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Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Monday, January 18, 2010
Euan Macdonald
Scotland-born, LA-based artist Euan Macdonald presents A Little Ramble, a solo exhibition at Western Bridge. The exhibition features video, drawings, photographs, and new two newly commissioned works. "The idea of landscape is a thread that runs through all the work," says Macdonald, not as a scene but as "a changing space to move through in time."
The show's centerpiece, A Little Ramble (2010), brings a full scale replica of a mountaintop into Western Bridge. Realistically rendered by a local scene shop, the mountain is surmounted by a pair of taxidermied mountain goats, frozen in circulation on a looped path around the summit. The work takes its title from a short prose piece by Robert Walser (1878-1956) recounting a trek in the mountains, most likely in Switzerland but unspecified, easily projected onto the landscape around Seattle. "I walked through the mountains today," the account begins. "The weather was damp, and the entire region was gray." The narrator limits himself to the observable, giving little indication of his interior state. The ending asserts the power of the mundane: "We don't need to see anything out of the ordinary. We already see so much."
A mountain encountered inside a gallery is clearly out of the ordinary, but the piece asserts itself as a commonplace despite its uncanniness. The extraordinary is expressed as if ordinary.
Upstairs, in Western Bridge's connected apartment, a smaller sculptural work gives a long view of the same scene. In 98134, (2009) Western Bridge itself is set, as a scale model, atop a large mountain. Drawing from a trope of science fiction, the work shows the building "at the mercy of geological change," in the artist's words, a vision out of J.G. Ballard or Planet of the Apes.
Landscape appears in both the imagery and structure of Selected Standards (2007), an installation of 84 diptychs pairing found sheet music covers with drawings and photographs made or appropriated by the artist. Macdonald came across a box of sheet music for pop standards in a second-hand shop in Los Angeles. The song titles, arranged more or less in the order in which the artist found them, read as a loose narrative. "The narrative is about someone moving to a new place, finding enchantment and then disillusion," says Macdonald. "It's also a narrative about someone falling in love, but it's ambiguous whether it's with a person or with a city."
This narrative connects to the journey taken by the sheet music, mostly published in New York and dispersed around the nation via commerce or migration before arriving in Los Angeles. The titles' narrative connects to the artist's own life in direct ways, and the drawings and photographs draw on a range of themes and subjects that have been significant in his practice, but the work is not autobiographical. Instead, it operates as a pop standard does, as a subjective experience that a mass audience can experience personally, relating to the song's tale (verse) and its emotions (chorus), identifying with the singer or protagonist. "Any of those songs can relate to any number of people," says Macdonald. "Not only are the songs standard but the experience can be standard as well."
The exhibition offers the viewer a series of little rambles, encounters with the familiar--reminders of how much we already see.
The show's centerpiece, A Little Ramble (2010), brings a full scale replica of a mountaintop into Western Bridge. Realistically rendered by a local scene shop, the mountain is surmounted by a pair of taxidermied mountain goats, frozen in circulation on a looped path around the summit. The work takes its title from a short prose piece by Robert Walser (1878-1956) recounting a trek in the mountains, most likely in Switzerland but unspecified, easily projected onto the landscape around Seattle. "I walked through the mountains today," the account begins. "The weather was damp, and the entire region was gray." The narrator limits himself to the observable, giving little indication of his interior state. The ending asserts the power of the mundane: "We don't need to see anything out of the ordinary. We already see so much."
A mountain encountered inside a gallery is clearly out of the ordinary, but the piece asserts itself as a commonplace despite its uncanniness. The extraordinary is expressed as if ordinary.
Upstairs, in Western Bridge's connected apartment, a smaller sculptural work gives a long view of the same scene. In 98134, (2009) Western Bridge itself is set, as a scale model, atop a large mountain. Drawing from a trope of science fiction, the work shows the building "at the mercy of geological change," in the artist's words, a vision out of J.G. Ballard or Planet of the Apes.
Landscape appears in both the imagery and structure of Selected Standards (2007), an installation of 84 diptychs pairing found sheet music covers with drawings and photographs made or appropriated by the artist. Macdonald came across a box of sheet music for pop standards in a second-hand shop in Los Angeles. The song titles, arranged more or less in the order in which the artist found them, read as a loose narrative. "The narrative is about someone moving to a new place, finding enchantment and then disillusion," says Macdonald. "It's also a narrative about someone falling in love, but it's ambiguous whether it's with a person or with a city."
This narrative connects to the journey taken by the sheet music, mostly published in New York and dispersed around the nation via commerce or migration before arriving in Los Angeles. The titles' narrative connects to the artist's own life in direct ways, and the drawings and photographs draw on a range of themes and subjects that have been significant in his practice, but the work is not autobiographical. Instead, it operates as a pop standard does, as a subjective experience that a mass audience can experience personally, relating to the song's tale (verse) and its emotions (chorus), identifying with the singer or protagonist. "Any of those songs can relate to any number of people," says Macdonald. "Not only are the songs standard but the experience can be standard as well."
The exhibition offers the viewer a series of little rambles, encounters with the familiar--reminders of how much we already see.
FotoFest 2010 Biennial
FotoFest 2010 Biennial
Program and Special Events Announced
FotoFest announces the programs for the United States' largest citywide celebration of photography, the FotoFest 2010 Biennial. Focusing for the first time on the theme ofContemporary U.S. Photography, the Biennial highlights four exhibitions on Contemporary U.S. Photography by invited curators from different regions of the country. These principal exhibitions feature the work of 45 U.S. artists, and are accompanied by a fifth, non-thematic exhibition, Discoveries of the Meeting Place, spotlighting ten artists who presented work in the previous Biennial's portfolio review. FotoFest's exhibitions are joined by more than 80 independently organized photographic exhibitions citywide; forums on contemporary curating; the world's largest portfolio review for artists; an International Fine Print Auction; programs for art collectors; Workshops on online multimedia and social media technologies; films; and public Evenings with the Artists. The full program is available online at http://www.fotofest.org/biennial2010.
FOTOFEST 2010 BIENNIAL GRAND OPENING
The FotoFest 2010 Biennial Grand Opening is a free public celebration Friday, March 12, 2010 at FotoFest headquarters and gallery – the site of Whatever was Splendid, one of the four principal exhibitions on Contemporary U.S. Photography at the FotoFest 2010 Biennial. Guests at the Grand Opening will include the FotoFest 2010 Biennial curators: Natasha Egan, Aaron Schuman, Edward Robinson and Gilbert Vicario; many of the 45 exhibiting artists; refreshments and music. Opening Receptions for the other three principal FotoFest Biennial exhibitions occur over the course of the following weeks and will be attended by featured artists and curators.
FOTOFEST CURATORIAL DIALOGUES
Examining the role of the art curator is an important part of FotoFest 2010 Biennial programming. The professionals commissioned to conceive the principal exhibitions for the 2010 Biennial are part of a new generation of curators redefining the role of museums and art spaces in terms of their relationship to art audiences, the general public, and other social institutions. FotoFest presents four of the Biennial curators in a series of free Curatorial Dialogues about their roles as interlocutors between art makers and the public, how they see the future of art in institutions, what influences their curatorial choices, who they see as their audiences, and how they and their institutions are using online platforms.
In addition to the four Curatorial Dialogues, FotoFest is sponsoring a Symposium on Contemporary Curatorial Practice with Anne Wilkes Tucker, Charlotte Cotton, Gilbert Vicario and Daniel Joseph Martinez at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, March 28, 2010
Sunday, March 14, 2010 - Aaron Schuman, curator of the Whatever was Splendid exhibition at Vine Street Studios, with Madeline Yale, Adjunct Curator, Houston Center for Photography
Friday, March 19, 2010 - Edward Robinson, curator of the Assembly: Eight Emerging Photographers from Southern California exhibition at Williams Tower, with Anne Wilkes Tucker, Curator of Photography, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Friday, March 26, 2010 - Natasha Egan, curator of the Road to Nowhere? exhibition at Winter Street Studios, with Clint Willour, Curator, Galveston Arts Center
Wednesday, March 31, 2010 - Gilbert Vicario, curator of the Medianation exhibition at various locations, with Fernando Castro, Independent Curator and Collector
The Curatorial Dialogues are scheduled to connect with the four Evenings with the Artists Open Portfolio Nights.
FOTOFEST EVENINGS WITH THE ARTISTS
FotoFest's Evenings with the Artists Open Portfolio Nights connect the public with the hundreds of artists, curators, and other art professionals visiting Houston for the acclaimed Meeting Place Portfolio Review. The Evenings with the Artists Open Portfolio Nights invite the public to see the work of artists in a festive atmosphere that fosters discussion, exchange and sales.
FOTOFEST FINE PRINT AUCTION
Prints from eighty contemporary international and U.S. artists are featured in the FotoFest Fine Print Auction, Tuesday March 23, 2010 at the Doubletree Hotel Houston Downtown. Conducted byDenise Bethel, Sotheby's Senior Vice President and Director of Photographs Department, the auction provides a rare opportunity to encounter and acquire high quality contemporary fine art photography from five continents. The Preview Exhibition is March 3-20, 2010 at Gremillion & Co. Fine Art Inc. and is free and open to the public. There are two additional days of previews at the Auction site, Doubletree Hotel Houston Downtown, March 21-22, 2010. Images, artist biographies and information about the works will be posted on the FotoFest 2010 website athttp://www.fotofest.org/biennial2010/auction. Absentee bid forms are available.
FOTOFEST 2010 BIENNIAL WORKSHOPS
FotoFest is sponsoring two Workshops on online multimedia, social media and web-based technologies. The workshops, at the Doubletree Hotel Houston Downtown, bring media and art marketing experts, artists, curators and editors together to share their expertise and experience in art, the internet, social media networks, and multimedia platforms.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010 | BEYOND PRINT: Creative Communication in the Digital Age
Presenters Mary Virginia Swanson and artist Katrina d'Autremont
Focusing on how the use of interactive, online marketing tools, and technologies is changing the way artists and arts professionals present their work to the world.
Sunday, March 21, 2010 | MEDIASTORM: Building Multimedia Platforms
Presenter Brian Storm, MediaStorm (http://www.mediastorm.com)
Shows how top photographers are redefining their work to incorporate audio, animation, and video for distribution across new marketing and art platforms, including broadcast, internet, and mobile media.
FotoFest Workshops connect with the Meeting Place Portfolio Reviews at the Doubletree Hotel Downtown Houston. Forms are available for download athttp://www.fotofest.org/biennial2010/workshops.
FOTOFEST 2010 BIENNIAL CATALOGUE
FotoFest is co-publishing the 2010 Biennial Catalogue, with European publisher Schilt Publishing (Amsterdam, The Netherlands). The 500 page, two-volume 2010 Biennial catalogue features more than 300 full-color images and five essays by Biennial curators on Contemporary U.S. Photography. The FotoFest 2010 Biennial Catalogue is available late February 2010 at http://www.fotofest.org.
INSTITUTIONAL SPONSORS (as of January 14, 2010)
The Houston Endowment, Inc; Roma; The Brown Foundation, Inc; National Endowment for the Arts; JPMorgan Chase; The Eleanor and Frank Freed Foundation; City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance; Doubletree Hotel Houston Downtown; Texas Commission on the Arts; The Clayton Fund; Trust for Mutual Understanding; Continental Airlines The Official Airline of the FotoFest 2010 Biennial; The Wortham Foundation; American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP); Iland Internet Solutions; HexaGroup; Vine Street Studios; The Anchorage Foundation.
Program and Special Events Announced
FotoFest announces the programs for the United States' largest citywide celebration of photography, the FotoFest 2010 Biennial. Focusing for the first time on the theme ofContemporary U.S. Photography, the Biennial highlights four exhibitions on Contemporary U.S. Photography by invited curators from different regions of the country. These principal exhibitions feature the work of 45 U.S. artists, and are accompanied by a fifth, non-thematic exhibition, Discoveries of the Meeting Place, spotlighting ten artists who presented work in the previous Biennial's portfolio review. FotoFest's exhibitions are joined by more than 80 independently organized photographic exhibitions citywide; forums on contemporary curating; the world's largest portfolio review for artists; an International Fine Print Auction; programs for art collectors; Workshops on online multimedia and social media technologies; films; and public Evenings with the Artists. The full program is available online at http://www.fotofest.org/biennial2010.
FOTOFEST 2010 BIENNIAL GRAND OPENING
The FotoFest 2010 Biennial Grand Opening is a free public celebration Friday, March 12, 2010 at FotoFest headquarters and gallery – the site of Whatever was Splendid, one of the four principal exhibitions on Contemporary U.S. Photography at the FotoFest 2010 Biennial. Guests at the Grand Opening will include the FotoFest 2010 Biennial curators: Natasha Egan, Aaron Schuman, Edward Robinson and Gilbert Vicario; many of the 45 exhibiting artists; refreshments and music. Opening Receptions for the other three principal FotoFest Biennial exhibitions occur over the course of the following weeks and will be attended by featured artists and curators.
FOTOFEST CURATORIAL DIALOGUES
Examining the role of the art curator is an important part of FotoFest 2010 Biennial programming. The professionals commissioned to conceive the principal exhibitions for the 2010 Biennial are part of a new generation of curators redefining the role of museums and art spaces in terms of their relationship to art audiences, the general public, and other social institutions. FotoFest presents four of the Biennial curators in a series of free Curatorial Dialogues about their roles as interlocutors between art makers and the public, how they see the future of art in institutions, what influences their curatorial choices, who they see as their audiences, and how they and their institutions are using online platforms.
In addition to the four Curatorial Dialogues, FotoFest is sponsoring a Symposium on Contemporary Curatorial Practice with Anne Wilkes Tucker, Charlotte Cotton, Gilbert Vicario and Daniel Joseph Martinez at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, March 28, 2010
Sunday, March 14, 2010 - Aaron Schuman, curator of the Whatever was Splendid exhibition at Vine Street Studios, with Madeline Yale, Adjunct Curator, Houston Center for Photography
Friday, March 19, 2010 - Edward Robinson, curator of the Assembly: Eight Emerging Photographers from Southern California exhibition at Williams Tower, with Anne Wilkes Tucker, Curator of Photography, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Friday, March 26, 2010 - Natasha Egan, curator of the Road to Nowhere? exhibition at Winter Street Studios, with Clint Willour, Curator, Galveston Arts Center
Wednesday, March 31, 2010 - Gilbert Vicario, curator of the Medianation exhibition at various locations, with Fernando Castro, Independent Curator and Collector
The Curatorial Dialogues are scheduled to connect with the four Evenings with the Artists Open Portfolio Nights.
FOTOFEST EVENINGS WITH THE ARTISTS
FotoFest's Evenings with the Artists Open Portfolio Nights connect the public with the hundreds of artists, curators, and other art professionals visiting Houston for the acclaimed Meeting Place Portfolio Review. The Evenings with the Artists Open Portfolio Nights invite the public to see the work of artists in a festive atmosphere that fosters discussion, exchange and sales.
FOTOFEST FINE PRINT AUCTION
Prints from eighty contemporary international and U.S. artists are featured in the FotoFest Fine Print Auction, Tuesday March 23, 2010 at the Doubletree Hotel Houston Downtown. Conducted byDenise Bethel, Sotheby's Senior Vice President and Director of Photographs Department, the auction provides a rare opportunity to encounter and acquire high quality contemporary fine art photography from five continents. The Preview Exhibition is March 3-20, 2010 at Gremillion & Co. Fine Art Inc. and is free and open to the public. There are two additional days of previews at the Auction site, Doubletree Hotel Houston Downtown, March 21-22, 2010. Images, artist biographies and information about the works will be posted on the FotoFest 2010 website athttp://www.fotofest.org/biennial2010/auction. Absentee bid forms are available.
FOTOFEST 2010 BIENNIAL WORKSHOPS
FotoFest is sponsoring two Workshops on online multimedia, social media and web-based technologies. The workshops, at the Doubletree Hotel Houston Downtown, bring media and art marketing experts, artists, curators and editors together to share their expertise and experience in art, the internet, social media networks, and multimedia platforms.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010 | BEYOND PRINT: Creative Communication in the Digital Age
Presenters Mary Virginia Swanson and artist Katrina d'Autremont
Focusing on how the use of interactive, online marketing tools, and technologies is changing the way artists and arts professionals present their work to the world.
Sunday, March 21, 2010 | MEDIASTORM: Building Multimedia Platforms
Presenter Brian Storm, MediaStorm (http://www.mediastorm.com)
Shows how top photographers are redefining their work to incorporate audio, animation, and video for distribution across new marketing and art platforms, including broadcast, internet, and mobile media.
FotoFest Workshops connect with the Meeting Place Portfolio Reviews at the Doubletree Hotel Downtown Houston. Forms are available for download athttp://www.fotofest.org/biennial2010/workshops.
FOTOFEST 2010 BIENNIAL CATALOGUE
FotoFest is co-publishing the 2010 Biennial Catalogue, with European publisher Schilt Publishing (Amsterdam, The Netherlands). The 500 page, two-volume 2010 Biennial catalogue features more than 300 full-color images and five essays by Biennial curators on Contemporary U.S. Photography. The FotoFest 2010 Biennial Catalogue is available late February 2010 at http://www.fotofest.org.
INSTITUTIONAL SPONSORS (as of January 14, 2010)
The Houston Endowment, Inc; Roma; The Brown Foundation, Inc; National Endowment for the Arts; JPMorgan Chase; The Eleanor and Frank Freed Foundation; City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance; Doubletree Hotel Houston Downtown; Texas Commission on the Arts; The Clayton Fund; Trust for Mutual Understanding; Continental Airlines The Official Airline of the FotoFest 2010 Biennial; The Wortham Foundation; American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP); Iland Internet Solutions; HexaGroup; Vine Street Studios; The Anchorage Foundation.
Yayoi Kusama site-specific public artwork
Dots for Love and Peace (2009), one of only three temporary public art projects worldwide designed by iconic Japanese artist, Yayoi Kusama, is currently installed on the exterior architecture of City Gallery Wellington, New Zealand.
While City Gallery Wellington regularly showcases contemporary artworks by some of New Zealand and the world's leading artists, this is the first time the Gallery's art deco heritage listed building has become the site for a temporary site-specific public artwork.
Yayoi Kusama is widely respected as an extraordinarily innovative and singular artist, one whose prolific work over the last five decades has influenced generations of artists and designers worldwide. Her signature dots are forever inscribed on the face of contemporary art.
"Dots for Love and Peace (2009) is an intense and unexpected public artwork, and reflects Kusama's obsessive interest in repetition, pattern and colour" says Gallery director Paula Savage. "Blue, yellow, orange, pink, red and green dots in a range of different sizes animate the facade of the building, adding a sense of drama and playfulness to Civic Square. Wellingtonians and visitors to the city alike are intrigued by this joyful work, and each day many passing through the city's public Square stop to capture photographs of themselves posing against the dots."
The scale of the work is immense, covering the entire 52 metre frontage of City Gallery Wellington. Working from the 1930's architectural drawings of the Gallery façade, Ms Kusama created a detailed plan for the public artwork, with exact specifications of colour, size and placement of each individual dot.
"This work has provided a remarkable opportunity for City Gallery Wellington to reach out and connect with a general public beyond the usual Gallery going public," said Gallery director Paula Savage. "I first met with Ms Kusama at Kusama Studio, Tokyo in 2004, beginning the process of negotiating to present her work in New Zealand. We were very excited when the artist agreed to design a new public artwork specifically for the Gallery as well as two new site-specific installations Dots Obsession Day 2009 andDots Obsession Night 2009.
While Ms Savage's relationship with Ms Kusama was the genesis of the work, it was the generous investment and support of sponsors in New Zealand that enabled the Gallery to realize Dots for Love and Peace (2009). Paula Savage says, "The final artwork continues to amaze and captivate all who pass by. Kusama's signature dots will be sorely missed at the close of the exhibition."
The public artwork coincides with the major three-venue exhibition Yayoi Kusama: Mirrored Years which closes at City Gallery Wellington on 7 February 2010. Instigated by the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam and Le Consortium, Dijon, it has travelled to the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney and City Gallery Wellington, and has been shaped and augmented for each venue. For City Gallery Wellington three new works have been added, thanks to the generosity of the artist and Yayoi Kusama Studio, Tokyo and Ota Fine Art Tokyo.
The exhibition has been curated by Jaap Guldemond (MBvB), Franck Gautherot and Seungduk Kim (Le Consortium), with additional works added for Australasia by Judith Blackall (Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney) and Paula Savage (City Gallery Wellington).
While City Gallery Wellington regularly showcases contemporary artworks by some of New Zealand and the world's leading artists, this is the first time the Gallery's art deco heritage listed building has become the site for a temporary site-specific public artwork.
Yayoi Kusama is widely respected as an extraordinarily innovative and singular artist, one whose prolific work over the last five decades has influenced generations of artists and designers worldwide. Her signature dots are forever inscribed on the face of contemporary art.
"Dots for Love and Peace (2009) is an intense and unexpected public artwork, and reflects Kusama's obsessive interest in repetition, pattern and colour" says Gallery director Paula Savage. "Blue, yellow, orange, pink, red and green dots in a range of different sizes animate the facade of the building, adding a sense of drama and playfulness to Civic Square. Wellingtonians and visitors to the city alike are intrigued by this joyful work, and each day many passing through the city's public Square stop to capture photographs of themselves posing against the dots."
The scale of the work is immense, covering the entire 52 metre frontage of City Gallery Wellington. Working from the 1930's architectural drawings of the Gallery façade, Ms Kusama created a detailed plan for the public artwork, with exact specifications of colour, size and placement of each individual dot.
"This work has provided a remarkable opportunity for City Gallery Wellington to reach out and connect with a general public beyond the usual Gallery going public," said Gallery director Paula Savage. "I first met with Ms Kusama at Kusama Studio, Tokyo in 2004, beginning the process of negotiating to present her work in New Zealand. We were very excited when the artist agreed to design a new public artwork specifically for the Gallery as well as two new site-specific installations Dots Obsession Day 2009 andDots Obsession Night 2009.
While Ms Savage's relationship with Ms Kusama was the genesis of the work, it was the generous investment and support of sponsors in New Zealand that enabled the Gallery to realize Dots for Love and Peace (2009). Paula Savage says, "The final artwork continues to amaze and captivate all who pass by. Kusama's signature dots will be sorely missed at the close of the exhibition."
The public artwork coincides with the major three-venue exhibition Yayoi Kusama: Mirrored Years which closes at City Gallery Wellington on 7 February 2010. Instigated by the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam and Le Consortium, Dijon, it has travelled to the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney and City Gallery Wellington, and has been shaped and augmented for each venue. For City Gallery Wellington three new works have been added, thanks to the generosity of the artist and Yayoi Kusama Studio, Tokyo and Ota Fine Art Tokyo.
The exhibition has been curated by Jaap Guldemond (MBvB), Franck Gautherot and Seungduk Kim (Le Consortium), with additional works added for Australasia by Judith Blackall (Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney) and Paula Savage (City Gallery Wellington).
James Turrell
In collaboration with the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, the American light artist James Turrell has created his largest-ever walk-in light installation in a museum context: an 11-metre-high, "space within a space" structure that covers a floor area of 700 square metres and reaches up to the glass roof of the museum. One of Turrell's Ganzfeld Pieces, it is a hollow construction divided into two parts. The two interconnecting chambers – the Viewing Space and the Sensing Space – are both completely empty and – a new feature of this type of work – flooded with slowly changing coloured light. The Kunstmuseum is showing The Wolfsburg Project along with a number of Turrell's other works in the most extensive exhibition by the artist in Germany to date.
Visitors can enter the piece via a steep ramp that leads down from the upper floor into the Viewing Space; immersing themselves in a "sublime bath of light", they can experience with all their senses how the architectural elements of the space dissolve in this homogeneous visual field, creating a sense of perceptual disorientation. While the light reveals and refers to nothing beyond itself, surface qualities interact with those of colour and space to create an atmosphere that completely envelops the spectator and stimulates the senses. Viewers become submerged in a mysterious, painterly world of pure light. Turrell describes this as "feeling with your eyes", an experience he regards as not just aesthetic but also spiritual.
This exhibition is supported by Volkswagen Financial Services. Zumtobel's innovative lighting solutions enable James Turrell's artistic vision to become reality.
Visitors can enter the piece via a steep ramp that leads down from the upper floor into the Viewing Space; immersing themselves in a "sublime bath of light", they can experience with all their senses how the architectural elements of the space dissolve in this homogeneous visual field, creating a sense of perceptual disorientation. While the light reveals and refers to nothing beyond itself, surface qualities interact with those of colour and space to create an atmosphere that completely envelops the spectator and stimulates the senses. Viewers become submerged in a mysterious, painterly world of pure light. Turrell describes this as "feeling with your eyes", an experience he regards as not just aesthetic but also spiritual.
This exhibition is supported by Volkswagen Financial Services. Zumtobel's innovative lighting solutions enable James Turrell's artistic vision to become reality.
Gordon Matta-Clark
The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts announces the exhibition, Urban Alchemy/Gordon Matta-Clark, on view October 30, 2009 - June 5, 2010.
The artist Gordon Matta-Clark (1943-1978) used neglected structures slated for demolition as his raw material. He carved out sections of buildings with a power saw in order to reveal their hidden construction, to provide new ways of perceiving space, and to create metaphors for the human condition. He spoke of his work as an activity that attempted "to transform place into a state of mind by opening walls." When wrecking balls knocked down his sculpted buildings, little remained. He took photographs and films of his interventions and kept a few of the building segments, known as "cuts." They include a section of an apartment floor (Bronx Floors: Double Doors), three parts of a house near Love Canal (Bingo), a window from an abandoned warehouse on a pier in New York City (Pier In/Out), and the rooftop corners of a house in New Jersey (Splitting: Four Corners). For this exhibition, the Pulitzer has borrowed these very cuts from The Museum of Modern Art in New York, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and from the private collection of Thomas and John Solomon. The Estate of Gordon Matta-Clark and David Zwirner, New York, also lent nearly fifty photographs, while the Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montréal, provided numerous works on paper, including eleven drawings. Two of Matta-Clark's films, Fire Child and Conical Intersect, are also on view, offering a means to understand better the performance aspect of his art.
The placement of Matta-Clark's work in the exhibition spaces designed by Tadao Ando at the Pulitzer encourages new ways of looking at art, architecture, and the urban environment. Ando's pristine building not only heightens the roughness of Matta-Clark's cuts, but it will also recall the artist's lost interventions. Both he and Ando sought to break the visual and metaphorical boundaries normally associated with the architectural "box" by allowing light to penetrate spaces in unexpected ways.
A web catalogue featuring installation views of the exhibition will be located athttp://mattaclark.pulitzerarts.org
Reminiscent of an alchemist, Matta-Clark pursued the transmutation of a discarded object into something filled with "hope and fantasy." He was deeply concerned with the abandonment of buildings and the fate of urban communities. He became socially and politically active during the 1970s and wrote that he focused on buildings, "for these comprise both a miniature cultural evolution and a model of prevailing social structures. Consequently, what I do to buildings is what some do with languages and others with groups of people: I organize them in order to explain and defend the need for change."
The exhibition programming, entitled Transformation, connects the artist's social activism to present-day St. Louis. The Pulitzer, in collaboration with the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis, has organized programs that build upon Matta-Clark's desire to imbue abandoned objects, buildings, and parcels of land with new meaning. The Pulitzer hopes to help carry Matta-Clark's legacy into the 21st century and to inspire a new generation of social activism through creative acts. An interactive web presence will reflect this community-driven programming athttp://mattaclark.pulitzerarts.org/transformation
Through art exhibitions, programs, collaborations, and exchanges with other institutions, the Pulitzer aims to foster a deeper understanding and appreciation of art and architecture and is a resource for artists, architects, scholars, students and the general public.
The artist Gordon Matta-Clark (1943-1978) used neglected structures slated for demolition as his raw material. He carved out sections of buildings with a power saw in order to reveal their hidden construction, to provide new ways of perceiving space, and to create metaphors for the human condition. He spoke of his work as an activity that attempted "to transform place into a state of mind by opening walls." When wrecking balls knocked down his sculpted buildings, little remained. He took photographs and films of his interventions and kept a few of the building segments, known as "cuts." They include a section of an apartment floor (Bronx Floors: Double Doors), three parts of a house near Love Canal (Bingo), a window from an abandoned warehouse on a pier in New York City (Pier In/Out), and the rooftop corners of a house in New Jersey (Splitting: Four Corners). For this exhibition, the Pulitzer has borrowed these very cuts from The Museum of Modern Art in New York, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and from the private collection of Thomas and John Solomon. The Estate of Gordon Matta-Clark and David Zwirner, New York, also lent nearly fifty photographs, while the Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montréal, provided numerous works on paper, including eleven drawings. Two of Matta-Clark's films, Fire Child and Conical Intersect, are also on view, offering a means to understand better the performance aspect of his art.
The placement of Matta-Clark's work in the exhibition spaces designed by Tadao Ando at the Pulitzer encourages new ways of looking at art, architecture, and the urban environment. Ando's pristine building not only heightens the roughness of Matta-Clark's cuts, but it will also recall the artist's lost interventions. Both he and Ando sought to break the visual and metaphorical boundaries normally associated with the architectural "box" by allowing light to penetrate spaces in unexpected ways.
A web catalogue featuring installation views of the exhibition will be located athttp://mattaclark.pulitzerarts.org
Reminiscent of an alchemist, Matta-Clark pursued the transmutation of a discarded object into something filled with "hope and fantasy." He was deeply concerned with the abandonment of buildings and the fate of urban communities. He became socially and politically active during the 1970s and wrote that he focused on buildings, "for these comprise both a miniature cultural evolution and a model of prevailing social structures. Consequently, what I do to buildings is what some do with languages and others with groups of people: I organize them in order to explain and defend the need for change."
The exhibition programming, entitled Transformation, connects the artist's social activism to present-day St. Louis. The Pulitzer, in collaboration with the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis, has organized programs that build upon Matta-Clark's desire to imbue abandoned objects, buildings, and parcels of land with new meaning. The Pulitzer hopes to help carry Matta-Clark's legacy into the 21st century and to inspire a new generation of social activism through creative acts. An interactive web presence will reflect this community-driven programming athttp://mattaclark.pulitzerarts.org/transformation
Through art exhibitions, programs, collaborations, and exchanges with other institutions, the Pulitzer aims to foster a deeper understanding and appreciation of art and architecture and is a resource for artists, architects, scholars, students and the general public.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Teresita Fernandez and Drawn Toward Light
The Blanton Museum of Art at The University of Texas at Austin is pleased to present Teresita Fernández: Blind Landscape, a survey of new and recent works by this internationally acclaimed artist. The exhibition is organized by and premiered at the University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum (USFCAM) and was curated by David Louis Norr, chief curator, USF Institute for Research in Art, in close collaboration with the artist. Accompanying Teresita Fernández: Blind Landscape, Drawn Toward Light is an exhibition featuring works from the Blanton's collections that use light as a medium. Both exhibitions will be on view November 1, 2009 to January 3, 2010.
American artist Teresita Fernández (born in Miami, lives and works in Brooklyn) is widely known for her immersive installations and evocative large-scale sculptures that explore the cultural fabrication of nature. Characterized by her deft ability to transform common materials like steel, graphite and glass into forms and images reminiscent of the natural world, Fernández' works bring idea and experience into poetic tension. Meticulous, subtle, and always surprising, her sculptural scenarios offer viewers unique opportunities for contemplation and discovery.
"Investigating the act of looking is central to Teresita Fernández' work," says Annette DiMeo Carlozzi, the Blanton's curator of American and contemporary art and director of curatorial affairs. "Her works address our experiences of light and space as they evolve moment-to-moment and respond to sensation, memory, and the process of perception."
The Austin presentation of the exhibition includes five recent large-scale sculptures, a series of six wall works, and a new, monumental drawing made on site. Featured among the large-scale works is Vertigo (sotto en su) from 2007, comprised of layers of precision-cut, highly polished metal woven into a reflective and intricate arboreal pattern suspended high above the viewer, not unlike an immense, cascading tree branch. "The multiple planes of space through which the viewer looks become visible simultaneously, vacillating between object and optical phenomena, continuously disassembling and reassembling," writes curator Norr.
The Blanton's presentation also features Stacked Waters, 2009—a two-story, site-specific work commissioned for the museum's Rapoport Atrium earlier this year. Stacked Waters consists of 3,100 square feet of custom–cast acrylic that covers the cavernous atrium walls in a striped swirl pattern resembling water. Horizontal bands of saturated color shift and fade from deep blue to white, creating what the artist calls "a colored abstraction" from which the visitor emerges at the top of the Museum's grand stair. Titled in a nod to Donald Judd's boxes, the work suggests that the space is a container, in this case of light and communal activity. Visitors move within its volume, lured by the image yet fully aware of its fabrication.
Major support for Teresita Fernández: Blind Landscape at The Blanton is provided by Jeanne and Michael Klein and the Linda Pace Foundation. Funding also is provided by Julie and John Thornton and by Lora Reynolds and Quincy Lee in honor of Jeanne and Michael Klein.
Drawn Toward Light
Light is an essential element of visual experience and the means by which we see and begin to perceive the world around us. A special complement to Teresita Fernández: Blind Landscape, Drawn Toward Light is an exhibition of works from the Blanton's holdings that use light as a medium. Stephen Antonakos, Paul Chan, James Turrell and Leo Villarreal focus light into elemental geometric shapes to give it physical presence and sculptural form.
American artist Teresita Fernández (born in Miami, lives and works in Brooklyn) is widely known for her immersive installations and evocative large-scale sculptures that explore the cultural fabrication of nature. Characterized by her deft ability to transform common materials like steel, graphite and glass into forms and images reminiscent of the natural world, Fernández' works bring idea and experience into poetic tension. Meticulous, subtle, and always surprising, her sculptural scenarios offer viewers unique opportunities for contemplation and discovery.
"Investigating the act of looking is central to Teresita Fernández' work," says Annette DiMeo Carlozzi, the Blanton's curator of American and contemporary art and director of curatorial affairs. "Her works address our experiences of light and space as they evolve moment-to-moment and respond to sensation, memory, and the process of perception."
The Austin presentation of the exhibition includes five recent large-scale sculptures, a series of six wall works, and a new, monumental drawing made on site. Featured among the large-scale works is Vertigo (sotto en su) from 2007, comprised of layers of precision-cut, highly polished metal woven into a reflective and intricate arboreal pattern suspended high above the viewer, not unlike an immense, cascading tree branch. "The multiple planes of space through which the viewer looks become visible simultaneously, vacillating between object and optical phenomena, continuously disassembling and reassembling," writes curator Norr.
The Blanton's presentation also features Stacked Waters, 2009—a two-story, site-specific work commissioned for the museum's Rapoport Atrium earlier this year. Stacked Waters consists of 3,100 square feet of custom–cast acrylic that covers the cavernous atrium walls in a striped swirl pattern resembling water. Horizontal bands of saturated color shift and fade from deep blue to white, creating what the artist calls "a colored abstraction" from which the visitor emerges at the top of the Museum's grand stair. Titled in a nod to Donald Judd's boxes, the work suggests that the space is a container, in this case of light and communal activity. Visitors move within its volume, lured by the image yet fully aware of its fabrication.
Major support for Teresita Fernández: Blind Landscape at The Blanton is provided by Jeanne and Michael Klein and the Linda Pace Foundation. Funding also is provided by Julie and John Thornton and by Lora Reynolds and Quincy Lee in honor of Jeanne and Michael Klein.
Drawn Toward Light
Light is an essential element of visual experience and the means by which we see and begin to perceive the world around us. A special complement to Teresita Fernández: Blind Landscape, Drawn Toward Light is an exhibition of works from the Blanton's holdings that use light as a medium. Stephen Antonakos, Paul Chan, James Turrell and Leo Villarreal focus light into elemental geometric shapes to give it physical presence and sculptural form.
Adrian Ghenie
The National Museum of Contemporary Art in Bucharest presents the first survey exhibition of paintings by Adrian Ghenie (born 1977), the well-known Romanian artist who lives and works in Cluj and Berlin. The exhibition underscores the way in which Ghenie has been developing a consistent engagement with issues such as memory and history, by subjecting his artistic practice to a process of continuous renewal and experimentation.
Ghenie is an ardent researcher of the history of the 20th century, being preoccupied with unearthing forgotten narratives, marginal events and seemingly insignificant details in order to compose a visual vocabulary that is both compelling and uncanny. The subject matter does not revolve around a single set of concerns, and yet the different themes of Ghenie's paintings seem to connect. Spectral presences of Hitler and Lenin, collective bodies of anonymous, defaced people – are all there to reveal the feebleness and inconsistency of our memory. The failure of modernity brought about by the catastrophes of the Second World War is seen in conjunction with the rise of modern forms of entertainment such as cinema, another major topic for Ghenie.
From the strong effects of chiaroscuro reminiscent of Caravaggio to the frieze-like compositions that bring to mind David Hockney's alignment of disconnected elements alluding to a theatre set; from an indebtedness to the tradition of Renaissance painting, visible in the rigorous construction of the picture space, to the uninhibited handling of paint that recalls the gestural freedom of abstract expressionism – Ghenie incorporates a multitude of references and idioms that do not result in a gratuitous postmodern game, but rather evince his commitment to investigate the possibilities of painting, while at the same time problematizing it. Although his work displays a belief in the contemporary relevance of painting, Ghenie seeks to delve into the conceptual tenets that have undermined the legitimacy of the medium. The artist revisits key moments in the history of modernism that prompted the declaration of the death of painting. He invokes the figure of Duchamp – the foremost enemy of paint and colour who rendered the painting obsolete through the introduction of the readymade into the field of art – as well as the first International Dada exhibition in Berlin which exhibited signs declaring that art was dead.
Ghenie is an ardent researcher of the history of the 20th century, being preoccupied with unearthing forgotten narratives, marginal events and seemingly insignificant details in order to compose a visual vocabulary that is both compelling and uncanny. The subject matter does not revolve around a single set of concerns, and yet the different themes of Ghenie's paintings seem to connect. Spectral presences of Hitler and Lenin, collective bodies of anonymous, defaced people – are all there to reveal the feebleness and inconsistency of our memory. The failure of modernity brought about by the catastrophes of the Second World War is seen in conjunction with the rise of modern forms of entertainment such as cinema, another major topic for Ghenie.
From the strong effects of chiaroscuro reminiscent of Caravaggio to the frieze-like compositions that bring to mind David Hockney's alignment of disconnected elements alluding to a theatre set; from an indebtedness to the tradition of Renaissance painting, visible in the rigorous construction of the picture space, to the uninhibited handling of paint that recalls the gestural freedom of abstract expressionism – Ghenie incorporates a multitude of references and idioms that do not result in a gratuitous postmodern game, but rather evince his commitment to investigate the possibilities of painting, while at the same time problematizing it. Although his work displays a belief in the contemporary relevance of painting, Ghenie seeks to delve into the conceptual tenets that have undermined the legitimacy of the medium. The artist revisits key moments in the history of modernism that prompted the declaration of the death of painting. He invokes the figure of Duchamp – the foremost enemy of paint and colour who rendered the painting obsolete through the introduction of the readymade into the field of art – as well as the first International Dada exhibition in Berlin which exhibited signs declaring that art was dead.
Rebecca Horn
The Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo is pleased to announce a solo exhibition this fall of the work of Rebecca Horn, a major representative of the contemporary German art world. This will be the first large-scale exhibition of her work in Japan.
Horn has been known for her performance works involving the wearing of feathers, horns, and mirrors.
Since her participation in the 1972 Documenta show in her 20s, she has energetically pursued a range of artistic activity that continues to tackle new territories of art, one after the other—beginning with kinetic sculpture as well as film, and continuing on to capture the fascination of a great number of people—audiences with an interest not only in visual art, but that include film and dance enthusiasts as well.
Her performances, which began in the late 1960s, sought to expand the functions of the human body, improve communications with others, and develop a rapport with mythical animals and nature. The devices that attached to the body and enhanced its physical perceptions were first used in performance, and then eventually developed into independent, kinetic-mechanical sculptural works.
Later, in what amounted to over ten years of life in New York, Horn undertook the production of highly narrative, full-length films, and incorporated the sculptures and movements from her earlier work into this new context of film, transforming their significance. Since the 1980s, after moving back to her home country of Germany, Horn's work that directly confronts modern historical issues has been acclaimed for its ability to tie together personal experience and social memory. One early example of this work involves the conversion of the interior of an abandoned tower in the city of Münster into a piece that utilizes its history as the subject matter.
In recent years, Horn has been working on large-scale installations and stage designs using music composed by Hayden Chisholm. She has also made, without the use of tools, a series of unrestrained drawings that emphasize direct human movement, developing a completely free mode of creation.
This exhibition is a full-scale presentation of Horn's work. With all representative film footage, which includes the performance records from the 1970s and the full-length narrative films from the 1990s, as well as installations and two- and three-dimensional works that she has been producing since the 1990s.
An approximate total of thirty exhibits allows one to trace the development of relationships between the various media in which Horn works. The flow of various invisible energies of humans and nature are transformed into visible form via movement, light, and the traces of such. Moreover, we present Horn's new work, The Raven Tree, which was made especially for the exhibition at MOT. Her visit to Kyoto in 1984 inspired her to make this sculpture, which represents the concept for this exhibition. The exhibition promises to be an unparalleled opportunity to experience this highly original, creative trajectory in MOT's vast space.
Horn has been known for her performance works involving the wearing of feathers, horns, and mirrors.
Since her participation in the 1972 Documenta show in her 20s, she has energetically pursued a range of artistic activity that continues to tackle new territories of art, one after the other—beginning with kinetic sculpture as well as film, and continuing on to capture the fascination of a great number of people—audiences with an interest not only in visual art, but that include film and dance enthusiasts as well.
Her performances, which began in the late 1960s, sought to expand the functions of the human body, improve communications with others, and develop a rapport with mythical animals and nature. The devices that attached to the body and enhanced its physical perceptions were first used in performance, and then eventually developed into independent, kinetic-mechanical sculptural works.
Later, in what amounted to over ten years of life in New York, Horn undertook the production of highly narrative, full-length films, and incorporated the sculptures and movements from her earlier work into this new context of film, transforming their significance. Since the 1980s, after moving back to her home country of Germany, Horn's work that directly confronts modern historical issues has been acclaimed for its ability to tie together personal experience and social memory. One early example of this work involves the conversion of the interior of an abandoned tower in the city of Münster into a piece that utilizes its history as the subject matter.
In recent years, Horn has been working on large-scale installations and stage designs using music composed by Hayden Chisholm. She has also made, without the use of tools, a series of unrestrained drawings that emphasize direct human movement, developing a completely free mode of creation.
This exhibition is a full-scale presentation of Horn's work. With all representative film footage, which includes the performance records from the 1970s and the full-length narrative films from the 1990s, as well as installations and two- and three-dimensional works that she has been producing since the 1990s.
An approximate total of thirty exhibits allows one to trace the development of relationships between the various media in which Horn works. The flow of various invisible energies of humans and nature are transformed into visible form via movement, light, and the traces of such. Moreover, we present Horn's new work, The Raven Tree, which was made especially for the exhibition at MOT. Her visit to Kyoto in 1984 inspired her to make this sculpture, which represents the concept for this exhibition. The exhibition promises to be an unparalleled opportunity to experience this highly original, creative trajectory in MOT's vast space.
Isabella Stewart
The art of Taro Shinoda engages themes of science, philosophy, and desire, and investigates our place in the universe. As he reflects on philosophical considerations of contemporary life he is thinking about how we might better function as a society.
During his month-long stay at the Gardner Museum in the spring of 2007, Shinoda was inspired by the moonlight and the sense of calm that reigns at night in the museum courtyard to develop his Lunar Reflection Transmission Technique. The project was rooted in the artist's early childhood memories of trying to communicate with his mother over great distances, entrusting messages to the moon, which he hoped his mother would receive on the other side of the planet when the moon rose for her.
For this project, Shinoda constructed an astronomical telescope out of corrugated cardboard and attached a video camera to it; with this instrument he filmed the moon from different parts of the world, including Istanbul, Limerick, Tokyo and Boston. He described his endeavor in the following way:
"It's not a bad place here, but with the entire land covered in asphalt and riding my bicycle while avoiding all the electrical currents and electro-pulses, I yearn for the flowing of water and the drifting of the clouds. These days I am working on reviving my old skills, of the lunar reflection transmission technique. Every night when the moon is out I bicycle outside and spend many hours and try to remember what that technique was. I've spent many nights attempting it, but have a long ways to go until I can use the technique like I used to be able to. Like how not everything you see is as it seems, your intuition can't tell you all you need to know. And how the concept of "American Civilization" seems to be integrating everything as we know it, there seems to be something above that which exists as fact. Even if our future comes up from behind us, and even if we aren't used to walking backwards, as adults I feel it is imperative to learn those techniques."
Taro Shinoda: Lunar Reflections will include an engawa—a Japanese viewing platform that traditionally separates the domestic space from the garden, an enchanted space. From this vantage point, visitors may sit and meditate on their place in the universe as they watch Shinoda's extraordinary films of the moon and mysterious nocturnal cityscapes.
Taro Shinoda's work has been shown in: Korea at the Busan Biennale; Turkey at the Istanbul Biennial; Limerick, Ireland at the EV+A festival; Los Angeles at the Roy and Edna Disney Calarts Theater; Tokyo at the Mori Art Museum; San Francisco at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts; Lithuania at the Baltic Triennale; and Yokohama, Japan, at the International Triennale of Contemporary Art. Shinoda has been an artist-in-residence at REDCAT, Los Angeles and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston. Shinoda was born in Tokyo, where he continues to live and work.
During his month-long stay at the Gardner Museum in the spring of 2007, Shinoda was inspired by the moonlight and the sense of calm that reigns at night in the museum courtyard to develop his Lunar Reflection Transmission Technique. The project was rooted in the artist's early childhood memories of trying to communicate with his mother over great distances, entrusting messages to the moon, which he hoped his mother would receive on the other side of the planet when the moon rose for her.
For this project, Shinoda constructed an astronomical telescope out of corrugated cardboard and attached a video camera to it; with this instrument he filmed the moon from different parts of the world, including Istanbul, Limerick, Tokyo and Boston. He described his endeavor in the following way:
"It's not a bad place here, but with the entire land covered in asphalt and riding my bicycle while avoiding all the electrical currents and electro-pulses, I yearn for the flowing of water and the drifting of the clouds. These days I am working on reviving my old skills, of the lunar reflection transmission technique. Every night when the moon is out I bicycle outside and spend many hours and try to remember what that technique was. I've spent many nights attempting it, but have a long ways to go until I can use the technique like I used to be able to. Like how not everything you see is as it seems, your intuition can't tell you all you need to know. And how the concept of "American Civilization" seems to be integrating everything as we know it, there seems to be something above that which exists as fact. Even if our future comes up from behind us, and even if we aren't used to walking backwards, as adults I feel it is imperative to learn those techniques."
Taro Shinoda: Lunar Reflections will include an engawa—a Japanese viewing platform that traditionally separates the domestic space from the garden, an enchanted space. From this vantage point, visitors may sit and meditate on their place in the universe as they watch Shinoda's extraordinary films of the moon and mysterious nocturnal cityscapes.
Taro Shinoda's work has been shown in: Korea at the Busan Biennale; Turkey at the Istanbul Biennial; Limerick, Ireland at the EV+A festival; Los Angeles at the Roy and Edna Disney Calarts Theater; Tokyo at the Mori Art Museum; San Francisco at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts; Lithuania at the Baltic Triennale; and Yokohama, Japan, at the International Triennale of Contemporary Art. Shinoda has been an artist-in-residence at REDCAT, Los Angeles and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston. Shinoda was born in Tokyo, where he continues to live and work.
The End of the Line: Attitudes in Drawing
This exhibition of new and recent work by eleven highly acclaimed young international artists explores a diverse range of contemporary approaches to drawing. From small, intricately-crafted pencil drawings to expanded installations in which the 'drawn' lines are made from masking tape, or in which drawings mutate into animation, the exhibition celebrates a contemporary resurgence in drawing.
Just as the formal and stylistic parameters of drawing have expanded, so too has the range of artists it attracts. This exhibition brings together artists from several continents, all using drawing to communicate their ideas, dreams and interpretations of the world.
Artists in the exhibition are: Jan Albers (Germany), Michaël Borremans (Belgium), Marc Brandenburg (Germany), Fernando Bryce (Peru/Germany), Kate Davis (New Zealand/Scotland), Monika Grzymala (Poland/Germany), David Haines (England/Netherlands), Kim Hiorthøy (Norway), Garrett Phelan (Ireland), Naoyuki Tsuji (Japan), Sandra Vasquez de la Horra (Chile).
A Hayward Touring exhibition organised in collaboration with mima, (Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art) and the Bluecoat, Liverpool, in association with The Drawing Room, London
Just as the formal and stylistic parameters of drawing have expanded, so too has the range of artists it attracts. This exhibition brings together artists from several continents, all using drawing to communicate their ideas, dreams and interpretations of the world.
Artists in the exhibition are: Jan Albers (Germany), Michaël Borremans (Belgium), Marc Brandenburg (Germany), Fernando Bryce (Peru/Germany), Kate Davis (New Zealand/Scotland), Monika Grzymala (Poland/Germany), David Haines (England/Netherlands), Kim Hiorthøy (Norway), Garrett Phelan (Ireland), Naoyuki Tsuji (Japan), Sandra Vasquez de la Horra (Chile).
A Hayward Touring exhibition organised in collaboration with mima, (Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art) and the Bluecoat, Liverpool, in association with The Drawing Room, London
Lunds konsthall: new exhibitions
Nasreen Mohamedi: Notes – Reflections on Indian Modernism
Nasreen Mohamedi (1937–90) is regarded as one of the most important Indian artists of her generation, and her paintings, drawings and photographs, produced from the early 1960s to the late 1980s, are now being recognised as a key body of work within the modernist canon.
In art-historical terms, Mohamedi can be seen in relation to an earlier generation of Indian abstract artists such as V.S. Gaitonde, and her works on paper have often been compared to those of Agnes Martin or to the utopian suprematist visions of Kazimir Malevich. Yet as this exhibition shows, Mohamedi also deserves to be considered on her own terms. Her drawings from the 1970s onwards tend toward uncompromising abstraction, but they also invoke a range of cultural references. This becomes clear in her photographs, in which meticulously cropped details of historical architecture and everyday life create aesthetic links to both contemporary culture and an Islamic visual heritage.
The exhibition, which brings together rarely seen drawings, paintings and photographs with unique archival material from Nasreen Mohamedi's studio, is curated by Suman Gopinath and Grant Watson and organised and initiated by the Office for Contemporary Art Norway (OCA). It was first shown at OCA in Oslo and then at Milton Keynes Gallery in England. The slightly extended version shown at Lunds konsthall will also travel to Kunsthalle Basel in Switzerland.
Rasheed Araeen: Structures, Chakras, Triangles
Rasheed Araeen was born 1935 in Karachi, Pakistan, also incidentally the birthplace of Nasreen Mohamedi. Trained as an engineer, he has been working as an artist, writer and publisher since his arrival in London in the 1960s.
Araeen is a leading artist whose work is informed by the aesthetics of minimalism, a movement in art that he pioneered in Britain. In his practice formal and political concerns overlap, the latter largely informed by his experience as an artist of non-Western origin living and working in the West. After joining the Black Panther Movement he founded the short-lived journal Black Phoenix in 1978. In 1987 he established Third Text, an important journal that critiques contemporary art from an international and postcolonial perspective.
The exhibition, curated by Suman Gopinath and Grant Watson, includes photographs of Araeen's sculptural Structures from the 1966–68 and documentation of his performances Chakras and Trianglesfrom 1969–70.
Raqs Media Collective: Steps Away from Oblivion
Steps Away from Oblivion is a circuit of films, installed on screens and as projections in a confined space, that invoke different rhythms of repose and transformation in today's India.
The Raqs Media Collective have invited eight documentary filmmakers (Debkamal Ganguly, Ruchir Joshi, Kavita Pai & Hansa Thapliyal, M.R. Rajan, Priya Sen, Surabhi Sharma, Vipin Vijay) to revisit key moments in their work; re-editing, re-making or re-presenting particular sequences from their films. In The Sleepwalker's Caravan (Prologue), Raqs's own contribution to the circuit, we are greeted by the wandering figures of a yaksha and a yakshi, mythic guardians of treasure and keepers of riddles in different Indic traditions, as they traverse a contemporary landscape which the other films also portray and problematise.
The installation was first shown within the context of Indian Highway, a travelling exhibition of contemporary art from India that was first presented at the Serpentine Gallery, London, in 2008.
About the curators:
Suman Gopinath is a curator and the founder and director of CoLab Art & Architecture, Bangalore, India. Grant Watson is a curator at the Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen (MuHKA), Antwerp, Belgium. Gopinath and Watson have been collaborating on exhibitions of modern and contemporary Indian art since 1999.
Raqs Media Collective is a group of artists and curators (Jeebesh Bagchi, Monica Narula, Shuddhabrata Sengupta) based in New Delhi, India, and working internationally. Among many other things, they were co-curators of Manifesta 7 in 2008 and responsible for one of its exhibitions, The Rest of Now in Bolzano, Italy.
Nasreen Mohamedi (1937–90) is regarded as one of the most important Indian artists of her generation, and her paintings, drawings and photographs, produced from the early 1960s to the late 1980s, are now being recognised as a key body of work within the modernist canon.
In art-historical terms, Mohamedi can be seen in relation to an earlier generation of Indian abstract artists such as V.S. Gaitonde, and her works on paper have often been compared to those of Agnes Martin or to the utopian suprematist visions of Kazimir Malevich. Yet as this exhibition shows, Mohamedi also deserves to be considered on her own terms. Her drawings from the 1970s onwards tend toward uncompromising abstraction, but they also invoke a range of cultural references. This becomes clear in her photographs, in which meticulously cropped details of historical architecture and everyday life create aesthetic links to both contemporary culture and an Islamic visual heritage.
The exhibition, which brings together rarely seen drawings, paintings and photographs with unique archival material from Nasreen Mohamedi's studio, is curated by Suman Gopinath and Grant Watson and organised and initiated by the Office for Contemporary Art Norway (OCA). It was first shown at OCA in Oslo and then at Milton Keynes Gallery in England. The slightly extended version shown at Lunds konsthall will also travel to Kunsthalle Basel in Switzerland.
Rasheed Araeen: Structures, Chakras, Triangles
Rasheed Araeen was born 1935 in Karachi, Pakistan, also incidentally the birthplace of Nasreen Mohamedi. Trained as an engineer, he has been working as an artist, writer and publisher since his arrival in London in the 1960s.
Araeen is a leading artist whose work is informed by the aesthetics of minimalism, a movement in art that he pioneered in Britain. In his practice formal and political concerns overlap, the latter largely informed by his experience as an artist of non-Western origin living and working in the West. After joining the Black Panther Movement he founded the short-lived journal Black Phoenix in 1978. In 1987 he established Third Text, an important journal that critiques contemporary art from an international and postcolonial perspective.
The exhibition, curated by Suman Gopinath and Grant Watson, includes photographs of Araeen's sculptural Structures from the 1966–68 and documentation of his performances Chakras and Trianglesfrom 1969–70.
Raqs Media Collective: Steps Away from Oblivion
Steps Away from Oblivion is a circuit of films, installed on screens and as projections in a confined space, that invoke different rhythms of repose and transformation in today's India.
The Raqs Media Collective have invited eight documentary filmmakers (Debkamal Ganguly, Ruchir Joshi, Kavita Pai & Hansa Thapliyal, M.R. Rajan, Priya Sen, Surabhi Sharma, Vipin Vijay) to revisit key moments in their work; re-editing, re-making or re-presenting particular sequences from their films. In The Sleepwalker's Caravan (Prologue), Raqs's own contribution to the circuit, we are greeted by the wandering figures of a yaksha and a yakshi, mythic guardians of treasure and keepers of riddles in different Indic traditions, as they traverse a contemporary landscape which the other films also portray and problematise.
The installation was first shown within the context of Indian Highway, a travelling exhibition of contemporary art from India that was first presented at the Serpentine Gallery, London, in 2008.
About the curators:
Suman Gopinath is a curator and the founder and director of CoLab Art & Architecture, Bangalore, India. Grant Watson is a curator at the Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen (MuHKA), Antwerp, Belgium. Gopinath and Watson have been collaborating on exhibitions of modern and contemporary Indian art since 1999.
Raqs Media Collective is a group of artists and curators (Jeebesh Bagchi, Monica Narula, Shuddhabrata Sengupta) based in New Delhi, India, and working internationally. Among many other things, they were co-curators of Manifesta 7 in 2008 and responsible for one of its exhibitions, The Rest of Now in Bolzano, Italy.
Art Basel Miami Beach 2009: The Oceanfront area
Art Basel Miami Beach 2009: The Oceanfront area
http://www.artbasel.com
The Oceanfront area: Our new platform for artistic programs
The new Oceanfront area in Collins Park has been created as a platform for virtually all of Art Basel Miami Beach's cultural programming. Situated directly beside the beach, in the former location of Art Positions, the Oceanfront marks the point where the artworld interfaces with the broader public. We are delighted to have Creative Time, the legendary New York City-based public art organization, as a partner in the launching of this new dimen¬sion of Art Basel Miami Beach. Having solicited many proposals, Creative Time and Art Basel Miami Beach commissioned Los Angeles artist Pae White to create this "social space".
Free of any admission charge, the Oceanfront - located at Collins Park, between 21st and 22nd Streets - offers visitors many opportunities. In the mornings, they can attend the discussion panels of the Art Basel Conversations series, featuring prominent figures from every artworld domain. And every night during Art Basel Miami Beach, the Oceanfront will feature at least one special event. The evening se¬ries will be inaugurated by the annual Art Loves Music concert on the beach; the following evenings feature the Art Perform program, the Art Video program curated by Creative Time and the Art Film evening. Rounding out the experi¬ence, the Oceanfront Cafe will offer visitors the possibility to have brunch in the morning, then light meals and refreshing drinks from dusk to midnight.
Oceanfront project by Pae White
For the 2009 premiere of the Oceanfront, Pae White will create an immersive and interac¬tive cityscape, providing a new experience with each visit. By day, large color blocks will dominate the landscape. At night, these color blocks transform into a shadowy group of buildings that house various merchants and performers. In addition to this labyrinth-like metropolis on the sand, White will design a stage area that will host the morning Art Basel Conversations and the evening Art Video, Art Film, and Art Perform programs.
Art Basel Conversations
Thursday, December 3 through Saturday, December 5, 10 – 11 am
As in previous years, the Art Basel Conversation will be inaugurated by the Artist Talk premiere, which this year features Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. The Art Basel Conversations are "Museum Directors: Change in Generation," "Collector Focus: Latin America" and "The Future of the Museum: The Portable Museum." "Museum Directors: Change in Generation" brings together the next generation of museum and institution directors to discuss their visions for the coming decades. In "Collector Focus: Latin America" prominent art collectors from Argentina, Brazil and Mexico explore the dynamic way in which Latin America's collecting scene has grown and international¬ized in the last decade. "The Future of the Museum: The Portable Museum," will offer fresh insights from four artists on future models for exhibition-making.
Art Video
Thursday, December 3 and Saturday, December 5, 7 – 8.30 pm
Curated by Creative Time, the Art Video program includes discussions with the featured artists. Videos by Tom Sachs and The Neistat Brothers and Marc Horowitz will be screened on Thursday evening, followed by a conversation with Casey Neistat and Marc Horowitz. On Saturday evening videos by Jill Magid and Kon Trubkovich will be presented, followed by a conversation with the artists.
Art Perform
Thursday, December 3 and Saturday, December 5, 9 pm
Now in its fifth year, Art Perform features an intensified array of longer performances by rising international artists. This program will again be conceived by curator Jens Hoffmann, director of the CCA Wattis Institute, San Francisco. It will take place on Thursday and Saturday at 9 pm. The participating artists are Claire Fontaine, Simon Fujiwara, Loris Gréaud/Mario Garcia Torres, Kris Martin, and Kelly Nipper.
Art Film: "Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child"
Friday, December 4, 8.30 pm
This year's Art Film event offers an exclusive work-in-progress sneak preview of the documentary feature film "Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child," preceded by a panel with a selection of participants, moderated by Bob Colacello. "Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child" is directed by Tamra Davis and features a long and never-before-seen interview with Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988), shot shortly before his death. Art Film is curated by Zurich film connaisseur This Brunner.
The Oceanfront area: Our new platform for artistic programs
The new Oceanfront area in Collins Park has been created as a platform for virtually all of Art Basel Miami Beach's cultural programming. Situated directly beside the beach, in the former location of Art Positions, the Oceanfront marks the point where the artworld interfaces with the broader public. We are delighted to have Creative Time, the legendary New York City-based public art organization, as a partner in the launching of this new dimen¬sion of Art Basel Miami Beach. Having solicited many proposals, Creative Time and Art Basel Miami Beach commissioned Los Angeles artist Pae White to create this "social space".
Free of any admission charge, the Oceanfront - located at Collins Park, between 21st and 22nd Streets - offers visitors many opportunities. In the mornings, they can attend the discussion panels of the Art Basel Conversations series, featuring prominent figures from every artworld domain. And every night during Art Basel Miami Beach, the Oceanfront will feature at least one special event. The evening se¬ries will be inaugurated by the annual Art Loves Music concert on the beach; the following evenings feature the Art Perform program, the Art Video program curated by Creative Time and the Art Film evening. Rounding out the experi¬ence, the Oceanfront Cafe will offer visitors the possibility to have brunch in the morning, then light meals and refreshing drinks from dusk to midnight.
Oceanfront project by Pae White
For the 2009 premiere of the Oceanfront, Pae White will create an immersive and interac¬tive cityscape, providing a new experience with each visit. By day, large color blocks will dominate the landscape. At night, these color blocks transform into a shadowy group of buildings that house various merchants and performers. In addition to this labyrinth-like metropolis on the sand, White will design a stage area that will host the morning Art Basel Conversations and the evening Art Video, Art Film, and Art Perform programs.
Art Basel Conversations
Thursday, December 3 through Saturday, December 5, 10 – 11 am
As in previous years, the Art Basel Conversation will be inaugurated by the Artist Talk premiere, which this year features Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. The Art Basel Conversations are "Museum Directors: Change in Generation," "Collector Focus: Latin America" and "The Future of the Museum: The Portable Museum." "Museum Directors: Change in Generation" brings together the next generation of museum and institution directors to discuss their visions for the coming decades. In "Collector Focus: Latin America" prominent art collectors from Argentina, Brazil and Mexico explore the dynamic way in which Latin America's collecting scene has grown and international¬ized in the last decade. "The Future of the Museum: The Portable Museum," will offer fresh insights from four artists on future models for exhibition-making.
Art Video
Thursday, December 3 and Saturday, December 5, 7 – 8.30 pm
Curated by Creative Time, the Art Video program includes discussions with the featured artists. Videos by Tom Sachs and The Neistat Brothers and Marc Horowitz will be screened on Thursday evening, followed by a conversation with Casey Neistat and Marc Horowitz. On Saturday evening videos by Jill Magid and Kon Trubkovich will be presented, followed by a conversation with the artists.
Art Perform
Thursday, December 3 and Saturday, December 5, 9 pm
Now in its fifth year, Art Perform features an intensified array of longer performances by rising international artists. This program will again be conceived by curator Jens Hoffmann, director of the CCA Wattis Institute, San Francisco. It will take place on Thursday and Saturday at 9 pm. The participating artists are Claire Fontaine, Simon Fujiwara, Loris Gréaud/Mario Garcia Torres, Kris Martin, and Kelly Nipper.
Art Film: "Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child"
Friday, December 4, 8.30 pm
This year's Art Film event offers an exclusive work-in-progress sneak preview of the documentary feature film "Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child," preceded by a panel with a selection of participants, moderated by Bob Colacello. "Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child" is directed by Tamra Davis and features a long and never-before-seen interview with Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988), shot shortly before his death. Art Film is curated by Zurich film connaisseur This Brunner.
Slow Paintings
The exhibition Slow Paintings is devoted to the development of a highly involved form of painting as a continual strategy in the history of art, which emerged from the early 1960s onwards. With over 60 paintings and featuring no fewer than 32 artists, Slow Paintings provides a comprehensive overview of the different techniques and conceptual approaches that characterise this style of painting. The expanse of time invested by individual artists into the production of the paintings exerts its effect upon the visitor via the unique experience of sustained deceleration.
The exhibition starts chronologically with Ad Reinhardt's Abstract Painting from 1961 and Konrad Klapheck's Das Kinderfräulein from1964—two paintings, one abstract, the other figurative. Ad Reinhardt's painting of a black cross on a black ground emphasises, with an amazing diversity of superimposed layers of coloured glazes, the meditative character of the painting itself, as well as the aspect of intense observation in this decidedly polyvalent work. Klapheck's portrait of a typewriter entitled Kinderfräulein shows the way in which the painting techniques of the Old Masters can also serve—precisely in the 20th century—an endearing, if disturbing description of a surreal pictorial world. John Currin’s Girl in Bed from 1993 connects with this idea in a 'trashy' way, whereas artists, such as Tomma Abts, Adrian Schiess, or Ekrem Yalçindağ, perpetuate the tradition of abstract painting in new ways.
During the course of the 20th century, artists have extended the traditional boundaries of painting in a variety of ways. Long-term projects, such as On Kawara's well-known Date Paintings or Roman Opalka’s Details, with its continuous series of numbers, have introduced the idea of the project into the realm of slow painting. Contrary to their conventional interpretation as sculptural works, Reinhard Mucha considers his wall vitrines to be paintings as well. This means consigning their tonal valency to a two-dimensional plane: the reverse glass painting of the frontal planes of glass and the internal reliefs, the bituminised felt board of 'found' floor coverings printed with various patterns, the zones of light and shade of the painted surfaces of the door leaves with their panels and the negative volume behind them filled with felt—all of these 'painterly' aspects are crucial here.
Recent figurative works by Alexander Esters and Sebastian Ludwig, developed especially for the exhibition, likewise explore the continuing delimitation of painting. Esters combines numerous, specially developed printing techniques using traditional components, whereas Ludwig sketches shapes onto canvases, which he then elaborately covers with tape, allowing the paint to flow over and behind the taped areas in a controlled process. These techniques presuppose a high degree of craftsmanship endowed with the power to captivate and fascinate the viewer both when scrutinising the motifs themselves and when reviewing the essence of the alchemistic means deployed.
On no account does the exhibition desire to foster a sense of competition between slow and fast painting. Instead, Slow Paintings is intent upon placing the emphasis on the special connection between conceptuality and elaborate composition, which entails a unique experience for the viewer: this isn’t merely concerned with extremely decelerated reception on the part of the viewer. More fascinating still is the apprehension of the way in which the complex ideas and the seemingly infinite number of layers of glaze resulting from this highly involved method are superimposed upon and, indeed, even conceal one another, ultimately surrendering the sharp, intellectual contours of their origin in favour of an unexpectedly rich, new physical identity. Slow Paintings shows us in ideal-typical manner the abundant potential and continual inventiveness of painting.
With works by Tomma Abts, Ross Bleckner, Alighiero e Boetti, Michaël Borremans, Gillian Carnegie, Raúl Codero, John Currin, Alexander Esters, Bernard Frize, Franz Gertsch, Andrew Grassie, On Kawara, Konrad Klapheck, Jochen Kuhn, Sebastian Ludwig, Michel Majerus, Fabian Marcaccio, Rodney McMillian, Jonathan Monk, Reinhard Mucha, Manuel Ocampo, Roman Opalka, Laura Owens, Magnus Plessen, Ad Reinhardt, Bernd Ribbeck, Adrian Schiess, Pablo Siquier, Andreas Slominski, Cheyney Thompson, Corinne Wasmuht and Ekrem Yalçindağ.
The exhibition starts chronologically with Ad Reinhardt's Abstract Painting from 1961 and Konrad Klapheck's Das Kinderfräulein from1964—two paintings, one abstract, the other figurative. Ad Reinhardt's painting of a black cross on a black ground emphasises, with an amazing diversity of superimposed layers of coloured glazes, the meditative character of the painting itself, as well as the aspect of intense observation in this decidedly polyvalent work. Klapheck's portrait of a typewriter entitled Kinderfräulein shows the way in which the painting techniques of the Old Masters can also serve—precisely in the 20th century—an endearing, if disturbing description of a surreal pictorial world. John Currin’s Girl in Bed from 1993 connects with this idea in a 'trashy' way, whereas artists, such as Tomma Abts, Adrian Schiess, or Ekrem Yalçindağ, perpetuate the tradition of abstract painting in new ways.
During the course of the 20th century, artists have extended the traditional boundaries of painting in a variety of ways. Long-term projects, such as On Kawara's well-known Date Paintings or Roman Opalka’s Details, with its continuous series of numbers, have introduced the idea of the project into the realm of slow painting. Contrary to their conventional interpretation as sculptural works, Reinhard Mucha considers his wall vitrines to be paintings as well. This means consigning their tonal valency to a two-dimensional plane: the reverse glass painting of the frontal planes of glass and the internal reliefs, the bituminised felt board of 'found' floor coverings printed with various patterns, the zones of light and shade of the painted surfaces of the door leaves with their panels and the negative volume behind them filled with felt—all of these 'painterly' aspects are crucial here.
Recent figurative works by Alexander Esters and Sebastian Ludwig, developed especially for the exhibition, likewise explore the continuing delimitation of painting. Esters combines numerous, specially developed printing techniques using traditional components, whereas Ludwig sketches shapes onto canvases, which he then elaborately covers with tape, allowing the paint to flow over and behind the taped areas in a controlled process. These techniques presuppose a high degree of craftsmanship endowed with the power to captivate and fascinate the viewer both when scrutinising the motifs themselves and when reviewing the essence of the alchemistic means deployed.
On no account does the exhibition desire to foster a sense of competition between slow and fast painting. Instead, Slow Paintings is intent upon placing the emphasis on the special connection between conceptuality and elaborate composition, which entails a unique experience for the viewer: this isn’t merely concerned with extremely decelerated reception on the part of the viewer. More fascinating still is the apprehension of the way in which the complex ideas and the seemingly infinite number of layers of glaze resulting from this highly involved method are superimposed upon and, indeed, even conceal one another, ultimately surrendering the sharp, intellectual contours of their origin in favour of an unexpectedly rich, new physical identity. Slow Paintings shows us in ideal-typical manner the abundant potential and continual inventiveness of painting.
With works by Tomma Abts, Ross Bleckner, Alighiero e Boetti, Michaël Borremans, Gillian Carnegie, Raúl Codero, John Currin, Alexander Esters, Bernard Frize, Franz Gertsch, Andrew Grassie, On Kawara, Konrad Klapheck, Jochen Kuhn, Sebastian Ludwig, Michel Majerus, Fabian Marcaccio, Rodney McMillian, Jonathan Monk, Reinhard Mucha, Manuel Ocampo, Roman Opalka, Laura Owens, Magnus Plessen, Ad Reinhardt, Bernd Ribbeck, Adrian Schiess, Pablo Siquier, Andreas Slominski, Cheyney Thompson, Corinne Wasmuht and Ekrem Yalçindağ.
Cai Guo-Qiang
Cai Guo-Qiang: Hanging Out in the Museum
Internationally acclaimed artist Cai Guo-Qiang was born in Quanzhou City, Fujian Province. He speaks Fukienese and is also a follower of the goddess Mazu; for him, visiting Taiwan "feels like coming home." In 1998, Cai was first invited by the Taipei Fine Arts Museum to realize Golden Missile and Advertising Castle for the 1998 Taipei Biennial. In the same year, he was commissioned to realize the No Destruction, No Construction: Bombing the Taiwan Museum of Art project. In 2004, Cai curated the BMOCA (Bunker Museum of Contemporary Art: Everything is Museum No. 3). After the September 21, 2000 earthquake and August 8, 2009 floods, he donated his works to charity sales, showing his deep affection and friendship for Taiwan.
This is Cai's second collaboration with the Taipei Fine Arts Museum and his first exhibition inside the grand space of the museum. Through the positioning of the installation works in the architectural space, Cai looks back at his works and places them in new contexts, challenging and energizing the museum space in unusual ways. The 35 works on exhibition are drawn from internationally renowned museum and private collections, and include three specially created new works. In this exhibition with the special featuring Cultural Melting Bath (1997), audiences are invited to join the medicinal bath located in the outdoor courtyard. For this exhibition, Cai Guo-Qiang devoted intensive artistic thanking for three new works: Day and Night, a gunpowder drawing based on the physical diary of a female nude; the classical Chinese landscape Toroko Gorge, inspired by Cai's recent visit to the spectacular landscape in eastern Taiwan; and Strait, a Quanzhou rock curved as a cross-section of Taiwan Strait transported in this occasion by sea, literally through the ancient journey from the mainland China.
As a contemporary artist, Cai Guo-Qiang not only dreams audaciously, he is effective doer in realizing his artistic vision. His explosive energy does not stem from gunpowder, but from an unrestrained flow of creative energy, an ability to create social dialogue, and a dogmatic romanticism. This exhibition highlights the artist's background and development, his creative process, and his insistence on and methods of making art more accessible to the general public. To fully embrace the theme of "hanging out in the museum" and to create opportunities where the public can interact with art, a series of activities and programs, such as the public viewing and volunteer training for the creation of several gunpowder drawings in the exhibition, and related education programs have been initiated. The exhibition also seeks to examine Cai Guo-Qiang's creations and the zeitgeist in his art, through contemplating the practice of contemporary art, critiquing socio- and geopolitics, and reflecting on Eastern aesthetics and philosophy.
Internationally acclaimed artist Cai Guo-Qiang was born in Quanzhou City, Fujian Province. He speaks Fukienese and is also a follower of the goddess Mazu; for him, visiting Taiwan "feels like coming home." In 1998, Cai was first invited by the Taipei Fine Arts Museum to realize Golden Missile and Advertising Castle for the 1998 Taipei Biennial. In the same year, he was commissioned to realize the No Destruction, No Construction: Bombing the Taiwan Museum of Art project. In 2004, Cai curated the BMOCA (Bunker Museum of Contemporary Art: Everything is Museum No. 3). After the September 21, 2000 earthquake and August 8, 2009 floods, he donated his works to charity sales, showing his deep affection and friendship for Taiwan.
This is Cai's second collaboration with the Taipei Fine Arts Museum and his first exhibition inside the grand space of the museum. Through the positioning of the installation works in the architectural space, Cai looks back at his works and places them in new contexts, challenging and energizing the museum space in unusual ways. The 35 works on exhibition are drawn from internationally renowned museum and private collections, and include three specially created new works. In this exhibition with the special featuring Cultural Melting Bath (1997), audiences are invited to join the medicinal bath located in the outdoor courtyard. For this exhibition, Cai Guo-Qiang devoted intensive artistic thanking for three new works: Day and Night, a gunpowder drawing based on the physical diary of a female nude; the classical Chinese landscape Toroko Gorge, inspired by Cai's recent visit to the spectacular landscape in eastern Taiwan; and Strait, a Quanzhou rock curved as a cross-section of Taiwan Strait transported in this occasion by sea, literally through the ancient journey from the mainland China.
As a contemporary artist, Cai Guo-Qiang not only dreams audaciously, he is effective doer in realizing his artistic vision. His explosive energy does not stem from gunpowder, but from an unrestrained flow of creative energy, an ability to create social dialogue, and a dogmatic romanticism. This exhibition highlights the artist's background and development, his creative process, and his insistence on and methods of making art more accessible to the general public. To fully embrace the theme of "hanging out in the museum" and to create opportunities where the public can interact with art, a series of activities and programs, such as the public viewing and volunteer training for the creation of several gunpowder drawings in the exhibition, and related education programs have been initiated. The exhibition also seeks to examine Cai Guo-Qiang's creations and the zeitgeist in his art, through contemplating the practice of contemporary art, critiquing socio- and geopolitics, and reflecting on Eastern aesthetics and philosophy.
ARCOmadrid_2010 PANORAMA: LOS ANGELES
Gallerists, collectors and other players in the art world will be travelling to Madrid next February 17th through 21st for ARCOmadrid_ 2010, the International Contemporary Art Fair. Work from around 200 galleries and almost 3000 major artists will guarantee an exciting fair mirroring all the latest tendencies in contemporary visual and plastic creation. An excellent cross-section of languages, supports and expressions spanning from painting to performance, not forgetting graphic work, sculpture, installation, digital art and other emerging creative expressions.
ARCOmadrid_ 2010 gives collectors and other art world professionals a unique chance to catch the latest in artistic creation around the world. Apart from the galleries taking part in the core General Programme and ARCO40, the fair also spotlights happening art in its curated programmes: SOLO PROJECTS, EXPANDED-BOX, CINEMALoop and PERFORMING ARCO. These curated sections will feature around 50 projects and reinforce the fair as a leading showcase for the most cutting-edge art of today.
Besides, 2010 will be the first time that ARCOmadrid's special annual guest is a city, more specificallyLos Angeles, one of the world's most exciting and fertile hubs for art at the moment. The Panorama: L.A. programme will host a selection of 17 galleries, curated by Kris Kuramitsu and Christopher Miles, giving the public an overview of the latest tendencies in art taking place in one of the world's major cities.
The exhibition programme is rounded off by a long list of activities organized to coincide with the fair. These include the Experts Forum, as well as a large number of conferences, parties and presentations, reflecting the importance of ARCOmadrid as one of Spain's biggest annual cultural events and a must-visit for the contemporary art market.
LIST OF GALLERIES:
GENERAL PROGRAMME 1900*2000 PARIS AD HOC VIGO AELE EVELYN BOTELLA MADRIDAICON GALLERY LONDON ALEXANDER AND BONIN NEW YORK ÁLVARO ALCÁZAR MADRIDANDRÉ SIMOENS GALLERY KNOKKE ANGELS BARCELONA BARCELONA ANTHONY REYNOLDS GALLERY LONDON ARARIO GALLERY SEOUL BARBARA GROSS MUNICH BÄRBEL GRÄSSLINFRANKFURT BENVENISTE CONTEMPORARY MADRID BERNARD BOUCHE PARIS CAIS GALLERYSEOULCÁNEM CASTELLÓN CAPRICE HORN BERLIN CARLES TACHÉ BARCELONA CARLOS CARVALHO-ARTE CONTEMPORANEA LISBON CARRERAS MÚGICA BILBAO CASA TRIANGULOSAO PAULO CASAS RIEGNER BOGOTÁ CATHERINE PUTMAN PARIS CAYÓN MADRID CHARIM GALERIE VIENNA CHRISTOPHER GRIMES SANTA MONICA DAN GALERIA SAO PAULO DISTRITO CUATRO MADRID DNA GALERIE BERLIN EDWARD TYLER NAHEM FINE ART, L.L.C. NEW YORKELBA BENÍTEZ MADRID ELISABETH & KLAUS THOMAN INNSBRUCK ELVIRA GONZÁLEZMADRID ERNST HILGER VIENNA ESPACIO MÍNIMO MADRID ESPAIVISOR GALERIA VISORVALENCIA ESTIARTE MADRID ESTRANY DE LA MOTA BARCELONA FAGGIONATO FINE ARTSLONDON FARIA FÁBREGAS GALERÍA CARACAS FILOMENA SOARES LISBON FÚCARES MADRIDGANA ART GALLERY SEOUL GEORG KARGL VIENNA GEORG NOTHELFER GALERIE BERLINGRIMM FINE ART AMSTERDAM GRITA INSAM VIENNA GUILLERMO DE OSMA MADRID GUY BÄRTSCHI GENEVE HANS MAYER DUSSELDORF HAUNCH OF VENISON LONDON HEINRICH EHRHARDT MADRID HEINZ HOLTMANN COLOGNE JAVIER LÓPEZ MADRID JOAN PRATSBARCELONA JUANA DE AIZPURU MADRID KLAUS GERRIT FRIESE STUTTGART LA CAJA NEGRAMADRID LA FÁBRICA MADRID LEANDRO NAVARRO MADRID LELONG PARIS LEME SAO PAULOLEYENDECKER SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE LUCÍA DE LA PUENTE LIMA LUCIANA BRITO GALERIA SAO PAULO LUIS ADELANTADO VALENCIA MAI 36 GALERIE ZURICH MAIOR POLLENÇAMAISTERRAVALBUENA MADRID MAM MARIO MAURONER CONTEMPORARY ART VIENNAVIENNA MANUEL BARBIÉ BARCELONA MANUEL OJEDA LAS PALMAS MARIO SEQUEIRA BRAGAMARK MÜLLER ZURICH MARLBOROUGH GALLERY MADRID MARTA CERVERA MADRID MAX ESTRELLA MADRID MAX WIGRAM GALLERY LONDON MEESSEN DE CLERCQ BRUSSELSMICHAEL JANSSEN BERLIN MIGUEL MARCOS BARCELONA MOISÉS PÉREZ DE ALBÉNIZPAMPLONA MORIARTY MADRID NÄCHST ST. STEPHAN ROSEMARIE SCHWARZWÄLDERVIENNA NOGUERAS BLANCHARD BARCELONA OLIVA ARAUNA MADRID ORIOL GALERIA D'ARTBARCELONA PALMA DOTZE VILAFRANCA DEL PENEDÈS PELAIRES PALMA DE MALLORCA PILAR PARRA & ROMERO MADRID POLÍGRAFA OBRA GRÁFICA BARCELONA PROJECTESDBARCELONA RAFAEL ORTIZ SEVILLE REFLEX AMSTERDAM RONMANDOS GALLERY AMSTERDAMSABINE KNUST MUNICH SENDA BARCELONA SLEWE AMSTERDAM SOLEDAD LORENZO MADRIDSOLLERTIS TOULOUSE STUDIO TRISORIO NAPLES T20 MURCIA THADDAEUS ROPAC PARISTHE PARAGON PRESS LONDON THOMAS SCHULTE BERLIN TIM VAN LAERE ANTWERP TOMAS MARCH VALENCIA TONI TÀPIES BARCELONA TRAVESÍA CUATRO MADRID TRAYECTO VITORIAVANGUARDIA BILBAO VISTAMARE BENEDETTA SPALLETTI PESCARA WALTER STORMS GALERIE MUNICH WETTERLING GALLERY STOCKHOLM WOLFGANG GMYREK DUSSELDORFZINK BERLIN
ARCO40 ADN GALERÍA BARCELONA ADORA CALVO SALAMANCA ALEJANDRO SALESBARCELONA ALEXANDRA SAHEB BERLIN ALFREDO VIÑAS MÁLAGA ALTAMIRA GIJÓN ANNET GELINK GALLERY AMSTERDAM ANTONIO HENRIQUES-GALERIA DE ARTE VISEU ART NUEVEMURCIA BACELOS VIGO BEIJING SPACE BEIJING BIRGIT OSTERMEIER BERLIN BITFORMSNEW YORK BRIGITTE SCHENK COLOGNE CASADO SANTAPAU MADRID CHINA TODAYBRUSSELS CHRISTIAN LETHERT COLOGNE DEL SOL ST. ART GALLERY SANTANDER ESPACIO LÍQUIDO GIJÓN FACTORÍA COMPOSTELA (C5 COLECCIÓN) SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELAFONSECA MACEDO PONTA DELGADA FORMATO CÓMODO MADRID GABRIEL ROLT AMSTERDAMGIMPEL FILS LONDON JM MÁLAGA JUAN SILIÓ SANTANDER KAI HILGEMANN BERLIN KASHYA HILDEBRAND ZURICH KUCKEI + KUCKEI BERLIN LA ACACIA LA HABANA MARIBEL LÓPEZ GALLERY BERLIN MICHEL SOSKINE MADRID MIRTA DEMARE ROTTERDAM MS MADRID NF NIEVES FERNÁNDEZ MADRID OREL ART PARIS PACIARTE CONTEMPORARY BRESCIA PERUGI ARTECONTEMPORANEA PADUA PROJECTRAUM VIKTOR BUCHER VIENNAPROMETEOGALLERY MILAN RAIÑA LUPA BARCELONA RAQUEL PONCE MADRID ROSA SANTOSVALENCIA RUBICON GALLERY DUBLIN SANDUNGA GRANADA SERVANDO LA HABANA SIBONEYSANTANDER STELLA LOHAUS GALLERY ANTWERP TAIK BERLIN VALLE ORTÍ VALENCIA VAN DER MIEDEN ANTWERP YBAKATU ESPAÇO DE ARTE CURITIBA
ARCOmadrid_ 2010 gives collectors and other art world professionals a unique chance to catch the latest in artistic creation around the world. Apart from the galleries taking part in the core General Programme and ARCO40, the fair also spotlights happening art in its curated programmes: SOLO PROJECTS, EXPANDED-BOX, CINEMALoop and PERFORMING ARCO. These curated sections will feature around 50 projects and reinforce the fair as a leading showcase for the most cutting-edge art of today.
Besides, 2010 will be the first time that ARCOmadrid's special annual guest is a city, more specificallyLos Angeles, one of the world's most exciting and fertile hubs for art at the moment. The Panorama: L.A. programme will host a selection of 17 galleries, curated by Kris Kuramitsu and Christopher Miles, giving the public an overview of the latest tendencies in art taking place in one of the world's major cities.
The exhibition programme is rounded off by a long list of activities organized to coincide with the fair. These include the Experts Forum, as well as a large number of conferences, parties and presentations, reflecting the importance of ARCOmadrid as one of Spain's biggest annual cultural events and a must-visit for the contemporary art market.
LIST OF GALLERIES:
GENERAL PROGRAMME 1900*2000 PARIS AD HOC VIGO AELE EVELYN BOTELLA MADRIDAICON GALLERY LONDON ALEXANDER AND BONIN NEW YORK ÁLVARO ALCÁZAR MADRIDANDRÉ SIMOENS GALLERY KNOKKE ANGELS BARCELONA BARCELONA ANTHONY REYNOLDS GALLERY LONDON ARARIO GALLERY SEOUL BARBARA GROSS MUNICH BÄRBEL GRÄSSLINFRANKFURT BENVENISTE CONTEMPORARY MADRID BERNARD BOUCHE PARIS CAIS GALLERYSEOULCÁNEM CASTELLÓN CAPRICE HORN BERLIN CARLES TACHÉ BARCELONA CARLOS CARVALHO-ARTE CONTEMPORANEA LISBON CARRERAS MÚGICA BILBAO CASA TRIANGULOSAO PAULO CASAS RIEGNER BOGOTÁ CATHERINE PUTMAN PARIS CAYÓN MADRID CHARIM GALERIE VIENNA CHRISTOPHER GRIMES SANTA MONICA DAN GALERIA SAO PAULO DISTRITO CUATRO MADRID DNA GALERIE BERLIN EDWARD TYLER NAHEM FINE ART, L.L.C. NEW YORKELBA BENÍTEZ MADRID ELISABETH & KLAUS THOMAN INNSBRUCK ELVIRA GONZÁLEZMADRID ERNST HILGER VIENNA ESPACIO MÍNIMO MADRID ESPAIVISOR GALERIA VISORVALENCIA ESTIARTE MADRID ESTRANY DE LA MOTA BARCELONA FAGGIONATO FINE ARTSLONDON FARIA FÁBREGAS GALERÍA CARACAS FILOMENA SOARES LISBON FÚCARES MADRIDGANA ART GALLERY SEOUL GEORG KARGL VIENNA GEORG NOTHELFER GALERIE BERLINGRIMM FINE ART AMSTERDAM GRITA INSAM VIENNA GUILLERMO DE OSMA MADRID GUY BÄRTSCHI GENEVE HANS MAYER DUSSELDORF HAUNCH OF VENISON LONDON HEINRICH EHRHARDT MADRID HEINZ HOLTMANN COLOGNE JAVIER LÓPEZ MADRID JOAN PRATSBARCELONA JUANA DE AIZPURU MADRID KLAUS GERRIT FRIESE STUTTGART LA CAJA NEGRAMADRID LA FÁBRICA MADRID LEANDRO NAVARRO MADRID LELONG PARIS LEME SAO PAULOLEYENDECKER SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE LUCÍA DE LA PUENTE LIMA LUCIANA BRITO GALERIA SAO PAULO LUIS ADELANTADO VALENCIA MAI 36 GALERIE ZURICH MAIOR POLLENÇAMAISTERRAVALBUENA MADRID MAM MARIO MAURONER CONTEMPORARY ART VIENNAVIENNA MANUEL BARBIÉ BARCELONA MANUEL OJEDA LAS PALMAS MARIO SEQUEIRA BRAGAMARK MÜLLER ZURICH MARLBOROUGH GALLERY MADRID MARTA CERVERA MADRID MAX ESTRELLA MADRID MAX WIGRAM GALLERY LONDON MEESSEN DE CLERCQ BRUSSELSMICHAEL JANSSEN BERLIN MIGUEL MARCOS BARCELONA MOISÉS PÉREZ DE ALBÉNIZPAMPLONA MORIARTY MADRID NÄCHST ST. STEPHAN ROSEMARIE SCHWARZWÄLDERVIENNA NOGUERAS BLANCHARD BARCELONA OLIVA ARAUNA MADRID ORIOL GALERIA D'ARTBARCELONA PALMA DOTZE VILAFRANCA DEL PENEDÈS PELAIRES PALMA DE MALLORCA PILAR PARRA & ROMERO MADRID POLÍGRAFA OBRA GRÁFICA BARCELONA PROJECTESDBARCELONA RAFAEL ORTIZ SEVILLE REFLEX AMSTERDAM RONMANDOS GALLERY AMSTERDAMSABINE KNUST MUNICH SENDA BARCELONA SLEWE AMSTERDAM SOLEDAD LORENZO MADRIDSOLLERTIS TOULOUSE STUDIO TRISORIO NAPLES T20 MURCIA THADDAEUS ROPAC PARISTHE PARAGON PRESS LONDON THOMAS SCHULTE BERLIN TIM VAN LAERE ANTWERP TOMAS MARCH VALENCIA TONI TÀPIES BARCELONA TRAVESÍA CUATRO MADRID TRAYECTO VITORIAVANGUARDIA BILBAO VISTAMARE BENEDETTA SPALLETTI PESCARA WALTER STORMS GALERIE MUNICH WETTERLING GALLERY STOCKHOLM WOLFGANG GMYREK DUSSELDORFZINK BERLIN
ARCO40 ADN GALERÍA BARCELONA ADORA CALVO SALAMANCA ALEJANDRO SALESBARCELONA ALEXANDRA SAHEB BERLIN ALFREDO VIÑAS MÁLAGA ALTAMIRA GIJÓN ANNET GELINK GALLERY AMSTERDAM ANTONIO HENRIQUES-GALERIA DE ARTE VISEU ART NUEVEMURCIA BACELOS VIGO BEIJING SPACE BEIJING BIRGIT OSTERMEIER BERLIN BITFORMSNEW YORK BRIGITTE SCHENK COLOGNE CASADO SANTAPAU MADRID CHINA TODAYBRUSSELS CHRISTIAN LETHERT COLOGNE DEL SOL ST. ART GALLERY SANTANDER ESPACIO LÍQUIDO GIJÓN FACTORÍA COMPOSTELA (C5 COLECCIÓN) SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELAFONSECA MACEDO PONTA DELGADA FORMATO CÓMODO MADRID GABRIEL ROLT AMSTERDAMGIMPEL FILS LONDON JM MÁLAGA JUAN SILIÓ SANTANDER KAI HILGEMANN BERLIN KASHYA HILDEBRAND ZURICH KUCKEI + KUCKEI BERLIN LA ACACIA LA HABANA MARIBEL LÓPEZ GALLERY BERLIN MICHEL SOSKINE MADRID MIRTA DEMARE ROTTERDAM MS MADRID NF NIEVES FERNÁNDEZ MADRID OREL ART PARIS PACIARTE CONTEMPORARY BRESCIA PERUGI ARTECONTEMPORANEA PADUA PROJECTRAUM VIKTOR BUCHER VIENNAPROMETEOGALLERY MILAN RAIÑA LUPA BARCELONA RAQUEL PONCE MADRID ROSA SANTOSVALENCIA RUBICON GALLERY DUBLIN SANDUNGA GRANADA SERVANDO LA HABANA SIBONEYSANTANDER STELLA LOHAUS GALLERY ANTWERP TAIK BERLIN VALLE ORTÍ VALENCIA VAN DER MIEDEN ANTWERP YBAKATU ESPAÇO DE ARTE CURITIBA
Bloomberg SPACE presents COMMA 13 and COMMA 14
http://www.bloombergspace.com
COMMA 13 Irina Korina
Korina is a sculptor and installation artist whose work very much reflects her original training as a scenographer: her large-scale installations recall theatrical sets, creating all-encompassing spaces that convey a very strong sense of narrative on the edge between reality and fiction. Yet these narratives are not based on any specific storyline, they are formed through the interplay of textures, materials and scale. Through her use of found objects, especially materials imbued with strong cultural references (furniture, printed textiles, clothing etc), she engages with social and political ideas, particularly associated with the Russian context, yet with a potentially more global resonance.
For Bloomberg SPACE she has created a towering central sculpture in the semi-darkened front gallery, with the room lit by the sculpture itself. In turns resembling a jellyfish, Kraken, spaceship or enchanted tree, the work attempts to give voice to the former USSR's most voiceless – the silent underclass of economic migrants from impoverished former Soviet republics known as 'gastarbaitery' – who play a crucial role in Russia's economic development.
COMMA 14 Vicky Wright
Vicky Wright presents a series of new paintings, which draw upon her ongoing concerns with the paradoxical nature of portraiture, politics and patronage.
The paintings, which continue on from her original Extraction series, hint at a hidden history by painting on the reverse of the frame. The works will traverse the rear gallery appearing as windows into the machine or portraits of desire, their gaze looking out covetously. At the epicentre of the gallery will stand a large 'totem' enclosing an illuminated piece of coal, a symbolic source of energy - the prize.
The paintings, simply entitled The Guardians appear as an exploration of portraiture and what might be revealed on the back of such portraits. The history of genre painting generally, especially portraiture, tends to immortalise the captains of industry who have commissioned it. As Wright explains, 'The darker side to this is the extraction of wealth at the price of human misery, whether its coal mining in the North or the extraction of minerals in Africa - they all reveal an exploitative transaction. In a sense, the people who aren't immortalised are the ones who are the exploited'.
COMMA focuses entirely on the commissioning of new work providing exceptional opportunities for artists to experiment and expand their practice in relation to the particular nature of Bloomberg SPACE.
Twenty of today's most outstanding established and emerging international artists have been invited to create new work, installations and architectural interventions in a fast paced succession of exhibitions created in response to and seen for the first time at Bloomberg SPACE.
The new programme continues Bloomberg SPACE's reputation of presenting the unknown alongside the very well known drawing on a group of artists from across the globe. The programme spans a wide range of media – during the year painting, sculpture, drawing, installation, performance and film are all featured – and retains the potential for one-off or performative events.
COMMA 13 Irina Korina
Korina is a sculptor and installation artist whose work very much reflects her original training as a scenographer: her large-scale installations recall theatrical sets, creating all-encompassing spaces that convey a very strong sense of narrative on the edge between reality and fiction. Yet these narratives are not based on any specific storyline, they are formed through the interplay of textures, materials and scale. Through her use of found objects, especially materials imbued with strong cultural references (furniture, printed textiles, clothing etc), she engages with social and political ideas, particularly associated with the Russian context, yet with a potentially more global resonance.
For Bloomberg SPACE she has created a towering central sculpture in the semi-darkened front gallery, with the room lit by the sculpture itself. In turns resembling a jellyfish, Kraken, spaceship or enchanted tree, the work attempts to give voice to the former USSR's most voiceless – the silent underclass of economic migrants from impoverished former Soviet republics known as 'gastarbaitery' – who play a crucial role in Russia's economic development.
COMMA 14 Vicky Wright
Vicky Wright presents a series of new paintings, which draw upon her ongoing concerns with the paradoxical nature of portraiture, politics and patronage.
The paintings, which continue on from her original Extraction series, hint at a hidden history by painting on the reverse of the frame. The works will traverse the rear gallery appearing as windows into the machine or portraits of desire, their gaze looking out covetously. At the epicentre of the gallery will stand a large 'totem' enclosing an illuminated piece of coal, a symbolic source of energy - the prize.
The paintings, simply entitled The Guardians appear as an exploration of portraiture and what might be revealed on the back of such portraits. The history of genre painting generally, especially portraiture, tends to immortalise the captains of industry who have commissioned it. As Wright explains, 'The darker side to this is the extraction of wealth at the price of human misery, whether its coal mining in the North or the extraction of minerals in Africa - they all reveal an exploitative transaction. In a sense, the people who aren't immortalised are the ones who are the exploited'.
COMMA focuses entirely on the commissioning of new work providing exceptional opportunities for artists to experiment and expand their practice in relation to the particular nature of Bloomberg SPACE.
Twenty of today's most outstanding established and emerging international artists have been invited to create new work, installations and architectural interventions in a fast paced succession of exhibitions created in response to and seen for the first time at Bloomberg SPACE.
The new programme continues Bloomberg SPACE's reputation of presenting the unknown alongside the very well known drawing on a group of artists from across the globe. The programme spans a wide range of media – during the year painting, sculpture, drawing, installation, performance and film are all featured – and retains the potential for one-off or performative events.
Abraham Cruzvillegas
Abraham Cruzvillegas is the first participant in the Wattis Institute’s The Magnificent Seven program and our fall Capp Street Project artist in residence. The Mexican artist is best known for his sculptures that transform everyday objects, such as found scrap wood and weathered buoys, into elegant compositions. The artist plays the role of a scavenger, finding value in the discarded.
Over the past semester Cruzvillegas and 10 students in CCA’s Graduate Program in Fine Arts have been investigating concepts of need and scarcity in relation to object making. Their starting point was the customization and transformation of found materials into bicycles and other functional vehicles. Discussing the forms the vehicles might take, options ranged from a delirious machine to a popcorn vehicle, an art-making trailer, a happy machine, a mirror-reflecting vehicle, a festival-on-the-go machine, a mobile sound system, a half-man-half-vehicle, a music vehicle, an elements wagon, a bike raft, and a bird surrey.
The themes inspiring these forms included memories, community, imagination, motion, happiness, celebration, environment, work, speed, energy, and fun. The students also aimed to address issues specific to the Bay Area such as pollution, community, economics, and politics. They visited numerous scrapyards, then collected and recycled parts from old bikes with other found objects and junk.
The three vehicles they created will be presented in the main building at CCA’s San Francisco campus November 15-29, with a parade in front of campus on Saturday, November 21, from 2-5 p.m.
The participating MFA students are Fred Alvarado, Natalia Anciso, Angela Camille, Daniel Dallabrida, Rachel Dawson, Crystal de la Torre, Courtney Johnson, Vanessa Nava, Carlos Ramirez, and Allison Rowe.
About the Magnificent Seven
September 2009 marked the launch of The Magnificent Seven at the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts. The seven participating international artists are Abraham Cruzvillegas, Harrell Fletcher, Ryan Gander, Renata Lucas, Kris Martin, Paulina Olowska, and Tino Sehgal. Over a three-year period they are being integrated into every aspect of the institution’s structure and activities. Each one presents a solo exhibition, completes a Capp Street Project artist residency, produces a publication, teaches a number of courses as a CCA faculty member, delivers a public lecture, and participates in other aspects of the Wattis’s programming.
About the CCA Wattis Institute
The Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts was established in 1998 in San Francisco at California College of the Arts. It serves as a forum for the presentation and discussion of international contemporary art and curatorial practice. Through groundbreaking exhibitions, the Capp Street Project residency program, lectures, symposia, and publications, the Wattis Institute has become one of the leading art institutions in the United States and an active site for contemporary culture in the Bay Area.
Over the past semester Cruzvillegas and 10 students in CCA’s Graduate Program in Fine Arts have been investigating concepts of need and scarcity in relation to object making. Their starting point was the customization and transformation of found materials into bicycles and other functional vehicles. Discussing the forms the vehicles might take, options ranged from a delirious machine to a popcorn vehicle, an art-making trailer, a happy machine, a mirror-reflecting vehicle, a festival-on-the-go machine, a mobile sound system, a half-man-half-vehicle, a music vehicle, an elements wagon, a bike raft, and a bird surrey.
The themes inspiring these forms included memories, community, imagination, motion, happiness, celebration, environment, work, speed, energy, and fun. The students also aimed to address issues specific to the Bay Area such as pollution, community, economics, and politics. They visited numerous scrapyards, then collected and recycled parts from old bikes with other found objects and junk.
The three vehicles they created will be presented in the main building at CCA’s San Francisco campus November 15-29, with a parade in front of campus on Saturday, November 21, from 2-5 p.m.
The participating MFA students are Fred Alvarado, Natalia Anciso, Angela Camille, Daniel Dallabrida, Rachel Dawson, Crystal de la Torre, Courtney Johnson, Vanessa Nava, Carlos Ramirez, and Allison Rowe.
About the Magnificent Seven
September 2009 marked the launch of The Magnificent Seven at the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts. The seven participating international artists are Abraham Cruzvillegas, Harrell Fletcher, Ryan Gander, Renata Lucas, Kris Martin, Paulina Olowska, and Tino Sehgal. Over a three-year period they are being integrated into every aspect of the institution’s structure and activities. Each one presents a solo exhibition, completes a Capp Street Project artist residency, produces a publication, teaches a number of courses as a CCA faculty member, delivers a public lecture, and participates in other aspects of the Wattis’s programming.
About the CCA Wattis Institute
The Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts was established in 1998 in San Francisco at California College of the Arts. It serves as a forum for the presentation and discussion of international contemporary art and curatorial practice. Through groundbreaking exhibitions, the Capp Street Project residency program, lectures, symposia, and publications, the Wattis Institute has become one of the leading art institutions in the United States and an active site for contemporary culture in the Bay Area.
'From the Outside Looking In'
20 Artists: Francesc Abad, Ignasi Aballí, Iñaki Álvarez, Roger Bernat, Jordi Canudas, Biel Capllonch, Pep Dardanyà, Alícia Framis, Núria Güell, Jean-Charles Hue, Cova Macías, Anna Marín, Josep-Maria Martín, Marina Núñez, Antonio Ortega, Santiago Ortiz, Javier Peñafiel, L. A. Raeven, Job Ramos, Erich Weiss.
Curator: Miquel Bardagil
On December 1-st the ArtAids Foundation will present 'On the Outside Looking In' in several venues throughout Barcelona. This exhibition, featuring works by artists from Barcelona and those with a special link to the city, aims to raise awareness and create a greater understanding of people living with HIV and to emphasise the need for prevention.
Curator Miquel Bardagil has linked the "outside" in the exhibition's title to the idea of the outdoors. This concept is the starting point for the exhibition, providing us with an insight into the experience of HIV-positive people. It underlies the work of the artists, who employ a wide range of disciplines including installations, photography, drawing, painting and video.
Simultaneously, Barcelona's Casa Àsia will host 'More to Love', an exhibition of works by twenty Thai and European artists that was presented by ArtAids in Bangkok and Chiang Mai (Thailand) in 2008.
To complement 'On the Outside Looking In', ArtAids is organising educational workshops at Casa Elizalde and an educational project in the neighbourhood of La Mina.
After its Barcelona season, 'On the Outside Looking In' will be presented in Oviedo (Banco Herrero Head Office) from September through November 2010. From December 2010 through February 2011, the exhibition will be shown at Valencia's MuVIM.
ArtAids was founded in Holland in 2006 by writer and collector Han Nefkens, who has been living with HIV since 1987. It was set up to fight the stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS by commissioning works by acclaimed international artists in order to explore the illness, help increase public awareness and improve society's attitude towards HIV-positive persons.
ArtAids has also created projects that provide medical assistance to those who would not otherwise receive it, and finances HIV research in Spain and Thailand.
Since its inception, ArtAids has worked in Holland, Belgium, France, Switzerland and Thailand. In 2010, ArtAids will be present at Dak'Art, the Biennial of Contemporary African Art in Senegal.
Curator: Miquel Bardagil
On December 1-st the ArtAids Foundation will present 'On the Outside Looking In' in several venues throughout Barcelona. This exhibition, featuring works by artists from Barcelona and those with a special link to the city, aims to raise awareness and create a greater understanding of people living with HIV and to emphasise the need for prevention.
Curator Miquel Bardagil has linked the "outside" in the exhibition's title to the idea of the outdoors. This concept is the starting point for the exhibition, providing us with an insight into the experience of HIV-positive people. It underlies the work of the artists, who employ a wide range of disciplines including installations, photography, drawing, painting and video.
Simultaneously, Barcelona's Casa Àsia will host 'More to Love', an exhibition of works by twenty Thai and European artists that was presented by ArtAids in Bangkok and Chiang Mai (Thailand) in 2008.
To complement 'On the Outside Looking In', ArtAids is organising educational workshops at Casa Elizalde and an educational project in the neighbourhood of La Mina.
After its Barcelona season, 'On the Outside Looking In' will be presented in Oviedo (Banco Herrero Head Office) from September through November 2010. From December 2010 through February 2011, the exhibition will be shown at Valencia's MuVIM.
ArtAids was founded in Holland in 2006 by writer and collector Han Nefkens, who has been living with HIV since 1987. It was set up to fight the stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS by commissioning works by acclaimed international artists in order to explore the illness, help increase public awareness and improve society's attitude towards HIV-positive persons.
ArtAids has also created projects that provide medical assistance to those who would not otherwise receive it, and finances HIV research in Spain and Thailand.
Since its inception, ArtAids has worked in Holland, Belgium, France, Switzerland and Thailand. In 2010, ArtAids will be present at Dak'Art, the Biennial of Contemporary African Art in Senegal.
Thom Vink
During the past few years, Thom Vink has worked on a consistent body of work. His approach can best be described as a series of attempts to understand the city and its architecture as an organic process. Where urbanists, property developers and politicians who believe that social change can be effected through public policies would like us to believe that a city develops on the basis of rational considerations, consensus, specific expertise and according to pre-established plans, this artist whispers poetic and occasionally unsettling footnotes. Stroom Den Haag presents the first retrospective of this artist in the Netherlands.
In his work Thom Vink works with fascinating and remarkable analogies to methods from psychotherapy, forms of abstract art, biological structures, physical perceptual phenomena and literary and non-literary narratives. He draws a great deal of inspiration from the pre-Google era. The encyclopaedias from that age, with compact information about indisputable truths, illustrated by mysterious images and fascinating graphs, form a rich source. By carefully selecting and rearranging these images he changes their aesthetics and gives them new meaning.
Thom Vink (1965, Leiden, NL) graduated from the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague in 1990. A major part of the year he spends abroad, primarily in Finland and Japan. Solo exhibitions include 'Evidence' in gallery Muu in Helsinki, Finland (2004); 'Home' in gallery 300m3 in Gothenburg, Sweden (2004); 'Complex' in Aaltonen Museum in Turku, Finland (2005); and 'Changers' in Youkobo Art Space in Tokyo, Japan (2009).
His exhibition 'Moth House' at Stroom Den Haag is the latest installment in Stroom's series of solo presentations by artists like Mark Handforth (2005), Calin Dan (2006) and Toby Paterson (2007). The power and originality of their work is of great value for everyone interested in the urban environment.
In his work Thom Vink works with fascinating and remarkable analogies to methods from psychotherapy, forms of abstract art, biological structures, physical perceptual phenomena and literary and non-literary narratives. He draws a great deal of inspiration from the pre-Google era. The encyclopaedias from that age, with compact information about indisputable truths, illustrated by mysterious images and fascinating graphs, form a rich source. By carefully selecting and rearranging these images he changes their aesthetics and gives them new meaning.
Thom Vink (1965, Leiden, NL) graduated from the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague in 1990. A major part of the year he spends abroad, primarily in Finland and Japan. Solo exhibitions include 'Evidence' in gallery Muu in Helsinki, Finland (2004); 'Home' in gallery 300m3 in Gothenburg, Sweden (2004); 'Complex' in Aaltonen Museum in Turku, Finland (2005); and 'Changers' in Youkobo Art Space in Tokyo, Japan (2009).
His exhibition 'Moth House' at Stroom Den Haag is the latest installment in Stroom's series of solo presentations by artists like Mark Handforth (2005), Calin Dan (2006) and Toby Paterson (2007). The power and originality of their work is of great value for everyone interested in the urban environment.
Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin/Madrid in Paris
Preceding Madrid in April and Berlin in July, the Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin/Madridwill once again create a space for discovery and reflection between new cinema and contemporary art at several venues in Paris: the Centre Pompidou, the Jeu de Paume National Museum, the Châtelet Theatre and the Reflet Médicis movie theatre.
With the participation of 120 artists and filmmakers from all-over the world, this exceptional edition will propose an international programme of audiovisual creation gathering 150 works from France, Germany, Spain and 60 other countries, internationally-known artists and filmmakers with young artists and filmmakers presented for the first time in Paris. With many film premieres, video programmes, multimedia concerts, a cycle of debates and panel discussions. A video library will offer a space where the whole programming, made of 95% of premieres, could be viewed and reviewed on request.
SAVE THE DATES!
////// OPENING SCREENING - MONDAY 30th OF NOVEMBER
////// AT THE CENTRE POMPIDOU, AT 8.30PM
////// SPECIAL EVENT - TUESDAY 1st OF NOVEMBER
////// AT THE CHATELET THEATRE, FROM 3 TO 11PM
FILM AND VIDEO SCREENINGS
Fictions, video, documentary approaches, experimental
27 screenings, each followed by a discussion session with the artists and film-makers
December 2-6, Centre Pompidou
December 1, Châtelet Theatre
December 6-9, Jeu de Paume
December 7 and 8, Reflet Médicis movie theatre
• A rare carte blanche to Artavazd Pelechian (RU/AM) in his presence
• A carte blanche to Harun Farocki (DE), with the screening of his latest film "By comparaison"
• A unique carte blanche to Werner Schroeter (DE) in his presence
• The latest film by Pedro Costa (PT) 'Ne change rien' (2009, Première) in his presence
• Two videos by Ken Jacobs (USA), "The Day was a Scorcher" (2009, Première), and "Excerpt from the Sky Socialist Stratified" (2009, Première)
• A rare 3D experimental fiction by Zapruder Filmmakergroup (IT) "Cock-crow" (2009), previously shown at the Venice Film Biennial.
• The film première of "Le procès d'Oscar Wilde" (2009) by Christian Merlhiot (FR)
• A film event by Johan Grimonprez 'Double Take' (2009, BE)
• A mid-length film by Tsai Ming Liang (TW) "Madame Butterfly" (2008)
• The latest video by Emmanuelle Antille (CH) " Strings of Affection" (2009, Première)
• Focuses on several countries: France, Germany, Spain and a selection of films and rare videos from Croatia.
Each screening is built around a theme, a question through different forms and audiovisual practices.
FORUM – DEBATES
December 1st, at the Châtelet Theatre
December 2-5, at the Centre Pompidou – "Où va le cinema?" organized by the Centre Pompidou
December 6th, at the Jeu de Paume
The Rencontres Internationales invites filmmakers, curators, artistic directors and programmers from European and extra-European museums, art centres and biennales in the fields of contemporary cinema, video and media art. The debates aim to develop a reflection on the concerns and tracks explored in each country in order to debrief this creation and accompany it, as much from a critical point of view, as from the point of view of the public and the artists.
MULTIMEDIA CONCERT
December 1st, at the Châtelet Theatre
Thomas Köner - Le manifeste du futurisme - French Premiere.
Thomas Köner invokes le "futurist manifesto" by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti then proceeds to a phase of deconstruction. Call it a return to the future (futurism), for a society meriting the label "post-utopian/post-futurist".
With the participation of 120 artists and filmmakers from all-over the world, this exceptional edition will propose an international programme of audiovisual creation gathering 150 works from France, Germany, Spain and 60 other countries, internationally-known artists and filmmakers with young artists and filmmakers presented for the first time in Paris. With many film premieres, video programmes, multimedia concerts, a cycle of debates and panel discussions. A video library will offer a space where the whole programming, made of 95% of premieres, could be viewed and reviewed on request.
SAVE THE DATES!
////// OPENING SCREENING - MONDAY 30th OF NOVEMBER
////// AT THE CENTRE POMPIDOU, AT 8.30PM
////// SPECIAL EVENT - TUESDAY 1st OF NOVEMBER
////// AT THE CHATELET THEATRE, FROM 3 TO 11PM
FILM AND VIDEO SCREENINGS
Fictions, video, documentary approaches, experimental
27 screenings, each followed by a discussion session with the artists and film-makers
December 2-6, Centre Pompidou
December 1, Châtelet Theatre
December 6-9, Jeu de Paume
December 7 and 8, Reflet Médicis movie theatre
• A rare carte blanche to Artavazd Pelechian (RU/AM) in his presence
• A carte blanche to Harun Farocki (DE), with the screening of his latest film "By comparaison"
• A unique carte blanche to Werner Schroeter (DE) in his presence
• The latest film by Pedro Costa (PT) 'Ne change rien' (2009, Première) in his presence
• Two videos by Ken Jacobs (USA), "The Day was a Scorcher" (2009, Première), and "Excerpt from the Sky Socialist Stratified" (2009, Première)
• A rare 3D experimental fiction by Zapruder Filmmakergroup (IT) "Cock-crow" (2009), previously shown at the Venice Film Biennial.
• The film première of "Le procès d'Oscar Wilde" (2009) by Christian Merlhiot (FR)
• A film event by Johan Grimonprez 'Double Take' (2009, BE)
• A mid-length film by Tsai Ming Liang (TW) "Madame Butterfly" (2008)
• The latest video by Emmanuelle Antille (CH) " Strings of Affection" (2009, Première)
• Focuses on several countries: France, Germany, Spain and a selection of films and rare videos from Croatia.
Each screening is built around a theme, a question through different forms and audiovisual practices.
FORUM – DEBATES
December 1st, at the Châtelet Theatre
December 2-5, at the Centre Pompidou – "Où va le cinema?" organized by the Centre Pompidou
December 6th, at the Jeu de Paume
The Rencontres Internationales invites filmmakers, curators, artistic directors and programmers from European and extra-European museums, art centres and biennales in the fields of contemporary cinema, video and media art. The debates aim to develop a reflection on the concerns and tracks explored in each country in order to debrief this creation and accompany it, as much from a critical point of view, as from the point of view of the public and the artists.
MULTIMEDIA CONCERT
December 1st, at the Châtelet Theatre
Thomas Köner - Le manifeste du futurisme - French Premiere.
Thomas Köner invokes le "futurist manifesto" by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti then proceeds to a phase of deconstruction. Call it a return to the future (futurism), for a society meriting the label "post-utopian/post-futurist".
Olafur Eliasson
Sydney, Australia: This summer the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney presents the first large-scale exhibition of works by Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson in Australia. The exhibition, entitled Take your time: Olafur Eliasson, runs at the MCA Sydney exclusively in Australia from 10 December 2009 to 11 April 2010.
Olafur Eliasson is among the most influential and widely acclaimed artists of his generation. From light-filled environments to walk-in kaleidoscopes, Olafur Eliasson's unique participatory works offer alluring spaces that harness optical cognition and meteorological elements, examine the intersection of nature and science, and explore the boundary between the organic and the artificial.
Having been raised partly in Iceland, Eliasson's practice is informed by that country's landscape and spectacular weather. He recontextualises elements such as light, water, ice, fog, arctic moss, and lava rock to create altogether new circumstances that shift the viewer's consciousness and sense of place. By extension, his work prompts an intensive engagement with the world and a fresh consideration of everyday life.
Take your time: Olafur Eliasson gathers works from major public and private collections worldwide and spans Eliasson's diverse range of artistic production from 1993 to the present, including installations, large-scale environments, sculpture, and photography.
The exhibition has been organised by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) and curated by Madeleine Grynsztejn, Pritzker Director, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (and SFMOMA's former Elise S. Haas Senior Curator of Painting and Sculpture), in close collaboration with the artist.
MCA Director Elizabeth Ann Macgregor says: "Eliasson is emerging as a singularly influential artist on the world stage and we are proud to be able to present this major exhibition of his work to Australian audiences. We are delighted to have been able to work with one of the world's most prestigious arts institutions SFMOMA, to make this extraordinary exhibition happen and we expect it to be hugely popular both with existing and new audiences for the Museum. As we are the only Australian venue presenting this show, we hope to attract visitors from interstate and overseas."
To contextualise the exhibition and provide audiences with insight into the work of the artist, the MCA has launched a microsite devoted to Take your time: Olafur Eliasson. Located athttp://www.eliasson.com.au, the site has been produced in partnership with Two Thousand and designed by Karl Maier of Rinzen.
Olafur Eliasson is among the most influential and widely acclaimed artists of his generation. From light-filled environments to walk-in kaleidoscopes, Olafur Eliasson's unique participatory works offer alluring spaces that harness optical cognition and meteorological elements, examine the intersection of nature and science, and explore the boundary between the organic and the artificial.
Having been raised partly in Iceland, Eliasson's practice is informed by that country's landscape and spectacular weather. He recontextualises elements such as light, water, ice, fog, arctic moss, and lava rock to create altogether new circumstances that shift the viewer's consciousness and sense of place. By extension, his work prompts an intensive engagement with the world and a fresh consideration of everyday life.
Take your time: Olafur Eliasson gathers works from major public and private collections worldwide and spans Eliasson's diverse range of artistic production from 1993 to the present, including installations, large-scale environments, sculpture, and photography.
The exhibition has been organised by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) and curated by Madeleine Grynsztejn, Pritzker Director, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (and SFMOMA's former Elise S. Haas Senior Curator of Painting and Sculpture), in close collaboration with the artist.
MCA Director Elizabeth Ann Macgregor says: "Eliasson is emerging as a singularly influential artist on the world stage and we are proud to be able to present this major exhibition of his work to Australian audiences. We are delighted to have been able to work with one of the world's most prestigious arts institutions SFMOMA, to make this extraordinary exhibition happen and we expect it to be hugely popular both with existing and new audiences for the Museum. As we are the only Australian venue presenting this show, we hope to attract visitors from interstate and overseas."
To contextualise the exhibition and provide audiences with insight into the work of the artist, the MCA has launched a microsite devoted to Take your time: Olafur Eliasson. Located athttp://www.eliasson.com.au, the site has been produced in partnership with Two Thousand and designed by Karl Maier of Rinzen.
Selections From The Ella Fontanals-Cisneros Collection
http://www.cifo.org
The Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation (CIFO) is proud to present Being in the World: Selections from the Ella Fontanals-Cisneros Collection, an exhibition curated by Berta Sichel on view from December 2, 2009 to March 07, 2010, coinciding with Art Basel Miami Beach (Dec. 2-6 2009).
Being in the World: Selections from the Ella Fontanals-Cisneros Collection is freely framed by the idea of situation as it was developed by French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre. Sartre's situation, or being in the world, includes an individual's place—or current circumstance—and that person's memory, which is a closed circuit providing a background view. The way an individual understands his/her position in the world is a product of past and present circumstances, which include people, close friends and acquaintances as well as strangers who pass unnoticed.
The exhibition proposes this as a useful model for understanding recent artworks which struggle with the individual in a changing world. Being in the World includes 7 artists whose works were selected from the 63 media-based works in the collection. It features works by leading artists Chantal Akerman, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Muntean/Rosenblum, Robin Rhode, Shirin Neshat, Bill Viola, and Francesca Woodman.
The works in Being in the World: Selection from the Ella Fontanals-Cisneros Collection, might also be closest to Sartre's notion of the difference between life and art, since for Sartre art only belongs to us if it restores ambiguity and sometimes a brutal freshness to actual events. In one way or another, the works selected all tell stories, and for Sartre to tell a story when we don't know the outcome creates illusion. Some of these stories are close to reality, others drawn from imagination, but all have uncertain outcomes. All describe situations, ways of being in world. Together they transmit the freedom of art, the freedom of choice—the only freedom Sartre recognized. That is their intrinsic value.
The Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation (CIFO) is proud to present Being in the World: Selections from the Ella Fontanals-Cisneros Collection, an exhibition curated by Berta Sichel on view from December 2, 2009 to March 07, 2010, coinciding with Art Basel Miami Beach (Dec. 2-6 2009).
Being in the World: Selections from the Ella Fontanals-Cisneros Collection is freely framed by the idea of situation as it was developed by French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre. Sartre's situation, or being in the world, includes an individual's place—or current circumstance—and that person's memory, which is a closed circuit providing a background view. The way an individual understands his/her position in the world is a product of past and present circumstances, which include people, close friends and acquaintances as well as strangers who pass unnoticed.
The exhibition proposes this as a useful model for understanding recent artworks which struggle with the individual in a changing world. Being in the World includes 7 artists whose works were selected from the 63 media-based works in the collection. It features works by leading artists Chantal Akerman, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Muntean/Rosenblum, Robin Rhode, Shirin Neshat, Bill Viola, and Francesca Woodman.
The works in Being in the World: Selection from the Ella Fontanals-Cisneros Collection, might also be closest to Sartre's notion of the difference between life and art, since for Sartre art only belongs to us if it restores ambiguity and sometimes a brutal freshness to actual events. In one way or another, the works selected all tell stories, and for Sartre to tell a story when we don't know the outcome creates illusion. Some of these stories are close to reality, others drawn from imagination, but all have uncertain outcomes. All describe situations, ways of being in world. Together they transmit the freedom of art, the freedom of choice—the only freedom Sartre recognized. That is their intrinsic value.
Ruth Buchanan
The Showroom presents Several Attentions – Lying Freely Part III, New Zealand artist Ruth Buchanan's first solo show in the UK. The third part of a larger project, Buchanan continues her enquiry into the work of three well-known literary women with a new 16mm film made in the British Library in London. The film is shown in a choreographed installation including 35mm projections, photographs, text, prints and sound, which together question how one speaks as an artist today, and what space this voice creates.
Throughout Lying Freely, Buchanan has constructed 'meetings' between herself and the practices of the authors, Agatha Christie, Janet Frame and Virginia Woolf. Using their text or an event from their lives as a point of departure, Buchanan explores the idea of what it means to have an artistic life in public – the tensions between private need and public expectation, and individual desires and collectively received legacies.
For Several Attentions – Lying Freely Part III, Buchanan takes Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own as her subject. In Woolf's essay, 'the character' sets out for the British Museum in the 'pursuit of truth' and compiles an unnerving collection of quotations and thoughts after making a catalogue search under 'Woman and Poverty'. Buchanan spent a summer sourcing the books that she cites (now housed at the British Library) and a 16mm film titled Several Attentions, which is central to the installation at The Showroom, shows the artist, seen from the back working with a microfilm comprised of these references. She distorts and manipulates the material, shifting the way in which it is perceived; flipping and turning it upside down, moving from a detail to an overview, reorganising and obscuring it with her own body. These processes of obscuring, reversing and movement become present in the installation as Buchanan instigates physical relations that recalibrate relationships with the space of history, and the many voices and positions that create an artistic practice.
Ruth Buchanan (NZ 1980, Te Ati Awa/Taranaki) completed her MA (Fine Art) at the Piet Zwart Institute, Rotterdam in 2007 and is currently a researcher at the Jan van Eyck Academie, Maastricht. Buchanan has shown her work in Europe, Australia and New Zealand and actively initiates and contributes to print based projects.
Lying Freely is co-produced by The Showroom, Casco, Office for Art, Design and Theory, If I Can't Dance, I Don't Want to Be Part of Your Revolution, and the Jan van Eyck Academie. It was made possible with support from the Jan van Eyck Academie, Creative New Zealand, and from the Cooperation Measures Grant as part of the European Union's Culture 2007 programme. Several Attentions has had further support from Creative New Zealand, Kodak and The British Library.
The exhibition at The Showroom is generously sponsored by The Elephant Trust, Outset and Montana Wines. The Showroom is supported by Arts Council England and members of the gallery's Supporters Scheme.
Throughout Lying Freely, Buchanan has constructed 'meetings' between herself and the practices of the authors, Agatha Christie, Janet Frame and Virginia Woolf. Using their text or an event from their lives as a point of departure, Buchanan explores the idea of what it means to have an artistic life in public – the tensions between private need and public expectation, and individual desires and collectively received legacies.
For Several Attentions – Lying Freely Part III, Buchanan takes Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own as her subject. In Woolf's essay, 'the character' sets out for the British Museum in the 'pursuit of truth' and compiles an unnerving collection of quotations and thoughts after making a catalogue search under 'Woman and Poverty'. Buchanan spent a summer sourcing the books that she cites (now housed at the British Library) and a 16mm film titled Several Attentions, which is central to the installation at The Showroom, shows the artist, seen from the back working with a microfilm comprised of these references. She distorts and manipulates the material, shifting the way in which it is perceived; flipping and turning it upside down, moving from a detail to an overview, reorganising and obscuring it with her own body. These processes of obscuring, reversing and movement become present in the installation as Buchanan instigates physical relations that recalibrate relationships with the space of history, and the many voices and positions that create an artistic practice.
Ruth Buchanan (NZ 1980, Te Ati Awa/Taranaki) completed her MA (Fine Art) at the Piet Zwart Institute, Rotterdam in 2007 and is currently a researcher at the Jan van Eyck Academie, Maastricht. Buchanan has shown her work in Europe, Australia and New Zealand and actively initiates and contributes to print based projects.
Lying Freely is co-produced by The Showroom, Casco, Office for Art, Design and Theory, If I Can't Dance, I Don't Want to Be Part of Your Revolution, and the Jan van Eyck Academie. It was made possible with support from the Jan van Eyck Academie, Creative New Zealand, and from the Cooperation Measures Grant as part of the European Union's Culture 2007 programme. Several Attentions has had further support from Creative New Zealand, Kodak and The British Library.
The exhibition at The Showroom is generously sponsored by The Elephant Trust, Outset and Montana Wines. The Showroom is supported by Arts Council England and members of the gallery's Supporters Scheme.
Art Basel Miami Beach 2009
Art Basel Conversations
Daily from Thursday, December 3,
until Sunday, December 6, 2009
10 – 11 a.m. | Panel Discussion
11 – 11.30 p.m. | Meet the Panelists
Location | Oceanfront at Collins Park, between 21st and 22nd Streets
Thursday, December 3 | Premiere | Artist Talk: Ai Weiwei
Speaker | Ai Weiwei, Artist, Beijing
Moderator | Philip Tinari, Director, Office for Discourse Engineering, Beijing
Friday, December 4 | Public / Private | Change in Generation
Speakers | Marc Mayer, Director, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
Timothy Rub, The George D. Widener Director and Chief Executive Officer, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia
Osvaldo Sánchez, Director, Museum of Modern Art, Mexico City
Philippe Vergne, Director, Dia Art Foundation, New York
Lynn Zelevansky, The Henry J. Heinz II Director, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh
Moderator | András Szántó, author, consultant to arts and philanthropic organizations, New York
Saturday, December 5 | Collector Focus | Latin America
Speakers | César Cervantes, Collector, Mexico City
Jay Khalifeh, Collector, São Paulo
Juan Vergez and Patricia Pearson-Vergez, Collectors, Buenos Aires
Moderator | Adriano Pedrosa, Curator, Writer, Editor, São Paulo
Sunday, December 6 | The Future of the Museum | The Portable Museum
Speakers | Raphael Montañez Ortiz, Artist, New Jersey
Pedro Reyes, Artist, Mexico City
Peter Saville, Artist, London
Kateřina Šedá, Artist, Prague/Líšeň
Moderator | Hans Ulrich Obrist, Co-Director of Exhibitions and Programmes and Director of International Projects, Serpentine Gallery, London
http://www.artbasel.com/conversations
Art Salon
Daily from Thursday, December 3, until Sunday, December 6, 2009
Location | Central Area of the Miami Beach Convention Center
Thursday | Dec 3
1 p.m. | Artist Talk: Pae White with Meredith Johnson and Anne Pasternak
2 p.m. | Panel | New Market Dynamics: Five Perspectives on the Global Art Scene
Lindsay Pollock, Suzanne Gyorgy, Charles Stainback, Judd Tully and Renee Vara
3 p.m. | Panel | Gender, Wars and Chadors, Part III
Ghada Amer, Kader Attia, Akram Zaatari and Hans Ulrich Obrist
4 p.m. | Artist Talk: Shepard Fairy with Pedro H. Alonzo
5 p.m. Artist Talk: Cristina Lei Rodriguez and Eduardo Abaroa with Patrick Charpenel
5.30 p.m. Presentation | Cecilia Alemani on No Soul For Sale. Independent Spaces at X Initiative
6 p.m. Pecha Kucha | Contemporary Art & Social Media = Network & Networth
Ben Davis, Joey Hernandez, Lori Faye Fischler, Leyden Rodriguez, Kristin Taylor, [dNASAb], Jody Turner and Carl Hildebrand
Friday | Dec 4
1 p.m. | Book Launch| | "You and Me or the Art of Give and Take"
Allen Ruppersberg and Lionel Bovier
2 p.m. | Artist Talk: Claire Fontaine with Jens Hoffmann
3 p.m. Book Launch| "Fred Tomaselli"
Fred Tomaselli, Ian Berry and Heidi Zuckerman Jacobson
4 p.m. | Special Talk | Mark Rosenthal about William Kentridge’s Evolving Career
5 p.m. | Book Launch | "Forest and Fields. Volume 2. Blumen" with Collier Schorr
Saturday | Dec 5
1 p.m. | Book Launch| "Painting Below Zero. Notes on a Life in Art"
With James Rosenquist, introduction by Samuel Keller
2 p.m. | Artist Talk: Marilyn Minter with Richard Flood
3 p.m. | Book Launch | "Henry Darger" with Klaus Biesenbach
4 p.m. | Market Talk | Judgment Call: Committing to Buy with Michael Danoff
5 p.m. | Market Talk | 10 Things You Should Know About Buying Art with Josh Baer
6 p.m. | Artist Talk | Conversation with Ryan McGinley
Sunday | Dec 6
1 p.m. | Panel | Art Conservation: The Future
Brian Frasca, Gloria Velandia and Ray Ellen Yarkin
2 p.m. | Special Talk
Peter Eleey and Anthony Huberman
3 p.m. | Book Launch | "Leo & His Circle. The Life of Leo Castelli" with Annie Cohen – Solal
Daily from Thursday, December 3,
until Sunday, December 6, 2009
10 – 11 a.m. | Panel Discussion
11 – 11.30 p.m. | Meet the Panelists
Location | Oceanfront at Collins Park, between 21st and 22nd Streets
Thursday, December 3 | Premiere | Artist Talk: Ai Weiwei
Speaker | Ai Weiwei, Artist, Beijing
Moderator | Philip Tinari, Director, Office for Discourse Engineering, Beijing
Friday, December 4 | Public / Private | Change in Generation
Speakers | Marc Mayer, Director, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
Timothy Rub, The George D. Widener Director and Chief Executive Officer, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia
Osvaldo Sánchez, Director, Museum of Modern Art, Mexico City
Philippe Vergne, Director, Dia Art Foundation, New York
Lynn Zelevansky, The Henry J. Heinz II Director, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh
Moderator | András Szántó, author, consultant to arts and philanthropic organizations, New York
Saturday, December 5 | Collector Focus | Latin America
Speakers | César Cervantes, Collector, Mexico City
Jay Khalifeh, Collector, São Paulo
Juan Vergez and Patricia Pearson-Vergez, Collectors, Buenos Aires
Moderator | Adriano Pedrosa, Curator, Writer, Editor, São Paulo
Sunday, December 6 | The Future of the Museum | The Portable Museum
Speakers | Raphael Montañez Ortiz, Artist, New Jersey
Pedro Reyes, Artist, Mexico City
Peter Saville, Artist, London
Kateřina Šedá, Artist, Prague/Líšeň
Moderator | Hans Ulrich Obrist, Co-Director of Exhibitions and Programmes and Director of International Projects, Serpentine Gallery, London
http://www.artbasel.com/conversations
Art Salon
Daily from Thursday, December 3, until Sunday, December 6, 2009
Location | Central Area of the Miami Beach Convention Center
Thursday | Dec 3
1 p.m. | Artist Talk: Pae White with Meredith Johnson and Anne Pasternak
2 p.m. | Panel | New Market Dynamics: Five Perspectives on the Global Art Scene
Lindsay Pollock, Suzanne Gyorgy, Charles Stainback, Judd Tully and Renee Vara
3 p.m. | Panel | Gender, Wars and Chadors, Part III
Ghada Amer, Kader Attia, Akram Zaatari and Hans Ulrich Obrist
4 p.m. | Artist Talk: Shepard Fairy with Pedro H. Alonzo
5 p.m. Artist Talk: Cristina Lei Rodriguez and Eduardo Abaroa with Patrick Charpenel
5.30 p.m. Presentation | Cecilia Alemani on No Soul For Sale. Independent Spaces at X Initiative
6 p.m. Pecha Kucha | Contemporary Art & Social Media = Network & Networth
Ben Davis, Joey Hernandez, Lori Faye Fischler, Leyden Rodriguez, Kristin Taylor, [dNASAb], Jody Turner and Carl Hildebrand
Friday | Dec 4
1 p.m. | Book Launch| | "You and Me or the Art of Give and Take"
Allen Ruppersberg and Lionel Bovier
2 p.m. | Artist Talk: Claire Fontaine with Jens Hoffmann
3 p.m. Book Launch| "Fred Tomaselli"
Fred Tomaselli, Ian Berry and Heidi Zuckerman Jacobson
4 p.m. | Special Talk | Mark Rosenthal about William Kentridge’s Evolving Career
5 p.m. | Book Launch | "Forest and Fields. Volume 2. Blumen" with Collier Schorr
Saturday | Dec 5
1 p.m. | Book Launch| "Painting Below Zero. Notes on a Life in Art"
With James Rosenquist, introduction by Samuel Keller
2 p.m. | Artist Talk: Marilyn Minter with Richard Flood
3 p.m. | Book Launch | "Henry Darger" with Klaus Biesenbach
4 p.m. | Market Talk | Judgment Call: Committing to Buy with Michael Danoff
5 p.m. | Market Talk | 10 Things You Should Know About Buying Art with Josh Baer
6 p.m. | Artist Talk | Conversation with Ryan McGinley
Sunday | Dec 6
1 p.m. | Panel | Art Conservation: The Future
Brian Frasca, Gloria Velandia and Ray Ellen Yarkin
2 p.m. | Special Talk
Peter Eleey and Anthony Huberman
3 p.m. | Book Launch | "Leo & His Circle. The Life of Leo Castelli" with Annie Cohen – Solal
Latifa Echakhch
Latifa Echakhch is one of the most successful protagonists of a new European generation. The installations of the French-Moroccan artist (born 1974, lives in Martigny) address issues of social life with striking elegance. Echakhch uses her own identity and experience to question pre-conceived ideas about nationality, religion, and history. Intellectually challenging, but at once sensual, the artist’s work explores society in an increasingly globalized world.
In her first institutional solo exhibition in the United States, Latifa Echakhch presents a new body of work. The site-specific installation Plaintes (complaints) is inspired by The Modulor, a system of measurements developed by Swiss architect Le Corbusier. Echakhch applies the architect’s measures to eight charcoal wall drawings, which create an obscure pattern throughout the gallery. In addition, she displays small wooden brainteasers on pedestals. On a formal level they allude to the bag of tricks of modernism. The piece is consequently entitled HLM, after the subsidized housing complexes in the French banlieue. Furthermore, the large windows on Broadway are painted in a bright yellow, based on the substance Gaya (E102), a food coloring used as an inexpensive substitute for saffron in Asian cooking.
The exhibition’s title Movement and Complication borrows terms from horology. In this field, a movement indicates a simple watch. The term complication, however, refers to any feature beyond the basic display of hours, minutes, and seconds. The more complications (e.g. a moon calendar), the more difficult it is to design, create, assemble, and eventually repair the watch. Latifa Echakhch applies those terms to question urbanism, related theories and eventually social movement and complication.
Lobby
Grrrr (alias Ingo Giezendanner) seeks inspiration from urban space, obsessively documenting his location in detailed drawings, animations, and public murals. Encompassing the foyer of the gallery, Grrrr reacts to New York and re-imagines the city’s vistas.
Reading Room
Ooga Booga is a concept shop vital to the creative life-blood of LA. It gathers an eclectic range of products: one finds rare zines by Frances Stark next to furry animals of Mike Kelley. Spearheaded byWendy Yao, Ooga Booga fosters a vibrant community of independent producers.
About Swiss Institute / Contemporary Art New York
Swiss Institute / Contemporary Art is a not-for-profit contemporary art gallery operating in New York City since 1986. As a truly international space for contemporary art, we occupy an ambitious, boundary-crossing role in NYC, fostering interaction between American, Swiss and European artists and audiences. Our institution works like a European Kunsthalle, presenting cutting-edge art within a forward-thinking intellectual framework. Because we have no collection and no responsibilities to the art market, all our energy goes towards the realization of artistic and curatorial projects. An additional vital part of our programming is an ambitious series of events creating crucial opportunities to weave contemporary art into the fabric of everyday life.
In her first institutional solo exhibition in the United States, Latifa Echakhch presents a new body of work. The site-specific installation Plaintes (complaints) is inspired by The Modulor, a system of measurements developed by Swiss architect Le Corbusier. Echakhch applies the architect’s measures to eight charcoal wall drawings, which create an obscure pattern throughout the gallery. In addition, she displays small wooden brainteasers on pedestals. On a formal level they allude to the bag of tricks of modernism. The piece is consequently entitled HLM, after the subsidized housing complexes in the French banlieue. Furthermore, the large windows on Broadway are painted in a bright yellow, based on the substance Gaya (E102), a food coloring used as an inexpensive substitute for saffron in Asian cooking.
The exhibition’s title Movement and Complication borrows terms from horology. In this field, a movement indicates a simple watch. The term complication, however, refers to any feature beyond the basic display of hours, minutes, and seconds. The more complications (e.g. a moon calendar), the more difficult it is to design, create, assemble, and eventually repair the watch. Latifa Echakhch applies those terms to question urbanism, related theories and eventually social movement and complication.
Lobby
Grrrr (alias Ingo Giezendanner) seeks inspiration from urban space, obsessively documenting his location in detailed drawings, animations, and public murals. Encompassing the foyer of the gallery, Grrrr reacts to New York and re-imagines the city’s vistas.
Reading Room
Ooga Booga is a concept shop vital to the creative life-blood of LA. It gathers an eclectic range of products: one finds rare zines by Frances Stark next to furry animals of Mike Kelley. Spearheaded byWendy Yao, Ooga Booga fosters a vibrant community of independent producers.
About Swiss Institute / Contemporary Art New York
Swiss Institute / Contemporary Art is a not-for-profit contemporary art gallery operating in New York City since 1986. As a truly international space for contemporary art, we occupy an ambitious, boundary-crossing role in NYC, fostering interaction between American, Swiss and European artists and audiences. Our institution works like a European Kunsthalle, presenting cutting-edge art within a forward-thinking intellectual framework. Because we have no collection and no responsibilities to the art market, all our energy goes towards the realization of artistic and curatorial projects. An additional vital part of our programming is an ambitious series of events creating crucial opportunities to weave contemporary art into the fabric of everyday life.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
LIU BOLIN
LIU BOLIN
China is undergoing one of the most dramatic transitions in the history of the world. The acceleration of change echoes throughout our society and beyond our borders. Inevitably the changes result in both stimulation and trauma. The past is disappearing and the present is in constant flux. China is becoming more and more dynamic as Western concepts, ideas and morals permeate the country. The result is a kind of bipolar culture. As the psychological and physical infrastructures of China are demolished, new infrastructures are built. We do not know how long the vestiges of the past will remain. This new horizon, constructed of both the old and the new, inspires awe and intrigue. However, it is often too much to bear. How do we face this kind of transition? How do we communicate within this chaos? How do we maintain our own individuality? How do we break away from the past?
The new China evolved from the experimental period of 1949 to 1976. In my photography, there are images of the Eastern Red train with peeling paint, a huge statue base missing the iconic statue, a wall with Mao’s words scrawled in temporary places using ephemeral materials… For a moment, our brain flashes the first sentence from the Communist Manifesto, “A specter is haunting Europe — the specter of communism.” My subject resembles a Kafkian character but he is weakened. He is profoundly isolated and unaware of his surroundings, a shell without a soul. He moves from one environment to another, from one background to another, and he is just like us, changing from one job to another, from one place to another… All of these changes are meaningless, but they give us freedom and allow us to escape the confinement and the duties imposed on us by society. However, by avoiding the burdens of society, his virtues are also destroyed.
In my photography, historical statues, costumes and architecture become symbols of that which confines us. I am expressing the desire to break through these structures. I portray subjects that seem to disappear into these structures and become transparent. The subject is released from social constructs and he is free.
With my new series of paintings, which depict images from the Chinese media, you can see the issues facing China today. Living in the red hot China, I feel that I am not in control of my own life. However, I have an indescribable burning desire inside of me. Art is a weapon that helps us untangle the chaos in our lives. I hope that my artworks can calm people down during this period of constant change, but at the same time, inspire people to re-evaluate our environment and reconsider the problems arising in our society. In this transition period, I can hear the voice of Hamlet whispering, “for in the sleep of death, what dreams may come.”
The new China evolved from the experimental period of 1949 to 1976. In my photography, there are images of the Eastern Red train with peeling paint, a huge statue base missing the iconic statue, a wall with Mao’s words scrawled in temporary places using ephemeral materials… For a moment, our brain flashes the first sentence from the Communist Manifesto, “A specter is haunting Europe — the specter of communism.” My subject resembles a Kafkian character but he is weakened. He is profoundly isolated and unaware of his surroundings, a shell without a soul. He moves from one environment to another, from one background to another, and he is just like us, changing from one job to another, from one place to another… All of these changes are meaningless, but they give us freedom and allow us to escape the confinement and the duties imposed on us by society. However, by avoiding the burdens of society, his virtues are also destroyed.
In my photography, historical statues, costumes and architecture become symbols of that which confines us. I am expressing the desire to break through these structures. I portray subjects that seem to disappear into these structures and become transparent. The subject is released from social constructs and he is free.
With my new series of paintings, which depict images from the Chinese media, you can see the issues facing China today. Living in the red hot China, I feel that I am not in control of my own life. However, I have an indescribable burning desire inside of me. Art is a weapon that helps us untangle the chaos in our lives. I hope that my artworks can calm people down during this period of constant change, but at the same time, inspire people to re-evaluate our environment and reconsider the problems arising in our society. In this transition period, I can hear the voice of Hamlet whispering, “for in the sleep of death, what dreams may come.”
JI LEE
JI LEE
Born in Seoul, Korea
Moves to Sao Paulo, Brazil
(at the age of 10)
Moves to New York City
(for college)
Lives and works in New York
Pedro Cabrita Reis
Born in Lisbon in 1956, Pedro Cabrita Reis is one of the leading Portuguese artists of his generation. This exhibition will be his first presentation in a German museum since 1996. Cabrita Reis has exhibited widely and participated in numerous international exhibitions, including documenta IX in 1992; in 2003 he represented Portugal at the Venice Biennale. Currently, he is participating in the 10th Lyon Biennale with two large works. In the most comprehensive show by the artist to date, the Hamburger Kunsthalle is presenting around sixty sculptures, including several large-scale pieces, paintings, drawings and photographs from 1985 to 2009, covering the entire basement floor of the Galerie der Gegenwart.
Since the early 1990s, Cabrita Reis's work has revolved around the themes of housing, habitation, construction and territory. Along with artworks based on elements of everyday life, such as tables and chairs or doors and windows, he often creates expansive installations that fill the exhibition spaces with both complex and imposing structures. He counters the classic white cube with his use of massive brick walls, found objects and industrial materials such as neon tubes, steel girders or rough wooden planks.
Pedro Cabrita Reis is a keen collector, both of the flotsam of civilization and of sensory impressions. For him, discarded everyday objects are just as welcome finds as the panorama of an abandoned building site or an old olive tree. Like retinal afterimages, such visual stimuli plant the seed of an idea for one of his melancholic-archaic sculptures or for a new painting. In his work, Cabrita Reis repeatedly addresses fundamental issues of art; he explores the concepts of painting and sculpture and develops sculptural methods of drawing in space. While Cabrita Reis's rugged walls and the cardboard sheds held together with adhesive tape might at first glance seem to refer to social realities outside the realm of art, they are not bound up with these realities, nor do they attempt to duplicate them; instead, they transform them into intriguing and sometimes quite literally opaque artworks. Wherever windows appear in Cabrita Reis's installations, they are invariably blind, boarded up or painted over, the doors to his dwellings are inaccessible. Cidades Cegas (Blind Cities) is the title of a group of works whose stoically melancholic appearance alludes to the Unbehaustheit ('homelessness') of man as a basic constant of the human condition – one of the leitmotifs in Cabrita Reis's oeuvre.
In addition to works on loan from major museums and private collections, the exhibition features new works that have been developed especially for the Hamburger Kunsthalle. After premiering in Hamburg, it will travel to the Carré d'Art in Nîmes and the Museu Colecção Berardo in Lisbon. It is the first exhibition of the new curator of the Galerie der Gegenwart, Sabrina van der Ley, in the Hamburger Kunsthalle.
A comprehensive catalogue with 200 colour illustrations has been published to accompany the exhibition and features amongst other texts by António Lobo Antunes, Dieter Schwarz and Pedro Cabrita Reis.
Curated by Sabrina van der Ley
Since the early 1990s, Cabrita Reis's work has revolved around the themes of housing, habitation, construction and territory. Along with artworks based on elements of everyday life, such as tables and chairs or doors and windows, he often creates expansive installations that fill the exhibition spaces with both complex and imposing structures. He counters the classic white cube with his use of massive brick walls, found objects and industrial materials such as neon tubes, steel girders or rough wooden planks.
Pedro Cabrita Reis is a keen collector, both of the flotsam of civilization and of sensory impressions. For him, discarded everyday objects are just as welcome finds as the panorama of an abandoned building site or an old olive tree. Like retinal afterimages, such visual stimuli plant the seed of an idea for one of his melancholic-archaic sculptures or for a new painting. In his work, Cabrita Reis repeatedly addresses fundamental issues of art; he explores the concepts of painting and sculpture and develops sculptural methods of drawing in space. While Cabrita Reis's rugged walls and the cardboard sheds held together with adhesive tape might at first glance seem to refer to social realities outside the realm of art, they are not bound up with these realities, nor do they attempt to duplicate them; instead, they transform them into intriguing and sometimes quite literally opaque artworks. Wherever windows appear in Cabrita Reis's installations, they are invariably blind, boarded up or painted over, the doors to his dwellings are inaccessible. Cidades Cegas (Blind Cities) is the title of a group of works whose stoically melancholic appearance alludes to the Unbehaustheit ('homelessness') of man as a basic constant of the human condition – one of the leitmotifs in Cabrita Reis's oeuvre.
In addition to works on loan from major museums and private collections, the exhibition features new works that have been developed especially for the Hamburger Kunsthalle. After premiering in Hamburg, it will travel to the Carré d'Art in Nîmes and the Museu Colecção Berardo in Lisbon. It is the first exhibition of the new curator of the Galerie der Gegenwart, Sabrina van der Ley, in the Hamburger Kunsthalle.
A comprehensive catalogue with 200 colour illustrations has been published to accompany the exhibition and features amongst other texts by António Lobo Antunes, Dieter Schwarz and Pedro Cabrita Reis.
Curated by Sabrina van der Ley
The Museum Of Modern Art, New York presents Fischerspooner
MoMA WELCOMES PERFORMA 09 WITH A LIVE PERFORMANCE BY FISCHERSPOONER ON NOVEMBER 1
On the occasion of the opening of the New York performance biennial Performa 09, MoMA's Performance Exhibition Series presents Between Worlds (2009), an evening-length work by New York artists Fischerspooner. Between Worlds is a pop spectacle that runs continuously over the course of three hours, with no clear beginning or end, on a large central stage that allows the audience to view the piece from all sides. With source material provided by The Wooster Group and with inspirations ranging from Japanese theater to the early years of the U.S. space program, this new performance continues Fischerspooner's interest in exploring the spaces between art and entertainment, reality and fiction, intentions and mistakes.
Fischerspooner is Casey Spooner (b. 1970) and Warren Fischer (b. 1968), who met at the School of The Art Institute of Chicago. Between Worlds originated in workshops with The Wooster Group, and the rehearsal process later became part of the group exhibition It's Not Only Rock N Roll, Baby at the Bozar Museum in Brussels. The piece was later performed at the twenty-eighth annual São Paulo Bienal in October 2008. In April 2009, Between Worlds was presented as an open dress rehearsal at The Performing Garage in New York City, and the piece has continually evolved over the course of Fischerspooner's world tour.
Performa 09 (November 1–22, 2009) is the third edition of the internationally acclaimed biennial of new visual art performance presented by Performa, a nonprofit, multidisciplinary arts organization dedicated to exploring the critical role of live performance in the history of twentieth-century art and to encouraging new directions in performance for the twenty-first century, founded by RoseLee Goldberg in 2004.
On the occasion of the opening of the New York performance biennial Performa 09, MoMA's Performance Exhibition Series presents Between Worlds (2009), an evening-length work by New York artists Fischerspooner. Between Worlds is a pop spectacle that runs continuously over the course of three hours, with no clear beginning or end, on a large central stage that allows the audience to view the piece from all sides. With source material provided by The Wooster Group and with inspirations ranging from Japanese theater to the early years of the U.S. space program, this new performance continues Fischerspooner's interest in exploring the spaces between art and entertainment, reality and fiction, intentions and mistakes.
Fischerspooner is Casey Spooner (b. 1970) and Warren Fischer (b. 1968), who met at the School of The Art Institute of Chicago. Between Worlds originated in workshops with The Wooster Group, and the rehearsal process later became part of the group exhibition It's Not Only Rock N Roll, Baby at the Bozar Museum in Brussels. The piece was later performed at the twenty-eighth annual São Paulo Bienal in October 2008. In April 2009, Between Worlds was presented as an open dress rehearsal at The Performing Garage in New York City, and the piece has continually evolved over the course of Fischerspooner's world tour.
Performa 09 (November 1–22, 2009) is the third edition of the internationally acclaimed biennial of new visual art performance presented by Performa, a nonprofit, multidisciplinary arts organization dedicated to exploring the critical role of live performance in the history of twentieth-century art and to encouraging new directions in performance for the twenty-first century, founded by RoseLee Goldberg in 2004.
Deimantas Narkevicius
In his works, Deimantas Narkevičius explores the past of the states in the former Eastern Bloc using found footage and autobiographical narratives. His films are reflections on specific facts and historical oddities and are often linked to Lithuania's recent history and also to the Socialist past of other countries under the Soviet regime.
Narkevičius accounts for his interest in the past by referring to his own biography. The upheavals in the wake of the fall of the Iron Curtain left Lithuania bereft of visions and long-term perspectives. According to Narkevičius, the communist state had existed outside western conceptions of history, since its stated goal was the creation of a new kind of man in a new kind of society, which, once attained, would last and prosper forever. At the end of the Cold War, the citizens of Lithuania regained their sense of history, but there were no visions left. Narkevičius considers his individual search for perspectives to be a typical pursuit in post-communist societies. In an unknown terrain, a new future has to be built on the remains of the past by exploring the phenomena of said past that had been hidden by ideology.
Deimantas Narkevičius was born in 1964 in Utena in Lithuania and lives and works in Vilnius, Lithuania. He gained international recognition in 2001 when he represented his country at the 49th Venice Biennial. Even though he is a classically trained sculptor, Narkevičius works with film, video and installation. However, sculpture and architecture are not only of interest to him because of his training, but also because of their signification as monuments. The point of departure for his work The Head (2007) was Narkevičius' interest in the formal language of ideological art. Liberated from its political significance, Narkevičius analyses the ways in which a society's ideology publicly shapes its aesthetics. Consequently, the film Energy Lithuania (2000) depicts the architecture of an electric powerplant as a manifestation and installation of industrial thought and deals with the positivistic romanticism that underlies such an ideology. The film Scena (2003), which was inspired by the modernist architecture of the Contemporary Art Center in Vilnius, then highlights the discrepancy between form and function: the building was initially constructed as an exhibition pavilion, but today's ambitious programme at the CAC has alienated the institution from its original aim of realizing exhibitions 'for everyone'.
An abandoned missile base in Lithuania is the backdrop of the film The Dud Effect (2008), in which Narkevičius simulates the launch of an R-14 rocket. These weapons remained a terrifying threat during the Cold War and were never launched and the artist seeks to educate people about this chapter in history. Narkevičius was inspired by the movie The War Game (1965) by the British director Peter Watkins, which dealt with the West's collective fear of a nuclear strike. Narkevičius observes that this fear was not as tangible in the former Eastern Bloc, and this, to him, is the reason for the East's inadequate historical reappraisal of this era, which informs his films to a large degree. Peter Watkins lived in Lithuania for some time and was interviewed by Narkevičius for his film A Role of A Lifetime(2008). Undermining Watkins' statements on documentaries, Narkevičius combines the interview with images from an amusement park and amateur clips depicting the British seaside resort Brighton. The montage questions the relationship between documentation and representation, between subjectivity and artistic responsibility. Legend Coming True, the film Narkevičius showed at the Venice Biennial in 2001, also uses three narrative planes: the story of a Holocaust-survivor in Vilnius' Jewish Ghetto is joined to a romantic tale about a city and the performance of a Yiddish song.
However, Narkevičius does not simply use found footage to question the documentary genre's claims to objectivity and truthfulness. His eclectic creations are also reminiscent of an inspired painter's works. In his films, Narkevičius does not shy away from evoking a potentially problematic 'nostalgic' atmosphere and from crafting subtexts which dare to pose the 'what-if'-question – no mean feat in our age of constant panicked cultural self-validation. He exposes the tradition and the historicity of narratives that structure our perception of history. The 16mm-film Europa 54°54'-25°19" (1997) consists of a tracking shot which starts in the artist's former house and continues through the city towards Europe's geographical center. The fact that Lithuania is situated exactly in the middle of Europe is part of any Lithuanian's general education and constitutes a curious phenomenon in the ideology of this young country.
Deimantas Narkevičius – The Unanimous Life is the result of a collaboration between the Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid, the Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, the Kunsthalle Bern, The Hessel Museum at Bard College, New York, and the National Gallery of Art in Vilnius. The exhibition was curated by Chus Martinez and adapted for Bern by Philippe Pirotte.
A comprehensive book publication sheds further light on Deimantas Narkevičius' remarkable films and contains texts by Manuel J. Borja-Villel, Philippe Pirotte, Chus Martinez, Christa Blümlinger, Boris Buden, Gerald Raunig and Dieter Roelstraete.
Narkevičius accounts for his interest in the past by referring to his own biography. The upheavals in the wake of the fall of the Iron Curtain left Lithuania bereft of visions and long-term perspectives. According to Narkevičius, the communist state had existed outside western conceptions of history, since its stated goal was the creation of a new kind of man in a new kind of society, which, once attained, would last and prosper forever. At the end of the Cold War, the citizens of Lithuania regained their sense of history, but there were no visions left. Narkevičius considers his individual search for perspectives to be a typical pursuit in post-communist societies. In an unknown terrain, a new future has to be built on the remains of the past by exploring the phenomena of said past that had been hidden by ideology.
Deimantas Narkevičius was born in 1964 in Utena in Lithuania and lives and works in Vilnius, Lithuania. He gained international recognition in 2001 when he represented his country at the 49th Venice Biennial. Even though he is a classically trained sculptor, Narkevičius works with film, video and installation. However, sculpture and architecture are not only of interest to him because of his training, but also because of their signification as monuments. The point of departure for his work The Head (2007) was Narkevičius' interest in the formal language of ideological art. Liberated from its political significance, Narkevičius analyses the ways in which a society's ideology publicly shapes its aesthetics. Consequently, the film Energy Lithuania (2000) depicts the architecture of an electric powerplant as a manifestation and installation of industrial thought and deals with the positivistic romanticism that underlies such an ideology. The film Scena (2003), which was inspired by the modernist architecture of the Contemporary Art Center in Vilnius, then highlights the discrepancy between form and function: the building was initially constructed as an exhibition pavilion, but today's ambitious programme at the CAC has alienated the institution from its original aim of realizing exhibitions 'for everyone'.
An abandoned missile base in Lithuania is the backdrop of the film The Dud Effect (2008), in which Narkevičius simulates the launch of an R-14 rocket. These weapons remained a terrifying threat during the Cold War and were never launched and the artist seeks to educate people about this chapter in history. Narkevičius was inspired by the movie The War Game (1965) by the British director Peter Watkins, which dealt with the West's collective fear of a nuclear strike. Narkevičius observes that this fear was not as tangible in the former Eastern Bloc, and this, to him, is the reason for the East's inadequate historical reappraisal of this era, which informs his films to a large degree. Peter Watkins lived in Lithuania for some time and was interviewed by Narkevičius for his film A Role of A Lifetime(2008). Undermining Watkins' statements on documentaries, Narkevičius combines the interview with images from an amusement park and amateur clips depicting the British seaside resort Brighton. The montage questions the relationship between documentation and representation, between subjectivity and artistic responsibility. Legend Coming True, the film Narkevičius showed at the Venice Biennial in 2001, also uses three narrative planes: the story of a Holocaust-survivor in Vilnius' Jewish Ghetto is joined to a romantic tale about a city and the performance of a Yiddish song.
However, Narkevičius does not simply use found footage to question the documentary genre's claims to objectivity and truthfulness. His eclectic creations are also reminiscent of an inspired painter's works. In his films, Narkevičius does not shy away from evoking a potentially problematic 'nostalgic' atmosphere and from crafting subtexts which dare to pose the 'what-if'-question – no mean feat in our age of constant panicked cultural self-validation. He exposes the tradition and the historicity of narratives that structure our perception of history. The 16mm-film Europa 54°54'-25°19" (1997) consists of a tracking shot which starts in the artist's former house and continues through the city towards Europe's geographical center. The fact that Lithuania is situated exactly in the middle of Europe is part of any Lithuanian's general education and constitutes a curious phenomenon in the ideology of this young country.
Deimantas Narkevičius – The Unanimous Life is the result of a collaboration between the Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid, the Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, the Kunsthalle Bern, The Hessel Museum at Bard College, New York, and the National Gallery of Art in Vilnius. The exhibition was curated by Chus Martinez and adapted for Bern by Philippe Pirotte.
A comprehensive book publication sheds further light on Deimantas Narkevičius' remarkable films and contains texts by Manuel J. Borja-Villel, Philippe Pirotte, Chus Martinez, Christa Blümlinger, Boris Buden, Gerald Raunig and Dieter Roelstraete.
Helke Bayrle
From Daniel Birnbaum's introduction:
"For many years now, Helke Bayrle - a film maker based in Frankfurt am Main - has documented the activities of the Portikus. The result is a unique collection of artist portraits. Here we present the last decade. This is backstage material, the kind of things that the viewer of the finished exhibitions never sees. Some of the artists really like talking about what they do and about the significance of what they present, others prefer to simply work with the installation team and the curator. Helke Bayrle's unique material is very large and represents an important archive of contemporary exhibition making. These 3 discs present an edited version of the artist portraits. They give us a glimpse of each artist's work at the Portikus, and at the same time they offer a unique behind the scenes view of the activities at one of Europe's most lively experimental art institutions. Each chapter offers a version of the Portikus under construction.
The Portikus is an exhibitions space that is associated with the Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main. A production site rather than a traditional gallery, it is an institution willing to redefine its basic parameters with every new project. Since the late 1980s, some 160 exhibitions and innumerable other events have been staged there, and with each project the space has changed. Sometimes it is a factory, sometimes a kitchen or a stage for gatherings and performances. Sometimes it is a classical white museum space, sometimes a cinema, a green house or a swimming pool. How can one portray an institution like this?"
Artists
Bas Jan Ader, Francis Alÿs, John Baldessari, Bonnie Camplin, Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller, Maurizio Cattelan, Paul Chan, Chung Seoyoung, Peter Cook, Ben van Berkel & The Theatre of Immanence, Michael Beutler, e-flux Video Rental, Olafur Eliasson, Michael Elmgreen & Ingar Dragset, Spencer Finch, Ceal Floyer, Yona Friedman, Gilbert & George, Felix Gmelin, Dominique Gonzales-Foerster, Renée Green, Wade Guyton, Judith Hopf, Pierre Huyghe, Inventory, Henrik Plenge Jakobsen, Gareth James, Friedrich Jürenson, Sejla Kameric, John Kelsey, Scott King, Michael Krebber, Koo Jeong-a, Louise Lawler, Mark Leckey, Pamela M. Lee, Gordon Matta-Clark, Cildo Meireles, Rivane Neuenschwander, Henrik Olesen, Paulina Olowska, Yoko Ono, Philippe Parreno, Dan Perjovschi, Kirsten Pieroth, Paola Pivi, Marjetica Portrc, The Rausch Collection, Tobias Rehberger, Jason Rhoades, Matthew Ritchie, Martha Rosler, Tomas Saraceno, Sean Snyder, Frances Stark, Simon Starling, Josef Strau, Pascale Marthine Tayou, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Salla Tykkä, Donald Urquhart, Carl Michael von Hausswolff, Haegue Yang, Akram Zaatari
"For many years now, Helke Bayrle - a film maker based in Frankfurt am Main - has documented the activities of the Portikus. The result is a unique collection of artist portraits. Here we present the last decade. This is backstage material, the kind of things that the viewer of the finished exhibitions never sees. Some of the artists really like talking about what they do and about the significance of what they present, others prefer to simply work with the installation team and the curator. Helke Bayrle's unique material is very large and represents an important archive of contemporary exhibition making. These 3 discs present an edited version of the artist portraits. They give us a glimpse of each artist's work at the Portikus, and at the same time they offer a unique behind the scenes view of the activities at one of Europe's most lively experimental art institutions. Each chapter offers a version of the Portikus under construction.
The Portikus is an exhibitions space that is associated with the Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main. A production site rather than a traditional gallery, it is an institution willing to redefine its basic parameters with every new project. Since the late 1980s, some 160 exhibitions and innumerable other events have been staged there, and with each project the space has changed. Sometimes it is a factory, sometimes a kitchen or a stage for gatherings and performances. Sometimes it is a classical white museum space, sometimes a cinema, a green house or a swimming pool. How can one portray an institution like this?"
Artists
Bas Jan Ader, Francis Alÿs, John Baldessari, Bonnie Camplin, Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller, Maurizio Cattelan, Paul Chan, Chung Seoyoung, Peter Cook, Ben van Berkel & The Theatre of Immanence, Michael Beutler, e-flux Video Rental, Olafur Eliasson, Michael Elmgreen & Ingar Dragset, Spencer Finch, Ceal Floyer, Yona Friedman, Gilbert & George, Felix Gmelin, Dominique Gonzales-Foerster, Renée Green, Wade Guyton, Judith Hopf, Pierre Huyghe, Inventory, Henrik Plenge Jakobsen, Gareth James, Friedrich Jürenson, Sejla Kameric, John Kelsey, Scott King, Michael Krebber, Koo Jeong-a, Louise Lawler, Mark Leckey, Pamela M. Lee, Gordon Matta-Clark, Cildo Meireles, Rivane Neuenschwander, Henrik Olesen, Paulina Olowska, Yoko Ono, Philippe Parreno, Dan Perjovschi, Kirsten Pieroth, Paola Pivi, Marjetica Portrc, The Rausch Collection, Tobias Rehberger, Jason Rhoades, Matthew Ritchie, Martha Rosler, Tomas Saraceno, Sean Snyder, Frances Stark, Simon Starling, Josef Strau, Pascale Marthine Tayou, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Salla Tykkä, Donald Urquhart, Carl Michael von Hausswolff, Haegue Yang, Akram Zaatari
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon: A Terrible Beauty is curated by Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane to celebrate Bacon's centenary and the immense archive of Francis Bacon's studio material. This is The Hugh Lane's first major showing of the archival material since receiving the Studio in 1998.
We are delighted to exhibit this extraordinary resource alongside selected paintings dating from 1944 to 1989, many of which have been rarely exhibited.
We open the exhibition on the 28th October 2009, exactly 100 years since his birth at 63 Lower Baggot Street, Dublin.
Francis Bacon's Studio was originally located in 7 Reece Mews, London. The donation of the Studio to Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane was made by Bacon's heir, John Edwards and supported by Brian Clarke, executor of the artist's Estate. The Hugh Lane team archaeologically retrieved over 7000 items from the studio and catalogued them before removing the material along with the architectural features to Dublin.
The Studio was reconstructed in the Gallery and opened to the public in 2001. The removal and relocation of Bacon's Studio and the subsequent compilation of the database of the archival material is acknowledged as one of the most pioneering and successful realisations of preserving and displaying an artist's studio.
The focus of Francis Bacon: A Terrible Beauty is on new material from the archive exhibited for the first time. This material illuminates the methods and motives behind the work of one of the principal artists of the 20th century and offers us a new understanding of Bacon's work and artistic practice.
The archive provides a lexicon for the interpretation of Francis Bacon's paintings and no future scholarship is valid without consulting this great resource. Francis Bacon: A Terrible Beauty provides a unique opportunity to reappraise the artist's oeuvre through the selected paintings supported by previously unseen material from the archive.
A full colour illustrated catalogue published by Steidl accompanies this exhibition with texts by Rebecca Daniels, Barbara Dawson, Marcel Finke, Martin Harrison, Jessica O'Donnell, Joanna Shepard and Logan Sisley.
We are delighted to exhibit this extraordinary resource alongside selected paintings dating from 1944 to 1989, many of which have been rarely exhibited.
We open the exhibition on the 28th October 2009, exactly 100 years since his birth at 63 Lower Baggot Street, Dublin.
Francis Bacon's Studio was originally located in 7 Reece Mews, London. The donation of the Studio to Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane was made by Bacon's heir, John Edwards and supported by Brian Clarke, executor of the artist's Estate. The Hugh Lane team archaeologically retrieved over 7000 items from the studio and catalogued them before removing the material along with the architectural features to Dublin.
The Studio was reconstructed in the Gallery and opened to the public in 2001. The removal and relocation of Bacon's Studio and the subsequent compilation of the database of the archival material is acknowledged as one of the most pioneering and successful realisations of preserving and displaying an artist's studio.
The focus of Francis Bacon: A Terrible Beauty is on new material from the archive exhibited for the first time. This material illuminates the methods and motives behind the work of one of the principal artists of the 20th century and offers us a new understanding of Bacon's work and artistic practice.
The archive provides a lexicon for the interpretation of Francis Bacon's paintings and no future scholarship is valid without consulting this great resource. Francis Bacon: A Terrible Beauty provides a unique opportunity to reappraise the artist's oeuvre through the selected paintings supported by previously unseen material from the archive.
A full colour illustrated catalogue published by Steidl accompanies this exhibition with texts by Rebecca Daniels, Barbara Dawson, Marcel Finke, Martin Harrison, Jessica O'Donnell, Joanna Shepard and Logan Sisley.
Frankfurter Kunstverein : NOTIONS OF THE ARTIST
PARTICIPATING ARTISTS: Marc Aschenbrenner, Wim Delvoye, Stephan Dillemuth, Michael Franz, Paule Hammer, Manuela Kasemir, Andreas Wegner.
The exhibition "Notions of the Artist" at the Frankfurter Kunstverein explores the social roles that artists play in the minds of the public. Seven contemporary artistic positions bring to light socio-cultural expectations with which artists are confronted. The "artist" can be understood as an object of projection. Whether he is regarded as a freethinker or an eccentric, as a genius or sceptic, as a teacher or mediator, as an inventor, entertainer, pop star, or as an entrepreneur depends on each particular context and cultural milieu. Nevertheless, these varying notions of what such a role can contain have one common denominator, which is that artists and their activities enjoy a unique status. Their exploits are considered to be manifestations of freedom of the subject through which society can assess its capacity for tolerance and self-critique. Simultaneously, there is a long artistic tradition in which social actions become direct material of artistic production.
"Notions of the Artist" displays diverse approaches of the way art and being an artist is thought to be. These perceptions can be addressed through ideas pertaining to the challenging of authorship, to self-exposure, self-questioning or appropriation. The exhibition presents works by Marc Aschenbrenner, Wim Delvoye, Stephan Dillemuth, Michael Franz, Paule Hammer, Manuela Kasemir and Andreas Wegner, which can all be read in the context of role awareness. They investigate the understanding of the artist in a critical or ironic manner, while further questioning its social framework.
The exhibition "Notions of the Artist" at the Frankfurter Kunstverein explores the social roles that artists play in the minds of the public. Seven contemporary artistic positions bring to light socio-cultural expectations with which artists are confronted. The "artist" can be understood as an object of projection. Whether he is regarded as a freethinker or an eccentric, as a genius or sceptic, as a teacher or mediator, as an inventor, entertainer, pop star, or as an entrepreneur depends on each particular context and cultural milieu. Nevertheless, these varying notions of what such a role can contain have one common denominator, which is that artists and their activities enjoy a unique status. Their exploits are considered to be manifestations of freedom of the subject through which society can assess its capacity for tolerance and self-critique. Simultaneously, there is a long artistic tradition in which social actions become direct material of artistic production.
"Notions of the Artist" displays diverse approaches of the way art and being an artist is thought to be. These perceptions can be addressed through ideas pertaining to the challenging of authorship, to self-exposure, self-questioning or appropriation. The exhibition presents works by Marc Aschenbrenner, Wim Delvoye, Stephan Dillemuth, Michael Franz, Paule Hammer, Manuela Kasemir and Andreas Wegner, which can all be read in the context of role awareness. They investigate the understanding of the artist in a critical or ironic manner, while further questioning its social framework.
Attila Csorgo
Attila Csörgő is among one of the best-known Hungarian artists who has featured at prominent international exhibitions. In 1999 he represented Hungary at the Venice Biennale, in 2001 he was awarded the Munkácsy Prize, in 2003 he participated at the Istanbul Biennial and the Biennale of Sydney in 2008. The same year his work Moebius Space earned the Nam June Paik Award, one of the most important European recognitions in media art.
In his works Attila Csörgő explores the relationship between a plane and space. He often immerses himself for months in intricate problems of mathematics, physics or projective geometry, creating works that demonstrate possible solutions to these problems. At other times, he constructs special cameras to capture reality on pictures never seen before. He is engaged in optical illusions generated by the interaction of light and movement, in those surprising and unexpected physical phenomena that shatter the viewer's belief in apparently evident physical laws. Through different simulacra of objects or forms, the virtual products of his unusual devices, allows a glance into an underlying reality that normally goes unnoticed, due to the routine ways of our superficial everyday perception. Precise calculation and the certainty of engineering are combined in mechanical constructions pieced together from simple materials and in his mobile structures the thrill of discovery and a sense of uncertainty arise from the limitations of human perception. His poetical works with often playful and facile solutions reveal a humorous as well as a philosophical mindset. The partial technical solutions and the finish of his artworks are consciously and deliberately incidental. He does not attempt to aestheticize his mechanical constructions. By reducing the process of execution to a functional minimum, he manages to direct the viewers' attention to the essential elements of the geometrical concept or the physical phenomenon represented by the operating mechanism. The three-dimensional animation based on unbelievably intricate and complex calculations, which is generated in front of our eyes from within an apparent yet all the more purposeful chaos of sticks, strings, pulleys, and weights, would doubtlessly be easier to model on a computer. Something, however, would then inevitably vanish from it: the purified immediacy of thought and invention.
Arranging the works around three core themes: Distorted Spaces, Peeled Spaces, Time-Images and Time-Sculptures, the exhibition provides a comprehensive overview of Attila Csörgő's unbroken and consistent career, starting from the early 1990s. The exhibition is the first station of an international exhibition series, with its next venues being at our collaborating partner institutions, the Mudam, Luxembourg in 2010 and the Hamburger Kunsthalle – Galerie der Gegenwart in 2011.
In his works Attila Csörgő explores the relationship between a plane and space. He often immerses himself for months in intricate problems of mathematics, physics or projective geometry, creating works that demonstrate possible solutions to these problems. At other times, he constructs special cameras to capture reality on pictures never seen before. He is engaged in optical illusions generated by the interaction of light and movement, in those surprising and unexpected physical phenomena that shatter the viewer's belief in apparently evident physical laws. Through different simulacra of objects or forms, the virtual products of his unusual devices, allows a glance into an underlying reality that normally goes unnoticed, due to the routine ways of our superficial everyday perception. Precise calculation and the certainty of engineering are combined in mechanical constructions pieced together from simple materials and in his mobile structures the thrill of discovery and a sense of uncertainty arise from the limitations of human perception. His poetical works with often playful and facile solutions reveal a humorous as well as a philosophical mindset. The partial technical solutions and the finish of his artworks are consciously and deliberately incidental. He does not attempt to aestheticize his mechanical constructions. By reducing the process of execution to a functional minimum, he manages to direct the viewers' attention to the essential elements of the geometrical concept or the physical phenomenon represented by the operating mechanism. The three-dimensional animation based on unbelievably intricate and complex calculations, which is generated in front of our eyes from within an apparent yet all the more purposeful chaos of sticks, strings, pulleys, and weights, would doubtlessly be easier to model on a computer. Something, however, would then inevitably vanish from it: the purified immediacy of thought and invention.
Arranging the works around three core themes: Distorted Spaces, Peeled Spaces, Time-Images and Time-Sculptures, the exhibition provides a comprehensive overview of Attila Csörgő's unbroken and consistent career, starting from the early 1990s. The exhibition is the first station of an international exhibition series, with its next venues being at our collaborating partner institutions, the Mudam, Luxembourg in 2010 and the Hamburger Kunsthalle – Galerie der Gegenwart in 2011.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
CREATIVE TIME NY
Kendell Geers
The Museo di Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto (http://www.mart.trento.it) will be presenting the "Irrespektiv" exhibition by Kendell Geers, born in South Africa and from his early days committed to profound and personal reflection on the theme of racial segregation.
Curated by Jérôme Sans, "Irrespektiv" is a European co-production that brings together museums and art institutions from Belgium, the United Kingdom, France and Italy. The title, a parody of the term "retrospective", immediately expresses the tone of the exhibition and suggests its political and provocative stance. Geers was in the front line of the struggle against the folly of apartheid, and even modified his date of birth to make it coincide with May 1968, in reference to the May in France that gives meaning to the artist's political commitment.
With his works, Kendell Geers explores the geographic, linguistic, political, sexual and psychological limits and borders of man.
The artist claims there is a need to take a stance with respect to the world in which we live. From this critical viewpoint emerges a committed art that totally involves the artist at a personal level and draws the public into the work itself, making it in every way an element of the artistic creation. The reactions and emotions themselves of the visitor, his sense of astonishment, attraction or rejection, are an integral part of Kendell Geers's works.
At the Mart, the visitor will be able experience all this for himself starting with the work introducing the exhibition, The "POSTPUNKPAGANPOP" installation (2008) consists of a labyrinth surrounded by a special barbed wire invented by the South African police. One is not limited to "admiring" the work; one has to interact with it: the visitor has to choose which way to go. The "labyrinth" has two different exits: one leads to the rest of the exhibition; the other leads out, towards the reassuring context of the Mart's permanent collection.
In this as in other installations, the hell of South African apartheid surfaces in obsessive manner, but Kendell Geers does not seek to recount or explain so much as to involve the visitor and make him experience his own existential condition. Geers's criticism of the apartheid system is implacable for the very reason that it is expressed by someone who experienced it personally: the artist pours into his work all the paranoia, ambiguity, violence and hypocrisy typical of the white suburban lower middle class in South Africa during those years. At the same time, these works offer not just a provocation but also an important element of irony and detachment, because the artist does not aim to impose his own personal opinions, but invites the observer to reflect on the choices he makes.
After having been presented in Belgium (Kendell Geers lives and works in Brussels) with two complementary projects at the SMAK in Ghent and the BPS 22 in Charleroi, in the United Kingdom at the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art of Newcastle and at the Musée d'art contemporain in Lyons, the exhibition concludes in Italy at the Mart, Museo di Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Trento.
The catalogue, published by Bom Publisher of Barcelona, includes texts by Christine Macel, Paolo Herkenhoff, Rudi Laermans and Liveven de Caute.
Curated by Jérôme Sans, "Irrespektiv" is a European co-production that brings together museums and art institutions from Belgium, the United Kingdom, France and Italy. The title, a parody of the term "retrospective", immediately expresses the tone of the exhibition and suggests its political and provocative stance. Geers was in the front line of the struggle against the folly of apartheid, and even modified his date of birth to make it coincide with May 1968, in reference to the May in France that gives meaning to the artist's political commitment.
With his works, Kendell Geers explores the geographic, linguistic, political, sexual and psychological limits and borders of man.
The artist claims there is a need to take a stance with respect to the world in which we live. From this critical viewpoint emerges a committed art that totally involves the artist at a personal level and draws the public into the work itself, making it in every way an element of the artistic creation. The reactions and emotions themselves of the visitor, his sense of astonishment, attraction or rejection, are an integral part of Kendell Geers's works.
At the Mart, the visitor will be able experience all this for himself starting with the work introducing the exhibition, The "POSTPUNKPAGANPOP" installation (2008) consists of a labyrinth surrounded by a special barbed wire invented by the South African police. One is not limited to "admiring" the work; one has to interact with it: the visitor has to choose which way to go. The "labyrinth" has two different exits: one leads to the rest of the exhibition; the other leads out, towards the reassuring context of the Mart's permanent collection.
In this as in other installations, the hell of South African apartheid surfaces in obsessive manner, but Kendell Geers does not seek to recount or explain so much as to involve the visitor and make him experience his own existential condition. Geers's criticism of the apartheid system is implacable for the very reason that it is expressed by someone who experienced it personally: the artist pours into his work all the paranoia, ambiguity, violence and hypocrisy typical of the white suburban lower middle class in South Africa during those years. At the same time, these works offer not just a provocation but also an important element of irony and detachment, because the artist does not aim to impose his own personal opinions, but invites the observer to reflect on the choices he makes.
After having been presented in Belgium (Kendell Geers lives and works in Brussels) with two complementary projects at the SMAK in Ghent and the BPS 22 in Charleroi, in the United Kingdom at the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art of Newcastle and at the Musée d'art contemporain in Lyons, the exhibition concludes in Italy at the Mart, Museo di Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Trento.
The catalogue, published by Bom Publisher of Barcelona, includes texts by Christine Macel, Paolo Herkenhoff, Rudi Laermans and Liveven de Caute.
50 States, 50 Months, 50 Exhibitions
Americana: 50 States, 50 Months, 50 Exhibitions is a long-term presentation consisting of 50 displays, each approximately one month long, coorganized by Wattis Institute director Jens Hoffmann and CCA's Graduate Program in Curatorial Practice. Each month's display focuses on a particular American state, in alphabetical order by state name.
Through artworks, historical artifacts, curiosities, and other elements, Americana examines overlooked and little-known aspects of each state. The brisk pace of the 50 displays reflects the varied and constantly changing fabric of this relatively young country and its multilayered, shifting national identity. All of the presentations take place in the same exhibition space, a vitrine configured in the shape of the United States.
Americana also looks at how social and political imperatives condition the production, presentation, and interpretation of art and exhibition making. The title is a reference to an exhibition of the same name that was curated by the artist collaborative Group Material at the 1985 biennial of the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Group Material also focused on art and elements of mass culture that they understood as overlooked, forgotten, and outside the mainstream in order to investigate critically how museums and exhibitions assist in the formation of American identity.
Upcoming Americana exhibitions:
Massachusetts September 1 - 19
Michigan September 22 - October 10
Minnesota October 13 - 31
Mississippi November 3 - 21
Missouri November 24 - December 5
Montana December 8 - January 16
Nebraska January 19 - February 6
Nevada February 9 - 27
New Hampshire March 2 - 20
New Jersey March 23 - April 10
New Mexico April 13 - 24
New York April 27 - May 15
About the CCA Wattis Institute
The Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts was established in 1998 in San Francisco at California College of the Arts. It serves as a forum for the presentation and discussion of international contemporary art and curatorial practice. Through groundbreaking exhibitions, the Capp Street Project residency program, lectures, symposia, and publications, the Wattis Institute has become one of the leading art institutions in the United States and an active site for contemporary culture in the Bay Area.
Through artworks, historical artifacts, curiosities, and other elements, Americana examines overlooked and little-known aspects of each state. The brisk pace of the 50 displays reflects the varied and constantly changing fabric of this relatively young country and its multilayered, shifting national identity. All of the presentations take place in the same exhibition space, a vitrine configured in the shape of the United States.
Americana also looks at how social and political imperatives condition the production, presentation, and interpretation of art and exhibition making. The title is a reference to an exhibition of the same name that was curated by the artist collaborative Group Material at the 1985 biennial of the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Group Material also focused on art and elements of mass culture that they understood as overlooked, forgotten, and outside the mainstream in order to investigate critically how museums and exhibitions assist in the formation of American identity.
Upcoming Americana exhibitions:
Massachusetts September 1 - 19
Michigan September 22 - October 10
Minnesota October 13 - 31
Mississippi November 3 - 21
Missouri November 24 - December 5
Montana December 8 - January 16
Nebraska January 19 - February 6
Nevada February 9 - 27
New Hampshire March 2 - 20
New Jersey March 23 - April 10
New Mexico April 13 - 24
New York April 27 - May 15
About the CCA Wattis Institute
The Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts was established in 1998 in San Francisco at California College of the Arts. It serves as a forum for the presentation and discussion of international contemporary art and curatorial practice. Through groundbreaking exhibitions, the Capp Street Project residency program, lectures, symposia, and publications, the Wattis Institute has become one of the leading art institutions in the United States and an active site for contemporary culture in the Bay Area.
Daniel Buren
The French-born international artist Daniel Buren is considered one of the fiercest critics of contemporary art. It is particularly towards the museum, its circumstances and conditions, that he likes to turn his critical attention. For the "museum is the place, with regard to which and for which works are created."
For well over forty years Buren has applied his mischievous intuition to develop works that directly play on their surroundings. Thus, in institutions such as the Guggenheim Museum in New York or, most recently, in the Musée Picasso in Paris, he has created breathtaking installations in dialogue with their specific contexts, thereby opening these up to new perspectives. But he has frequently performed his artistic interventions in outdoor locations too, where he typically applies 8.7 cm wide stripes – his characteristic artistic trademark – to give heightened visibility to certain aspects of reality.
In Nuremberg Daniel Buren encounters the striking architecture of Volker Staab, whose symbiosis of different architectural traditions represents a milestone in the history of modern museum architecture. In the exhibition "MODULATION Works in situ" conceived exclusively for the Neues Museum, Daniel Buren explores certain distinctive elements of the museum's design. Making specific reference to the façade, to the foyer and its staircase, and to the exhibition hall, Buren has evolved works of his own that combine light and movement to create singular and exceptional situations.
Curators: Melitta Kliege, Angelika Nollert, Neues Museum
A catalogue will be published.
For well over forty years Buren has applied his mischievous intuition to develop works that directly play on their surroundings. Thus, in institutions such as the Guggenheim Museum in New York or, most recently, in the Musée Picasso in Paris, he has created breathtaking installations in dialogue with their specific contexts, thereby opening these up to new perspectives. But he has frequently performed his artistic interventions in outdoor locations too, where he typically applies 8.7 cm wide stripes – his characteristic artistic trademark – to give heightened visibility to certain aspects of reality.
In Nuremberg Daniel Buren encounters the striking architecture of Volker Staab, whose symbiosis of different architectural traditions represents a milestone in the history of modern museum architecture. In the exhibition "MODULATION Works in situ" conceived exclusively for the Neues Museum, Daniel Buren explores certain distinctive elements of the museum's design. Making specific reference to the façade, to the foyer and its staircase, and to the exhibition hall, Buren has evolved works of his own that combine light and movement to create singular and exceptional situations.
Curators: Melitta Kliege, Angelika Nollert, Neues Museum
A catalogue will be published.
International Festival for Arts and Media Yokohama 2009
During the 150th anniversary year of the Yokohama port opening, the city is hosting the International Festival for Arts and Media Yokohama 2009 as part of the Creative City Yokohama initiative. The festival embraces a variety of different fields, including, but not limited to, contemporary art, media art, computer graphics, animation, film and photography. This event is not restricted to the confines of an art or film festival, but aims at becoming a new breed of festival that will push the boundaries of media and art as we know them. Approximately fifty artists in and out of Japan will participate in the festival. Works related to moving images from a wide range of genres will be presented together in Yokohama. As an unprecedented festival of media and art culture, it will be a space not only for the artists to share their work, but also for the public to take an active role and participate in a variety of projects and conversations. In our aim to question and explore the role and direction of imagery expression in today's society, we hope the works and opportunities presented at this festival will spark forward-thinking discussion and investigation into the related themes.
■Participating Artists 87 artists / groups from 16 countries
Chantal Akerman / ART LAB OVA / CHANNEL CREAM / Chris Chon Chan Fui / Fujihata Masaki / Graffiti Research Lab / Hachiya Kazuhiko / Duane Hopkins / Izumi Taro / Alfredo Jaar / Jung Yeondoo / Lim Minouk / Christian Marclay / Aernout Mik / Nomura Makoto & Nomura Yukihiro / Nakazawa Hideki / Eko Nugroho / Paulien Oltheten / Steven Pippin / Walid Raad / remo / Sato Masahiko / Shiga Lieko / SHIMURABROS. / Michael Snow / Sun Xun / Fiona Tan / Urban meme project / Pablo Valbuena / Edwin van der Heide / Wang Jian Wei / Apichatpong Weerasethakul / Yamakawa Fuyuki / Yangachi / Yasuno Taro / Artur Żmijewski
■Screening Artists
Sherif El Azma / Arai Chie / Chen Yongwei / Cheng Ran / Ian Clark / Dong Dayuan / Gim Hongsok / Ann Guest/ Max Hattler / Hamaguchi Ryusuke / Hua Peng / Ichinose Hiroco / keda Chihiro / Iwai Chikara / Jin Shan / Jun Sojung / Jung Yumi / Kim Hee-chul / Kurosaka Keita / Let Me Feel Your Finger First / Li Ming / Makino Jun / Mariko Atsushi / Matsumura Hiroyuki / Abby Manock / Steve McQueen / Katy Merrington / Mizue Mirai / Nakata Ayaka / Oi Fumio / Okamoto Masanori / Okuda Masaki / Ookawara Ryo / Orikasa Ryo / Oyama Kei / Park Chan-kyong / Pipilotti Rist / Sato Fumiro / Tim Shore & Gary Thomas in collaboration with Anaïs Bouts / Shin Jiho / Shinkai Taketo / Shiroki Saori / Tominaga Masanori / Uekusa Wataru / Wada Atsushi / Chirstinn Whyte and Jake Messenger / Dawn Woolley / Wu Junyong / Ye Linhan / Yokota Masashi / Yoo Eunju
■Participating Artists 87 artists / groups from 16 countries
Chantal Akerman / ART LAB OVA / CHANNEL CREAM / Chris Chon Chan Fui / Fujihata Masaki / Graffiti Research Lab / Hachiya Kazuhiko / Duane Hopkins / Izumi Taro / Alfredo Jaar / Jung Yeondoo / Lim Minouk / Christian Marclay / Aernout Mik / Nomura Makoto & Nomura Yukihiro / Nakazawa Hideki / Eko Nugroho / Paulien Oltheten / Steven Pippin / Walid Raad / remo / Sato Masahiko / Shiga Lieko / SHIMURABROS. / Michael Snow / Sun Xun / Fiona Tan / Urban meme project / Pablo Valbuena / Edwin van der Heide / Wang Jian Wei / Apichatpong Weerasethakul / Yamakawa Fuyuki / Yangachi / Yasuno Taro / Artur Żmijewski
■Screening Artists
Sherif El Azma / Arai Chie / Chen Yongwei / Cheng Ran / Ian Clark / Dong Dayuan / Gim Hongsok / Ann Guest/ Max Hattler / Hamaguchi Ryusuke / Hua Peng / Ichinose Hiroco / keda Chihiro / Iwai Chikara / Jin Shan / Jun Sojung / Jung Yumi / Kim Hee-chul / Kurosaka Keita / Let Me Feel Your Finger First / Li Ming / Makino Jun / Mariko Atsushi / Matsumura Hiroyuki / Abby Manock / Steve McQueen / Katy Merrington / Mizue Mirai / Nakata Ayaka / Oi Fumio / Okamoto Masanori / Okuda Masaki / Ookawara Ryo / Orikasa Ryo / Oyama Kei / Park Chan-kyong / Pipilotti Rist / Sato Fumiro / Tim Shore & Gary Thomas in collaboration with Anaïs Bouts / Shin Jiho / Shinkai Taketo / Shiroki Saori / Tominaga Masanori / Uekusa Wataru / Wada Atsushi / Chirstinn Whyte and Jake Messenger / Dawn Woolley / Wu Junyong / Ye Linhan / Yokota Masashi / Yoo Eunju
Deimantas Narkevicius
The first solo London exhibition of celebrated Lithuanian artist Deimantas Narkevičius brings togetherInto the Unknown, a new BFI commission based on the BFI National Archive’s ETV Collection of socialist propaganda films, and the award-winning The Dud Effect, 2008.
Better known for his exploration of different narrative structures through film and video Narkevičius’ films examine the perception of historical memory, which can be modified by ideologies and utopias, revealing how memory is subjective and the moving image can deceive. To coincide with the 20 years anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall, we have commissioned Narkevičius to create a new work based on the ETV Collection of propaganda films, the largest of its kind surviving in Western Europe.
Throughout last year the artist has explored the Collection, concentrating particularly on documentary films from East and Central Europe in order to create Into the Unknown, a film edited out of existing, politically motivated found footage originally made to promote the socialist way of living. The material selected depict every day life of East Berliners documented during the GDR (German Democratic Republic) period, the new work exposing the individuals’ place into strict social systems. By re-editing different clips of existing films and mixing up sound, the artist’s intention was to bring back a certain existential weight to the cinematic representations of socialist archetypical figures. Old workers, young pupils, concerned doctors and nurses are just fragile human beings, vulnerable to the flow of time. The same flow of time which made the political system they were living in fade away two decades ago. Some of the people documented in the footage are still alive and yet the social visual canon they are representing today only exists in the films produced by the DEFA (the GDR Film Corporation). Into the Unknown allows us to reflect on an ephemeral style of image making which is gone and whether this applies only to the system of state socialism.
Into the Unknown is presented alongside the UK premiere of the award-winning The Dud Effect. This work is set on a deserted former Soviet missile base in Lithuania, where during the Cold War category R12 nuclear missiles were stationed aiming at the West. The film combines archive photo material with new shoots of the now semi-decrepit missile base and its enormous underground catacombs. The protagonist is Evgeny Terentiev, a former officer who served at a military base in Lithuania, like the one shown in the film. In the work he demonstrates the firing of an R12 nuclear missile, following the exact sequence of commands as he recalls it; this, together with the detailed exploration of the site’s landscape and the remains of the missile base, allows the artist to show the psychological perception and consternation at the extent of the destruction that could have been possible.
Gallery is open Tuesday to Sunday (and Bank Holiday Mondays) from 11:00-20:00
Into the Unknown is a commission by the BFI and Hartware MedienKunstVerein, Dortmund with support from Kunststiftung NRW.
The exhibition is supported by The Henry Moore Foundation and by Arts Council England.
Better known for his exploration of different narrative structures through film and video Narkevičius’ films examine the perception of historical memory, which can be modified by ideologies and utopias, revealing how memory is subjective and the moving image can deceive. To coincide with the 20 years anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall, we have commissioned Narkevičius to create a new work based on the ETV Collection of propaganda films, the largest of its kind surviving in Western Europe.
Throughout last year the artist has explored the Collection, concentrating particularly on documentary films from East and Central Europe in order to create Into the Unknown, a film edited out of existing, politically motivated found footage originally made to promote the socialist way of living. The material selected depict every day life of East Berliners documented during the GDR (German Democratic Republic) period, the new work exposing the individuals’ place into strict social systems. By re-editing different clips of existing films and mixing up sound, the artist’s intention was to bring back a certain existential weight to the cinematic representations of socialist archetypical figures. Old workers, young pupils, concerned doctors and nurses are just fragile human beings, vulnerable to the flow of time. The same flow of time which made the political system they were living in fade away two decades ago. Some of the people documented in the footage are still alive and yet the social visual canon they are representing today only exists in the films produced by the DEFA (the GDR Film Corporation). Into the Unknown allows us to reflect on an ephemeral style of image making which is gone and whether this applies only to the system of state socialism.
Into the Unknown is presented alongside the UK premiere of the award-winning The Dud Effect. This work is set on a deserted former Soviet missile base in Lithuania, where during the Cold War category R12 nuclear missiles were stationed aiming at the West. The film combines archive photo material with new shoots of the now semi-decrepit missile base and its enormous underground catacombs. The protagonist is Evgeny Terentiev, a former officer who served at a military base in Lithuania, like the one shown in the film. In the work he demonstrates the firing of an R12 nuclear missile, following the exact sequence of commands as he recalls it; this, together with the detailed exploration of the site’s landscape and the remains of the missile base, allows the artist to show the psychological perception and consternation at the extent of the destruction that could have been possible.
Gallery is open Tuesday to Sunday (and Bank Holiday Mondays) from 11:00-20:00
Into the Unknown is a commission by the BFI and Hartware MedienKunstVerein, Dortmund with support from Kunststiftung NRW.
The exhibition is supported by The Henry Moore Foundation and by Arts Council England.
PULSE Miami 2009 Held at The Ice Palace
PULSE Contemporary Art Fair will move to Miami's Ice Palace this December with an enhanced and expanded presentation of international galleries and programming. PULSE enters its fifth season with a continued commitment to presenting high-caliber contemporary art from an internationally-diverse roster of exhibitors. The new venue provides PULSE with an expanded platform for their special programming series, including the Miami launch of an ambitious performance program featuring daily outdoor concerts. Held from Thursday, December 3 through Sunday, December 6, 2009, the fair will run concurrently with Art Basel Miami Beach.
"This edition marks an important moment for PULSE. We are excited to be moving to The Ice Palace, which is to become our home for several years, and where we can build on our tradition of quality presentations and programming," says Helen Allen, Executive Director of PULSE. "Our success in past years has secured our stature in the art world, and has also raised the expectations of our exhibitors and collectors alike. This year will further illustrate our commitment to expanding PULSE as a forum for collecting and experiencing contemporary art and artistic practices in all its forms."
PULSE Miami will feature 85 exhibitors in its main section, with an additional 12 galleries in its IMPULSE section, including a large number of returning exhibitors, many of which have exhibited with PULSE in both Miami and New York. According to Stefan Roepke, "PULSE is the only fair I have been working with in the past few years in these two cities. I respect their professionalism and consider it the hallmark of a great fair, beloved by its participants and the public." Among the other returning galleries are Galeria Senda from Barcelona; Max Protetch, Postmasters, and Winkleman Gallery, from New York;Nina Menocal from Mexico City; Galerie Anita Beckers from Frankfurt; Conrads from Düsseldorf;Fred from London; Rena Bransten Gallery from San Francisco; Conner Contemporary from Washington, D.C; and Angles Gallery from Santa Monica.
PULSE will also welcome 27 newcomers, including La Industria from San Juan, Puerto Rico; M+Bfrom Los Angeles; Hosfelt Gallery from San Francisco; Maior from Mallorca; Nieves Fernándezfrom Madrid; Open Gallery from London; and Lyle O. Reitzel from Miami and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
Each year, one artist featured in IMPULSE, the section of the fair dedicated to solo artist presentations, is awarded a 2,500 USD cash prize. This year's PULSE Prize will be awarded in honor of Adriaan van der Have, Founder and Director of Torch Gallery who passed away last spring, and who was an inspiring force in the art world for his dedication to the promotion of emerging artists. The winner will be announced Friday, December 4, 2009 during the PULSE party.
The fair will also feature an array of expanded special programs, enhanced by the Miami debut of PULSE Performance. The series will feature daily performances and concerts by young emerging artists such as Maria Jose Arjona who recently collaborated with Marina Abramovic, and whose daily performances will be among the highlights of the new programming. Notable musical talents, including The Vivian Girls, The Blow, and Exene Cervenka, constitute some of the other PULSE Performance highlights.
Additionally, PULSE will present its signature program of large-scale sculptures and installations, which will be displayed throughout the fair's exhibition halls and lawn, and the PULSE Play› video lounge, curated by João Ribas, Curator of Exhibitions at the MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, MA. Danny Baskin and Andy Schrock, featured in PULSE PRESENTS at ACADEMY 2009 hosted by Conner Contemporary Art, have also each been given space to present new projects at the Fair. Both are recent graduates with no commercial representation and will make their debut at PULSE Miami.
Note: PULSE New York will take place March 4 – 7, 2010 and will continue to showcase leading international galleries as well as the Fair's signature programs.
About PULSE Contemporary Art Fair:
PULSE Contemporary Art Fair is the leading US art fair dedicated solely to contemporary art. Held annually in New York and Miami, PULSE bridges the gap between main and alternative fairs and provides participating galleries with a platform to present new works to a strong and growing audience of collectors, art professionals and art lovers.
The fair is divided into two sections and is comprised of a mix of established and emerging galleries vetted by a committee of prominent international dealers. The IMPULSE section showcases galleries presenting solo exhibitions of emerging artist's work created in the past two years.
In addition, PULSE develops original cultural programming with a series of large-scale installations, its PULSE PLAY› video lounge, the PULSE PERFORMANCE event series, and the recently launched PULSE Profiles series of artists and curators talks. The PULSE Prize is awarded in New York and in Miami to one of the artists presented in the IMPULSE section.
"This edition marks an important moment for PULSE. We are excited to be moving to The Ice Palace, which is to become our home for several years, and where we can build on our tradition of quality presentations and programming," says Helen Allen, Executive Director of PULSE. "Our success in past years has secured our stature in the art world, and has also raised the expectations of our exhibitors and collectors alike. This year will further illustrate our commitment to expanding PULSE as a forum for collecting and experiencing contemporary art and artistic practices in all its forms."
PULSE Miami will feature 85 exhibitors in its main section, with an additional 12 galleries in its IMPULSE section, including a large number of returning exhibitors, many of which have exhibited with PULSE in both Miami and New York. According to Stefan Roepke, "PULSE is the only fair I have been working with in the past few years in these two cities. I respect their professionalism and consider it the hallmark of a great fair, beloved by its participants and the public." Among the other returning galleries are Galeria Senda from Barcelona; Max Protetch, Postmasters, and Winkleman Gallery, from New York;Nina Menocal from Mexico City; Galerie Anita Beckers from Frankfurt; Conrads from Düsseldorf;Fred from London; Rena Bransten Gallery from San Francisco; Conner Contemporary from Washington, D.C; and Angles Gallery from Santa Monica.
PULSE will also welcome 27 newcomers, including La Industria from San Juan, Puerto Rico; M+Bfrom Los Angeles; Hosfelt Gallery from San Francisco; Maior from Mallorca; Nieves Fernándezfrom Madrid; Open Gallery from London; and Lyle O. Reitzel from Miami and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
Each year, one artist featured in IMPULSE, the section of the fair dedicated to solo artist presentations, is awarded a 2,500 USD cash prize. This year's PULSE Prize will be awarded in honor of Adriaan van der Have, Founder and Director of Torch Gallery who passed away last spring, and who was an inspiring force in the art world for his dedication to the promotion of emerging artists. The winner will be announced Friday, December 4, 2009 during the PULSE party.
The fair will also feature an array of expanded special programs, enhanced by the Miami debut of PULSE Performance. The series will feature daily performances and concerts by young emerging artists such as Maria Jose Arjona who recently collaborated with Marina Abramovic, and whose daily performances will be among the highlights of the new programming. Notable musical talents, including The Vivian Girls, The Blow, and Exene Cervenka, constitute some of the other PULSE Performance highlights.
Additionally, PULSE will present its signature program of large-scale sculptures and installations, which will be displayed throughout the fair's exhibition halls and lawn, and the PULSE Play› video lounge, curated by João Ribas, Curator of Exhibitions at the MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, MA. Danny Baskin and Andy Schrock, featured in PULSE PRESENTS at ACADEMY 2009 hosted by Conner Contemporary Art, have also each been given space to present new projects at the Fair. Both are recent graduates with no commercial representation and will make their debut at PULSE Miami.
Note: PULSE New York will take place March 4 – 7, 2010 and will continue to showcase leading international galleries as well as the Fair's signature programs.
About PULSE Contemporary Art Fair:
PULSE Contemporary Art Fair is the leading US art fair dedicated solely to contemporary art. Held annually in New York and Miami, PULSE bridges the gap between main and alternative fairs and provides participating galleries with a platform to present new works to a strong and growing audience of collectors, art professionals and art lovers.
The fair is divided into two sections and is comprised of a mix of established and emerging galleries vetted by a committee of prominent international dealers. The IMPULSE section showcases galleries presenting solo exhibitions of emerging artist's work created in the past two years.
In addition, PULSE develops original cultural programming with a series of large-scale installations, its PULSE PLAY› video lounge, the PULSE PERFORMANCE event series, and the recently launched PULSE Profiles series of artists and curators talks. The PULSE Prize is awarded in New York and in Miami to one of the artists presented in the IMPULSE section.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
DORA GARCIA
Contrary to the idea that art is aimed at the general public, Dora García (Valladolid 1965) is interested in what attracts the attention of each individual, hence opting for radically conceptual forms, both accessible and elegant, and for projecting singularly codified messages or superimposing narratives to reality in a way that a specific relation with each of the spectators may arise.
Each of Dora García's works clearly stresses communication between artist and audience: Art represents the world no more, it becomes a producer of realities, often on the verge of fiction, encouraging the experimentation within the unidirectional sense of everyday events and analysing social patterns of behaviour.
Where do characters go when the story is over? presents seven pieces, four of which have been entirely produced for the CGAC, that never attain a definitive form. What is really offered to the spectator are different "stages" of several works, whose definitive form is unpredictable. The pieces shown here seem to "pull the leg" of museum and audience in a variety of respectful ways, where every encounter is in a process of becoming; where every event is instantly fictionalized. All of which seem to converge into presenting the here and now in an endless array of possibilities.
The exhibition starts with a sentence written on a wall in gold leaf: Una buena pregunta debe evitar a toda costa una respuesta (2002) [A good question should avoid an answer at all costs], one of the many sentences that are part of the collection of gold sentences the artist started building in 2001. These aphorisms written in gold on the wall allow the artist to ridicule prejudices, clichés and conventions. La realidad es una ilusion muy persistente (2005) [Reality is a very persistent illusion] or El futuro debe ser peligroso (2005) [The future must be dangerous], are some examples.
A good question should avoid an answer at all costs (2009) is foreseen upon the same wall to that second sentence, this time in black vinyl which estates the exhibition title and with it, the premises of the artist's project: Where do characters go when the story is over?
The exhibition title evokes the phenomenon of the work of art independence in relation to its author among other things. "I do not write my books, they write themselves" or "My work is much more intelligent than I am" are common statements by fiction authors. The characters and events of a story have a logic within that the author may only discover and obey. For instance, in the piece Steal This Book, produced for this exhibition, one of the actors who plays the part of Charles Filch, "The Beggar," sole protagonist of The Beggar's Opera (Dora García's contribution to Skulptur Projekte Münster 07) blurts to the artist: " I only think we should not give up the chance to turn it, at point 06, into something intimate, yet public, because the 'showy thing' is so much more conventional. If you really prefer it to be loud we can talk about it, but we should not do so simply because of being afraid of taking the risk of making it more unconventional. Samir."
Where do characters go when the story is over? Is therefore a framework of contradictions, games and upsets; a series of impossible proposals which induce the shifting of the spectator's behaviour. As stated by Dora García: "The work of art has no purpose in being comprehensible or revealing in any way, but rather to expose something about ourselves." Possibly the best work of art effectively is the one about to disappear and it is therefore crucial that we do not know where characters go when the story ends.
Each of Dora García's works clearly stresses communication between artist and audience: Art represents the world no more, it becomes a producer of realities, often on the verge of fiction, encouraging the experimentation within the unidirectional sense of everyday events and analysing social patterns of behaviour.
Where do characters go when the story is over? presents seven pieces, four of which have been entirely produced for the CGAC, that never attain a definitive form. What is really offered to the spectator are different "stages" of several works, whose definitive form is unpredictable. The pieces shown here seem to "pull the leg" of museum and audience in a variety of respectful ways, where every encounter is in a process of becoming; where every event is instantly fictionalized. All of which seem to converge into presenting the here and now in an endless array of possibilities.
The exhibition starts with a sentence written on a wall in gold leaf: Una buena pregunta debe evitar a toda costa una respuesta (2002) [A good question should avoid an answer at all costs], one of the many sentences that are part of the collection of gold sentences the artist started building in 2001. These aphorisms written in gold on the wall allow the artist to ridicule prejudices, clichés and conventions. La realidad es una ilusion muy persistente (2005) [Reality is a very persistent illusion] or El futuro debe ser peligroso (2005) [The future must be dangerous], are some examples.
A good question should avoid an answer at all costs (2009) is foreseen upon the same wall to that second sentence, this time in black vinyl which estates the exhibition title and with it, the premises of the artist's project: Where do characters go when the story is over?
The exhibition title evokes the phenomenon of the work of art independence in relation to its author among other things. "I do not write my books, they write themselves" or "My work is much more intelligent than I am" are common statements by fiction authors. The characters and events of a story have a logic within that the author may only discover and obey. For instance, in the piece Steal This Book, produced for this exhibition, one of the actors who plays the part of Charles Filch, "The Beggar," sole protagonist of The Beggar's Opera (Dora García's contribution to Skulptur Projekte Münster 07) blurts to the artist: " I only think we should not give up the chance to turn it, at point 06, into something intimate, yet public, because the 'showy thing' is so much more conventional. If you really prefer it to be loud we can talk about it, but we should not do so simply because of being afraid of taking the risk of making it more unconventional. Samir."
Where do characters go when the story is over? Is therefore a framework of contradictions, games and upsets; a series of impossible proposals which induce the shifting of the spectator's behaviour. As stated by Dora García: "The work of art has no purpose in being comprehensible or revealing in any way, but rather to expose something about ourselves." Possibly the best work of art effectively is the one about to disappear and it is therefore crucial that we do not know where characters go when the story ends.
ART HK 10 NOW OPEN FOR APPLICATIONS
ART HK 10 NOW OPEN FOR APPLICATIONS
'ART HK has won the battle to be the destination art fair for Asia'
The Art Newspaper
'ART HK helps define a city's global presence and ambitions'
International Herald Tribune
'Hong Kong emerged as the one to beat in Asia…ART HK, located in a city noted for its transparency and ease of conducting business, will become a dominant force in the region.'
ArtAsiaPacific
In just two years ART HK has emerged as the leading art fair in Asia, and is fast becoming a key fixture on the international art calendar. Recognized as the gateway between Asia and the West, with its position as the financial centre of Asia, and with no tax on the import and export of art, Hong Kong is unparalleled as a location for a major destination art fair in the region. As the earth continues to tip eastwards on its axis, ART HK provides a unique opportunity for Western galleries to expand into new markets, and showcases a quality and geographical diversity of art works not available anywhere else in the world.
Accompanied by an extensive Talks Program organized by Asia Art Archive and a packed VIP Program of openings and events, ART HK is a much needed platform for networking and cultural exchange between curators, artists, collectors and gallerists from Asia and the West. ART HK 10 will coincide with the major international auctions taking place in the city.
Applications from leading international galleries are already coming in for ART HK 10. Please click here to download an application form. For further details of our exciting plans for next year or to discuss participation in ART HK 10 please contact:
Magnus Renfrew
Fair Director
Tel: +852 2918 8791
Email: magnus@hongkongartfair.com
http://www.hongkongartfair.com
'ART HK has won the battle to be the destination art fair for Asia'
The Art Newspaper
'ART HK helps define a city's global presence and ambitions'
International Herald Tribune
'Hong Kong emerged as the one to beat in Asia…ART HK, located in a city noted for its transparency and ease of conducting business, will become a dominant force in the region.'
ArtAsiaPacific
In just two years ART HK has emerged as the leading art fair in Asia, and is fast becoming a key fixture on the international art calendar. Recognized as the gateway between Asia and the West, with its position as the financial centre of Asia, and with no tax on the import and export of art, Hong Kong is unparalleled as a location for a major destination art fair in the region. As the earth continues to tip eastwards on its axis, ART HK provides a unique opportunity for Western galleries to expand into new markets, and showcases a quality and geographical diversity of art works not available anywhere else in the world.
Accompanied by an extensive Talks Program organized by Asia Art Archive and a packed VIP Program of openings and events, ART HK is a much needed platform for networking and cultural exchange between curators, artists, collectors and gallerists from Asia and the West. ART HK 10 will coincide with the major international auctions taking place in the city.
Applications from leading international galleries are already coming in for ART HK 10. Please click here to download an application form. For further details of our exciting plans for next year or to discuss participation in ART HK 10 please contact:
Magnus Renfrew
Fair Director
Tel: +852 2918 8791
Email: magnus@hongkongartfair.com
http://www.hongkongartfair.com
Abigail Lazkoz
sala rekalde presents Extraordinary Machines, a one-person show by the artist Abigail Lazkoz (Bilbao 1972), who lives and works in New York. This is an installation expressly realised for the main gallery consisting of a set of monumental drawings in black and white on free standing panels and on the walls, a series of three dimensional structures that unfold within the exhibition space creating different areas, and an animated video that refers to the origin of animated cinema to emphasise the expression of drawing through movement.
Extraordinary Machines is configured as a "landscape of battle" developed in different phases. All the elements articulate a possible narrative path dealing with war and destruction, not only as references recurrent in their literalness, but also as metaphors that make evident another type of quotidian conflict. Based on an apparently simple pictorial composition, the drawings are established as basic elements that mark the formal and conceptual rhythm of the show. They invite the spectator to submerge him/herself in the symbolic wealth of their details, in the pictorial structure of the line and the starkness of the pictorial gesture, with the aim of delving, from the particularity of the references employed, into universal questions like death and the devastation. In this respect, the artist's endeavour to occupy the whole exhibition space setting out from the very materiality of drawing can be perceived. The exhibition thus functions as a kind of reordering of the basic elements that the artist has used, first in the drawings and then in the exhibition space.
In short, this is a constructive way of spreading her drawing throughout the whole of the exhibition area. The result is a reconciliation between figuration and abstraction, on whose basis the narrative structure of the drawings interweaves with the constructive forms of which they are composed. In this way, a series of almost totemic basic forms coexist with the wealth and idiosyncrasy of the narrative references of the drawn works.
The exhibition Extraordinary Machines is indebted to a previous series titled War Stories I Have Heard (2004). The series, made up of six drawings on paper, some executed subsequently on the wall and with much greater dimensions, dealt with the construction of collective memory through lived experiences. Each drawing developed a specific idea in relation to oral transmission, the construction of memory and how individual identity is built on the stories one receives. This series also used war as a narrative background and reflected on the historical conditioning factors that end up giving a concrete character to each generation.
The title of the exhibition is the refrain of a song by the American composer Fiona Apple that runs as follows: Be kind to me, or treat me mean, I'll make the most of it, I'm an extraordinary machine… With this phrase, the artist Abigail Lazkoz wishes to emphasise a certain irreducible strength and the possibility of growth on the basis of both the good and the bad. It is a phrase that offers hope in face of the reality of permanent conflict that characterises our contemporary society.
For Abigail Lazkoz the aesthetic and conceptual strength of drawing and painting resides in conceiving both languages as laboratories of the imagination. That is, she takes a position facing pictorial language that claims a certain demiurgic capacity when producing possible new forms of understanding the world that go beyond its faithful representation. This becomes evident in her drawing in the stark gesture of the black line on a white background. This simple gesture, stripped of all ornament, gives the artist absolute freedom when it comes to proposing new possibilities of expression in the face of reality.
At the same time this is a process of apprenticeship that sets out from the formal possibilities of the recourse of the black mark on white. A reference that relates drawing to the origins of writing.
Lazkoz generally defines her pictorial language as being stripped of all gestural expression; her option is based on the tense line and zero gesture, which in the final term problematises painting through the reduced economy of the media employed. This reduction of the resources needed in producing the work provides it with a self-sufficiency and mobility that, in short, free her artistic practice.
Abigail Lazkoz's drawing goes beyond the construction of possible scenarios; her most recent works show a painstaking interest in the construction of a specific vocabulary based on the sobriety of the drawing materials. A way of emphasising pictorial language and of creating references and elements that interrelate to construct a complex syntax.
On the occasion of the exhibition, sala rekalde is publishing a catalogue that reproduces this new production by Abigail Lazkoz. The volume will document the creative development of this new installation and will include texts by the historian Iria Candela and a conversation with the show's curator Leire Vergara. The book is designed by the Catalan designers Albert Folch Studio and includes photographs of the work taken by Begoña Zubero.
Concurrently The Abstract Cabinet of sala rekalde will host the exhibition Euforias y Demonias (Euphories and Demons) by Javier Soto (St. Gallen 1975) The work of Javier Soto carries out an exploration of pictorial language employing formats as diverse as drawing, collage, paint on canvas and even the mural. His pieces are configured on the basis of work processes that draw on contexts and references close to the artist's life.
Extraordinary Machines is configured as a "landscape of battle" developed in different phases. All the elements articulate a possible narrative path dealing with war and destruction, not only as references recurrent in their literalness, but also as metaphors that make evident another type of quotidian conflict. Based on an apparently simple pictorial composition, the drawings are established as basic elements that mark the formal and conceptual rhythm of the show. They invite the spectator to submerge him/herself in the symbolic wealth of their details, in the pictorial structure of the line and the starkness of the pictorial gesture, with the aim of delving, from the particularity of the references employed, into universal questions like death and the devastation. In this respect, the artist's endeavour to occupy the whole exhibition space setting out from the very materiality of drawing can be perceived. The exhibition thus functions as a kind of reordering of the basic elements that the artist has used, first in the drawings and then in the exhibition space.
In short, this is a constructive way of spreading her drawing throughout the whole of the exhibition area. The result is a reconciliation between figuration and abstraction, on whose basis the narrative structure of the drawings interweaves with the constructive forms of which they are composed. In this way, a series of almost totemic basic forms coexist with the wealth and idiosyncrasy of the narrative references of the drawn works.
The exhibition Extraordinary Machines is indebted to a previous series titled War Stories I Have Heard (2004). The series, made up of six drawings on paper, some executed subsequently on the wall and with much greater dimensions, dealt with the construction of collective memory through lived experiences. Each drawing developed a specific idea in relation to oral transmission, the construction of memory and how individual identity is built on the stories one receives. This series also used war as a narrative background and reflected on the historical conditioning factors that end up giving a concrete character to each generation.
The title of the exhibition is the refrain of a song by the American composer Fiona Apple that runs as follows: Be kind to me, or treat me mean, I'll make the most of it, I'm an extraordinary machine… With this phrase, the artist Abigail Lazkoz wishes to emphasise a certain irreducible strength and the possibility of growth on the basis of both the good and the bad. It is a phrase that offers hope in face of the reality of permanent conflict that characterises our contemporary society.
For Abigail Lazkoz the aesthetic and conceptual strength of drawing and painting resides in conceiving both languages as laboratories of the imagination. That is, she takes a position facing pictorial language that claims a certain demiurgic capacity when producing possible new forms of understanding the world that go beyond its faithful representation. This becomes evident in her drawing in the stark gesture of the black line on a white background. This simple gesture, stripped of all ornament, gives the artist absolute freedom when it comes to proposing new possibilities of expression in the face of reality.
At the same time this is a process of apprenticeship that sets out from the formal possibilities of the recourse of the black mark on white. A reference that relates drawing to the origins of writing.
Lazkoz generally defines her pictorial language as being stripped of all gestural expression; her option is based on the tense line and zero gesture, which in the final term problematises painting through the reduced economy of the media employed. This reduction of the resources needed in producing the work provides it with a self-sufficiency and mobility that, in short, free her artistic practice.
Abigail Lazkoz's drawing goes beyond the construction of possible scenarios; her most recent works show a painstaking interest in the construction of a specific vocabulary based on the sobriety of the drawing materials. A way of emphasising pictorial language and of creating references and elements that interrelate to construct a complex syntax.
On the occasion of the exhibition, sala rekalde is publishing a catalogue that reproduces this new production by Abigail Lazkoz. The volume will document the creative development of this new installation and will include texts by the historian Iria Candela and a conversation with the show's curator Leire Vergara. The book is designed by the Catalan designers Albert Folch Studio and includes photographs of the work taken by Begoña Zubero.
Concurrently The Abstract Cabinet of sala rekalde will host the exhibition Euforias y Demonias (Euphories and Demons) by Javier Soto (St. Gallen 1975) The work of Javier Soto carries out an exploration of pictorial language employing formats as diverse as drawing, collage, paint on canvas and even the mural. His pieces are configured on the basis of work processes that draw on contexts and references close to the artist's life.
SOL LEWITT
http://www.mmk-frankfurt.de
Following the presentation of 2 Sea Pieces by Gerhard Richter the MMK Museum of Modern Art in Frankfurt/Main is reconstructing Wall Drawing # 261 by Sol LeWitt, which was originally shown 1975 in the Kabinett für aktuelle Kunst in Bremerhaven. The artist, who died in 2007, conceived over 1,000 wall drawings, all of which were numbered and as such represent a lifelong series. The wall drawing has a long tradition in the Kabinett in Bremerhaven, which began in1970 with Blinky Palermo's wall painting based on the Kabinett's shop front and continues to this very day. For example, in 2008 Luc Tuymans placed himself in firmly in this lineage and reverted back to Palermo by citing the latter's drawing with one of his own. Tuymans's work not only extended across the walls but also onto the floor of the Kabinett.
Sol LeWitt's career began in the mid-1950s, when he worked as a graphic artist in the studio of architect Ieoh Ming Pei. In the 1960s, he published his own ideas on art theory, among other things in the then pioneering magazine Artforum. With the treatises entitled "Paragraphs on conceptual art" (1967) and a year later "Sentences on conceptual art" he defined a quite unique approach to art, setting it off from the predominant Abstract Expressionism of the day, and coined the term 'conceptual art' that was to be used by an entire new generation of artists. He summarized the essence of his views in 1967 as follows: "I will refer to the kind of art in which I am involved as conceptual art. In conceptual art the idea or concept is the most important aspect of the work."
Aside from a few paintings, drawings, and sculptures this idea gave birth to LeWitt's most famous basic idea – the conception of the wall drawings. The artist's instructions expressed on paper serve as the basis for the wall painting, which represents the visual, artistic manifestation of the idea. Any skilled drawer could then realize the drawing. The artist himself can, realize his own work, but this was no prerequisite.
A short and clear concept underlies Wall Drawing # 261 – a composition of lines on a colored wall. The person executing the art work is meant to draw 45 white lines on a wall grounded in yellow; the lines must be such that nine lines run from the four corners of the room and another nine lines run from a point in the wall's center. No specifications are made, however, as to the length of the lines or the exact yellow tone, which is actually the favorite color of Jürgen Wesseler, the driving force behind the Kabinett in Bremerhaven. In other words, the person executing the painting is given a certain leeway from the outset. This introduces an element of planned chance, as it were, into Sol LeWitt's wall drawing. No two drawings will as a result be identical given that the person realizing them does so according to his own experiences and notions. Moreover, once the artist has formulated the respective idea he can no longer influence the actual oeuvre as realized, because that very realization lies in someone else's hands. The importance of both chance and of time (after all, the wall drawings tend to only exist temporarily) recall the concept of time and composition used by John Cage not to mention the spirit that infuses Nam June Paik's works.
Firmly rooted in the critical mindset of the 1960s, LeWitt broke radically with numerous art traditions and questioned the relationship between work and author. The artist's own act of creation is restricted to the conceptualization and is isolated from the execution of the work by painting/drawing. Since, or so Sol LeWitt's concept would have it, anyone can realize the work of art, this considerably reduces the aura surrounding the artist as a person inspired by a unique idea. With this novel approach, LeWitt ushered in a significant shift towards an objective art less shaped by the intellect or emotions. Today, it is difficult to imagine how radical this artistic strategy must have seemed 40 years ago.
Following the presentation of 2 Sea Pieces by Gerhard Richter the MMK Museum of Modern Art in Frankfurt/Main is reconstructing Wall Drawing # 261 by Sol LeWitt, which was originally shown 1975 in the Kabinett für aktuelle Kunst in Bremerhaven. The artist, who died in 2007, conceived over 1,000 wall drawings, all of which were numbered and as such represent a lifelong series. The wall drawing has a long tradition in the Kabinett in Bremerhaven, which began in1970 with Blinky Palermo's wall painting based on the Kabinett's shop front and continues to this very day. For example, in 2008 Luc Tuymans placed himself in firmly in this lineage and reverted back to Palermo by citing the latter's drawing with one of his own. Tuymans's work not only extended across the walls but also onto the floor of the Kabinett.
Sol LeWitt's career began in the mid-1950s, when he worked as a graphic artist in the studio of architect Ieoh Ming Pei. In the 1960s, he published his own ideas on art theory, among other things in the then pioneering magazine Artforum. With the treatises entitled "Paragraphs on conceptual art" (1967) and a year later "Sentences on conceptual art" he defined a quite unique approach to art, setting it off from the predominant Abstract Expressionism of the day, and coined the term 'conceptual art' that was to be used by an entire new generation of artists. He summarized the essence of his views in 1967 as follows: "I will refer to the kind of art in which I am involved as conceptual art. In conceptual art the idea or concept is the most important aspect of the work."
Aside from a few paintings, drawings, and sculptures this idea gave birth to LeWitt's most famous basic idea – the conception of the wall drawings. The artist's instructions expressed on paper serve as the basis for the wall painting, which represents the visual, artistic manifestation of the idea. Any skilled drawer could then realize the drawing. The artist himself can, realize his own work, but this was no prerequisite.
A short and clear concept underlies Wall Drawing # 261 – a composition of lines on a colored wall. The person executing the art work is meant to draw 45 white lines on a wall grounded in yellow; the lines must be such that nine lines run from the four corners of the room and another nine lines run from a point in the wall's center. No specifications are made, however, as to the length of the lines or the exact yellow tone, which is actually the favorite color of Jürgen Wesseler, the driving force behind the Kabinett in Bremerhaven. In other words, the person executing the painting is given a certain leeway from the outset. This introduces an element of planned chance, as it were, into Sol LeWitt's wall drawing. No two drawings will as a result be identical given that the person realizing them does so according to his own experiences and notions. Moreover, once the artist has formulated the respective idea he can no longer influence the actual oeuvre as realized, because that very realization lies in someone else's hands. The importance of both chance and of time (after all, the wall drawings tend to only exist temporarily) recall the concept of time and composition used by John Cage not to mention the spirit that infuses Nam June Paik's works.
Firmly rooted in the critical mindset of the 1960s, LeWitt broke radically with numerous art traditions and questioned the relationship between work and author. The artist's own act of creation is restricted to the conceptualization and is isolated from the execution of the work by painting/drawing. Since, or so Sol LeWitt's concept would have it, anyone can realize the work of art, this considerably reduces the aura surrounding the artist as a person inspired by a unique idea. With this novel approach, LeWitt ushered in a significant shift towards an objective art less shaped by the intellect or emotions. Today, it is difficult to imagine how radical this artistic strategy must have seemed 40 years ago.
Ed Ruscha
http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/ruscha
Hayward Gallery presents a major retrospective of Ed Ruscha's paintings, in celebration of his 50-year career. Ed Ruscha (b. 1937) is widely regarded as one of the world's most influential artists at work today and this exhibition traces the development of his paintings across five decades, from his contributions to Pop Art in the early 1960s to his paintings comprising words and phrases and his explorations of iconic American landscapes. Curated by Ralph Rugoff, the Director of the Hayward Gallery, the retrospective opens on 14 October to 10 January 2010 and will then travel to Haus der Kunst in Munich (12 February - 2 May 2010) and Moderna Museet in Stockholm (29 May – 5 September 2010).
Based in Los Angeles since the late 1950s, Ed Ruscha is recognised for his pioneering work in a variety of media, including painting, print-making, artist's books, photography and film. His influence on painting has been particularly significant and this exhibition reveals the wit and ceaseless experimentation that have distinguished his contributions to this medium. Over the course of his career, Ruscha has influenced cultural figures as diverse as artists Richard Prince and Anselm Kiefer, architect Robert Venturi and photographers Andreas Gursky and Jeff Wall. Presenting a total of 78 works on canvas, Ed Ruscha: 50 Years of Painting is the largest UK survey yet of Ruscha's output as a painter. The exhibition will reveal the full depth and breadth of his achievements, from his use of graphic design and filmic devices to his experimentation with unusual materials and formats. Many of the paintings in the show have never before been seen in the UK and have been lent by both public and private collections from around the world.
Ralph Rugoff, Director of the Hayward Gallery and curator of this exhibition, said: 'Ed Ruscha is widely celebrated for the visual elegance and wit of his paintings, and this exhibition will also reveal his insistently experimental approach to the medium as well as his charged takes on the contemporary cultural landscape. Whether trafficking in ambiguity and absurdity or scanning signs of social decay and decline, his paintings address us in ways that are at once playful and profoundly disorienting, and they remain as provocative today as they first did half a century ago.'
Besides engaging with written language, Ruscha's paintings have recorded the shifting emblems of American life, in particular the vernacular of Southern California, in the form of classic Hollywood logos, stylised petrol stations and suburban landscapes. Often echoing the size of Cinemascope movie screens and billboards, these works constitute a shrewd and incisive portrait of American culture. Ruscha has produced some of the most memorable works of American art, including Standard Station (1966), Annie(1962), and Trademark with Eight Spotlights (1962), all of which will be on display.
Hayward Gallery presents a major retrospective of Ed Ruscha's paintings, in celebration of his 50-year career. Ed Ruscha (b. 1937) is widely regarded as one of the world's most influential artists at work today and this exhibition traces the development of his paintings across five decades, from his contributions to Pop Art in the early 1960s to his paintings comprising words and phrases and his explorations of iconic American landscapes. Curated by Ralph Rugoff, the Director of the Hayward Gallery, the retrospective opens on 14 October to 10 January 2010 and will then travel to Haus der Kunst in Munich (12 February - 2 May 2010) and Moderna Museet in Stockholm (29 May – 5 September 2010).
Based in Los Angeles since the late 1950s, Ed Ruscha is recognised for his pioneering work in a variety of media, including painting, print-making, artist's books, photography and film. His influence on painting has been particularly significant and this exhibition reveals the wit and ceaseless experimentation that have distinguished his contributions to this medium. Over the course of his career, Ruscha has influenced cultural figures as diverse as artists Richard Prince and Anselm Kiefer, architect Robert Venturi and photographers Andreas Gursky and Jeff Wall. Presenting a total of 78 works on canvas, Ed Ruscha: 50 Years of Painting is the largest UK survey yet of Ruscha's output as a painter. The exhibition will reveal the full depth and breadth of his achievements, from his use of graphic design and filmic devices to his experimentation with unusual materials and formats. Many of the paintings in the show have never before been seen in the UK and have been lent by both public and private collections from around the world.
Ralph Rugoff, Director of the Hayward Gallery and curator of this exhibition, said: 'Ed Ruscha is widely celebrated for the visual elegance and wit of his paintings, and this exhibition will also reveal his insistently experimental approach to the medium as well as his charged takes on the contemporary cultural landscape. Whether trafficking in ambiguity and absurdity or scanning signs of social decay and decline, his paintings address us in ways that are at once playful and profoundly disorienting, and they remain as provocative today as they first did half a century ago.'
Besides engaging with written language, Ruscha's paintings have recorded the shifting emblems of American life, in particular the vernacular of Southern California, in the form of classic Hollywood logos, stylised petrol stations and suburban landscapes. Often echoing the size of Cinemascope movie screens and billboards, these works constitute a shrewd and incisive portrait of American culture. Ruscha has produced some of the most memorable works of American art, including Standard Station (1966), Annie(1962), and Trademark with Eight Spotlights (1962), all of which will be on display.
KRISTINA LEKO and ANDREAS FISCHER
To a large degree, the socially weak or precarious residential areas lack beauty, social potential and, likewise, identity. The Bonner Kunstverein is located in just such an area.
'HAPPY HOUSE OF JUSTICE AND LOVE' is the title of a participatory art and communication project that the Croatian artist KRISTINA LEKO (*1966 in Zagreb, lives and works in Cologne and Zagreb) has developed for the Bonner Kunstverein with the residents of this neighborhood. In collaboration with the Blumenhof, the Evangelical Migration and Refugee Work in Bonn, the Caritas Institution "Uns Huus" (youth center), "Marienhaus" (seniors and nursing home) and Prälat-Schleich-Haus" (home for the homeless),
LEKO has worked out the participants' experiences, ways of seeing things, and needs, concerning architectural issues and community living. The results will be presented in a large-scale mural in the forecourt of the Kunstverein as well as in documentary exhibitions at the Kunstverein and in the participating institutions. The aim is to integrate and link the project's individual participants, but also art's public space and the neighborhood. Under consideration are the beauty and the social responsibility of architecture and residency, as well as the integrative promotion and sensitization for a cultural participation of all of society.
Starting with an obligation of the artist within a larger socio-political constellation, LEKO, for instance, links the project to exhibitions like the Artist Placement Group (APG) in the 1970s. Within the exhibition's supporting program, there will be a critical classification of the project within the context of recent developments in contemporary art.
'HAPPY HOUSE OF JUSTICE AND LOVE' is the title of a participatory art and communication project that the Croatian artist KRISTINA LEKO (*1966 in Zagreb, lives and works in Cologne and Zagreb) has developed for the Bonner Kunstverein with the residents of this neighborhood. In collaboration with the Blumenhof, the Evangelical Migration and Refugee Work in Bonn, the Caritas Institution "Uns Huus" (youth center), "Marienhaus" (seniors and nursing home) and Prälat-Schleich-Haus" (home for the homeless),
LEKO has worked out the participants' experiences, ways of seeing things, and needs, concerning architectural issues and community living. The results will be presented in a large-scale mural in the forecourt of the Kunstverein as well as in documentary exhibitions at the Kunstverein and in the participating institutions. The aim is to integrate and link the project's individual participants, but also art's public space and the neighborhood. Under consideration are the beauty and the social responsibility of architecture and residency, as well as the integrative promotion and sensitization for a cultural participation of all of society.
Starting with an obligation of the artist within a larger socio-political constellation, LEKO, for instance, links the project to exhibitions like the Artist Placement Group (APG) in the 1970s. Within the exhibition's supporting program, there will be a critical classification of the project within the context of recent developments in contemporary art.
The Düsseldorf sculptor, ANDREAS FISCHER (*1972 IN MUNICH, 1997-2002 in Georg Herold's master class) constructs kinetic objects, machines and apparatuses. His source material mostly consists of disassembled and newly arranged technical devices (entertainment electronics or household appliances) that have been sorted out of current usage and now, combined with similar "poor" and simple wire or wooden constructions, are reborn into a new functionality. The relics, revitalized by meticulous craftsmanship, are never satisfied with the aesthetics of movements and sounds in themselves but, as works, transmit thematic contents: as mechanical "readable" actions, often enough in text form, via sound recordings of text fragments, but also in the form of banners and neon signs. But it is often the viewer's substantial emotions and expectations that FISCHER takes as his initial consideration, such as a small tent whose opening is turned away from the public and awakes curiosity, only to snap shut when approached (Tente Jalouse, 2003). Fischer's machines represent a contemporary and critical occupation with sculpture and at the same time reaffirms the artist's faith in the utopian and poetic potency of art.
The exhibition is the first institutional solo show of the artist, who has participated in numerous prominent group exhibitions and is represented in renowned contemporary collections (such as Museum Ludwig, Cologne).
The exhibition is the first institutional solo show of the artist, who has participated in numerous prominent group exhibitions and is represented in renowned contemporary collections (such as Museum Ludwig, Cologne).
Leni Hoffmann
The Düsseldorf-based artist Leni Hoffmann has created a site-specific ex-hibition that dialogues with the architecture and the collection of Cologne's Ludwig Museum in a refreshing new manner. This radical show fundamentally challenges the collection-based institution through ephemeral on and off-site projects that evolve over time and question the autonomy of art.
Few movements have influenced the course of modern and contemporary art as deeply as Suprematism and Constructivism. Like her predecessors El Lissitzky and Alexander Rodchenko, Leni Hoffmann (born 1962) in turn questions the autonomy of art and in particular painting through site specific, "user-friendly" installations that, like Proun, extend painting into architectural space and everyday life. Hoffmann's exhibi-tion renders homage to the Museum Ludwig's exceptional collection of Russian Avantgarde art, which is currently highlighted in a separate six-part exhibition series.
Both this project series and the Hoffmann exhibition are curated by Katia Baudin, Deputy Director of the Ludwig Museum.
In accordance with her "nomadic" approach, Leni Hoffmann has selected five very different and totally unexpected locations for her work that underscore architectural discrepancies or particularities of the museum inaugurated in 1986 and designed by the Cologne-based Architects Busmann & Haberer. A visit through the exhibition is simultaneously a visit through the entire museum, a treasure hunt that takes the visi-tor from the entrance hall to the roof terrace, while encountering works in a hallway and in a permanent collection room. These colorful, geometrical paintings that extend vertically and horizontally into space – from windows and walls to the floor and the ceiling – unite two materials of contradictory nature, durable concrete and malleable plasticine. The viewer is invited to become a transitory part of many of these installa-tions, by leaving his footprints on the clay and sitting on the cushion-covered con-crete extensions.
The exhibition reaches directly beyond museum walls, with a temporary outdoor seat-ing sculpture in the midst of a major construction site neighboring the museum, which encourages the spectator/user to enter into a new dialogue with this transitional envi-ronment.
The most radical work of the exhibition is still to come: "pizzicato", in which she will create on an unannounced day, a unique work for Cologne's leading local newspa-per, the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, directly inspired by the offset printing process. This work – which will last one day –, will enable everyone who purchases the newspaper that day to own a unique work of art, as no two editions will be exactly the same.
Few movements have influenced the course of modern and contemporary art as deeply as Suprematism and Constructivism. Like her predecessors El Lissitzky and Alexander Rodchenko, Leni Hoffmann (born 1962) in turn questions the autonomy of art and in particular painting through site specific, "user-friendly" installations that, like Proun, extend painting into architectural space and everyday life. Hoffmann's exhibi-tion renders homage to the Museum Ludwig's exceptional collection of Russian Avantgarde art, which is currently highlighted in a separate six-part exhibition series.
Both this project series and the Hoffmann exhibition are curated by Katia Baudin, Deputy Director of the Ludwig Museum.
In accordance with her "nomadic" approach, Leni Hoffmann has selected five very different and totally unexpected locations for her work that underscore architectural discrepancies or particularities of the museum inaugurated in 1986 and designed by the Cologne-based Architects Busmann & Haberer. A visit through the exhibition is simultaneously a visit through the entire museum, a treasure hunt that takes the visi-tor from the entrance hall to the roof terrace, while encountering works in a hallway and in a permanent collection room. These colorful, geometrical paintings that extend vertically and horizontally into space – from windows and walls to the floor and the ceiling – unite two materials of contradictory nature, durable concrete and malleable plasticine. The viewer is invited to become a transitory part of many of these installa-tions, by leaving his footprints on the clay and sitting on the cushion-covered con-crete extensions.
The exhibition reaches directly beyond museum walls, with a temporary outdoor seat-ing sculpture in the midst of a major construction site neighboring the museum, which encourages the spectator/user to enter into a new dialogue with this transitional envi-ronment.
The most radical work of the exhibition is still to come: "pizzicato", in which she will create on an unannounced day, a unique work for Cologne's leading local newspa-per, the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, directly inspired by the offset printing process. This work – which will last one day –, will enable everyone who purchases the newspaper that day to own a unique work of art, as no two editions will be exactly the same.
Elizabeth Peyton
The Bonnefantenmuseum is presenting the first comprehensive retrospective of Elizabeth Peyton's oeuvre on the European mainland, which comprises over 90 works (paintings, watercolours, drawings and lithos) from the past 18 years (1991-2009).
From her first portraits of 19th-century heroes to her more recent works, peopled with friends fromthe world of music, fashion and literature, Elizabeth Peyton has presented herself as a contemporary 'painter of modern life', in the words of Charles Baudelaire. Peyton's miniature portraits capture the spirit of the times in an artistic language that unmistakeably reflects late 20th-century urban sensitivity.
The exhibition starts with portraits of Napoleon Bonaparte, pop icons Sid Vicious and Kurt Cobain, and fashion designer Marc Jacobs, and shows a development towards an increasing eclecticism and anachronism in Peyton's choices of subject, ranging from her personal circle of friends to admired predecessors from the history of art, such as Georgia O'Keeffe and Frida Kahlo.
Peyton's intimate portraits often appear unrealistic, compared to the public star status of many of her models. Peyton makes them small – both literally and figuratively – in order to visualise a more genuine beauty.
Elizabeth Peyton belongs to a select group of artists who developed a unique mix of realism and conceptualism in their work in the early 1990's, in which Peyton consciously reverted to narrativefigurative techniques in contemporary painting. Her work pays tribute to the 19th-century French modernist painting, and is directly reminiscent of the work of David Hockney, Alex Katz and Andy Warhol – particularly their celebrity portraits. In her work, which is small in size but makes a large gesture, Peyton has breathed new life into the ancient genre of portrait painting.
From her first portraits of 19th-century heroes to her more recent works, peopled with friends fromthe world of music, fashion and literature, Elizabeth Peyton has presented herself as a contemporary 'painter of modern life', in the words of Charles Baudelaire. Peyton's miniature portraits capture the spirit of the times in an artistic language that unmistakeably reflects late 20th-century urban sensitivity.
The exhibition starts with portraits of Napoleon Bonaparte, pop icons Sid Vicious and Kurt Cobain, and fashion designer Marc Jacobs, and shows a development towards an increasing eclecticism and anachronism in Peyton's choices of subject, ranging from her personal circle of friends to admired predecessors from the history of art, such as Georgia O'Keeffe and Frida Kahlo.
Peyton's intimate portraits often appear unrealistic, compared to the public star status of many of her models. Peyton makes them small – both literally and figuratively – in order to visualise a more genuine beauty.
Elizabeth Peyton belongs to a select group of artists who developed a unique mix of realism and conceptualism in their work in the early 1990's, in which Peyton consciously reverted to narrativefigurative techniques in contemporary painting. Her work pays tribute to the 19th-century French modernist painting, and is directly reminiscent of the work of David Hockney, Alex Katz and Andy Warhol – particularly their celebrity portraits. In her work, which is small in size but makes a large gesture, Peyton has breathed new life into the ancient genre of portrait painting.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Mark Leckey
MoMA CONTINUES PERFORMANCE EXHIBITION SERIES WITH A LIVE PERFORMANCE-BASED WORK BY MARK LECKEY
The Museum of Modern Art presents the North American premiere of Mark Leckey in the Long Tail(2009), a performance-based work presented in a theater for performing arts at the Abrons Arts Center on October 1, 2, and 3, 2009, at 8:00 p.m. Throughout the performance—which is part lecture, part monologue, and part living sculpture—Leckey engages the topics of television and broadcasting history, from the BBC to the icon of Felix the Cat, while simultaneously addressing the "Long Tail" theory of internet-based economics.
Mark Leckey in the Long Tail is a multimedia lecture delivered by the artist in an installation resembling the soundstage of a movie. Incorporating a series of props, the performance involves a live reconstruction of the first television broadcast. In his lecture, Leckey demonstrates how a doll of Felix the Cat became the first image of the twentieth century transmitted into public consciousness and how, for Leckey, the figure becomes the embodiment of the Long Tail phenomenon of the twenty-first century. Throughout the performance Leckey animates his conversational meanderings with special effects in an attempt to conjure up the emerging nature of the Long Tail and how the Internet is changing the nature of demand, exchange, and, by extension, profit and creativity.
Winner of the 2008 Turner Prize, Leckey (British, b. 1964) is currently Professor of Film Studies, Städelschule, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Leckey’s work has been exhibited at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York; Tate Britain, London; and at the Istanbul Biennial, Turkey. His work is included in collections at Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; and the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. Two of Leckey’s works are in MoMA’s collection: Made in ‘Eaven (2004) and Cinema in the Round (2006–08), which was recently acquired by the Museum.
Tickets to the performance are available for purchase via the Abrons Arts Center website athttp://www.abronsartscenter.org or by phone at (212) 352-3101. The Abrons Arts Center box office opens 30 minutes before curtain.
The Performance Exhibition Series is organized by Klaus Biesenbach, Chief Curator, and Jenny Schlenzka, Assistant Curator for Performance, Department of Media and Performance Art.
The Performance Exhibition Series and the Performance Workshop are made possible by the Wallis Annenberg Fund for Innovation in Contemporary Art.
The Museum of Modern Art presents the North American premiere of Mark Leckey in the Long Tail(2009), a performance-based work presented in a theater for performing arts at the Abrons Arts Center on October 1, 2, and 3, 2009, at 8:00 p.m. Throughout the performance—which is part lecture, part monologue, and part living sculpture—Leckey engages the topics of television and broadcasting history, from the BBC to the icon of Felix the Cat, while simultaneously addressing the "Long Tail" theory of internet-based economics.
Mark Leckey in the Long Tail is a multimedia lecture delivered by the artist in an installation resembling the soundstage of a movie. Incorporating a series of props, the performance involves a live reconstruction of the first television broadcast. In his lecture, Leckey demonstrates how a doll of Felix the Cat became the first image of the twentieth century transmitted into public consciousness and how, for Leckey, the figure becomes the embodiment of the Long Tail phenomenon of the twenty-first century. Throughout the performance Leckey animates his conversational meanderings with special effects in an attempt to conjure up the emerging nature of the Long Tail and how the Internet is changing the nature of demand, exchange, and, by extension, profit and creativity.
Winner of the 2008 Turner Prize, Leckey (British, b. 1964) is currently Professor of Film Studies, Städelschule, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Leckey’s work has been exhibited at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York; Tate Britain, London; and at the Istanbul Biennial, Turkey. His work is included in collections at Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; and the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. Two of Leckey’s works are in MoMA’s collection: Made in ‘Eaven (2004) and Cinema in the Round (2006–08), which was recently acquired by the Museum.
Tickets to the performance are available for purchase via the Abrons Arts Center website athttp://www.abronsartscenter.org or by phone at (212) 352-3101. The Abrons Arts Center box office opens 30 minutes before curtain.
The Performance Exhibition Series is organized by Klaus Biesenbach, Chief Curator, and Jenny Schlenzka, Assistant Curator for Performance, Department of Media and Performance Art.
The Performance Exhibition Series and the Performance Workshop are made possible by the Wallis Annenberg Fund for Innovation in Contemporary Art.
ANDREA BOWERS EN GUADALAJARA
Conferencia de Andrea Bowers
Estudio Diana (Teatro Diana)
Miércoles 30 de septiembre de 2009, 8:00 pm
En esta ocasión, la artista norteamericana Andrea Bowers impartirá una conferencia sobre su trabajo y las reflexiones que la han llevado a él. Esta artista ha explorado la expresión individual dentro de la sociedad, tanto en el ámbito de los fanáticos del deporte, como grupos de rock o activistas políticos. Su trabajo ofrece una crítica feminista única, explotando las diversas nociones de radicalidad. Así, la artista cuestiona la noción de activismo en sí misma, ofreciendo una elegante meditación sobre la democracia.
Esta conferencia está dirigida a estudiantes de arte, artistas y cualquier persona interesada en los procesos creativos. La entrada es gratuita.
Quiséramos agradecer el apoyo del Consulado General de los Estados Unidos de América en Guadalajara, así como del Teatro Diana para la realización de este evento.
Bowers es representada por Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, Andrew Kreps Gallery en Nueva York, Galerie Mehdi Chouakri en Berlin, Galería Praz-Delavallade en Paris, y Van Horn en Dusseldorf. Actualmente es profesora invitada en el Otis College of Art and Design y profesora asociada en el Claremont Graduate University.
Mayores informes: airesdeoccidente@gmail.com
Estudio Diana (Teatro Diana)
Organizada por Aires de Occidente
Como parte de su programa de actividades, Aires de Occidente presenta la conferencia de la artista norteamericana Andrea Bowers el próximo miércoles 30 de septiembre a las 20 horas en el Estudio Diana.
Aires de occidente es una asociación no lucrativa que busca puntos de encuentro entre personas con distintas formaciones. Conscientes de que la diferencia de ideas fomenta la reflexión y estimula los procesos creativos, Aires de Occidente se interesa en procesos de trabajo que puedan fomentar y enriquecer caminos creativos, organizando cursos y conferencias que fortalezcan la reflexión crítica.Como parte de su programa de actividades, Aires de Occidente presenta la conferencia de la artista norteamericana Andrea Bowers el próximo miércoles 30 de septiembre a las 20 horas en el Estudio Diana.
En esta ocasión, la artista norteamericana Andrea Bowers impartirá una conferencia sobre su trabajo y las reflexiones que la han llevado a él. Esta artista ha explorado la expresión individual dentro de la sociedad, tanto en el ámbito de los fanáticos del deporte, como grupos de rock o activistas políticos. Su trabajo ofrece una crítica feminista única, explotando las diversas nociones de radicalidad. Así, la artista cuestiona la noción de activismo en sí misma, ofreciendo una elegante meditación sobre la democracia.
Esta conferencia está dirigida a estudiantes de arte, artistas y cualquier persona interesada en los procesos creativos. La entrada es gratuita.
Quiséramos agradecer el apoyo del Consulado General de los Estados Unidos de América en Guadalajara, así como del Teatro Diana para la realización de este evento.
Andrea Bowers
Andrea Bowers cuenta con una maestría en arte por la Universidad CalArts en Los Angeles, en donde vive y trabaja. Entre sus exposiciones individuales recientes destacan: Una mujer elocuente en la galería Praz-Delavallade, París; Tus donaciones hacen nuestro trabajo: Andrea Bowers y Suzanne Lacy, UCR Sweeney Art Gallery, Riverside, CA; y El peso de la relevancia en Secession, Viena y Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects. Recientemente ha participado en las exposiciones colectivas De repente este verano, Sikkema Jenkins & Co, Nueva York; Bienal de California 2008 en el Museo de Arte de Orange County; Proyecto Cívico en el Centro Cultural Tijuana (CECUT); Progreso en el Whitney Museum of American Art; Index: Conceptualismo en California en la Colección Permanente del Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Los Angeles; y en la Feria de Libro Anarquista de L.A. En octubre de este año Bowers tendrá una exposición individual tituladaMercy Mercy Me en la Galería Andrew Kreps en Nueva York y participará en una exposición colectiva curada por Berta Sichel en el Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía en Madrid.Bowers es representada por Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, Andrew Kreps Gallery en Nueva York, Galerie Mehdi Chouakri en Berlin, Galería Praz-Delavallade en Paris, y Van Horn en Dusseldorf. Actualmente es profesora invitada en el Otis College of Art and Design y profesora asociada en el Claremont Graduate University.
Design 1945–1970
The National Gallery of Art, Vilnius is pleased to present the major Victoria & Albert Museum exhibitionCold War Modern: Design 1945–1970 as a project of the national programme of "Vilnius – European Capital of Culture 2009".
The NGA is Europe's newest museum of modern and contemporary art that opened in June 2009. From its location in post-soviet space the NGA is aiming to make a crucial contribution to art historical and cultural discourses that reflect upon the experience of Eastern Europe during the turbulent course of the 20th century. The NGA's opening exhibition Dialogues of Colour and Sound: Works by M.K Ciurlionis and his Contemporaries has already been acclaimed as an exhibition that has placed the museum at the forefront of the re-examination of modernism, and the modernist canon, from an 'extenuating' geo-political position. Focused on the work of Lithuania's 'lost' modernist composer and painter M.K. Ciurlionis (1875–1911) the exhibition added a Nordic and Eastern European dimension to the history of experimental art concerned with music-and-sound.
Cold War Modern is just as timely as Lithuania, and this region of Europe, is reflecting upon events, which happened on its doorstep, in 1939 and 1989, that have left an indelible impact upon nations, their culture, and their people. Curated by David Crowley and Jane Pavitt for the V&A, and arriving in Vilnius from MART, Roverretto, the exhibition contains a startling range of art, architecture, design, and fashion objects, and films, that represent the material apotheosis of the Cold War years from the cessation of the Second World War in 1945 until the turn in the Vietnam War in 1970. The period also encapsulates the high years of the 'space race' at a moment when the moon landing (1969) is also marking a decadal anniversary (the spacesuit first worn by Neil Armstrong is in the exhibition as is the Sputnik model). And it is the spirit of competition between geo-political blocs – of political/territorial influence, in space, in war memorial architecture, in lifestyle, in consumer goods design, at world fairs – that embodies the exhibition.
The results of that competition seemed clear-cut for the last 20 years as capitalism appeared to trounce communism for good... until the financial crisis, that is, when the specter of 'possible and better futures' began to be discussed again. Some of those futures can be found in the stellar array of objects included in Cold War Modern, including: furniture by Eames and Pichler; city plans by Buckminster Fuller; living environments designed by Archigram and Superstudio; in artworks by Fontana and Picasso; and fashion by Pierre Cardin and Paco Rabanne. For the outer limits of the future and fantasy there are the James Bond movies and the science-fiction films of Stanley Kubrick and Andrei Tarkovsky.
The NGA will be presenting an extensive programme of talks and screenings in association with the exhibition, contextualizing the Cold War 1945–1970 from multiple perspectives.
Cold War Modern has been presented at the National Gallery of Art, Vilnius with the support of "Vilnius – European Capital of Culture 2009".
Patrons of the programme: Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania, Vilnius City Municipality.
Mobile media partner: Omnitel. Car of the capital of culture: Kia Motors. Official Cultural partner JCDecaux. Media partner: Lietuvos rytas.
Sponsor of the exhibition: Reval Hotel Lietuva. Media sponsors: Lietuvos radijas ir televizija, In Your Pocket, Delfi.
The NGA is Europe's newest museum of modern and contemporary art that opened in June 2009. From its location in post-soviet space the NGA is aiming to make a crucial contribution to art historical and cultural discourses that reflect upon the experience of Eastern Europe during the turbulent course of the 20th century. The NGA's opening exhibition Dialogues of Colour and Sound: Works by M.K Ciurlionis and his Contemporaries has already been acclaimed as an exhibition that has placed the museum at the forefront of the re-examination of modernism, and the modernist canon, from an 'extenuating' geo-political position. Focused on the work of Lithuania's 'lost' modernist composer and painter M.K. Ciurlionis (1875–1911) the exhibition added a Nordic and Eastern European dimension to the history of experimental art concerned with music-and-sound.
Cold War Modern is just as timely as Lithuania, and this region of Europe, is reflecting upon events, which happened on its doorstep, in 1939 and 1989, that have left an indelible impact upon nations, their culture, and their people. Curated by David Crowley and Jane Pavitt for the V&A, and arriving in Vilnius from MART, Roverretto, the exhibition contains a startling range of art, architecture, design, and fashion objects, and films, that represent the material apotheosis of the Cold War years from the cessation of the Second World War in 1945 until the turn in the Vietnam War in 1970. The period also encapsulates the high years of the 'space race' at a moment when the moon landing (1969) is also marking a decadal anniversary (the spacesuit first worn by Neil Armstrong is in the exhibition as is the Sputnik model). And it is the spirit of competition between geo-political blocs – of political/territorial influence, in space, in war memorial architecture, in lifestyle, in consumer goods design, at world fairs – that embodies the exhibition.
The results of that competition seemed clear-cut for the last 20 years as capitalism appeared to trounce communism for good... until the financial crisis, that is, when the specter of 'possible and better futures' began to be discussed again. Some of those futures can be found in the stellar array of objects included in Cold War Modern, including: furniture by Eames and Pichler; city plans by Buckminster Fuller; living environments designed by Archigram and Superstudio; in artworks by Fontana and Picasso; and fashion by Pierre Cardin and Paco Rabanne. For the outer limits of the future and fantasy there are the James Bond movies and the science-fiction films of Stanley Kubrick and Andrei Tarkovsky.
The NGA will be presenting an extensive programme of talks and screenings in association with the exhibition, contextualizing the Cold War 1945–1970 from multiple perspectives.
Cold War Modern has been presented at the National Gallery of Art, Vilnius with the support of "Vilnius – European Capital of Culture 2009".
Patrons of the programme: Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania, Vilnius City Municipality.
Mobile media partner: Omnitel. Car of the capital of culture: Kia Motors. Official Cultural partner JCDecaux. Media partner: Lietuvos rytas.
Sponsor of the exhibition: Reval Hotel Lietuva. Media sponsors: Lietuvos radijas ir televizija, In Your Pocket, Delfi.
Tal R and Sol LeWitt
Sol LeWitt
"Seven Wall Drawings"
Curator Elisabeth Millqvist
It's all about the drawn line. 10 000 straight lines, 22 meters of scribbles and indigo snap lines cover the walls from floor to ceiling at Magasin 3. For six weeks 14 assistants have drawn full time on the existing walls and transformed the space. They have realized this exhibition of seven wall drawings by Sol LeWitt devised during the period 1971-1993. The exhibition includes drawings executed in pencil as well as ink washes mixed to the deepest of purples and burnt umber.
Every drawing is based on verbal or written instructions; no decisions are made in the process. LeWitt's role can be likened to that of a composer, the person from his studio in charge of the work is the conductor and the artists executing the work make up the orchestra. With his 'wall drawings' rendered directly onto the wall LeWitt changed our concept of what art is – its appearance and who creates it. He succeeded in the challenging task of combining art that puts the idea first with an exciting visual form and continues to be a central figure for young artists to this day. With the line in focus the exhibition emphasize the creativity within a restriction.
LeWitt was a pioneer among the Minimalists and Conceptual artists who were so groundbreaking at the end of the 60s and beginning of the 70s. In 1968 he made his first wall drawing in graphite and restricted himself to horizontal, vertical and diagonal lines. Right up to his death he investigated every line combination imaginable while over the years expanding his formal language to encompass geometric shapes and color.
This is the most extensive exhibition of LeWitt's wall drawings in Scandinavia to date. The American artist was born in 1928 and passed away in 2007. A number of retrospective exhibitions focusing on his wall drawings have taken place in the USA since 2000, most notably at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (2000), Dia Beacon, New York (ongoing) and the ambitious large-scale presentation at Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams (2008-2033). In Europe important solo exhibitions are the wall drawing retrospective at Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam in 1984, which was followed by an exhibition at Kunsthalle Bern in 1989 amongst others.
- - -
Tal R
"Old Confused"
Curator Richard Julin
Opening on October 2, Magasin 3 will be hosting an exhibition with the
Danish artist Tal R.
Tal R is probably best known as a painter but works in a number of media:
sculpture, drawing, printmaking, installation, video and textiles. Currently
he is also developing the clothing brand MoonSpoon Saloon.
Richard Julin, the exhibition's curator says:
"We are showing a unique spacial arrangement with new paintings, sculptures,
drawings, carpets and a great many other objects. In short, Tal R's œvre as
it presents itself this very moment, including a new performance with
MoonSpoon Saloon".
See video from Tal R's studio
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=135492127020
Tal R was born in Israel in 1967 and grew up in Denmark. He lives in
Copenhagen, where he also has his studio. His most recent solo exhibitions
include: CAC Malaga, (2009), Kunsthalle zu Kiel (2009), Bonnefanten Museum,
Holland (2008), Camden Arts Centre, London (2008), Louisiana Museum for
Moderne Kunst, Denmark (2007). He holds a guest professorship at
Kunstakademie Düsseldorf.
- - -
Join us on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/magasin3
"Seven Wall Drawings"
Curator Elisabeth Millqvist
It's all about the drawn line. 10 000 straight lines, 22 meters of scribbles and indigo snap lines cover the walls from floor to ceiling at Magasin 3. For six weeks 14 assistants have drawn full time on the existing walls and transformed the space. They have realized this exhibition of seven wall drawings by Sol LeWitt devised during the period 1971-1993. The exhibition includes drawings executed in pencil as well as ink washes mixed to the deepest of purples and burnt umber.
Every drawing is based on verbal or written instructions; no decisions are made in the process. LeWitt's role can be likened to that of a composer, the person from his studio in charge of the work is the conductor and the artists executing the work make up the orchestra. With his 'wall drawings' rendered directly onto the wall LeWitt changed our concept of what art is – its appearance and who creates it. He succeeded in the challenging task of combining art that puts the idea first with an exciting visual form and continues to be a central figure for young artists to this day. With the line in focus the exhibition emphasize the creativity within a restriction.
LeWitt was a pioneer among the Minimalists and Conceptual artists who were so groundbreaking at the end of the 60s and beginning of the 70s. In 1968 he made his first wall drawing in graphite and restricted himself to horizontal, vertical and diagonal lines. Right up to his death he investigated every line combination imaginable while over the years expanding his formal language to encompass geometric shapes and color.
This is the most extensive exhibition of LeWitt's wall drawings in Scandinavia to date. The American artist was born in 1928 and passed away in 2007. A number of retrospective exhibitions focusing on his wall drawings have taken place in the USA since 2000, most notably at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (2000), Dia Beacon, New York (ongoing) and the ambitious large-scale presentation at Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams (2008-2033). In Europe important solo exhibitions are the wall drawing retrospective at Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam in 1984, which was followed by an exhibition at Kunsthalle Bern in 1989 amongst others.
- - -
Tal R
"Old Confused"
Curator Richard Julin
Opening on October 2, Magasin 3 will be hosting an exhibition with the
Danish artist Tal R.
Tal R is probably best known as a painter but works in a number of media:
sculpture, drawing, printmaking, installation, video and textiles. Currently
he is also developing the clothing brand MoonSpoon Saloon.
Richard Julin, the exhibition's curator says:
"We are showing a unique spacial arrangement with new paintings, sculptures,
drawings, carpets and a great many other objects. In short, Tal R's œvre as
it presents itself this very moment, including a new performance with
MoonSpoon Saloon".
See video from Tal R's studio
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=135492127020
Tal R was born in Israel in 1967 and grew up in Denmark. He lives in
Copenhagen, where he also has his studio. His most recent solo exhibitions
include: CAC Malaga, (2009), Kunsthalle zu Kiel (2009), Bonnefanten Museum,
Holland (2008), Camden Arts Centre, London (2008), Louisiana Museum for
Moderne Kunst, Denmark (2007). He holds a guest professorship at
Kunstakademie Düsseldorf.
- - -
Join us on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/magasin3
Scott McFarland
http://www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/
The Vancouver Art Gallery will present a major exhibition of work by Scott McFarland, the renowned Canadian photographer whose images challenge the fundamental idea of what a photograph can be. On view from October 3, 2009 to January 3, 2010, the exhibition, Scott McFarland, is comprised of more than 60 rigorously composed large-scale photos produced over the past seven years, including 14 works presented for the first time.
"Over the past twelve years, Scott McFarland has produced a significant body of work that has been widely exhibited in North America and Europe and has positioned him as a prominent figure in the current generation of artists working with photography," said Vancouver Art Gallery director Kathleen Bartels. "His subtlety manipulated images brilliantly reflect his personal experience of selected landscapes over multiple visits, challenging the commonly held notion that photographs are limited to the representation of isolated moments in time."
