A project of Radiator Gallery, NY and Bäckerstrasse4, Vienna

Nov. 23. 2013 – Jan. 12. 2014

Opening reception: November 22, 2013, 6-9 pm

Artists: Rasmus Albertsen, Adam Frelin, Mathias Kessler, Olaf Osten, Judith Saupper, Raphaele Shirley, Borjana Ventzislavova Curator: Boris Kostadinov

Mind the Gap is a long-term project that promotes dialogue among artists working in the United States and Austria. It includes discussions, artists’ talks and two group exhibitions: in New York (2013) and in Vienna (2014).

Mind the Gap speculates on the idea that our time could be described as “technological Middle Ages”––a dystopian metaphor for swift technological advancement concurrent with the rise of disadvantaged communities and compromised societies; a condition of scientific progress occurring during crises of collapsing financial and outdated capitalist systems; an era which bases its mythology on technological products that do not provide any alternatives for reforms of anachronistic public models.

Mind the Gap also reflects upon social linguistics. Its basis is a “translation” of the sophisticated language of innovations into mass language, just as in the Middle Ages complicated religious postulates were translated into the language of the illiterate peasants through visual arts.

Finaly the project examines a great paradox recalling a classic dichotomy from ancient times: nature versus culture. An advanced technological society is impossible without natural resources, and constantly strives to fix its broken relationship with nature by offering artificial “natural products” to the consumer. The purpose of Mind the Gap is to examine the ways we perceive ourselves in the current technological, political and cultural landscape. The exhibition presents artists’ reflections that move between a personal approach and overarching metaphors, between the romantic idea of progress and visions of dystopia.

Such dystopia can be seen in the video Hrami by Rasmus Albetsen, who works with visual clichés harkening back to classic black and white cinema. Tension and a sense of mysterious conspiracy, secret phone calls and complicated relationships between the characters abound in the artist’s Hitchcock-like approach. However the mysterious building, the demand for logic in an illogical space and the perverse lust for unauthorized experiment in an environment where evil is master, are reminiscent of David Lynch.

In another video, Terranauts by Adam Frelin, a teenage couple finds and uses a discarded box as a means of exploring their own earthly habitat of Los Angeles. With text printed on it, the box appears as if it once contained parts for NASA’s Kepler Mission (a satellite searching for inhabitable planets). The piece’s new way of framing reality refers to the history of architecture––many Japanese gardens areonly meant to be viewed through a building that acts as a framing device.

Hidden Agendas is a site-specific piece by Mathias Kessler designed specially for Radiator Gallery. The artistʼs idea is to bring the place of energy production back into the realm of domesticity, to suggest that the urban environment today is the place of consumption. Cities are not a point of production anymore, but are rather sites where energy and products are being consumed. Kesslerʼs second piece in the show, Das Eismeer. Die gescheiterte Hoffnung, is inspired by a painting by Caspar David Friedrich. The 3D replica is placed in the freezer compartment of a refrigerator unit which is also stocked with beer. Das Eismeer provides a humorous comment on the global problem of deglaciating polar ice caps.

The work by Olaf Osten, Pendeln 090 (Pendulums 090) monumentalizes various casual and intimate moments, which he has recorded in a notebook, and reflects on the phenomenon of change of physical space in a digital environment. It further asks questions such as: What is the sense of time and space for two people residing on different continents when communicating through the internet? What would happen if they had to meet physically? Despite their desire they would fully embrace technology, by the very use of an aircraft for their actual meeting.

Similar to maps, plans, and atlases, which try to make elusive topics clear by squeezing them into a measurable scale, the series Socialatlas by Judith Saupper attempts to counter human fears with the help of a “technical plan.” Another work by the same artist, Oh, Sweet Suburbia … is an object that represents an altered layout of a typical village or suburban neighborhood. The piece comments on the modern cityʼs vertical structures that have replaced the traditional horizontal ones, thus changing the meanings of “personal” and “private” and exemplifying current political and economic hierarchies.

