“Science for the Masses” by Marius Ritiu at Verbeke Foundation
public sculpture “Science for the Masses” by Marius Ritiu; plexiglas, led lights, wood, iron bars, iron pipe, 3 330 x 90 x 333 cm (images - courtesy of the artist and Verbeke Foundation)
Historiography of icons is a peculiar subject: their appropriation hardly can be deemed off ideology. Marius Ritiu’s public sculpture at Verbeke Foundation originates from the chance, when the collector found three incomplete McDonalds light signs at a lightbox repair shop in Belgium. Strong iconography of one of the most recognisable commercial signs in the world creates very particular visual, social and political associations. In the linguistic tradition of conceptual art and following the subject of the artist’s current research of the abandonment, memory and symbology in his native Romania, Ritiu strips the actual semantics of the sign and demonstrates the bare propagating power using the strategy of re-appropriation. In this gesture he achieves to stay in a fine position on the line of neutrality in regard to surface-laying ideological and activist struggles and exposes invisible layer of the power of language, symbology and association in visual culture: to watch is not enough to see.
Transformation of “MMM” into “E = mc^2” talks to the thousands casual passers-by via highway in a complex way and at the same time in a direct form. First, they are attracted by the recognisable symbol of feeding the masses with high nutritional (and questionable dietary) value at the low price. In the end of the day, we humans have a lot in common with Pavlov’s dog. But a closer look at the familiar symbols reveals that their initial association had been subverted by something that is so much more fundamental and universally revelational, but at the same time taken for granted and therefore almost invisible. Albert Einstein genius turned the world upside down less than a century ago and laid the foundation to the world we are living in now. Equalisation of “food for the masses” with “science for the masses” is one of the core promises of revolutionary avant-garde, both then and now. Ritiu’s sculpture brings this proximity to a climax and does what the art ought to do: disturbs the comfort of the mundane normality of the horizon of Antwerp’s neighbourhood.
There is nothing beyond language, said Jacques Derrida. But there is a limitless flow of potentiality to be unlocked in the language codes by those who dare to challenge the familiar and have the courage to question conventional meaning and become creators of the alternatives.
text by Denis Maksimov
State of Noland
image - Avenir Institute
What is the State of Noland?
It is a condition of not aligning with nation state and particular geopolitical territory as well as possible formations of practical replacement of nation-state functionality with rhizomatic (“rhizome” - is a modified subterranean stem of a plant that is usually found underground, often sending out roots and shoots from its nodes), pastiche, assemblage alternatives. Nation state is a modern fiction, a child of Thomas Hobbes “Leviathan” and birth of nationalism in 19 century. None of the existing countries on the political map of today fulfil the requirements of the concept of nation state in political theory. Can we imagine the rhizomatic organs without the body (functionality without the current system frame), inverting and developing ideas of Antonin Artaud in theatre and and Gilles Deleuze in philosophy and applying it to politics?
by Denis Maksimov
The lecture was given in the programme of “EUROVISION” event at Centre culturel Brueghel in Brussels on April 20, organised by Giuseppe Porcaro (Head of Communications, Bruegel) and included contributions of Teresa Cos (artist and researcher), Ryan Heath (Senior EU Correspondent, POLITICO) and Giacomo Filibeck (Deputy Secretary General of the Party of European Socialists).
Listen to the audio recording here.
Contemporary art in a dialogue with socio-political realities
Dichotomy of Vorstellung/Darstellung in Gadamer’s hermeneutics was a point of departure in analysing art market, financial & stock market, political ideology and regimes of aesthetics in relation to “political”.
The lecture was given for The Modern Education and Research Institute in Brussels in December 2016.
Do You Speak Synergy?
group exhibition at Harlan Levey Projects gallery curated by Denis Maksimov with support of Harlan Levey
Emmanuel Van Der Auwera. “Cabinet d’affects” (2010), exhibition view
In his essay “Cézanne’s Doubt,” l French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty describes Cézanne’s impressionistic and paradoxical approach to painting, and implicitly draws a parallel to his own concept of radical reflection. Looking at the relationship between science and art in the context of Cezanne’s struggle to apply “intelligence, ideas, sciences, perspective, and tradition” to his work, he concludes that theory and practice stand in opposition to each other. He sees art as an attempt to capture an individual’s perception, and science as anti-individualistic. From this perspective, natural science cannot grasp the profundity and subjective depth of the phenomena it endeavors to explain.
Ella Littwitz. “Uproot” (2015), exhibition view
Art and science may indeed oppose each other in certain senses, but they also share many things, for example a vigorous research drive that goes beyond practicality. In the currents of contemporary cultural discourse, this characteristic is becoming challenging to maintain, for science and art alike. “Key performance indicators” are applied literally to everything, including the traditionally metaphysical subjects of love and death. Art risks leaning towards the language of “social engagement” in regard to state funding, falling into categories of purely utilitarian design or vanity symbols for luxurious consumption. Science, on the other hand, is getting cornered exclusively into the “applied” category. This process is not a novelty: with constant re-learning and easy forgetting, valuable insights and original perspectives are often lost in favor of the “mode du jour” – sometimes by chance, sometimes in result of deliberate decisions by dominating institutions of a particular time.
Imposed planning and bureaucracy turn both artist and scientist into “eternal applicants” for grants rewarded to visionaries for design “solutions.” Research, findings, and output of each are quickly translated to market speak: Where is the business case? What is the product? Is there a customer for this? How are you going to promote it? The discourse of market economy is perhaps the most crippling enemy poetry has ever seen.
