Curated by novelist and theorist, Richard Appignanesi, Raising Dust is a provocative multi-media exhibition which explores contemporary notions of identity and relativity by inviting a group of predominantly Eastern European artists to respond to the poetry and politics of place.

It can be argued that the very idea of Europe is in itself a dislocation, a nomadic horizon which responds differently to the shifting perspectives and desires of its inhabitants.  Each artist in Raising Dust has contributed work which addresses this proposition and foregrounds the urgency of creating an autonomous ‘space for life’ that overrides dominant mainstream distinctions.  Three of the artists (of Indian, Cypriot and British descent) have extended the encounter with Europe even further east so as to fully interrogate our ideas of what comprises this continent. 

A central symbol within Raising Dust is the broom.  This simple, everyday, household object serves as an emblem of basic human endurance in these artists’ meditations on waste and the geopolitical irregularities of Europe.  Metaphorically it also represents a way of asserting that such issues cannot be swept under the carpet as it were, but need to be agitated, literally raising dust and watching how and where it settles.

Participating Artists:
Rasheed Araeen, Ranko Bon, Dumitru Budrala, Navroze Contractor, Yiannos Ekonomou, Marina Gržinić and Aina Šmid, Isa Rosenberger, Sašo Sedlaček, Vlad Nancă and Zbyněk Baladrán