[spectre] East Art Map Newsletter No. 5 (June 2005)

[Inke Arns]

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

East Art Map Newsletter No. 5 (June 2005)

EAST ART MAP
www.eastartmap.org

HISTORY IS NOT GIVEN.
PLEASE HELP TO CONSTRUCT IT.


Welcome to the 5th East Art Map Newsletter!

The East Art Map Newsletter is published on a 
monthly basis. Its aim is to inform about the 
current status of the East Art Map, about newly 
added artists, features, topics, etc., On the 
website, information on current and upcoming 
activities (exhibitions, artists' projects, 
festivals, publications, etc.) and opportunities 
(deadlines of festivals, grants programmes, etc.) 
focussing on Central, Eastern and South Eastern 
Europe can be found.


Contents of East Art Map Newsletter No. 5 (June 2005):

0) Additions to the database now possible!
1) Hurry up, the history train is leaving! (1st 
meeting of the international EAM committee, June 
24-25, 2005)
2) East Art Museum, exhibition at the Karl Ernst 
Osthaus-Museum der Stadt Hagen, Germany 
(September 2005)
3) Mind the Map! - East Art Map symposium in Leipzig (October 2005)
4) East Art Map FAQ - General Information

* * *

0) Additions to the database now possible!

The possibility to include additions, instead of 
only replacements, was added some time ago. The 
initiators felt this was necessary as nobody 
dared to take the challenge of proposing 
replacements to the existing database.


1) Hurry up, the history train is leaving!

Up to this very day (June 20, 2005), we have 
received a lot of suggestions for additions to 
the East Art Map database. The following names 
were proposed so far: Maja Bajevic (BiH), Florin 
Ciulache (RO), Vuk Cosic (SI), Albert Heta (KOS), 
Boro Ivandic (HRO), Zeljko Jerman, Kitch (SI), 
KoD group and others (Vojvodina), Luka 
Lasareishvili (Luca Lazar), Olia Lialina (RU), 
Gili Mocanu (RO), Borut Peterlin (SI), Nebojsa 
Seric-Soba (BiH), Sheer Joy, Igor Stromajer (SI), 
Alexej Shulgin (RU), Vlatko Vincek (HRO), Weekend 
Art (HRO), and others. The arguments are publicly 
accessible on the website www.eastartmap.org


In addition to that, it was proposed to replace 
Marina Abramovic (YU) by zampa di leone (YU) and 
the three GDR “state" artists included 
individually in the East Art Map (Tübke, Sitte, 
et al) by a group entry under “Leipzig School". 
In addition to that, two less known artists from 
the GDR representing a more contemporary language 
should be added, such as Matthias “Baader" Holst 
and Cornelia Schleime.

The international EAM committee will meet for the 
first time in Ljubljana on June 24/25, 2005, in 
order to review and discuss the propositions 
submitted for the East Art Map until then.

So, if you feel that there's something missing in 
this cartography of contemporary art in Eastern 
Europe from 1945 until today, you are very 
welcome to suggest an addition or a replacement 
to the East Art Map. You just need to include a 
short text about the suggested artist (preferably 
written by yourself), and some illustrations.

But do hurry up - the first deadline is very 
close (June 24, 2005, 10 am). Of course it will 
be possible to submit entries after this date.

A selection of texts written for the East Art Map 
will be included in the monthly newsletters.


2) East Art Museum, exhibition at the Karl Ernst 
Osthaus-Museum der Stadt Hagen, Germany 
(September 10 - November 13, 2005)

The basic idea of the exhibition (curated by 
IRWIN (Miran Mohar, Andrej Savski, Borut 
Vogelnik) and Michael Fehr) is to present a 
proposal for the establishment of a Museum of 
East European Art which is to collect the seminal 
works of art from Eastern Europe from the period 
after the second world war and could - on the 
long run - be developed into an institution of 
relevance and reputation comparable to the 
position the Museum of Modern Art has achieved 
for Western Art. In setting up this task, the 
EAST ART MUSEUM-project is, however, by no means 
a naïve attempt to reach out to an insurmountable 
goal but rather a complex work of Concept Art 
reflecting the conditions of creating and 
establishing an art-historical canon as well as 
its institutional shell.

