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Voldem\u0101rs Matvejs. Grave pole. Nanai people (Golds), Amur Region, Russia. From the Lev Shternberg’s expedition in 1910. Photographerd at the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnogrophy, St. Petersburg. Photography scan, 2020\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
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FAKTURA (FOR A NERVOUS SPIRIT)<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Venue:\u00a0<\/b>Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga <\/p>\n With: <\/b>0.0.01.0.0., James Bridle, Merlin Carpenter, Vanessa Gravenor, Leigh Ledare, Voldem\u0101rs Matvejs, Viktoria Modesta, Ieva Rubeze, Aleksandra Samulenkova, Elza S\u012ble<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Curated by:\u00a0<\/b>Zane Onckule<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Faktura (For a Nervous Spirit)\u00a0<\/i>is a tribute to the spirit of unrest during the so-called “post-optical” era. This spirit, although it to a great extent contains a nostalgia for the pre-technological era with the raves and dance floors that define it, increasingly manifests itself as a model for a certain behaviour that individuals play out against the background of today’s reality. It shows most vividly when one starts to “wave back at the machine”. Guided by the search for free analogies and connections and mediated by various tools the exhibition focuses on the spirit world, on surveillance and monitoring strategies, and reflects on the physical\/mental health and well-being of a society trapped in a city. The exhibition borrows ideas from the work \u201cFakt\u016bra\u201d (1914) by Latvian-born Russian artist and theoretician Voldem\u0101rs Matvejs (1877-1914) to describe the surface quality of objects that are otherwise impossible to record by touch. Each piece included in the exhibition \u2013 archive photographs and videos, canvas and graffiti, as well as works created through hand-tapping, typeface and collage techniques by both living and deceased artists \u2013 gives off a \u201cnoise\u201d or texture characteristic of a surface autonomy and content specific to them. The shift towards contemplating the role of the surface and texture in art today is intimately related to the growing distrust and pollution in the sense of vision, or according to Matvejs: \u2018the existence of \u201cnoise\u201d’, and hence faktura, is predicated upon the autonomy of the work’s individual material elements \u2013 faktura lies not in their unification but in their cacophony.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The faktura of the exhibition is formed by: photographs by\u00a0Voldem\u0101rs Matvejs<\/b>\u00a0of \u201cprimitive\u201d and at the same time expressive ritual spirit figures of the peoples of North Asia from the Latvian National Library collection (1913); a video-therapeutic film screening of\u00a0Ieva Rubeze<\/b>‘s (b. 1977) \u201cZ\u0101les\u201d (2000), which includes performances by various Latvian magician-healers, \u201cproblem consultants\u201d and \u201cquack doctors\u201d accompanied by white noise; A second, Riga version of\u00a0Merlin Carpenter<\/b>‘s (b. 1967) \u201cPaint-It-Yourself\u201d suggesting that the tension of the painting process is already present when all is on view are eight primed canvases and a box placed in the middle of the room full of ready-to-use oil paint tubes, and protected by plexiglass;\u00a0Leigh Ledare<\/b>‘s (b. 1976) nearly 60-minute-long film \u201cVokzal\u201d (2016), which maps hidden social dynamics by capturing the banal, yet complex transit choreography of three Moscow train stations; a site-specific gesture against censorship by 0.0.01.0.0 (b. 1999) that has come about as a result of continuous hand\/body movement, or\u00a0graffiti fitness<\/i>, further censoring the piece;\u00a0Elza S\u012ble<\/b>‘s (1989) set of a wall and floor bound paint applied metallic units that builds up a vocabulary of psycho-spatial typologies in flow; Vanessa Gravenor<\/b>‘s (b. 1992) video “Me\/My Bullet” (2016), which is based on personal experience of the terrorist attacks in Paris in 2015, that through an absurd historical point of view traces the duration of the attack, and the bullet, to the song “The Sound of Silence”; a photograph of famous bionic pop artist\u00a0Viktoria Modesta<\/b>\u00a0(b. 1988) from the\u00a0Counterflow<\/i>\u00a0(2016) campaign that conveys a multidisciplinary approach to future-pop identity and performance art with a post-human edge and is accompanied with the author’s call to discard past prejudices and to make way for fully fluid identity; the curator\u2019s essay from 2019 (in Latvian, Russian and English) transferred to the wall by Aleksandra Samulenkova (b. 1986) and set in the smart-extravagant and \u201cwitchy\u201d typeface Zangezi<\/i>; and\u00a0James Bridle<\/b>‘s (b. 1980) video “My Delight on a Shining Night” (2018) which is accompanied by an ancient English melody that glorifies thieving and recordings of a numbers stations that was filmed in Akrotiri, a joint British-US base for over-the-horizon surveillance and global intelligence gathering, which is at the same time home a large population of flamingos. The exhibition also includes the seminal publication \u201cCreative Principles in the Plastic Arts: Faktura<\/b>\u201d (1914) from the Zuz\u0101ns Collection.