[Oberlist] "CZECHPOINT" INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION AND FESTIVAL OF POLITICAL ART

[stefan rusu]

"CZECHPOINT"
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION AND FESTIVAL OF POLITICAL ART


Exhibition is organised by:
NoD-Roxy Gallery
Dlouhá 33, 110 00 Praha 1
www.roxy.cz/nod/

C2C Gallery
Za Strahovem 19, 169 00 Praha 6
www.c2c.cz

With the support of the Centre for Contemporary Art Prague

Exhibition will run from:
1.11. - 30.11. 2006 in NoD-Roxy Gallery
15.11. - 2.12. 2006 in C2C Gallery

Curator:
TAMARA MOYZES
tamara.moyzes la gmail.com
+420 732 400 026
In collaboration with ZUZANA ŠTEFKOVÁ
zuzana.stefkova la c2c.cz
+420 731 512 512

Guest curators:
Israel:
JAN TICHÝ
Moldavia:
STEFAN RUSU, Center for Contemporary Art, Chisinau, www.art.md
Czech Republic:
ZUZANA BLOCHOVÁ (Mexican section)

Exhibition CZECHPOINT is a survey of young Czech and Slovak as well as
international art dealing with political issues. The title is a play
of words on "checkpoint", as a point at which an inspection or
investigation is performed especially at the borders between states.
It is a point of exchange of persons, goods and decreasingly of
information that functions as a selectively-permeable membrane between
regimes, between economics, between beliefs. Bordering social
establishments often have their frictions and the border checkpoints
become points of high pressure. We think of checkpoints such as
between West Berlin and East Berlin or border between Israel and the
West Bank.

The goal of this exhibition and its accompanying program is to present
and further activate the potential of local artists whose work
concerns issues of politics. Two of Prague's contemporary art venues
c2c and NoD will become "checkpoints" where various issues are checked
and examined, not only those social and political, but also different
regimes of art and "real" life. After all, political art often draws
its impact from reaching into public spaces to interact directly with
unaware and unsuspecting audiences.

Artists invited to participate are going to present their works
dealing with various problems of (not exclusively Czech) society. The
aim is to confront the upcoming generation of artists with already
established artists and to map their choice of political themes which
currently gained importance. The range of presented approaches and
media is intentionally very wide spanning from painting, photography
and objects through video, animation and concept to performances and
social interventions.

The project is a loose continuation of the exhibition POLITIK-UM / New
Engagement which has been organised in 2002 by Center for Contemporary
Art in Prague in cooperation with Goethe Institute and took place in
the Prague Castle. Controversies that accompanied the opening of this
exhibition have revealed problematic issues of the past and present
which trigger heated reactions in the majority of the Czech public
such as the forced moving of Germans from the Czech border areas after
the WWII, the influx of refugees, intolerance toward minorities or
corruptibility of officials.

Exhibition CZECHPOINT returns after four years to the sphere of
political art, aware of the fact that one doesn't step twice in the
same river. The global political scene has in many respects changed
since 2002 and this experience is reflected in the works of young
Czech and Slovak artists. Despite the increasing possibilities of
interconnecting the local art scene and the global political issues,
In Czech republic the art is often seen by both the professional and
non-professional public as timeless and therefore strictly apolitical.
The CZECHPOINT project is trying to challenge these ideas.

The accompanying program will widen the scope of the exhibition by
presenting documentary films on the explosive Middle East situation
through the eyes of Pro-Palestinian Israeli filmmakers. Program will
also include lectures, music and theatre performances.

