Anti-Collage (Anda Rottenberg)

2011 - Photography (Photography)
200 x 139 x 5 cm

In this anti-collage, which comes from a series of 4, Macuga takes a photo she found in the archives of Zacheta National Gallery in Warsaw. The series was made on the occasion of her exhibition there in 2011. In 2000, Harald Szeemann curated an exhibition at Zacheta called ‘Beware of Exiting your Dreams: You May Find Yourself in Somebody Else’s.’ The exhibition provoked a violent response as a result of his inclusion of Maurizio Cattelan’s La nona ora , where the figure of the Pope is struck down by a meteor. The work was vandalized by an MP; Anda Rottenberg, the director of the museum received a stream of abusive letters, many of them anti-semitic. Rottenberg organized a series of shows that were regarded by right wing Poles as scandalous and eventually she was forced to leave her post in 2001. In Anti-Collage , Rottenberg, depicted at a ceremony celebrating the centenary of Zacheta at the Presidential Palace, has been silhouetted out of the image. The void represents not only a dark period of Polish cultural history but also reflects upon the way in which history is rewritten in fascistic societies, particularly in former Soviet-style countries where inconvenient memories are erased. Ironically of course she stands between two Polish flags. After destroying Cattelan’s work, the MP, Witold Tomczak, wrote to the Prime Minister not only demanding Rottenberg’s dismissal but also suggesting she should curate in Israel rather than in Poland. Macuga’s image is a timely reminder of cultural vandalism and censorship as well anti-semitism in Poland, alongside the work of Yael Bartana.

She works with archival materials she finds in libraries and museums. Her work often begins with the history of the sites in which she is working, researching the collections of the institutions she works with, the work of artists she is interested in. Sometimes she recreates works by other artists, blurring the boundaries between artist and curator. For example at the Kunsthalle Basel, she recreated a 1971 exhibition of sculptures by Robert Morris that took place at the Tate Gallery in London which was closed by Tate authorities after 4 days as a result of safety scares. Macuga’s recreation allowed the public to experience the danger as well as the avant-garde nature of that exhibition. Her Basel show also engaged with issues relating to Neocolonialism, the arms race and US militancy, bringing together photographs taken by Aby Warburg during his exploration of the Hopi tribe in Arizona in the mid 19th century, a video of her own journey on the footsteps of Warburg and snapshots taken by a Vietnam war veteran that Makuga acquired on the Internet. She juxtaposed these with images of contemporary events relating to Afghanistan and Iraq and the economic crisis. More recently she brought a tapestry of Guernica that normally hangs at the United Nations in New York, to the Whitechapel Gallery in London and used it as a backdrop for public meetings. At documenta in Kassel, she exhibited a tapestry that brought together photographic images of the artists in documenta and a view of people in Kabul. Macuga’s work is engaged with political issues of her times. Goshka Macuga was born in 1967 in Warsaw (Poland). She lives and works in London (UK).

Colors:

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