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Biographies:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 0.0.01.0.0<\/b>\u00a0(b. 1999, Latvia) The artist says of himself that he \u201cI used to play with (destroyed) toy cars and matchsticks, now with gasoline and homework.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n James Bridle<\/b>\u00a0(b. 1980, United Kingdom) is a writer and artist working across technologies and disciplines.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Merlin Carpenter<\/b>\u00a0(b. 1967, United Kingdom) is an artist who explores the consumerism, fetishism, and elitism of the art world through stunt-like conceptual exhibitions.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Vanessa Gravenor<\/b>\u00a0(b.1992, Canada) is an artist and a writer living in Berlin. Since 2016, she has been working on the topic of terrorism, the war on terror, and proxy wars.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Leigh Ledare<\/b>\u00a0(b. 1976, USA) explores human relationships, social taboos, and the complexity of contemporary culture through images that are often disconcerting or provocative.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Voldem\u0101rs Matvejs<\/b>\u00a0(b. 1877\u2013d. 1914, Russian Empire) was a Latvian painter, theorist and researcher. He made a unique contribution to the research into cultures outside Europe at the beginning of the 20th century.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Viktoria Modesta<\/b>\u00a0(b. 1988, Latvia) is a bionic pop artist and creative director. Brought up in the subculture of London, now living in Los Angeles, Viktoria is known for her multi-disciplinary approach to future-pop identity and performance art with a post-human edge.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ieva Rubeze<\/b>\u00a0(b. 1977, Latvia) is an artist working with poetic videos and installations and has created works full of imagination.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Aleksandra Samu\u013cenkova<\/b>\u00a0(b. 1986, Latvia) is a type designer. In addition to her daily work on type, Aleksandra conducts various typographic experiments, as well as researches type design traditions and their connection to historical events.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Elza Sile<\/b>\u00a0(b. 1989, Latvia). Works with possibility lists (menu) consisting of units and their play-outs (sets). Combining analytic division with mental imagery she builds up a vocabulary of psycho-spatial typologies in flow. Currenty lives in Zurich.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Supporters: Ministry of Culture, State Culture Capital Foundation, Riga City Council, Simon Lee gallery, National Library of Latvia, Saubag, KRASSKY, Satori, Arterritory.com, Green Print, Kokmui\u017eas alus, Gardu muti<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Patrons: Vita Liberte, K\u0101rlis \u0136irsis<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Akcnowledgements: Ir\u0113na Bu\u017einska, Stella Hermanovska, Uldis M\u0101kulis, M\u0101rti\u0146\u0161 Mintaurs, Amanda Ziemele, J\u0101nis Zuz\u0101ns.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Based on the sanitary protocol issued by Ministry of Culture, Kim? is implementing physical distancing and disinfection norms for all the visitors (1 person per 4 sq. m.)","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Voldem\u0101rs Matvejs. Grave pole. Nanai people (Golds), Amur Region, Russia. From the Lev Shternberg’s expedition in 1910. Photographerd at the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnogrophy, St. Petersburg. Photography scan, 2020\u00a0 FAKTURA (FOR A NERVOUS SPIRIT) Venue:\u00a0Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga Dates:\u00a0September 4 \u2013 November 1, 2020 Opening:\u00a0September 3, 6 \u2013 9 pm […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kim-exhibitions"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nDates:\u00a0<\/b>September 4 \u2013 November 1, 2020
\nOpening:<\/b>\u00a0September 3, 6 \u2013 9 pm<\/p>\n