E-inTime2 by Raphaele Shirley is a sound and light sculpture which occupies the space between past, present and future, and between the realms of nature and science. The sounds are based on philosophical and religious texts collected from around the globe and in different times: modern time discoveries, science fiction excerpts from films, literature and contemporary news. Shirleyʼs second work in the show is an ironic game with the history of technology. A vintage projector is awkardly invested with today’s technology – an mp3 player and a video projector, in an attempt to reactivate the old machine.

In the landscapes by Borjana Ventzislavova nature is transformed into a symbol––powerful and impressive without further details. Depicting nostalgic deserts with a lack of human presence, We Are Nowhere and Itʼs Now and Itʼs Just Me in There and I Am Naked bring associations of cataclysm and catastrophe. Neon signs that have, absurdly, remained lit are the only remaining artifacts, replete with obscure and desperate content. Finally, in her installation Help, the artist materializes the desert and sounds a clear and unequivocal call for help.

Special Event, November 24 (Sunday), 11:30 AM / Artists’ Talk // Moderator: Boris Kostadinov. Special guests: Tamas Veszi (Radiator Gallery), Silvie Aigner (bäckerstrasse4).

The exhibition is supported by the Austrian Cultural Forum New York and Bundesministerium für Unterricht, Kunst and Kultur, Austria

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October 25 – November 15, 2013

Opening Reception Friday Oct 25, 6 – 9 pm / Closing Reception Friday Nov 15, 6 – 9 pm

Maximus Clarke, Peggy Cyphers, Stefan Eins, Alyssa E. Fanning, Nancy Goldring, Alexander Heir, Nick Kline, Mike McLean, Gary Petersen, James Siena, Michael Taussig, Lisa Walker

Curated by Alyssa E. Fanning

Radiator Gallery is pleased to present Heat Chaos Resistance – It’s Time To Live In The Scattered Sun, a sociopolitically-conscious print and drawing exhibition displaying the work of twelve contemporary artists. The exhibition features examples of both process: artist maquettes that serve as a ‘stage’ for photography; watercolor drawings that work in conjunction with text as part of ethnographic studies taking ultimate shape in books; graphite and gouache drawings inspired by the graphic clarity of the print; and product: anti-war digital prints and posters; monoprints that envision a brief meeting with cosmological time; screen prints that explore a reconciliation between the spirit and physical worlds; etchings that offer abstract accounts of the human condition; pigment prints that find inspiration from news photographs of people in disastrous situations; and zines documenting a generation’s battle with the War on Terror.

Heat Chaos Resistance – It’s Time To Live In The Scattered Sun (the latter half of the title is from the Doors’ “Waiting For The Sun”) was conceived in the spring and summer of 2013, a period that witnessed a burst of political activity, from the announcement that levels of heattrapping carbon dioxide were at an all time high, to explosions of protest in Gaza, Turkey, to the global “March Against Monsanto”, to widespread protest in Brazil, to the leaking of U.S. and U.K. government surveillance and classified files, to bloody revolts in Egypt and Syria, and to the looming threat of U.S. military action in Syria. The heat of the warm months represented an incubator for activism as one event after another boiled over between May and October.

Heat Chaos Resistance examines the print, a medium with a history of sociopolitical content and context – from Kathe Kollwitz’s poignant prints depicting the tragedy of war in the early 20th century, to the direct action posters of ACT UP in the later 20th century – its potential to reflect the injustice and perils of the world around us today; to translate our state of despair into visible forms of protest and empowerment, to spread awareness, and to reflect, teach and heal.

Alyssa E. Fanning is an artist, writer and curator. She received her BFA from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York in 2008 and her MFA from Montclair State University in Montclair, New Jersey in 2012. Fanning has exhibited across the United States at spaces including White Box and ABC No Rio, New York, NY; Mortville, Chicago, IL; the University of South Florida, Tampa, FL; and the Arts at Marks Garage, Honolulu, HI, among others. Fanning has curated with the Manhattan based curatorial collective, BROADTHINKING, and independently. In 2012 Fanning self-published her own monograph Disaster Off the Hackensack. Fanning has been involved in social activism since 2001 when she joined Bergen Action Network, Bergen County, NJ, a grassroots activist organization dedicated to fighting government and environmental injustices.

