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Mesta prevare III / Phoney Towns III

videos, texts, adaptation of a folck song and photos, 2020 (ongoing project since 2018)
Likovni salon, Celje
17/1/2020 - 8/3/2020

Concept and realisation of the exhibition: Ana Čigon
Assistance with installations concept: Andreja Kopač
Vocal-instrumental ensemble of the III. Primary School Celje, Choirmaster: Špela Lipuš, Assistance with concept for the poem and organisation of the choir: Andreja Džakušič, Score editing: Vasja Progar
List of the collaborators of the film 'Phoney Sightsi', which is also part of the exhibition can be found here
Curator and text: Maja Hodošček
Co-financing of the film: Ministrstvo za kulturo

Exhibition file

Texts from the exhibition (only in Slovene):
- Legenda o uročenem Celju
- Čin, čin, čin, zemljica
- Deset receptov za čisto življenje iz knjige urokov

The art practice of Ana Čigon covers a broad field of activity in terms of both media use and subject di-rection. The artist, who started off with painting and video art, also uses the medium of film and perfor-mance in her current practice. She takes on the fem-inist perspective to addresses broader social issues pertaining to gender issues and the position of wom-en in society, analyses the conditions of precarious work and inadequate cultural policy, and has been exploring the geopolitical features of space in her most recent projects. She often uses activist tech-niques and elements of humour as well as satire to outline a particular social reality.

At Likovni salon, she is presenting the Phony Towns III installation, which touches upon the issue of space. As the title already suggests, the work invites reflection on the geopolitical dimensions of power. It is an outline of a time, where the current political changes are significantly transforming the image of the city, social dynamics and quality of life within society. In the installation, the viewer travels through local, European and global spaces as well as space itself. He observes the footage of urban landscapes, in which different voices speak to the towns and cities, countries and wider territories. These tell of mutual relations, marked by demarcations and di-visions when capitalism had already substantially and almost irreversibly broken down the networks of solidarity and the pursuit of a better future. It is precisely the power or dependence on capital that is the common binder of the cities and territories that are shifting the care for its citizens to the care for the creation of economic value. Phony Towns III is an installation that is supplemented with each new presentation through the introduction of new con-tents tied to the space where the work is exhibited. For the Celje edition, the artist has addressed the environmental issues and the local legacy of indus-trial plants, inscribed in the controversial pollution of the air and soil within the city. In doing so, she refers to the multidisciplinary projects of Celje artist Andreja Džakušič and Portuguese artist Marie Lucie Cruz Correia, both of whom have worked intensively on this pressing topic, each in their own way.

The installation with video, new additions and a text piece leads the viewer to reflect on the existing divi-sions of the space, where the centres of power sub-stantially control the peripheral areas and consoli-date social subordination. At the same time, the work invites us to consider the possibilities of active ac-tion and encroachment into the social antagonisms.

More: https://csu.si/razstava/ana-cigon-mesta-prevare-iii/

 

Photos Tomaž Črnej, Center Sodobnih Umetnosti Celje (1-2 & 5-18) and Ana Čigon (2-3)