Maramotti Collection Reggio Emilia Italy

Art Museum > Italy > Reggio Emilia

 

MARAMOTTI COLLECTION

COLLEZIONE MARAMOTTI

 

© Courtesy Collezione Maramotti

Via Fratelli Cervi 66
Reggio Emilia
ITALY

Contacts
Ph. 0039 0522 382484
Fax 0039 0522 934479
info (at) collezionemaranotti.org
www.collezionemaramotti.org

Opening hours
Thursday and Friday 2.30 - 6.30 pm
Saturday and Sunday 9.30 - 12.30 am/ 3.00 - 6.00 pm

Closed 1 and 6 January, 25 April, 1 May, from 1 to 25 August, 25 and 26 December

Entry: free

Visit: Only by booking on the phone or the Internet via the website. Entry without booking may be possible only if places are available. Only a maximum of 25 visitors are allowed for each visit.

Two possibilities are offered: the complete tour (for a total of 2:30 hours ) or the shorter one (for 1:15 hour)

1st floor, Italian and European art Forties to Eighties
2nd floor, European and American art from the Eighties to the present day

Guided tours are available on request for groups of at least 15 people.

Useful information:

Accessibility to the exhibition is provided for people with mobility impairment.

The visit to the exhibit entails the presence of collection personnel.

Children under 14 only if accompanied by adults.

 

Till the year 2000, several artworks were on display in the Max Mara factory in order to promote a daily and stimulating exchange between artistic creativity and industrial design.

The 29 September 2007 seen the opening – in the historical plant of Max Mara company, of the Maramotti Collection of international contemporary art from the second postwar period to the present day.

An important selection of two hundreds artworks in the Collection, comprising several hundreds works all together, is therefore offered on display to art connoisseurs and lovers, following the desire of the founder, Achille Maramotti.

Achille Maramotti passion for contemporary art has made it possible to create and develop a collection which comprises paintings, sculptures and installations dated from 1945 to the present day, which represent some of the most relevant Italian and international artistic trends of the second half of the 20th century. An additional source of interest is provided by the fact that the artists are represented here by important works in their earlier years, in the phases where their work introduced elements of novelty in the contemporary artistic research.

The permanent collection, on display on two floors in the old company factory in a layout comprising forty three rooms and two open spstarts with aces, several important European paintings representing the expressionist and abstract trends of the late Forties-early Fifties, defined as informal movement, and a group of Italian pre-conceptual works: Fontana, Burri, Fautrier, Manzoni. Followed by relevant groups of paintings from the so-called Roman Pop Art: Angeli, Festa, Schifano, Tacchi, of Arte Povera in its double Roman and Turin articulation: Kounellis, Boetti, Merz, Penone, Pistoletto, Zorio, Anselmo and Conceptual Art.

These works are followed by fundamental paintings of Transavanguardia – Cucchi, Chia, Clemente, De Maria, Paladino –, relevant examples of German – Kiefer, Baselitz, Polke, A.R. Penck –  and American – Basquiat, Schnabel, Salle – new-expressionism; then we find a group of works of the New American Geometry from the Eighties-Nineties – Halley, Scully, Taaffe, Burton, Bleckner – and the most recent American and British experimentations  with artworks by Ritchie, Gallagher, Barry X Ball, Sachs, Essenhigh, Craig-Martin, Maloney.

The works made in the 21st century, which are mostly not present in the permanent collection, will be displayed in thematic exhibitions on the ground-floor area, for temporary exhibition projects.

The constant exploration of expression languages which are constantly evolving in fashion and art was always the encompassing passion of Achille Maramotti, a passion finding its ideal continuity in the family’s decision to make of this place a “work in progress” displaying and testifying of new artistic trends.

The transformation of a production facility of fashion collections into an exhibition venue has been designed by keeping in mind the stark essentiality of the structure, which was conceived from the start as a flexible place capable of transforming itself according to changing needs.

In order to testify of the close relationship between Max Mara and the art world, the Collection will house and present the works awarded with the biennial Max Mara Art Prize for Women in collaboration with the Whitechapel Gallery, for emerging artists from Great Britain.

During the first opening months of the Collection the winning art work in the first edition of the prize (2006), and titled Ninna Nanna/Lullaby, made by video artist Margaret Salmon, was on exhibit.

