“Und in der Vitrine die Stasiakten”
Review by Ingeborg Ruthe

www.berliner-zeitung.de

“Gucken, horchen und hacken”
Review by Peter Richter

www.sueddeutsche.de

KVOST is very pleased to announce Magdalena Ciemierkiewicz as this year’s recipient of the KVOST Scholarship and the Claus Michaletz Preis 2024, endowed with 10,000 euros. The artist was selected from 132 applications.

The Polish artist Magdalena Ciemierkiewicz (1992*) addresses the unique culture of the Ukrainian-Polish border region at the intersection of different national, religious and ethnic identities. She carefully and poetically addresses their often repressed and forgotten histories. In her works, which include video, sound, textiles and installations, she incorporates authentic traditional patterns and objects into a contemporary context. Some of her works revolve around the Stryvihor Museum, which was founded in Przemyśl in 1932 to represent the marginalized Ukrainian folk art of the region. After the museum was forced to close in 1945, its collection went to Polish institutions and is still not accessible to the public today. Magdalena Cierniekiewicz reinterprets the exhibition and brings it out of its obscurity.

Magdalena Ciemierkiewicz was born in Subcarpathia (PL) and lives in Jarosław. She is a graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw (2016) and the History of Modern Art at the Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences (2020). She is currently a PhD candidate at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw.

This year, the jury consisted of Monika Branicka (art historian and curator), Dr. Christine Heidemann (collection curator for contemporary art and dependent foundations at the Berlin Stadtmuseum), Thomas Florschuetz (artist), Nathalie Hoyos and Rainald Schumacher (curatorial team with a focus on Eastern and South Eastern Europe), Dr. Silke Manske and Corinna Reuter (Secco Pontanova Foundation) and Stephan Koal (curator and director of the art association).

In addition to the KVOST scholarship – an artist residency in Berlin followed by a solo exhibition at KVOST during Berlin Art Week 2024 – Magdalena Ciemierkiewicz will receive the Claus Michaletz Preis, which is endowed with 10,000 euros. In memory of the publisher and founder of the Secco Pontanova Foundation, the prize has been awarded to artists from Eastern Europe since 2020. The full amount of the prize money goes to the scholarship holders.

20.03.2024 at 7pm

vlna vs. břeh / wave vs. shore
SK, CZ 2014, 88 Min., OmeU, Regie: Martin Štrba
Registration . post@kvost.de

World-famous Slovak photographers prepare a joint exhibition and recall the eventful years of their artistic beginnings. The film is a creative portrait of impressive artistic personalities and at the same time a fascinating contemporary document.

Jano Pavlík, Rudo Prekop, Vasil Stanko, Tono Stano, Miro Švolík, Kamil Varga and Peter Župník – they met in the early 1980s as photography students at the Prague Film Academy FAMU and later became internationally renowned photographers and pioneers of Slovak photography. Art critics call this extraordinary generation the “Slovak new wave”. The works of these photographers are characterized by a special energy and unbridled imagination.

DIE AUTO-PERFORATIONS-ARTISTEN
curated by Stephan Koal

Opening 24.04.2024 . 7-9pm

KVOST is opening an exhibition about the work of the Dresden artist group Auto-Perforations-Artisten for Gallery Weekend Berlin. This is the group’s first institutional solo exhibition in Berlin.

Auto-Perforations-Artistik is a specific form of action art that emerged in the GDR. The name is a term chosen by the artists as a description of their developed genre of performances, installations, music and actions. The group had been active at the HfbK in Dresden since 1982 and consisted of Micha Brendel(1959*), Else Gabriel (1962*), Via Lewandowsky (1963*) and Rainer Görß (1960*). It developed as a demarcation against the prevailing and dogmatically prescribed state culture and the art production of the GDR, which was oriented towards Socialist Realism.

At the heart of the work of Auto-Perforations-Artisten was their own bodies, which were exhausted to the point of self-harm. Due to their performances, which were perceived as disturbing, and their rejection of the established art scene, the group quickly attracted a great deal of attention in the GDR and had an enormous impact on the art scene in Berlin, Dresden and Leipzig. Today they are regarded as the most impactful performance group of the 1980s. As an art form, performance was provocative in the GDR because, on the one hand, it offered the advantage of not having to fully disclose content and meaning until the moment of presentation and, on the other hand, it left hardly anything of material form behind. This was one of the methods with which the Auto-Perforations-Artisten were able to push through performances and exhibitions within the repressive structures of the GDR.

„CLARA MOSCH und frühe Kunstaktionen in der DDR“

With thanks to the Berlin Commissioner for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship for the funding. With kind support of Lindenau-Museum Altenburg.

ISBN 978-3-96912-178-8

www.dcv-books.com

For the KVOST SchauFenster, Nona Inescu will present a new body of work entitled Offerings.
The works revolve around Tamata votive images – metal depictions of people and objects related to human life. In Modern Greek, the word “”tama” refers to an offering usually presented to a specific deity as gratitude for granted assistance. It is a kind of pledge fulfilled when a person or their relatives are in danger or unwell. The life-sized votive offerings in the window display prompt reflection and reassessment of the significance of ritual gestures in a constantly evolving world.

Nona Inescu (*1991) lives and works between Berlin and Bucharest.