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Sept 6th – Oct 13th, 2013

Opening Friday, Sept 6th 2013 6 – 9PM

Curated by Marion Daniel

Artists: Chloé Dugit-Gros, Morgane Fourey, Benjamin Hochart, Florentine & Alexandre Lamarche-Ovize, Marion Robin, Aurélie Sement, Olivier Soulerin.

La Couleuvre (Saint-Ouen, 93, France) and Radiator Gallery (New York, United States) are two independent contemporary art spaces that organize an exchange. Two exhibition projects are being presented in New York (September 6th, 2013) and in Saint-Ouen, (September 20th, 2013): The Left Over Method, i.e. the «remains method» or what to bring with you? What do you move when change your location? How the practice transforms, adapts, changes radically – or not?

The concept:

An exhibition of young artists living in France will take place in New York. In conjunction, an exhibition of Radiator Gallery artists living in New York will be held in Saint-Ouen, near Paris. The goal of the endeavor is not to repeat the Paris show in New York or vice-versa, but to examine what it means today in an environment of globalization and virtuality to move from one place to another. What does it mean to move the location of the workshop, to move the place of one’s practice?

The questions asked each time are: How does your work change when it changes location? What is most important for you in the move? Is it a necessity? What does the move change in your art practice?

What do we keep?

A series of further questions was asked of the two groups of artists: What work do you choose to show when transportation conditions are minimal? How do you intend to show this work? How do you adapt it to the new situation? How does this work communicate the place, and the moving from one point to another?

Presentation of the artists from Paris in New York

Chloé Dugit-Gros (born in 1981) is a sculptor as well as a drawer and a video artist who is developing a video work that moves shapes and objects in front of the camera to create a kind of ephemeral sculptures always moving. She will present two of her latest video creations. http://www.galeriedohyanglee.com/chloe-dugit-gros

Morgane Fourey (born 1984) plays on the ambiguity between the object and its image and working on the issue of scam and truth – false items. In this recent work , she has worked on everything that makes the perks of art : Packing and particles, wedging plaster or marble cardboard, plasterboard , painted plaster. She will propose a specific project to Radiator Gallery. http://morganefourey.com

Benjamin Hochart (born in 1982) is working with different media such as drawing, sculpture and painting. He invented a method of drawing based on a musical approach (Dodecaphonies, Noise drawings, etc.). He is also working with choreographs. He will be showing some editions directly connected with his work processes. http://benjaminhochart.com

Florentine & Alexandre Lamarche-Ovize (born in 1978 and 1980) are a couple of artists adopting a singular language where plastic research mixes painting, sculpture, drawing and photography. They will be showing a graphic “diary” which took form in their studio near Paris and will exist as a different piece in the space of Radiator Gallery. http://lamarche-ovize.com

Marion Robin (born 1981) is developing a pictorial work that takes shape based on poetics of places. She is interested in the details of the architecture that she amplifies, remakes and diverts. She will intervene directly in the space at Radiator Gallery. http://www.marionrobin.fr

Aurélie Sement (born 1982): is a video artist. Her films are about architecture, worksites, gestures of people working, etc. She is working on spaces being created. “Poussière” (Dust) proposes a poetical approach of an intermediate location, where we don’t know exactly what is seen and unseen. http://www.aureliesement.com

Olivier Soulerin (born in 1973) operates his practice by producing paintings, sculptures, drawings and videos. His abstract vocabulary is based on a very accurate observation of reality. He will propose drawings and a wall painting in connection with the space of Radiator Gallery. http://labellerevue.org/pdf-d27artistes/olivier_soulerin.pdf

The places:

