Do Not Forget Exhibition curated by Polina Angelova
Sofia Arsenal – Museum of Contemporary Art | National Gallery of Bulgaria
7 February 2019 – 10 March 2019 | Artists: David King Reuben, Dorian Hirsch
DO NOT FORGET Exhibition |
HIDDEN IDENTITY PROJECTS
7 February 2019 – 10 March 2019
Sofia Arsenal – Museum of Contemporary Art |
National Gallery of Bulgaria
Curator: Polina Angelova
Artists: David King Reuben, Dorian Hirsch
‘Being a curator means to constantly revise hidden parts and unexplored connections of our culture which go hand in hand with art, design and architecture,
Polina Angelova
The ‘Do Not Forget’ exhibition is curated by Polina Angelova and was initiated to celebrate one of the most inspiring stories in the history of the world’s humanity. In 1943 almost 48,000 Jews were saved from being deported to the death camps of the Holocaust. The ‘Do Not Forget’ exhibition aims to bring more awareness to this fact kept secret until 1989 and tell a story which explores the parts of our culture that were hidden.
The ‘Do Not Forget’ exhibition is the first touring exhibition which is part of the series of creative interventions of Hidden Identity Projects (formerly known as IDentity Projects) addressing themes of belonging, time, remembrance and identity. The exhibition consists of the artworks of two multimedia artists: the Series ‘Stars and Stripes’ by David King Reuben and the Series ‘The Order of Chaos’ by Doria Hirsch.
Inspired by the 76th Anniversary of the Saving of the Bulgarian Jews during the Holocaust, the ‘Do Not Forget’ exhibition opened on 07.02.2019 at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Bulgaria with the opening speech of H. E. Irit Lillian – Ambassador of the State of Israel to Bulgaria and continued with David King’s Live Art Performance titled ‘Shades of Grey’. The yellow Star of David which was once a representation of the visual labelling of Jews, mandatory to be worn as a badge of fear, humiliation and division, was worn by all exhibition attendees as a symbolic act of Unification. The ‘Do Not Forget’ Exhibition closed on 10.03.2019 with Dorian Hirsch’s Live Art Performance titled ’48,000’.
‘I meditate on death to question what this life asks of me’, says David King Reuben.
In his highly conceptual series of drawings created in quick succession and called ‘Stars and Stripes’ the artist depicts the dissonant extremes of beauty and hope in the horrors of war, the order in the heart of chaos, and creation in the gas clouds of destruction.
David King Reuben is a multimedia artist. Born in London, UK he currently works and lives in New York, USA. King’s thoughts provoking and reactionary work has been featured at some of the most prestigious places including Miami Art Basel, Soho Arts Club and Frieze Art Fair. The Artist’s creativity extends to music where he is currently recording his debut album at Electric Lady Studios – the studio founded by Jimi Hendrix.
The Series ‘Stars and Stripes’ by David King Reuben took its physical form in the period 22.12.2018 – 27.12.2018.
The highly conceptual series of drawings ‘The Order of Chaos’ by Dorian Hirsch took its first physical form in the period 23.01.2019 – 28.01.2019. Chaos and creation lie at the base of the artist’s work, which he describes as an automatic reaction to a stream of thought without any premeditation. The instinct to fight chaos is the one that the creator ultimately strives to evoke.
Dorian Hirsch is born in the USA. Residing in different countries, he currently works and lives in London, UK. He graduated from ‘Central Saint Martin’s College in London. He has numerous gallery exhibitions and in 2018 he exhibited at Tate Modern. Doria has worked within the photography, film and advertising industry on projects alongside Mario Testino, Liam Gallagher and Thandie Newton, on marketing campaigns for Dolce&Gabanna, French Connection and Smirnoff, and for clients including Conde Nast, the Guardian and the BBC.
H.E. Irit Lillian, Ambassador of the State of Israel to Bulgaria
for
Hidden Identity Projects | ‘Do Not Forget’ Exhibition | David King Reuben Museum Live Art Performance
While watching David’s works one can feel the energy and at the same time – the pain. The meeting between the artist and the unique story of the rescue of the Bulgarian Jewish community in WWII as well as the deportation of the Jews of Thrace, Macedonia and Pirot result in a burst of energy, grey energy and a yellow star of David. The yellow Star of David which was once a representation of the visual labelling of Jews, mandatory to be worn as a badge of fear, humiliation and division became a symbolic act of Unification.
It is not only about remembrance it is about the memory, the memory that is translated to wide strokes, a cry that comes out of the body while creating a new form of memory, a new question. In Israel, the memory of the Holocaust is still very vivid. Although many survivors are disappearing from our world, the memory is kept by their descendants who made a vow “Do Not Forget”. It is not obvious in a country like Bulgaria in which the legacy of salvation is stronger than the memory of the background. David King managed to penetrate this gap with grey energy and with a sense of human brotherhood, I congratulate him for this amazing artistic achievement.
Can we step into the world of our ancestors? In to the world of the past? Can we become only for a moment an integral part of it? The exhibition “Do Not Forget” allowed the spectators to visit for a short while in these forbidden worlds. The memory of the Holocaust still has a forbidden dimension even more than 70 years after the end of WWII. Traces of this dimension exists not only in the memory of the survivors but also in the minds of their decedents. Dorian Hirsch is looking into the “Order of Chaos” presenting the old demons but reflecting on the unique story of the salvation of 48,000 Jews in Bulgaria while David King lets the feelings flow without limitations into a new sphere. I was deeply impressed by the artist’s attempt to portray the memory, to reach the heart and the mind. I got out of the exhibition with a feeling of freedom and hope – for a better future, for a reality in which the vanishing of the witnesses does not hurt the memory, with a call for unification, tolerance and responsibility for each other.