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Hot testing.
To put something on the test bench. And an exhibition in Kosova can be
regarded as such an event.
Shift of context. What is the meaning of a work of art that works “properly”
in an Austrian environment if it is transferred to the setting of Kosova?
Matters of conscience. Can you show this and that work at all in Peje,
a city that was haunted by death and destruction only a couple of years
ago?
Visions. What kind of message does an exhibition want to bring along to
this city?
So, first of all, Hot Testing stands for the general questions addressed
to the curators who face up to this task. In addition to this, the title
refers to the works chosen, which, in their turn, test the perceptual
habits of either the people involved in the work of art or the audience.
David Moises from Vienna has constructed a “flying carpet”
with the help of a leaf blower. Actually the audience can set the carpet
in motion. They will not be able to really take off, but the dream image
of a flying carpet finally takes on a physical form.
Nebojša Šeric Šoba, a Bosnian, who currently lives in New
York, has seen his dream of N.Y.C. crumble to dust. The video work gives
a melancholic account of the artist’s approach to and struggle with
the world’s capital of art.
The Austrian group monochrom asked 25 people to remember the logos from
famous companies and draw them from memory. It is hard to believe, what
a deep impression some logos have left on people’s minds. This “test”
illustrates this phenomenon very well.
Two artists who also work with collective memory are Kurt&Plasto.
They send us “Greetings for Europe”, a collection of posters,
which feature twelve different events or important characters taken from
European history. Just to mention one of the motives: As one should know,
the term „EUSCHWITZ“ was also an issue during the war in former
Yugoslavia.
The Blue Noses Group is an artist collective from the Siberian metropolis
Novosibirsk The group has developed a formal terminology which is characterized
by a very unique sense of humour and irony. This allows them to treat
issues in a very straight-forward way: „25 short performances about
globalization“.
Andreas Leikauf shows bank notes covered up with paint, from his series
„My First Million”. It is a subtle but vigorous attack on
the monetary and capitalist system.
A subversive act of a different kind was initiated by the Bulgarian artist
Ivan Moudov: With seven vehicles he blocked a roundabout in the city of
Weimar. The actions and reactions to the resulting traffic jam were then
recorded on video.
Besides putting things to the test, all the art works in this show have
another thing in common: A certain sense of humour. Although this humour
is always delivered in a different way – depending of course on
the artist’s characters – this exhibition certainly encourages
the audience to face reality with a pinch of salt.
The artist collective Cooks of Grind from Graz offers a similar approach:
On occasion of the opening in Pejë on July 23 they will explore the
boundaries between experimental cooking and art. They invite us to join
their "Hot Tasting".
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