Another Person In You – New Iteration of PARS PRO TOTO

Yarli Allison, In Virtual Return You (can't) Dehaunt 於虛擬的彼岸 魂(不)散, video, still, 2020

ANOTHER PERSON IN YOU 

Online from April 1 to June 30, 2021

Works by Meggy Rustamova, Yarli Allison, Nina Mangalanayagam

Curated by Gloria Aino Grzywatz

The fifth iteration of PARS PRO TOTO focuses on language as part of our identity. The stories of artists Meggy Rustamova, Yarli Allison, and Nina Mangalanayagam explore how the language we think and interact in influences the way we are. Just like the individual self of its speaker, each language has its own history and cultural origins. As such, it expresses particular cultures, both individually and collectively. Language as a crucial form of communication connects and divides us equally. It influences our specific perception of reality, provides information about our own identity and simultaneously shapes it. The exhibition title refers to the Czech adage Every language is a person in you. This saying reflects the influence of language on our self-perception and view of the world. Who am I when I think or speak in a certain language? Do I see the world differently depending on the language I speak?

peertospace.eu/parsprototo

HOME IS WHERE HEART IS - New Iteration of PARS PRO TOTO

Home Is Where Heart Is

(Online from July 1 until September 30, 2020)

Works by Stephanie Comilang, Sarah Iris Mang, Rosalia Namsai Engchuan

Rosalia Namsai Engchuan, Complicated Happiness, video, still, 2020

Curated by Gloria Aino Grzywatz

The second iteration of Pars Pro Toto considers home in the age of globalized migration. The stories told by the artists Stephanie Comilang, Rosalia Namsai Engchuan and Sarah Iris Mang disclose different motivations for leaving their countries and handling living abroad. Some are migrant laborers, leaving behind their families for seven to ten months. Some must find a new home far away. Some are challenging the stereotypes of their migrant background. They all speak about the repercussions on their own identity and on the feeling of home. Hoping for better living conditions abroad, humans are often times stranded in intermediate worlds, unable to move forward or backward. In their thoughts and feelings, home exists as a place of longing and security. Home becomes the utopia of a better life carried in your heart. Home Is Where Heart Is shows that feeling home need not be coupled to one place and how living abroad can affect individual lives.

peertospace.eu/parsprototo

New Online Screening Series PARS PRO TOTO by peer to space

Ora Ruven, Home Of, 2020, (video still), (c) the artist

Pars Pro Toto is peer to space’s online series showcasing video art works which focus on very personal stories narrated by the artist or by the protagonist. The works are embedded in a thematic context of cultural, social, political, or environmental issues. A new iteration focusing on a further topic will be released bimonthly. 

Pars Pro Toto creates a digital space for users to be silent observers and to simultaneously witness the social complexity of the world. By discovering artworks based on individual experiences yet presented in a broader context, the series demonstrates how the personal symbolizes a part of the whole, a pars pro toto. The personal story seen as an extract of an overall reality becomes visible and fits into the mosaic of the collective experience. Exploring larger issues through the individual lens activates awareness within the viewers. This leads to a deeper and more empathetic understanding of today’s global social conditions. The series promotes the importance of freedom of expression and the necessity of providing a voice for everyone as a basis for a caring and participatory society. 

The first iteration of Pars Pro Toto, THE PERSONAL IS POLITICAL, curated by Gloria Aino Grzywatz and Tina Sauerlaender deals with the political and social conditions impacting individual lives. The stories told by artists Christa Joo Hyun D’Angelo, Lizza May David & Claudia Liebelt, JR and Ora Ruven consider the influence of the power of the state authorities, of war, exclusion, of discrimination of minorities. They reveal arbitrary political decisions and who is seen and who is not. Their stories take place in different places at different times, yet they show how the reciprocity of personal conditions and an individuals’ values inherited through the system in which they were born affect their path in  life. The rallying cry “The Personal Is Political” echoes in their works as well as the overall motto of the screening series, Pars Pro Toto. It was used as a slogan during the student movement and second wave feminism in the 1960s, which is why this screening especially highlights stories of women. THE PERSONAL IS POLITICAL is online from May 1 until June 30, 2020

Visit the first iteration of PARS PRO TOTO - THE PERSONAL IS POLITICAL - here.