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The Conclusion of MOMENTUM’s 10th Anniversary Program

 
 
 

STATES of EMERGENCY

 
 

ONLINE EXHIBITION ON



 

WATCH STATES of EMERGENCY on ikonoTV > >

 

11 DECEMBER 2021 – EXTENDED

 
 

Featuring:

Iván Buenader (AR)
Nezaket Ekici (TR/DE)
Doug Fishbone (US/UK)
Hannu Karjalainen (FI)
Shahar Marcus (IL)
Christian Niccoli (IT)
Nina E. Schönefeld (DE)

 

Curated by Rachel Rits-Volloch & Emilio Rapanà

 
 

 

When we made the title for this exhibition, we had no idea just how sadly prophetic it would prove. STATES of EMERGENCY takes place amidst the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the outbreak of war closer to home than any of us could previously imagine. Our hearts go out to our friends, families, and colleagues in Ukraine and all those in Russia hoping for peace, who never wanted this tragic war. During these turbulent times, MOMENTUM extends STATES of EMERGENCY until peace is restored in the Ukraine.

 

The COVID pandemic appears to be here to stay. As we learn how to navigate this new pandemic reality amidst the ongoing chaos of (mis)information and mixed messages, we turn to one another for guidance. Artists – as cultural first-responders – are at the forefront of translating the felt experience of this time of emergency into visual languages, making sense of our precarious times. STATES of EMERGENCY asks: What will emerge out of this global emergency?; While doctors and scientists race to heal our bodies, what will it take to heal the cultural aftermath of COVID?; What is the role of the artist in a state of emergency?

Featuring new works by artists from the MOMENTUM Collection, STATES of EMERGENCY compiles their responses to a decade of global environmental and political crisis: particularly to the current pandemic emergency which has transformed the lives of many billions of people. STATES of EMERGENCY, the exhibition marking the end of MOMENTUM’s 10th Anniversary program, is a sequel to COVIDecameron, our ongoing online exhibition of video art curated during the first pandemic lockdown, re-contextualizing existing works in the MOMENTUM Collection. STATES of EMERGENCY, however, brings together entirely new works, made since the start of the pandemic, reflecting directly on the catastrophes of our times and the far-ranging impacts of COVID-19 and its aftermath from socio-economic, environmental, political, global, and personal points of view.

 

Click HERE to watch the prequel to STATES of EMERGENCY > >

In an era of seemingly endless calamities – pandemics, global warming, political upheavals – life is becoming increasingly cinematic, as the fictions of the screen blur into the realities of the daily news. Disaster scenarios of disease, natural catastrophe, rising sea levels, terrorist attacks, threats of war; is it Hollywood or CNN? Is art mirroring life or vise versa?

While many struggle to survive in these pandemic times, we, the fortunate, surf. We surf the web, the slipstream, the information age. We zoom through meetings, weddings, and funerals. We are constantly connected via smartphones iPads and apps; inundated with images, texts, and tweets; relentlessly bombarded with events, offers and updates; confronted with a barrage of news – real, fake, and somewhere in between. (Mis)information flows more virally than disease. And, confined during the recurrent lockdowns and travel restrictions, we are required to blur the line between real space and cyberspace, living increasingly virtual lives. In this era of ongoing travel restrictions, it is good to remember that moving images move us – art is a way of experiencing the world without physically moving through it.

The STATES of EMERGENCY online exhibition on ikonoTV runs in parallel with the extended gallery exhibition at MOMENTUM, and is part of the Birds & Bicycles program.

 
 

Click HERE for the STATES of EMERGENCY Gallery Exhibition > >

 



 

Featuring:
[Click on the name of each artist to see the bio and the work description below.]


Iván Buenader
Nezaket Ekici
Doug Fishbone
Hannu Karjalainen
Shahar Marcus
Christian Niccoli
Nina E. Schönefeld