For the First and the Second Time

If you look at the works by the recent STROOM Premium artists closely you will notice that they sustain an observant dialogue with the history of contemporary and modern art. The new video film directed by Channa Boon, and shot in Vilnius, in an allusion to the myth of the death of painting. Kinetic piece by Bram Vreven, although mute, or perhaps for this reason especially, can be linked with experiments in the music of 50s and 60s. And Ton Schuttelaar carries out the gestures of ready-made in their purest form. Even long before the exhibition was installed these links have filled so much of the room that we decided to make more space – by inserting something between those works and the tradition of modernism, represented by the building of the CAC as well. Encouraged by various remnants of the contradictory internal dialogue that manifest in the building, we decided to stitch them together into one story.

In the context of daily activities of the Contemporary Art Centre this exhibition could be said to be a pseudo-museological endeavour. Most of the artworks referred to in the title as “already there” remain from previous exhibitions at the CAC but have lost their status of an artwork over time or are often misattributed. Among them are a puddle once constructed in front of the main entrance of the CAC, a light installation that was kept switched off, the painted-over works within the walls. Other works have turned into icons, integral to the building, or, on the contrary, have been produced in collaboration with the Contemporary Art Centre but for a variety of reasons were never shown here. The late author of the oldest works in the exhibition would have turned a hundred years old this year; his works are in the building since longer than the institution. The exhibition guidebook will help visitors finding works that are not possible to show in the exhibition room.

In a certain sense this is two exhibitions in one, and so it may come as no surprise that there are works that do not belong to either. The two-headed Greek god Janus, a figure that used to represent doorways and different aspects of time, can be said to be an inspiration for the inner contradiction of the double show. It is also inspired by something that the writer Italo Calvino used to say – that you can‘t read the same book in the same way the second (or the third) time. The exhibition pays large deal of attention to revisionist art practices and the theme of cultural amnesia.

For the First and the Second Time
Kuratoren: Virginija Januskeviciute, Valentinas Klimasauskas
Organisation: STROOM Den Haag, CAC Vilnius

Künstler: Channa Boon, Ton Schuttelaar, Bram Vreve

Stationen:
22.11.08 - 04.01.09 Stroom Den Haag
22.11.08 - 04.01.09 Contemporary Art Center, Vilnius