Azerbaijani artists to feature in Situation PAT in Moscow
12 Jul - 12 Aug 12
Part of the Parallel Programme, 3rd Moscow International Biennale for Young Art
Curatorial Project: Situation PAT
Issues of gender relations in the context of the changing conditions of coexistence appear to be ever more relevant in the modern world. After decades of socio-cultural research in the field of gender studies, one might say that the picture of gender relations has not emerged clearer, but on the contrary, it has become even more complicated. This increase in the degree of complexity is due to the fact that there is a transition in the contemporary world from postmodernism to what might be called undefined time X. This time contains within it different modes: the time in which traditional communities live and the contemporary time regime. However, the majority of countries today find themselves in the zone of mixed time modes, which not only radicalises the gender issues, but also provides interesting material for artistic creation. For example, here are young Azerbaijani artists – an Afghan artist living in Azerbaijan and three female Azerbaijani artists. The Afghan artist Reza comes from a country ruled by Sharia law. Reza's art too has strong patriarchal character: he uses old-fashioned materials – pencil and paper. There is a struggle in his soul between East/South and West/North, unlike his female colleagues, he came from an Islamic country to Azerbaijan, a secular country to which he now needs to adapt. The women were born into a secular space. Their works demonstrate a self-sufficient worldview and wide horizons. And their choice of media for enacting their projects is also more sophisticated – sculptural installations and video. The very collision of two world views and gender positions within one group promises a curious outcome – which vision will prove itself to be more original and relevant to the audience, the specifically male traditional optics, refracting contemporary light onto its uncompromising look, or the female view of the problem, eroding the patriarchal 'phallocentricity'?
Location: M'ARS Center for Contemporary Art, Moscow, 19:00
5 Pushkarev pereulok, subway Sukharevskaya, Trubnaya, Tsvetnoy
www.marsgallery.ru
