Exhibition
September 5–November 10, 2013

The Field is to the Sky, Only Backwards

The Field is to the Sky, Only Backwards, is an exhibition curated by ISCP alum Aneta Szylak, Artistic Director of Wyspa Institute of Art and Alternativa International Visual Arts Festival, Gdansk. The exhibition includes works by Anders Bojen and Kristoffer Ørum, Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Hiwa K, Katarzyna Krakowiak, MML Studio (Michał Madracki, Maciej Madracki and Gilles Lepore) and Hito Steyerl and questions art as a practice of knowledge. 

Studying the intersections of subjects such as economic and social relations, space and architecture, image, material, sound, movement, migration and mobility, the included artists transgress disciplines. They realize forms of research and modes of practice that are coded within disciplines but also inhabit temporary spaces between them. The artists disclose not only what we want to know but how we would like to get to know it. Diverse methodologies merge and cross in the exhibition, seeking the possible in fault lines.

Aneta Szylak is a curator, writer, and the co-founder and current Director of Wyspa Institute of Art. Since 2010, Szylak has been Artistic Director of Alternativa, a series of exhibitions accompanied by numerous additional events, which seeks new directions for art and its social role. After co-founding and running the Laznia (Bathhouse) Centre for Contemporary Art (1998-2001), she continued her career as an independent curator and researcher. Since 2004, Szylak has been responsible for programming Wyspa—the intellectual environment for contemporary visual culture—in the Gdansk Shipyard.

The title of the exhibition is taken from the poem by Laurel Snyder The Field has a Girl from the book, The Myth of the Simple Machines.

As part of Independent Curators International (ICI)’s Curator’s Perspective series, Aneta Szylak will present her current research interests and curatorial projects on September 5, 2013 at 7pm at The Segal Theater, The Graduate Center CUNY, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016. 

Travel for The Field is to the Sky, Only Backwards is supported by Adam Mickiewicz Institute and Municipality of Gdansk.

Opening Reception: Sep 04, 2013, 7-9pm
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Hiwa K, For the Few Socks of Marbles, 2012, Installation

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August 27, 2013

Salon: Jaffar Al Oraibi, Waheeda Malullah and Mohamed Sharkawy

Please join us for a special Salon with our summer residents sponsored by Al Riwaq Art Space, Bahrain.

Jaffar Al Oraibi ‘s paintings continue his inquiry into the role of the individual in society, particularly the concept of manhood and the role that men play in contemporary society. Often representations of animals in the work refer to human characteristics and behaviors that highlight the tension between self and other, as well as the feeling of alienation between the individual and the group.

Although Waheeda Malullah’s output is video and photography, her practice is conceptual with an emphasis on elements of play. She thinks and reacts intuitively, without plan. Recently, her work explores gender equality and alternative lifestyles for women in the Middle East.

Mohamed Sharkawy’s work is reminiscent of Egyptian wall paintings and is created in the aesthetic tradition of his village Qena, near Cairo. Unadorned and unaffected, his work is a vision of childlike simplicity, although it is not naive but rather employs his astute ability to communicate the fundamentals of life though a universal visual language.

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Participating Residents

Jaffar Al Oraibi
Waheeda Malullah
Mohamed Sharkawy
Jaffar Al Oraibi
Waheeda Malullah
Mohamed Sharkawy

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August 13, 2013

Curating Pacific Spaces: Recent Developments in Contemporary Art from the South Pacific

On August 13th, the International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP) presents the panel Curating Pacific Spaces: Recent Developments in Contemporary Art from the South Pacific. New Zealand is home to one of the largest populations of Pacific people in the world, however Indigenous Pacific artists and curators have, until recently, rarely been featured in the art history of this nation. Today a new generation of indigenous artists endeavor to have their contribution to the contemporary art scene of the South Pacific fully recognized.

Curators of contemporary Māori and Pacific Islander art, Reuben Friend and Shelley Jahnke, will present their findings on recent developments in contemporary Pacific Art, from trends in the private gallery scene to the latest generation of emerging millennial artists. Reuben Friend’s findings highlight the types of contemporary Pacific Art currently being exhibited in public galleries in New Zealand and how these works translate to an international audience. Shelley Jahnke’s research examines the dynamics of selling and positioning contemporary Māori and Pacific Art within New Zealand and international markets.

Reuben Friend is an artist and curator of Māori and Pākehā lineage. From 2009-2013, he worked as the Curator of Māori and Pacific Arts at City Gallery and recently relocated to Brisbane where he works as the Exhibition Manager at Logan Art Gallery while developing contemporary Pacific art projects on a freelance basis.

Shelley Jahnke is a Māori curator with experience working within public and commercial galleries in New Zealand. Prior to taking up the role of curator, at Te Manawa Art Gallery, Palmerston North, she worked exclusively for an Asian-based private international art collector and contributed to the curation and project management of the international touring show Roundabout. This ambitious three year project debuted at the City Gallery, Wellington in late 2010 and later the Tel Aviv Museum of Art in 2012.

The presentation will be facilitated by ISCP artist-in-residence Shigeyuki Kihara. 

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Michael Parekowha, On First Looking Into Chapman's Homer, 2011. Venice Biennale

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