Artists: Amy Balkin, Judith Fegerl, Yevgeniy Fiks, Jim Finn, Lisa Kereszi, Marko Lulić, Lisi Raskin, Isa Rosenberger, Leonid Tishkov
Curated by Olga Kopenkina
December 11, 2014 – March 09, 2015
Lenin: Icebreaker Revisited
Austrian Cultural Forum New York
About The Show
Does utopia still have a social function?
In 1957 the Soviet Union launched the icebreaker Lenin to international fanfare which included delegations from the United States and United Kingdom. As the world’s first nuclear-powered civilian vessel it epitomized the “Soviet Peaceful Atom” initiative, which promoted the application of atomic energy for purposes of civil engineering – a program bookended by the opening of the world’s first nuclear power plant in 1954 and the Chernobyl disaster some thirty years later. The Lenin would operate for 30 years before being decommissioned to serve as a floating museum, its hull worn too thin by decades’ worth of ice to continue operation.
[Image: Lisa Kereszi Ship on Door of VA Library, 2003, From the series: Governors Island, NY Chromogenic print, framed 20 in x 24 in. Courtesy of the artist and Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York]
About The Artists
AMY BALKIN
A People’s Archive of Sinking and Melting, 2012–ongoing
Installation
Dimensions variable
Courtesy of the artist
JUDITH FEGERL
Lemniskate protuberantia, 2008
Sculpture
Hare coat, filling
59 in x 19 ¾ in x 19 ¾ in
Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Hubert Winter, Vienna
YEVGENIY FIKS
Untitled (Collected Works by V. I. Lenin), 2014
Installation, commissioned work
Books, photographs
Dimensions variable
Courtesy of the artist
JIM FINN
Encounters with Your Inner Trotsky Child, 2013
Video, English/German, color, stereo, 4:3, 21:11 min.
LISA KERESZI
Classified Phone, from the series Governors Island, NY, 2004
Chromogenic print, framed
16 in x 20 in
Courtesy of the artist and Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York
MARKO LULIĆ
The Sacrifice, 2013
Video, black and white, 16:9, 9:36 min.
Courtesy of Gabriele Senn Galerie, Vienna
LISI RASKIN
Living Room (Remote Viewing), 2014
Installation, slide projection
35mm slides, projector, couch, table
Dimensions variable
Courtesy of the artist
ISA ROSENBERGER
Vladimir’s Journey (The Captain), 2013
Video, 15:00 min.
Courtesy of the artist
LEONID TISHKOV
An Organized Unfurling of the Black Flag of Chaos, 2004–2013
Ink on paper
11 ¾ in x 15 ¾ in
Courtesy of a private collection
Press Release
Credits
Curator: Olga Kopenkina
Exhibition Producer: Christine Moser
Exhibition Coordinator: Natascha Boojar
Exhibition Assistants: Sophie Gogl, Katharina Luger, Lucas Perterer, Petra Rosenblattl
Partners: Austrian Cultural Forum Moscow, LENTOS Kunstmuseum Linz, ROSATOM, Stella Art Foundation
Supporters: AirBerlin, Esterházy Winery, RB International Finance USA and Stiegl
The installation by Amy Balkin is made possible through generous support from the James Gallery, The Center for the Humanities at CUNY.
“Lenin: Icebreaker Revisited” is based on “Lenin: Icebreaker”, a special cooperative exhibition which was organized by the Austrian Cultural Forum Moscow, the LENTOS Kunstmuseum Linz, and Rosatomflot and presented at the 2013 Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art. It was curated by Simon Mraz and Stella Rollig, and included exhibitions on the icebreaker Lenin in Murmansk, Russia (09/18/2013–01/10/2014) and at LENTOS Museum in Linz, Austria (2/28–05/25/2014). Curator Olga Kopenkina has revisited the exhibition for the Austrian Cultural Forum New York by including American artists.