Basically, the exhibition EAST ART MUSEUM will consist of three parts:

Part I is a selection of about 50 works by 
different artists from different countries chosen 
from the catalogue EAST ART MAP as published by 
IRWIN and New Moment Magazine in 2003. Part I 
will display these works in a representative 
presentation.
Part II consists of a number of different 
arrangements of 1/10 scale reproductions of all 
250 works included in the EAST ART MAP; possible 
arrangements are: in a time-line, by 
themes/subjects, by media, by countries, 
genealogical, and by combinations of such 
taxonomies.
Part III is dedicated to the question of how to 
fund and construct an EAST ART MUSEUM. While part 
I of the exhibition will be conceived like any 
representative art-show, part II and III will 
have the character of a studio, or research-room: 
a working space flexible in its display and open 
to comments of the visitors to the show.


3) Mind the Map! - History Is Not Given. 
Symposium, Schaubühne Lindenfels, Leipzig, 
October 13-16, 2005

The international and interdisciplinary symposium 
"Mind the Map! - History Is Not Given" gathers 
young researchers as well as professors and 
artists. In taking up the
impulse of the "East Art Map" project of the 
Slovenian artists' collective IRWIN, the 
organisers want to set up a platform for 
reflections on constellations of contemporary art 
between Eastern and Western realities in Europe.
"Mind the Map! - History Is Not Given" is part of 
the "East Art Map University Network", an 
international collaboration of eight partners 
from Leipzig, Vienna, Belgrade, Bonn, St. 
Petersburg, Graz and Poznan. This exchange is 
supposed to be the starting point of a lasting 
practice in the co-operative triangle of arts, 
humanities and social initiatives.

Organisers: Prof. Dr. Marina Grzinic 
(Vienna/Ljubljana), Prof. Dr. Günther Heeg, Dr. 
Veronika Darian (Institute of Theatre Studies, 
University of Leipzig)
Collaborators: Prof. Dr. Beatrice von Bismarck 
(Leipzig), Prof. Dr. Grzegorz Dziamski (Poznan), 
Prof. Dr. Ekaterina Degot (St. Petersburg), Dr. 
Michael Fehr (Bonn), Prof. Dr. Werner Fenz 
(Graz), Prof. Dr. Misko Suvakovic (Belgrade)

The symposium will be followed by a book, edited 
by Prof. Dr. Marina Grzinic, Prof. Dr. Günther 
Heeg and Dr. Veronika Darian. It will present 
theoretical as well as artistic positions of the 
contributing young scholars, professors and 
artists.

www.mindthemap.net, info at mindthemap.net

"Mind the Map! - History Is Not Given" is a 
project of the Institute of Theater Studies of 
the University of Leipzig in co-operation with 
"East Art Map", Slovenia, and relations.
relations is a project initiated by the German 
Federal Cultural Foundation (Kulturstiftung des 
Bundes, www.kulturstiftung-des-bundes.de).


4) East Art Map FAQ - General Information

What is the "East Art Map"?

The project "East Art Map - A (Re)Construction of 
the History of Contemporary Art in Eastern 
Europe" has been initiated in 2001 by the 
Slovenian artists' group Irwin. The "East Art 
Map" (EAM) aims at critically (re)constructing 
the history of art in Eastern Europe between 1945 
and the present beyond ex-Socialist 'official' 
chronicles, national legend formation and 
fragmented information present in the West. The 
concept reads: "Every single move by an artist in 
Western European civilization is documented. Did 
you know there is no such thing in Eastern 
Europe? [Š] This was so for decades, but it 
doesn't have to be like this anymore. We are 
planning to transform the legends and stories of 
the underground into a legal art history. [Š] 
History is not given. It has to be constructed."