Omer Fast, Godville at Indianapolis Museum of Art

Contemporary Art Exhibition > Art Video > Omer Fast > Godville

Omer Fast, Godville

Indianapolis Museum of Art

September 28, 2007 - March 2, 2008

Godville was on view in the Mark and Carmen Holeman Video Gallery at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. It was the Midwest premiere and first United States museum exhibition of Godville by Israeli-born, Berlin-based artist Omer Fast.

Omer Fast creates video installations that explore the connection between media, culture and collective constructions of history. This two-channel video installation depicts three actors who inhabit Colonial Williamsburg, a restored eighteenth-century town in Virginia, also known as a “living-history museum.” For Godville (2004), he interviewed period actors from Colonial Williamsburg both in historic character and in their modern-day actual personas. These interviews are shown with a video of Colonial Wililamsburg landscape scenes.

Omer Fast, is looking forward to displaying his work in Indiana, which he refers to as “America’s heartland.” Regarding his exhibition at IMA the artist said, “I’m simply happy to have as wide an American audience for this work as possible. Since the work is dealing with the American narrative, both in terms of collective history, the desire for personal reinvention and a touch of the crazy vernacular, I think it is particularly accessible to American audiences: East, West and Center.”

The artwork includes two video projections, drawn from footage the artist gathered on site in Virginia. Through a vigorous editing process, interviews with historic interpreters conducted in and out of character are spliced together. By cutting and remixing the interviews, Fast combines the current personal stories and acted historical interpretations delivered by each speaker. The new narratives tell the story of people who are floating in America somewhere between past and present, fiction and real life. 

“The video presents a certain ambiguity existing around nostalgia or identity,” said assistant curator Rebecca Uchill. “The confrontation of past and present in this video can be surprising, even funny, but it also gives a more interrogative version of history as well as a fantastical view of truth.”

Omer Fast’s work was previously seen in the United States in the exhibition “Closed Circuit: New Media Acquisitions” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.  The artist has also previously exhibited in solo or dual exhibitions at venues including the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; International Institute for Visual Arts, London; Midway Contemporary, Minneapolis; and the Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich. Fast has received numerous awards including a 2003 prize from the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation and the 2003 annual Ars Viva award from the Kulturkreis der Deutschen Wirtschaft. Following his exhibition at the IMA, Omer Fast was featured at the Museum of Modern Art in Vienna in a major mid-career retrospective, opening on October 6, 2007.

INDIANAPOLIS MUSEUM OF ART

Picasso Cubiste au Musée Picasso, Paris

Picasso Cubiste

Musée Picasso, Paris

19 septembre 2007 – 7 janvier 2008

Le mot « cubisme » remonte à une boutade de Matisse, reprise par la presse, qui avait décrit comme une composition faite de « petits cubes » un paysage (1908) de Braque, compagnon de « cordée » de Picasso dans cette nouvelle manière de peindre et de voir.

Picasso garda toujours ses distances avec le mouvement cubiste qui se revendiquait de lui. Cependant, en 1923, dans un entretien au critique d’art Marius de Zayas, il en accepte le terme pour qualifier le développement de son oeuvre propre.

Depuis la Renaissance et jusqu’à la révolution Impressionniste, la peinture s’était voulue une fenêtre illusionniste ouverte sur le monde. Le cubisme est en rupture radicale avec cette idée. Il veut, chez Picasso, afficher la matérialité de la peinture et s’affirme comme un langage de signes : « Nous avons essayé de nous débarrasser du trompe-l’oeil pour trouver le “ trompe-l’esprit ”. » dira-t-il.

Avec son expression habitée par le lyrisme de Greco, une analyse géométrique des volumes issue de l’art de Cézanne, le cubisme picassien procède aussi d’une décomposition de la forme en unités plastiques empruntée aux arts primitifs, ibérique, africain, océanien, byzantin. Il détourne par ailleurs les règles de l’optique photographique, révèle un intérêt majeur pour les sources, l’iconographie, l’artisanat de la culture populaire, et introduit des fragments d’objets, de lettrages ou de coupures de presse.

