Periferic 8 - Art as Gift
Biennial for Contemporary Art
Iasi, Romania
3-18 October 2008
The eighth edition of the Periferic Biennial for Contemporary Art is curated by Dora Hegyi (project leader of tranzit. hu/ Budapest, Hungary) and organized by the Vector Association (Iasi/Romania), the main partner being Banca Comerciala Romana.
The Periferic project was initiated in 1997 by the Romanian artist Matei Bejenaru. Since the beginning, Periferic is organized in Iaşi, the second university city in Romania. Periferic started as a performance festival, which organically developed into an art exhibition breaking through boundaries of formats and genres. Since 2001, Periferic has become an international art biennial organized by Vector Association.
Details about the history of Periferic Biennial and the city of Iaşi can be found at www.periferic.org and www.perifericbiennial.wordpress.com
Concept - Art as gift
The concept of the biennial proposes an alternative model of exchange and raises the question "can art be regarded as a gift?". While Periferic Biennials have always challenged the market-based mechanisms of contemporary art, Periferic 8 directly analyzes the speculative methods that influence the realization and social value of art. The social practice of gift-giving in an everyday sense is experienced as a positive gesture, since everybody enjoys receiving and giving gifts. The exchange can be mutual, but it reflects a complex system of different motivations: power relations, dependence, as well as desire for prestige. Gift-giving is also used as a metaphor for describing the economics of art from creation/ production through sharing/distribution to reception/consumption.
Periferic 8
Periferic 8 aspires to build local audiences and doing so establishes a paradigmatic approach for other similar initiatives in the region. Through newly developed projects and accompanying events of creative mediation Periferic 8 wishes to play the role of a mediator, thus fortifying the dialogue between various cultural fields. On the one hand it presents alternative models of education by activating the already specialized audience, artists, art critics and theoreticians, on the other hand it involves other segments of local intellectuals and people interested in the processes of reception and mediation. The project seeks to strengthen local cultural consciousness in order to form a dynamic civil community that feels responsible for its own context and suggests that contemporary art is a transdisciplinary field where social and political issues that affect a wide range of people can be discussed. As part of Periferic 8, a Creative Mediation Project will be developed by the Studio for Art Practices and Debates, which is the critical research and production platform for Vector Association.
The Curator
Dora Hegyi is an art historian, curator based in Budapest. Between 1996 and 2003 she was a curator at the Ludwig Museum Budapest, initiator of the Project Room of the museum in 1999. She curated, among many others, the exhibitions "Budapest Box - The hidden scene of the 1990s" (co-curator), 2002 and "Moszkva ter-Gravitation", 2003. Since 2005 Dora Hegyi is project leader of tranzit. hu, a contemporary art initiative supported by the Erste Bank Group, which organizes discursive events. In this framework she started the Free School for Art Theory and Practice, to strengthen the professional discussion of art and critical thinking in Hungary.
Organizer:
Vector Association Iasi
Main partner:
Banca Comerciala Romana
Partners:
Centrul pentru arta contemporana Chisinau
University of Arts "George Enescu" Iasi
Supported by:
Periferic 8 is made possible, in part, by a special grant from the American Center Foundation in support of Vector Association's exhibitions and programs.
Administration of the National Cultural Fund - AFCN Romania
Municipality of Iasi
(others will be confirmed)
Media Partners:
(others will be confirmed)
Periferic 8 team:
Director: Matei Bejenaru
Curator: Dora Hegyi
Assistant-curator: Zsuzsa Laszlo
Office coordinator: Alex Bounegru
Creative mediation project: Catalin Gheorghe, Dan Acostioaei, Cristian Nae, Ana-Maria Iftimi, Oana Nicuta, Alex Bounegru
P. R. and communication: Vlad Morariu (coordinator), Georgiana Alexandrescu, Ionut Tudor
Design: Lavinia German
Photo and video documentation: Alex Grigoras
Contact:
Tel/Fax: 0040 232 237486, 0040 723 508738
Email: periferic.info@gmail.com
Website: www.periferic.org
Weblog: www.perifericbiennial.wordpress.com
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