States of Flux at Swimming Pool

Artists: Florian Auer, Max Brand, Sebastian Burger, Stanimir Genov, Tiril Hasselknippe, Martin Kohout, Hanne Lippard, Luci Lippard, Michele Di Menna, Shana Moulton, Jenny Knight, Pakui Hardware, Kalina Terzieva, Tore Wallert, Anna Zacharoff and Dardan Zhegrova

Exhibition title: States of Flux: The Sunniest Beach. After The Splash. The Sanguine. The Token.

Curated by: Viktoria Draganova and Gergana Todorova

Venue: Swimming Pool, Sunny Beach, Sofia, Bulgaria; Waschsalon, Frankfurt am Mainer, Germany

Date: August 27 – October 16, 2016

Photography: Mihail Novakov, Neven Allgeier, all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and Swimming Pool, Sofia

STATES OF FLUX
THE SUNNIEST BEACH. AFTER THE SPLASH. THE SANGUINE. THE TOKEN.

a four-part exhibition in
Sunny Beach, Sofia, Zheleznitsa and Frankfurt/M.

Imagine an empty pool. Then imagine smashing everything into it – a totality that eventually overflows the centre, the periphery, the whole thing.

States of Flux evolves around four sites as its decentred stages: a hotel in the tourist resort Sunny Beach on the Black Sea; the rooftop premises of Swimming Pool in Sofia, with an empty pool; a hot spring in a mountain village near the city; and, far from the South of Europe, a self-service laundry in Frankfurt am Main. These semi-public places form the spine of an imaginary geography of flux.

We start at the periphery of the country – Sunny Beach, a mass tourism dream on the Bulgarian coast. Here we face a capitalism of excess, manifested by booze and trinketization. As such, it reels in vast flows of things and thoughts, money and bodies, each without a recognizable origin or destination. Reality wobbles in desire and exhaustion until it finds itself stifled in an odd surface. The Sunniest Beach encompasses weekend-long interventions at the premises of the all-inclusive complex Iberostar.

The second part of the project takes place at Swimming Pool in Sofia a week later. Titled After the Splash, it is set post-factum – after the occurrence of an unavoidable, all encompassing, all revealing burst. Here, we are immersed in a world haunted by the unruly effects of repressed selves. A parallel reality emerges – partly dystopian, partly fueled by fanatical romanticism.

One day later, we set off on a walk through the forest to a hot spring near Zheleznitsa. The woods, the water, the friendly sharing of thoughts are sources of pleasure and relaxation. We are the sanguine. In these peaceful surroundings we initiate forms of community within a timeless (pre-) apocalyptic setting.

The last stage, The Token, is in Frankfurt – a location with a thriving global late-capitalist economy. The mirror facades that surround us are those of a speculative financial apparatus that grows ever more elusive through its obsession with the production of fictions about the future. With such fictions governing our reality, how can we claim our vulnerable presence?

States of Flux is curated by Viktoria Draganova and Gergana Todorova and hosted by Swimming Pool, Sofia.

On the occasion of the exhibitions and with the kind support of Goethe Institut Sofia a series of writings is published on Swimming Pool’s homepage. The texts The Leisure Class (2015) (TV Movie) by Ed Fornieles and Calypso’s Way by Rosa Aiello have been already published. An interview between Gergana Todorova and Annette Bhagwati as well as an essay by Viktoria Draganova will accomplish the series.

States of Flux: The Sunniest Beach

Stanimir Genov, I Don’t Know, 2015. Spray paint and oil on canvas
Stanimir Genov, They Will Never Land On This Planet, 2015. Oil on canvas

Anna Zacharoff, Rollercoaster, 2016. Ceramic pots, variable dimensions

Tore Wallert, Suit Jacket #2, 2016. Heat transferred aquarelle drawings on suit jacket

Tiril Hasselknippe, 29 palms (earth grid) 1-5, 2014. Sand, glass fibre, steel

Florian Auer, Aerospacing II, 2015

Kalina Terzieva, Balance and Equilibrium in Motion, 2016. Watercolor on paper

Shana Moulton, Every Angel is an Angel, 2016, HD-Video. Loop, 6:19 min

Florian Auer, Aerospacing I, 2015

Hanne Lippard, c u l8r elevator, 2016. Performance

Anna Zacharoff, Beautiful Shamandura, 2016. Oil paint and pigment on canvas

Martin Kohout, Wrong Step, 2013. Inkjet print on reflexive foil, dibond

Martin Kohout, Zitless Pavements FFM, promotional towels, part of Wrong Step, 2013

Jenny Knight, Head space Slick, 2016. Plastic, acrylic paint, nylon rope, copper wire and found tchotchkes

Pakui Hardware, Lost Heritage, 2016. Grass rolls, silicone, resin, plaster

Michele Di Menna, Blushing Butt, 2016. Acrylic resin, fiberglass, acrylic paint

Kalina Terzieva, Performance

States of Flux: After the Splash

Tiril Hasselknippe, Balcony (скелет 43 %), 2016, Welded steel, polyester
Tiril Hasselknippe, Balcony (скелет 57 %), 2016. Welded steel, polyester

Tiril Hasselknippe, Balcony (скелет 43 %), 2016. Welded steel, polyester

Martin Kohout, Wrong Step, 2013. Injet print on reflexive foil, dibond

Max Brand, Untitled, 2016. Mixed media

Hanne Lippard, Yourope, 2016. Pencil, fluorescent stars

Hanne Lippard, Phallucinations, 2016. HD-Video

Max Brand, Untitled, 2016. Mix media

Hanne Lippard, When you worry, call me, I make you happy, 2016. HD-Video

Anna Zacharoff, Beutidull Sham ….2, 2016. Ceramic pots, glue, golden leafs

Anna Zacharoff, Beutidull Sham ….2, 2016 (detail). Ceramic pots, glue, golden leafs

Tore Wallert, Walkers at the Swimming Pool, 2016 (detail). Masks, figurines, lamps, wood, metal, cords, strings, shoe, various plastics, threads, paint, latex, silicone, heat transfer prints, plastic mesh, ink

States of Flux: The Token

“States of Flux; The Token”, the last part of the project States of Flux takes place in Frankfurt – a city with a thriving global late-capitalist economy. The mirror facades that surround us are those of a speculative financial apparatus that grows ever more elusive through its obsession with the production of fictions about the future. With such fictions governing our reality, how can we claim our vulnerable presence?

Luci Lippard is a performance band formed in Berlin in spring of 2014 by artists Lucinda Dayhew and Hanne Lippard. Using drums, voice, synths and songs, the duo make noise out of poetry.