Agnieszka Kurant, "Phantom Islands", 2011. Courtesy of CCA Toruń
The artist's solo show in Toruń is a forecast of the artist's vision of our invisible economy set to be exhibited at New York's Guggenheim Museum this autumn
Agnieszka Kurant's focus is on the globe's "invisible economy" and its implications on the world - many of which appear to defy basic logic. She is fascinated by the unknown areas of knowledge and manipulation, subjected to the collective subconscious of societies. Her works relate to such phenomena as the virtual capital or immaterial work, analysing the transformation of intellectual property issues. The artist investigates how the fictions, rumors, myths and paranormal phenomena affect the economics and politics.
Phantom Capital brings together some of the artists most recent projects, along with two new projects created especially for the exhibition. Kurant's earlier works include Future Anterior (2011) - a fictional edition of the New York Times dated June 2020 based on the predictions of a professional clairvoyant and written by actual NYT contributors. The paper is printed with invisible ink, which disappears when the temperature rises above 26 degrees. The work was most recently exhibited on the streets of Paris as part of the 10th anniversary of Fondation Ricard's Pavillon Neuflize OBC, a creative laboratory located in the Palais de Tokyo earlier this spring.
Phantom Library (2011) is a collection of fictional, invisible books - books that don't exist, except in the pages of other books, mentioned in the writings of such authors as Philip K. Dick, Stanislaw Lem, Jorge Luis Borges, Vladimir Nabokov and Richard Brautigan. The project is based on the research of a group of academics which includes Enrique Vila-Matas, Brian Quinette and Pawel Dunin Wąsowicz. The resulting project is a sculptural piece of fictional books that have been given real ISBN numbers and represent the complex economic processes behind the production of a work of literature. The covers of the books were designed in collaboration with the artist and graphic designer Kasia Korczak (of the Slavs and Tatars collective).
Map of Phantom Islands (2011) is a map of the world including only fictional islands, a map of imaginary territories where colonial influences and power relations are depicted. The maps depict all the phantom islands that resulted from cartography errors, misconceptions about the world, rumors, myth and legends. Some phantom islands were also intentional errors of explorers who tried to persuade governments to get money for conquering new lands and invented and placed on maps on some nonexistent territories, which later continued appearing on other maps over the centuries. All these islands appeared once or a few times and with the time and development of knowledge and cartography gradually disappeared from maps but many of them remained until 1943, which was when they started aerial photography. Some caused real political conflicts and almost led to wars. The piece also includes an archive of 30 phantom islands with fragments of old maps where they appeared together with descriptions of their history and origin as well as additional information we have about these phantom territories related to their economy, regime of climate.
Multiverse is one of two new works by Agnieszka Kurant presented at the exhibition, based on the idea of a series of 25-cent coins valued at "negative one dollar" rather than a "quarter collar". The work symbolises the physical and virtual aspects of value resulting from a global economic crisis. She proposes an alternative market reality in which money is given the status of "anti-matter". The second work Silence is Golden examines the use of pregnant pauses that have carried weight in the speeches of major politicians, philosophers, anthropologists, linguists and other public figures. The artist compares its significance to the role of an interval in a musical score, taking the speeches of such icons as Hitler, Winston Churchill, JFK, Georges Pompidou and Fidel Castro. The concept of "silence" also represents the omission, censoring or suppressing and concealing of certain information used to manipulate the public and collective memory. Kurant is also interested in the issue of copyright of recordings of public speeches, which represent a part of a nation's cultural and political heritage - an issue that has brought on a great deal of lawsuits in recent years. She subsequently asks - is the silence also controlled by copyright?
The work was inspired by the short story of Heinrich Boll's Murke's Collected Silences. The Murke of the title is a young editor, a graduate of psychology working for a radio station. He starts collecting bits of tape discarded on the studio floor - tape containing silence - splices them together and takes them home to listen to in the evening. Murke ultimately trades a portion of silences with a radio producer for fragments of other recording he offers him in exchange. Kurant’s piece is a realisation of a phantom work that existed inside Boll’s short story, bringing to life a recording of many silences that provides a soundtrack of the show. A limited edition of the record is also on sale during the course of the exhibition, bringing this peculiar project into the commercial market.
The project initiates curator Joanna Sandell's series of research projects on the signs of our times and the status of our collective memory at the CoCA in Torun. Other artists and writers will also be invited to join the project, which will continue on to Stockholm in cooperation with the Lucie Fontaine Gallery in Stockholm. Fragments of Kurant's exhibition will also be part of the artist's solo show at the Guggenheim Museum in New York in autumn 2012.
Agnieszka Kurant (1978) is an artist based in Warsaw and currently New York. She represented Poland at the Polish Pavilion at Venice Biennale 2010 (collaboration with the architect Aleksandra Wasilkowska). Her works have been shown in art institutions including: Witte de With, Rotterdam (2011); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2004); Tate Modern, London (2006); Yvon Lambert Gallery, New York (2005) , Creative Time, New York (2007) and Museum of Modern Art, Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw. Kurant has participated in international contemporary art exhibitions including: Performa Biennial, New York (2009), Athens Biennale (2009), Moscow Biennale (2007) and Bucharest Biennale (2008). In 2008 she was commissioned to realize Frieze Projects at Frieze Art Fair, London. In 2009 she was shortlisted for the International Henkel Art Award (MUMOK, Vienna). Kurant was an artist in residence at Palais de Tokyo, Paris in 2004; ISCP, New York in 2005; Konstfak, Stockholm in 2007 and at the Paul Klee Center (Sommerakademie) in Bern, 2009 and Location One (New York, 2011-2012). Sternberg Press published Kurant’s monograph “Unknown Unknown” in 2008. Herr forthcoming exhibitions include a solo show at Fortes Vilaca Gallery in Sao Paulo and a solo project at the Guggenheim Museum in New York.
Joanna Sandell is director of the Botkyrka Konsthall, Sweden. She is founder of the international artist’s book publishing house Labyrint Press together with artist Pia Sandström, and the residency program Residence Botkyrka. Sandell has also curated exhibitions internationally together with artists and curators where the focus has been to change the exhibition format for new and changing audiences.
The exhibition is on at the Centre for Contemporary Art (Signs of the Times) Toruń between the 15th of June - 30th September, 2012.
CCA (Signs of the Times) Toruń
Waly gen. Sikorskiego 13
tel : + 00 48 56 610 97 00
csw.torun.pl
Editor: Agnieszka Le Nart
Source: CCA Toruń, own sources