Art in Brazil 1958 - 2000 @ MOMA Oxford - Experiment Experiência

Experiment Experiência 

Art in Brazil 1958 - 2000

Museum of Modern Art Oxford

28 July - 21 October 2001

The Museum of Modern Art Oxford presents sculpture, installation and film by eighteen of Brazil's most influential and ground-breaking artists.

Experiment Experiência captures the unique spirit of experimentation and dynamism of Brazilian Art since the late 1950s, presenting the work of three generations of artists. As well as artists exhibiting in Britain for the first time, the exhibition includes artists such as Tunga and Ernesto Neto, both of whom are featured at the Venice Biennale 2001.

Taking as its starting point the early experiments of the Brazilian avant-garde led by Lygia Clark, Hélio Oiticica, and Lygia Pape, Experiment Experiência reveals how artists sought radical alternatives to the confines of the picture plane. Rising out of an art of geometric abstraction, more expressive ways of working were explored, leading to an art that combined the sensuous use of materials with audience participation and interaction. Sérgio Camargo and Mira Schendel, shown at the Signals Gallery in London in the 1960s, together with their contemporaries, reached a wide international audience and began to establish Brazilian art as amongst the most radical in the world.

This was an art of lived experience, a meeting of mind and body, as seen in performances such as Lygia Pape’s ‘Divisor’ of 1968, which involved the participation of many communities in Rio de Janeiro, including children from the favelas. In the 1960s and 1970s the work of artists such as Antonio Dias and Antonio Manuel became increasingly politicised, produced as it was against a background of profound social and political change. Conversely, much art of the 1980s became more poetic and site specific, whilst retaining a sense of experimentation and a fascination with bodily movement, such as the expansive flowing steel and perspex structures of Iole de Freitas.

Experiment Experiência brings the work of these three generations of artists together for the first time in the UK, and will include: Waltercio Caldas, Sergio Camargo, Lygia Clark, José Damasceno, Iole de Freitas, Antonio Dias, Carmela Gross, Jac Leirner, Antonio Manuel, Ernesto Neto, Rivane Neuenschwander, Hélio Oiticica, Lygia Pape, Nuno Ramos, Rosângela Rennó, José Resende, Mira Schendel and Tunga.

The exhibition also offers visitors a unique opportunity to view films made by the artists, such as rarely seen works by Lygia Pape and Antonio Manuel, as well as documentaries and filmed performances.

Experiment Experiência culminates in the explosive and paradoxical art of Brazil today: forms which take on organic, monumental and often surreal perspectives but whose sensibilities can nevertheless be traced back to the earliest exponents of the Brazilian avant-garde.

Although many contemporary Brazilian artists such as Antonio Dias, Waltercio Caldas, Tunga, Jac Leirner and Ernesto Neto have already achieved international acclaim, the exhibition also presents the work of important Brazilian artists such as José Resende, who although less well-known here, are celebrated as seminal figures of contemporary art in their own country.

Experiment Experiência: Art in Brazil 1958-2000 is part of a broad programme of UK events organised by BrasilConnects celebrating Brazilian art and culture in 2001.The exhibition is curated by Nelson Aguilar and Astrid Bowron. A catalogue is available to accompany the exhibition with an essay by Paulo Venancio Filho and an introduction by the curators.

MOMA - MUSEUM OF MODERN ART OXFORD

30 Pembroke Street, Oxford, OX1 1BP

www.moma.org.uk

World of Print Media: DVD by Print Media Academy of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG

The Print Media Academy of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) is publishing a new learning software package entitled "World of Print Media". This is a multimedia reference work that offer comprehensive expertise from the graphic arts industry. As an interactive learning software that also doubles up as a source of reference, it is intended primarily for students, trainees and newcomers to the graphic industry who want to extend and test their knowledge. It is also invaluable for anyone working with print media who wants to understand the various processes involved. 

World of Print Media comes as a DVD-ROM or a set of 5 CD-ROMs. It is available in English and German and costs around 160 Euro. 

World of Print Media

Illustration: Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG.

World of Print Media consists of several sections. The "Statistics & Trends" section provides up-to-date statistical data of how the various print media compare with other media. A further section explains how printing has developed over the years and is continuing to develop. The principles of printing are explained using historical shots of old "presses" and today's industrial printshop solutions. The individual stages and aspects involved in producing print media prepress, press, postpress, inks, vanishes and printing stock are dealt with on a neutral basis and are not specific to any given manufacturer. The trends for the future are dealt with across a broad sweep. The program explains how print and IT are merging to create successful, Internet-based business models. The explanations are underpinned by facts and figures. For example, over 350 million users worldwide used the Internet in the year 2000. This figure is expected to rise to 765 million by the year 2005. A look at tomorrow's print and media businesses examines customers' future needs and how technology will answer these. Process optimization through networking and greater integration will be at the forefront in this development. 

Finally, the various Heidelberg products are covered briefly in a product-specific part which explains the individual components. 

