Surrealism Beyond Borders (Pamphlet) (Tate Modern Exhibition, 2022)

2022·17.5 MB·English

by  Tate Modern

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‘SURREALISM BEYOND BORDERS

[telephone receiver morphs into lobster.
‘train rues rom a epic,

‘These are images commonly associated with Surrealism,
_revlvlonary cultural movement that poised he
Unconscious and deans, over the familar and every

Spared in ars around 1924, Surrealsm has inspired and

Unite artists ever since This exibition traces is wide,
Interconnected impact forthe fst ime. moves aay

from a Ports cetre viewpoint o shed ight on Surreal
slgicace around the wal om the 1920s fo the 1970s.
incudes ast who embraced ths sprit of revel and those

who shared Surealst ideas and valves but never ined a

[rup. I estres some no ave nterecie wih Seas |
vais points—wortingin paral associated losely |
‘ot Torashert period, or counted nb ther urea.

Sureslem ian expansive, hiting erm, bua core,
‘san interogatin of poltial and socal systems,
Convention and dominant eologies.inereny dynamic,
thas raved and evolved rom place place and ime to
time-and continues fod so fod. ts scope has nays
been transnational spreading beyond national borders and
‘defying natonaltdesnitons, le as adressing spectc
‘od local contexts. na wold dened by eritoi corr
Bethe consequential ideological constraint, expansionist
fenfle, and expotativecolonaism—Surelsm as
‘deranged iberation and Served ai 35 olin the

‘Struggle politica, soci and personal reedoms. The
tshton eects his indivalsm by avoiding nationals.
Instead it highlights he centres where Sureaiss worked
and gathered recognising shared practices and ideals even
Sr fertllonis dna placenames changed around ther.
‘he artworks assembled here reveal some. but ceriinlynot
alo he many routes nto and trough surelm.
‘artworks ar grouped in road areas of Surreal acy,
resenting clecive interests nd networks shared by arts
‘cross epionsat pons of convergnce, ray and exchange
They abo demonstrate nial halenges nesta
‘he pursuit of independence rom colonia, aswel 35 the
“experience of eae and daplcement caused by nertionl
“onc combiing brood hemes a deta points of
focus across is section the exibition s nether singular
innarrtve nor near in chronology Instead it calenges
“onveional accounts hal ene Surenism ia Ex0pe
Preventing an inerrelate network city ~one
makes visbie many ves, tocations, and encoun inked
Mvough the eedom and poss led by Surrealism,
POETIC OBJECTS

Making Steals obects can be a power way fo subvert,
the everyday. As wll a challenging the radon lok

of sculpture he works shown here loves! everyday
‘bjs wih what Parisian poet Andre Breton author of

‘he 1924 Manes surdalsme Manifesto of Surreal,
Caled a 'erangement fhe senses" Oflen mage wih
‘conventional found or discarded materials suchas bones,
Sells or leather scraps, these assemblages produced by
rete connected a Surrestzm, sro ther mpc om the
imaginative spark iby the ining of therwse unrelated
‘clement. For some, ths was ped by a pvase rom the
‘th-cntury Montevideo poe sore Ducasse he sesivied
ome de Laviréamont ‘as beaut asthe chance encounter
‘ofa ening machine and an umbeela onan operating able’

Wogan Palen described Suess objects as tme-bomés
of he consclence’ whl Slvedor Da cle her absolutly
Ueless roma pracical and ational point of vew and
Created whol forthe purpose of metering ina fetishisic
try, th main tangible aly, eas ana fantasies of

2 dios choacen the materals and manuacie,
‘bjs such s those shown hereby Elen Agar and Joyce
Mansou could produce unexpected responses. At her most
ower poetic abecs escape ary single nerpretation
THE UNCANNY IN THE EVERYDAY

“The ony thing that fanatical atractsme wrote Jinch
Sty in Pragun 1935, Searching or sureaity
den in everyday bjs’ This rete Suess
Felaionship wth the uncanny —a familar sgt made
lAsconerting and strange bythe unexpected

‘Ares by psychi! Sigmund Freud's writing onthe
‘uncanny, Surrealist artists ave tapped in he ich vin of
"Srangenes embedded in he ordinary word Pooler apy
Drove particu well ute othe projet of ecosng
‘hese acidental exicidences, repetitions, and hazards of
aly fe. Manuel Avarez Bravo and Dora Maar captures
“urpeiing object and acenes encountered rough chance
‘thes induding Raoul Uboc and mb ung-sk manipulsted
or staged images fo convey a sense ofthe uncanny.

this potenti torevea hidden ruts. the eacanny
‘Ewelsuted satire and plc! subversion Tos
end, phlograpic stele ol delamination

have been employed to sbvert realty and present
every scenes in sange 0 uncanny ways. TSS
Seen in worts shun her by artists working in Belgrade,
Bucharest Lisbon, Menlo Cty Nagoya, regu and
‘Sou guaranteeing an ongoing questioning of power
andsocly,even nthe face of de eats.
THE WORK OF OREAMS.

surrelsmhas questioned —and sometimes attempted
‘erthon—the sronghlds of conscausness and coil
Dreoms re cial to his end becuse, tke aluations
‘a delasons, many have beleved that they can reveal he
‘eokings of the unconscious min. nse works On Show
hee ata jxtapostons or nighimarh subjects
pte the sense ofthe ordinary made tai. sures)
Sits in varous locations have seed hs potent er
Ioeration. They seek te inspiration of dreams tobreak om
Imitation imposed by societal customs, oro brig the sel.
community, of work fart beyond the reach of wang realy,

