”Stay[s] against confusion” mirrored in Sinteza Magazine

Added on August 31, 2016 by Alex Mirutziu.

Artistul radiografiaza momentul Delfina Foundation din Londra, unde s-a aflat in rezidenta vreme de 3 luni anul acesta, si taie colturile celui mai recent performance ‘Stay[s] against confusion’.

Delfina Foundation is an independent, non-profit foundation dedicated to facilitating artistic exchange and developing creative practice through residencies, partnerships and public programming.

Fragments from interview:

interviu realizat de Ruxandra Hurezean

- Pentru cel mai recent performance ‘Stay[s] against confusion’ ai folosit un caracter tipografic creat de designerul britanic Margaret Calvert, dar si fragmente din poeziile lui Graham Foust. Pentru inceput te-as ruga sa vorbesti de motivele care te-au facut sa lucrezi cu caracterul tipografic ‘Transport’ si ‘New Transport’, omniprezent pe autostrazile din Marea Britanie si de ce crezi ca un caracter tipografic poate genera o coregrafie?

E vorba de o adaptare digitala a vechiului font ‘Transport’ creat de designerii britanici Jock Kinneir si Margaret Calvert in 1957. La acea vreme cei doi au standardizat indicatoarele rutiere de pe autostrazile Marii Britanii la invitatia guvernului, ca rezolvare a unui faune aglomerate, pestrite si confuze de semne si informatii de pe drumurile nationale. Fiecare panou lua forma unei harti orientate spre sofer. Apoi datorita testelor de vizibilitate la diferite distante, Kinneir si Calvert au ajuns la concluzia foarte indrazneata la acea vreme de a folosi litere mici in locul majusculelor care reprezentau norma la acea vreme. Sistemul acesta a fost un succes total in a oferi soferilor un climat de eficienta si a fost adoptat printre altele de Danemarca, Hong Kong sau Islanda.

In interviul pe care cu multa ingaduinta Margaret mi l-a acordat, imi spunea ca acest sistem a fost creat din punctul de vedere al soferului si nu al designerului. E foarte importanta aceasta distinctie pentru ca atunci cand te afli pe autostrada in viteza timpul de reactie la informatia de pe indicatoare nu poate fi prea lung. E nevoie deci ca acea informatie sa fie livrata cat mai eficient pentru a putea lua decizii imediate. Partea creierului care e responsabila de citire trebuie sa rezolve aceste caractere la o viteza de 10-20ms. Erorile in a descifra aceste indicatoare pot face diferenta intre viata si moarte.

- Inteleg ca operezi in cele doua registre, lingvistic / metaforic si cel pragmatic, al caracterului tipografic ‘New Transport’.

Ma intereseaza in ce masura notiunea ‘Etc.’ e rezolvata de public atata timp cat partitura acestui performance insista doar pana la un punct pe o cursiviate narativa. Notiunea ‘Etc.’ vine din scriere si limbaj, iar atunci cand e introdusa in dans, nu poate fi instrumentata decat fenomenologic. Semantica lui ‘Etc.’ nu poate fi despartita de binomurile vizibilitate/invizibilitate, de citire/privire, familiare sistemului pus in practica de cei doi designeri.

Sintetizand: vizibilitatea reprezinta o problema majora pentru designeri, dar si pentru artisti. Pana la urma lupta se da in primul rand pe hartie. Descifram semnificatia textului pe care il citim cu pretul ignorarii felului in care textul e tiparit, iar atunci cand privim fontul pierdem semnificatia textului. Nu putem face ambele operatii deodata. Insa niciuna nu poate exista fara cealalta.

Interviul complet in Sinteza nr. 31 / August 2016 (p.108-111) sau pe site-ul revistasinteza.ro

Pending Work#4 and Surveillance in the New Millenium

Added on July 6, 2016 by Alex Mirutziu.

WATCHED! is the publication to accompany the exhibition Watched! Surveillance, Art and Photography, which reflects on the complexities of contemporary surveillance, with a specific attention to photography. The exhibition will be on display until October 2, 2016 at the Hasselblad Center located in the Gothenburg Museum of Art.

During the exhibition the curators Louise Wolthers, Dragana Vujanovic and Niclas Östlind initiate side events and talks with the artists on the question: How can art and visual theory contribute to the understanding of our current surveillance society? [more]

Participating artists: Meriç Algün Ringborg, Jason E. Bowman, James Bridle, Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin, Tina Enghoff, Alberto Frigo, Mishka Henner, Marco Poloni, Ann-Sofi Sidén, Hito Steyerl.

