Burning House. Selection from the Antoine de Galbert's collection
Jonathan Horowitz (b. 1966), A Portrait of Bush, 2001, colour photograph, 18.5 x 15 cm, collection of Antoine de Galbert, Paris
"Burning house" is a specific overview of responses given to conflicts raging across the world in the 20th century and in the first two decades of the 21st century. It offers us an insight into the world permanently filled with war and damage which continuously keep the audience’s attention.
INFO
Place
ms1, 36 Więckowskiego St, 1st floor
Time
Opening
Works by Kader Attia, Stéphane Mandelbaum, Gerhard Marx, Miriam Cahn, Christer Strömholm, or Jacques Lizene are registers of mutilation suffered by human body crushed by the wheels of history. Aesthetic judgement is also made for the representation of damage with the image of a nuclear fireball coming to prominence as a symbol of destructive power of technology. It is used as such by Evariste Richer, Roman Cieślewicz, Albert De Hert, as well as by anonymous reporters. Finally, there is a separate section showing images of politicians whose decisions have inflicted conflicts and chaos. This is Hitler in collages by Cieślewicz. Here are Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu depicted by Ion Barladeanu. This is Lenin’s portrait in worker’s hands. This is Mao Zedong on posters photographed by Alain Bizos. And here we have George W. Bush painted by Isaac Otchere Azey and the same political leader in the work by Jonathan Horowitz.
The exhibition also gives an insight into how tragedies of our contemporary world are being presented in the media and what are the frameworks within which the spectacle in the theatres of war evolves. Clemens von Wedemeyer explicitly places the visitor inside a fictional TV studio with a green screen. Another, this time somatic approach to these works is highlighted in "The Heart", a work by Christian Boltanski of 2005. A single light-bulb in a darkened room that flicks on and off to the heartbeat.
Between 2004 - 18 in Paris, Antoine de Galbert created a unique space, La Maison Rouge, which hosted both historical and contemporary art exhibitions, giving visitors the opportunity to encounter a variety of art – from European to South African. Antoine de Galbert is also a well-known collector. The exhibition at Muzeum Sztuki is based on his collection.
Please be advised that the artwork "Heart" by Christian Boltanski can be a danger to people suffering from epilepsy.
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Antoine de Galbert about the "Burning House"
MORE INFO
Muzeum Sztuki curator
Patron of Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź
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