Nadège Mazars
Mama Coca
Mama Coca is photographic research that hints at breaking the prejudice, largely generated by coca either for the Nasa or for Inca and other communities living in the Andes in South Americ. Four letters are at the center of a recent lawsuit that has the multinational Coca-Cola confronting an organization that markets food, drinks, aromatic herbs and natural medicines from the legal processing of coca leaf grown for over 300 years in the mountains of Colombia. In the department of Cauca, the Indigenous Guard (Kiwe Puya’ksa in the Nasa language) was created 21 years ago to support indigenous territorial and political autonomy. Nadège Mazars’s documentary traces the different methods the indigenous guard has devised to teach men, women and children the political and spiritual responsibility they have as a community to ensure that their traditions are respected by Colombians and Americans alike.
curator: Sergio Valenzuela Escobedo
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17.06, 15:00 guided tour | language: English
Ritual Inhabitual Collective
Oro verde
Oro verde is a mytho-documentary that traces the history of the revolution of the P’urhépecha people in the central region of the state of Michoacán in Mexico. The project focuses on a social revolt initiated by women who succeeded in driving out of Cherán one of the many violent drug cartels that are taking over Mexico’s avocado industry. Based on the claim to self-determination of indigenous peoples who place environmental protection at the center of their political organization, González and Grisanti elaborated a narrative of the uprising by focusing on a ritual that the P’urhépecha maintain with the wild bees of the forests they protect.
curator: Sergio Valenzuela Escobedo
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17.06, 15:00 guided tour | language: English
This work was realised thanks to the support of the musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac. With the support of Centre National des Arts Plastiques CNAP.
Eléonore Lubna / Louis Matton
Ipáamamu – Stories of Wawaim
Ipáamamu – Stories of Wawaim is a collaborative photographic investigation carried out forty years after the failure of the filming of Werner Herzog’s Fitzcarraldo in the Alto Marañon region of Peru. The “Herzog event”, is considered as an example in the crystallisation of the colonial gaze, questioning how the complex process of building a collective identity for the Awajúns and Wampis evolves with each new struggle. Starting from their refusal to become an image of a painful part of the history of the colonised Amazonian rainforest; Matton, Lubna and the members of the Wawaim Native Community wish to tell together the political, strategic and cultural means used by the indigenous people in their permanent battle to defend their cosmopolitics.
curator: Sergio Valenzuela Escobedo
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17.06, 15:00 guided tour | language: English
The project Ipáamamu – Stories of Wawaim, carried out since 2016 in Peru, has been produced thanks to the Centre Photographique d’Île-de-France, the Centre National des Arts Plastiques CNAP and the Fondation des artistes.
AREA elevated nightclubbing to an art form,
celebrating creativity and collectivity over commerce.
AREA was the name of a legendary, short-lived but spectacular nightclub in Lower Manhattan, New York City. It only existed from 1983-87 but it transcended boundaries between art and life, interlinked music, fashion, performance, and installation, creating a realm for radical creative experimentation and transformed the cultural landscape, inspiring until today. AREA was also a place where everyone mixed and mingled – the party people and the artists, regular citizens and high society, movie stars and musicians. It connected people across the social spectrum.
Looking back from today, those AREA years marked a period full of freedom and hope. Back then, four highschool friends from California moved to New York City and without much ado and little money, rented an old warehouse and opened AREA. Never primarily intended as a commercial success, always artistically driven and motivated, the only constant factor was permanent change. Every six weeks AREA was spectacularly transformed into a new thematic and immersive installation: “Confinement “, “Food”, “Suburbia”, “Fashion”, or “Faith” wasn’t merely a motto, rather a complete cosmos in which everyone immersed with all senses.
The fantastic images by renown German photographer Volker Hinz invite contemporary viewers to immerse themselves into the cosmos of AREA, suspended from time and space, and reminding us all of the power and hope that art can carry.
Nina Venus, curator
Volker Hinz (1947-2019) was a German photographer. Early in his career he became known for his political reportage and travel stories; now his portraits of artists, authors, fashion designers, sports men and politicians. At the beginning of his career in the 1970s, Volker Hinz formed his reputation with reports from the European cultural and political scene. Later, on behalf of the magazine, he took the opportunity for gripping stories and photographic documentations such as on New York nightlife and Hollywood. His last retrospective exhibition in Poland entitled “Legends” was shown in 2014 as a part of the 13th Fotofestiwal in Lodz.
