If You Want to Say Something—Speak in the Language of the Language: Ewa Partum's Model of Conceptual Art

The artistic practice of the Polish-born Ewa Partum can be divided chronologically into Polish (1965–1982), West Berlin (1982–89) and transnational / global (from 1989) periods. This essay focuses on the specificity of the conceptual art developed by Partum and her self-historicization as a conceptual artist. At the same time, it regards the local and global historicization of conceptual art as fragmentary and contradicting processes. The study examines local genealogy of Partum's conceptual strategies as part of a localized reflection on the geopolitics of knowledge; it considers a specific position of cultural production that is characteristic of Central and Eastern European neo-avant-gardes. It examines Partum's model of conceptual art in relation to Polish and Western practices. It is argued that Western conceptualism was only a point of reference for Partum's art. Works such as Presence / Absence or Luncheon on the Grass realized by Partum in years 1965–1972 formed a basis from which the artist responded to knowledge of the transnational conceptual movement that was disseminated through Mail Art and Fluxus networks. Analysis reveals Partum's model of conceptual art to be contrapuntal, as it is not subordinate to either its western inflection or local (Polish) cannons and protocols.

Abdelkader Lagtaâ and His Conceptual Exercises in Poland, 1972–74

This article focuses on conceptual practices by Moroccan artist Abdelkader Lagtaâ, whose early 1970s work, created as a part of Polish conceptual milieus in Łódź and Warsaw, remains undocumented in art-historical scholarship. The author rediscovers Lagtaâ’s practices as part of conceptual strategies in Eastern Europe and discusses his work in relation to Okwui Enwezor’s article “Where, What, Who, When: A Few Notes on ‘African’ Conceptualism.” The author argues that while Enwezor and, later, other scholars, including Olu Oguibe and Salah M. Hassan, critique the work by African conceptualists to and through conceptualist strategies prevalent in Africa and the West, Lagtaâ’s work was almost entirely situated in the linguistic, performative, new media, and mail art experiments characteristic of Eastern Europe. While the work of conceptual artists from the African continent identified by Enwezor remained on the margins, outside of international and noninstitutional artistic circuits, Lagtaâ’s work was an intrinsic part of the early 1970s collective experiments and transnational networks of artistic exchange between Eastern Europe and other geographical regions.

Mail-art i money-art Tołstego

Artykuł przybliża sylwetkę i twórczość ideowo-artystyczną Wladimira Kotlarowa (Tołstego), jednej z najbardziej kontrowersyjnych postaci w środowisku emi-grantów rosyjskich w Paryżu lat 1980–2013. Jego specjalnością były skandalizujące hap-peningi z przesłaniem patriotyczno-anarchizującym oraz mail-art i money-art. Drogą analizy treści naniesionej na koperty, przedmioty użytkowe, kompozycje z banknotów, a także tekstów zamieszczonych w wydawanych przez Tołstego almanachu „Muleta” i gazecie „Wieczernij zwon” ustalono, że prezentowany tam światopogląd, nazywany vivrystycznym i eurazjatyckim, zawiera jedynie fragmentaryczne i nad wyraz swobodne odniesienia zarówno do dorobku Eurazjatów lat międzywojennych, jak i współczesnych kontynuatorów ich myśli. Tołsty wykorzystał eurazjatyzm, łącząc niektóre jego elementy; kolaż – tak w formie, jak i treści – stał się jego metodą twórczą, dzięki której zasłynął jako artysta konceptualistyczny.

CEMFLORES: POÉTICAS POLÍTICAS EM BELO HORIZONTE NOS ANOS OITENTA / Cemflores: political poetics in Belo Horizonte in the eighties

O artigo traça uma trajetória do grupo Cemflores, a partir do contato crítico-afetivo com o arquivo do poeta Marcelo Dolabela, quem guardou por mais de quarenta anos os restos dessa memória. Formado por “trabalhadores em arte”, como se denominaram, Cemflores surge no seio do Movimento Estudantil – quase todos seus integrantes eram estudantes da UFMG – e atuou no cenário da contracultura em Belo Horizonte, nos anos oitenta, período marcado pelo processo de redemocratização. Buscaram repensar a práxis das esquerdas, através da realização de ações poéticas. Publicam revistas e dezenas de livrinhos em mimeógrafo, distribuem poesia em greves e atos pela anistia, realizam recitais, exposições de arte postal e experiências sonoras que culminam na criação das bandas de estilo pós-punk Sexo Explícito, Divergência Socialista e O Último Número.Palavras-chave: Cemflores; Marcelo Dolabela; Arte e política; Poesia marginal; Arte postal.AbstractThe article traces the Cemflores group’s path, based on the critical-affective contact with the poet Marcelo Dolabela’s archive, who kept the remains of that memory for more than forty years. Formed by, as they called themselves, “workers in art”, Cemflores appears within the Student Movement and they acted in the counterculture scenario in Belo Horizonte, in the 1980s, a period marked by the process of Brazil’s redemocratization. They sought to rethink the praxis of the left-wing tendencies, through the performance of poetic actions. They published magazines and dozens of booklets made in mimeograph, distributed poetry in strikes and acts for Amnesty, held recitals, mail art exhibitions and sound experiences that culminated in the creation of the post-punk style bands Sexo Explícito, Divergência Socialista and O Último Número.Keywords: Cemflores; Marcelo Dolabela; Art and politics; Marginal poetry; Mail art.

Printed matter, nomad matter

In a dictatorial or repressive context, movement can be said to be one of the most fundamental and disruptive forms of (aesthetic) resistance. Through exile, migration, travel or correspondence, bodies, ideas and objects are permanently displaced, searching constantly for lines of flight that are impossible to pin down by any political regime. When associated with art, the elusive and ever changing nature of movement can transform objects into events, creating an affective network of images, words, objects, ideas and relations. The ideological potential of movement can be found acutely in artist’s publications, or art in the form of printed matter, such as artist’s books or mail art, which have the potential to circumvent physical limitations imposed by repressive apparatuses. Also, movement triggers imagination to put together all the elements of the network thus constructed and put into motion, also entailing (different levels of) collaboration. This exercise entails taking a closer look to the material and historical circumstances of these objects that become deeply imbedded with ideology. So, by looking at the triangulation movement-time-history, I aim to investigate some ways women artists have used printed matter to revised, confront and debunk totalizing narratives, such as women’s role in society, capitalism, slavery, colonialism, etc., that have been sustained by and have themselves sustained the repressive and dictatorial regimes that operated in Portugal and in Brazil.

Fandom as an Art Form

This chapter examines the practice of fandom as an art form in and of itself, exploring the example of fan clubs and zines by artists in the international mail art scene (known as the Eternal Network) in the 1970s. Fandom as an artistic practice differs from fan art produced in admiration of celebrities. Instead, what this chapter argues is that the artists of the Eternal Network engaged in fan activities. The first part of the chapter explores the network and compares several of their practices to fan behavior, including the desire for social connectivity, cultivation of insiders, and semiotic productivity. The second part delves into fan clubs and their publications as representational devices, and considers the role of affective behavior, including humor and the power of naming, to create group identity. The last section examines fandom as a form to critique social, political, and economic systems, analyzing a publicly circulated mock presidential campaign. The chapter concludes by suggesting that artists deploy fandom as a strategy to imagine the worlds they want to inhabit.