‘Sigmund Freud's widely trardate book, The intepretaton
‘fbreams(190) provided nea vl stimulus or
‘many arts approaches 0 utes, Tvough ase
‘Tasso hie paens, Feud beleves ha reams
txpored emotions otherwise epressed by sca
anvertion. Max rs’ panting, or example draws
‘pon sch an experience aleve visor wich he
{aw forms sppearin he proning of wood paneling
REVOLUTION, FIRST ANO ALWAYS

Revolutions a cenral idea for Surealsm, a it ofers
‘he possibly forrarsormaton ad ibeaion. Since
iz coneption, Srresizm ha chalenged preeminent
systems of power and privilege, dvsion and exclusion,
andhas been emboldened by a rowing chorus of
toices Alongside the coral and socal forces
‘hat determined its own erlang history over heat
century Sues has presented a model fr pot
engagement and aiation for arts, may of whom
have Been acest lor subversive benavour.

While Surealisshave expressed evolutionary ieas in
occ and aisles, some, nung those aseebled
here ave also generated collective achors. They have
‘ondemmes impels, acim, authoritarian,

fase captalsm, greed mitarim and fer forms

2 powe and onal From suse civ igs and a
war protests, tothe declonsation movement, Sualim
as Served asa 0 But not ormul. As opal
Sengho, uel poet, fest presen of Senegal and
‘etounde fhe Blac conscusness movement Negitude
fxplaines in 1960: We accepted Sureaism as ameans,
but nt as an end sa aly andnot a 2 master
CONVERGENCE POINT:
THE BUREAU DE RECHERCHES SURREALISTES, PARIS.

(0n1 October 1928 the Pari Surreal opened the Bureau
de recerhes sins urea of Srresis Research
‘The poet Antonin art, who functioned as its clr,
{ale an ‘agency of communication Esteblshed =
gathering place the Brea ames oes He
‘Members assembled an achive of mate relting 0
‘he surest evolution They cole ream nave,
document owas ics and chance ocutences, and
prepared project such a ‘lossay ofthe marvellous.
teas decotated a supe vistor—wih a plaster cs of

3 wormar's body heal rm he eling and Giro de
Chios eRe de Tebe Te Dream of Taba on a Wal

The Bureau served a range of public functions. These
Included receiving vistors, relating colecive pamphlets
2nd group publations, papillon bute,
responding fe press enquires and issuing the grou’ fst
Ioural Lo éauiton srl Inti ay a8 pnt
of convergence as much as a rssoads for ccuaton
Newcomers intrest in uresism vse learn about
Contribute and ere jin the movement. Members
felded questions simuated by ther exchange of eas and
tain! for publey Subscriber rom al pointer
Adelaide, Bucharest, Prague or Re de Jnero—made
Contac an shares the ow nes of Sure aces,
5 THE WORLD IN THE TIME OF THE SURREALISTS

‘The craig captioned te Monde aye des surdastes
[the Worse Teo thereat publishes in 1925
land elorged for our exhibition entrance emegnes
‘he world Chatlenging geopolitical cnventions that

se maps as aoa fo dete lerores the Surelsts
fwngan-mperist Senimert ae demonsirated
by placing he Pci lands athe cee They so ge
prominence fo Save uss and erase the closing
Powers of Eope, Japan, andthe Unie Slates.

While embracing ant-aanl pots, urelssin
Europe mistaken perceived an aff witha made by
Indigenous peoples of Aca, Oceana and the Americas
This fantasy of shared ideas and perspectives visible
in ety Sureaist colections ural and exhstions.
‘Objects made by Indigencus peopes were nuded n
‘he 1936 exhbton of Sureast objets Pars These
‘werk, includes for hei perceived aesthetic vate
wit a Eropean corer were sipped of place, maker
and thei orga meaning Ths exposes how, even
valing the at of inigeneus peoples and deplrng the
‘systems of colonalsm, Seats remained entangled
hina cla atte of cutral appropriation
COLLECTIVE 1oenTiTIES

Suealsm depends upona collective boy of participants,
len working ogee in tesponse fo pottiaor

Social concen Tis uni acknowledges tht working
Calaboraiey is oen mre pometl han as annua
Inisoltion, Vewed aros tne and place, hs quality has
been manfested in oupexhitions and demonsrans,
Cowrten manfests aa decaratios, and broadly shared
and cralated aris potial and soil vals.

Colaboratve pursuits coud release what Simone Breton,
an cari participant a Sureasm in Paris, calles images
‘imaginable by one mind lone’ xa of sch
teneratve aces incde seanceske explorations of

ances by Brelon and her coleagues, questionnaires
published in the Belgrade Sureas! Cle’ journal, andthe
Chicago Seats Spoken-word poetry pertrmed wih
‘musicans. Ths alec Ras been exresed trough art
‘aking especial evden the muliple cadre cus
Texqusie corpse ravings gathered inthis room. These are
‘made by one participant erawng form ad, afer fling the
Paper. sting tons that ony the ende canbe seen by 3
cond person wh continues he work and pares on
ean Group prouction esters posit and intinacy, but
iNean abo connec and make vibe aspoie
ndvansnatonl communities