Dès 1912, Apollinaire l’énonçait : « On peut peindre avec ce qu’on voudra, avec des pipes, des timbres-poste, des cartes postales ou à jouer, des candélabres, des morceaux de toile cirée, des faux cols, du papier peint, des journaux. Il me suffit, à moi, de voir le travail, il faut qu’on voie le travail, c’est par la quantité de travail fournie par l’artiste, que l’on voit la valeur d’une oeuvre d’art. »

Cette exposition est organisée par la Réunion des musées nationaux et le Musée Picasso.

Commissariat : Anne Baldassari, conservateur en chef du Patrimoine, directrice du musée national Picasso.

MUSEE PICASSO

Hôtel Salé - 5, rue de Thorigny, 75003 Paris

www.musee-picasso.fr

Hasselblad H3D-II

Hasselblad H3D-II

Hasselblad’s H3D line of products today achieve a new level of digital maturity and integration with the launch of the H3D-II, the fourth iteration of the camera system and one that can now justifiably lay claim to be the world’s finest digital SLR camera. Offering unsurpassed image quality delivered through an outstanding combination of hardware, software and lenses, the H3D-II is the clear leader in the high-end DSLR category, now a recognized segment of the photographic market.

A complete DSLR that is much more than the sum of its parts, the H3D-II is peerless in terms of its combined image quality and flexibility. While retaining its full digital lens line and the choice of 22, 31 or 39 megapixel capture units using CCD image sensors up to 48x36 mm – the largest currently available and more than twice the size of even the largest 35mm camera sensors – the H3D-II now has a large, bright 3” display, which affords both improved viewing of captured images and lower power consumption.

Reflecting the higher level of integration in the system, all the key functions of the camera are adjusted via digital menus, which can now be controlled via an intuitive thumbwheel control on the handle of the H3D-II, making the operation of the camera easier and more efficient. A new separate button for direct control of ISO settings and white balance has also been added to the camera controls.

To optimize the digital image quality of a DSLR, Hasselblad has identified the following key system components: an excellent optical system, comprising the best lenses twinned with the largest possible sensor format; full integration to enable lens correction and Hasselblad’s own Ultra-Focus; and the best possible RAW converter. With all these components in place, the result is Hasselblad’s STAR Quality images, photographic flexibility and a truly professional appearance.

In the H3D-II, Hasselblad has addressed each of the system components above to provide an unprecedented level of image quality that outperforms any professional digital camera system on the market today, delivering outstanding pixel resolution, better colors, and improved detail rendering. When used with Hasselblad HC and HCD lenses, the camera system offers full digital lens correction through its DAC-Digital Auto Correction, which, in addition to chromatic aberration and distortion, can now correct for vignetting phenomena.

Image noise in the H3D-II has been significantly reduced by improving the cooling of the sensor, achieved by attaching to the CCD a physical heatsink, which dissipates the heat generated to the entire camera body and considerably lowers the temperature of the system. As a component of Hasselblad’s revolutionary forthcoming image processing software, Phocus, the Hasselblad RAW Converter (HRC)also has an amazing anti-moiré capability which will eliminate moiré from any 3FR files, including even reprocessed images shot in 3FR on previous generations of Hasselblad cameras.

Demonstrating Hasselblad’s drive for continuous technical innovation, the H3D-II also features Hasselblad’s Global Image Locator (GIL), a unique integrated GPS product that automatically recordsthe camera‘s exact geographic co-ordinates at the precise moment of image capture. This data is integrated into the metadata of a specific image file and used together with the Hasselblad‘s newimaging software, Phocus, to allow images to be located on a map or found in a computer file system using the GPS coordinates as a search term. All the image files shot or stored in a specific location can be easily identified and found. As a direct link to Google Earth has also been built into Hasselblad’s Phocus software, it is also possible to establish via the internet what image files were captured at any particular location. With Google’s functionality, the user can also view their GPS tagged images, “fly” between them and even into them.

Christian Poulsen, CEO of Hasselblad, comments: “With the introduction of the Hasselblad H3D-II, we believe that the world’s best high-end DSLR camera has just got better. By further raising the level of integration by improving the controls, functionality and sensor cooling, and adding a new and more intuitive user interface, and a bright, 3” display, we continue to address the needs of professional photographers and to reassure them that, by investing in Hasselblad, they’ve made the right choice. The H3D-II continues the evolution of the world’s most advanced DSLR camera system and, will set a new standard for digital photographic quality.”