What happened until now?

Initially, Irwin, in collaboration with New 
Moment (Ljubljana), invited a group of 24 eminent 
art critics, curators and artists from the 
different ex-socialist Central, Eastern and 
South-Eastern countries to select and present up 
to ten crucial art projects from their respective 
countries and contexts over the past 50 years. In 
this way, a basic data pool of approximately 200 
artists and projects was gathered. It became part 
of a data base that was first published on CD-ROM 
(2002) , and as an issue of the New Moment 
Magazine (No. 20, 2002).


What's next?

The next step, technically as well as 
conceptually, is to transfer the EAM onto the 
Internet and open it up for contributions by its 
users. These contributions can be made in the 
form of either a replacement of existing items in 
the database or alternatively an addition of 
missing artists/events/projects. All the 
proposals will be displayed on the website and 
kept for public discussion (in the feedback area) 
until the final decision of the international 
committee. The EAM, which was conceived as a 
group project, will thus be turned into a truly 
participatory project. The general public and 
specialists are invited to provide additional 
data, which may, to be sure, change the 
topography of the map. In this way 1) the 
collection of data will be accelerated and its 
organisation democratised; 2) it will be possible 
for anyone to collaborate in the creation of a 
history that will be unfolding before our eyes; 
and 3) a space will be established and conditions 
will be created that will facilitate 
communication among theoreticians, critics and 
others from all over Eastern Europe.


How to participate in the construction of history?

We invite anyone who wishes to, and who thinks 
they have a better idea than the original 
selectors, to propose a replacement for any 
project or artwork included in EAM. 
Alternatively, simple additions of missing 
content can be proposed as well. Of course, the 
guidelines for such proposals will be the same as 
those presented to the selectors: people will 
have to write a page of text presenting their 
suggested replacement or addition and the reasons 
why it should be included. In addition, we will 
require them to provide written references 
confirming the reliability of the date of the 
work they are proposing for inclusion. Every two 
to three months an international committee of six 
experts will decide whether or not to include any 
of the proposals submitted. This web site should 
gradually become a useful informative tool on the 
questions of Eastern European visual arts.


Submitting proposals/content to the East Art Map

Send your proposal - complete with a) a written 
page of text presenting your suggested 
replacement/addition and the reasons why it 
should be included, and b) written references 
confirming the reliability of the date of the 
work you are proposing for inclusion - to 
editor at eastartmap.org or upload it directly on 
the website www.eastartmap.org.

All the proposals - provided they contain the 
requested materials - will be displayed on the 
website and kept for public discussion until the 
final decision of the international committee. A 
feedback area will be installed.

Any questions should be directed to the editor 
Inke Arns at editor at eastartmap.org.


Subscribe to the East Art Map Newsletter

The East Art Map Newsletter edited by Inke Arns 
will be published on a monthly basis starting 
from late October 2004. Its aim is to inform 
about the current status of the East Art Map, 
about newly added artists, features, topics, 
etc., and to collect and distribute information 
on current and upcoming activities (exhibitions, 
artists' projects, festivals, publications, etc.) 
and opportunities (deadlines of festivals, grants 
programmes, etc.) focussing on Central, Eastern 
and South Eastern Europe.

Subscribe at www.eastartmap.org

HISTORY IS NOT GIVEN.
PLEASE HELP TO CONSTRUCT IT.

EAST ART MAP
www.eastartmap.org

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


This project takes place in the framework of relations

relations is a project initiated by kulturstiftung des bundes
(Federal Cultural Foundation, Germany, www.kulturstiftung-des-bundes.de)

www.projekt-relations.de


-- 

Dr. Inke Arns
Künstlerische Leiterin / Artistic Director
Hartware MedienKunstVerein
Güntherstrasse 65 * D-44143 Dortmund
T ++49 (231) 823 106
F ++49 (231) 882 02 40
inke.arns at hmkv.de
http://www.hmkv.de
http://www.v2.nl/~arns/