Temporary Art Zone/Trollwerk Art, 2010 Potsdam, DE Consulate General of Poland, 2006-2007 New York, USA
Governors Island/No Longer Empty, 2010 New York, USA Real Art Ways, 2006-2007 Hartford, USA
Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, 2010 Warsaw, POL The Drawing Center/WFC Winter Garden, 2006 New York, USA
Muzeum Montanelli, 2009-2010 Prague, CZE Kunsthaus Dresden, 2006 Dresden, DE
Urban Projects, 2009 New York, USA Kentler International Drawing Space, 2006 Brooklyn, USA
Centre for Contemporary Art Galeria El, 2009 Elblag, POL ArteBa, 2006 Buenos Aires, ARG
ConcentArt, 2009 Berlin, DE The Facto Foundation, 2006 Trancoso, PT
Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation, 2008-2009 Miami, USA Kunsthaus Dresden, 2006 Dresden, DE
Galerie Samuel Lallouz, 2008-2009 Montreal, CAN Galerie Samuel Lallouz, 2006 Montreal, CAN
ConcentArt, 2008 Berlin, DE Remy Toledo Gallery, 2006 New York, USA
FrauenMuseum, 2008 Bonn, DE Lehman College Art Gallery, 2005 New York, USA
Artbreak Gallery, 2008 New York, USA The Lab Gallery, 2005 San Francisco, USA
Galeria Sztuki Wspolczesnej, 2008 Opole, POL Remy Toledo Gallery, 2005 New York, USA
Instytut Sztuki WYSPA, 2007 Gdansk, POL WYSPA Institute of Art, 2005 Gdansk, POL
Cornice Art Fair, 2007 Venice, IT Inter-Galerie, 2005 Potsdam, DE
Galerie Samuel Lallouz, 2007 Montreal, CAN Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, 2004 Peekskill, USA
Hans Weiss New Space Gallery, MCC, 2007 Manchester, USA Remy Toledo Gallery, 2004 New York, USA
North Dakota Museum of Art, 2006-2007 Grand Forks, USA Chelsea Art Museum, 2004 New York, USA
Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation, 2006-2007 Miami, USA
 
Sustenazo (Lament II), 2010
Stills from limited edition video, courtesy the artist.
Monika Weiss "Sustenazo (Lament II)"
July 10 - August 1, 2010
TAZ - Temporary Art Zone

From Press Release:

"Composed in the form of contemporary Lament, SUSTENAZO (LAMENT II), 2010 consists of 3 video and musical movements and combines historical reflection with the exploration of gesture, trace, and duration as conditions of embodiment. The Greek word "Sustenazo" means "to sigh, to lament inaudibly together." The work explores visual and musical aspects of the ancient ritual of lamentation and its historical connection to feminine expression, especially as contrasted with the notion of the heroic myth within the narrative of war. Weiss creates new meanings by opening up a space of historical memory and translating it into a context that is both timeless and contemporary. The sound track created by the artist incorporates overlapping voices reading passages from Goethe's "Faust II".

SUSTENAZO (LAMENT II) was first exhibited as part of the artist's recent solo exhibition, "Monika Weiss: Sustenazo," at the Centre for Contemporary Art, Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw (March-May 2010), an exhibition inspired in part by a specific event that took place at the castle during the onset of the Warsaw Uprising. On August 6, 1944 the German Army forced more than 1,800 patients and medical staff to abruptly evacuate the Ujazdowski Hospital (now CCA), giving them only overnight notice."

"...The film ends as two hands slowly release the face of the female performer, a woman's voice reading sentences such as "Everything is transitory is only a parable," now broken up and altered again and again, overlaid with the dark murmuring voices of a chorus. Finally, the woman bends her head forward under the black headscarf and sinks to the ground. What remains is the empty white wall." - Volker Oelschläger Chorus of Lamentation: Video Project by New York Artist Monika Weiss" in Markische Allgemeine, July 9, 2010

To read full review in German (English version coming soon), click here.

TAZ - Temporary Art Zone
Schiffbauergasse 4i
D-14467 Potsdam

Copyright © 2012 Monika Weiss