The new H3D-II is available immediately worldwide through Hasselblad’s national subsidiaries and channel partners with a retail price in Europe of 26.500€ for the H3DII-39, 21.500€ for the H3DII-31, and 17.900€ for the H3DII-22, excluding tax. In the USA, respective pricing is $33,995 for the H3DII-39, $26,995 for the H3DII-31, and $24,995 for the H3DII-22; and in the UK, £18,300 for the H3DII-39, £14,900 for the H3DII-31 and £12,500 for the H3DII-22, excluding VAT.

www.hasselblad.com

Helen Lewitt à la Fondation HCB, Paris

Helen Lewitt

Fondation HCB, Paris

12 septembre - 23 décembre 2007

HELEN LEWITT

New York, circa 1940

© Helen Levitt / courtesy Laurence Miller Gallery

HELEN LEWITT

New York, 1972

© Helen Levitt / courtesy Laurence Miller Gallery

Helen Levitt est l’une des figures emblématiques de la photographie documentaire du 20e siècle. Henri Cartier-Bresson avait choisi l’une de ses images pour l’exposition inaugurale de la Fondation HCB, Les Choix d’Henri Cartier-Bresson (2003). La Fondation HCB rend hommage à une œuvre majeure, longue de plus d’un demi-siècle. 

Helen Levitt a 94 ans. Elle vit toujours à New York, sa ville de prédilection, celle qui l’a vu naître et qui a constitué la scène fondamentale de son œuvre. Depuis ses débuts, dans les années 1930, et pendant plus de 50 ans, elle a inlassablement observé les habitants de ces quartiers, souvent modestes : Brooklyn, Harlem, Lower East Side ; les enfants surtout, leurs graffitis sur les murs et sur les trottoirs, le peuple des rues - l’énergie, la poésie et la beauté émanant de leur quotidien. Les photographies d’Helen Levitt magnifient l’imaginaire des enfants ; elles montrent aussi la richesse de la société américaine, l’effervescence du melting-pot en train de se former dans les rues de New York. 

Photographe de l’humain et de l’intime, Helen Levitt n’a jamais été photojournaliste, à la différence de ses contemporains engagés dans les années 1930 dans la FSA tels que Ben Shahn ou Walker Evans - qui disait que le travail d’Helen Levitt pourrait être qualifié « d’antijournalisme ». Helen Levitt a observé sa société comme artiste-photographe, documentariste sociale malgré elle. Avec James Agee, qui avait également travaillé avec Walker Evans (Let us Now Praise Famous Men, 1941), elle réalisa en 1945 son premier ouvrage, publié en 1965 : A Way of Seeing. 

Helen Levitt ne parle pas, ni d’elle ni de son œuvre : elle observe sans interférer, sans volonté didactique, sans message à délivrer. Son travail est « à la fois lyrique, méditatif, énigmatique, exubérant et réaliste », comme l’exprimait Sandra Phillips dans son essai publié en 1992 lors de l’exposition d’Helen Levitt au San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Inspirée par le surréalisme, le cinéma de Jean Cocteau, les photographies d’Atget, de Ben Shahn ou de Weegee - Helen Levitt avait par ailleurs rencontré Walker Evans et Cartier-Bresson au début des années 1930. Ces deux amitiés ont eu une influence indiscutable sur sa détermination à devenir photographe elle-même, puis sur sa façon de vivre sa passion. Comme Cartier-Bresson, elle adopta le Leica, et elle partit pour la seule et unique fois de sa vie en voyage, au Mexique en 1941. Elle servit d’ « alibi » à Walker Evans quand il réalisait sa fameuse série sur le métro new yorkais. Accompagné, il passait plus inaperçu. Helen Levitt réalisera à son tour une série dans les années 1960.

Helen Levitt s’est par ailleurs beaucoup intéressée au cinéma. Elle réalisa deux films en collaboration avec James Agee et Janice Loeb, considérés comme précurseurs du cinéma américain indépendant : The Quiet One en 1949, puis In the Street en 1952. Ils sont projetés régulièrement durant l’exposition.

