BUCHAREST BIENNALE 4
Handlung. On Producing Possibilities
May 21 – July 25, 2010
Opening/preview day: May 20, 2010

HANDLUNG. ON PRODUCING POSSIBILITIES

BB4 takes the ambiguity of the German term “Handlung” – that is impossible to translate in all its levels of meaning, but it is somehow located between action, activity, agency and participation, but at the same time it could also mean story or even narration – as a starting point to examine diverse practices, which are proposing various forms of action. BB4 attempts to scrutinize and to exhaust the promise – that might just be a supposition – of art taking place in the public sphere and is it thus creating possibilities for (political) action or does the artwork itself has already inherited this moment of action? Therefore, the exhibition rather tries to articulate questions and suggests different prospects than to formulate answers. BB4 will show artistic projects that deal with direct involvement in actions, participation and public space as well as community based art, but also works that are based on questioning, correcting and subverting history and historiography form, among others, a central point. The biennial aims to intensify the interaction with the urban and political context in Bucharest by inviting participants from different fields.

CURATOR

Felix Vogel (b. 1987) is a researcher and curator. Studies in art history, media theory, philosophy and aesthetics at HfG Karlsruhe and Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. His research and curatorial practice is focused on the relations between aesthetics and the social sphere. Consequently, he is interested in areas linked to activism, gender, historical avant-gardes as well as participative architecture. In 2008 he edited two books for One Star Press (Paris): “Renaud Auguste-Dormeuil: Fin de représentation” and “Lia Perjovschi: Sense.” and has written for different magazines, among others PAVILION, Cura, Displayer and AFI. Felix Vogel gave lectures in institutions such as Index (Stockholm), Evento (Bordeaux) and PAVILION UNICREDIT (Bucharest). He taught workshops and seminars at HEAD Geneva, Free Academy Bucharest and 1.Curatorial Symposium Sofia/Plovdiv. ?Felix Vogel lives and works in Berlin.

ARTISTS

The curator of BB4 has selected 37 participants/artists from 19 countries, who will show works produced between 1935 and 2010 and some of them specially for BUCHAREST BIENNALE.

Magnus Bärtås (SE)
Martin Beck (AT)
Kalle Brolin (SE)
Pablo Bronstein (AR/UK)
Kaucyila Brooke (US/AT)
Cabello/Carceller (ES)
Elena Ciobanu (RO)
Stefan Constantinescu (RO/SE)
Claudia Cristóvaõ (AO/NL)
Angela Ferreira (MZ/PT)
Field Work / Nis Rømer & Lise Skou (DK)
Zachary Formwalt (US/NL)
Andrea Geyer (DE/US)
Charlotte Ginsborg (UK)
Goldin+Senneby (SE)
Ion Grigorescu (RO)
Sabrina Gschwandtner (AT/US)
Nicoline van Harskamp (NL)
Marcel Iancu (RO)
Maryam Jafri (PK/DK)
Alexander Kluge (DE)
laBOMBA (RO)
Christine Meisner (DE)
Asier Mendizabal (ES)
Stina Östberg (SE)
Olivia Plender (UK) & Unnar Örn (IS)
Emily Roysdon (US)
Fia-Stina Sandlund (SE)
Lina Selander (SE)
Société Réaliste (FR/HU)
Åsa Sonjasdotter (NO)
Pilvi Takala (FI/NL)
The Otolith Group (UK)
Fereshteh Toosi (IR)
Lan Tuazon (PH)
Florin Tudor & Mona Vatamanu (RO)
Judi Werthein (AR)

LOCATIONS

Each of the 6 locations chosen for the BB4 are justified by their history, socio-political involvement, but also by the topographical location: Centre for Visual Introspection, The Geology Museum, LaBOMBA, PAVILION UNICREDIT – centre for contemporary art and culture (where the info-point will be located), Political Science Institute, ParadisGaraj.
PUBLICATIONS
PAVILION – journal for politics and culture will dedicate a special issue to the Biennale with contributions by all the artists and texts by Felix Vogel, Bruno Latour, Chantal Mouffe, Maria Muhle, Ludger Schwarte, Reinhold Martin, Hito Steyerl, Eugen Radescu, Wu Ming, Julia Brotea and Daniel Béland, Andrei Craciun, Antonio Negri, Doina Petrescu, Razvan Ion, Peter Osborne.

A mini-guide will be published to be a handy instrument for navigation through the biennale.

The journal and the guide can be ordered soon from www.pavilionjournal.org or can be directly purchased from the info-point of Bucharest Biennale 4.

SIMULTANEOUS PARALLEL EVENTS

A wide range of lectures, debates, performances and other parallel events will take place especially during the opening days and during the whole course of Bucharest Biennale 4. Among the opening days are lectures by Chantal Mouffe and Maria Muhle as well as a parallel exhibition project with HEAD Geneva. From June 25 and 26 an international conference on “Comparative Art History: The Biennale Principle” will take place in collaboration with the Swiss Art History Institute; speakers include Beat Wyss, Zdenka Badovinac and other renowned  scholars and curators.

For more details about the parallel events please visit: www.bucharestbiennale.org
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SUPPORTERS

Proudly sponsored by PILSNER URQUELL

Strategic partner: UniCredit Bank

Partners: Austrian Cultural Forum, British Council, Centre for Visual Introspection, Danish Arts Council, French Cultural Institute, FSPUB (Faculty of Political Science, Bucharest University), Geology Museum Bucharest, IFA Germany, laBOMBA, Mondriaan Foundation, Netherlands Embassy in Bucharest, OCA Norway, Paradis Garaj, Polish Institute, Romanian Cultural Institute New York, Rumänska Kulturinstitutet Stockholm, Seacex, UNArte (National University of Arts, Bucharest)

Media partners: 22 Magazine, Afterall, Alternativ, Arhitectura, Cabinet, Cura Magazine, Euromedia, Framework, Kaleidoscope, Mute, Oops Media, Open, Radical Philosophy, Springerin, VeiozaArte, Vicious Vitamins.

Audio-visual partner: Sony

Production partner: UpDate Adv

Printing partner: First Advertising

Official hotel: Intercontinental Bucharest

Official club: Control

Official city guide: City Compass

PRESS AND PROFESSIONALS ACCREDITATION

For accreditation please visit http://bucharestbiennale.org/press.html

PRODUCER

This is a project by PAVILION – journal for politics and culture.
www.pavilionjournal.org
More details at:
http://www.bucharestbiennale.org

PAVILION, BUCHAREST BIENNALE and PAVILION UNICREDIT are projects devised and founded by Razvan Ion and Eugen Radescu

Image: Sabrina Gschwandtner, Wartime Knitting Circle, 2007, wool, cotton, wood, knitting supplies and paper, dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist.

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