...truth should be honored
 

OPENING:
Saturday, November 29, 2014, 6 pm

EXHIBITION DATA:
November 29 to December 20, 2014


1335MABINI proudly presents Martin Krenn in a solo exhibition titled “…truth should be honored” from November 29 to December 20, 2014.

It was very recent, and still is a point of controversy, when there had been a general uproar against the construction of a high-rise residential building in Manila, as the structure clearly intrudes on the view of the Rizal Monument from Luneta Park. It became a social media spectacle involving a number of individual advocates, the corporation responsible for the development, and figures from both the local and national government. The contention brought about by taking into consideration the importance of a monument and the circumstances that surround it bid the question: To what extent, then, is the relevance of the subject of the monument to the society who regards him with such honor?

Martin Krenn, whose interest primarily lies in “the strained relationships between art and society,” will be exhibiting video and photographic works initiating discourse on the matter, anchored on his research about Jose Rizal and his lengthy letter correspondence with Austrian ethnographer Dr. Ferdinand Blumentritt, who was an esteemed European expert on the Philippines in the 19th century. The focal point of the exhibition is the presentation of related documented objects such as the original Sacred Heart of Jesus statue sculpted by Rizal, and a film showing daily life amidst places named after Rizal and Blumentritt, overlaid with an audio-recording of a selection of letters translated (specifically for this project) in Tagalog. Complementing these works is a video-interview with renowned Blumentritt-expert Dr. Feorillo Petronilo A. Demetrio III, discussing the significance of Blumentritt for current Philippine Studies.

Such depiction, documentary yet conceptually framed, echoes a historical sentiment into contemporary times, aptly concluded in the words of Blumentritt himself: “…but I cannot do anything else. We say in German that truth should be honored.”

In addition to his research and output in Manila, Martin Krenn will also show two of his recent films, “World’s End” (UK, 2013) and “Feld-Herren Revisited” (AT, 2014).

Martin Krenn lives and works in Vienna and Belfast and has been realizing art projects at the interface between art and socio-political topics. He teaches Interventionist Art at the University of Applied Arts Vienna (AT) under the Dept. of Art and Communication Practices - KKP. In 2011, Krenn was awarded the Vice-Chancellor's Research Scholarship at the University of Ulster in Belfast (UK). Since then, he has been a PhD researcher at the university’s Faculty of Art, Design and the Built Environment.