Benjamin Verhoeven. “Sculptural Movement, chapters I & II” (2015), still from video
Both art and science resist. Fundamental scientific research eludes pressure by forecasting long-term outcomes to illustrate a future where we’re all dead already anyway, and artistic energy continues to insist on the power of purposelessness in unveiling the truth content in art and commodities in general. A growing number of collaborations between artists and scientists, formed under the flag of “artistic research” firmly establish a vocabulary for this discourse. Following the logic of Merleau-Ponty, “Do You Speak Synergy?” aims to “return to phenomena.” It does this through a transdisciplinary conversation about the poetic essence of scientific and artistic investigation. The notion of “transdisciplinary” investigation is used more and more often in discussions about the future of research. However, the pathway towards meta-levels of inquiry is not so straightforward. Research has become the victim of an obsession with efficiency, predictability and target driven utilitarianism.
Haseeb Ahmed. “Fish Bone Chapel” (2013), exhibition view
The selected artists share the research language of transdisciplinary inquiry while remaining free from any disciplinary or corporate mandates. Modern physics calls this their “unified field,” ² which we refer to as “synergy,” where fundamental forces and elementary particles are approached as if they compose a single field – a field of truly universal language.
References:
¹ Maurice Merleau-Ponty, “Le doubt de Cézanne” in Sens et non-sens, Gallimard, Paris, 1945. English translation by Hubert L. Dreyfus and Patricia Allen Dreyfus in Sense and Non-Sense, Illinois University Press, Chicago, IL, 1964.
² Peter Weibel, Beyond Art: A Third Culture. – A Comparative Study in Culture and Science in 20th Century Austria and Hungary. Passagen Verlag, Vienna, 1997.
pdf version of the book “Do You Speak Synergy?” co-written by Denis Maksimov and Harlan Levey
more images from the exhibition
truth is a question of the standpoint
ParisTexasAntwerp art space, Antwerp
The on-demand guided tour was performed during the group exhibition ‘The Game of Roles’, curated by Matteo Lucchetti (21-28 June, 2015). From the exhibition catalogue: 'Visitors can book a guided tour around the exhibition. The context of the tour is not aligned with visions of participating artists and curator. The power of interpretation allows to re-purpose space and objects by assuming the power of the role ‘guide/interpreter’ and the medium of spoken language.’
the world as it’s seen by (Russia) - video
ParisTexasAntwerp art space in Antwerp
The performance (June 21) and installation were part of the group exhibition ‘The Game of Roles’ at ParisTexasAntwerp art space in Antwerp (Belgium), curated by Matteo Lucchetti.
The future of the ‘Artist’: challenges of transdisciplinarity and the expanding field of art
Participants: Matteo Lucchetti (freelance curator, curator Visible), Tobias Sternberg (artist), Daniel Blanga-Gubbay (researcher, founder Aleppo), Moderator: Denis Maksimov (theorist, curator and researcher)
Artists take over more and more the status of different specialists: the artist as anthropologist, artist as scientist, artist as philosopher, etc. Due to the stronger liberalisation and flexibilisation of our current economy, the role of the artist seems to be turning into a flexible, self-motivated and innovative individual: artist becomes a ‘transdisciplinary agent’ and 'cross-sectoral diplomat’. Increase of artists collectives is another interesting trend that illustrates transformation of the artist’s role and function in the society. How is this change affecting their work and how can they develop their practice under these circumstances?
How is this influencing our notion of 'art’? What are the effects of co-productions between different fields in the realisation of artworks, artists infiltrating into other fields, cross-disciplinarity and knowledge exchanges? Which new discourses or art forms have been created because of this shift and how could the outcome function as a way to reinvent and rethink the present day to change tomorrow?
FRANCIS
FRANCIS booth at Poppositions alternative art fair in 2015
FRANCIS is an artist-led initiative which was founded for the participation of the POPPOSITIONS Art Fair. it’s aim is to develop a holistic utopian benchmark for speculating the position of Francis, a young meta-artist, who they have selected to represent and whose name also inspired the title of the project. Francis’ practice incorporates varied and variable processes, methods of production and visual outcomes. FRANCIS’ contributors consists of 10 international artists; Rens Cools, Tiago Duarte, Eleanor Duffin, Adrijana Gvozdenovic, Koyuki Kazahaya, Garry Loughlin, William Ludwig, Denis Maksimov, Vijai Patchineelam, Julie van der Vaart, who collaborate in the administrative running of this project.
FRANCIS – post catalogue POPPOSITIONS 2015
Superficial Aesthetics
Adrijana Gvozdenovic, Denis Maksimov. "Superficial Aesthetics", installation, the HAL, Antwerp (BE), 2015
One year before meeting each other in Belgium, Denis Maksimov and Adrijana Gvozdenovic both visited Estonian Pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale Arte and took with them one copy of Denes Farkas white books, which themselves were the part of the larger installation. Maksimov chose the book with the title “Aesthetics” and Gvozdenovic picked up “Superficial”. Both had taken the books in order to use them for intervention of their own. Maksimov has used the book for creation of hand-written summary of re-approach of “aesthetics” in philosophy and theory, Gvozdenovic printed in the book dimensions of understanding of the contextualisation of “superficiality”. Installation “Superficial Aesthetics” acts as materialisation of seemingly impossible, but omnipresent connection between people: the magic moment when logic and intuition are becoming one.
2 books, 14 prints of the insides. The installation was presented at the group exhibition “Love Will Tear Us Apart” at the HAL, Antwerp, Belgium in February 2015.
Understanding the contemporary art world and it’s key actors
How to approach and analyse works of contemporary art? What is art and what is not? What mediums, subjects and artists define ‘modernity’? What are the key roles and functions in 'the art world’? How do galleries, art fairs and museums work in relation to each other? Why do people invest in contemporary art? How to talk and what to ask in conversation with artists? How does art influence the way we perceive the world around us?