PROPHETIC CORNERS. THE 6th PERIFERIC BIENNIAL

Iasi, Romania, May 30—June 14, 2003

www.periferic.org

IASI in northeastern Romania (350.000 inhabitants) is the former capital of the Principality of Moldova, which existed until the mid-19th century and an important centre for culture and learning. Romania's first university was founded here in 1860. Today, Iasi hosts seven universities with more than 30.000 students. The city has a number of cultural institutions, and many churches and monasteries.

IASI, like all of Romania, suffered physically and psychologically from the Ceausescu regime, particularly in the late 1970s and the 1980s. Much of the old city centre was ruined. It is only now that Romania is beginning a process of serious economic and social recovery. The people of Iasi predict that their city will become a southeastern outpost of both NATO and EU within five years or so.

THE PERIFERIC BIENNIAL exists since 1997. It is initiated and organized by the Vector Foundation and its president, the artist and university lecturer MATEI BEJENARU. The first editions were centered on performative practices in contemporary art.

THE 6TH PERIFERIC BIENNIAL is the most extensive contemporary art initiative in Romania after the fall of communism. Since 2000, the focus of the organizers has increasingly been on creating an international contemporary art event. This year’s edition marks the transition from respected regional festival to aspiring international biennial.

PROPHETIC CORNERS

International contemporary art exhibition

Opening: Friday, May 30, 17:00 in the Palace of Culture, Iasi

PROPHETIC CORNERS takes place in the Palace of Culture, the disused Turkish Bath and city locations in Iasi. It is an idea-based venture for a specific geographic location rather than an event with a geopolitical agenda. The exhibition is curated by ANDERS KREUGER, independent curator based in Stockholm and former director of NIFCA in Helsinki.

PROPHETIC CORNERS explores the concept of “dealing with the future". The title is borrowed from WALTER BENJAMIN'S "A Berlin Childhood Around Nineteen Hundred":

"This corner of the Zoological Garden showed signs of something about to come. It was a prophetic corner. Just as some plants are said to have the power of letting us see into the future, there are locations that have the same gift. Mostly, they are deserted plots, but also tree tops facing walls, blind alleys or front gardens where no one ever stops. In such places, everything that really lies ahead of us seems like a past."

PROPHETIC CORNERS articulates different relations of time (the future as a non-utopian temporal category) and place (the site as a non-hierarchical spatial category).

PROPHETIC CORNERS accommodates both "activist" and "contemplative" approaches to the overall theme. Both "performative" and "pictorial" works are included, by artists and artists’ groups from different countries and generations:

HÜSEYIN ALPTEKIN (Turkey. Born 1957. Lives and works in Istanbul): "Mattresses to Imaginary Destinations" (installation)

LILIANA BASARAB (Romania. Born 1979. Lives and works in Iasi): "The Curse" (video installation)

ERICK BELTRÁN (Mexico. Born 1974. Lives and works in Amsterdam): "Romania Reads" (installation and publication)

PAVEL BRAILA (Republic of Moldova. Born 1971. Lives and works in Chisinau and Brussels): "105/7" (video)

MIRIAM BÄCKSTRÖM (Sweden. Born 1968. Lives and works in Stockholm): "Stickelbärsvägen 7" (photography)

A K DOLVEN (Norway. Born 1954. Lives and works in London and Oslo): "between the morning and the handbag" (video installation)

ANNIKA ERIKSSON (Sweden. Born 1956. Lives and works in Berlin and Stockholm): "The Future Is Here" (performative project), "Klas Malmberg Dancing" (video)

ION GRIGORESCU (Romania. Born 1945. Lives and works in Bucharest): a collection of films, photographs, text-based works and objects from the late 1970s and recent years, among them "Dialogue with Ceausescu" (8mm film)

RÓZA EL-HASSAN (Hungary. Born 1966. Lives and works in Budapest): "Self-Connected Tree" (photography and painting)

HARALDUR JÓNSSON (Iceland. Born 1961. Lives and works in Reykjavik): "Water" (text/sound installation), "Galaxy" (slide projection), "Illuminated Emotions" (slide projection)

CARSTEN HÖLLER (Germany. Born 1961. Lives and works in Stockholm): "Together Into the Future" (banner for city locations)

JOACHIM KOESTER (Denmark. Born 1962. Lives and works in New York and Copenhagen): "Bialowiesza" (photography)

HENRIETTA LEHTONEN (Finland. Born 1965. Lives and works in Tampere): "Poisoned Skirt 1—2" (objects), "Ghost" (object), "The Sky Over Tampere" (installation)

MATTS LEIDERSTAM (Sweden. Born 1956. Lives and works in Stockholm): "See and Be Seen. Iasi 1842" (installation)

IEVA MEDIODIA (Lithuania/USA. Born 1968. Lives and works in New York): "The Writing On the Wall" (painting installation)

AYDAN MURTEZAOGLU (Turkey. Born 1961. Lives and works in Istanbul): "At Room Temperature", "Thermo Couples", "Eavesdroppers" (photography)

N55 (INGVIL AARBAKKE, Norway, born 1970; RIKKE LUTHER, Denmark, born 1970, JON SORVIN, Denmark, born 1964, CECILIA WENDT, Sweden, born 1964). The collective lives and works in Copenhagen: "SHOP" and "LAND" (participatory projects);

JOAO PENALVA (Portugal. Born 1949. Lives and works in London): "366 Rivers" video), "Kitsune" (video);

LIA PERJOVSCHI (Romania. Born 1961. Lives and works in Bucharest): "Endless Collection: Newspaper" (publication), "Endless Collection: Globe" (objects)

QUASAR (Romania. Science-fiction association in Iasi): presentation of their activities from the 1970s until now