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17.06, 12:30 Curatorial tour of Volker Hinz’s exhibition Area… / language: English
The big issues of our time – climate change, wars, migration crises, human rights, pandemic, growing social responsibility and waves of protest around the globe, genetic engineering, artificial intelligence, bitcoin economy, metaverse or possible cities on Mars are characterizing our days, having a huge impact on the perception of life and the chapter of history we are living. But what does the impact look and feel like, how does it affect the way we create, approach, and conceive arts and photography?
On the Verge features seven young photographers selected from the FUTURES Photography network. The projects presented by Cian Burke, Mark Duffy, Pauline Hisbacq, Julia Klewaniec, Alice Pallot, Daniel Szalai and Ugo Woatzi tell personal and collective stories concerning conflicts, struggles for gender equality, food and ecological sustainability, and the rise of populism and nationalism throughout Europe. All artists present an attitude full of commitment, responsibility and non-indifference. The main question of the exhibition is what kind of art do we need in times of traumas? In times of desperate search for hope?
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Pauline Hisbacq’s (France, 1980) project Songs for women and birds is a set of collages elaborated from the archive images of the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp (1981-2000). Here, ordinary women fought peacefully, in single gender, against the installation of nuclear missiles by the United States. Scissor cuts are made on the archival images of the struggle, to show the body language specific to the protest.
Ugo Woatzi (France, 1991) in his collaborative project Chameleon expresses the desires and struggles of his community, together creating a more sensitive and accepting world, escaping and confronting the harsh realities of divisive heteronormative structures. The images, both tender and defiant, transmute feelings of love and conflict, a sense of longing that is relatable and universally accessible.
The project Generation by Daniel Szalai (Hungary, 1991) uses scientific tools to give an artistic reflection on this issue and raise questions about humankind’s relationship to nature and technology. What will the cow of the future look like if its evolution is to be controlled entirely by algorithms and managed according to a selection principle that prioritises cows’ compatibility with the technological infrastructure and its efficiency in serving economic goals?
The reflection on the exploiting relationship of humans and nature is also the main point of interest of Alice Pallot (France, 1995) in Silius. In the twentieth century, the emissions from the former zinc factory in Lommel’s Sahara (Belgium) made vegetation completely disappear across several hundred hectares, giving way to an arid landscape covered by white sand. This series strives to highlight the contrast between the idyllic appearance of the Sahara and its underlying real toxicity.
Silent racism project by Julia Klewaniec (Poland, 1996) is the reflection on the language of racism in Poland. The word “Murzyn” (Negro), commonly used in colloquial speech in Poland, became a symbol of racism.The project has been presented at several exhibitions, which were widely discussed. As a part of the On the Verge, you will be invited to see the photographs once again. But the author will expand her exhibition by adding to it a set of materials she found in the media and viewers’ reactions shared with her last year.
Mark Duffy’s (Ireland, 1981) recent ongoing work documents the aftermath of the UK’s fractious Brexit referendum, framing these themes with absurdity and humour. Mark will present Brexit Archive, project that combines factual and fictitious artefacts of Brexit. Some are genuine souvenirs and documents, while others are symbolic statements that comment on Brexit’s legacy.
‘I fear that the magic has left this place’ by Cian Burke (Ireland, 1978) is an ongoing body of work inspired by the story of Karl-Göran Persson who, having received a booklet titled Om Kriget Kommer (If War Comes) distributed by the Swedish government in 1961, began to fortify his small farmhouse until he had created a giant concrete bunker that could protect his entire community. An exploration of these past references can encourage connections to be made with our present condition, naturally leading to a sense of concern about the future. In our current climate, the idea of the future seems as something evermore precarious and out of our hands.
Curators: Marta Szymańska (Fotofestiwal Łódź, Poland) Giangavino Pazzola (CAMERA – Centro Italiano per la Fotografia, Italy), Maja Dyrehauge Gregersen (Copenhagen Photo Festival, Denmark).
FUTURES is a research platform on contemporary photography co-funded by Creative Europe Program of the European Union and focused on mapping and supporting emerging authors beyond national borders. Fotofestiwal is the only Polish institution in the group of nearly 20 international partners.
Exhibition is co organized by Futures Photography Platform and supported by UE in the frame of Creative Europe Program.
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17.06, 14:00 guided tour | language: English
The era of the Anthropocene is marked by multiple crises. Climate change, war, colonial white male hegemony, abuse of power and oppression of marginalized groups and communities as well as diseases and the effects of globalization determine the realities we live in. Still, there are courageous attempts, inspiring visions and motivating narratives that find their long but steady way from the margins to the center, tempting to change the path of the future.
