“NOT IN MY NAME” is a group exhibition with contributions by the following artists who do not work alone and do not work with their own names: 0100101110101101.org (Eva & Franco Mattes), A Kassen, Arbit City, Bernadette Corporation, Los Carpinteros, Chim↑Pom from Smappa!Group, Chto Delat (What is to be done?), Cooltūristės, Etcétera, Leo Gabin, les gens d’Uterpan, The Bruce High Quality Foundation, Little Warsaw, OPAVIVARÁ!, The Propeller Group, Public Movement, Rafani, Raqs Media Collective, Société Réaliste, Reena Spaulings, Tercerunquinto, Tromarama and Yangjiang Group.

 

In the era of the blockchain, cryptocurrencies, and online pseudonymity, a period characterized by the rise of alternative forms of community engagements, a new kind of artist/s has emerged. Expanding the historical denomination of the “artist collective” and rethinking the notion of signature and artistic labor, this new kind of artist/s is an amalgamation of associates, working under fictitious names appropriated from other fields’ brands, labels, and terms such as economics (société [society, company], corporation), social science and geography (movement, city), and the Internet (the .org domain identifier).

 

This new kind of artist/s is not merely “a collective”; rather, this entity swings between singularity and multiplicity, acting under a different form of agency – either as a special agent, double agent, or free agent. Furthermore, this new kind of artist/s layers wide-ranging backgrounds in diverse disciplines: dance, philosophy, design and architecture, education, and activism, to name a few. Yet this artist/s shares certain common concerns: a subversive yet playful critique of national symbols, such as the flag, and a profound interest in urban identity, such as city monuments and the mobilization of movement with it. These ideas can materialize in disparate formats that span conceptual artworks, immersive installations, curated exhibitions, texts, and objects, as well as time-based works like videos, displayed here as an exhibition-within-the-exhibition and presented in the cinema-like Marc Schimmel Multipurpose Gallery.

 

This group exhibition is, at the same time, an exhibition of groups, and the motivation behind “NOT IN MY NAME” is to create a space in which these different positions contextualize each other, inform each other, and clash against one another; in so doing, they redefine notions of authorship, creativity, signature and labor in the field of visual art. In this project the common supersedes the designation of the individual artist and the actual number of persons involved is unknown. Last but not least, “NOT IN MY NAME” has a truly global reach, and includes artists either coming from, or working in cities located within the borders of: Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, China, Cuba, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Mexico, Russia, United States, and Vietnam. 

“NOT IN MY NAME” is curated by Nicola Trezzi.

The exhibition is accompanied by a guide in Hebrew, Arabic, and English; exhibition tours in English on July 16, in Hebrew on July 23, and in Arabic on August 6; two roundtables on June 28 and August 27; two actions by Public Movement on June 30 and September 10; two screenings on July 14 and August 11; and two Saturday Kids Labs on July 16 and August 6.

The main sponsor of “NOT IN MY NAME,” CCA Tel Aviv-Yafo’s annual group exhibition, is Factory 54. Major support was provided by Fondation Pluriel pour L’Art Contemporain and IL.Collection, and Outset Contemporary Art Fund. Additional support provided by BUILDING, Milan, Dr. Philippe Cohen, Sonia S. Cummings, the Czech Center and Smartwings, the Danish Arts Foundation, Edna and Prof. Avital Fast, Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Tel Aviv, the Lithuanian Culture Institute, and Magazzino, Rome. Special thanks to Institut Français d’Israël.

 

Images

 

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“NOT IN MY NAME,” 2022

View of the exhibition at CCA Tel Aviv-Yafo

Photo: Eyal Agivayev