ARTURAS RAILA (Lithuania. Born 1962. Lives and works in Vilnius): "Forever Lacking and Never Quite Enough" (video and poetry installation), "Primitive Sky" (video)

NINA ROOS (Finland. Born 1956. Lives and works in Helsinki): "Introduction to a Place: Picture Track 1" (painting)

BRUNO SERRALONGUE (France. Born 1968. Lives and works in Paris): "Expo 2000" (photography)

PRANEET SOI (India. Born 1971. Lives and works in Amsterdam): "Capturing the World’s Memories" (painting), "Iasi Mural" (painting installation)

MIKA TAANILA (Finland. Born 1965. Lives and works in Helsinki): "The Future is not what it Used to Be" (video)

THORVALDUR THORSTEINSSON (Iceland. Born 1960. Lives and works in Los Angeles): "Wanted" (poster project), "The Most Real Death" (video, with HELENA JÓNSDÓTTIR)

DRÉ WAPENAAR (The Netherlands. Born 1961. Lives and works in Rotterdam): "Tents" (photographic documentation)

ERWIN WURM (Austria. Born 1954. Lives and works in Vienna): "One-Minute Sculptures" (performative installations)

PROPHETIC CORNERS will be documented in an extensive illustrated catalogue, edited, designed and printed in Romania during the summer of 2003. The catalogue will be available from the Vector Foundation in Iasi.

A selection of the works exhibited in Iasi will also be shown at the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Bucharest on June 27—July 25, 2003.

DEALING WITH THE FUTURE

International seminar with curators and academics

Saturday, May 31, 14:00—18:00 at the Goethe Zentrum, Iasi

Moderated by: MATEI BEJENARU, ANDERS KREUGER

Invited speakers:

VASIF KORTUN (Turkey. Director of Proje4L and Platform Garanti Contemporary Art Centre, Istanbul);

MARIA LIND (Sweden. Director of Kunstverein Munich);

ALINA MUNGIU-PIPPIDI (Romania. Sociologist at the University of Fiesole, Italy)

IRINA SANDOMIRSKAJA (Russia. Professor of cultural studies at Södertörn University College, Stockholm)

CIPRIAN MIHALI (Romania. Philosopher, University of Cluj, Romania)

VIDEO P6

Young video artists from Romania and the Republic of Moldova

Opening: Saturday, May 31, 11:00 at the French Cultural Center, Iasi

VIDEO P6 – 1

Romanian Programme, selected by: MATEI BEJENARU, IRINA CIOS (Bucharest), RON SLUIK (Chisinau)

Participating artists:

DAN ACOSTIOIAEI (Iasi)

DANA BUZATU (Timisoara);

AUREL CORNEA (Iasi);

CRISTINA DAVID (Bucharest);

OANA FELIPOV (Iasi);

NATALIA GHINGHINA (Rm. Valcea);

VALENTIN PUZDERCA (Bucharest);

EUGEN SAVINESCU (Cluj);

MONA VATAMANU & FLOE TUDOR (Bucharest);

VIDEO P6 – 2

Moldavian Programme, selected by: MATEI BEJENARU and LILIA DRAGNEVA (Chisinau)

Participating artists:

PAVEL BRAILA (Brussels / Chisinau)

LILIA DRAGNEVA & LUCIA MACARI (Chisinau)

VEACESLAV DRUTA (Chisinau)

VALENTIN TARNA (Chisinau)

STEFAN RUSU (Chisinau)

HISTORY OF THE PERIFERIC BIENNIAL

Documentary exhibition

Opening: Saturday, May 31, 20:00 at the "Cupola" Gallery, Iasi

Organized by: Vector Foundation, Iasi

SEARCHING FOR… MENTAL LOCATIONS

Video and sound ambient show

Friday, May 30, 22:00 at the Public bath of Iasi

Organized by MATZE (Bucharest), OANA FELIPOV (Iasi), DRAGOS PLATON (Iasi),

LILIANA BASARAB (Iasi), AUREL CORNEA (Iasi)

THE 6^th PERIFERIC BIENNIAL IS SUPPORTED BY:

City Hall of Iasi;

Södertörn University College (Stockholm);

Nordic Cultural Foundation (Copenhagen);

IASPIS (Stockholm);

Romanian Ministry of Culture (Bucharest);

FRAME (Helsinki);

Mondriaan Foundation (Amsterdam);

DCA (Copenhagen);

Rompak - Pakmaya Ltd. (Istanbul/Pascani);

Sindan Cultural Foundation (Bucharest);

Kultur Kontakt Austria (Vienna);

Swiss Cultural Programme in Romania – Pro Helvetia (Bucharest);

Office for Contemporary Art (Oslo);

French Cultural Centre (Iasi);

Goethe-Zentrum (Iasi);

“Moldova” National Museum Consortium (Iasi);

ICCA (Bucharest);

National Museum of Contemporary Art – Kalinderu Medialab (Bucharest)

Swedish Institute (Stockholm);

Rijksakademie van Beeldenden Kunsten (Amsterdam);

Moderna Museet International Programme (Stockholm);

AFAA (Paris);

Central Art Commission (Helsinki),

Ministry of Education and Culture (Reykjavik);

Embassy of Sweden (Bucharest);

Royal Norwegian Embassy (Bucharest);

Romanian National Radio “Romania 3” (Bucharest)

Romanian Billboard Company (Iasi)

For additional information, please contact:

Anders Kreuger

tel. +46 8 6687546

email: anderskreuger@hotmail.com

Matei Bejenaru

tel. +40 723 508738

fax. +40 232 225333

email: bmatei@mail.dntis.ro