[Nettime-ro] Galeria Atelier 35 - Noaptea Alba a Galeriilor

[Raluca Doroftei <lavanda_sonora@hotmail.com>]

Galeria Atelier 35 - Noaptea Alba a Galeriilor
 
Barbara Husar , Jennifer Wille, Luc Gros
Video-instalatie, printuri
 Data Exchange- Phase 09
„I own a herd, I work with umbilical cords
 
This statement of the Feldkirch-born artist Barbara Husar aroused in my mind instant associations with idyllic west-Austrian landscapes and lush green pastures. These associations were abruptly shattered when I was confronted with images of maximum contrast: images of barren wilderness, endless horizons and emptiness. For more then ten years, the artist and modern-day nomad (Feldkirch , Vienna , Amsterdam , New York) has been attracted by the desert. It is the desert of the Sinai Peninsula where she encountered the Bedouin tribe of the Tarabeen with whom she has been linked through a special friendship ever since. But why would a woman from Vorarlberg be attracted by the desert?
The desert is a symbol of remoteness and civilisation weariness, a projection screen for individual fantasies and yearnings. If someone moves from the -civilised and highly developed part of the world to the desert he or she is driven by an inner quest, a quest for adventure, for a counterweight to our capitalist hybrid present, for silence , probably the greatest quality the desert has to offer , and a quest for him or herself. Going to the desert is like an act of cleansing. You decide to leave all comfort, material ties and other ballast in life behind and gain a fragment of personal freedom in exchange. Whether in one’s soul or in outer reality, the desert is an incomparably creative sphere, a sphere of existential experiences, even if, in the age of satellite navigation, cell phones and friendly, hospitable Bedouins, the desert has lost most of its terrors and hostile qualities.
Travelling through the desert as an artist means being on a tightrope from yesterday to today and entering into a mental world where one’s own horizon is constantly changing; for, in the desert, not only moral concepts change, but also habitual thought structures. While logical thinking and knowledge pale and perception becomes heightened, thoughts fly freely and become manifest in constantly new creative patterns. A vibrating, inspiring relationship develops between the artist and her environment, and this can be clearly felt in the work of Barbara Husar.
The contrast between the archaic-penurious life of the desert and the modern information society awakened Husar’s interest in the exchange of data and messages which then resulted in her work DATA EXCHANGE. In the desert it is mainly individual moments and inspirations by the wayside that challenge a person’s eyes, mind and sensitivity. In Barbara Husar’s case it was castoff shoe buckles that became metaphors of data transfer after she had persistently addressed the theme in her drawings. Like synapses (1), which represent an essential part of the brain’s network of nerve cells, the buckles became junctions and recurring motifs in Husar’s work. This repertoire of -symbols of neuronal communication mechanisms- was expanded in 2005 to include chip pans, in which the artist sees -multidimensional networks- and even meteorite traps, and in 2007 to include umbilical cords. The umbilical cord is a communication channel. It ensures the flow of data that is necessary for survival, links the inside with the outside and, hence, completely different life environments. 
In 2007 Barbara Husar went on another journey to the wadis of the Sinai with the intention of buying the umbilical cords of goats from Bedouin women. Her idea met with little understanding at first, since the Bedouin women believe that they cannot freely dispose of the umbilical cord. As the Arabic designation -habel surri- (mysterious cord) suggests, the umbilical cord is believed to be the seat of the animal’s soul. One possibility of respecting that belief but still obtaining umbilical cords from goats was getting a goat herd of one’s own. Thus Barbara Husar became the owner of a herd of six goats in the Sinai desert. By acquiring the goats, Barbara Husar built another bridge to facilitate intercultural exchanges between a life close to nature in the desert and a technology-laden urban life; linked by an umbilical cord, so to speak.”
Karin Altmann, Essl Museum, 2008
 
Noaptea Alba a Galeriilor #3 // 12 iunie 2009 // 19h00 - 04h00
Cea de-a treia editie a Noptii Albe Galeriilor reuneste un numar record de galerii, centre de arta contemporana si spatii alternative bucurestene: 28.
Peste 80 de artisti expun sau performeaza in noaptea de 12 spre 13 iunie incepand cu orele 19. Pentru detalii despre programul traseului cultural nocturn propus de Noaptea Alba a Galeriilor, precum si harta spatiilor participante intrati pe www.noapteagaleriilor.ro

_________________________________________________________________
Windows Live™: Keep your life in sync. Check it out!
http://windowslive.com/explore?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_t1_allup_explore_012009
_______________________________________________
Nettime-ro mailing list
Nettime-ro@nettime.org
http://www.nettime.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nettime-ro
-->
arhiva: http://amsterdam.nettime.org/