The IX Baltic Triennial of International Art: Black Market Worlds (BMW)

Let’s see. This exhibition is difficult to summarize. Maybe it’s worth starting out by quoting the official curatorial statement that was sent some time before the exhibition opening: “BMW takes interest in art, practices, and systems that do not necessarily claim, meet, or aim at transparency and identification. The curatorial approach is on people and things that must operate silently and be indiscernible to exist. They are formatted in such a way as to be rapidly transformed in order to escape categorization and cohesion. Contradiction is a premise through which to enter a terrain beyond knowledge and power.”

The acronym BMW was used as one of the many names for the IX Baltic Triennial of International Art. It was the abbreviation of its most recurring exhibition title Black Market Worlds, because there were plenty, and no less a borrowed name of the luxury vehicles. The exhibition’s subtitle was also telling of the exhibition spirit: “With magic, vampires, enchantments, extreme furtiveness, and other weird but true stories of life and death.” The participating artists of the triennial and several individuals engaged throughout the planning process of this exhibition proposed several exhibition titles, which were used at one point or the other.

This is the BMW website, still alive.

Last note: Iterations of the exhibition were presented at the Institute of Contemporary Art in London and at theO.K. Centre for Contemporary Art in Austria.