A selection of works featuring in the exhibition may be viewed at NoGallery.
http://www.nogallery.info





Accompanying program at NoD-Roxy:

AVIADA ALBERT & ZAKSA /IL/ - screening of an electronic music concert
GUMA GUAR /CZ/ - live music performance
SKUPINA PODE BAL, RICHARD FAJNOR - performances

Thursdays with Israeli documentary film:
171. 2006 NoD Gallery
Allan Flander /Canada/: Zero Degree of Separation
Noam Kaplan: Tzavaron Kahol Levan,
Shai Pollack Carmeli: Bili'in habibti
Tal Hakim: State of Israel vs. Tali Fahima
Rananan Abramovicz: Holy Land
Avi Mugrabi:  Aviv
David Offek: Number 17.

Conference "Political Art in Context":
29.11. 2006 NoD Gallery

GALIT EILAT /IL/ www.digitalartlab.org.il
MARK DIVO /CH/: How to get a real estate not used for contemporary art
BEATA HOCK /HU/: Activist Art in Hungarian Context
MIRA KERATOVÁ/SK/: Periphery Blues: Billboart Gallery and Slovak Political Art
LENKA KUKUROVÁ /SK/: What is Activist Art?
TAMARA MOYZES /SK/: Censorship in Israeli Art
PIOTR PIOTROWSKI /PL/: Art and Politics in Communist and Post-Communist Region
POD /USA/ http://XLterrestrials.org : Transmigration of Cinema - Screening
DIEGO ROTMAN & LEA MAUAS /IL/ www.sala-manca.net
VÍT ŠISLER /CZ/ Activist Computer Games: Between Politics, Art, and
Entertainment
Screening: XLterrestrials: Transmigration of Cinema, from 20.00, Gallery NoD

30.11. 06 Thur 20:00 Cinema Světozor
 AVENGE BUT ONE OF MY EYES
Avi Mograbi /IL/
Documentary film, 107 min, France/Israel, 2005
 /Cinema Světozor, Vodičkova 41, Prague 1, www.kinosvetozor.cz/


Exhibiting artists:

CZECH REP. /CZ/.: DAVID ČERNÝ, JIŘÍ DAVID, JIŘÍ FRANTA, GUMA GUAR, EVA
JIŘIČKOVÁ, KRIŠTOF KINTERA, PODE BAL (PETR MOTYČKA? ANTOMÍN KOPP?
MICHAL ŠIML), LUKÁŠ HÁJEK, JAN KOTÍK, MILAN SALÁK, JAN VLČEK, RICHARD
WIESNER, MARTIN ZET
SLOVAKIA /SK/: RADOVAN ČEREVKA, VIKTOR FREŠO, MÁRIO CHROMÝ, RADIM
LABUDA, MICHAL MORAVČÍK, SLÁVA SOBOTOVIČOVÁ
GERMANY /GER/: MICHAEL BIELICKÝ, HARUN FAROCKI, MANDY GEHRT
AUSTRIA /AT/: SOS - ROBERT JELINEK, SOCIAL IMPACT
NORWAY /NOR/: JESPER ALVAER
POLAND /POL/: ROMAN DZIADKIEWICZ, RAFAŁ JAKUBOWICZ
HUNGARY /HU/: RÓZA EL-HASSAN, LILLA KHOOR & WILL POTTER
KOSOVO: ALBERT HETA
MOLDOVA /MD/: PAVEL BRAILA, LILIA DRAGNEVA, VEACESLAV DRUTA, STEFAN
RUSU, SERGEI TURCANU
RUSSIA /RUS/: AVDEY TER-OGANYAN, DAVID TER-OGANYAN
KAZAKHSTAN /KZ/: DIANA JUN, ERBOSSUN MELDIBEKOV, SAID ATABEKOV &
ARYSTAN SHALBAEV
ISRAEL /IL/: EFI & AMIR, HAGAR GOREN, NITZAN DOMIDIANO, AVI MOGRABI,
MICHAL ROTSHILD, JAN TICHÝ, SHLOMO YAFFE, NEVET YITCHAK
PALESTINE: MANAR ZUABI
MEXICO: CARLOS AGUIRRE, IVÁN EDEZA, XIMENA CUEVAS, ENRIQUE JEŽIK, LORENA WOLFFER