Published: 20 września 2012 Views: 1860 Books, Publications

Theatre of Life

Theatre of Life is a second in a series of exhibitions started in 2011 with Spaceship Earth. It is an exhibition project dedicated to these artistic practices which looked for confluence between art, experimental music, new dance and theatre. Its aim is to highlight those practices that not only blew boundaries between mentioned disciplines but, most of all, challenged social conventions in search for alternative models of art and life, announcing and propelling liberating energies that shook the world in the late 60s and early 70s. Anarchic, freeing and even heroic gestures of the art of that times, their theatricality and subversiveness, still echo in the practices of the younger generations, even though today the emphasis seems to be put more on repetition and re-enactment as a strategy for expressing the new than on uniqueness. Why redo? Why re-perform? What are the motivations that drive artists, especially those of the younger generations, to revisit works/actions done decades ago? This is one of many focal points of the exhibition. Another is exploring dichotomies: action/inactivity, motion/stillness, presence/absence. Silence, slowness, minimal gestures are common features recognizable in the works of younger performers, and that exhibition investigates how reducing the expressive language is able to intensify and express artistic statements. Theatre of Life is also a journey through challenging and provocative statements, through which contemporary artists address conventions of patriarchal society, political or religious authorities, sexual freedoms as well as art taboos.

Edited by
Dobrila Denegri

Catalogue texts
Dobrila Denegri
Piotr Lisowski
Thomas McEvilley
Cristiana Perrella
Daniela Zangrando

Coordination and biographies
Natalia Cieślak

Translations
Paulina Kapelska
Monika Ujma

Proofreading
Ian Corks
Paweł Falkowski
Paulina Kapelska
Katarzyna Radomska

Design
Anna Hegman, K+S
Grzegorz Laszuk, K+S

Typesetting
Alessandra Benacchio

Curated by
Dobrila Denegri

Exhibition production
Wojciech Ruminski

Project coordination
Anna Jankojć
Paulina Kuhn

Lenders and Copyright
Claudio Abate
Giorgio Benni
Katheryn Carr
Castello di Rivoli
Giovanni Cecchinato
Charim Galerie, Vienna
Cunningham Dance Foundation
Electronic Arts Intermix, New York
Stefan Erhard
Franco Noero Gallery, Turin
Galeria Wymiany
Galerie Diana Stigter, Amsterdam
Galerie Voss, Düsseldorf
Galleri Nicolai Wallner, Copenhagen
Galerie Neu, Berlin
Peter Hassmann
Alex Kent
Gil Kuno
Armin Linke
Lombard Fried Projects, New York
MAMBo – Museum of Modern Art, Bologna
Attilio Maranzano
Marina Abramović Archives
Maurizio Cattelan Archive
Ken McKay
Nicola Ruben Montini
Jan Mot, Brussels
Minoru Niizuma
Nihad Nino Pusija
Wojciech Olech
Masaharu Sato
Marcin Oliva Soto
Raffaella and Stefano Sciarretta’s Collection, Nomas Foundation, Rome
Philip Schedler
Jacek Sielski
Joanna Sitko
Sean Kelly Gallery, New York
Dominika Sobolewska
Studio Stefania Miscetti, Rome
Wojciech Szabelski
Aleksandra Trzeciakowska
Unicredit Art Collection
Zachęta Narodowa Galeria Sztuki, Warszawa
Zerynthia, Rome

Special Thanks to
Pierre Bismuth
Achille Bonito Oliva
Maks Cieślak
Nezaket Ekici
Francesco Fonassi
Marlene Haring
Katarzyna Kozyra
Gil Kuno
Natalia LL
David Michalek
Branko Milisković
Jonathan Monk
Nicola Ruben Montini
Neša Paripović
Branka Pavlović
Ana Prvački
Mihoko Ogaki
Yoko Ono
Lerato Shadi
Malin Ståhl
Pilvi Takala
Francesco Vezzoli