Properly Past Exhibition Explores Failed Utopias Through Brooklyn Artists
The group exhibition 'Properly Past,' curated by Olga Kopenkina, was held at the BRIC Rotunda Gallery in New York City from March 18 to May 3, 2008. It showcased works by five artists from Brooklyn: Yevgeniy Fiks presented 'Communist Guide to New York City' (2005-07), Pablo Helguera featured the video 'Watervliet,' Lisa Kereszi displayed 'Governors Island' (2002), Rey Akdogan contributed the installation 'Building with View, No. 2' (2008), and Jesal Kapadia showcased the video 'A Vacant Rectangle, Left Blank for a Work Expressing Modern Feeling' (2007-08). Kopenkina engaged in a conversation about nostalgia and historical analysis with critic Linda Park, citing theorists such as Boris Groys and Jean-François Lyotard. The exhibition's epigraph was drawn from the Strugatsky brothers' novel 'Roadside Picnic.'
Key facts
- Exhibition 'Properly Past' curated by Olga Kopenkina at BRIC Rotunda Gallery, New York, March 18 – May 3, 2008.
- Five Brooklyn-based artists: Yevgeniy Fiks, Pablo Helguera, Lisa Kereszi, Rey Akdogan, Jesal Kapadia.
- Fiks's 'Communist Guide to New York City' (2005-07) maps buildings of the U.S. Communist Party.
- Helguera's 'Watervliet' video examines the Shaker community in upstate New York.
- Kereszi's 'Governors Island' (2002) photographs the former military facility near Manhattan.
- Akdogan's 'Building with View, No. 2' (2008) uses abstract geometric forms from architects' studios.
- Kapadia's 'A Vacant Rectangle' (2007-08) focuses on Le Corbusier's Chandigarh project in India.
- Kopenkina discusses nostalgia, modernity, and utopia with critic Linda Park in an interview published by ARTMargins Online.
Entities
Artists
- Olga Kopenkina
- Yevgeniy Fiks
- Pablo Helguera
- Lisa Kereszi
- Rey Akdogan
- Jesal Kapadia
- Le Corbusier
- Linda Park
- Mark Lewis
- Boris Groys
- Jean-François Lyotard
- Frederic Jameson
- Guy Debord
- Marcel Proust
- Andrei Tarkovsky
- Andrzej Żuławski
- Boris Strugatsky
- Arkady Strugatsky
- Stanisław Lem
- Iakov Protozanov
- Matthew Barney
- Zaha Hadid
- Antonio Negri
- Jawaharlal Nehru
- Gordon Brown
Institutions
- BRIC Rotunda Gallery
- ARTMargins Online
- Communist Party USA
- United Nations
- Documenta Magazines Online
- Afterall Publishers
Locations
- New York City
- New York
- United States
- Brooklyn
- Governors Island
- Manhattan
- Watervliet
- Albany
- upstate New York
- Chandigarh
- India
- Belarus
- Soviet Union
- Russia
- Eastern Europe
- Asia
- Middle East
- Africa
- Pakistan
- Punjab
- Haryana
- British Empire
- Italy
- France