L’exposition de la Fondation HCB rassemble une centaine de photographies, noir et blanc et couleur, emblématiques ou inédites, réalisées entre les années 1930 et 1980, pour la plupart à New York, mais aussi de rares images de son voyage au Mexique - mises en parallèle avec celles que Cartier-Bresson y avait réalisées quelques années auparavant. Réputée pour son travail noir et blanc, Helen Levitt avait par ailleurs reçu en 1959 une bourse Guggenheim pour étudier les techniques de la photographie couleur (la bourse fut renouvelée en 1960). Son travail couleur, moins connu, compte néanmoins des images devenues célèbres, comme cette petite fille mystérieusement accroupie dans un caniveau devant une voiture d’un vert presque fluorescent. L’ensemble de ses premières prises de vues en couleur fut volé au début des années 1970. Mais Helen Levitt reprit son travail, et en 1974 le MoMA organisa une projection continue de 40 de ses photographies couleur : une manière innovatrice de présenter son œuvre, et une nouvelle consécration.

La plupart des tirages exposés à la Fondation HCB a été empruntée à la galerie Laurence Miller de New York, qui la représente, mais aussi à des institutions publiques françaises et à des collectionneurs privés. La majorité des tirages noir et blanc sont des tirages d’époque, notamment des séries très émouvantes de petits vintages apportant un nouvel éclairage sur des images emblématiques. Les tirages couleurs, une trentaine, d’une modernité exceptionnelle, sont des dye transfers, procédé aujourd’hui quasiment disparu.

Le talent d’Helen Levitt a été reconnu très tôt par les grandes institutions américaines : Steichen lui consacra une exposition individuelle en 1943 au Musée d’Art Moderne de New York (MoMA). La Fondation HCB est heureuse de rendre hommage à son tour, plus de cinquante années plus tard, au travail de cette « photographe rebelle dotée d’un esprit libre, frondeur et merveilleux » (Agnès Sire). 

Commissaire de l’exposition : Agnès Sire

FONDATION HENRI CARTIER-BRESSON

2 impasses Lebouis, 75014 Paris

www.henricartierbresson.org

The Golden Age of Couture: Paris and London 1947-1957 at V&A London

 

THE GOLDEN AGE OF COUTURE:

PARIS AND LONDON 1947-1957

Victoria and Albert Museum, London

22 September 2007 - 6 January 2008

 

‘A golden age seemed to have come again’. Christian Dior, 1948

The V&A’s exhibition, The Golden Age of Couture: Paris and London 1947-1957, explore one of the most glamorous and remarkable decades in fashion history. Starting with the impact of Christian Dior’s New Look after the Second World War, it looks at the work of Dior and his contemporaries during the period when haute couture was at its height.

Coinciding with the 60th anniversary of the launch of the New Look in 1947, the exhibition will show how Dior’s ballerina-skirted dresses signalled the return to luxury and elegance after wartime austerity. It will examine the world of couture, highlighting the work of Dior, Cristóbal Balenciaga, Hubert de Givenchy and Pierre Balmain in Paris and their London counterparts Norman Hartnell and Hardy Amies. Other successful designers of the time - such as Fath, Griffe, Stiebel, and Michael of London - will feature in a broad survey of the decade.

More than 100 dresses will be on display including daywear, cocktail and evening dresses made for society and royalty alongside photographs by Cecil Beaton and Richard Avedon and original Hollywood and documentary film. There will be audio recordings, textiles and archival material such as bills of sales and letters. More than 95 per cent of the dresses are from the V&A’s own fashion collections.

In a decade when Dior set the popular style, with couture’s ripple effect influencing women’s fashion at every level, the exhibition will trace how Dior created the most successful fashion business model of the 20th century through advertising, licensing, perfume and publicity. It will reflect the sense of pride in Parisian couture that emerged in France after the war and examine the world of haute couture: designers, the history of couture, the houses, practices, clients, workshops and dissemination into popular fashion. A section will focus on handcraft and techniques, with undergarments and the insides of dresses on display.

The exhibition will show the distinct characteristics of the London couture houses, their strengths in tailoring and the formality of court and debutante gowns. Several dresses made for the Queen and Princess Margaret and other aristocratic clients by British designers will be on display.

