[oberlist] Fwd: [Newsletter] exhibition at Bunkier in Krakow: Socialism Failed, Capitalism Is Bankrupt. What Comes Next?

[stefan rusu]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Oliver Ressler <oliver at ressler.at>
Date: Fri, Jul 29, 2011 at 8:48 PM
Subject: [Newsletter] exhibition at Bunkier in Krakow: Socialism Failed,
Capitalism Is Bankrupt. What Comes Next?
To: newsletter at ressler.at


**

*Oliver Ressler
Socialism Failed, Capitalism Is Bankrupt. What Comes Next?*


Bunkier Sztuki Contemporary Art Gallery
Krakow, Polandhttp://www.bunkier.art.pl

Opening: Thursday 4 August, 6 pm

Exhibition open: 5th – 28th August 2011

Tuesday – Sunday 11 am – 6 pm

Curator: Anna Smolak

Coordinator: Renata Zawartka



Oliver Ressler’s exhibition *Socialism Failed, Capitalism Is Bankrupt. What
Comes Next?* takes on board issues connected with political transformation
of a country and the problem of the social response to capitalism during a
crisis. More and more frequently, Poland finds itself in the role of a
mentor to the EU’s new candidate countries, so the present exhibition
provides an opportunity for scrutiny of the political reality of countries
in transformation as well as reflection on the side effects of capitalism.



In the exhibition we will see three works, which confront different social
models in the process of political transformation. The two-channel video
installation *Socialism Failed, Capitalism Is Bankrupt. What Comes
Next? *(2010)
refers to the predicament of the Armenians after the fall of the Soviet
Union. The central film, which was shot in Armenia’s largest bazaar in the
poor part of Yerevan, meaningfully known as ‘Bangladesh’, records the
dramatic deterioration of the standard of living and great social
diversification of Armenian society. The tone, which prevails in the
opinions voiced by the locals, is one of resignation in the face of
degradation, unemployment and ever-present corruption from the political
class in power; the hopelessness heightened by images of abandoned
factories, where once thousands worked. The facade democracy and seemingly
free market, which disguise a system of feudal social relationships, have
resulted in a forceful reawakening of pro-Soviet sympathies; freedom and
independence have turned out to be unwanted goods. Oliver Ressler’s artistic
method, closely related to the techniques of the documentary – based on
objectivity and the search for truth – is apparent in the very first,
provocative words of one of the participants: “You can film Mount Ararat,
and then say that people under the mountain live very well, show the VIP
houses and say ‘See how Armenia progresses! See how much money the country
has and it can live this well, people can live in such houses…’, and nothing
more. If you want to record lies, no problem, we can offer words of approval
and praise.”

Oliver Ressler’s trademark is to construct space for the interviewees to
express their opinions, without a direct interference from the artist
himself. It appears that the relationship between Ressler and the
protagonists of his films arises from the artist’s external position, which
on the one hand relies on observing their predicament and on the other hand
gives to those whom he portrays hope that their protests will be heard.

*Comuna Under Construction*, a documentary by Oliver Ressler and Dario
Azzellini, was finished in the same year. The film shows the grassroots
process of the development of democratic social entities in Venezuela, part
of the process of the modernisation of the poorest, highly populated *
barrios* of Caracas. The filmmakers record assemblies of community councils,
in which the people themselves decide over the prioritisation of their needs
and where social structures and strategies for action are forged. The
struggle for the improvement of living conditions is part of what Hugo
Chavez labelled “socialism of the 21st century”, which tries to dismantle
ossified administrative structures of the corrupt former representative
system and replace it through a truly democratic system. Before our very
eyes, the Venezuelan people are trying to find a path for a democratic
transformation which is exacerbated through internal and external conflicts.
The film exposes the mechanisms of achieving people’s power. Its form is
subjugated to its subject matter: crude shots and long takes, with no
traceable sense of the artist’s presence. This method of filming results in
creating the ambiance of a profound commitment. The boundary between an
artistic activity and political activism is blurred.

Capitalism not only failed in societies in a state of transformation. The
recent crisis in Western Europe and the United States has demonstrated that
also in mature democracies, the economy and the life of the people depend on
the dictatorship of the multinational corporations and the banking system.
It is the citizens and not financial institutions which have borne the brunt
of the crisis; institutions ‘too big to fail’ – thanks to their complex
connections with the world of politics.

*Oliver Ressler *(born 1970): graduate of the University of Applied Arts,
Vienna. In his art, he takes up issues such as economics, democracy, forms
of resistance and alternative social models. Collaborations with Zanny Begg,
Martin Krenn, David Thorne and Gregory Sholette, as well as with the
political scientist Dario Azzellini. Ressler took part in over 200
international exhibitions. Repeatedly shown in Poland. At the Wyspa
Institute of Art he published, in Polish and in English, the artist’s
book *Alternative
Economics, Alternative Societies* (2007), a documentation of a project
conducted over many years of interviewing economists and political
scientists who elaborated concepts of how to organize the economy and
society in an alternative way.

* *

* *

Financial support: Austrian Consulate in Kraków, Austrian Cultural Forum


 For a Polish text please visit: http://bunkier.art.pl/wystawy/pokaz/168
Further details: www.ressler.at

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