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| CROSSING BOUNDARIES AND THE ROAD TO NEW SHORES Stella Pelše The 12th Vilnius Painting Triennial Vilnius Contemporary Art Centre 14 May - 13 June, 2004 |
| RECLAIMING THE EUROPEAN SPACE Stella Pelše Sculpture Quadrennial Riga 2004 - "European Space" Curators: Aigars Bikše, Kristaps Gulbis State Museum of Art exhibition hall "Arsenāls", the Latvian Railway Museum, the Riga city space |
| RESULT OR THE GAME: BORING VIDEOS 100 – REVELATION 1 Alise Tīfentāle "Strange morning and strange evening, strange my ties with Jesus." Jānis Steiks, Latvian poet and priest (1855-1932) A few hours after sunset, the opening night of the European biennial of contemporary art Manifesta 5 began in a San Sebastian club right on the shore of the Bay of Biscay. Invited were all the participating artists, their partners, journalists and all the other people that usually get invited to these occasions. Everything was normal. Sitting on the beach there is a good view of the illuminated statute of Jesus at the top of the hill - beautiful. Suddenly it begins to flicker. People are guessing that there is a fault with the electricity or that perhaps here, this is an accepted effect to draw attention to Christianity at night too and so on. After a while the power has been fixed. The next day I find out that it was actually a work from Manifesta 5 - the German artist resident in Austria, Leopold Kessler's (b.1976) intervention in the city space "Blinking Jesus". At several times in the night, the illumination of Jesus flickers transmitting in Morse the words "don't be afraid". Accepting without objection that there cannot be a work of contemporary art that can be adequately read without commentary, it was clear to me that it's worth it. This one work is satisfaction, an undeserved prize and pleasure. Just like the "dancing lessons given by God himself", as Vonnegut would put it. |
