Private nationalism / Kosice
Private nationalism is a series of international art and cultural programs supported by the European Union Culture 2007-2013, Visegrad Fund and local sponsors, to be realized as a collaboration of eight institutions from six countries, a team of art professionals, and several artists from Central-Eastern Europe and its buffer zone. The aim of the collaborative project is to shed light on an overlooked aspect of the daily operation of any kind of nationalism, namely the subtle process of absorption and infiltration of its ingredients into citizens' everyday lives, that is, the very process of its interiorisation into the private life.
The recent collaborative project focuses on the issue of “private nationalism” as it is seen from the perspective of socially conscious and reflective artists with critical attitudes.
Instead of “canned”, ready-made exhibitions wandering in different parts of the region while being cut off from local contexts and priorities, the subsequent shows seek to remedy the problems and concerns of “private nationalism” from a different curatorial concept, each of them having its own sub-topic or approach to the “umbrella term”. Although all the exhibitions will be based on works coming from the same pool of artists and artworks sensitive to the set of related problems in the collaborating countries, each host institution aims to extend its scope by sweeping its geographical radius. Hence, different sub-regions, zones of local conflicts, political tensions and allied minority questions will be explored. In Central-Eastern Europe, characterized by historically mixed ethnic communities, the enemy is to be found beyond the border or among local minorities (Jews, ethnic minorities, Roma people, gays). Artworks are capable of interrupting the hypnosis and mass delusion by subverting the imagined naturalness of national identity, and by uncovering the process of the construction of the “other”, which plays a crucial role in building the image of a homogenous nation.
However, apart from casting light on conflicts and problems, the other side of the coin will be shown as well: the historical tradition of a transnational overarching of the borders, as well as the existence of fruitful and mutual influences in shared and neighboring territories. Cooperation of artists with different nationalities will also come into play, providing arguments and visions to promote peaceful co-existence.
As for the different sites, those with smaller spaces (Apartman Project Gallery, Berlin) are free to embrace experimental works or focus exclusively on specific, locally important aspects. The contributions of sites with bigger spaces will be the meticulous elaboration of various facets of the topic (Kunsthalle, Kosice / m21 Gallery, Zsolnay Cultural Quarter, Pécs / Bunkier Sztuki, Krakkow / MODEM, Debrecen). Ostrale (Dresden), the farthest site on the West, goes even further by reaching out for artworks produced in and related to the old Western democracies, with the aim to reveal and undermine the deep-seated belief that the fertile soil of nationalism is to be found in the eastern part of Europe. While Divus Gallery in Prague serves as a kind of flagship exhibition, providing the trailer of the whole project, Ostrale’14 in Dresden offers a kind of survey on the issue at hand. Different museum pedagogical programs and join events are intended to be connected to all the exhibitions.
Parallel to the exhibitions, an international artist-in-residence program will offer 15 artists from all six participating countries the opportunity to spend altogether 15 months in four countries, a great possibility for cultural exchange and immersion into another culture. (Organizations receiving artists are: SpaceGallery, Bratislava / ApartmanProjekt, Istanbul / Ostrale, Dresden / AAA/Approach Art Association, Pécs.)
Subsequent exhibitions and programs:
February 21st-March 15th 2014
Divus Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic
Curators: Lenka Klodova, Ivan Mecl
March 27th-April 30th 2014
Kunsthalle, Kosice, Slovakia
Curators: Ilona Németh, Michal Stofa
May 8th- June 15th 2014
M 21 Gallery, Zsolnay Cultural Quarter, Pécs, Hungary.
Curators: Rita Varga, Márton Pacsika
July 18th-September 28th, 2014
Ostrale’14, Dresden, Germany
Curators: Nadine Bors, Andrea Hilger
November 9th-November 30th, 2014
Bunkier Sztuki, Krakkow, Poland
Curators: Anna Lebensztejn, Lidia Krawczyk
November 15th-December 30th, 2014
Apartman Project Gallery (Turkey), Berlin, Germany
Curator: Selda Asal
April 15th-July 30th, 2015
Modem, Debrecen, Hungary
Curator: Edit András
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