correct me if i'm critical

Slavs and Tatars, Friendship of Nations: Polish Shi'ite Showbiz (fig. 1), 2010.

Curated by Adnan Yıldız
Organised by Swedish Embassy Berlin
Press mareike.roper@foreign.ministry.se

Media partner

"Action without a name, a who attached to it, is meaningless."
Hannah Arendt

The Swedish Embassy in Berlin is proud to open the doors of the Nordic Embassies Felleshus to young Nordic and international artists and their art that will hopefully provoke some lively discussion and ongoing debate. Art used as criticism is the focus of the large exhibition correct me if i'm critical that runs from the 12th of September until the 2nd of November 2010. Nordic and international artists such as Annika Eriksson, Daniel Knorr, Florian Zeyfang, Slavs and Tatars, Marcus Degerman, CANAN and Olof Dreijer use form, ideas and a contemporary approach to "stage" art as a critical observer, executed with both humor and subtleness.

How is an open and critical word possible in today's society? How can art avoid the strong undercurrent of consensus thinking or "groupthink" so prevalent in the Nordic mentality, without finding itself ide-stepped or simply disregarded? The exhibition is pre-staged by an extensive summer studio program in various locations throughout Berlin.

The opening event, critical sunday, takes place on the 13th of June 2010 during the opening week of the Berlin Biennale, where participating artists include Daniel Knorr, Slavs and Tatars, Annika Eriksson and Olof Dreijer. Felleshus at the Nordic Embassies, Skulpturenpark Berlin_Zentrum/ KUNSTrePUBLIK, and basso in Berlin-Kreuzberg will thus form a "critical triangle" in the city. Behind the discussion, as a reaction to the Scandinavian context of political correctness and with Berlin as the backdrop, the entire project aims to investigate the question of how critical knowledge and criticism has been positioned by artistic practices. As a starting point, it differentiates the relationship between the terms agent and action, as proposed by Hannah Arendt. These are the main elements bridging Arendt's unique feminist language with social critique.

Within the framework of the summer studio, Skulpturenpark Berlin_Zentrum will host a youth program plus a number of talks and local projects. The architectural space of the exhibition at Felleshus will be designed by the Swedish artist and member of the art collective uglycute, Markus Degerman. Later, the gallery PROGRAM will present a solo exhibition by Markus Degerman, where an "exhibition on the exhibition" will be displayed.

correct me if i'm critical also presents a sound installation by Olof Dreijer (The Knife); a new work by the Berlin based artist Annika Eriksson, for which she conducted research in Istanbul in collaboration with Apartman Projesi; a screening program by the Istanbul based artist CANAN, as well as works by the Kreuzberg based artists Daniel Knorr and Florian Zeyfang.

correct me if i'm critical is curated by Adnan Yıldız. The final list of participating artists will be announced on the web site.

12. September - 4. November 2010

Felleshus der Nordischen Botschaften Berlin
+
Ballhaus Naunynstrasse
Basso
Galerie Opdahl Berlin
Program Gallery
Motto
Nest
Skulpturenpark Berlin_Zentrum
Supportico Lopez

14:00
SOLO PRESENTATION: Daniel Knorr welcomes the audience!
15:00
LECTURE by Slavs and Tatars: 79.89.09 is an intimate visual, oral, and written study of two modern moments - the Iranian Revolution of 1979 and Solidarnósc of Poland - and a narrative strategy to read our recent past. The talk shows how these two events serve as bookends to two of the most important geopolitical issues of the last and current century, Islam's confrontation with modernity and the fall of Communism.

17:00-19:00
DISCUSSION: "Is there a Berlin style?" in collaboration with Program Gallery and Skulpturenpark Berlin_Zentrum. Do the flux of artist-curator community in Berlin, and the transformation of the city into a art-center give us an alternative form of discussion language or context-specific grammar? Is there any specific way of discussing, producing, and working in the context of Berlin? What are the strategies and tactics behind some non-profit initiations such as Program gallery, Skulpturen Park etc. in relation to alternative economies, and autonomous structures; moreover how do these strategies/tactics influence the circulation of the artistic practices in the city? In comparison with 90's, how does Berlin art scene look like from outside/inside? Can we describe the social, political and cultural aspects of this community?

22:00
FILM SCREENING "The Bus" (Tunç Okan, 1976)
00.00
PERFORMANCE: Annika Eriksson's Hannah Arendt Band
01.00
AFTER PARTY: Olof Dreijer (The Knife) & Mt. Sims, Dj Set