Rearview Mirror is a co-presentation of the Art Gallery of Alberta and The Power Plant, Toronto, where it was first exhibited in the summer of 2011. Curated by Canadian-born, New York-based curator Christopher Eamon, Rearview Mirror brings together work by 22 younger artists from the region of Europe known as the Eastern Bloc.

The exhibit is intended to showcase the artistic and cultural practices of numerous artists who are becoming well-known in Europe but less so in North America. Although it is described as “thematic,” it is not overtly political. It doesn’t attempt to provide a survey of Eastern art, or to compare it to Western art. Not all countries are represented, and the numbers of artists from each region are not equal. In general, Eamon seeks to avoid positioning the artists as either distinctly Eastern or marginal to Western art. The selected pieces challenge notions of Eastern Europe as a “social, political and art historical monolith.”

Rearview Mirror includes such non-traditional forms of media as video, installation and performance as well as academy-informed sculpture and painting. It provides a unique opportunity to view artworks by a new generation of artists – including Cyprian Muresan, Gintaras Didziapetris and Anna Molska – in the context of their internationally established contemporaries like Pawel Althamer, Roman Ondák and Wilhelm Sasnal. The exhibit is accompanied by a major hardcover publication.

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Mia Johnson

Roman Ondák’s The Stray Man
Performance Schedule: Feb 19, Mar 18, Apr 15, 12:30-3pm
The Stray Man performance will not always be announced. There will be a video inside the exhibition Rearview Mirror of the previous performance. The performance will take place in half-hour intervals between 12:30 and 3 pm. The performance will take place outside of the gallery; schedule is weather-dependent.