141111: Badischer Kunstverein Hamlet Hovsepian - Head, Itch, Washing Hair, Yawning, Biting Nails

Badischer Kunstverein Hamlet Hovsepian - Head, Itch, Washing Hair, Yawning, Biting Nails 30.09.11 - 27.11.11 Cinema Yerevan He once said that great people such as Bunuel, Pasolini, Fellini, Godard, Chabrol or Truffaut influenced him. He had read about all of their films, but had never seen one of them. In the mid 70’s, the artist, who is now considered to be one of the pioneers of concept art in the Soviet Union, created his works in the small village of Ashnak near Yerevan. Hamlet Hovespian’s idea was to rid movies of drama, he said in unpublished conversation with the curators Anja Casser and Daniel Pies, who are now showing four films by the Armenian conceptualist in the first solo presentation at the Badische Kunstverein in Karlsruhe. Vienna’s Filmmuseum contributed to the exhibition by saving and copying the old films in the original 16mm format, allowing the presentation of the scratched and otherwise damaged material to be accompanied by the buzzing sound of a player. A man continuously yawning, a young women biting her fingernails, someone permanently scratching his back – all of these practically unconsciously performed acts of boredom, all staged in a loop - without a beginning, end or climax. Even the young man who incessantly circles a rock seems to lack all intention to interrupt his action to at least attempt to move the rock. These minimalistic activities would be the “result of a small revolt against the deadly passivity of society”, said Georg Schöllhammer 2004. “Hovsepian’s reduction, his silence provides a general deflection to the significance of emptiness, abstract space and manifold expanded time.” Can one criticize in isolation? In principle yes, but it could take decades before it is noticed. By Daniela Gregori Badischer Kunstverein 76133 Karlsruhe, Waldstraße 3 Tel: +49(0)721 28226 Fax: +49(0)721 29773 http://www.badischer-kunstverein.de/ Opening hours: Tue - Fri 11-19 hours, Sat, Sun 11-17 hours

Mehr Texte von translated and summarized by: Liz Wollner-Grandville

141111

Badischer Kunstverein
76133 Karlsruhe, Waldstraße 3
Tel: +49(0)721 28226, Fax: +49(0)721 29773
http://www.badischer-kunstverein.de/
Öffnungszeiten: Di-Fr 11-19, Sa, So 11-17 h

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