The Realism Question

The Realism Question – Epilogue to Bucharest Biennale 4
Open until 24 September 2010

Participating artists: Magnus Bärtås, Kalle Brolin, Ion Grigorescu, Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige, The Medvedkine Groups, Paul Neagu, Lina Selander, Mona Vatamanu & Florin Tudor. Curator: Felix Vogel

Romanian Cultural Institute of Stockholm
Skeppsbron 20
Stockholm, Sweden
www.rkis.se

In connection with the exhibition The Realism Question – Epilogue to Bucharest Biennale 4, the Romanian Cultural Institute of Stockholm is organizing two parallel events, and will launch a publication documenting the show.

6 September at 6.30 pm
The Reality of Contemporary Art Biennials
Participants: Razvan Ion, Johan Pousette, Celia Prado and Eugen R?descu
Moderator: Charlotte Bydler
The discussion will focus on two tracks that haunt discourses on realism in art. On the one hand, we will talk about contemporary art biennials as a mode of communication, gaps or clashes between the physical-aesthetic reality of exhibited material artworks in art biennials, and the reality it poetically conveys. The second focus turns to the kind of reality that is locally relevant, or what we may call the politico-aesthetic agenda of the contemporary art biennial.

22 September at 6.30 pm
Release of Magnus Bärtås’s and Lina Selander’s latest books
Release of You Told Me – work stories and video essays/verkberättelser och videoessäer by Magnus Bärtås and The Space of Memory by Lina Selander.

Publication:
The exhibition The Realism Question is accompanied by a publication in English documenting the show and the works presented. The publication contains an essay by Felix Vogel, an interview with Albrecht Koschorke about the paradoxes of realism, and the transcription of the talk at the opening of the exhibition, between Magnus Bärtås, Kalle Brolin, Lina Selander and Felix Vogel, moderated by curator Helena Holmberg. Installation views by photographer Jean-Baptiste Béranger accompany the texts.

The publication will be released on 6 September at the Romanian Cultural Institute of Stockholm. If you would like to receive a free copy of the publication by post, please write us an e-mail with your full name and postal address at therealismquestion@rkis.se.

The Realism Question – Epilogue to Bucharest Biennale 4
The Realism Question has emerged as an epilogue to the 4th Bucharest Biennale: Handlung. Producing Possibilities that took place in Bucharest between 21 May and 25 July 2010. The exhibition at the Romanian Cultural Institute of Stockholm has its starting point in the hypothesis that a new form of realism emerged at the end of the 1960s and in the 1970s on both sides of the Iron Curtain in Europe. With works by The Medvedkine Groups, Paul Neagu, Ion Grigorescu as historical starting points, The Realism Question follows these traces from the past into the present, searching for today’s descendants of those early endeavours with works by Magnus Bärtås, Kalle Brolin, Lina Selander, Mona Vatamanu & Florin Tudor, among others.

Thanks to IASPIS and Paul Neagu Estate (UK).

Admission to the institute is always free.
The exhibition is open Monday – Friday 10 am – 5 pm.
The film “Je veux voir” by Joana Hajdithomas & Khalil Joreige starts at 5 pm.
Visit www.rkis.se or call +468207600 for more information.

www.bucharestbiennale.org
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bucharest-Biennale-4/272872589480?ref=ts