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From: bastarda Category: Art Date: 07 October 2006 Time: 10:15 AM Review: Young, rude, curious, angry, critical, sometimes uncritical but all the more convincing for it. That’s what BASTART’ is, a new gallery in Bratislava’s centre. BASTART hopes to make a name for itself as a contemporary Slovak art gallery. It is in close touch with the international scene, bringing the newest of information and projects of current world art experience. BASTART is an open opinion-forming platform that intends to communicate contemporary art to both experts and a broad spectrum of audience. atthe current show called grand 1st: CULT MEDIA,-the following artists will be presenting their work: JESPER ALVAER (1973-NO), JURAJ BALOGH (1975-SK), ERIK BINDER (1974-SR), PAVOL ČEJKA (1973-SK), PETRA FERIANCOVÁ (1977-SK), JAMES JESSOP (1975-GB), KRIŠTOF KINTERA (1973-CZ), MARCO RAPARELLI (1975- IT), TOMÁŠ VANĚK (1966-CZ), SARAH WARDEN (1978-GB), a XYZ (1997-SK). The displaying artists are united by an interest in techniques used by certain social groups in certain social milieux – spray-paint, markers, stereo, LP, pencil, brush, sticky tape, newspapers – i.e. cult media, with their own new-age symbolism and methodology. The show confronts contemporary societal meanings in transitional environments, with positions altering – destroying – persisting. To the confrontation, there also contributes a relocation – that is, a repositioning – of media that originally belonged to the street, to newspapers, bars, or to more substantial galleries. All this comes into galéria BASTART, whose space, beyond its fundamental physical entity, has of yet no milieu – though this first exhibition will undoubtedly begin to define it. Drawings we see in the newspaper and daily wind up in the trash, and graffiti that flies past us on the train, are now to be found in a new context. This first exhibition will also test what BASTART wants to be and can become. Both the new, first-time (especially to this gallery) viewer, and the veteran of the art world or the media, are about to come into a new situation. During the year, BASTART will be presenting its periodic project “VIDEOROOM”, in which it will present world-known work in videoart. Showings will be thematic, with lectures, and ongoing, independent of individual exhibitions. The Slovak viewer can look forward to videos from such artists as Doug Aitken, Stefania Galegati, Jun Nguyen Hatsushiba, and Ann Sofie Siden. The next exhibition in galéria BASTART will be the international project “F...k the guilt”.