OPENING: 

13 January 2015 – H. 18.30. 

Until 18 February.

WHERE: 

Careof DOCVA – Milan (ITALY).

Curated by STANISLAW RUKSZA

Works by Paweł Althamer, Wojciech Doroszuk, Magda Fabianczyk, Giuseppe Fanizza, Nina Fiocco, Khaled Jarrar, Giovanni Morbin, Marina Naprushkina, Joanna Rajkowska, REP, Santiago Sierra, Stephanie Syjuco, Grzegorz Sztwiertnia, Łukasz Trzcystock, Krzyst.

THE WALL: Art Face to Face with Borders, is a traveling project curated by Stanisław Ruksza, conceived as an investigation into the theme of borders in the visual arts from a political, sociological, economic and historical point of view, through the work of Polish artists and international.

Developed in collaboration with Careof DOCVA and born from the Polish institutions Imago Mundi Foundation and CCA Kronika in Bytom, The Wall refers above all to the Berlin Wall, today ‘Ost-algic’ tourist souvenir, but for decades during the Cold War a construct of the foreign policy of countries on both sides of the Iron Curtain to demarcate the ‘we’ from the ‘them’, the ally from the enemy, freedom from slavery.

Starting from this first suggestion, the project reflects – through video, photographic works and installations – on the generation of demarcation lines. Although geographic boundaries have become more fluid, new frontiers continue to arise in relation to cultural or religious heritage, often on the basis of permanent conflict, as Samuel Huntington recalls in his Clash of Civilizations. Some originate from fear of a new ‘Other’, as a derivation of a colonial heritage, manifested in the clamor of populist xenophobia or in anti-immigration laws. Others stemmed from the technocratic political framework of the Schengen agreement. Recent events in Ukraine or the construction of the wall between Israel and the occupied territories in Palestine are just two possible examples.

In a broader sense, the wall then becomes a metaphor for resistance, understood as a dominating and fear-generating presence but, at the same time, a prerequisite for creation.

The Italian edition of the project created in collaboration with Careof DOCVA, and preceded by a research period by the curator Stanisław Ruksza as part of the FDV Residency Program (December 2014), allows the selection of international artists to dialogue with the work of Giuseppe Fanizza, Nina Fiocco and Giovanni Morbin.

The exhibition, accompanied by a publication with critical texts and documentation of the works, is organized with the support of the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and the General Consulate of the Republic of Poland in Milan.

The Wall is an integral part of Ja lubje Polske, a multi-year project curated by Careof DOCVA which investigates the protagonists of the Polish art scene through exhibitions, workshops and residences for artists and curators.

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Stanisław Ruksza (1979), a graduate in Art History at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, directs the Kronika Center for Contemporary Art in Bytom focusing on projects that put visual art in dialogue with other disciplines, social sciences and activism. He taught at the School of Art at the University of Silesia in Katowice. Since 2007 he has been a member of Krytyka Polityczna (Political Critique), the most important network of institutions and activists in Eastern Europe. He is the author of numerous articles on contemporary art.