IRWIN
IRWIN is a Slovenian artist collective .
The group was founded in 1983 in Ljubljana and, as part of the art collective “ New Slovenian Art ” (NSK), is mainly active in the field of painting . The group itself describes its style as "retro avant-garde".
founding
The IRWIN group was founded in 1983 in Ljubljana in what was then Yugoslavia by the painters Dusan Mandic, Miran Mohar, Andrej Savski, Roman Uranjek and Borut Vogelnik.
In 1984 IRWIN co-founded the interdisciplinary art collective “ New Slovenian Art ” (NSK) and formed the “Department of Fine Arts and Painting” within the (symbolic) overall structure of the collective.
Following the collective idea of the group, IRWIN always emphasized that IRWIN is a collective and that their works do not represent the work of individual individuals. Your works will therefore not be signed by name as usual, but instead marked with a stamp as the work of the collective.
Concept and development
IRWIN describe the style of their group as well as all of New Slovenian Art as "retro avant-garde":
“Retro avant-garde is the basic artistic approach of 'New Slovenian Art'. It is based on the premise that past traumas affecting the present and the future can only be healed through a return to the original, triggering conflicts. Modern art has not yet overcome the conflict that arose from the […] assimilation of the historical avant-garde movements into the systems of totalitarian states. The usual perception of the avant-garde as a fundamental phenomenon of the 20th century is fraught with fears and prejudices. On the one hand, this period is naively glorified and mystified, while on the other hand its abuse, compromises and mistakes are counted with bureaucratic accuracy to remind us that such a grandiose delusion must never be repeated. "
The artistic concept of IRWIN and NSK consisted accordingly in the artistic examination of the (totalitarian) ideologies of the 20th century and their interactions with art. This discussion was not based on irony, satire or critical distance, but - on the contrary - on "affirmative over-identification". In concrete terms, this can be understood as meaning that the group appeared with the intention of being “more total than totalitarianism”. The Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek described this extraordinary, seemingly exorcistic approach as “crossing the phantasm”.
Following this concept, the works of IRWIN are primarily characterized by the use of symbols, signs, images and icons from the most varied of artistic and political-historical contexts, in particular (but not exclusively) the totalitarian ideologies of the 20th century, which appear to be superficially contradicting Way to be linked. Through the accompanying complete abolition of a tangible context, the viewer should be encouraged to reflect on the effect on himself, the subconsciously conveyed content and his own point of view.
The images quoted by IRWIN come mainly from the Russian avant-garde and the suprematism of Kazimir Malevich , Christian iconography, Slovenian cultural heritage as well as elements of fascist and Stalinist art and propaganda .
As early as the mid-1980s, IRWIN became known beyond Yugoslavia and exhibited their works in numerous solo exhibitions in Europe and North America.
Although the artists of the IRWIN group are mainly painters, the group was not only active in painting, but also in the field of object art , installation and action art and also worked with other NSK artists, from theater productions to music videos . In 1992, IRWIN and Michael Benson created the “Black Square on Red Square”, a black square made of fabric with an edge length of 22 meters on the Red Square in Moscow and in 2002 in the Hamburger Kunsthalle a reconstruction of the artist's testamentary specifications designed the laying out of Malevich as a tribute to Kazimir Malevich and Suprematism .
On April 21, 2004, IRWIN received the Jakopic Award in Ljubljana , the highest annual award in the Slovenian art history .
IRWIN and the "NSK State"
From its foundation in 1984, New Slovenian Art , based on its principle of “retro avant-garde” (at least symbolically) , had given itself a consciously strict and thus totalitarian and state-like organizational structure. In 1992 New Slovenian Art, in continuation of this idea, declared its transformation from a collective into a state (“State in Time”). This state should have "no borders and no territory", but should be understood as an "abstract organism and suprematist body". IRWIN were involved in the development of this idea and the resulting projects such as "NSK Embassy Moscow" (1992), "NSK STAAT Berlin" (1993), "NSK DRZAVA Sarajevo" (1994/95), "Transnacionala - A journey from the east in den Westen "(1996) and" EAST ART MAP "(2002) significantly involved.
