SURVIVAL 8
SURVIVAL 8 will take place in the Strzegomski Bunker, located at the intersection of Strzegomska, Braniborska and Legnicka. The bunker, built in 1942 as one of several air-raid shelters for civilians, had been designed by a controversial Wrocław designer Richard Konwiarz, who had also co-authored (with Max Berg and Ludwig Moshamer) the plan of redevelopment of Wrocław in the years 1919-1920.
Strong historical connotations of the venue, which is actually a reminder of the war trauma, influence the image of the contemporary Wrocław in a peculiar way. The bunker is nowadays unavailable to citizens, which makes one ask questions about the relevance of similar buildings in the city development. Holding the Review in such a unique place, which used to be a substitute of a safe refuge in the wartime, prompts artistic references to a whole reservoir of notions connected with the subject of degradation, falling into oblivion, but also transformation, rebuilding and giving hope. Moreover, making art in a place like that may trigger a change in the sphere of associations referring to it, and also emphasise its new function of a Museum - signalled by an outstanding work of Stanisław Dróżdż placed on the facade.
The notion of 'crime', the intellectual inspiration for the eighth edition of the Review, may be understood traditionally, as a deed deserving severe condemnation, but also as its opposite - inaction. SURVIVAL 8 aims to face the much-discussed in the recent months in Poland issue of ranking, rating and, consequently, financing contemporary art in a free-market reality. We would also like to refer to a broadly-defined area of the exhibiting of art, the audience's contact with art and 'using' art to market promotional campaigns and PR plans - of corporations, cities, whole countries.
Therefore, we are going to reveal 'the crime of omission', which includes the lack of investing (in its financial meaning, but primarily - intellectual) in the newest culture and art; instead, money is channelled into the so-called 'visibility', broadly understood promotion and marketing actions. We are going to ask about a situation when the demands (of investors? of potential audiences who are increasingly resembling customers of a department store?) and costs connected with the promotion of an artistic or cultural undertaking in the media, outdoor and internet campaigns consume such a considerable part of the budgets of many institutions and organisations that the artistic realisations become but a supplement, a marginal project financed by what is left or by credit. On the other hand, skipping these expenses may mean a loss of the financing as such.
The problem of perceiving the role of contemporary culture and art, judging them and financing is present in virtually all the countries which have undergone major changes (social, political, economic) connected with the shock of entering and living in a so-called free market. Fierce debates over the form of a work of art, the quality of the medium, its scope of interest, the tools used or the limits of good taste have been substituted with a marketing struggle for visibility and cheap attractiveness - just like in the branding campaigns of huge corporations.
SURVIVAL 8 will refer to traditional exhibiting techniques, including conceptual art. The issues raised by the curators and artists will be manifested in visual arts realisations, but also in sound art and film. The eighth edition of the Review will be more challenging for the audience and the organisers themselves then any previous one. It might be somehow uncomfortable for both sides. But it will definitely be authentic and involving. While discussing the problem of omission, it might show a new direction - a direction of change.