"We regard e-learning instruments such as CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs and the Inter-net as a medium for augmenting conventional training units", explains Wolfgang Eisele, Head of the Print Media Academy. "Electronic media can be used to pre-pare students, thereby reducing the length of conventional seminars," adds Eisele. The benefits for students are obvious - they not only save time and costs and increase efficiency, but also allow students to learn whenever and wherever they want. The virtual classroom is global and knows no national frontiers or linguistic barriers. 

www.heidelberg.com

Cambo Wide DS Camera System

Cambo Wide DS Multiformat Camera System

Cambo introduces its new Cambo Wide DS, a portable, multiformat camera system that is sure to be a favorite among architectural and landscape photographers, especially those who have enjoyed the previous generations of CamboWide cameras. 

Cambo Wide DS Camera 

with Schneider Super Angulon Lens

Photo Courtesy Cambo

The DS is a compact 4x5 camera that accepts a variety of wide-angle lenses, and now provides "double-shift" movements — rise-and-fall and lateral shifts — which are perfect for anyone shooting exteriors and interiors, cityscapes and landscapes. The movements are precision-geared with positive-locking knobs. Movements are incorporated in the body of the camera, making it unlike the previous Wide, where the lens panel had an internal shift. Both movements have a precise millimeter scale for exact positioning.

Compared to other large format cameras, the Cambo Wide DS is extremely compact, portable and easy to operate. In addition to 4x5 sheet film holders, the Wide DS accepts 120 roll film holders that open up your shooting options to 6x4.5, 6x7, 6x9 and 6x12cm formats. A new 4x5 rotating back makes it easy to switch formats from horizontal to vertical.

"Cambo has done it again," Calumet International Product Manager Guy Shirm proclaimed. "They've taken a unique product and made it better. With the Cambo Wide DS you get a portable 4x5 (or roll film) wide-angle camera that uses the finest German optics and not only rise-and-fall but rear shift as well. This camera will be great for the backpacking photographer as well as the architectural photographer."

For plenty of wide-angle versatility, the Wide DS system offers a choice of four lenses that each feature different coverage characteristics. The Schneider Super Angulon 38mm XL, 47mm XL, 58mm XL and 72mm XL include helical focusing mounts on interchangeable lens plates. All lens plates have protective covers on guide bars around the front and the back for safe transport.

For additional shooting convenience, the Cambo Wide DS accepts a wide variety of Cambo accessories. A new optical viewfinder has been designed with a 120° viewing angle to ensure usage with all available lenses and film formats. The camera will also accept a range of viewing hoods, center filters, Polaroid and double-sheet film holders.

The Cambo Wide DS is made of a high-quality aluminum alloy for maximum stability, smooth and precise movements and lightweight portability. The convenient hand grip is made of handsome wood with rounded corners for a secure and safe grip and features a built-in cable release. Three internal spirit levels make it easy to level the camera for horizontal and vertical alignment, which is very important for critical architecture work. Aluminum parts are either anodized to prevent corrosion or painted with a black metallic paint for protection from the elements. For direct tripod mounting, a 3/8" thread is provided, but the camera is also compatible with Cambo’s quick-release system used with the CBH-5 QR Ball Heads.

The Cambo Wide DS is available through the Cambo international network of distributors.

Cambo's Web Site: www.cambo.com

Todd Hido, Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco - New Photographs

Todd Hido: New Photographs

Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco

July 7 - September 1, 2001

The STEPHEN WIRTZ GALLERY presents an exhibition of new photographs by TODD HIDO.

Todd Hido's exterior scenes reflect the artist's interest in the themes of home, family, and memory. His photographs, taken at night, depict anonymous suburban dwellings with their windows glowing in the soft darkness. Using only available light and long exposures, he creates highly detailed and richly saturated images. Throughout these color images there is an unsettling feeling of isolation and unease. Hido captures a haunting suburbia through the absence of people and the careful modulation of light and color. They allude to imagined domestic narratives taking place inside which rely on the viewer to complete. Hido is not passing judgements on these domestic scenes but rather acts as a detached voyeur.

Todd Hido's first book, "House Hunting", an over-sized color monograph combining both his exterior night shots and interior images of foreclosed homes, was recently published by Nazraeli Press. 

TODD HIDO (b.1968, Kent, OH) received his M.F.A. with High Distinction from California College of Arts and Crafts in 1996 and his B.F.A. from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and Tufts University. His work was recently included in "Immodest Gazes" at the Fundacio "la Caixa" in Barcelona and "Of the Moment: Contemporary Art from the Permanent Collection" at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Todd Hido will be exhibiting this Fall at Julie Saul Gallery in New York, and at Inman Gallery in Houston.

