Cathy Collins in Herschell Gordon Lewis' "Color Me Blood Red", 1965, photo: press release
The exhibition presented in the Bunkier Sztuki gallery as part of the Photomonth 2011 festival showcases the works of many prominent international artists who redefine themselves through imaginary characters with different personalities and writing styles
The exhibition aims to review the modern practices of the heteronym technique. The concept of heteronyms, created by the Portuguese poet and writer Fernando Pessoa, is key to this year's Photomonth Festival. Pessoa rose to fame for having over 240 various literary embodiments, creating novels, poems, essays and literary critiques. The key difference between artistic pseudonyms and heteronyms is that the latter have developed biographies, and each one writes in a style far removed from the author's or other heteronyms. Pessoa's concept gave Photomonth's curators the idea to create a strategy of resistance in an era when artists are increasingly being forced to present themselves as commercial brands.
The exhibition at Bunkier Sztuki shows that this strategy is actually nothing new in artistic practice, and the curators use it to review earlier works. The presented artists decided to create imaginary characters, fictitious institutions or simply develop alternative versions of themselves. It allows them to take a different, external perspective on issues of sexuality, gender, race, or political persecution.
Imaginary artists seem to suffer from the same weaknesses as real ones. They cannot resist self-promotion - the portrait of Duchamp's Rose Sélavy presented at the exhibition decorates a label on a perfume bottle. They tend to be whimsical, with an decided bend for collage. They don't always tell the truth about where they come from or give the source of their ideas. Just like real artists they like to travel, but don't like to think of themselves as tourists.
Featured artists: Marcel Duchamp (as Rrose Sélavy), Walid Raad (as The Atlas Group), Brian O'Doherty (as Patrick Ireland), Renzo Martens (as Renzo Martens), Alec Soth, Simon Fujiwara (as his own father), William Kentridge (as Kentridge vs. Kentridge), Joe Scanlan (as Donnelle Woolford) just to name a few.
The curators of "Alias", Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin, have been working together for around a decade. Their works have been exhibited around the world at over twenty individual exhibitions and numerous collective exhibitions. They also regularly lead workshops and photography master classes, as well as lecturing in Documentary Photography at the London College of Communications (LCC) and at the School of Visual Arts in New York. They have been awarded numerous prizes, including the Vic Odden Award presented by the Royal Photographic Society; they are also members of the Board of Trustees of Photoworks and the Photographers' Gallery. They gained recognition and admiration through their innovative attitude to documentary photography, transcending the borders of the genre.
Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin are curators of the main programme of the Photomonth 2011 in Kraków. The "Alias" is a part of this year's edition of the festival.
The exhibit runs between May 6 and June 12, 2011. Vernissage: May 14, 2011, at 14:30 (during the inauguration of the Photomonth 2011).
Bunkier Sztuki
pl. Szczepański 3 a, 31-011 Kraków
Director: Maria Anna Potocka
tel. (+48 12) 422 40 21, 422 10 5
fax (+48 12) 422 83 03
link*www.bunkier.art.pl*http://www.bunkier.art.pl****Source: press materials