REVOLUTION IS NOT A GARDEN PARTY
June 14 – July 6, 2007
Michael Blum, Nick Crowe, Igor Grubic, Sanja Ivekovic, Gergely Laszlo
and Peter Rakosi, Nils Norman, Adrian Paci
curated by: Maja and Reuben Fowkes
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The international exhibition ‘Revolution is not a Garden Party’ considers the resonances of social and political revolution in contemporary art against the backdrop of the 50th anniversary of the Hungarian Uprising.
The exhibition consists of new and recent works that examine the global economic and political context against which revolutions take place, as well as the intersection between personal and artistic heritages of revolution. It expresses the sorrow of failed political struggles in the past and the future, and considers the shared experience of a communist past and the post-communist reality. Other concerns include the experience of revolutionary literature, the gendered images of resistance fighters in contemporary media, and the legacy of 1956 for the relationship of art and revolution.
As the first major popular rebellion against Soviet domination and the communist system in Eastern Europe, 1956 was a vital precursor of later revolutionary struggles. At the same time, it was part of wider geo-political shifts, such as the movement for decolonisation, and had cultural as well as political ramifications across Europe. In the history of art, the demolition of the Budapest Stalin Statue was the ultimate symbol of the decline of Socialist Realism. The truth about revolution is part of a contested history, a living process of rewriting and interpretation in which art takes a decisive part.
The exhibition publication brings together the artistic response to contemporary revolution represented by the exhibition and new reflections on the relationship between art and revolution by theorists and art historians. It includes illustrations and interviews with the artists, and new essays by Gerald Raunig, Benda Hofmeyr, Simon Sheikh, Chus Martinez and Maja and Reuben Fowkes that engage with issues such as art and revolution, aesthetics and politics, and ecology and anarchism. Additionally, responses to individual works in the exhibition highlight the variety of experiences and understandings of revolution in the context of contemporary art. It is published by MIRIAD Manchester and distributed by Cornerhouse Manchester. (www.cornerhouse.org/books)
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The previous venues for the exhibition were Trafó Gallery Budapest, Holden Gallery Manchester and Norwich Gallery.
www.translocal.org/revolution
The exhibition is supported by European Cultural Foundation, Croatian Ministry of Culture, Manchester Metropolitan University and the Hungarian Ministry of Culture.
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The program of Galerija Miroslav Kraljevic is suported by: City of Zagreb – City Office for Education, Culture and Sport, Republic of Croatia – Ministry of Culture, INA – Industrija nafte d.d.