STEPHEN WIRTZ GALLERY

49 Geary Street, San Francisco, CA 94108

www.wirtzgallery.com

Exposition Philippe Gronon, Frac des Pays de la Loire, Carquefou

Philippe Gronon

Frac des Pays de la Loire, Carquefou

6 juillet - 9 septembre 2001

Le Frac des Pays de la Loire, installé depuis septembre 2000 dans ses nouveaux locaux près de Nantes, montre durant l'été une importante exposition des oeuvres du photographe Philippe Gronon. Il s'agit de la première exposition de cette ampleur. L'artiste présente pour l'occasion un ensemble d'oeuvres récentes en plus de quelques séries antérieures. Un catalogue bilingue co-produit avec le 19 Centre Régional d'Art Contemporain à Montbéliard et le Frac Franche-Comté avec un texte de Régis Durand et un entretien de l'artiste avec Jean-Marc Réol, fait le point sur son travail.

Philippe Gronon mène depuis une dizaine d'années une réflexion singulière sur la photographie tant d'un point de vue conceptuel que technique. Il réalise ses photos en noir et blanc, à la chambre ; il monte et il assemble les tirages sur des structures en aluminium après les avoir détourés et assemblés, ce qui leur donne un relief particulier. Fichiers de bibliothèques, écritoires, tableaux noirs, hublots ...l'artiste questionne frontalement des objets choisis pour leur esthétique, leur richesse historique et leur charge symbolique.

Certaines de ses photographies comme les écritoires ou les tableaux noirs sont des relevés méticuleux de surfaces d'inscriptions, avec les multiples traces d'usage ou de fabrication qu'elles portent, comme autant de signes de la marque du temps. Régis Durand souligne dans le catalogue qu'elles fonctionnent aussi comme "des surfaces d'attraction". C'est le cas de façon encore plus explicite avec les hublots ou les moteurs : "sortes de trous noirs, espaces de grande densité dans lesquels le regard est lui aussi aspiré". La façade des fichiers de bibliothèque quant à elle évoque un "contenu" qui à son tour fonctionne comme une métaphore de la mémoire, ici "archivée".

Les objets utilitaires pris pour cible par l'artiste sont toujours des plans géométriquement simples : "Ils sont intégrés dans des lieux destinés au savoir (écritoires, tableaux noirs, fichiers) et au pouvoir (tableaux de cotation en bourse, coffres-forts), invisibles dans leur contexte pour ce qu'ils sont symboliquement. Le résultat de cette opération photographique qui extrait la chose en la détourant pose alors la question de son statut : ni tout à fait image, ni réellement objet." (Philippe Gronon).

Dans la continuité du travail avec les fichiers, Philippe Gronon a entamé 4 séries importantes que l'on peut voir dans l'exposition. Celle intitulée "Le Paradis perdu" est un travail plus conceptuel d'évocation du livre imprimé (à "l'ancienne" avec des lettres en plomb), un travail commémoratif voire archéologique aussi (ces techniques ont quasiment disparues). Avec "les pierres lithographiques", des photos "encore plus abstraites" d'un procédé très ancien, l'artiste a révélé les accidents inhérents à la surface naturelle du minéral, à cette surface muette qui pourtant a été une matrice pour des images. Avec la série des photos de châssis numériques, Philippe Gronon s'intéresse à d'autres matrices (et à un procédé technologique cette fois) destinées à recevoir les images internes du corps. La dernière série, les "tas de fumier", constitue un véritable tournant dans son travail. Il s'agit d'une quinzaine de photographies prises dans les environs de Paris qui montrent des tas de fumier en premier plan de paysages essentiellement ruraux. Il s'agit de transformations organiques, immobilisées par la photo, en un moment qui ressemble à un paysage ...

FRAC DES PAYS DE LA LOIRE

24 bis Boulevard Ampère, La Fleuriaye, 44470 Carquefou

www.fracdespaysdelaloire.com

Fionna Murray, Rubicon Gallery, Dublin - Drawings

Fionna Murray : Drawings

Rubicon Gallery, Dublin 

26 June  - 14 July 2001 

Fionna Murray currently lives and works in Galway city. She grew up in the U.K. of Irish parents and much of her work is imbued with a sense of dislocation and an exploration of identity and origins. In 1995 she graduated with a B.A. from the Chelsea College of Art in London and received a Masters in Fine Art from the University of Ulster in 1997. This is her second solo show with the Rubicon Gallery in Dublin.Fionna Murray has also had a major two-person exhibition at Galway Arts Centre late last year and has participated in numerous group exhibitions throughout the country.

Her recent works consist of meticulous and deliberated ‘drawings’ with recurrent symbolic images or motifs; dwellings, hearths, flames and footprints. These moving minimal images deal with themes of privacy and identity in a way that defies explanation or even articulation. She lays down her marks with great consideration. These ‘marks’ are used as notations rather than descriptions. Delicate lines of sewing and subtle collage heighten the work’s materiality whilst hinting at the drawn line; defining location points, boundaries and areas of absence or presence.

“Boundaries are mapped out in a search for fragments and resemblances between things through the constant repetition of marks and erasures”.

In viewing Fionna Murray’s work one has a sense of private spaces being uncovered, places to take measure of one’s own physical presence. She registers the residue of experience and memory as a container for an elusive narrative of meanings.

RUBICON GALLERY

10 St Stephen's Green, Dublin 2

www.rubicongallery.ie