current
PUBLIC PROGRAM
Past Events
15/04- 27/05
2021
Fantastic Cosmos | in collaboration with Spazio Gamma, curated by Irene Biolchini
Exhibition organized in collaboration with the contemporary art space and bookstore Spazio Gamma, curated by Irene Biolchini, presenting works from Marco Ceroni, Vasiliy Sumin and Stefano Non.
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'Fantastic Cosmos' is an exhibition featuring the works by Stefano Non, Marco Ceroni and Vasiliy Sumin, curated by Irene Biolchini and organized by Spazio Gamma in collaboration with us.
From the exhibition guide:
‘With these artists we are in front of an idea of the fantastic that is subjected to its opposite: the concrete. And if in reality matter and anti-matter destroy each other (generating energy), in Fantastic Cosmos concrete and fantasy produce a research that that exceeds the definitions of participatory art, committed, social, radi- cal art to move in a still uncertain ground, but heralding new creative energies, a “concrete contradiction” as Lefebvre would have loved to call it.’
08/05
2021
Reading Group #2 | THAT THINGY!? On being transcorporeal bodies in the digital age
The second session of the Reading Group curated by Claudia Contu with Angiet Chen as a special guest. This time in response to our exhibition 'So remember the liquid ground' by Agnieszka Brzeżańska.
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Constituting a fundamental part of our Public Program, the activity of the Reading Group is based on themes, books and texts, which inspired our research or those of the artists participating in our Exhibition Program.
The online event, curated by Claudia Contu, took place on 8th April at 2PM (CET) via eastcontemporary’s Zoom Platform and it was be the second session of the reading group/workshop in response to our current exhibition 'So remember the liquid ground' by Agnieszka Brzeżańska.
The second session of the reading group will address its themes in the following order:
- Our (re)cognition of non-human agency;
- Convergences in the digital realm e.g water enters the stock market; 3D printed fillet steaks;
- The transterritorial, multi-level kinds of entanglements between humans and matter.
The reading group/workshop is meant for participants who are curious about these topics and are keen to exchange opinions and thoughts. No prior knowledge in theory is needed, as we will be learning about it from each other throughout this event.
TEXT
SS. Alaimo, ‘Maps of Transits’ pp. 253-259 in ‘Trans-corporeal feminisms and the ethical space of nature’ part of S. Alaimo and S. Hekman (eds.), Material Feminisms. Indiana University Press, 2008.
MODERATORS:
Claudia Contu (she/her) is a curator of contemporary art and writer. Her research is driven by queer desire, contemporary myth-making and the interplay of human and non-human forces in society. She creates autofiction that responds to virtual intimacy and violence as found in her digital movements across time zones. Her writings have recently appeared on Super Effective and ATP Diary. Claudia is co-founder of SLANT Projects, a digital platform for transdisciplinary collaboration amongst queer artists and researchers. Since 2016, she has curated exhibitions and events in London, Munich and Milan in collaboration with galleries and non-profit organisations. www.claudiacontu.com
Angiet Chen (they/them) is a former architect and an artist-director currently working on their ‘Queer Kidneys’ series, a cinematographic piece on the threshold ecologies alongside the Jingmei River banks in Taipei, Taiwan. They practice storytelling and placemaking to address bodies of trauma, the structures of collectives, and the environmental entanglements between the two. They use VR, 3D and blockchain technologies as mediums. Their works take the shape of immersive experiences, indie-games, videos & films as well as curatorial programmes and workshops. Angiet holds an MRes degree in Fine Arts and Humanities at the Royal College of Art in London.
27/03
2021
Music On #02 | Live on Luminous Trails | Francesca Heart in collaboration with Metabolica
Immerse yourself in the special music experience created by Francesca Heart and Metabolica! The music video has been produced on the occasion of our show 'So remember the liquid ground' by Agnieszka Brzeżańska.
More info
After our last collaboration between Stach Szumski and Radio Raheem in the occasion of the exhibition ‘Holobiont Rhapsody’, we are thrilled to announce our second musical collaboration accompaning our current show ‘So remember the liquid ground’ by Agnieszka Brzeżańska.
This time the immersive music experience will be created by Francesca Heart in collaboration with Metabolica.
The music video ‘Live on Luminous Trails’ streamed on Saturday 27/03/2021 at 18:00 CET through our social media canals and on our website www.east-contemporary.org.
BIOGRAPHY:
Francesca Heart is a movement and sound artist, somatic healing practitioner, with volcanic and marine origins in Southern Italy. Described as sub-aquatic childlike polyrhythm and chance-induced arpeggios, her music might leave you floating for a while.
24/03
2021
Artist Talk #01 | Agnieszka Brzeżańska. Connected to the Earth. A conversation with Sebastian Cichocki
A conversation on the topic of the right to care and well-being, together with the curator Gabi Scardi and the nctm studio. The artist Agnieszka Brzeżańska will talk with Sebastian Cichocki, chief curator and head of research at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw.
