Chinatown, New York
Ola Vasiljeva
Jargot
Art in General- Dear Jargot, how to act in the middle of this sentence? Here, on the stage, where abandoned ideas are given roles to play, where a clandestine visual vocabulary interacts with the eye, and where references mingle and mutate? - It is bordering on the opaque and the comic, between inspiration and completion. Go for the quality of eloquent suggestion; build a dialogue for the fragile, the hidden, neglected, and the other! Art in General is pleased to present Jargot, a New Commission by Latvian artist Ola Vasiljeva, running from January 24 – March 15, 2014, in Art in General’s sixth floor gallery. Curated by Zane Onckule, this exhibition reflects Art in General’s continued partnership with kim? Contemporary Art Centre in Riga, Latvia. Jargot is a new sculptural installation by Ola Vasiljeva that continues her investigation into the relationship between thought, language, and the production of objects. Vasiljeva builds a stage of sculptural stand-ins for personal objects and subjects, confusing definitions and categorizations, while creating a mysterious web of references, riddles, and inside jokes. Populated by reoccurring characters, which move seamlessly between sculpture, prop, and performance, Jargot operates as a metaphor for syntax. Evoking the uncanny waking-reality of dreams, Vasiljeva makes tangible the isolated gestures and absurdities which only occur in the sleeping mind. Working with light, sound, and video, Vasiljeva recalls the experimental theatrical and philosophical tropes of Bertolt Brecht – the interpretation and ultimate meaning behind Jargot is left determinedly open-ended. Curated by Zane Onckule Ola Vasiljeva (b. 1981) is a Latvian-born artist living and working in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Recent solo exhibitions include the Prix de Rome, de Appel, Amsterdam, Netherlands (2013); Cinq à sept, kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga, Latvia (2013); OAOA Vestibule, Galerie van Gelder, Netherlands (2012); among others. Her work has been included in numerous group exhibitions, including What Were You Expecting, Mr. Milquetoast, a Plot?, Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe, Germany (2014); Fusiform Gyrus, Lisson Gallery, London, United Kingdom (2013); Material Information, Bergen Kunstmuseum, Bergen, Norway (2012); among others. Vasiljeva is a founder and member of The Oceans Academy of Arts artist collective and the publisher of OAOA Magazine. kim? Contemporary Art Centre, founded in 2009, offers a certain range of activities, including exhibitions, lectures, talks, public library, publications, and other events related to recent art, theory, and social issues introduced by the means of a local and international corpus of ideas, beliefs, and individuals. kim? supports the development of emerging artists, theoreticians, curators, philosophers, and others, aiming to provide a responsive context for their work and to make those critical practices accessible to a wider audience. In 2013 kim? headed the Latvian Pavilion at the 55th edition of the Venice Biennale in collaboration with Art in General. www.kim.lv Additional support has been provided by Materiaalfonds, the Mondriaan Fund Material Equipment Fund; Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia; State Culture Capital Foundation, Riga, Latvia; and Riga City Council. Special thanks to Lidie Noordhoek and Cees van Stijn.