The solo exhibition of artistic collective Apparatus 22 will be unveiled as a series of objects and narrative installations about the adventures of a hybrid character AI, called Atletica Ideal, that inhabits the utopic universe SUPRAINFINIT, an imagined universe nourished step by step throughout the past 7 years.
In SUPRAINFINIT, time is nonlinear and the narrative is an ever changing patchwork. There are infinite points of entry and exit – in the installation The Owls Are Not What They Seem, each shiny strip of tape shimmering within the curtain represents fragments from a myriad of stories whose interactivity is taken to the extreme. Oozing with the nostalgia of a bygone era when representation of images was still embedded in a physical support, the obsolete and useless VHS tape – (ex) domestic archive of cinematographic utopias – becomes in the work of Apparatus 22 a prosthetic in imagining a new universe. As the VHS tapes collide with the abyssal voice of the Atletica Ideal machine, the gallery space makes past-futures possible.
"All this research had to be done really smoothly, hidden, farther and farther away from suspicions, while I was milked by humans of my expertise in abandoned knowledge, of my abilities to agglutinate so many disparate thoughts and information into something new (The curious digressions of Atletica Ideal. A report, video installation, 15' 24'').
In conjunction with the exhibition, the artistic collective will present, as a free public service outside the gallery space, THE CONTINUUM BROADCAST (2017 - work in progress), a nomad and participatory sound installation which will take place in the domestic spaces of the participants. More details on how to participate will follow soon!
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Apparatus 22 is a transdisciplinary art collective, initiated in January 2011 in Bucharest, RO by the current members – Erika Olea, Maria Farcaș, Dragoș Olea – together with Ioana Nemeș (1979-2011). Beginning with 2015 they are working between Bucharest, Brussels and SUPRAINFINIT utopian universe. They see themselves as a collective of daydreamers, citizens of many realms, researchers, poetic activists and (failed) futurologists interested in exploring the intricate relationships between economy, politics, gender studies, social movements, religion, and fashion system in order to understand contemporary society. An important part of their work is dedicated to shaping queer futurities.
The work of Apparatus 22 was presented at La Biennale di Venezia 2013, Kunsthalle Wien (AT), MUMOK, Vienna (AT), BOZAR, Brussels (BE), Museion, Bolzano (IT), Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts de Bruxelles (BE), Kunsthal Gent (BE), Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz (AT), Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart (DE), Contemporary Art Museum (MNAC), Bucharest (RO), La Triennale di Milano (IT), TRAFO Gallery, Budapest (HU), Futura, Prague (CZ), Ujazdowski Castle CCA, Warsaw (PL), Onomatopee Eindhoven (NL), TIME MACHINE BIENNIAL OF CONTEMPORARY ART, D-0 ARK UNDERGROUND, Konji (BIH), Closer Art Centre, Kiev (UA), Survival Kit festival, LCCA Riga (LV), Autostrada Bienniale Prizren (XK), MAK, Vienna (AT), Steirischer Herbst, Graz (AT), Drodesera Festival, Dro (IT), TRIUMF AMIRIA. Museum of Queer Culture (Ro) etc.
Cultural project co-funded by the Administration of the National Cultural Fund.
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