This Is Going To Be Difficult
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Festival Video in Progress 4: Feelings of Distress presents
Solo exhibition
Joshua & Zachary Sandler (US)
This Is Going To Be Difficult
November 8-21, 2011
Photon Gallery, Križevniška ulica 10, Ljubljana
Opening view: Monday, November 7, 2011 at 7 pm
Curated by: Vesna Bukovec, Metka Zupanič (KOLEKTIVA)
Joshua & Zachary Sandler, Brothers’ Beach Day (in the Hamptons), 2011, still
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The subject common to the joint projects by the brothers Joshua and Zachary Sandler is their growing up in a dysfunctional American family, which was marked by the tragic death of their younger sister Samantha from a heroin overdose. Their working together dates back to their teenage years when they confronted the reality of estranged family relationships through subversive photographic projects. They made their first joint video performance a few months after their sister’s death in 2006. Sexually audacious, sometimes brutal and particularly complex performances, which openly address sexual taboos and trauma upon the loss of a family member, play the role of collective family psychotherapy.
In their post-dramatic performances, the Sandler brothers follow the example of Antonin Artaud’s Theatre of Cruelty which, through violence and brutality, shatters the false reality and mental blocks of modern social codes of behaviour to reveal the false reality and original cruelty of life. In addition, the Sandler brothers deal with their trauma through a prism of exaggeration and humour, thereby achieving a distance that allows them to come to terms with their past.
Examining their own sexual phantasies and experimenting with drugs are typical attributes of bored adolescents, not only in America but also in broader Western culture. Within contemporary art, this topic is very close to the works of Larry Clark and Nan Goldin who faithfully portray and document their own life and a youth marked by drugs, sexuality and violence. In the Sandlers’ projects, the experience of family tragedy related to drugs serves as a premise to constant analysis, both of themselves as well as other family members. By way of this their works explore reasons and reveal defence mechanisms developed in cruel and traumatic situations.
Text by Vesna Bukovec
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About artists
Joshua Sandler (born in 1977) completed his study of art at Temple University, Philadelphia (2001) and was awarded M.A. in photography and video at the Pratt Institute of Art, New York City (2005).
Zachary Sandler (born in 1979) graduated in Russian and East-European studies with a focus on theatre from Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut (2001). He participated at the Stanislavski Summer School at Harvard University’s Drama Department (2002), and gained an M.A. in drama and performance at University College Dublin, Dublin (2005).
The brothers participated in a number of international exhibitions, video festivals and art shows in New York, Basel, Toronto, Stockholm, Barcelona, Ljubljana, Rotterdam and Cannes. They also received a prize for a series of eleven videos entitled Saga Sandler at the 2011 Art Video & Film Festival (AVIFF), an annual event accompanying the Cannes Film Festival.
More information
Photon Gallery
Križevniška ulica 10, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Open: Monday – Friday, 11 am – 6 pm
Weekends and festive days closed
tel.: +386 (0)59 977 907
info@photon.si
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Producer: Kolektiva Institute
Coproducer: Photon Gallery/Association
Partners: Museum and Galleries of Ljubljana, Vžigalica Gallery, Kinodvor, Lowave, Paris
Festival is supported by: Municipality of Ljubljana, Department for Culture and Research Activities and Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia
Media partner: Radio Študent
Sponsor: Center projekcije
Thanks: SCCA, Center for Contemporary Arts – Ljubljana, Škuc Gallery
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Contact persons:
Metka Zupanič, Kolektiva Institute
Vesna Bukovec, Kolektiva Institute
www.kolektiva.org | kolektiva@gmail.com
Dejan Sluga, Photon Gallery
www.photon.si | info@photon.si
Festival Video in Progress 4: Občutki neugodja predstavlja:
samostojna razstava
Joshua & Zachary Sandler (US)
Težko bo
8.-21. 11. 2011
Galerija Photon, Križevniška ulica 10, Ljubljana
Otvoritev: ponedeljek, 7. 11. 2011 ob 19. uri
Izbor: Vesna Bukovec, Metka Zupanič (KOLEKTIVA)
Joshua & Zachary Sandler, Brothers’ Beach Day (in the Hamptons), 2011, izsek iz videa
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Tema skupnih projektov bratov Joshue in Zacharya Sandlerja je njuno odraščanje v disfunkcionalni ameriški družini, zaznamovani s tragično smrtjo mlajše sestre Samanthe, ki je umrla zaradi prevelikega odmerka heroina. Njuno sodelovanje sega v najstniška leta, ko sta se s pomočjo subverzivnih fotografskih projektov spopadala z realnostjo odtujenih meddružinskih odnosov. Prvi skupni videoperformans sta posnela nekaj mesecev po sestrini smrti leta 2006. Seksualno drzni, včasih brutalni in predvsem kompleksni performansi, ki odkrito obravnavajo seksualne tabuje in travmo ob izgubi družinskega člana imajo vlogo kolektivne družinske psihoterapije.