Curators: Louise Wolthers, Dragana Vujanovic and Niclas Östlin

WATCHED! is part of a research project on surveillance, art, and photography in Europe after the millennium, initiated by Louise Wolthers, Head of Research at the Hasselblad Foundation. The accompanying book, published by Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, contains artworks by forty artists including Pending Work#4 of Alex Mirutziu, as well as in-depth essays on surveillance by leading scholars within the field.

The exhibition and the book are collaborations between the Hasselblad Foundation, Valand Academy, Kunsthal Aarhus, Galleri Image, ARoS and C/O Berlin.

About Hasselblad Foundation:

Erna and Victor Hasselblad’s Foundation was established in 1979. The Foundation aims to promote research and academic teaching in the natural sciences and photography. This is achieved by awarding stipends in the natural sciences and photography, the Hasselblad Award, photographic research and photography exhibitions. Since 1999, there is also a research library, currently the only photography book library in Sweden.

'Performance as process' and its aftermath at Delfina Foundation

Added on July 4, 2016 by Alex Mirutziu.

As part of Transpositions, the crowning event of Performance as Process residence programme by Delfina Foundation, London, Alex Mirutziu conducted research into the work of designer / typographer Margaret Calvert and Jock Kinnear, alongside his interest and commitment to the poetry of Graham Foust for a new performance which has been premiered on June the 7th within the premisses of the foundation.

Alex Mirutziu was joined by Joshua Hubbard for his performance, Stay[s] against confusion. Alex also showed a video piece Where is the poem (2013) in the Delfina library alongside a video work by Stephen entitled Into It (2013). Mirutziu’s engagement with Delfina Foundation was driven by a key question within his practice; ‘what performs?’

Stay[s] against confusion project was developed with the co-operation of Delfina Foundation's operative team lead by director, Aaron Cezar: Dani Burrows, Jane Scarth, Poppy Litchfield, Gillean Dickie, Eleanor Scott, Jacob Wilson. Most importantly this project gently inscribes itself into the generous, dearing and unique approach to art that Delfina Entrecanales nurtured and supported over many decades.

For a more in depth insight into his practice and research please visit Delfina Foundation website:

● Q&A with Alex Mirutziu

● Transposition - Photo Gallery

Alex Mirutziu's residency was kindly supported by:

Romanian Cultural Institute, Maria Bojan, Plan B Foundation, Ovidiu Sandor, Mircea Pinte, Jenny Hall and Delfina Foundation's family of individual supporters.

Alex Mirutziu - Where is the poem?, video, 2013, photo by Pari Naderi

Alex Mirutziu - Stay[s] against confusion, performance, 2016, photo by Luciana Magno

Installation view at Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle, 2016

Added on April 24, 2016 by Alex Mirutziu.

Exhibition on view through June 25th, 2016 / photos from the opening

www.galerie-ruediger-schoettle.de

Photos: Wilfried Petzi & Alex Mirutziu

Third Solo Show of Alex Mirutziu at Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle, München

Added on April 9, 2016 by Alex Mirutziu.

[english]

Alex Mirutziu at Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle
Apr 22 – Jun 25, 2016
Exhibition opening: Thursday, Apr 21, 2016, 7–9 pm
The artist is present

The oeuvre of the intermedia artist Alex Mirutziu includes photography, performance, sculpture, painting, graphic art, and video art. Mirutziu calls the recently deceased singer David Bowie one of his role models. And so, the young Romanian artist also routinely breaks with conventional representations of masculinity and femininity in his works. Mirutziu’s artistic language is closely related to the 'performative turn' and offers social interpretations and concepts of cultural change in the form of staged settings and the investigation of rituals. His approach goes beyond concepts of Body Art through questioning terms of 'Gestalt' or the 'Apparatus'.

In his most recent cycle, consisting of drawings and etchings, Mirutziu references the works of the Milan-based sculptor Adolfo Wildt (1868–1931). Wildt’s works are hard to describe in precisely defined artistic categories: At times they seem like works which draw on a quiet classicism but also owe a great deal to Art Nouveau and Symbolism, and in his self-portraits captured in moments of painful distress, Wildt is on the precipice of expressionism. Alex Mirutziu picks up on this visual language in his own works: The lines of his portraits are expressive and informed by a dramatically Mannerist mimicry. The pen strokes are nervous but resolute. Portraits take shape in the repeated continuations of lines which explore temporality, excitement, and changes of mental states. In addition to the works on paper, this solo exhibition shows Mirutziu’s sculptural works. Their fragile physicality and the integration of living plants touch on subject areas such as death, transience, creation, and transformation.

