With: Michael Blum, Nick Crowe, Igor Grubic, Sanja Ivekovic, Gergely Laszlo and Peter Rakosi, Nils Norman and Adrian Paci.
The exhibition curated by Maja and Reuben Fowkes considers the resonances of social and political revolution in contemporary art against the backdrop of the 50th anniversary of the Hungarian Uprising.

The exhibition consists of new and recent works that examine the global economic and political context against which revolutions take place, as well as the intersection between personal and artistic heritages of revolution. It expresses the sorrow of failed political struggles in the past and the future, and considers the shared experience of a communist past and the post-communist reality. Other concerns include the experience of revolutionary literature, the gendered images of resistance fighters in contemporary media, and the legacy of 1956 for the relationship of art and revolution.

As the first major popular rebellion against Soviet domination and the communist system in Eastern Europe, 1956 was a vital precursor of later revolutionary struggles. At the same time, it was part of wider geo-political shifts, such as the movement for decolonisation, and had cultural as well as political ramifications across Europe. In the history of art, the demolition of the Budapest Stalin Statue was the ultimate symbol of the decline of Socialist Realism. The truth about revolution is part of a contested history, a living process of rewriting and interpretation in which art takes a decisive part.

The exhibition publication brings together the artistic response to contemporary revolution represented by the exhibition and new reflections on the relationship between art and revolution by theorists and art historians. It includes illustrations and interviews with the artists, and new essays by Gerald Raunig, Benda Hofmeyr, Simon Sheikh, Chus Martinez and Maja and Reuben Fowkes that engage with issues such as art and revolution, aesthetics and politics, and ecology and anarchism. Additionally, responses to individual works in the exhibition highlight the variety of experiences and understandings of revolution in the context of contemporary art. It is published by MIRIAD Manchester and distributed by Cornerhouse Manchester. (www.cornerhouse.org/books)

The previous venues for the exhibition were Trafó Gallery Budapest, Holden Gallery Manchester and Norwich Gallery.

www.translocal.org/revolution

The exhibition is supported by European Cultural Foundation, Croatian Ministry of Culture, Manchester Metropolitan University and the Hungarian Ministry of Culture.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Michael Blum
The Three Failures (2006)
video-installation, 22 min

‘The Three Failures’ presents a contemporary fairy tale about communism, social-democracy, and capitalism. In a visionary monologue, the artist interweaves quirks of history, biography and political theory against a changing urban backdrop.

Michael Blum (1966, Jerusalem, Israel) is based in Vienna. His practice involves videos, publications, installations and public interventions to critically reinterpret cultural production and historical memory.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Nick Crowe
Down by the Glenside (2006)
DVD, 4:30 min (loop)

In this newly-commissioned work, Nick Crowe approaches the subject of revolution by using documents of popular rebellion, both real and imagined. In Down by the Glenside the historical lament for a loved one killed during an uprising is superimposed over the sounds of a fictional battle taking place in an imaged sci-fi future.

Nick Crowe (1968, Barnsley, UK) lives and works between Manchester and Berlin. His work encompasses a range of strategies which explore the role of technology and its contingent effects on everyday life.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Igor Grubić
Revolution is Heritage (2006)
installation

‘Revolution is Heritage’ is a complex installation that draws on the artist’s grandfather’s heroic past as a partisan in the Second World War to connect disparate strands of revolutionary experience from the early twentieth century to today. The work refers to the heritage of futurism, the revolutionary potential of the avant-garde and the interaction of personal and political histories.

Igor Grubić (1969, Zagreb, Croatia) has through his practice made a number of significant interventions into the social and political context of the everyday. He has exhibited widely including Manifesta 4, apexart, New York and Cornerhouse, Manchester.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Sanja Iveković
Waiting for the Revolution (Getting Old) (1981)
drawings

Waiting for the Revolution (Getting Old) refers to the interconnection between sexual and political revolution. This series of drawings is suggestive of the failure to achieve genuine revolutionary change in the personal and political spheres.

Sanja Iveković (1949, Zagreb, Croatia) is one of the pioneers of contemporary video art and critical post-conceptual art, who has been dealing with social and political issues from the perspective of feminist criticism since the 1970s.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Gergely László and Péter Rákosi
Commuting Artillerymen (2006)
series of photographs

‘Commuting Artillerymen’ focuses on a small community in Budapest’s commuter belt, who have found pride in the annual re-enactment of a rare victory for Hungarian forces during the revolutionary struggles of 1848.

Péter Rákosi (1970, Kaposvár, Hungary) and Gergely László (1979, Budapest, Hungary) have worked together on a number of projects, which are based on collaboration between the artists and chosen communities, and are often focused on the lives of marginal groups in Hungarian society.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Nils Norman
Library to Civil Disobedience (2006)
installation with books

For the ‘Library to Civil Disobedience’, Nils Norman has compiled a collection of books that explore the contemporary possibilities of resistance. Here the artist offers radical insights, case studies and relevant models for the subversion of globalised power.

Nils Norman (1966, Kent, UK) lives and works in London. In his book projects, such as ‘The Contemporary Picturesque’ and ‘An Architecture of Play’, he explores alternative public space and examines the possibilities of resistance offered by the modern city.