The V&A has tracked down and purchased several couture gowns for the exhibition. One is a Givenchy blue cape (1957), identical to the one worn by Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face. Another is a Givenchy black wool dress suit (1955) worn by Leslie Caron. An exciting find is a red version of Dior’s glamorous Zemire (1954), a full length skirt, bodice and long jacket discovered in a cellar near the Seine in Paris, and previously known only through archive photographs. Other purchases include a red silk Dior Ecarlate cocktail dress (Autumn/Winter 1955-56), a Givenchy two-piece print day dress (1956) and a rare Jacques Griffe halter-neck evening dress (1950). New research has been carried out on many of the dresses for the exhibition, and around 70 have been especially conserved.

Mark Jones, Director of the V&A, said: “The exhibition celebrates an important decade in fashion history which had a huge influence on the way women dressed and the way the fashion industry evolved. The V&A is lucky to have a superb collection of dresses from this period. This exhibition has been an exceptional opportunity to research the V&A collections and to tell the story of the couture industry after the war.”

The exhibition will finish with a small selection of pieces of contemporary haute couture taken from the Autumn/Winter 2005/06 collection of designer John Galliano for Christian Dior in Paris, a collection which was an homage to the skills of Dior.

 

The Golden Age of Couture: Paris and London 1947-1957
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
22 September 2007 - 6 January 2008

Exposition N°1, Galerie Balice Hertling, Paris - Exposition inaugurale de la nouvelle galerie fondée par Daniele Balice et Alexander Hertling

Exposition N°1 

Galerie Balice Hertling, Paris

13 septembre – 10 octobre 2007

"Exposition N°1" inaugure Balice Hertling, une nouvelle galerie fondée à Paris par Daniele Balice et Alexander Hertling.

Cette exposition collective est une introduction au programme de Balice Hertling. Le choix des artistes et des oeuvres reflète la sensibilité et l'attitude des directeurs de la galerie. Il retrace également la série de remarquables rencontres engendrées par sa création. Certains des artistes exposés feront partie du programme régulier, d'autres sont présents en tant qu'amis et supporters.

Kerstin Brätsch, allemande installée à New York, oscille entre abstraction et figuration dans des oeuvres à l'esprit subtil et ésotérique. Le peintre berlinois Bernhard Brungs construit une anthologie d'images qui combinent son intérêt pour l'histoire et la littérature. Les oeuvres symboliques de l'américain Nick Mauss révèlent la sensibilité complexe et mystérieuse de l'artiste.

Le travail de l'artiste hollandaise Falke Pisano se concentre sur son intérêt pour la sculpture moderniste, créant un vocabulaire novateur issus de ses modèles, performances et vidéos. Reto Pulfer, d'origine suisse, élabore une oeuvre riche et variée (poésie, dessin, sculpture, musique et performance) autour d'un chaos organisé, entre le magique et l'accidentel. L'artiste danoise Pernille Kapper Williams établit à travers son travail d'installation un nouveau langage en référence à l'histoire de l'art et aux stratégies de l'esthétique du produit. L'artiste américain Oscar Tuazon appréhende l'idée d'une architecture alternative en réalisant sculptures, schémas, photographies et textes.

Balice Hertling partage l'espace avec castillo/corrales (un collectif d'artistes, conservateurs, critiques et auteurs), la maison d'édition Métronome Press et l'agence curatoriale Work Method.

GALERIE BALICE HERTLING 

47 rue Ramponeau, 75020 Paris 

www.balicehertling.com

Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles

 

SKIRBALL CULTURAL CENTER AT A GLANCE

 

GENERAL INFORMATION

SKIRBALL CULTURAL CENTER
2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90049

405 Freeway; exit Skirball Center Drive - Free parking.
Metro provides transportation to the Skirball via route #761.

Call: (310) 440-4500
Fax: (310) 440-4595

WEBSITE: www.skirball.org

 

Exhibition hours: Tuesday–Friday, 12:00–5:00 p.m.; Saturday–Sunday, 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. Closed Mondays and holidays.

Exhibition admission: $10 General; $7 Seniors 65+ and Full-Time Students; $5 Children 2–12; Free to Skirball Members and Children under 2. Ruby Gallery exhibitions are always free to the public. All exhibitions are free to the public on Thursdays.

 

MISSION STATEMENT

Open to the public since 1996, the Skirball Cultural Center is dedicated to exploring the connections between 4,000 years of Jewish heritage and the vitality of American democratic ideals. It welcomes and seeks to inspire people of every ethnic and cultural identity in American life. Guided by our respective memories and experiences, together we aspire to build a society in which all of us can feel at home. Since its establishment in 1996, the Skirball has welcomed more than five million visitors.

