Kunsthalle Wien will Present "No Feeling Is Final. The Skopje Solidarity Collection"

More+Events ♦ Published: March 28, 2023; 19:19 ♦ (Vindobona)

The focus of the large-scale international group exhibition No Feeling Is Final. The Skopje Solidarity Collection focuses on the remarkable collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA) Skopje, its genesis and the historical and political context in which such an unusual project was possible.

A view of the Museum of Contemporary Art Skopje by Elfie Semotan. / Picture: © o.T. (MoCA Skopje), 2022, Courtesy Studio Semotan

"No Feeling Is Final. The Skopje Solidarity Collection" aims to expose unconscious notions of what Western modern art can be, and at the same time open up a surprising perspective on well-known names as well as artists that the modern canon knows nothing about.

Historic Background

After the severe earthquake that struck Skopje (then in Yugoslavia) in 1963, in a great gesture of international solidarity, significant efforts were made to support the reconstruction of the devastated city.

The central cultural element of the reconstruction was the establishment of a museum of contemporary art, and artists* from all over the world donated thousands of works of art to Skopje. The collection of MoCA Skopje is a time capsule of international art from the height of modernism and at the same time a rare artistic encounter that bridged the gap between East and West during the Cold War.

About the collection

The context section of the exhibition brings together archival material that provides background information on the creation of the MoCA Skopje collection. On loan from the Skopje City Museum is Kenzō Tange's model of the master plan for the city center. This model is presented along with numerous plans from the Institute for Town Planning and Reconstruction in Skopje, showing the research and analysis that was done on the ground to develop an idea of what the new city could look like. To highlight the high quality of the buildings that were realized, models were borrowed from Skopje by the team of architects Jovan Ivanovski, Ana Ivanovska, and Vladimir Deskov. A particularly ambitious goal in the reconstruction of Skopje was to create a new museum of contemporary art - the building that would later become MoCA Skopje.

Kunsthalle Wien has invited four artists and an artist duo to work with the collection. The Artists Brook Andrew (Melbourne), Yane Calovski & Hristina Ivanoska (Skopje), Siniša Ilić (Belgrade), Iman Issa (Berlin), and Gülsün Karamustafa (Istanbul). All have selected specific works from the collection and developed a display that brings the historical works into dialogue with their contemporary practice.

Photographer Elfie Semotan (Vienna) was invited to document the urban context of Skopje and the museum, and author Barbi Marković (Vienna) was commissioned to write a fictional travel diary that will be printed in the extensive booklet accompanying the exhibition. The exhibition also presents extensive archival material on the earthquake, the reconstruction of the city, and the history of MoCA Skopje.

On 20.4. a press conference will be held to present this art collection accordingly. You should make a note for the press conference now.

Kunsthalle Wien