Orphans of Culture, Legends and Heroes - inspired by Oskar Hansen's Process and Art - Competition Entry for the Museum of Modern Art, Skopje, 1966 by Yane Calovski and Hrisitina Ivanoska
The exhibition by Macedonian artists Yane Calovski and Hrisitina Ivanoska revolves around their latest collaboration entitled "Oskar Hansen’s Museum of Modern Art”. The project presents a hypothetical program of a “lost museum” designed by Oskar Hansen in 1964.
Meant to become a symbol of the city’s progress and “immortality” following the devastating earthquake on 26th of July 1963, the competition for the best design of a new art institution was organized by the Polish government as a gesture of solidarity and was open exclusively to architects from Poland and other Eastern Block countries.
Oskar Hansen’s proposal was based on peculiar assumptions: the museum was to consist of “a transformable exhibition space, able to fold completely and then unfold into various combinations, with hexagonal elements lifted by hydraulically-powered rotating telescopes.” In this way the structure would transform in horizontal and vertical dimensions at the same time. In the proposal the architect wrote: “Art in its development is unpredictable. We have assumed that a contemporary gallery should pursue the unknown in art. It shouldn’t only aim at exhibiting artworks, but also encouraging and provoking their birth.” Hansen’s design was not implemented. The jury finally selected a design submitted by a team of three Polish architects: W. Klyzewski, J. Mokrzynski and E. Wierzbicki.
The latest project by Calovski and Ivanoska is a study of multiple hypotheses surrounding reading of art historical references. It manifests a view on historical analysis involving the documentation of Hansen’s proposal and of the possible exhibition and lecture programme that would have engaged artists such as Paul Thek, Mladen Stilinovic, Andrzej Szewczyk, Ana Mendieta, Ad Reinhardt, and others. The project is also a reflection on musealization of art and construction of parallel historical narrations. What would have happened had Hansen’s utopian proposal been accepted? What kind of curatorial strategies would have been enforced by the reality of a “foldaway museum”? Can we foresee any artistic reactions to the idealistic umbrella-like platforms that were, after all, supposed not only to host but also to inspire art? These are some of the questions the new work of Ivanoska and Calovski is posing while they fantasize about alternative art history which they construct on the basis of contemporary knowledge of Central and Eastern European avant-garde art.
The poster series "Oskar Hansen's Museum of Modern Art” consist of 12 original posters in limited edition. The posters design was made in close collaboration with young German designer Ariane Spanier (www.arianespanier.com).
Apart form their new project dedicated to the nonexistent Hansen’s museum, Calovski and Ivanoska will present a selection of their earlier works, including “Spiral Trip” (2000-2003) - a multilayered project is a series of works (drawings, photos, film) recording a journey following the form and size of Robert Smithson’s famous earthwork “Spiral Jetty”.
A publication will be available in September 2007. For more information on the exhibition, please contact Sebastian Cichocki at Kronika gallery.
Kronika
Rynek 26, Bytom
T: 00 48 32 281 81 33
F: 00 48 32 281 76 94
E: mail@kronika.org.pl
www.kronika.org.pl
Gallery hours: Tuesday – Thursday from 11.00 - 18.00, Friday from 14.00 - 20.00, and Saturday from 11.00 - 15.00. |