La Couleuvre i n Saint-Ouen is a collective of artists ( Frédérique Lucien, Philippe Richard, Pierre Mabille, Olivier Soulerin) and theorist (Marion Daniel), which organizes four exhibitions per year: an exchange with another organization in France or abroad , a carte blanche to a curator or artist-curator and a group exhibition made by one of the members. http://lacouleuvre.blogspot.com

La Couleuvre also has a library, subjective library, which hosts each projects works on paper or multiples and is also a white card to publishers (young Lefthand editions, for example). La Couleuvre organizes cinema screenings between exhibitions , two of the members being actresses (Elina Löwensohn, Romanian-born French-American) and a director (Bertrand Mandico).

Radiator Gallery is a venue in Long Island City that is run by artist Tamas Veszi. The gallery provides local and international curators and artist-curators an opportunity to work within a multi-disciplinary setting. Radiator recently partnered with the Embassy of Israel to exhibit a project by the artist Guy Goldstein and collaborated with Art Market Budapest to present works by Hungarian photographers. For each project, the gallery organizes numerous special events, readings and discussions.

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Radiator Arts, May 10th – June 19th 2013

Opening Reception: May 10th 6-9 pm

Franz Kafka, Eve Bailey, Rachel Bernstein, Ryan V Brennan, Diana Heise, Roxanne Jackson, Coralina Meyer, Sono Osato, Malingering Uvula (Camilla Ha and Michael Merck) Gabriela Vainsencher. Curated by Sarah Walko.

The exhibition “The City of K. Franz Kafka and Prague” permanently on display at the Kafka Museum was the impetus for this exhibition. Kafka’s relationship with cities through his surreal lens coupled with his imagination and during the context of his time brought the simultaneous nightmare/dreamscape of the budding technological age into the realm of the real in his stories, projecting super psyches onto our cities.

The artists in this exhibition are all exploring the surreal space of our time now. Large cultural and philosophical shifts due to massive environmental and economic challenges and the level of technology we are reaching and working with daily is all ushering in new branches of consciousness and new approaches to how we live. The artists, like Kafka did, address our current cosmic predicament in various ways; our relationship with nature, our relationship to self within today’s technological tools, and with objects of alchemical/shamanic ritual and ceremony. They are writing out the dreamscapes of our now and a vision of the future that lacks the pasts’ patriarchal aesthetic and imagines the opening up of a future with more feminine traits, including acts of reclamation and the healing of our past and ourselves within our cities.

About the curator:

Sarah Walko is a multimedia artist and writer. She is currently the executive director of Triangle Arts Association. El Cadaver Exquisito, a feature length experimental documentary collaboration film she created with with director Victor Ruano and Rossemberg Rivas, is currently in festival circuits and her second film Lux/Nox with collaborator Malado Baldwin is in post production. Her fiction and non fiction essays have been published by While Whale Review Literary Journal and Hyperallergic Art Blog where she is a regular contributing writer. Her visual artwork has been published by The Dirty Goat, Redivider, Blood Lotus, Apple Valley Review, 2 River, A Capella Zoo, Awosting Alchemy, 5×5 Literary Magazine, Bathhouse, Cincinnati Review and Host Publications. Her recent exhibitions include Preternatural at the Museum of Nature, a science museum in Canada, Codex Dynamic in New York and Wonder Cabinet at Flux Factory in New York. She has participated in many artists residency programs including one currently at the Elizabeth Foundation in New York and she is working on new sculpture/installations, film and a novel.

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The group show “So Real” reflects on the aesthetics and conflicting past relationships between Social Realism art of the West and Socialist Realism art of twentieth century Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. The words “subjective” and “official” are paramount in describing the differences between both art movements. Western Social Realism has been described as a “subjective” art form which allows for freedom to express unfavorable narratives. In contrast, Soviet Socialist Realism, Western Social Realism’s evil first cousin, has been described as an official, absolute, oppressive, state-sanctioned art form which denies subjective interpretation. Similarly, recent global instability concurrent to the transfer of power from old regimes to new has cast a fresh light upon the “subjective” vs. “official” narrative. As heads of state draft legislation to address a multitude of geo-political and economic challenges, inherent conflicts undoubtedly arise between balancing personal freedoms and protecting the state against general chaos, terror and/or complete collapse. “So Real” explores these incongruities by exhibiting a group of artworks which suggest the possibility for creating a new genre of socio-political hyperrealities. In addition, the artworks serve as “provocateur” in the form of compressed psychologically charged narratives. Taken one step further, the works function on a plane of personal protest, challenging the sustainability of past and present day utopian constructs.

