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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Aksioma – Institute for Contemporary Art, <st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Ljubljana</st1:place></st1:City> presents:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>Société Réaliste<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><i><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold;font-style:italic'>Cosmopolites de tous les
pays encore un effort<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><a href="http://www.aksioma.org/cosmopolites">www.aksioma.org/cosmopolites</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>International Centre of Graphic Arts (MGLC)<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Grad <st1:City w:st="on">Tivoli</st1:City>, Pod turnom 3, <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Ljubljana</st1:City>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Slovenia</st1:country-region></st1:place><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>Unveiling of the public monument: 27
September 2010 at 6pm<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>There is a field of non-Euclidean geography that has never
got its Nobel Prize winner. The major tools of this emerging science are
tearing, gluing and stretching topographic elements in order to reach an
idealized inertia of a piece of land corresponding to the mental projections of
its inhabitants. The constant endeavor of the researchers of territorial
ergonomics consists in re-designing hypsometric tints, shaded reliefs,
longitudes, latitudes and contour lines in the direction to fit them with their
intrinsic stature. Indeed, not only natural objects and forces but all topographical
components have their will of completion, especially those that were formed by
human intention. The observation, identification, description and experimental
investigation of regional divisions are the fundament of the art of territorial
shaping. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>In 2008, Société Réaliste started a survey about
"ecomorphism", about how the forms of the physical surroundings of
humans strain their perception, how their attitude adapts to the specific
architectural, urban and geopolitical condition. In primary school one starts
studying geography by the description of the boundaries of the fatherland.
Which are the surrounding countries, which are the natural frontiers,
mountains, coastlines and rivers, where these dotted lines, drawn so elegantly
through deserts, hills and forests, run on the map. The form of the native
country is burned on the retina of every citizen: it is put on vehicles as
stickers, used on banknotes, coats of arms and stamps, shown in museums or on
television, used as bijou or even built as temples like the Bharat Mata Mandir
in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Varanasi</st1:City>, <st1:country-region
w:st="on">India</st1:country-region></st1:place>. The fellows of territorial
ergonomics consider this obsessive misuse of geographical data as the principal
obstacle to cosmopolitan imagination. In order to protest against the
dictatorial malpractice of topography and to dismantle the idolatry of
miscellaneous historico-geographical shapes, Société Réaliste has created a
cognitive see-through model under the title of Jacques Derrida’s book <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>Cosmopolites</span></i> <i><span style='font-style:
italic'>de tous les pays encore un effort / Cosmopolitans of all countries, yet
another effort.</span></i> The model is the result of the superimposition of
the topographic forms of the 192 member states of the United Nations. All these
sovereign states were put on the same scale using only two main bits of
information: their specific shape and the location of their capital city, with
the intention of producing the synthetic form of potentially any state. The
result is an eroded square, the average capital city lying almost in the
geometrical center of it, the chaos of the borderlines covering nearly its
entire surface. Parallel to the calculation of the shape of a "model
state", Société Réaliste started to work on a textual corpus that
incorporates all the national anthems of the aforementioned 192 UN member states.
Using the English translation of every anthem, Société Réaliste established a
global compilation of national(ist) vocabulary. All words are marked with the
three letter ISO code of the corresponding country, for example SVN for <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Slovenia</st1:country-region>, FRA for <st1:country-region w:st="on">France</st1:country-region>,
HUN for <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Hungary</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
etc. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-style:italic'>Cosmopolitans of all countries, yet
another effort</span></font></i><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'> is a standard tombstone for any state. Presented
vertically, into one of its sides is carved the calculation method with the
superimposition of all the national borders of the world and the emplacement of
the 192 capital cities, while into the other side is carved a textual
composition using the compiled adjectives of all 192 national anthems. The
complete list of 1839 hymnal adjectives – which form a line from the word
ABLAZE from the Turkish anthem, to YOUTHFUL, from the Jordanian one – can
be applied to any sovereignty of any time. This ephemeral monument stands in
the confrontation between the majestic and ceremonious sculpture, the abstract
figuration of the notion of the state and the methodology of its construction. <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>Cosmopolitans of all countries, yet another effort</span></i>
intends to evoke and to represent the necessary escape and excess from
entrapment within historical forms of political domination and to remain at the
same time the parody of a monument. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=1 face=Arial><span style='font-size:9.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>Société Réaliste</span></font></b><font
size=1 face=Arial><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial'> is a
Parisian cooperative created by Ferenc Gróf and Jean-Baptiste Naudy in 2004. It
works in the field of political design, experimental economy, territorial
ergonomics and social engineering consulting. Polytechnic, it develops its
production schemes through exhibitions, publications and conferences. Société
Réaliste is represented by Galerie Martine Aboucaya (<st1:City w:st="on">Paris</st1:City>)
and Kisterem (<st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Budapest</st1:place></st1:City>).
In 2010 they presented their work at several collective exhibitions (Rennes
Biennial, FR; Fondazione Pistoletto, Biella, IT; Mücsarnok/Kunsthalle,
Budapest, HU; Walter and McBean Galleries, SFAI, San Francisco, USA) and they
are preparing a series of solo exhibitions starting in September at Platform3,
Munich, DE, which will be continued in Ljubljana at the Skuc Gallery in
November. For more information: <a href="http://www.societerealiste.net/">www.societerealiste.net</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 face=Arial><span style='font-size:9.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>Executive producers:</span></font></b><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'> Janez
Jan¹a, Marcela Okretiè<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>Public relations</span></font></b><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>: Mojca
Zupaniè<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>Realization</span></font></b><font size=2
face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>: RPS d.o.o.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>Production</span></font></b><font size=2
face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>: Aksioma –
Institute for Contemporary Art, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Ljubljana</st1:City></st1:place>,
2010<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><a href="http://www.aksioma.org/">www.aksioma.org</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>Partner</span></font></b><font size=2
face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>: International
Centre of Graphic Arts (MGLC)<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>Supported by</span></font></b><font size=2
face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>: the Ministry of
Culture of the <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Republic</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Slovenia</st1:PlaceName>, the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Municipality</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Ljubljana</st1:PlaceName></st1:place>
and the French Institute Charles Nodier<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>Contact:<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Marcela Okretiè<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>Aksioma | Institute for Contemporary Art, <st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Ljubljana</st1:place></st1:City><o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Neubergerjeva 25, 1000 <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Ljubljana</st1:City>,
<st1:country-region w:st="on">Slovenia</st1:country-region></st1:place><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>gsm: + 386 (0)41 250830<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>e-po¹ta: aksioma4@siol.net<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>www.aksioma.org<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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