More info
Together with the curator Gabi Scardi and the nctm studio we are pleased to invite you to a conversation on the topic of the right to care and well-being.
The artist Agnieszka Brzeżańska will talk with Sebastian Cichocki, chief curator and head of research at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw.
Born in 1972 in Gdańsk, and educated in both Poland and Japan, Agnieszka Brzeżańska uses a variety of artistic media to build narratives centered around relaunching towards a future of emancipation and sustainable well-being. In her work, she also considers the links between different forms of life and natural forces on Earth.
In her vision, permeated with a revealing and sharp humor, the human is always intertwined with the wider ecological system. Brzeżańska attributes an emancipatory character to the relationship humans can have with natural forces, especially those of the plant and aquatic worlds and waters. She often returns to these themes and dwells on, among other things, the healing properties of plants and water. Importantly, both are often interpreted by her in their capacity to convey the notion of matriarchal feminine.
Her frequent returns to the precursory knowledge of natural healing methods, as well as her approach to creating works in the form of everyday objects and tools, are both ways of alluding to the possibility of actively entering into a relationship with the essence of existence - for example, she has been organizing an artistic residency on a boat that gracefully glides on the Vistula river for several years now.
The meeting will be held in English and will be moderated by Gabi Scardi.
30/01
2021
DJ Set | Radio Raheem & Stach Szumski
The collaboration between Stach Szumski, eastcontemporary and Radio Raheem, an independent web radio based in the Museum of Design Triennale Milano.
More info
We are pleased to announce the collaboration between Stach Szumski, eastcontemporary and Radio Raheem, an independent web radio located in the iconic Museum of Design Triennale Milano (http://www.radioraheem.it/).
On Saturday 30th January 2021 from 12:00 until 13:00, you will have an opportunity to listen to a brand-new sound experience 'Suburban Hieroglyphs' by Stach Szumski. Inspired by the aesthetics of 12th century Seljuks Empire, Szumski will perform an electro - experimental mix permeated with the Middle Eastern sounds and not only.
26/01
2021
Reading Group #01 | Zombies at the speed of light - On time, (dead) matter and collective consciousness
The first session of the reading group in response to our inaugural show 'The Future in Reverse'. Curated by Claudia Contu with Pablo Luis Álvarez as a special guest, The reading group is conducted in English and open to all.
More info
The first session of the reading group in response to our inaugural exhibition 'The Future in Reverse' by Agata Ingarden and Agnieszka Polska took place online on 26.01.2020 at 17:00 CET via eastcontemporary’s Zoom Platform.
The activity of the reading group is based on themes, books and texts, which inspired our research or those of the artists participating in our exhibition program.
The reading group aims to build and develop a common theoretical base helpful in thinking and discussing themes related to the wide concept of the unknown future, its possibilities and impossibilities. All meetings will have a particular thematic focus and will take the form of workshops with texts, during which we will analyze the readings, often in reference to a determined exhibition or artist, and then develop a public conversation.
Texts:
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S. Sheikh, It’s after the end of the world: a zombie heaven, e-flux journal, #113, November 2020. Link: https://www.e-flux.com/journal/113/359978/it-s-after-the-end-of-the-world-a-zombie-heaven/
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D. J. Haraway, Staying with the trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene, 2014, pp. 1-8.
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R. Smithson, A Tour of the Monuments of Passaic, New Jersey. Originally published as The Monuments of Passaic, Artforum 6, no.4, December 1967. Links: ENG / FR - http://labibliothequefantas.free.fr/files/Robert_Smithson-Monuments_of_Passaic.pdf | ITA - https://www.kabulmagazine.com/robert-smithson-monument-passaic-new-jersey/
MODERATORS:
Claudia Contu (she/her) is a curator of contemporary art and writer. Her research is driven by queer desire, contemporary myth-making and the interplay of human and non-human forces in society. She creates autofiction that responds to virtual intimacy and violence as found in her digital movements across time zones. Her writings have recently appeared on Super Effective and ATP Diary. Claudia is co-founder of SLANT Projects, a digital platform for transdisciplinary collaboration amongst queer artists and researchers. Since 2016, she has curated exhibitions and events in London, Munich and Milan in collaboration with galleries and non-profit organisations.
www.claudiacontu.com
Pablo Luis Álvarez (he/him) is a historian and curator whose specialism is curatorial history. In particular, he is looking at conversational practices and platforms that use speaking as a medium in order to understand how curatorial discourse has taken place. He started his PHD at RCA in 2019, where he is also a visiting lecturer, upon receiving a LAHP full award from the Arts and Humanities Research Council. He has collaborated with a number of institutions, projects and publications (Nottingham Contemporary, Gasworks, Concreta, Casa de Velázquez). His first curatorial project was the exhibition and seminar 'Adventus' (ATM, 2017), which tried to speculate on how the end of times came to be perceived after the 2007-8 financial crisis.