KVOST SchauFenster . SILVIA AMANCEI & BOGDAN ARMANU

The KVOST window is illuminated daily from 2 pm to midnight.

Together. Forever. In Debt
curated by Nathalie Hoyos and Rainald Schumacher

The third exhibition of the SchauFenster series, held at KVOST – Kunstverein Ost in the showroom windows, is created by the Romanian artist duo Silvia Amancei & Bogdan Armanu.

Together. Forever. In Debt is a declaration of love and a reflection on being together, mutual connection, obligation and responsibility. The starting point is the personal situation of the artist duo, who, like many artists, ponder the meaning and purpose of their artistic work and its objective. These are fundamental questions that the current pandemic crisis only accentuates.

These are questions about the art market and the commercial orientation of the work, from which artists want to make a living. And questions about the intention and objective of the work, which somehow also wants to make the world a little better. In addition, questions from the show windows out into the world. What is to be done? How can we strengthen cohesion, accept our responsibility and assume mutual guilt?

In the window-shop, next to the text role “What is to be done?” is staged a group of life-size figures. They are painted with blue ink, cut out of paper, and installed in front of a dramatic red comic-explosion. Surrounded by small ink drawings of money, skulls, and single eyes, the silhouettes follow each other with closed eyes towards a Vortex, a Tornado, that appears to devour them.

Silvia Amancei & Bogdan Armanu already participated in the opening exhibition Baywatch at KVOST in 2018. The artist duo, both born in 1991, have been working together since 2012 in Iasi, eastern Romania.

 

Silvia Amancei & Bogdan Armanu:

Nothing will ever be the same, it seems that there is no return to a “normal”. Surrounded by multiple crises and separated by invisible threats, exhaustion and helplessness have become the new norm.

It’s hard to outline the paths and tools needed in order to get out from the labyrinth of hopelessness that we’ve entered. The blinds are following the blinds, each blinded by our own personal crisis and needs, forgetting to grasp the bigger picture and the systemic problems that will continue to neglect the weak or the unfortunate, ignore the others and support the continuous accumulation of wealth by a few.

What is to be done? “I don’t know but I love you” … “I love you too.”