Middle Gate

    NLEN

    The exhibition project Middle Gate II – The Story of Dymphna is a collaboration between M HKA (Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp) and the cultural centre de Werft in Geel. Middle Gate II is the follow up to the exhibition Middle Gate, curated by Jan Hoet in Geel in 2013. The exhibition concept is closely tied to the legend of the holy Dymphna, saint of the possessed, the mentally ill and patroness against epilepsy and insanity. The legend of Dymphna shares a strong connection to the identity of Geel, "the charitable city".

    Taus Makhacheva

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    Tightrope, 2015
    Taus Makhacheva
    Video , 73 min
    4K video, colour, sound

    A tightrope walker crosses the abyss of a canyon in the highlands of Cauca­sians mountains using artworks of various Dagestani artists on instead of a balancing pole. The walker, Rasul Abakarov, descendant of a famous tight­rope dynasty in 5th generation, brings paintings and works on paper span­ning through the whole 20th century from one side of the mountain to the other into a structure that evokes a museum storage. By staging this risky operation, Makhacheva creates a vision of subjective institutional history of art in 61 objects, questioning the mechanisms of functioning of history of art under the threat of depths of amnesia. The way how artworks are moved above the void evokes the fragile balance of post-soviet subjectivity rein­venting itself and looking for an equilibrium between the traditional past and the national, local and contemporary culture. Ultimately the precarious balance of the tightrope embodies the existential experience of an artist always balancing on the verge of appreciation and oblivion. (Silvia Franceschini)

     

    Taus Makhacheva, Tightrope, 2015, 58 min.10 sec. video, colour, sound

    Tightrope walker: Rasul Abakarov
    Executive producer: Malika Alieva
    Director of photography: Alexander Sinyagin
    Camera: Pavel Filkov
    Quadrocopter camera: Shamil Gadzhidadaev
    Editing: Alexandra Pustynnova
    Colour grading: Mikhail Perelman, Nika Digital Studio
    Sound engineer: Alexandra Pustynnova
    Sound designer: Alexander Khokhlov
    Foley artist: Sergey Radzievsky
    Metal Structure 1: Malika Alieva, Robert Ashurbekov, Isa Charakov
    Metal Structure 2: Malika Alieva, Aliomar Aliomarov, Isa Charakov
    Tightrope technical assistance: Mukhtar Abakarov
    Technical equipment: Kinozavod
    Production support: Abdulla Abdullaev, Patimat Abdullaeva, Patimat Ataeva, Natalia Bezrukova, Ruslan Dadashev, Gusein Gimbatov, Iraiganat Kurbanova, Magomed Magomedov, Nurmagomed Nurmagomedov, Akhmed Yusupov
    Research: Malika Alieva, Alexandra Pustynnova
    Printing: Marat Suleimanov

    With support of the Ministry of Culture of The Republic of Dagestan, P. S. Gamzatova Dagestan Museum of Fine Arts and collection custodians Bakiyat Kakhimova, Zuriyat Dzhanbatyrova, Ravzat Otsokova, deputy director Ayshat Magomedova and director Salikhat Gamzatova, Department of Audiovisual Technologies of the College of Entrepreneurship No. 11 (Moscow), Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp (M HKA, Belgium), Jan Van Eyck Academie, Altus Group

    The work is based on the collection of P. S. Gamzatova Dagestan Museum of Fine Arts
    The selection of artworks is loosely based on an unpublished article on the collection of P. S. Gamzatova Dagestan Museum of Fine Arts by Dzhamilya Dagirova

    Production supported by Cosmoscow Artists’ Patron Programme
    Courtesy of the artist
     

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