SEASONS END

The world! What is the world? Besides philosophical questions that are complicated and closer to reality, the world is that place spread with political, economic, health and environmental crises in which we all try to live as good a life as we can. No, it is not the best place in which we could live, but that does not mean that the world is coming to an end and we cannot adapt and overcome life’s difficulties. Art can offer us a different perspective on how to understand what happens around us.

Such a new angle is Seasons End, an exhibition curated by Kasia Redzisz for the Art Encounters Biennial. It seeks to explore how all the crises and global changes influence art, from the different manners in which it is created to its themes and social function, for the purpose of discovering effective ways of living together on this planet.

To discover methods of peaceful coexistence without destroying the planet and ourselves at the same time, the exhibition presents Central and Eastern Europe collective and Land Art artistic practices. The selected artworks are intended to outline the cultural and artistic importance of Timișoara within the region, to highlight how we relate to each other and the environment. To this end, artists who address serious issues like social responsibility, ecology or sustainability were selected in particular.

Specifically, Seasons End represents the historical side of Kasia Redzisz’s wider concept of Our Other Us, which also includes a contemporary part. The exhibition seeks to illustrate the relationships that artists have had with nature and the environment in various historical eras.

Seasons End shows how Central and Eastern European artists approached nature and Land Art in their artistic practice under a political regime that did not favour freedom of expression. Nature and the environment, however, were not heavily censored themes, so artists expressing themselves in this area were allowed to explore their creativity as much as possible, without being held accountable by the state bodies.

All the artists who exhibit at Seasons End come from countries that faced the hardships of a proletarian dictatorship. Among them are important names such as Ana Lupaș, Jana Želibská, Sigma Group Timișoara, Agnes Denes, Eugenia Pop, Rudolf Sikora, Wanda Mihuleac or the OHO Group.

They refused to align themselves to the official art of the regime that wanted to illustrate people working happily in factories, in favour of experimental and more sincere artistic practices. They kept away from the concrete structures and the forced industrialization of communism, choosing to be closer to nature.