Opening: Thursday 7 February 2013, 19:00. 7 February – 9 March 2013, Thursday – Saturday 12:00–18:00 and by appointment.
Darja Bajagic, Luis Miguel Bendana, Jennifer Chan, Phoebe Collings-James, Petra Cortright, Radames “Juni” Figueroa, Rodrigo Hernandez, Calvin Holbrook, Donna Huanca, Emily Jones, Brian Kokoska, Kubiat Nnamdie, Carlos Laszlo, Angelo Plessas, Przemek Pyszczek, Abdul Vas, Lewis Teague Wright, Elliott Wright, Jeff Zilm, Mario Zoots.
Vamiali’s gallery presents the exhibition ‘I DON’T KNOW IT’S AN ILLUSION I DON’T CARE’, organised by the Mexican gallery Preteen and curated by Gerardo Contreras. According to the curator, the exhibition is an experiment, an exercise. It is part of an ongoing investigation into chance, derailment and absurdity in relation to shifting states of mind. The title, the text and the actual exhibition are not connected to one another, and none describes any other. This curatorial approach applies at every level: the title, the accompanying text and the exhibition itself are autonomous “pieces” that become “connected” only through the realisation of the show. The conceptual disjunction plays a part, and becomes one of the expected results of this exercise.
The curator’s intention is that the installation of the exhibition should not lead to a clear, coherent message. Instead, the exhibition as a whole, and even each work individually, is to be presented without the need for a “reading”. Viewing is meant to be a purely aesthetic experience, one that may lack any theory or interpretation based on spoken or written language. Total failure is very likely, given that it is almost certain someone will arrive at a coherent reading of the exhibition. Nevertheless, the acknowledgement of the complete impossibility of communication lies at the heart of this experiment. The installation of the works has a direct relationship with the exhibition space in architectural terms, where space and place offer an existential approach to reading the enclosed space and the particularities that make it a space for art.
The exhibition presents a body of work by young artists whose practice begins on the Internet. This does not mean that the selected works are based on Internet aesthetics. The works are the result of individual artistic acts, and they go beyond the notions of immateriality usually associated with digital art or new media art. Aesthetically, the works belong to a post-Internet space, with references to the avant-garde art of the 20th century enriched by new experiences gained through the Internet; they are not merely the product of a nostalgic gaze or a revisionist intent. Instead, they are the result of each artist’s own engagement with the subject.
The curator will attend the opening. The initiative for the exhibition came from Angelo Plessas, and we thank him warmly.
