curated by_Jacopo Crivelli Visconti: The Winter of Our Discontent

09.09.–15.10.2016

Exhibition view, Galerie Martin Janda, 2016
Photo: Markus Wörgötter

Carmela Gross
Die Statisten, 2015/2016 (Detail)
enameled metal plates
21 parts

Pedro Neves Marques
The Pudic Relation Between Machine and Plant, 2016 (detail)
colour video, sound
2:30 min, loop

Maria Thereza Alves
Dicionário Krenak–Português Português–Krenak, 2014
book in wooden frame, combination lock

Maria Loboda
A guide to insults and misanthropy, 2006
flowers, flowervase, pedestal

Exhibition view, Galerie Martin Janda, 2016
Photo: Markus Wörgötter

Alessandro Balteo-Yazbeck in collaboration with Jan Balteo-Yabur
I never told Jan about Tanzanian ivory, (detail) 2015. From the series: Dad, I want to help you to make a little bit of money
Acrylic paint on rocks following Jan’s instructions, brass nails, glue and wall label with narrative
6 x 9 x 9 cm, (excluding label). Photo: def image

Alessandro Balteo-Yazbeck in collaboration with Jan Balteo-Yabur
Cool Sculpture (Flor Concreta), (detail) 2014-2015. From the series: Dad, I want to help you to make a little bit of money
Oil crayon on upcycled wood, assembled according to Jan’s configuration; glue, brass, felt and wall label with narrative
11 x 10,5 x 4 cm (excluding label). Photo: def image

Alessandro Balteo-Yazbeck in collaboration with Jan Balteo-Yabur
Kackemacher (Portrait), (detail) 2015. From the series: Dad, I want to help you to make a little bit of money
Oil crayon on paper in artist frame and wall label with narrative
41 x 35 x 3,5 cm (excluding label). Photo: def image

Exhibition view, Galerie Martin Janda, 2016
Photo: Markus Wörgötter

Maria Loboda
Medoc with 27 sleeping pills, 2016
bottle of wine, 27 sleeping pills

Exhibition view, Galerie Martin Janda, 2016
Photo: Markus Wörgötter

Ahlam Shibli
Arab al-Sbaih, 2007
b&w gelatin silver prints, c-prints
12 parts

Exhibition view, Galerie Martin Janda, 2016
Photo: Markus Wörgötter

Saskia Calderón
Tecnica vocal, 2014
Single channel video

Saskia Calderón
Coros de la selva, 2015
audio, music score

Exhibition view, Galerie Martin Janda, 2016
Photo: Markus Wörgötter

Runo Lagomarsino
More delicate than the historian’s are the map-maker’s colors, 2013
Single channel video, sound

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Opening: Thursday, 08 September 2016
Exhibition runs: 09.09.–15.10.2016
Opening hours: Tue–Fri, 11 am–6 pm, Sat 11 am–4 pm

Curated by Jacopo Crivelli Visconti, The Winter of Our Discontent features works by:

Maria Thereza Alves
Alessandro Balteo-Yazbeck
Saskia Calderón
Carmela Gross
Runo Lagomarsino
Maria Loboda
Pedro Neves Marques
Ahlam Shibli

The Winter of our Discontent aims at being an idiosyncratic and provocative exhibition. On the one hand, it responds to the general concept drafted by Diedrich Diederichsen for the 2016 edition of curated by_vienna, which focuses on the relation between contemporary artists and the Oedipal figure of the father (intended here as the inspiring model), and how this relation is often “revealed in homages, references and reverences, quotations and allusions”. On the other hand, the exhibition takes into account the fact that we live in dramatic times; we witness the flight of thousands who are forced to leave their homes to meet suffering and death on a daily basis; we watch nature strike back, like a wounded beast, at the way we treat the earth; we are shocked and humiliated by the disclosure of yet another scheme of corruption and abuse of public money...

Thus, the works included in the exhibition seek to track down the figure of the “negative reference”, by bringing to the core of the discussion what or whom the artists (here, quite often, metonymically identified as “the people”) loath, despise and reject. Whether they address ecological disasters, historical events or breaking news, the selected artists, who come from different social and political backgrounds, share a deep-rooted, uncompromising discontent. Following up on the ambivalent approach to Diederichsen’s concept, the very notion of “discontent” is here used in its double meaning of both a “sense of grievance” and a “restless aspiration for improvement” (Merriam-Webster). In other words, those who traverse the dark, cold and sad land of grievance are also the ones who are never satisfied, who will not resign, who will keep on fighting for a better, healthier and more just world.

Jacopo Crivelli Visconti

Jacopo Crivelli Visconti (*1973 in Naples, Italy) is a freelance critic and curator, based in São Paulo, Brazil.

curated by_vienna 2016