From 10 November 2019 till 01 March 2020 the CCA in Toruń holds the Artuum Mobile: The World of Saskia Boddeke & Peter Greenaway exhibition. Thanks to Center of Contemporary Art Znaki Czasu and the Tumult Foundation the viewers have an amazing opportunity to get to know the artists’ art based on hypermedia more closely. The Artuum Mobile: The World of Saskia Boddeke & Peter Greenaway exhibition is another part of the World Art series started in 2018.
Saskia Boddeke and Peter Greenaway, Credits photos: Saskia Boddeke & Peter Greenaway, photography: Digidaan
Wearing wellies, you open the curtain: you are going to take an adventure in Saskia Boddeke & Peter Greenaway’s wonderland. You will not see the description of the Artuum Mobile: The World of Saskia Boddeke & Peter Greenaway exhibition – text is the main enemy in this world, and everything that will happen before your eyes lends itself to your own interpretation.
And so, you take the first step and before you, a huge hall with a dim light opens. The four horsemen of the Apocalypse rule this place. Take a closer look at them and you will see what surrounds you every day – unhappiness, inequality, fear and violence. These four horsemen symbolize the modern world in which there is an eternal struggle for freedom of speech and religion, problems in education and public safety. You can stand face to face with each of them, having entered the water that’s filling up the hall.
The author of this multimedia exhibition, which is complemented by Peter Greenaway’s sculptures and Luca D’Alberto’s music, is a widely recognised multimedia artist and director Saskia Boddeke. Saskia, with elegant mastery, emphasizes what slips away from us in reality, but at the same time creating its own reality. The artist’s four horsemen won’t hurt you – they will only tell you the truth, which everyone would like to deal with, but they can’t.
The Artuum: Mobile The World of Saskia Boddeke & Peter Greenaway, exhibition, the Center of Contemporary Art Znaki Czasu, credits: H is for Horse, Photography: Sylwester Rozmiarek
The Artuum: Mobile The World of Saskia Boddeke & Peter Greenaway, exhibition, the Center of Contemporary Art Znaki Czasu, credits: H is for Horse, Photography: Sylwester Rozmiarek
You follow further and find yourself in a workshop where the creator himself, Peter Greenaway, appears before you. He won’t pay attention to you – you can only watch how he paints, completely immersing himself in the process. You hear Greenaway’s voice, calmly spelling out his own alphabet. You look around and notice artist’s works from the cycles such as Mythologies, Dynasties, Body parts, The Married Couples, Rembrandt’s studio, Children of Uranium, Dutch Fields and The Elements, as well as the objects such as a hourglass, the bird statues, a vase with eggs and the cards with artistic masterpieces; these things are exactly the artist’s mini-muses. “Painting is not narrative,” says Greenaway himself, and creates on the hosts in person something that won’t tell you any story. Looking at his paintings, everyone will see their own story, which the author doesn’t dictate to the viewers at all.
You end your journey by entering the Silent Cinema space where you can watch the documentary film The Greenaway Alphabet directed by Saskia Boddeke. During the 68 minutes, the viewer can learn more about Greenaways himself, as well as about the artists’ 16-year-old daughter Zoe. The main characters of the film talk over each letter of the alphabet and explain their own meaning attached to each of them. The results of the father and daughter’s discussion about the signified and signifier can be heard in the Greenaway’s Atelier.
The Artuum: Mobile The World of Saskia Boddeke & Peter Greenaway, exhibition, the Center of Contemporary Art Znaki Czasu, credits: H is for Horse, Photography: Sylwester Rozmiarek
Saskia Boddeke & Peter Greenaway managed to create their own world in the Centre of Contemporary Art Znaki Czasu in Toruń. Raising the topics important for them, the artists demonstrate actual problems of the society itself and leaving the Artuum Mobile: The World of Saskia Boddeke & Peter Greenaway exhibition, the audience will keep wondering for a long time: was it a dream or was it reality?
the Artuum Mobile
The World of Saskia Boddeke & Peter Greenaway
Centre Of Contemporary Art in Torun
10 November 2019 – 01 March 2020
The Artuum: Mobile The World of Saskia Boddeke & Peter Greenaway, exhibition, the Center of Contemporary Art Znaki Czasu, credits: H is for Horse, Photography: Sylwester Rozmiarek
The Artuum: Mobile The World of Saskia Boddeke & Peter Greenaway, exhibition, the Center of Contemporary Art Znaki Czasu, credits: H is for Horse, Photography: Sylwester Rozmiarek
The Artuum: Mobile The World of Saskia Boddeke & Peter Greenaway, exhibition, the Center of Contemporary Art Znaki Czasu, credits: H is for Horse, Photography: Maria Kowalska
