Trancultural Emancipation

9. August 2017

mit Lia Dostlieva & Andrii Dostliev, Alicja Rogalska, Gregoriy Selskiy kuratiert von Ursula Maria Probst Billboardprojekt in Kooperation mit BKA und Kulturkontakt Austria

Transcultural Emancipation

Im Rahmen einer Kooperation mit dem Bundeskanzleramt und KulturKontakt Austria bespielt das Fluc die an den Außenwänden der Fluc-Architektur installierten Billboardwände. Einer politischen Praxis von Kunst im Stadtraum folgend, wird damit im Austausch und in Zusammenarbeit mit internationalen Künstler_innen, die sich als Artists in Residence für drei Monate in Wien aufhalten, eine Präsentations- und Interventionsfläche im urbanen, öffentlichen Raum geboten.
Worin bestehen heute emanzipatorische Prozesse, Aktionen zur Befreiung von gesellschaftlichen Normen und medienpolitisch forcierten, einschlägigen Weltanschauungen? Bei den im Rahmen von "Transcultural Emancipation" realisierten Projekten ist die Auseinandersetzung mit der transkulturellen Situation am Wiener Praterstern ebenso wichtiger Bestandteil wie die Hinterfragung dessen, wie künstlerische Arbeit in eine politisch gesellschaftliche Dimension überführt werden
kann. Die Billboards bilden nicht bloß eine Schau- und Projektionsfläche, sondern sollen zur Kommunikation anregen, uns interessieren die Reaktionen der Passant_innen, die Hinterfragung jener Konstellationen, einer in Veränderung begriffenen gesellschaftspolitischen Situation.

Lia Dostlieva & Andrii Dostliev, The cynocephali of Donbass., 2017, Billboardinstallation

The myth about dog-headed people ("cynocephali") inhabiting Eastern Ukrainian territories dates back at least as early as Herodotus. Simmias, an ancient Greek philosopher, wrote: "A giant race, half-man, half-dog, live there, // Beneath their shoulders grow the heads they wear; // Jaws long and lank, and grizzly tusks they bear; // Much foreign tongs they learn and can indite, // But when they strive to speak they bark outright." (Bland & Merrivale´s Greek Anthology, p. 121).

Cynocephali can be seen all around the world nowadays. Their disturbed nest spread its sprouts everywhere infiltrating the areas inhabited by the regular humans. They walk the same streets that we do, ride the same buses, and even send their kids to human schools. They can start talking to humans or even suddenly touch them. But they nevertheless forever remain only half-human themselves.

The social alienation of the people who were forced to leave the occupied Ukrainian territories made them contemporary cynocephali expelled from their homes. At this moment they remind the dog-headed people seeking shelter among the regular humans, desperately and fruitlessly trying to dissolve among them, to be like them.

This project explores the themes of alienation and stereotyping in relation to the internally displaced Ukrainians and the respective emergence of their "new mythology".

Each dog-headed doll in this series was made after one particular Ukrainian coming from the Russian-occupied territories and her/his story of feeling alien. The project is still in progress, and people coming from occupied Ukrainian territories are welcome to share their stories of non-acceptance and have them made into a doll.

Lia Dostlieva (Vitaliia Sazonova): Curator, photographer, textile artist. Curatorial projects: 2016 Reconstruction of Memory, Jeżyckie Centrum Kultury, Poznań, Poland. 2016 Reconstruction of Memory, Ukraiński Dom, Warszawa, Poland. 2016 Reconstruction of Memory, Izolyatsia, Kyiv, Ukraine. Solo exhibitions: 2017 Szurnięte ZOO, Pies Andaluzyjski, Poznan, Poland. 2015 Hobotary, festival Ukraińska Wiosna, Poznan, Poland

Andrii Dostliev is an artist, designer, and curator from Ukraine, currently based In Poznań, Poland. Has degrees in IT and graphic design. His primary areas of interest are memory, trauma, and identity - both personal and collective. Curatorial projects: 2016 `Reconstruction of Memory` (with Lia Dostlieva). Solo exhibitions: 2016/17 `Reconstruction of Memory` @ Ukraiński Dom, Warszawa, Poland. 2016/11 `Polycopies Paris 2016` @ Bateau Concorde-Atlantique, Paris, France.


Alicja Rogalska, 06646573927, 2017, Billboardinstallation

A photograph of a hand with a phone number written on it, with no further explanation offered. The billboard is located in the vicinity of a major public transport hub, a bar and a night club, a park where many young immigrants hang out and a tourist passage to Prater. The work refers to the clandestine, haphazard and illicit character of the many activities taking place in the area, and moves the format of a billboard into the realm of participatory art.

Alicja Rogalska, Monument to Precarious Workers, 2015, Billboardinstallation

Documentation of durational performance. Five precarious workers stand absolutely still in the same, work-related poses for several hours thanks to a system of metal supports hidden under their clothes. The work reflects on precarity and flexibility as the new bodily regimes of late capitalism whilst referring to socialist realist workers' monuments, social choreography and living statues. Commissioned by Art Loop Festival, Sopot, Poland.

Alicja Rogalska is a visual artist based between Warsaw and London. Her practice is interdisciplinary and encompasses both research and production with a focus on social structures and the political subtext of the everyday. She mostly works in specific contexts creating participatory situations and performances, which then become the material for videos and installations. These events are attempts to practise a different political reality here and now, create space for many voices to be heard and to co-exist, whilst collectively searching for emancipatory ideas for the future. Recent exhibitions include: Free Play, Västerås Konstmuseum (Västerås, 2017), Dreams and Dramas. Law as Literature, NGBK (Berlin, 2017), Social Design for Social Living, National Gallery (Jakarta, 2016), All Men Become Sisters, Muzeum Sztuki (Łódź, 2016); No Need For References, Kunsthalle Exnergasse (Vienna, 2015); Critical Juncture, Kochi¬-Muziris Biennale (Kochi, 2014); A Museum of Immortality, Ashkal Alwan (Beirut, 2014)


Gregory Selskiy, Liberty, 2015, Billboardinstallation.
Part of the project SUPER SELFIE STICK

Just as we admire works of art or architecture, we also admire the people around us. Modern technologies allow us to instantly share all our achievements, through social networks. Selfie is a tool not only for narcissism, it also allows the user to show their life achievements and capture themselves against their background. On the Internet you can often find selfie photos not only of people, but also animals made by their masters or by the animals themselves. Why not make a Selfie and the Monument, then, also have something to share with others about his life.

Gregory Selskiy works with installation, photography, video, mixedmedia. His favorite themes are internet, social media, new technologies and how they affect our daily lives. He lives at Moscow Russia & Svetlogorsk (Kaliningrad region, Russia). His works are located in Multimedia Art Museum, Moskow;Gallery Elektromuseum, Moskow; Gallery of Art, Kaliningrad. 2012-2014 heorganized together with Alexander Lubin the first contemporary art gallery in Kaliningrad Gallery ГОВНО(SHIT). 2006- until today - member of art group LES, a group is busy in the popularization of contemporary art in the city of Svetlogorsk, Kaliningrad region. 2016 director, Selskiy Art Foundation, Foundation for the Support of Contemporary Art in the city of Svetlogorsk.

Lia Dostlieva & Andrii Dostliev, The cynocephali of Donbass, 2017, Billboardinstallation

Alicja Rogalska, 06646573927, 2017, Billboardinstallation

Alicja Rogalska, Monument to Precarious Workers, 2015, Billboardinstallation

Gregory Selskiy, Liberty, 2015, Billboardinstallation