Lastly, “So Real” alludes to new beginnings in the aftermath of failure, death, and destruction by the inclusion of brutalist inspired sculpture and architectural forms. This “clean slate” segue provides an entry point to explore alternative socio-political models which may provide pathways to discover possibilities for growth and progress in the future.

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February 1^st – March 1^st, 2013

Opening reception: February 1 st 6-9 pm

Artists: Guy Ben-Ari, Keren Benbenisty, Andrea Bianconi, Ariel Efron, Reuven Israel, Bill Jacobson, William Lamson, Dana Levy, Avigail Talmor

Curator: Guy Goldstein

Radiator Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of Tracing The Fish Bladder show. This group exhibition curated by Guy Goldstein, is exploring the boundaries of curatorial practice in acceptable ways. This is Goldstein’s, an established Israeli sound and visual artist, attempt to explore the synergy between artist and curator role and the limitations of curatorial leeway. Goldstein is handling the curating project as his own personal artwork, using other artists’ works as components in his equation. Thus, creating new relations as well as confrontations and connections by juxtaposing them his way. A diverse range of works, from video to painting, photography, performance, interactive projection and more, is transformed into a versatile installation.

The selection of works is similar to the curatorial approach, which leans on the graphic representation of the set theory (union and intersection sets) one of the fundamental operations through which sets are combined and related to each other. The image of two overlapping circles, creating a Vesica Piscis shape (literally means a “fish bladder” in Latin). These chosen artworks, are trying to define containment and unification.

For instance, in the video Time is Like The East River, artist William Lamson is creating a micro-cosmos of two small boats made from a single canoe that was cut in half, subjected to nature’s opposing forces of the East River at slack tide. The boats are going towards each other trying to meet and link to become a single canoe again. This focuses on a rare moment in time when everything seems to be possible; by zooming out of this scene, we realize this is only a minor part of a wider context.

Throughout the performance and drawing (titled U&I) by Keren Benbenisty a new unification, between the artist and audience occurs. Keren creates her drawings in front and in collaboration with the viewer, by using their fingerprints. An intimate moment is created, reminding in a way a contract signing with the viewer.

In his photograph, taken from the series Place (2012), Bill Jacobson created a minimalist still-life image. Using layered blank boards, in minor colors, placed in the center of a photographic format which blurs the differences between what seems to be both abstract and real, painting or photography at the same time. The way in which the photographed object was placed in this work, usage of specific color scale and the attempt to create a “place within no space” are all an expression of the “union and intersection sets”, as this exhibition trying to do.

This is only a glimpse at a partial list of works exhibited in the show, whereas the wider view is revealing both questions and doubts regarding similarities, common denominators, and concepts all woven by the curatorial act.

Guy Goldstein is an artist and musician, currently lives and works between Tel-Aviv and New York. Holds a MFA from The Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem (2005-2007). Studied visual communication art and design in Wizo Haifa Academy of Art & Design (1997-2001).

Goldstein’s works exhibited worldwide (Europe, USA and Israel) in museums and galleries, he awarded the Minister of Culture Award for Visual Artists (Israel, 2012) among other imported awards and scholarships in the past. Guy participated recently in Residency Unlimited program in Brooklyn (April-August 2012). Guy Goldstein is a bass player, member at the Israeli Rock ‘n’ Roll band – Reines Girls. Goldstein is the Director of the Visual Communication Department at Musrara School of Photography and New Media, Jerusalem.

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