The raw, the cooked and the packaged and the archive of perestroika art

by Ivor Stodolsky and Marita Muukkonen: co-organized by ACAX | Agency for Contemporary Art Exchange and the OSA Archívum

Date: 14 April 2009, 6pm
Location: OSA Archívum(1051 Budapest Arany János u. 32.)

Theoretical conceptions of the eponymous archival exhibition at The Museum for Contemporary Art, KIASMA Helsinki, 2007-2008 by Ivor Stodolsky with the contribution of co-curator and Perpetuum Mobilε co-founder Marita Muukkonen

This lecture introduces an anthropological-semiotic paradigm and demonstrates its application in a museum context. Originally developed in response to the conditions of the western "hyperreal" and the obfuscations of "postmodernist" theory, it was applied to the curatorial and anthropological problem of understanding the "archive" of art/artifacts of the Perestroika era, and its historicisation. In the course of the presentation - which will include short films and other visual documentation - the complex of theoretical, institutional and artistic issues involved in affecting an appropriate representation of the Perestroika era will be brought to light.

Ivor Stodolsky is an independent curator and writer currently based in Helsinki, where he is researcher in Russian culture and social theory at the Aleksanteri Institute of the University of Helsinki. He has worked in philosophy, cultural history and social theory, and has been employed in global media/politics. Currently his activities are at the intersection of the arts, academia and representational practices.

Marita Muukkonen is curator at FRAME - The Finnish Fund for Art Exchange, and works as editor of FRAMEWORK - The Finnish Art Review. From 2001-2005 she was at NIFCA, The Nordic Institute for Contemporary Art. She curated the video programme related to the Arctic Hysteria exhibition currently showing at the Ludwig Museum, Budapest.
Mukkonen’s trip to Budapest is supported by Finnagora: www.finnagora.hu/frameset.php

Perpetuum Mobilε, co-founded by Ivor Stodolsky and Marita Muukonen, is a conduit and engine to bring together art, practice and enquiry. It acts as a vehicle to re-imagine certain basic historical, institutional as well as theoretical paradigms in these fields, which often exist in disparate institutional frames and territories. Recent Projects include THE RAW, THE COOKED AND THE PACKAGED - The Archive of Perestroika Art (KIASMA, 2007-8) and Framework 8/2008, "PATHS NOT TAKEN".

Perpetuum Mobilε is in permanent motion, yet its archive can be found at
www.perpetualmobile.org

ACAX (www.acax.hu) is the international exchange program ofLudwig Museum–Museum of Contemporary Art, Budapest (www.lumu.hu)