Time, Forward!
Until 20 October 2019
Time, Forward! presents new large scale installation, film and performance works by emerging and established international artists, questioning the function of time and how it relates to new forms of consciousness, action and sight in the 21st century.
The project features new work by artists such as Trevor Paglan, whose room plastered in photographs (From Apple to Kleptomaniac, Pictures and Words, 2019) maps out the darker side to machine learning techniques by studying how the website ImageNet, one of the most widely shared free image databases containing thousands of categorised images used to train AI networks, is imbued with judgement. A new work by Christopher Kulendran Thomas and Annika Kuhlmann, entitled Being Human, 2019, explores the interrelationship between contemporary art and human rights in an era in which machines are able to synthesise human understanding ever more convincingly. Taking as its departure point the UN’s failure to prevent ethnic cleansing in 2009 in the North and East of Sri Lanka, from where the artist’s family originates, it looks at how the aftermath of this violence also led to the emergence of a new contemporary art market on the island. The installation is made up of installed artworks by some of Sri Lanka’s foremost contemporary artists displayed behind a transparent screen, and visitors are not able to physically enter the show - only to glimpse it through the film by Thomas and Kuhlmann projected onto the screen. Featuring characters generated using machine learning algorithms, the film explores creativity, technology and sovereignty and asks “what could posthuman rights be?” Russian collective Where Dogs Run have created a contemporary metaphor for consciousness in the 21st century in their installation Zero City, 2019, whereby visitors enter into and their presence activates a cityscape model containing elevator shafts of different dimensions, moving through a metropolis governed by programmed, apparently anonymous algorithms. The work Forward to the Arabic, 2019, by Walid Raad, explores contemporary narratives and how artists envisage future institutions in this first and second edition of an ongoing project looking at the interrelations between conflict, culture and history. In Adam Linder’s new environment and performance piece She Clockwork, 2019, Juan Pablo Cámara’s performance is activated by a costume: a pair of silicone gauntlets and boots are the starting point for his exploration into embodying space and time.
Time, Forward! is a project by Omar Kholeif, Maria Kramar and V–A–C Foundation.
Artists: Rosa Barba, Aleksandra DomanovicÌ, Valentin Fetisov, Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige, Daria Irincheeva, Adam Linder, Haroon Mirza, Trevor Paglen, Walid Raad, James Richards, Kirill Savchenkov, Alexandra Sukhareva, Christopher Kulendran Thomas in collaboration with Annika Kuhlman, Where Dogs Run
Time, Forward! is complemented by an extensive Public Programme with the participation of Emilio Fantin, Silvia Federici, Adelita Husni-Bey, M¥SS KETA, Diego Marcon, Paolo Patelli, Alessandro Pomarico / Free Home University, Michele Rizzo, Davide Sisto, Strasse, Ines Testoni, The Feminist De-Colonial Collective + The Provisory Anti Fascist Committee of Venice, Barbara Toma and ∞OS.
V–A–C Foundation
V–A–C produces new culture together with artists and audiences alike. It is a platform for open discussion aimed at redefining the contemporary landscape. Working with local communities, V–A–C promotes its exhibition, publishing, performative and learning programmes beyond all disciplinary boundaries and thus constantly resets the coordinates for dialogue within a new global geography. This methodology is employed in all V–A–C initiatives, taking place in its Venetian space, through international, cross-institutional partnerships and in its future home for arts and culture in Moscow, GES-2.
V–A–C Zattere
V–A–C’s Venetian space launched in spring 2017. This newly renovated building, situated on Zattere overlooking the Canale della Giudecca, can accommodate exhibitions, events and residencies. Originally dating back to the mid 1800s, the building’s interior was renovated at different times from the 1950s to the 1990s. The Foundation commissioned local architect Alessandro Pedron of _apml architetti to carry out the more recent renovation project, transforming Palazzo delle Zattere into a new centre for contemporary culture for the city of Venice. The entire space covers 2000 sq metres over four levels, half of which is exhibition space. V–A–C Foundation supports as donor the 58th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. www.v-a-c.ru
Published by: BBCC
Date: 13-06-2019