Visual art exhibitions and events with a platform for critical writing
Various venues, Portsmouth and Southampton
21 November – 13 January
Reviewed by: Rosemary Shirley
The violence and political upheaval in Central Europe seem to have been a constant in our news headlines, yet in the West we have had little exposure to the cultural history of this turbulent area of Europe. 'Aspects/Positions' aimed to provide an overview of artistic production in the Central European countries over the last fifty years, beginning with the end of World War II and ending with the work produced a decade after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Comprising of ninety-two artists and spanning four galleries, it combined the work of artists with international reputations such as Marina Abramovic with those who had not exhibited in the UK before, aiming to locate what is often a marginalised area, returning it to its place at the centre of Europe.
It would have been easy to view this collection of work as a curiosity – romanticised by the James Bond image of the Cold War – with artists working in isolation against an oppressive state regime. However, the organisers were keen not to produce an exoticised view of the work on show. Provided with a map in the exhibition guide, we were reminded that Central Europe consists of eleven distinct countries, each with their own histories and political contexts, a fact that is often forgotten, with the area presented as the homogenous 'former Eastern Bloc'.
The work of Milica Tomic combined this sense of individual identity whilst responding to the political changes in her home country, Serbia. In I Am Milica Tomic (1998) a large video projection showed the artist reciting her name and an imagined – or sometimes real – nationality: "I am Milica Tomic. I am Korean; I am Milica Tomic. I am Norwegian," etc. As she spoke she slowly rotated, revealing with every statement of her identity a new bleeding wound. Watching this piece soon became distressing –the viewer is implicated in each cut. Made in response to the xenophobia and discrimination against certain religions, which Serbia experienced in the late 80s, Tomic explores the concept of national identity as an artificial construct and how this relates to identity on a personal level.
Much of the three-dimensional work on show was refreshingly unpolished, having been isolated during the Thatcher era which saw UK/USA artists producing work with a factory-made, materialistic appearance. Incongruous in the converted church setting of the Aspex Gallery Marjetica Potrc's installation East What: Upgrading Program is a construction of breeze blocks precariously stacked to form an ambiguous 'out-house' construction. Balanced on top was a conspicuous bright red watertank pointing perhaps, to the upgraded element. The installation was given a human presence/absence by the locked door suggesting ownership of some kind. Potrc's construction refused to become a closed object, its ambiguity revealed the codes of meaning behind everyday objects.
Also showing in the Aspex Gallery was Hungarian artist Emese Benczúr. In Should I live to be a Hundred she embarked upon a simultaneously therapeutic and tortuous exercise in the structuring of time. Displayed were 27,000 clothing labels with the words 'Day by Day' woven into them, underneath this text Benczúr painstakingly embroidered the phrase 'I think about the future'. The completed labels were displayed in a strip while the empty rolls lay waiting for the artist's stitches. Whilst in the UK this working method could be considered as a feminist gesture. Interestingly though, in Hungary, feminism has been largely rejected as being a concept only meaningful in the West, as under socialism equality, in theory at least, improved significantly.
At first sight this exhibition may have seemed intimidating. It was easy to feel that to understand the work you must first understand the political history of this region. However, this doesn't have to be the starting point. All artists make work which is influenced by their situation geographically, economically and politically but what is important is to consider each artist individually, working on their own essentially human themes, and realise that this work cannot be simply understood as a product of an extreme political situation.
Writer detail:
ROSEMARY SHIRLEY
is an artist based in winchester.
Venue detail:
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