3.15.2010

Whitechapel Gallery


Renata Jaworska, Whitechapel Gallery,
"119-minute circle. The international congress at the Whitechapel Gallery."London 2010

"119-minute circle - the international congress at the Whitechapel Gallery" project was orginally held at Whitechapel Gallery in London on 14th of March 2010. 

Jaworska has invited members of 13 different nations to gather at the: "The nature of the Beast" - international round table to form a live human exibition. The performance took place on the ground floor gallery room, home of an installation from another Polish artist - Goshka Macuga. Here Macuga focused on Pablo Picasso's "Guernica" exibition at the Whitechapel Gallery in 1939. "119-minute circle - the international congress at the Whitechapel Gallery" took place with this painting in the background. It is a magnificent piece, originally brought to London's East End as a political backdrop to an anti-Fascist rally during the Spanisch Civil War. Related archival materials provide a springboard for discussions on this iconic image and the connections that exist between art, propaganda and war.
Renata Jaworska, Whitechapel Gallery,
Whitechapel Gallery London 2010

Each one of the "119-minute circle - the international congress at the Whitechapel Gallery" participants recited their national anthem individually followed by all reciting them again simultaneously creating a cacophony of dissonance, miscommunication and aural power struggles. It therefore performed serious questions of the struggle between national identities and the perceived individualism that nationalist ideology.
Renata Jaworska, Whitechapel Gallery,

Renata Jaworska, Whitechapel Gallery,


Renata Jaworska, Whitechapel Gallery,

Renata Jaworska, Whitechapel Gallery,

Renata Jaworska, Whitechapel Gallery,

Renata Jaworska, Whitechapel Gallery,

The project aimed to emphasise the rules of cultural identity whils highlighting the sense of duty, individualism, thought process and behaviour of each individual. Through this project the artist commented on the "now", particulary the lack of communication among people and feeling of loss experienced by many…."


Whitechapel Gallery

77 - 82 Whitechapel Hight St,

London E1 7QX, United Kingdom,

+44 20 7522 7888