The Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow Presented Performance Artist Ane Lan

Written by Dawid Kucharczyk Monday, 16 January 2012 00:04

Krakow, Poland.- The Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow (MOCAK) proudly presented "All the World's Women Are in Me!", and exhibition of video and photographs by Norwegian performance artist Ane Lan on view at the museum. The exhibition is a male edition of a feminist exhibition. It shows woman's presence in the world, her versatility and her ability to adapt to all circumstances. The exhibition highlights commonly prevailing stereotypes in the treatment of women and their helplessness in standing up to them. This is a statement about the changing role of gender at a time of  'in-depth democracy', which requires empathy with the other party and the situation itself, as well as an ability to become – at least for a moment – someone else. Ane Lan sets up situations which oblige him to become a woman, which entails looking at the world from a female perspective.

But – as there is no such thing as an archetypal woman, but there are as many women as there are there individual stories, circumstances or occupations – the artist becomes very different characters.

He is at all times very sympathetic to his subjects. There is no irony in his works – unless we assume that his submission to the roles undertaken is ironic; there is no dressing up, no drag. There is a genuine need to empathise – a gesture which women had not experienced before. Ane Lan was born in Oslo, Norway in 1972. He graduated from the National College of Art and design in Oslo in 2002 and is working in the field of performance, music and experimental film/video. He has participated in various international exhibitions; The Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC, Paco das Artes, Sao Paolo, the 51 th Venice Biennial and the 10th Istanbul Biennial. Lan has also participated in numerous film & video festivals worldwide.

The Museum of Contemporary Art in Kraków is the first such institution in Poland to be developed from scratch. The building was erected on the site of, and partly within the structure of, the former Schindler's Factory, in the postindustrial district of Zablocie, which in recent years has undergone a vigorous renaissance. The building was designed by Claudio Nardi, the Italian architect and interior designer. The programme of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Kraków (MOCAK), which has been active since 1st February 2010, encompasses presentation of the latest international art, education as well as research and publication projects. MOCAK’s two most important aims are presenting the art of the two last decades in the context of the post-war avant-garde and conceptual art as well as clarifying the rationale of creating art by highlighting its cognitive and ethical value and its relationship with everyday reality. All the projects will be undertaken by the Museum with diverse audiences in mind. The publications produced will provide information bringing closer the origin and significance of the works and events presented and placing them in contexts. The institution considers it an important challenge to reduce prejudice against very recent art. The Museum’s Collection is a presentation of dozens of works, which are the foundation of MOCAK’s permanent collection. The exhibition will incorporate many works of Polish and international artists. The collection includes the full great variety of approaches, media and interpretations manifested in contemporary art, and includes works by artists including; AES+F, Tomasz Bajer, Tymek Borowski, Edward Dwurnik, Leopold Kessler, Krištof Kintera, Ragnar Kjartansson, Jaroslaw Kozlowski, Robert Kusmirowski, Lars Laumann, Norman Leto, Piotr Lutynski, Malgorzata Markiewicz, Bartek Materka, Maria Michalowska, Józef Robakowski, Maria Stangret, Beat Streuli, Pawel Susid, Marian Warzecha and Krzysztof Wodiczko. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.mocak.com.pl

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