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Project: Where (not) to go?

November 22 – 25, 2012

International presentation | press to exit project space, Skopje (MK) | project Where (not) to go? | art fair Contemporary Istanbul

press to exit project space has the honor to announce the participation in the 7th edition of the Contemporary Istanbul, the premium and largest art fair in Turkey, running from 22 – 25 November 2012 at the Istanbul Convention and Exhibition Center (ICEC). The fair will offer a comprehensive range of art works from around 600 artists and around 100 local and international galleries and non – profit spaces. Through the New Horizons: Central & Eastern Europe section which explores contemporary artistic expression of Central and Eastern Europe, Contemporary Istanbul will play host to galleries and artists, curators, publications, art critics and collectors from the region.

Velimir Zernovski, Independence day, 2011

press to exit project space will present the project Where (not) to go? which addresses the speculative historical but also personal notions of narration though the works of 8 Macedonian artists. How to speak of what has happened, what is going on as a result, and all relevant projections of how history will mutate into linear/ non-linear narratives in the years to come? What will be the use of artistic practices that are dealing with historical interpretations, factual research and objectification of the use of narrative forms when speaking of the known and the speculative? How do we, as audience, relate to artistic practices that want to (somehow) educate us of the missing links, of the forgotten or ignored historical episodes that have so much to do with us, the people, being ambivalent to the confrontational moral fiber of the present? Furthermore, how can we, with curatorial responsibility, argue the notion that “contemporary history (is) a fundamental element of contemporary art practice”? In which way are we to read, contextualize anew and relate to the words and images of artists that are trying, with a certain level of conviction, to present fresh views and visions of recent histories, both in dialectical and ideological sense?

These are some of the questions that arise from the research on the topic of personal responsibility towards ideological constructions and the linear historical two-sidedness.

The exhibition Where (not) to go? is one stage of the ongoing curatorial project of Yane Calovski in the frames of the curatorial activities of press to exit project space.

The exhibition will feature works by artists Yane Calovski, Ines Efremova, Hristina Ivanoska, Gjorgje Jovanovik, Filip Jovanovski, Vladimir Lukash, Igor Toshevski and Velimir Zernovski. The chosen artists are connected in a cohesive collective through the political and social aspects in the selected works.