apparent needs of the user. To be able to debate such matters we first need to take a look at our own satisfaction criteria regarding our basic needs for space.
The exposition is structured in two segments. The first one consists in two surfaces that trough their relationship creates narrow or wide spaces designed to engage the visitor in a direct experience of minimum space requirements. And a second one conceived as a “game” in which the visitor can intervene in different models that recreates “fit in” situations for some abstract characters.
Robert Marin (b. 1976) is a Bucharest based architect. He received his architecture diploma from UAIM Bucharest in 2001 and cofounded in the same year the architecture and design studio Square One. As principal architect of the office he received international recognition trough works widely publicized in professional books and magazines across the globe. Among the most important distinctions he can include the Bucharest Architecture Biennale first prize in Interior Architecture, the Henkel Art Prize and the Contractworld finalist. In 2008 he cofounded the architecture and design practice Nuca Studio in which he acts presently as principal architect.
Exhibition supported by Bombay Sapphire.
Image: 3D simulation of the exhibition setup. Courtesy of Nuca Studio.