Crystal Palace

Blue Republic

January 25 to March 2, 2013

The notion of the crystal palace comes from Peter Sloterdijk’s Im Weltinennenraum des Kapitals and signifies an ideal of life after the end of history, where the last living inhabitants of the Western world are preoccupied solely by varied consumerist pleasures. In the crystal palace, there are no more ideological debates because no one is bothered to argue about the meaning of life, social justice or historical truth. Everyone knows that somewhere outside, life goes on according to different principles and that our comfort has been created at someone else’s expense: still this is no reason to challenge the status quo. The laziness of contemporary post-political societies is a simple consequence of this cynical attitude. So every contemporary advocate of the end of history is, essentially, a cynic.

Blue Republic is a critically acclaimed, multi-disciplinary collaboration by artists Anna Passakas and Radoslaw Kudlinski. Blue Republic has been involved in presentations, exhibitions and projects in Canada and internationally, including the Ludwig Forum for International Art in Aachen; CCA Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw; Galleria D’Arte Moderna in Bologna (Officina America); Galerie Julio Gonzales, Paris; Cultural Services Co-op in Siem Riep, Cambodia; Curitiba, Brazil; Tokyo, Japan; as well as the Darling Foundry, Doris McCarthy Gallery, Galerie René Blouin, Oakville Galleries, Koffler Gallery, Art Gallery of Sudbury and Rodman Hall in Canada.

The duo’s work has been reviewed in Flash Art, Art Papers, C-Magazine, Border Crossings, Parachute, Éspace Sculpture, Canadian Art, Globe and Mail, Le Devoir.

Deluge Contemporary Art and Blue Republic gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the British Columbia Arts Council, the Canada Council for the Arts, Toronto Arts Council and the Chalmers Arts Fellowship in the realization of this exhibition.