ART NEWS:Sept.04
In celebration of its 50th anniversary, Lisson Gallery Milan presents the group exhibition “Five / Fifty / Five Hundred” that takes place inside the gallery’s building and the adjoining garden. The exhibition draws inspiration from the gallery’s inaugural exhibition, “I Know About Creative Block And I Know Not To Call It By Name” (2011).A highlight of the exhibition includes a large-scale, wooden structure by Ai Weiwei assembled in the shape of a icosahedron, a form first illustrated by Leonardo da Vinci for the mathematician Luca Pacioli’s 1509 treaty The Divine Proportion. “Wow!” (2013) is a neon installation by Christian Jankowski. The work is part of a larger series that translates entries from visitor books to Jankowski’s exhibitions into neon. Other participating artists include Angela de la Cruz, Spencer Finch, Ryan Gander, Douglas Gordon, Shirazeh Houshiary, John Latham, Richard Long, Haroon Mirza, Julian Opie and Florian Pumhösl. Info: Lisson Gallery, Via Zenale 3, Milan, Duration: 22/9-28/10/16, days & Hours: Mon-Fri 10:00-18:00, www.lissongallery.com
“Green Island”, a solo exhibition by João Vasco Paiva takes land cityscapes as a starting point to deconstruct various states of ambivalence, framed ideals of the urbanised versus the natural, the push and pull between construction and eventual dereliction. At the heart of the exhibition is its title, “Green Island”, which refers to a cement brand produced in Hong Kong, yet established as a company in the early 20th Century on an island brandishing the same name in Macao. Paiva uses this title as a point of departure, reflecting visually on the irony of the words in the context of the city’s framework, whilst using the material itself to mount a discourse on the urban dialectic. Channelling this are the centrally-placed sets of sculptures: casted water bottles and cement bags. Beyond their literal, medium-based association with the exhibition name, they nod to a city’s growth near water sources, its construction and social productivity. Info: Edouard Malingue Gallery, Sixth floor, 33 Des Voeux , Road Central, Hong Kong, Duration 23/9-22/10/16, Days & Hours: Mon-Sat 10:00-19:00, http://edouardmalingue.com
The “Society Machine” explores the contemporary image of Sweden by looking at the effects of the cultural transformation that served as foundation for the world-famous Swedish welfare state—industrialization. Works by more than 30 artists are exhibited together with objects selected from Malmö Museer’s cultural, natural and technical history collections. In dialogue with these historic collections, the contemporary art projects portray a fundamentally changed society, today in the midst of its next large-scale transformation. The term “industry” is used in the exhibition as a prism through which different images of society become visible. Many of the works examine the global consequences of local histories, in the form of conflict, migration and environmental destruction, as well as international aid and solidarity projects. But the exhibition also demonstrates how art has drawn inspiration from the materials and aesthetic possibilities of industrialization, which have continuously pushed the limits for what has been considered art. Info: Curator: Lisa Rosendahl, Malmö Konstmuseum, Malmöhusvägen 6, Malmö, Duration: 24/1/16-5/1/17, Days & Hours: Daily 10:00-17:00, http://malmo.se
The exhibition “Today My Empire Sings” includes Koizumi’s recent series of paintings “Air”, that was the source of recent controversy in Japan. For this series Koizumi enlarged existing (news) photographs of public appearances of the emperor. Koizumi subsequently meticulously retouched the photographs with oil paint, making the emperor vanish from them, and imbuing the images with a ghostly absence. Central to the exhibition is a new video installation, revisiting the imperial subject matter of “Air”. Filmed during the annual anti-emperor rally that takes place in Tokyo on August 15, Koizumi introduced actors and musicians in the volatile, heavily policed environment, directing them towards an intense climax. Info: De Hallen Haarlem, Grote Markt 16, Haarlem, Duration: 24/9/16-8/1/17, Days & Hours: Tue-Sun 11:00-17:00, Sun 12:00-17:00, www.dehallen.nl
Alongside Koizumi’s exhibition, De Hallen Haarlem presents “What the Heart Wants” a solo exhibition of Cécile B. Evans. For her eponymous video installation around protagonist “HYPER” that premiered at the 9th Berlin Biennale, Evans is transforming the second floor of the Museum into an immersive environment. Accompanying the exhibition, the installation “Working on What the Heart Wants” is also on view, in which Evans offers a glimpse of the work’s production process. The universe of “What the Heart Wants” (2016) proposes a speculative version of what it could mean to be human in a future where a single system, which controls such aspects of our lives, has limitless power. This system, which has evolved to take the form of a woman named HYPER,endeavors to better humankind but inevitably encounters difficulties when her choices, motivated by technological progress, impact essential questions such as: who gets to be a person, an individual? Info: De Hallen Haarlem, Grote Markt 16, Haarlem, Duration: 24/9/16-8/1/17, Days & Hours: Tue-Sun 11:00-17:00, Sun 12:00-17:00, www.dehallen.nl
