Artists Space

Flipside

November 12, 2004 – January 8, 2005

Artists: Cristian Alexa, Association Apsolutno, Art Attack, Maja Bajevic, Emese Benczúr, Cabinet Magazine, Danica Dakic, Milena Dopitová, Vadim Fishkin, Jaroslaw Flicinski, Tomislav Gotovac, Pravdoliub Ivanov, Joan Jonas, Kai Kaljo, Charles Krafft, Pawel Kruk, Julia Kunin, Yuri Leiderman, Antoni Maznevski, Audrius Novickas, Odili Donald Odita, Tony Oursler, Anthony and Katya Pemberton, Dan Perjovschi, Igor Savchenko, Tomo Savic-Gecan, Stephen Shanabrook, Škart, Sandra Sterle, Audrius Stonys, Eric Triantafillou and Csilla Kosa, Aleksandar Zograf

Curated by Katherine Carl

A slightly grainy, black and white image of a deer standing on snowy ground in front of woods. There are two detached antlers on the ground in front of the deer.
Association Apsolutno, still from a.trophy, 2002. [A slightly grainy, black and white image of a deer standing on snowy ground in front of woods. There are two detached antlers on the ground in front of the deer.]

What characterizes post-utopian art? Is it a genre of pure pragmatism or does it contain shards of the discarded vision from which it emerged? Is it the imagining of a new utopia: even the flipside of the old one? Flipside represents cross-pollination and exchange, traversing the horizon of separate utopian totalities of East and West.

Artistic engagement with ideology and humanistic issues through conceptual means rather than response-based political art is a special hallmark of work throughout Eastern Europe today. Furthermore, widely differing art-historical and political conditions surrounding the basis and trajectories of art since the 1960s complicate fruitfully the Western canonization of these practices. Flipside brings together works by artists from post-socialist countries of Eastern Europe and their counterparts in the US who have participated in the cultural exchange program ArtsLink.

November 11, 2004

Flipside:
Symposium
Panel Discussion
2 - 4pm

A gallery space with a large metal structure in the middle of the floor. Four straw brooms are suspended from the top of the structure such that they just brush the floor. On the surrounding white walls, there are several pieces of art. One is a colorful canvas with geometric shapes, sharing a wall with several small objects arranged in an oval. On the other wall, there are series of framed depictions of nude figures in various poses.
Flipside. Installation view, Artists Space, 2004. [A gallery space with a large metal structure in the middle of the floor. Four straw brooms are suspended from the top of the structure such that they just brush the floor. On the surrounding white walls, there are several pieces of art. One is a colorful canvas with geometric shapes, sharing a wall with several small objects arranged in an oval. On the other wall, there are series of framed depictions of nude figures in various poses.]
A framed photograph with a red border of a naked man on a blue shag carpet. The man is seated, leaning slightly back on his hands with his legs extended. He is bald with a full grey beard.
Flipside. Installation view, Artists Space, 2004. [A framed photograph with a red border of a naked man on a blue shag carpet. The man is seated, leaning slightly back on his hands with his legs extended. He is bald with a full grey beard.]
A small black table leans at an angle, one corner resting on a white wall and one leg resting on an inflated balloon with a face printed on it. Coming out of the ballon is a flowered dress, attached to a fan by an inflation tube. Beyond that, visible behind a half wall, are two red shades with holes covering two windows.
Flipside. Installation view, Artists Space, 2004. [A small black table leans at an angle, one corner resting on a white wall and one leg resting on an inflated balloon with a face printed on it. Coming out of the ballon is a flowered dress, attached to a fan by an inflation tube. Beyond that, visible behind a half wall, are two red shades with holes covering two windows.]
Two white walls meeting in a corner. The wall on the right has three large black and white photographs of people on winter streets with their small dogs. The wall on the left features a canvas covered in a red, green, and peach colored plaid pattern.
Flipside. Installation view, Artists Space, 2004. [Two white walls meeting in a corner. The wall on the right has three large black and white photographs of people on winter streets with their small dogs. The wall on the left features a canvas covered in a red, green, and peach colored plaid pattern.]
Small red sculptures of octopi and squids arranged in an oval shape on a white wall.
Flipside. Installation view, Artists Space, 2004. [Small red sculptures of octopi and squids arranged in an oval shape on a white wall.]
A red leather armchair with a coffee table on a gray rug in the corner of a room. On the coffee table, there are several books, a lamp, and an old radio. On the opposite wall, there are three photographs each showing the view out of three different windows.
Flipside. Installation view, Artists Space, 2004. [A red leather armchair with a coffee table on a gray rug in the corner of a room. On the coffee table, there are several books, a lamp, and an old radio. On the opposite wall, there are three photographs each showing the view out of three different windows.]

Flipside Extended Press Release

Flipside Exhibition Brochure

Johnson, Ken. "Flipside." The New York Times. December 17, 2004. Print. E44.

Raskin, Lisi. "Flipside." c magazine. Spring 2005. Print.

Flipside is organized by CEC ArtsLink and funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Trust for Mutual Understanding, FACE Croatia—a program of the Heathcote Foundation, an anonymous donor, with additional support from Czech Airlines.

    A block of cheese sitting on a white plate on a wooden table. There are several Band-Aids covering the holes on the block of cheese.
    Praydoliub Ivanov, Pessimism No More (detail), 2002. [A block of cheese sitting on a white plate on a wooden table. There are several Band-Aids covering the holes on the block of cheese.]