IMPORT / EXPORT

Import Export is an exhibition about question of nationality and cultural exchange.

In the global village of the International art world national origins are seemingly irrelevant. All protagonists are part of an international community yet at the same time rooted in their national/regional (religious, ethnic, etc.) background.

Almost all west European countries heavily subsidise their exports through the national administration. The national production and presentation of art are regarded as important site factors and are effective means of publicity for the tourism industry.

Import Export takes en Ironic view of the fact that economic criteria play a dominant role in the assessment of all cultural activities and are the standard for measuring success, not only of the cultural organisers but also of art policies. This means that they are of considerable importance when it comes to cutting up the cake of public subsidies.

Present day Europe is supposedly becoming more closely integrated in the EU but on the Geographical fringes (Russia, former Yugoslavia) it is breaking up and disintegrating into increasingly small (national) states and areas of conflict. The exhibition Import Export is devoted precisely to this phenomenon.

However, it is not merely a matter here of questioning the interests and characteristics of nation states. The exhibition also attempts to study the interaction of the arts with other cultures (cultural exchange), other disciplines (design, advertisement) and fields such as the sciences, politics, economics etc.

The exhibition focuses on import and export with regard to the art system, thus treating the question of how content external to art can be filtered and given form – and how, inversely, art serves the over-exploitation of other branches, such as for instance advertising.

Pressetext

IMPORT / EXPORT

mit Philippe Durand, Rainer Ganahl, Pierre Joseph, Franjse Killaars, Claude Lévêque, Michaela Melian, Roy Villevoye, Barbara Visser, Jun Yang