The 19th WRO Media Art Biennial will be held this year under the theme “Reverso”. The largest review of contemporary art in Poland will start in May and will run through December. During this time, you will be able to view more than 80 works by artists from all over the world.
Since 1989, the WRO Biennial has been presenting the most interesting trends of development in New Media Culture. The slogan of the 19th edition of the event – Reverso, is understood as “reflection”, “change”. It is an entrance to art galleries and studios as well as an exit to city space and the outdoors.
“Exhibitions and performances should combine the field of artistic communication in the physical space with the presentation remotely over the network,” explained Piotr Krajowski, Artistic Director of the WRO Biennial. He also asserted, “It also triggers different paths and forms of communication between viewers and participants – digital and real.” “Reverso will try to answer the question of how to transcend the boundaries of digitizing culture, extracting what is more valuable from it, while not making the viewer a consumer of online content” – he said.
This year’s Biennial consists of four program exhibitions. It consists of fixtures, elements, large display screens, and meshwork. During the festival, you’ll also be able to watch seven hours of video work from around the world. The seventh competition for the best diploma in media arts has also been planned.
According to the event organizers, Reverso Redux deserves special attention – a long-term project that includes simultaneous performance activities and concerts taking place in two cities – in Wroclaw and other venues in Paris, London or Japan’s Fukuoka. The first version of the project can be viewed during the opening days of the May Biennial, that is, from 12 to 15 May.
As part of this year’s Biennial, there will also be special broadcasts and presentations, including “Synthesis” – a performance lecture on remote technical cooperation, as well as a Junior WRO program dedicated to the smallest and families of art – a series of lectures and workshops for people who want to get to know each other. On contemporary art “from the inside out.”
The organizers note that the art presented during the biennial will “examine global problems and issues of society in a hybrid reality”. “For example, during the Tatsuru Arai concert from Japan, we will hear 1,728 different noise patterns exploring the limits of human auditory perception. Together with Eline Kersten from the Netherlands, we will look at how we feel climate sadness, or solastalgia. In Przemek’s fairy tale W ذgrzyn, memories will emerge. The inhabitants of a deserted land. By the people, “- they declare.
Biennial participants will also be able to hear music from melting alpine glaciers captured in an acoustic installation by Gil Dilindro from Portugal, and in the glass statue of Briton Kat Austin, find an answer to the question whether plastic could be an ally of birch groves. In return, Mikro Orchestra will be giving a concert for the Game Boy consoles for the sopranos and pentathlon. As part of the festival, you will also be able to see, among others the performances of Iza Zostak, Nicholas Melman and Kazuhiro Joe.
The biennials will take place in changing scenes from May to December, in Wroclaw (at the WRO Art Center and other art spaces) and in partner cities such as London, Paris, Fukuoka and Helsinki, as well as online. Participation in the event is free of charge.