The Skirball Cultural Center achieves its mission through educational programs that explore the literary, visual and performing arts from around the world; through the display and interpretation of its permanent collections and changing exhibitions; through an interactive family destination inspired by the Noah’s Ark story; through scholarship in American Jewish history and related publications; and through outreach to the community.

Uri D. Herscher was named Founding President and Chief Executive Officer of the Skirball Cultural Center in 1996 after having begun work on the Skirball Cultural Center conceptual blueprint in the early 1980s.

 

SKIRBALL MUSEUM

The Skirball’s core exhibition, Visions and Values: Jewish Life from Antiquity to America, traces the history, experiences and values of Jews over 4,000 years. Featuring changing displays of works from the Skirball’s museum collection, the exhibition’s galleries contain multimedia installations, rare artifacts, historical documents and photographs, works of fine art, interactive computer stations and sound recordings that lead visitors on the Jewish people’s journey, culminating with their experiences in the United States. Anchored by the theme of retaining one’s heritage while adapting to life in America, this narrative resonates with a remarkable number of Skirball visitors, over half of whom are not Jewish.

Comprised of more than 30,000 objects, the Skirball’s museum collection includes archaeological artifacts from biblical and later historical periods; Jewish ceremonial objects from countries all over the globe; an extensive group of Old World Jewish objects; the Project Americana collection, comprised of objects that document the “everyday life of ordinary people” in the United States since the 1850s; and works of fine art in a variety of media.

 

SKIRBALL PUBLIC PROGRAMS

The Skirball presents a diverse range of music, theater, poetry, literary, film and other performing arts. Some of the most important contemporary minds—award-winning artists, philosophers, poets, novelists, filmmakers, critics, public leaders, entertainers and playwrights—engage enthusiastic audiences at the Skirball. The Skirball’s music and dance programs are considered vanguard and among the best in the western United States. The free summer Sunset Concerts series attracts nearly 1,500 visitors each week.

 

NOAH’S ARK AT THE SKIRBALL

Noah’s Ark at the Skirball, a children’s and family destination designed for generations to enjoy together, open since June 2007 and remain on view permanently. Inspired by the ancient flood story of Noah’s Ark, which has parallels in hundreds of cultures around the world, this indoor and outdoor attraction offers a multi-sensory, interactive experience. Visitors board a gigantic wooden ark to play, climb, build and collaborate alongside handcrafted, fanciful animals—from life-sized elephants and giraffes to snow leopards, flamingos and iguanas. Together families imagine taking an ark voyage from stormy world to dry land and delight in working with one another for a brighter, more hopeful future.

The Noah’s Ark galleries were designed by Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects (OSKA), in consultation with the Skirball’s renowned architect, Moshe Safdie. The fanciful animal puppets and figures were created by designer/puppeteer Chris M. Green and by OSKA principal Alan Maskin. Outdoors, the Noah’s Ark experience includes a rainbow mist installation developed by Safdie in partnership with environmental artist Ned Kahn.

 

SKIRBALL AS EDUCATOR

The Skirball annually serves over 50,000 children and teachers representing virtually every religious and ethnic background in Southern California. The Skirball’s school outreach programs in cultural history and performing arts draw visitors from all over the region. The family-oriented discovery center, which includes a simulated dig site and field tent, offers a look at the archaeology of ancient Israel and the Near East. Family programs take place regularly and attract new and returning visitors for entertainment and education. Highlights include toddler classes, children’s concerts, art and music workshops, archaeological dig workshops, readings, summer camps and the annual Hanukkah Family Festival. The Learning for Life department offers continuing education courses in comparative religion and culture, art, creative writing, literature and the American Jewish experience.

 

SKIRBALL MEMBERS AND SUPPORTERS

The Skirball accomplishes its mission thanks to the generosity and active participation of thousands of individuals from all walks of life across the United States and abroad, including a dedicated corps of members, volunteers and docents; distinguished foundations and corporations; and governmental funding agencies. These philanthropic supporters are passionate about the positive and essential force of the Skirball’s mission—to bring people together in positive and hopeful engagement and to change lives by making meaningful connections across generations, communities, histories, ideas and forms of creative expression.

