3rd Tbilisi Triennial, Gori and Tbilisi, Georgia:
The Metamorphosis of Power
In their first collaborative art project, artists Josefina Posch and Leslie Johnson revive the Trolley Bus Transformer Station in Gori Georgia as a sculpture referencing historical paths of trade and new technologies to initiate processes of transformation and change for the community.
The building becomes a sculptural spectacle of shadow and light expressing the transformation of the ancient silk route to the solar route and utilizing wind and solar power to illuminate the sculpture. Bringing into focus the situation of energy independence at parallel sites in Tbilisi and Gori “The Metamorphosis of Power” opens a public discussion concerning the future potential of Gori.
This work is the point of departure for their works in Artarea Gallery which is both a documentation and elaboration of the Gori installation.
Supported by; the Embassy of Sweden Tbilisi, Georgia, Wilhelm & Martina Lundgrens Understödsfond, HDK-Valand – Academy of Art and Design, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
CCA – Center for Contemporary Art, Tbilisi, Georgia
nordic art / Between Miracles
Participating artists: Anders Smebye (NO), Bryndís Snæbjörnsdóttir & Mark Wilson (IS/UK), Elin Wikström in Collaboration with Denis Romanovski (SE), Eva Koch (DK), Josefina Posch (SE), Lars Laumann (NO), Leslie Johnson (SE), Sasha Huber (FI)
[crowdsourced] Ghosts of a Former Self
Josefina Posch who usually works with sculptural forms through interactive format pushed her sculptures – two silicone creatures – to an open interaction with the public; visitors could touch them, play with their bodies, change their positions, etc… The contact moments between visitors and sculptures were recorded by a camera as documentation for artistic research. As Josefina Posch says – sometimes this kind of projects work look like a test case and visitors express their desires or psychological states in relationship to the art work. Usually the agenda of contemporary art includes the intentions of art forms to live as an undivided part of everyday life, to eventually overcome the restriction “Don´t Touch!“ a command associated with museum rules – and transform art into an organic element of life, where artistic interpretations are inserted in natural way. This was a key point for New Realists in 1960´s and became a very actual topic for Georgian cultural process of last period, which is running in a complicated context of a post totalitarian situation; to say more precisely it´s about ways of perception of sculptures or any other art, while still is keeping a distance between the art work and the audience, as a result of Soviet tradition. In this tradition, when art was pathetic and served ideology and propaganda, hence it was in a dominant position to the society and that´s why for local Georgian society it´s not easy to meet actual art. Nevertheless the young generation already has different positions in connection with art and its contemporary problems, and we all hope for some interesting changes.
Text by Khatuna Khabuliani Art Critic, Curator and Professor Ilia State University Art Academy, Tbilisi, Georgia
Posch Interview about crowdsourced - Ghosts of a Former Self from Josefina Posch on Vimeo.
