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
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