SPELLBOUND
Škuc Gallery Programme
Wednesday, October 5th
8 pm / Škuc Gallery: Opening of the international group exhibition
Spellbound, curated by Predrag Pajdic / Jo Andres, Milijana Babic, Maja
Bajevic, Hrafnhildur Benediktsdóttir, Andreia Chaves, Carolyn Cowan, Alexandra
Eldridge, Alicia F., Denise Grünstein, Rose-Gabriel De La Lyre, J. L.
Nash, Nathália Mello, Nina Thilas-Mohs, Lana Zdravkovic (Kitch)
8 pm – 9 pm / Nathália Mello /
Abscene: A young female of the Tupinomos
tribe from “Water Which Hides Itself” says “I do” today, performance
8 pm – 9 pm / Lana Zdravkovic
(Kitch) / XXX YU, performance
8 pm – 11 pm / Hrafnhildur
Benediktsdóttir / Transmogrification,
performance
8 pm – 11 pm / Milijana Babic /
Building A Bright Future, collective
performance
9 pm –9:15 pm / Nina Thilas-Mohs with Alicia F. / I Put A Spell On You, performance
Thursday, October 6th
2 pm – 4 pm / Panel discussion
with artists of the Spellbound exhibition, moderated by Predrag Pajdic
5 pm – 6 pm / Katarina
Majerhold / Love, Art and Women,
lecture
Friday, October 7th
3 pm – 6 pm / Nathália Mello /
In The City, performance
6:30 pm – 7:10 pm / Violeta Luna / Requiem for a Lost Land / Requiem para una tierra perdida, performance
Monday, October 10th
4 pm – 6
pm/ Marija Mojca Pungercar, Renata Salecl, Ksenija Vidmar Horvat / Female Workers: Between Freedom, Choice and
Poverty, Panel discussion moderated by Vesna Leskošek
6:30 pm –
7 pm / Lidija Vasiljevic & Violeta Anđelkovic / 12-15%, film
7 pm – 7:30
pm/ Lidija Vasiljevic, discussion moderated by Vesna Leskošek
All discussions and presentations will be in English, with the exception
of panel discussion Female Workers:
Between Freedom, Choice and Poverty and discussion with Lidija Vasiljevic.
Opening of the international group exhibition
Spellbound: October 5th, 2011 at 8 pm with the performances of the following
artists: Hrafnhildur Benediktsdóttir, Milijana Babic, Nathália Mello, Lana Zdravkovic
(Kitch), Nina Thilas-Mohs with Alicia F.
Spellbound is a group exhibition of
international artists whose work gazes into the understanding, experience and
influences of the world through magic, the mysterious art of altering realities
either by supernatural forces or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to
mainstream science. The incantation of language through image brings to this
viewing space a conjuring of perceptions. It offers the magical doctrine of
cosmic sympathy between things visible and things invisible; each rendering is
a glimpse into the now and the tomorrows of illusions of both the present and
the future.
Practised
since ancient times, yet often viewed with suspicion and disbelief, magic is
frequently exercised in isolation and secrecy, veiled in symbols and allegory.
It holds within it the echoes of the belief that while it is fascinating, the
more in-depth the study, the darker and more dangerous it is perceived to be.
Then again
– regardless of its mystery – to many, magic is the only source of spiritual
guidance and hope, especially in times of crisis, difficulty and distress. It
proffers the double image, where inner reality and outer reality come together
in a unique meeting point, where single-image perception has, up to then, left
humans vulnerable. They suffer, hurt and ache. In their “desidaimonia” (fear of
supernatural powers and magic), being spellbound becomes the only explanation
for the unknown.
When
medicine fails to find a cure for a fatal disease, one might go to a healer in
the hope of recovery. When the present is failing, jobs are lost and the future
appears more and more uncertain, when there are no answers to anguish, pain and
suffering, one turns to those who hold the knowledge, who might just be able to
break the spell: fortune tellers, shamans, gurus and clairvoyants. What magic
lies in their knowledge? Do they act as the ancient magi did? Do they pretend
to be gods in order to set fear into the hearts of the real deities so that
they will indeed perform or channel through them, as only they may hold that
vital key to inner peace and understanding. Are they looking into the hearts
and souls of single-image humans or double-image situations?
The world
is in crisis. Western-style economies are collapsing. Poverty and hunger are
spreading like a terminal disease, unstoppable and incurable. Old wars and
conflicts are raging. Climate is changing uncontrollably. Democracies are
failing and human rights are continuously violated while freedoms (of choice, speech,
expression, existence) fade in a desperate bid for quick profit, self-indulgent
greed and an effort to control the downward spiralling contentment and
decreasing social order. New restrictive laws are implemented (daily) – by
governments that once promised prosperity and liberty. More money is wasted on
wars and “security” than is spent on well-being, social welfare, culture and
learning. Is this the beginning of an apocalyptic present? Could this be the
end of the world? Or is it simply the end of the present order? What will the
future bring? Is there a future at all?
With this
in mind, Spellbound has been created
as an artistic attempt to call upon alternative visions of the future filled
with dreams, fantasy, wonder and bewilderment; uncanny and mysterious reality,
where nightmares and horror will end happily, enchanted by the flickering light
of hope and prosperity. One may mistake rite for religious ritual, but then
perhaps close attention is not being paid to the detail that clearly defines and
differentiates. What else is magic and being spellbound other than the epitome
of action and reaction in this universe? It is magic that both affects and
effects control. Each symbol within calls not for protection from this world,
but looks to harness the power of good and evil to achieve goals and destinies.
These images hold the attitude of assumption to a supernatural identity,
leaving the viewer to question which side of the double image they are seeing.
Magical power and spells are held in words. Images evoke those language
patterns within, and each rite and gesture assures mystical devotion. Take care
of what you form in mind when you open your eyes to see. [Predrag Pajdic]
