HRVATSKI

Unframed Landscapes

Balázs Beöthy, Ivan Bura, Péter Császar, János Fodor, Andrea Huszár,
Tibor Iski Kocsis, Csaba Nemes, Ana Opalic, Matko Vekic

Curators: Maja and Reuben Fowkes

Gallery of Extended Media, Zagreb 10 - 30 June 2004
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Ecology Pavilion Mile End Park, London 20 May - 6 June 2004
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Institute of Contemporary Art Dunaújváros 16 January - 13 February 2004
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The group exhibition Unframed Landscapes offers a reassessment of landscape as a genre in contemporary art. The conventional understanding of landscape implies a picturesque view of the countryside - images of ruined castles, a lonely tree in the puszta and romantic seaside villages come to mind. This understanding of landscape has, however, been revealed as culturally-constructed, the product of political ideologies, and conveying human domination over nature. Furthermore, landscape is perceived through a frame by a distant spectator, who remains alienated from the object of his gaze. Nature as a theme in contemporary art acts as a barometer of our ecological attunement.

Unframed Landscapes: Nature in Contemporary Art (essay)

The exhibition Unframed Landscapes researches our relationship with nature across the full range of current media, including: landscapes painted from train windows, video photography exploring gender and landscape, computer animation researching images of a natural phenomenon on the web, digital snaps expressing the marginality of nature in city life, and physical interventions in the natural environment. The participating artists are Balázs Beöthy, Ivan Bura, Péter Császar, János Fodor, Andrea Huszár, Tibor Iski Kocsis, Csaba Nemes, Ana Opalic and Matko Vekic.

The exhibition Unframed Landscapes started at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Dunaújváros, Hungary in January – February 2004. In May it was successfully presented in London as part of Magyar Magic, a year long festival organised by the Hungarian Cultural Centre on the occasion of Hungary’s entry into the EU, and in collaboration with Danielle Arnaud contemporary art. The PM Gallery in Zagreb is the final destination of the exhibition, in which a number of new works will be presented, as well as the final version of works conceived of as a process.

The independent curators Maja and Reuben Fowkes are also organising a series of Art Circle Time events to coincide with the exhibition. Artists and environmentally-minded young people will take part in this interactive educational process.

For more information, please contact the curators fowkes@hu.inter.net

To order a copy of the catalogue email:
info@galerijabalen.net

Unframed Landscapes is presented in association with: