Elena Apostolovski


Curating
Meanwhile, in the Glossy Interface 
Click, post, play
What the Swans Are Twittering About in the Riverbed
On Point of Climax
A less obedient version of Alexa — Carmen de la Roca
all GAME no PLAY
In transmission
On Point of Oversight
Sound Occupations
At Once
68’

Teaching
Attentive Alleys

Writing

Coaching and advising

contact me if you’d like to work together on a concept, artist statement or development of your practice 





Elena Apostolovski
Info
  1. Independent curator, writer and researcher.
  2. She seeks to question the relationship between social reality, artwork and the audience while affirming experiencing art as the physical experience of the body in space shared with other people.
  3. Her practice is focused on the exploration of interpersonal relationships in physical and digital realities shaped by dominant ideologies, aiming to find strategies that contribute to strengthening the connection within the community and disrupting conventions.

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What the Swans
Are Twittering About
In the Riverbed

Eilit Marom, Katayoon Barzegar, Valerio Conti, Cristina Lavosi, Sidney Mullis, Valentino Russo, Julia Sterre Schmitz



What the Swans Are Twittering About in the Riverbed at Trixie The Hague (on the corner from the Hague’s Red Light District) 


WHERE: TRIXIE GALLERY, THE HAGUE, THE NETHERLANDS.
WHEN: FEBRUARY 2023.
THANKS TO TRIXIE AND STROOM DEN HAAG. 
EXHIBITION DOCUMENTATION BY ARIANNE TOUSSAINT.



To move closer or to zoom in, to move the body or to move the image inside the object? Cruising through digital spaces every day in search of sense, we exchange data like affection or money. Inside, we form expectations, establish and maintain work and intimate relationships, fall in love or have sex. What kind of bodies has that environment modeled its inhabitants into, and what is their ability for compassion?

These environmental currents are conditioned by the socio-political and economic systems we live in, suggesting their logic and morals. When have we agreed upon those? How are they treating us – gentle, violent? What kind of touch do they suggest  –  impulsive, restricted? Who is authorised to lose control and when?

The exhibition explores touch mediated by the digital and how life and work conditions in late capitalism affect the capacity to love. It considers the systems of power that disciplined the body and constructed a common perception of sexuality. Gathered artists dive into the influences on the perception of corporeality that imply interhuman contact and direct the rituals of intimacy.




Eilit Marom, Slowly Letting go of Something, durational performance
Cristina Lavosi, Getting Inside the Head of an Ox, video
Sidney Mullis, Mating Rituals, video
Valentino Russo, Ultraviolence, video
Julia Sterre Schmitz, Speaking in Tongues, video
Katayoon Barzegar, Replica, sculpture (and video)
Valerio Conti, Unstitched Reverse, sculpture and prints
Julia Sterre Schmitz, Speaking in Tongues, video



A constellation of artworks creates an associative field that explores how contemporary life and work conditions alter the perception of the body and what impact they bring on the capacity to love. Cristina Lavosi introduces a voyeur,  showing how other animals have been instrumentalised by humans in order to control and conquer. ‘Getting inside the head of an ox’ seeks more than the human perspective. Inviting the eye while performing ‘Mating rituals’, a Pink-nibbed popper, a Ball-tipped shaker and a Lumpbutt bouncer imitate what is considered to be 'sexy'. Sidney Mullis uses role-playing fiction to understand how sexuality is performed. The fantastic hybrids arise from studying National Geographic content and popular music videos that instruct how to perform sex appeal. Valentino Russo compiles gadgets in an altar of influencer ergonomics. The video ‘Ultraviolence’ characterises an entertainment culture where the identity is flattened, and the body is objectified. The online visual mass makes it hard to dissect truth from fiction, while the loose ‘facts’ are dulling the ability of compassion.




Katayoon Barzegar detaches the many layers of restrictions political powers impose on individuals, opening a liminal space between the body and the internalised systems of power. ‘Replica’ evokes rituals that oppose classification and discriminatory systems that oppress the body in tangible and intangible ways. Valerio Conti reflects the interdependency of the individual and the society that is contained in the inability to exist as a sole, while at the same time one needs to protect oneself from the threatening environment. Extracting stills from gay pornography, ‘Unstitched reverse’ materialises the distant bodies that state both the staged intimacy and an internal urge for closeness. Julia Sterre Schmitz questions the establishments that distribute the images and the authority of their creators. ‘Speaking in Tongues’ is an ode to cunnilingus, showing revolutionary female pleasure. ‘Slowly letting go of something’ attends the rousing process of reducing tension. Aspiring the never-ending touch, Eilit Marom, in a durational performance, encourages softness. 
Photography:  Arianne Toussaint