The group show IN OUR HANDS presents three individual and collaborative positions that use photography, video and sound to form an exemplary kaleidoscope of global struggles imbedded within individual victories. Grounded on the belief that the white male heteronormative post-colonial hegemony and the exploitation of nature and people must be overcome, they imagine a future free of social, natural or political constraints. From the integration of indigenous knowledge, over the bolstering of a new identity for the Black diaspora in Europe to the rare collection and archiving of art from Afghanistan – each position is a small victory for social change, for influences and trends, every so often still invisible, but about to blossom. Our aim is to share a vision that supports a deeper understanding of the world by dialogue; and to create new memories that build the fundament for a new future.
In reference to the Japanese philosophic concept of Nagomi, that creates harmony by integrating conflicting elements, the exhibition brings together what usually is divided. As a new union of diverse aesthetics and visions, we are reminded that every theoretical and practical boundary is just a construct and empowers us to acknowledge the strength of our own thoughts, ideas and actions. As the author-activist and indigenous human rights lawyer Julian Aguon puts it in his inspiring lyric essay No country for Eight-Spot Butterflies, ‘we all have to use our hands to save the world.’
Ursula Biemann
The artistic practice of the Zurich-based artist, author and video essayist Ursula Biemann is strongly research oriented and involves fieldwork in remote locations from Greenland to Amazonia, where she investigates climate change and the ecologies of oil, ice, forests and water. In her multi-layered videos, she interweaves vast cinematic landscapes with documentary footage, Science-Fiction, poetry and academic findings to narrate a changing planetary reality. Biemann’s pluralistic practice spans a range of media including experimental video, interview, text, performance, photography, cartography, props and materials, which converge in formalized spatial installations. Her work also adopts the form of publications, lectures, and curatorial as well as collaborative research projects.
Biemann’s works have been presented internationally in solo and group exhibitions: among others at the Biennale of the Moving Image, Buenos Aires, AR (2022), Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong, HK (2021), Museum of Contemporary Art Ludwig, Budapest, HU (2021), Kunst Haus Wien, Vienna, AT (2020) and HKW, Berlin, DE (2020) – to name the latest.
Rami Hara
The photographs of Brussels-based Rami Hara play with themes of alienation, anonymity and the question of belonging, being deeply rooted in his sense for community. He is inspired by his family and the pop-culture of marginalized communities in Europe. He uses strong and bold colours that bring forth a sense of playful mystery, showing a world where the viewer is allowed to grant a glimpse into the unknown. The objects of his portraits are statuesque, almost sculptural and hold a quiet dignity, these aforementioned fabrics (the veil, the durag ) are elevated from their utilitarian role into markers of adornment. A hijab becomes a royal veil, a durag transforms into the crown of a young, anonymous king, a portrait becomes a painting. Rami Hara’s work brings to light a multicultural cosmopolitan society, enriched by outside contributions. Combining artistic and documentary photography, his work is a testimony to his underlying interest in storytelling.
His works were shown in several group shows amongst which are Photocity Brussels, BE (2021), naitre.aux.mondes, FR (2021), Kiosk Gent, BE (2021), Tiff, Photo Museum of Antwerp (Fomu), BE (2022), Tiff, Brakkegrond, NL (2022) as well as Youth, Centre Culturel Jacques Franck Brussels, BE (2022). In 2022 his solo exhibition Hooyo was shown in gallery Thatswhatxsaid, BE (2021).
AVAH Collective
AVAH (Afghan Visual Arts & History) is an independent curatorial research collective. The group came together upon recognising a lack of obtainable information and long-term initiatives concerning the historical and contemporary practices originating in or relating to Afghanistan. Through gathering art histories, contextualising practices, and creating a professional network – they aim to establish critical resources that will aid in understanding the past and equip the current generation of artists and cultural practitioners both in and out of the country. The collective has worked with the HKW in Berlin, the Schirnkunsthalle in Frankfurt, ARD Kultur, Hfbk in Hamburg, Haus Coburg in Delmenhorst, Media Art South Asia, Simurgh Centre in New Delhi, Mosaic Rooms and BFI Southbank in London and Void Gallery in Derry, Ireland.
curators: Bettina Freimann and Sithara Pathirana
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18.06, 13:00 guided tour | language: English
With the support of the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia
Special patronage of the exhibition