Over a period of 30 years (from the mid-‘50s to the late ‘80s), Tetsumi Kudo created a consistent body of work that serves as a model for contemporary conceptual approaches of Posthumanism and the New Materialism. The Fridericianum presents the first comprehensive retrospective exhibition of the Japanese artist’s work in Germany. Forms converge, melt or conglomerate in the microcosms cultivated by Tetsumi Kudo. Body parts become autonomous beings and categorical hierarchies are set aside. Eyes, noses, and light-emitting diodes proliferate, while plants, electrical circuits, and brains merge in cages, cubes, boxes, and aquariums. Kudo reflects upon the ideological boundaries between mankind, nature, and technology from the distanced perspective of an unsentimental observer. He aggressively criticizes the supposedly unique status of the human being. Info: Curator: Susanne Pfeffer, Fridericianum, Friedrichsplatz 18, Kassel, Duration 26/9/16-1/1/17, Days & Hours: Tue-Sun 11:00-18:00, www.fridericianum.org
Using a “poor” do-it-yourself laptop technique and HD video, and experimenting with cutting-edge digital production and editing practices, Atkins’ works salvage the anxiety and autism of the present, recreating a dimension caught in the folds of reality between corporality and absence. The works “Even Pricks” (2013), “Warm, Warm, Warm Spring Mouths” (2013), “Ribbons” (2014), “Hisser” (2015) and “Happy Birthday!!!” (2014), in addition to several new interventions by the artist, are on presentation at the Castello di Rivoli, while the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo hosts the work “Safe Conduct” (2016), which focuses on our passage through strict control systems in airports that infringe on our privacy while providing a sense of safety, is presented in the new architectural design of the Fondazione Sandretto. Info: Curators: Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev & Marianna Vecellio, Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Piazza Mafalda di Savoia, Rivoli, Duration: 27/9/16-29/1/17, Days& Hours: Tue-Fri 10:00-17:00, Sat-Sun 10:00-19:00, www.castellodirivoli.org and Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Via Modane, 16, Turin, Duration: 27/9/16-29/1/17, Days& Hours: Thu 8:00-23:00, Fri-Sun 12:00-17:00
“Emotional Archaeology” is a major solo exhibition of artist Daphne Wright, presenting a number of key works spanning the artist’s career. Daphne Wright has developed an approach that involves intensive research and psychological engagement, and the exhibition considers her practice as “emotional archaeology”. Sculpture, installation and sound, drawing, prints, and film draw upon references from political, social or art history to literature and film, poetry and music. These materials are employed in an unsettling and subtle subterfuge that aims to make visible hidden truths. The presentation of “Emotional Archaeology” at Arnolfini coincides with an exhibition of the same name at National Trust Tyntesfield, where two installations by Daphne respond to the history of the Victorian Gothic house and estate. Info: Curator: Josephine Lanyon, Arnolfini, 16 Narrow Quay, Bristol, Duration: 30/9-31/12/16, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 11:00-18:00, www.arnolfini.org.uk
The Rockbund Art Museum presents the first solo exhibition of Felix Gonzalez-Torres in Greater China. Selected from 30 Institutions and Collections across the world, the exhibition includes over 40 works, spanning from 1987 to 1994, invites audiences to contemplate issues, both public and private, that are still relevant today. Throughout his work, the tension between the public and private, the shared and the personal, comprises a recurrent theme for Gonzalez-Torres. Many of the artist’s works consist of everyday objects, such as strings of light bulbs, mirrors, wall clocks or printed sheets of paper. Other works are comprised of spills of candy , mirrors, and jigsaw puzzles. His artwork itself is like a puzzle, but lacking a univocal order. Its demure minimal aesthetic solicits the audience to put the pieces together for themselves, inviting a plurality of pictures to emerge. Info: Curators: Larys Frogier & Li Qi, Rockbund Art Museum, 20 Huqiu Road, Huangpu District, Shanghai, Duration: 30/9-25/12/16, Days & Hours: Tue-Sun 10:00-18:00, www.rockbundartmuseum.org
“All Fun And Games Until Someone Gets Burnt…”, is a group exhibition developed to showcase internationally known emerging contemporary artists. The exhibition proposes to discuss concepts of consumption, materiality, and objecthood in light of today’s contemporary environment. In the age of Globalisation, once described as the latest name for imperialism by Clifford McLucas, the world has changed dramatically and rapidly, affecting economic, social, political and cultural aspects of life, which have brought not only opportunities but also challenges. The exhibition focus on the reinterpretation of materiality and the context it plays in the 21st Century, featuring artists that work across disciplines such as installation, painting, sculpture, video, stitching and works on paper. Info: Curators: Burcu Yüksel & Huma Kabakcı, Manhattan Loft Gallery, 65 Hopton Street, London, Duration 30/9-13/10/16, www.artkurio.com