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   June 16th, 2010 - 22:59

   Around the block

   Writing by Kate Howlett-Jones

   Last week, 11 artists from 7 different countries, and 3 different continents, sat around the kitchen table at Rondo trying to find a title for an upcoming group exhibition. It wasn’t easy. The artworks are all very different: an installation made from glass bottles, a film about a jazz festival, painted objects, text passages, photos, drawings, a projection, a sound installation – among other things.
   In the end, we chose ‘Around the Block’. The first thought was that it should describe our block, our ‘neighbourhood’ of Rondo studios.
   It is also naturally a reference to the building’s curved external architecture, which turns the block on the corner of Keplerstrasse into a long, purple curve. And to the interior architecture that shapes the exhibition: round walls – glass or painted – together with the white cube of the lift shaft and a hollow, black-floored block. Literal rounds and blocks.
   Then again, metaphorically, ‘Around the block’ could mean getting around, or overcoming, creative block. As musician Siegmar Brecher put it: “Rondo gives you the opportunity to be inspired through contact with artists from other disciplines. For me, it has made Graz a better place for living – and is an important basis for my artistic and personal development”. For painter Mar Vicente, “the atmosphere makes Rondo special. You are not alone. You can hear and see the other artists working: music, bottles… For me, Rondo is an experience.”
   And ultimately there is ‘around the block’ in the sense of getting past the boundaries, both seeing beyond the differences and enjoying the diversity that comes with internationality. Korean artist Jei-Min Kim sees this as the essence of the place: “When I first came to Rondo, I was struck by the whiteness of the walls inside my studio. It was like my thoughts would also become blank. But then after a while, various ideas began to fill the blank space. Rondo is like the white canvas, and the artists from different nations and cultures are the colour blobs, which give it form and meaning.” Barak Reiser has just arrived here from Germany: “It is wonderful that Graz has Rondo, and artists are invited to come to the city. The spirit in the place will always depend on the people who stay at the moment, on the 4th and 5th floor…”
   If you look in our shared kitchen cupboard, you will find an international jumble of actual traces left behind by previous Rondo artists: soy, cumin, bonito flakes, couscous – and pumpkin-seed oil. Do the people mix together better than the ingredients? Iranian photographer Maryam Mohammadi has been here since January: “You only need to stay at Rondo for more than 3 months to feel how small the world is. Many different nationalities, customs, names…The language we use to communicate is English, but when one of us gets a private phone call from home, you feel that the world is not as big as Google Earth. When someone leaves Rondo, I have the fresh feeling of knowing a new person and also an artist who belongs to this small world. Now in Marienplatz No 1, we are different people from 3 different continents in the same building … this is RONDO.”

   Around the block – Gruppenausstellung
   RONDO-Ateliers, Marienplatz 1, Graz 8020

   Vernissage 24. Juni 2010 ab 19 Uhr (mit internationaler Küche)
   Musik: Peter Venus, B.R. White (Cooks of Grind), Monique Fessl (Tongut/Levitate-AT)

   Ausstellung 25. Juni – 27. Juni 2010 14.00-18.00

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