Brata Sandler se v svojih postdramskih performansih zgledujeta po gledališču krutosti Antonina Artauda, ki z nasiljem in surovostjo razbija lažno realnost in psihološke blokade modernih družbenih kodov obnašanja ter razkriva lažno realnost in izhodiščno krutost življenja. Ob tem lastno travmo obravnavata tudi skozi prizmo pretiravanja in humorja in tako dosežeta distanco, ki jima omogoča pomiritev z lastno preteklostjo.
Raziskovanje lastnih seksualnih fantazij in eksperimentiranje z drogo sta tipični lastnosti zdolgočasene odraščajoče mladine, ne zgolj ameriške, ampak tudi širše zahodnjaške kulture. Obravnavana tematika je v okviru konteksta sodobne umetnosti blizu delom Larrya Clarka in Nan Goldin, ki zvesto portretirata in dokumentirata lastno življenje in odraščanje, zaznamovano z drogo, seksualnostjo in nasiljem. Izkušnja z drogo povezane družinske tragedije je pri bratih Sandler izhodišče njunega stalnega analiziranja samih sebe in ostalih družinskih članov. S svojimi deli raziskujeta vzroke in razkrivata obrambne mehanizme, ki jih razvijemo v krutih in travmatičnih okoliščinah.
Vesna Bukovec
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O umetnikih
Joshua Sandler (rojen 1977) je zaključil študij umetnosti na Temple University, Philadelphia (2001) in magistriral iz fotografije in videa na Pratt Institute of Art, New York City (2005).
Zachary Sandler (rojen 1979) je diplomiral iz ruskih in vzhodnoevropskih študij s poudarkom na gledališču na Wesleyan University, Middletown (2001). Udeležil se je Poletne šole Stanislavskega na Harvard University, Drama Department, Cambridge (2002) in magistriral iz dramskih in performativnih študij na University College Dublin, Dublin (2005).
Sodelovala sta na več mednarodnih razstavah, videofestivalih in umetnostnih sejmih v New Yorku, Baslu, Torontu, Stockholmu, Barceloni, Ljubljani, Rotterdamu in Cannesu. Leta 2011 sta za serijo enajstih videov Saga Sandler prejela glavno nagrado AVIFF 2011 v okviru festivala AVIFF – Art video film festival, ki je spremljevalni dogodek canneskega filmskega festivala.
Več informacij
Galerija Photon
Križevniška ulica 10, Ljubljana
Odprto: ponedeljek – petek med 11h – 18h
Ob vikendih in praznikih zaprto
tel.: +386 (0)59 977 907
info@photon.si
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Produkcija: Zavod Kolektiva
Koprodukcija: Društvo/galerija Photon
Partnerji: Muzej in galerije mesta Ljubljane, Galerija Vžigalica, Kinodvor. Mestni kino, Lowave, Paris
Festival sta podprla: Mestna občina Ljubljana, oddelek za kulturo in Ministrstvo za kulturo RS
Medijski partner: Radio Študent
Sponzor: Center projekcije
Zahvala: SCCA-Ljubljana, Galerija Škuc
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Kontaktne osebe:
Metka Zupanič, Zavod Kolektiva, tel.: 040 168 014
Vesna Bukovec, Zavod Kolektiva, tel.: 041 258 215
www.kolektiva.org | kolektiva@gmail.com
Dejan Sluga, Galerija Photon, tel.: 040 168 023
www.photon.si | info@photon.si
