How to Build Democracy Making Rhetorical Comments (after Klutsis’ design for propaganda kiosk, screen and loud speaker, platform, 1922), 2009

Basel 2018
How to Build Democracy Making Rhetorical Comments (after Klutsis’ design for propaganda kiosk, screen and loud speaker, platform, 1922)

Kalfayan Galleries

Installation
Mixed media: wood, plywood, acrylic, spray, pencil, oil pastel, marker, paper, glue
776.0 x 450.0 x 660.0 (cm)
305.5 x 177.2 x 259.8 (inch)
At a time of global socio-political crisis Kostis Velonis’s large-scale sculpture titled How to Build Democracy Making Rhetorical Comments (after Klutsis’ design for propaganda kiosk, screen and loud speaker, platform, 1922) is more timely than ever. The interactive sculpture is a reconstruction of one of the designs by the Latvian Constructivist Gustav Klutsis for agitprop kiosks, whereas Velonis’s kiosk is a propagandistic machine for freedom of expression and self-determination. The work has been featured in numerous publications as well as in newspapers and magazines. This is the first presentation of the work after its exhibition at Velonis’s solo show at the Kunstverein in Hamburg titled ‘How One Can Think Freely in the Shadow of a Temple’ in 2009. His recent shows include, among others, Documenta 14 and a solo exhibition organized by NEON (as part of ‘City Project,’ Athens). In his work, Velonis challenges modern and postmodern dominant political ideologies in an attempt to generate discussions about the severe crisis of democracy worldwide.