BERGMAN & SALINAS 2018
Aeron Bergman and Alejandra Salinas
Bitter Presence
16 November - 14 December 2019, Gallery K18
Written by: Irena Borić
The exhibition Bitter Presence by Aeron Bergman and Alejandra Salinas reflects on the entanglement of art and neoliberalism. The exhibition takes its title after a plate from Francisco Goya's series Disasters of War (1810-1820) composed of 82 prints inspired by the Peninsular War. In it the painter broke the iconographical tradition which always depicted war from the perspective of a winner by showing the perspective of the ones who suffered from atrocities of war. Goya's print entitled Amarga Presencia (Bitter Presence) exposes a women caught by two soldiers who have her on the floor, pulling her hair. The exhibition took this title in order to underline the inevitable position of being trapped alluding to the impossibility to escape neoliberalism within the art field, or any other field.
As said by Aeron Bergman and Alejandra Salinas in their book Telepathy: “Corporate Cooperation emphasizes team-building through conformity, constraint and blind ambition within an oppressive, military hierarchy that actively works against democracy. Corporate Cooperation is advanced individualism fully implemented into a military structure where individuals no longer have value, and nearly every element is interchangeable except ownership. (Bergman, Aeron and Salinas Alejandra (2018) Telepathy 传心术, INCA Press, P 61)
Aeron Bergman (Detroit, USA) and Alejandra Salinas (La Rioja, Spain) are an artist duo. They have lived in New York, Toronto, Detroit, London, Barcelona, Gothenburg, Oslo, Seattle, and currently live in Portland. Since 2011 Bergman/Salinas co-direct and co-curate Institute for New Connotative Action (INCA), an artist-run space first based in Detroit, then Seattle, and now Portland. In 2016 they founded INCA Press. Bergman was a professor at the Oslo Academy of Fine Art from 2007-2013, both have been visiting professors at various international art academies, both were artists-in-residence at the University of Washington from 2013-2017, and both are currently associate professors and Bergman is chair of Low Res MFA of Visual Studies at the Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon.
Produced by: Pekarna Magdalenske mreže within program SobaZaGosteMaribor/GuestRoomMaribor
Founded by: MOM and Urad RS za mladino
As said by Aeron Bergman and Alejandra Salinas in their book Telepathy: “Corporate Cooperation emphasizes team-building through conformity, constraint and blind ambition within an oppressive, military hierarchy that actively works against democracy. Corporate Cooperation is advanced individualism fully implemented into a military structure where individuals no longer have value, and nearly every element is interchangeable except ownership. (Bergman, Aeron and Salinas Alejandra (2018) Telepathy 传心术, INCA Press, P 61)
Aeron Bergman (Detroit, USA) and Alejandra Salinas (La Rioja, Spain) are an artist duo. They have lived in New York, Toronto, Detroit, London, Barcelona, Gothenburg, Oslo, Seattle, and currently live in Portland. Since 2011 Bergman/Salinas co-direct and co-curate Institute for New Connotative Action (INCA), an artist-run space first based in Detroit, then Seattle, and now Portland. In 2016 they founded INCA Press. Bergman was a professor at the Oslo Academy of Fine Art from 2007-2013, both have been visiting professors at various international art academies, both were artists-in-residence at the University of Washington from 2013-2017, and both are currently associate professors and Bergman is chair of Low Res MFA of Visual Studies at the Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon.
Produced by: Pekarna Magdalenske mreže within program SobaZaGosteMaribor/GuestRoomMaribor
Founded by: MOM and Urad RS za mladino
