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Wednesday, 3 May 2006 | Levent OZLER
The Young Artists' Biennial: Absent Without Leave (AWOL)
2nd Edition, Bucharest, 2006 Oct 14 - Nov 16
The META Cultural Foundation and the Goethe Institute of Bucharest are organizing the 2nd International Biennial of Young Artists / Art is Somewhere Else which will take place in Bucharest Oct 14 - Nov 16 2006. This is Bucharest 's first large periodic event in the domain of contemporary visual arts which aims at exhibiting the art of 50 young national and international artists. Participants from Great Britain , Germany , Poland , Netherlands , Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia , Bulgaria , Switzerland , Serbia and Montenegro Republic , Czech Republic , Romania , Denmark , Moldavia , Croatia , Austria , United States of America , Austria will take place in this event.
For the second edition, a team of five specialists have been invited to curate the Biennial - Irina Grabovan, curator, Aorta Gallery (Moldavia), Branko Franceschi, curator, executive director, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Rijeka (Croatia), Oana Tanase, curator and journalist (Romania), Simona Nastac, art critic and curator (Romania), and Jenny Brownrigg, curator, Dundee University, Exhibition Department (Great Britain).
Inspired by the Biennial's slogan that 'Art is Somewhere Else', this edition's theme is 'Absent Without Leave (AWOL)'. AWOL is an American military term which refers to someone who has deserted their post without permission -the person is somewhere else, with thoughts and needs beyond and in opposition to the central point, the institution. In accordance with this, the biennial and artists' work aim to investigate and create alternative spaces and situations for presenting and experiencing art. This will include work that critiques the 'institution', projects that engage with the politics and communities of a particular site, and work that engages with the emotionalism of someone who is AWOL. Above all, AWOL allows for the possibility of art arising out of unexpected discoveries, or unlikely juxtapositions for both artists and audience.
The long-term objective of the Biennial is to create a dynamic platform for communication and cooperation in the field of contemporary art between the local artistic community and the international one. By creating the opportunity where ideas of 'here' and 'somewhere else' can be explored, the Biennial aims to begin to distinguish the European identity of the capital based on such an exploration of creativity through proposals of alternative spaces for expression, experience, reflection and dialogue.
The Biennial targets young Romanian artists offering them the opportunity of integrating in an international network, as well as the young urban and dynamic public. The core activities of the Biennial are an international exhibition and symposium and a portfolio review workshop.
http://www.metacult.ro/elsewhere/index.php?lang=en
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