Kentaur

In partnership with Belfast’s PS² and the University of Ulster, CCA is hosting a screening and talk with prominent Hungarian conceptual artist and Fluxus ‘actionist’, Tamas St.Turba (AKA Szentjóby, St.Auby, Emmy Grant, Staubsky). In CCA, St.Turba will introduce his film Kentaur (Centaur), made between 1973-75, which was banned before the final version was completed. In 2009, a copy was restored and digitised for the Istanbul Biennial. Kentaur is made from found footage from the Socialist era showing citizens going about their daily lives. The found footage is layered with new dialogues addressing themes of work, money and power.

This event is linked to “An Active Encounter”, a three-week project curated by Ciara Hickey for PS², which will investigate one single piece of St.Turba’s artwork, ‘Czechoslovakia Radio 1968’. The work consists of a red building brick with chalk markings drawn onto the sides denoting the dials of a radio. When Czechoslovakia was invaded by the Soviet army in 1968, people resisted through creative means. After people were forbidden to listen to radio broadcasts, they started attaching antennas to bricks as a sign of protest. These fake radios spread among the population who pretended to listen to them, and although they were useless as a communication device, they were continuously confiscated by the Russian Army.

For more information, please refer to the PS² website.