Embracing techniques of digital manipulation, McFarland's strikingly beautiful landscapes are composites of numerous photos, seamlessly stitched and layered to create exquisitely detailed large-scale works. Positioning his camera in a single spot, he rotates it slowly, taking numerous photos of sections of the same location over long periods, sometimes up to a year or more. He then uses a digital photo editor to combine multiple exposures into extremely sharp and detailed images that appear at first glance to be created in the single click of the shutter. Questioning the assumption that photographs represent decisive moments, the artist's images promote the medium's ability to depict complex realities of space and the passage of time.
"Scott McFarland's landscape photographs depict natural environments transformed by humans to suit their desire for leisure, rest and contemplation," said Grant Arnold, Audain Curator of British Columbia Art. "Often making reference to the work of artists such as John Constable and Johann Erdmann Hummel, his images propose a parallel between the transformation of nature by human hand and the choices implicit in the act of making a photo."
For his images, McFarland is drawn to landscapes where the environment is tamed by the whims of humanity. In his compositions of these quasi-natural spaces, the human factor is a metaphor for the photographic process and the necessary selections and omissions that must be made when creating an image. Landscapes included in the exhibition include the artist's photographs of private gardens in Vancouver's posh west side; the Huntington Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California; public spaces and the zoo in Berlin, Germany; Hampstead Heath, a large pastoral park in central London; and rustic scenes from southern Ontario.
Although his extraordinarily crisp landscapes seem flawless initially, further inspection reveals subtle abnormalities – foliage and flowers which blossom at different times of the season are pictured in the same environment or shadows place the sun at a wide variety of angels within the same frame. By creating these intentional inconsistencies the artist undermines traditional ideas of the photographic image and how it represents the world.
Scott McFarland divides his time between Vancouver and Toronto and exhibits his work internationally. He was featured as one of three artists in the Museum of Modern Art's New Photography 2007, an exhibition of work by the most important new photo-based artist. Recent solo exhibitions include shows at Monte Clark Gallery in Toronto and Vancouver, Regen Projects in Los Angeles and Union Gallery in London. McFarland's work is also included in many collections, including the Museum of Modern Art; K21, Düsseldorf; Centro de Arte Salamanca, Spain; the Albright-Knox Museum, Buffalo; and the Victoria & Albert Museum, London.
The Vancouver Art Gallery will present a major exhibition of work by Scott McFarland, the renowned Canadian photographer whose images challenge the fundamental idea of what a photograph can be. On view from October 3, 2009 to January 3, 2010, the exhibition, Scott McFarland, is comprised of more than 60 rigorously composed large-scale photos produced over the past seven years, including 14 works presented for the first time.
"Over the past twelve years, Scott McFarland has produced a significant body of work that has been widely exhibited in North America and Europe and has positioned him as a prominent figure in the current generation of artists working with photography," said Vancouver Art Gallery director Kathleen Bartels. "His subtlety manipulated images brilliantly reflect his personal experience of selected landscapes over multiple visits, challenging the commonly held notion that photographs are limited to the representation of isolated moments in time."
Embracing techniques of digital manipulation, McFarland's strikingly beautiful landscapes are composites of numerous photos, seamlessly stitched and layered to create exquisitely detailed large-scale works. Positioning his camera in a single spot, he rotates it slowly, taking numerous photos of sections of the same location over long periods, sometimes up to a year or more. He then uses a digital photo editor to combine multiple exposures into extremely sharp and detailed images that appear at first glance to be created in the single click of the shutter. Questioning the assumption that photographs represent decisive moments, the artist's images promote the medium's ability to depict complex realities of space and the passage of time.
"Scott McFarland's landscape photographs depict natural environments transformed by humans to suit their desire for leisure, rest and contemplation," said Grant Arnold, Audain Curator of British Columbia Art. "Often making reference to the work of artists such as John Constable and Johann Erdmann Hummel, his images propose a parallel between the transformation of nature by human hand and the choices implicit in the act of making a photo."
For his images, McFarland is drawn to landscapes where the environment is tamed by the whims of humanity. In his compositions of these quasi-natural spaces, the human factor is a metaphor for the photographic process and the necessary selections and omissions that must be made when creating an image. Landscapes included in the exhibition include the artist's photographs of private gardens in Vancouver's posh west side; the Huntington Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California; public spaces and the zoo in Berlin, Germany; Hampstead Heath, a large pastoral park in central London; and rustic scenes from southern Ontario.
Although his extraordinarily crisp landscapes seem flawless initially, further inspection reveals subtle abnormalities – foliage and flowers which blossom at different times of the season are pictured in the same environment or shadows place the sun at a wide variety of angels within the same frame. By creating these intentional inconsistencies the artist undermines traditional ideas of the photographic image and how it represents the world.
Scott McFarland divides his time between Vancouver and Toronto and exhibits his work internationally. He was featured as one of three artists in the Museum of Modern Art's New Photography 2007, an exhibition of work by the most important new photo-based artist. Recent solo exhibitions include shows at Monte Clark Gallery in Toronto and Vancouver, Regen Projects in Los Angeles and Union Gallery in London. McFarland's work is also included in many collections, including the Museum of Modern Art; K21, Düsseldorf; Centro de Arte Salamanca, Spain; the Albright-Knox Museum, Buffalo; and the Victoria & Albert Museum, London.
FotoFest
FotoFest is pleased to announce the exhibitions and participating spaces for its 2010 Biennial, with four principal exhibitions, curated by five invited curators, dedicated to the Biennial's theme, Contemporary U.S. Photography. "The 2010 Biennial is a platform to show the different perspectives of photographic art being created today and the perspectives of a new generation of curators," says FotoFest Creative Director Wendy Watriss.
FotoFest Biennial Exhibitions
Road to Nowhere
Curated by: Natasha Egan, Deputy Director, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Columbia College, Chicago
FotoFest at Winter Street Studios, 2101 Winter St, Houston, Texas
Natasha Egan's selections explore the United States at the close of the "American Century" as the nation negotiates its transition from Cold War superpower to an embattled, economically fragile nation.
Artists: Sheila Pree Bright, Jeff Brouws, Tim Davis, Myra Greene, Eirik Johnson, Jason Lazarus, An-My Le, Nic Nicosia, David Oresick, Trevor Paglen, Greta Pratt, Michael Robinson, Jason Salavon, Victoria Sambunaris, Christina Seely, Paul Shambroom, Greg Stimac, and Brian Ulrich.
Whatever Was Splendid
Curated by: Aaron Schuman, Independent Curator, Editor and Co-founder, Seesaw online magazine
FotoFest at Vine Street Studios, 1113 Vine Street, Houston, Texas
Aaron Schuman explores the legacy and continued influence of a "thoroughly modern photographic figure," Walker Evans.
Artists: Will Steacy, Michael Schmelling, Greg Stimac, Tema Stauffer, Jason Lazarus, Jane Tam, Richard Mosse, Craig Mammano, Todd Hido, Hank Willis Thomas, RJ Shaughnessy, and Mitch Epstein.
Assembly: Eight Emerging Photographers from Southern California
Curated by: Charlotte Cotton, Creative Director, National Media Museum, Bradford, U.K.; former Head of the Wallis Annenberg Department of Photography, Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Edward Robinson, Deputy Curator, Wallis Annenberg Department of Photography, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
FotoFest at Williams Tower, 2800 Post Oak, Houston, Texas
Charlotte Cotton and Edward Robinson are both transplants to Southern California. Their exhibition and the artists' work in it, are a reflection of the region's place in the American mythos.
Artists: Nicole Belle, Matthew Brandt, Peter Holzhauer, Whitney Hubbs, Matt Lipps, Joey Lehman Morris, Asha Schechter, and Augusta Wood.
Medianation
Curated by: Gilbert Vicario, Curator, Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, Iowa; Former Assistant Curator of Latin American Art and Latino Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
FotoFest at New World Museum; Art League, Houston; and other locations
As a curator of contemporary art, Gilbert Vicario sees photography as just one of several media, including video, installation and performance, used by contemporary artists. In Medianation, Mr. Vicario, "explores the interrelationship between the digital image and notions of process and performance in contemporary art."
Artists: Leslie Hall, Susanne Jirkuff, Adria Julia, Kalup Linzy, Daniel Joseph Martinez, Laurel Nakadate, Sandra Valenzuela, and Emilio Chapela.
DISCOVERIES OF THE MEETING PLACE
Of the five Biennial exhibitions sponsored by FotoFest, the one non-thematic exhibition is the returningDiscoveries of the Meeting Place, the eighth in a series that has proven to be a launching pad for photographic careers. Envisioned as a showcase for some of the best work discovered at the FotoFest's previous Biennial portfolio review, the Discoveries exhibition presents work chosen by ten reviewer/curators.
FOTOFEST PARTICIPATING SPACES
FotoFest's exhibitions are joined by over 100 other independent exhibitions at venues across Houston, Galveston, and surrounding counties. These Participating Spaces include the city's major museums and commercial galleries, non-profit spaces, artist-run spaces, corporate spaces, and retail establishments that choose to exhibit photographic art as part of the FotoFest Biennial. In 2008 over 120 spaces participated in the Biennial. The list of the FotoFest 2010 Biennial Participating Spaces (as of October 1, 2009) is available at http://www.fotofest.org/biennial2010
FOTOFEST 2010 BIENNIAL WORKSHOPS
For working artists, arts professionals, art lovers and the public, FotoFest is sponsoring two media Workshops as part of the FotoFest 2010 Biennial. Forms are available for download athttp://www.fotofest.org/biennial2010
FotoFest Biennial Exhibitions
Road to Nowhere
Curated by: Natasha Egan, Deputy Director, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Columbia College, Chicago
FotoFest at Winter Street Studios, 2101 Winter St, Houston, Texas
Natasha Egan's selections explore the United States at the close of the "American Century" as the nation negotiates its transition from Cold War superpower to an embattled, economically fragile nation.
Artists: Sheila Pree Bright, Jeff Brouws, Tim Davis, Myra Greene, Eirik Johnson, Jason Lazarus, An-My Le, Nic Nicosia, David Oresick, Trevor Paglen, Greta Pratt, Michael Robinson, Jason Salavon, Victoria Sambunaris, Christina Seely, Paul Shambroom, Greg Stimac, and Brian Ulrich.
Whatever Was Splendid
Curated by: Aaron Schuman, Independent Curator, Editor and Co-founder, Seesaw online magazine
FotoFest at Vine Street Studios, 1113 Vine Street, Houston, Texas
Aaron Schuman explores the legacy and continued influence of a "thoroughly modern photographic figure," Walker Evans.
Artists: Will Steacy, Michael Schmelling, Greg Stimac, Tema Stauffer, Jason Lazarus, Jane Tam, Richard Mosse, Craig Mammano, Todd Hido, Hank Willis Thomas, RJ Shaughnessy, and Mitch Epstein.
Assembly: Eight Emerging Photographers from Southern California
Curated by: Charlotte Cotton, Creative Director, National Media Museum, Bradford, U.K.; former Head of the Wallis Annenberg Department of Photography, Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Edward Robinson, Deputy Curator, Wallis Annenberg Department of Photography, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
FotoFest at Williams Tower, 2800 Post Oak, Houston, Texas
Charlotte Cotton and Edward Robinson are both transplants to Southern California. Their exhibition and the artists' work in it, are a reflection of the region's place in the American mythos.
Artists: Nicole Belle, Matthew Brandt, Peter Holzhauer, Whitney Hubbs, Matt Lipps, Joey Lehman Morris, Asha Schechter, and Augusta Wood.
Medianation
Curated by: Gilbert Vicario, Curator, Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, Iowa; Former Assistant Curator of Latin American Art and Latino Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
FotoFest at New World Museum; Art League, Houston; and other locations
As a curator of contemporary art, Gilbert Vicario sees photography as just one of several media, including video, installation and performance, used by contemporary artists. In Medianation, Mr. Vicario, "explores the interrelationship between the digital image and notions of process and performance in contemporary art."
Artists: Leslie Hall, Susanne Jirkuff, Adria Julia, Kalup Linzy, Daniel Joseph Martinez, Laurel Nakadate, Sandra Valenzuela, and Emilio Chapela.
DISCOVERIES OF THE MEETING PLACE
Of the five Biennial exhibitions sponsored by FotoFest, the one non-thematic exhibition is the returningDiscoveries of the Meeting Place, the eighth in a series that has proven to be a launching pad for photographic careers. Envisioned as a showcase for some of the best work discovered at the FotoFest's previous Biennial portfolio review, the Discoveries exhibition presents work chosen by ten reviewer/curators.
FOTOFEST PARTICIPATING SPACES
FotoFest's exhibitions are joined by over 100 other independent exhibitions at venues across Houston, Galveston, and surrounding counties. These Participating Spaces include the city's major museums and commercial galleries, non-profit spaces, artist-run spaces, corporate spaces, and retail establishments that choose to exhibit photographic art as part of the FotoFest Biennial. In 2008 over 120 spaces participated in the Biennial. The list of the FotoFest 2010 Biennial Participating Spaces (as of October 1, 2009) is available at http://www.fotofest.org/biennial2010
FOTOFEST 2010 BIENNIAL WORKSHOPS
For working artists, arts professionals, art lovers and the public, FotoFest is sponsoring two media Workshops as part of the FotoFest 2010 Biennial. Forms are available for download athttp://www.fotofest.org/biennial2010
Ryoji Ikeda and Infinite Egress
Ryoji Ikeda: data.tron/data.scan
September 26 to December 13, 2009
How many points are there in a line?
What is the number of numbers?
How can we verify that the random is random?
Japanese artist Ryoji Ikeda exhibits two works from his datamatics project, a series of experiments that explore such questions, physically and mathematically.
data.tron and data.scan are audiovisual installations composed from a combination of pure mathematics and the vast sea of data present in the world. In both works, each single pixel of the visual image is strictly calculated by mathematical principle. Visitors to the exhibition will experience the vast universe of data in the infinite between 0 and 1.
data.tron and data.scan present audio-visual relationships relating to large sets of data from two recent meta-scientific investigations that have mapped the human body and the astronomical universe. The large scale vertical projection of data.tron heightens and intensifies the viewer's perception and total immersion within the work, while the horizontal monitor-based data.scan is registered more intimately in relation to the viewer's body. The dialogue of sound and image between data.tron and data.scan address notions of randomness, extremities of scale, and binaries of the visible/audible and invisible/inaudible.
The exhibition is produced in conjunction with the 10th Anniversary of the Surrey Art Gallery's TechLab digital art residency and exhibition program. The TechLab has incorporated close to 40 exhibitions, projects and residencies of leading edge contemporary digital media art over the past decade. In conjunction with the Surrey Art Gallery's larger program featuring more traditional media, TechLab has presented projects that have ranged from telerobotic sculpture to interactive virtual environments, GPS drawing to artificial intelligence and social networking systems.
Ryoji Ikeda: data.tron/data.scan represents the world premiere of data.scan and the Canadian premiere of data.tron.
data.scan is co-produced by Surrey Art Gallery and Forma (http://forma.org.uk).
data.tron is co-produced by Le Fresnoy studio national des arts contemporains and Forma.
Also featured:
Infinite Egress
Artworks by David Dyment & Roula Partheniou, Babak Golkar, Robert Kleyn, Lucy Pullen, and Robert Smithson.
September 26 to December 13, 2009
Considered by many to be the ultimate abstract concept, the infinite has compelled many modern and contemporary artists to try to capture its essence and relate its central meanings to modern life. Infinite Egress presents artwork from two recent moments of heightened interest in the infinite: the beginning of the 1970s and the last half of our own decade. Both moments represent a departure from a grandiose sculptural approach and geometric graphical paradoxes common to modernist representations of the infinite. Borrowing from visual languages associated with fashion and commercial display, entertainment and spectacle, spirituality and transcendental experience, optics and architecture, the artworks presented here consider the concept of infinity in relation to the body and its relationship to space. Infinite Egress—egress meaning here to depart, to emerge—considers metaphors of unending and limitlessness with an often wry sense of humour and awareness of our contemporary media-saturated environment.
Ryoji Ikeda: data.tron/data.scan and Infinite Egress are curated by Jordan Strom, Curator of Exhibitions and Collections at the Surrey Art Gallery. Both exhibitions coincide with the openings of two other exhibitions: Optic Ear, featuring artworks by Norman McLaren, Steina and Woody Vasulka and Elizabeth Vander Zaag, which consider the legacy of Op art through early 1970s experimental film, video and computer graphics and Arcade, featuring artworks by Kwantlen Polytechnic University's Fine Art faculty.
September 26 to December 13, 2009
How many points are there in a line?
What is the number of numbers?
How can we verify that the random is random?
Japanese artist Ryoji Ikeda exhibits two works from his datamatics project, a series of experiments that explore such questions, physically and mathematically.
data.tron and data.scan are audiovisual installations composed from a combination of pure mathematics and the vast sea of data present in the world. In both works, each single pixel of the visual image is strictly calculated by mathematical principle. Visitors to the exhibition will experience the vast universe of data in the infinite between 0 and 1.
data.tron and data.scan present audio-visual relationships relating to large sets of data from two recent meta-scientific investigations that have mapped the human body and the astronomical universe. The large scale vertical projection of data.tron heightens and intensifies the viewer's perception and total immersion within the work, while the horizontal monitor-based data.scan is registered more intimately in relation to the viewer's body. The dialogue of sound and image between data.tron and data.scan address notions of randomness, extremities of scale, and binaries of the visible/audible and invisible/inaudible.
The exhibition is produced in conjunction with the 10th Anniversary of the Surrey Art Gallery's TechLab digital art residency and exhibition program. The TechLab has incorporated close to 40 exhibitions, projects and residencies of leading edge contemporary digital media art over the past decade. In conjunction with the Surrey Art Gallery's larger program featuring more traditional media, TechLab has presented projects that have ranged from telerobotic sculpture to interactive virtual environments, GPS drawing to artificial intelligence and social networking systems.
Ryoji Ikeda: data.tron/data.scan represents the world premiere of data.scan and the Canadian premiere of data.tron.
data.scan is co-produced by Surrey Art Gallery and Forma (http://forma.org.uk).
data.tron is co-produced by Le Fresnoy studio national des arts contemporains and Forma.
Also featured:
Infinite Egress
Artworks by David Dyment & Roula Partheniou, Babak Golkar, Robert Kleyn, Lucy Pullen, and Robert Smithson.
September 26 to December 13, 2009
Considered by many to be the ultimate abstract concept, the infinite has compelled many modern and contemporary artists to try to capture its essence and relate its central meanings to modern life. Infinite Egress presents artwork from two recent moments of heightened interest in the infinite: the beginning of the 1970s and the last half of our own decade. Both moments represent a departure from a grandiose sculptural approach and geometric graphical paradoxes common to modernist representations of the infinite. Borrowing from visual languages associated with fashion and commercial display, entertainment and spectacle, spirituality and transcendental experience, optics and architecture, the artworks presented here consider the concept of infinity in relation to the body and its relationship to space. Infinite Egress—egress meaning here to depart, to emerge—considers metaphors of unending and limitlessness with an often wry sense of humour and awareness of our contemporary media-saturated environment.
Ryoji Ikeda: data.tron/data.scan and Infinite Egress are curated by Jordan Strom, Curator of Exhibitions and Collections at the Surrey Art Gallery. Both exhibitions coincide with the openings of two other exhibitions: Optic Ear, featuring artworks by Norman McLaren, Steina and Woody Vasulka and Elizabeth Vander Zaag, which consider the legacy of Op art through early 1970s experimental film, video and computer graphics and Arcade, featuring artworks by Kwantlen Polytechnic University's Fine Art faculty.
Laszlo Moholy-Nagy
ON THE OCCASION OF THE NINETEETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BAUHAUS,
THE SCHIRN PRESENTS A MAJOR RETROSPECTIVE OF THE HUNGARIAN ARTIST LÁSZLÓ MOHOLY-NAGY
The Hungarian artist László Moholy-Nagy (1895–1946) became known in Germany through his seminal work as a teacher at the Staatliches Bauhaus in Weimar and Dessau (1923–1928) under Walter Gropius's direction. Taking responsibility for the preliminary course and the metal workshop, he decisively informed the Constructivist and social reorientation of the Bauhaus. Interlinking art, life, and technology and underscoring the visual and the material aspects in design were key issues of his work and resulted in a modern, technology-oriented language of forms. His pioneering theories on art as a testing ground for new forms of expression and their application to all spheres of modern life are still of influence today. Presenting about 170 works – paintings, photographs and photograms, sculptures and films, as well as stage set designs and typographical projects – the retrospective encompasses all phases of his oeuvre. The exhibition at the Schirn also presents the Raum der Gegenwart (Room of Today), which offers a concise summary of Moholy-Nagy's work and has not been built before 2009.
No other teacher at the Bauhaus, nor nearly any other artist of the 1920s in Germany, developed such a wide range of ideas and activities as Moholy-Nagy. His oeuvre bears evidence to the fact that he considered painting and film, photography and sculpture, stage set design, drawing, and the photogram to be of equal importance. He continually fell back upon these means of expression, using them alternately, varying them, and taking them up again as parts of a universal concept whose pivot was the alert, curious, and unrestrained experimental mind of the "multimedia" artist himself. Long before people began to talk about "media design" and professional "marketing", Moholy-Nagy worked in these fields, too – as a guiding intellectual force in terms of new technical, design and educational instruments.
In spite of his manifold activities and inventions in the sphere of so-called applied art, Moholy-Nagy by no means advocated abolishing free art. Before, during, and long after his years at the Bauhaus, he produced numerous paintings, drawings, collages, woodcuts, and linocuts, as well as photographs and films as autonomous works of art. Like his design solutions, his works in the classical arts, in painting and sculpture, also reveal his aesthetically and conceptually radical approach. He also pursued new paths with his famous Light-Space Modulator of 1930, conceiving his gesamtkunstwerk composed of color, light, and movement as an "apparatus for the demonstration of the effects of light and movement." It was equally new territory he conquered in the fields of photography and film: considering his cameraless photography, his photograms, and his abstract films, Moholy-Nagy must still be regarded as one of the most important twentieth-century photographers and key figures for today's media theories.
Thanks to his experiments with photography and the photogram, László Moholy-Nagy was one of the first typographers of the 1920s to recognize the new possibilities offered by the combination of typeface, surface design, and pictorial signs with recent photographic techniques. As a Bauhaus teacher for typography, he designed almost all of the 14 Bauhaus books published between 1925 and 1929 and – besides co-editing them with Walter Gropius – took care of the entire presentation of the books' contents and their production.
After he had left the Bauhaus in 1928, he founded his own office in Berlin, where he, among other things, developed advertising solutions for Wilhelm Wagenfeld's designs for the Jena Glassworks. Faced with the Nazis' seizure of power, Moholy-Nagy emigrated to the United States and founded the New Bauhaus in Chicago in 1937 and, after it had been closed, the Chicago School (and later Institute) of Design in 1939. László Moholy-Nagy died in Chicago in 1946.
CATALOG: László Moholy-Nagy. Edited by Ingrid Pfeiffer and Max Hollein. With a preface by Max Hollein and texts by Ulrike Gärtner, Kai-Uwe Hemken, Gerald Köhler, Herbert Molderings, Ingrid Pfeiffer, and Joyce Tsai. German and English editions, 192 pages with 220 illustrations each, Prestel Verlag, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-7913-5002-8 (English), ISBN 978-3-7913-5001-1 (German).
THE SCHIRN PRESENTS A MAJOR RETROSPECTIVE OF THE HUNGARIAN ARTIST LÁSZLÓ MOHOLY-NAGY
The Hungarian artist László Moholy-Nagy (1895–1946) became known in Germany through his seminal work as a teacher at the Staatliches Bauhaus in Weimar and Dessau (1923–1928) under Walter Gropius's direction. Taking responsibility for the preliminary course and the metal workshop, he decisively informed the Constructivist and social reorientation of the Bauhaus. Interlinking art, life, and technology and underscoring the visual and the material aspects in design were key issues of his work and resulted in a modern, technology-oriented language of forms. His pioneering theories on art as a testing ground for new forms of expression and their application to all spheres of modern life are still of influence today. Presenting about 170 works – paintings, photographs and photograms, sculptures and films, as well as stage set designs and typographical projects – the retrospective encompasses all phases of his oeuvre. The exhibition at the Schirn also presents the Raum der Gegenwart (Room of Today), which offers a concise summary of Moholy-Nagy's work and has not been built before 2009.
No other teacher at the Bauhaus, nor nearly any other artist of the 1920s in Germany, developed such a wide range of ideas and activities as Moholy-Nagy. His oeuvre bears evidence to the fact that he considered painting and film, photography and sculpture, stage set design, drawing, and the photogram to be of equal importance. He continually fell back upon these means of expression, using them alternately, varying them, and taking them up again as parts of a universal concept whose pivot was the alert, curious, and unrestrained experimental mind of the "multimedia" artist himself. Long before people began to talk about "media design" and professional "marketing", Moholy-Nagy worked in these fields, too – as a guiding intellectual force in terms of new technical, design and educational instruments.
In spite of his manifold activities and inventions in the sphere of so-called applied art, Moholy-Nagy by no means advocated abolishing free art. Before, during, and long after his years at the Bauhaus, he produced numerous paintings, drawings, collages, woodcuts, and linocuts, as well as photographs and films as autonomous works of art. Like his design solutions, his works in the classical arts, in painting and sculpture, also reveal his aesthetically and conceptually radical approach. He also pursued new paths with his famous Light-Space Modulator of 1930, conceiving his gesamtkunstwerk composed of color, light, and movement as an "apparatus for the demonstration of the effects of light and movement." It was equally new territory he conquered in the fields of photography and film: considering his cameraless photography, his photograms, and his abstract films, Moholy-Nagy must still be regarded as one of the most important twentieth-century photographers and key figures for today's media theories.
Thanks to his experiments with photography and the photogram, László Moholy-Nagy was one of the first typographers of the 1920s to recognize the new possibilities offered by the combination of typeface, surface design, and pictorial signs with recent photographic techniques. As a Bauhaus teacher for typography, he designed almost all of the 14 Bauhaus books published between 1925 and 1929 and – besides co-editing them with Walter Gropius – took care of the entire presentation of the books' contents and their production.
After he had left the Bauhaus in 1928, he founded his own office in Berlin, where he, among other things, developed advertising solutions for Wilhelm Wagenfeld's designs for the Jena Glassworks. Faced with the Nazis' seizure of power, Moholy-Nagy emigrated to the United States and founded the New Bauhaus in Chicago in 1937 and, after it had been closed, the Chicago School (and later Institute) of Design in 1939. László Moholy-Nagy died in Chicago in 1946.
CATALOG: László Moholy-Nagy. Edited by Ingrid Pfeiffer and Max Hollein. With a preface by Max Hollein and texts by Ulrike Gärtner, Kai-Uwe Hemken, Gerald Köhler, Herbert Molderings, Ingrid Pfeiffer, and Joyce Tsai. German and English editions, 192 pages with 220 illustrations each, Prestel Verlag, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-7913-5002-8 (English), ISBN 978-3-7913-5001-1 (German).
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Arthur Renwick, Adrian Stimson, Jeff Thomas
The Canadian Cultural Centre presents Unmasking : Arthur Renwick, Adrian Stimson, Jeff Thomas, an exhibition organized for "Photoquai" , the New World Visual Arts biennale of the Quai Branly museum in Paris.
The photographic works of Arthur Renwick, Adrian Stimson, and Jeff Thomas are diverse, and to varying degrees, confrontational expressions of First Nations identity. Unmasking explores their individual strategies, which can be gentle, campy, or whimsical, while creating conversations between contemporary art, mass culture, and representations of the past.
All three artists use staging, or posing, of the human subject, referring directly or obliquely to photographic documents, such as Edward S. Curtis's monumental and flawed The North American Indian, as well as stereotypical three-dimensional objects, ranging from sculptures to toys. All three also look to the built environment and the landscape for vestiges of First Nations representation and still active systems of belief. Every work in Unmasking carries signs of rupture in the historical account – signs that draw out specific histories and contemporary realities. Their mises-en-scène and performances are based on sound research and deep understanding of cultural traditions, while firmly implanted in the present. Their images powerfully state: we are here now; recognize us; acknowledge us; deal with us.
The exhibition has been organized by independent curators Martha Langford and Sherry Farrell Racette for the Canadian Cultural Centre, within the context of Photoquai – Renwick, Stimson, and Thomas are featured in the 2009 edition.
The photographic works of Arthur Renwick, Adrian Stimson, and Jeff Thomas are diverse, and to varying degrees, confrontational expressions of First Nations identity. Unmasking explores their individual strategies, which can be gentle, campy, or whimsical, while creating conversations between contemporary art, mass culture, and representations of the past.
All three artists use staging, or posing, of the human subject, referring directly or obliquely to photographic documents, such as Edward S. Curtis's monumental and flawed The North American Indian, as well as stereotypical three-dimensional objects, ranging from sculptures to toys. All three also look to the built environment and the landscape for vestiges of First Nations representation and still active systems of belief. Every work in Unmasking carries signs of rupture in the historical account – signs that draw out specific histories and contemporary realities. Their mises-en-scène and performances are based on sound research and deep understanding of cultural traditions, while firmly implanted in the present. Their images powerfully state: we are here now; recognize us; acknowledge us; deal with us.
The exhibition has been organized by independent curators Martha Langford and Sherry Farrell Racette for the Canadian Cultural Centre, within the context of Photoquai – Renwick, Stimson, and Thomas are featured in the 2009 edition.
Jim Drain
http://www.blantonmuseum.org
The Blanton Museum of Art is pleased to present I Will Show You the Joy-Woe Man, a new multi-media installation by internationally recognized, Miami-based artist Jim Drain.
The epic poem Gilgamesh resonated in Jim Drain's mind last spring as he came to Austin to make this new project for The Blanton's WorkSpace series. An ancient coming-of-age story from Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), the myth pairs a disenchanted ruler, Gilgamesh, with his half-wild twin, Enkidu. Together, they journey through different worlds, exploring changing identities in a quest for adventure and, perhaps, immortality. The experiences they encounter, the choices they must make along the way, all posit wildness against responsibility, darker impulses against knowledge and transcendence.
I Will Show You the Joy-Woe Man—a series of projected video vignettes embellished with ambient sound and sculptural elements—is Drain's impressionistic response to the tale of Gilgamesh, who has counterparts in contemporary popular culture, including video game and comic book heroes. It was as if looking through the eyes of such archetypal, morally ambivalent characters that Jim first sought images and settings in Austin for the filming project. Ominous oaks, bat-filled skies, and grackle squawks abound in the final phantasmagorical work, the result of a five-week residency.
WorkSpace is an invitation to experiment. Revisiting a strategy from his days as a member of the Providence-based Forcefield music/performance collective, Drain conceived and directed video performances by local actors over several weeks' time. Mostly members of the art and music communities, the performers improvised the states of mind that drive Gilgamesh's protagonists. Then, editing the footage for eight specific vignettes, Drain projected them within a dense, anthropomorphized installation of recycled objects. Hallucinogenic images rotate around the upper and lower registers of the 800 square foot gallery, creating a fragmented space-in-the-round that brims with material and sensorial detail.
The Blanton Museum of Art is pleased to present I Will Show You the Joy-Woe Man, a new multi-media installation by internationally recognized, Miami-based artist Jim Drain.
The epic poem Gilgamesh resonated in Jim Drain's mind last spring as he came to Austin to make this new project for The Blanton's WorkSpace series. An ancient coming-of-age story from Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), the myth pairs a disenchanted ruler, Gilgamesh, with his half-wild twin, Enkidu. Together, they journey through different worlds, exploring changing identities in a quest for adventure and, perhaps, immortality. The experiences they encounter, the choices they must make along the way, all posit wildness against responsibility, darker impulses against knowledge and transcendence.
I Will Show You the Joy-Woe Man—a series of projected video vignettes embellished with ambient sound and sculptural elements—is Drain's impressionistic response to the tale of Gilgamesh, who has counterparts in contemporary popular culture, including video game and comic book heroes. It was as if looking through the eyes of such archetypal, morally ambivalent characters that Jim first sought images and settings in Austin for the filming project. Ominous oaks, bat-filled skies, and grackle squawks abound in the final phantasmagorical work, the result of a five-week residency.
WorkSpace is an invitation to experiment. Revisiting a strategy from his days as a member of the Providence-based Forcefield music/performance collective, Drain conceived and directed video performances by local actors over several weeks' time. Mostly members of the art and music communities, the performers improvised the states of mind that drive Gilgamesh's protagonists. Then, editing the footage for eight specific vignettes, Drain projected them within a dense, anthropomorphized installation of recycled objects. Hallucinogenic images rotate around the upper and lower registers of the 800 square foot gallery, creating a fragmented space-in-the-round that brims with material and sensorial detail.
Haegue Yang
http://www.walkerart.org
In the last few years, Haegue Yang (born 1971, based in Seoul and Berlin) has worked with non-traditional materials such as customized venetian blinds and electrical devices including lights, infrared heaters, and fans, to create a series of carefully orchestrated and nuanced installations that operate as microcosms of sensory experiences. The centerpiece of the artist’s first U.S. solo museum exhibition,Integrity of the Insider, is Yearning Melancholy Red (2008), an installation constructed from custom-made white and faux-wood blinds suspended from the ceiling and arranged in interconnecting crystalline forms surround Plexiglas mirrors, infrared heat lamps, fans, with circling theater lights are connected to a drum kit, which viewers are invited to play.
Co-produced by the Walker and REDCAT (Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater), Los Angeles, where it premiered in the artist's solo exhibition Asymmetric Equality in June 2008, Yearning Melancholy Redreflects the artist's ongoing engagement with certain historical figures of interest, in this case, the late French writer and filmmaker, Marguerite Duras. While Yang's own bond with the storied, legendary personage is the reservoir from which the work of art stems, the installation itself makes no specific references to concrete names, events, or realities, instead imparting to viewers the most abstract qualities—namely, geometry, light, and sound.
The exhibition also includes selections of smaller-scale works from 2000–2007 that formally and intellectually inform and dialogue with Yearning Melancholy Red. Several works explore "non-folding," an important concept which contemplates how processes of un-making—in the forms of literally unfolding, flattening, spray-painting, and time-lapse or serial photography—can become acts of making. Other works are instigated by Yang's existence in more than one society and culture, and the desire to belong to, or counter, the tradition of avant-garde she both identifies with and feels distance from.
In conjunction with the exhibition, Yang will spend three weeks at the Walker to conduct an experimental project where she aims to "domesticize the institution" by taking up residence as an apprentice in the museum. Provocatively exploring her concept of the antagonistic relationship between artist/artwork and institution, Yang has mobilized the Walker to bring together a group of “expert” participants in a skill-share and knowledge exchange. Titled Shared Discovery of What We Have and Already Know, Yang will engage participants as both teachers and learners in a series of discussions and workshops that will investigate the role of research in her practice as well as critical notions in her work, such as abstraction, community, and subjectivity. A resulting series of multidisciplinary public programs will be presented in February 2010 to coincide with the end of the exhibition.
In the last few years, Haegue Yang (born 1971, based in Seoul and Berlin) has worked with non-traditional materials such as customized venetian blinds and electrical devices including lights, infrared heaters, and fans, to create a series of carefully orchestrated and nuanced installations that operate as microcosms of sensory experiences. The centerpiece of the artist’s first U.S. solo museum exhibition,Integrity of the Insider, is Yearning Melancholy Red (2008), an installation constructed from custom-made white and faux-wood blinds suspended from the ceiling and arranged in interconnecting crystalline forms surround Plexiglas mirrors, infrared heat lamps, fans, with circling theater lights are connected to a drum kit, which viewers are invited to play.
Co-produced by the Walker and REDCAT (Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater), Los Angeles, where it premiered in the artist's solo exhibition Asymmetric Equality in June 2008, Yearning Melancholy Redreflects the artist's ongoing engagement with certain historical figures of interest, in this case, the late French writer and filmmaker, Marguerite Duras. While Yang's own bond with the storied, legendary personage is the reservoir from which the work of art stems, the installation itself makes no specific references to concrete names, events, or realities, instead imparting to viewers the most abstract qualities—namely, geometry, light, and sound.
The exhibition also includes selections of smaller-scale works from 2000–2007 that formally and intellectually inform and dialogue with Yearning Melancholy Red. Several works explore "non-folding," an important concept which contemplates how processes of un-making—in the forms of literally unfolding, flattening, spray-painting, and time-lapse or serial photography—can become acts of making. Other works are instigated by Yang's existence in more than one society and culture, and the desire to belong to, or counter, the tradition of avant-garde she both identifies with and feels distance from.
In conjunction with the exhibition, Yang will spend three weeks at the Walker to conduct an experimental project where she aims to "domesticize the institution" by taking up residence as an apprentice in the museum. Provocatively exploring her concept of the antagonistic relationship between artist/artwork and institution, Yang has mobilized the Walker to bring together a group of “expert” participants in a skill-share and knowledge exchange. Titled Shared Discovery of What We Have and Already Know, Yang will engage participants as both teachers and learners in a series of discussions and workshops that will investigate the role of research in her practice as well as critical notions in her work, such as abstraction, community, and subjectivity. A resulting series of multidisciplinary public programs will be presented in February 2010 to coincide with the end of the exhibition.