Alex Mirutziu describes his approach of drawing as follows:
„In my drawings I make use of jagged lines which I call 'bastard lines’ or 'homeless lines’. This method of drawing with lines do not follow the contour of things but entail a movement of an alien, almost uncanny hand. My hand doesn't account for the mind of what it should draw. I trained my hand to attack the paper and to create an instantaneous texture of lines and not to show the immediately apparent. My drawings are generated without any pretence of continuity. It is much more fetching to build a climate in drawing than representing the object or subject. I want to momentarily suspend meaning, to question closure even for a brief moment.“

Alex Mirutziu was born in 1981 in Sibiu, Romania. He lives and works in Romania and England and lectures at various European institutions such as the Royal College of Arts, London, the Von Krahl Theater in Tallinn, and the Konstfack University in Stockholm. Recent projects have been presented at the ZdB in Lisboa, The Power Plant in Toronto, Mücsarnok Budapest, the National Museum in Warsaw, and the Biennale di Venezia.

[deutsch]

Alex Mirutziu
22. April – 25. Juni 2016
Eröffnung: Donnerstag, 21. April 2016, 19-21 Uhr
Der Künstler ist anwesend

Das Œuvre des intermedialen Künstlers Alex Mirutziu umfasst Fotografie, Performance, Skulptur, Malerei und Zeichnung als auch Video. Den kürzlich verstorbenen David Bowie nennt Mirutziu als ein großes Vorbild. So bricht auch der junge rumänische Künstler in seinem Schaffen stets mit konventionellen Repräsentationen von Männlichkeit und Weiblichkeit. Die künstlerische Ausdrucksweise Mirutzius steht in enger Beziehung zum performative turn und bietet in Form von inszenatorischen Settings und Ritualuntersuchungen gesellschaftliche Interpretationen als auch kulturelle Wandlungskonzepte an. Sein Ansatz geht über Konzepte der Body Art hinaus, indem er sich intensiv mit Begriffen von Gestalt oder vom Apparatus beschäftigt.

In seinem neuen Werkzyklus, bestehend aus Zeichnungen und Radierungen, referiert Mirutziu auf das Schaffen des Mailänder Bildhauers Adolfo Wildt (1868-1931). Wildts Arbeiten lassen sich nur schwerlich in genau definierten künstlerischen Kategorien beschreiben: Teils wirken die Arbeiten an einem ruhigen Klassizismus orientiert, sind aber auch immer wieder vom Jugendstil und Symbolismus geprägt und mit seinen Selbstporträts in schmerzhaft erschütterten Momenten steht Wildt an der Schwelle zum Expressionismus. Alex Mirutziu greift diese Bildsprache in seinen Werken auf: Die Portraits sind expressiv in ihrer Linienführung und von dramatisch-manieristischer Mimik geprägt. Der Strich ist nervös, aber bestimmt. Durch mehrfache Konturierung entstehen Bildnisse, die Zeitlichkeit, Erregung und Zustandsverschiebungen thematisieren. Ergänzend zu den Arbeiten auf Papier zeigt Mirutziu in seiner Einzelausstellung skulpturale Werke. Die fragile Körperlichkeit der Arbeiten sowie die Integration lebender Pflanzen umschließt Themenfelder wie Tod, Vergänglichkeit, Schöpfung und Transformation.

Mirutziu beschreibt seine Herangehensweise beim Zeichnen folgendermaßen:
„In meinen Zeichnungen arbeite ich mit schroffen Linien, die ich als 'bastard lines' oder 'homeless lines' bezeichne. Diese Methode der Linienführung folgt nicht der Kontur der Dinge, sondern bedingt sich durch die Bewegungen einer fremdartigen, fast unheimlichen Hand. Meine Hand legt dem Geist keine Rechenschaft ab, was sie zeichnet. Ich trainiere meine Hand dazu, das Papier zu attakieren und eine unmittelbare Textur der Linien zu erzeugen und nicht das sofort Ersichtliche wiederzugeben. Meine Zeichnungen entstehen ohne jegliche Vortäuschung von Kontinuität. Viel interessanter ist es, in der Zeichnung eine Stimmung zu erzeugen als das Objekt oder Subjekt darzustellen. Bedeutung möchte ich vorübergehend außer Kraft setzen und Abgeschlossenheit für einen kurzen Moment in Frage zu stellen.“

Alex Mirutziu wurde 1981 in Sibiu, Rumänien, geboren. Er lebt und arbeitet in Rumänien und England und übt Lehrtätigkeiten an verschiedenen europäischen Institutionen wie am Royal College of Arts, London, dem Von Krahl Theater in Tallinn oder der Universität Konstfack in Stockholm aus. Jüngere Projekte wurden u.a. im ZDB, Lissabon, The Power Plant, Toronto, der Mucsarnok Kunsthalle, Budapest, dem Nationalmuseum Warschau und auf der Biennale von Venedig präsentiert.