The 15th edition of the WRO Biennale revolves around the concept of Pioneering Values, presenting works that deal with the relation between new media art and culture at large with a focus on innovation. This year marks the 50th anniversary of digital art, celebrating the works of renowned artists of previous generations alongside those of the younger generation, with even the latest works of fresh Polish and international artists welcomed to participate. Within the theme of Pioneering Values, the spectrum of works spans 'new visions that allude to the past, distill the present and offer intuitive glimpses of the future'.
Masters of the Genre
As part of the focus on media art pioneers, several retrospectives honour those who shaped the artistic lexicon for the genre, featuring experimentations in sound, light and image of the 1960s by Stein and Woody Vasulki, founders of New York's The Kitchen gallery, as well as a selection of early and current experimental films of Valie Export, one of the most influential, controversial and radical figures in contemporary art. The Skip Blumberg retrospective presents this significant figure of independent documentary and experimental film of the 1970s through a survey of his shorts, television shows, installations, exhibitions and multimedia performances.
One of the most widely anticipated events of the biennale is an exhibition of new works by Mirosław Bałka, titled Nachtgesichten, prepared especially for the WRO Art Centre space (shown 8.05-8.07.2013). These ten video works follow the artist on his nightly wanderings through various locations significant to his life as an artist, such as his studios in Otwock and in Warszawa-Międzylesie. Bałka recorded these night-time visits, strolls and rituals using a hand-held camera, capturing the images discernible in the dark and also revealing himself for the first time in his career.
Chopinpiano (9.05-16.06.2013), an attempt at an independent synthesis of the music of the famed composer, joins with the historical accomplishments of the latter half of the 20th century - John Cage, Joseph Beuys and Nam June Paik. Saturn's Rings (9.05-16.06.2013) deals with the imminent nature of the system and its vital necessity, of the patterns of dust and shards, the shaping of forms and values - all through the works of a few dozen artists from around the world, including Rabih Mroué from Libya, who made an impact at last year's dOCUMENTA 13, and Joanna Malinowska, Wojtek Pustoła, Kama Sokolnicka and Cyryl Zakrzewski from Poland.
The biennale's film series features the European premiere of Mariella Nitosławska's Breaking the Frame. The feature from the Łódź Film School alumnus and current faculty of Concordia University in Montreal is a portrait of Carolee Schneemann, pioneer of performance art, body art and avant-garde cinema. The screening programme includes the premiere of Wojtek Doroszuk's Festin / Wesele (Fiesta / Wedding) and a showing of Karol Radziszewski's America Is Not Ready for This, which explores feminist artist Natalia LL's experiences in New York City in the 1970s, as well as Józef Robakowski's 1978 film Party with Lutosławski, with the composer's Third Symphony set as the background to the antics of art group Łódz Kaliska.
Other films include experimental films of the 1960s and '70s from Yugoslavia as part of the section curatred by Branko Franceschi ( curator of the Croatian pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2013) and a selection from the Arteast 2000+ collection prepared by Moderna Galerija.
Outside of the screening room, opera gets a revival with the premiere of Karl Heinz Jeron's robotic opera Hermes. The libretto is based on snatches of telephone conversations overhead on public transport. Switzerland's Cod.Act performs suspended in mid-air for their Pendulum Choir and France's Cécile Babiole compose music inspired by the sound of electric current. Two Polish artists present edgy performance pieces - Katarzyna Postaremczak with I stabbed her but I didn’t mean to kill her, I loved her but she treated me like shit (2012) and Michał Brzeziński with Affective Cinema (2012).
Spreading the message
WRO 2013 also presents a series of talks and lectures by artists, critics and art critics including Kristine Stiles, Michał Paweł Markowski, Skip Blumberg and Michael Scroggins. Discussions include the topic Digitising Contemporary Art and related issues of archiving and collecting art, particularly in the context of www.dca-project.eu - a collection of some 30,000 contemporary works from 21 European institutions. Conversations with artists, produced as part of the project Artist Talk, realised in cooperation with the Museum of Transitory Art in Ljubljana and the CIANT Centre in Prague, will be made available online at video.wrocenter.pl
Selected works and documentation of performances, objects and installations presented within the framework of WRO 2013 are also part of a major exhibition at the National Museum in Wrocław, up through late June. The event travels as part of the WRO on Tour, to other Polish and European cities. WRO also includes the Little WRO programme, with screenings and workshops open to youngsters, such as masterworks of various animation techniques by Julian Antoniszczak, Zofia Ołdak and Oscar-winner Daniel Greaves. Workshops help kids produce their own films, presenting the techniques and technology of the trade.
The WRO Media Art Biennale is the major forum for new media art in Poland, and one of the leading international art events in Central Europe. Since its inception in 1989, WRO has been presenting art forms created using new media for artistic expression and communication, exploring current creative territories and building a critical perspective toward emerging issues in art, technology and society across a broad map of cultural spaces throughout the city of Wrocław. The biennale also awards a grand cash prize of 30,000 złoty to distinguish the most promising projects by artists of today's generation, along with Critics' and Audience Choice prizes. Admission to the biennale is free to the public upon registration.
15th Media Art Biennale WRO 2013, held by the WRO Media Art Center Foundation / The WRO Art Center between the 8th of May - 31st of July 2013. For more information and a full programme, see: wro2013.wrocenter.pl
Author: Agnieszka Sural, May 2013. Translation (with edits) by Agnieszka Le Nart
Source: press release, own sources
08.05/2013