Selected solo exhibitions
- What is art , Galeria ŠKUC, Ljubljana (1985)
- Riverside Gallery, London (1986) - Catalog
- Center National des Artes Plastiques, Paris (1988) - Catalog
- Bess Cutler Gallery, New York (1989)
- Städtische Kunsthalle, Düsseldorf (1989) - catalog
- Monteserrat College of Art, Boston (1990) - Catalog
- Capital , District of Columbia Arts Center, Washington DC (1991) - Catalog
- Capital , Clocktower Gallery, New York (1991) - Catalog
- Kapital , Beursschouwburg, Brussels (1992) - catalog
- Laibach Irwin , Galerija Dante Marino Cettina, Umag (1992)
- NSK Embassy Moscow , Apt Art and Ridzina Gallery, Moscow (1992) - catalog
- Consulato NSK Firenze , Hotel Ambasciatori, Florence (1993)
- Irwin - NSK Moscow Interior , Center on Contemporary Art, Seattle (1993)
- NSK Konzulat Umag , Galerija Dante, Umag (1994) - catalog
- NSK Passport Office (as part of the NSK State Sarajevo project), National Theater, Sarajevo (1995)
- Transnacionala , Atlanta (1996) - Catalog
- Transnacionala Cologne , Galerie Inge Baecker, Cologne (1997)
- Interior of the Planit , Tramway, Glasgow (1997)
- Three Projects , CCA Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw (1998) - Catalog
- Irwin State , 359 ° Gallery, Skopje (2000) - Catalog
- NSK Garda Prague , MXM Gallery, Prague (2000) - catalog
- Irwin Live , Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana (2000)
- Retroavantgarde , Obala Art Centar, Sarajevo (2001) - catalog
- NSK Garda Prishtina , Exit, Prishtina (2002)
- Rekapitulacija , Museum Ostdeutsche Galerie, Regensburg (2002) - catalog
- Retroprincip 1983–2003 , Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin (2003) - catalog
- Icons , Galerie Inge Baecker, Cologne (2003)
literature
- Darko Pokorn (Ed.): New Slovenian Art. Graficki zavod Hrvatske, Zagreb in collaboration with Amok Books, Los Angeles. Zagreb 1991.
- Inke Arns: NSK - An analysis of your artistic strategies in the context of the 1980s in Yugoslavia. Museum Ostdeutsche Galerie , Regensburg 2002, ISBN 961-90851-1-6 .
- Zdenka Badovinac / Eda Cufer / Anthony Gardner (eds.): NSK From Kapital to Capital , Moderna galerija Ljubljana / The MIT Press, Ljubljana 2015, ISBN 978-0-262-02995-7
- Inke Arns (Ed.): IRWIN Retroprincip. Exhibition catalog. Revolver / Archive for Current Art, Frankfurt 2003, ISBN 3-936919-51-8 .
- Alexei Monroe: Interrogation Machine - Laibach and NSK. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 2005, ISBN 0-262-63315-9 .
- IRWIN (Ed.): State in Time. NSK Information Center / Dolenjski Muzej, Ljubljana 2012, ISBN 978-961-6306-41-6 .
- Eda Cufer (Ed.): NSK Embassy Moscow - How the East sees the East. Loza Gallery, Coper 1992.
- IRWIN (Ed.): Thzy projekty / Three Projects. Centrum Sztuki Waspolczesnej / Center for Contemporary Art, Warsaw 1999, ISBN 83-85142-49-5 .
- IRWIN / Dragan Sakan (Ed.): East Art Map - A (Re) Construction of the History of Art in Eastern Europe. In: New Moment. No. 20. New Moment Magazine, Ljubljana 2002.
Movies
- Michael Benson: Predictions of Fire - A film about art, politics and war , Kinetikon Pictures 1996
Individual evidence
- ↑ Eda Cufer, IRWIN: NSK State in Time (1993). In: Irwin. Zemljopis Vremena / Geography of Time. quoted from Inke Arns: NSK - An analysis of your artistic strategies in the context of the 1980s in Yugoslavia. Museum Ostdeutsche Galerie, Regensburg 2002, p. 17
- ↑ a b Inke Arns: NSK - An analysis of your artistic strategies in the context of the 1980s in Yugoslavia. Museum Ostdeutsche Galerie, Regensburg 2002
- ^ Michael Benson: Documentary Predictions of Fire - A film about art, politics and war. Kinetikon Pictures 1996
- ↑ Volkhard App: Reduced to a square - Hamburger Kunsthalle pays tribute to the painter Kasimir Malewitsch, father of Suprematism. Germany Radio Kultur (dradio.de), March 21, 2007
- ↑ Inke Arns: IRWIN Retroprincip. Exhibition catalog. Revolver / Archive for Current Art, Frankfurt 2003, ISBN 3-936919-51-8 , p. 52 ff.
- ↑ IRWIN / Dragan Sakan (eds.): East Art Map - A (Re) Construction of the History of Art in Eastern Europe , in: New Moment No. 20 (New Moment Magazine), Ljubljana 2002