SKIRBALL ARCHITECTURE

Designed by Israeli-born architect Moshe Safdie, the campus of the Skirball Cultural Center is nestled in the Santa Monica Mountains and has been admired for its intimate scale and sensitivity to the natural environment. Among Safdie’s recent and current civic, cultural and educational commissions are: the headquarters of the United States Institute of Peace, Washington, DC; Exploration Place, Wichita, KS; Eleanor Roosevelt College at the University of California, San Diego; the federal courthouses in Springfield, MA, and Mobile, AL; the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, Kansas City, MO; as well as the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem and the Yitzhak Rabin Memorial Center in Tel Aviv, and the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR. During his career, Safdie has taught at Harvard, McGill and Yale Universities, as well as several Israeli universities.

 

On the website of the Skirball Cultural Center you can watch a quick video of daily life at the Skirball. www.skirball.org

Updated

Chinese Video: Chord Changes in the Megalopolis at Morono Kiang Gallery, Los Angeles

Chinese Video: Chord Changes in the Megalopolis
Ai Weiwei, Cao Fei, Wang Wei, Liu Ding, Xu Zhen, Wang Jian Wei, Chen Chieh-Jen, Dong Jun, Lin Yilin, Yang Zhenzhong, Zhao Liang, Jiang Zhi
Curated by Kevin Power
Morono Kiang Gallery, Los Angeles
September 13, 2007 - November 17, 2007

Morono Kiang Gallery presents its third exhibition, Chord Changes in the Megalopolis, a group show featuring the work of twelve video artists. This will be the first time that many of the videos will be shown in the U.S.

It is a monstrous clich to argue that China is in a process of massive change: it is, and in many aspects, it isn't. That is to say, change as a visual phenomenon is rapid, but as a psychological process its pace is much slower. There are zones of curious and intense frictionsideological, social, and economicbetween what was and what is, what may be and what will not be. Chord Changes in the Megalopolis seeks to look at the way in which a number of Chinese video artists are living, documenting, reflecting upon, and conceptualizing these changes. Many of the videos focus on sociocultural changes and the redefinitions of social status and ambition in the new frenetically expanding megalopolis, with its changing urban landscape and its concentrated takes on fast, modern, consumer living.

Videos include Ai Weiwei's Beijing: Chang'an Boulevard, a strangely obsessive but astutely conceptual piece dealing with Beijing's ring road system, which stands as a register of growth, social zoning, traffic density, human loss, and bewilderment, as well as Cao Fei's penetrating and poetic piece on the life of a milkman and her more parodic play with cultural identity and consumer change in Hip-Hop. These works provide paradigmatic statements that frame the diverse ways in which the artists included in this show represent the rhythms and momentums of social change.

This exhibition does not pretend to define ideological oppositions, but rather it seeks to show the diversity of readings and positions being taken by Chinese artists as they react to and analyze the particularities of their own circumstances and interests. The work varies from direct but poetically evocative documentary-style reportage to subtly worked metaphors. Xu Zhen creates an ironic tongue-in-cheek ideological deconstruction of frontier tensions in 18 Days, a work that is at the same time an existential adventure; Dong Jun provides sensitive register of the life of an art school model who, now eighty-four years old and economically reduced to subsistence living, has a passionate desire to avoid all thought yet remains elegant in her gestures; Chen Chieh-Jen re-creates in a wondrous, almost Bergmanesque fashion the industrial experience in an abandoned textile factory that he restores "momentarily" to life. Wang Wei shows two interrelated works, the first of which documents the life of a family of brick sellers who collect their bricks by demolishing buildings in the morning and then have to sell them off before nightfall because they have no storage space. The second video resituates this sociological document as the artist asks the same family to build a brick wall in a gallery as an art installation; the artist has negotiated with them and agreed to sell the bricks back to them at half price as one of the conditions of the realization of the piece.

These works reflect the pulse and the radical nature of the changes taking place in Chinese society. Some artists choose to do so by examining dramatic psychological dislocations that have disturbed former definitions of identity, as in Liu Ding's Stop, or Wang Jan Wei's Dodge, and Lin Yilin's One Day, a video of the artist wandering the city with his leg handcuffed to his wrist.

These video works have clear elements of social critique, but above all they are interrogative, perceptive, and personal.

Kevin Power is Chair of American Literature at the University of Alicante (Spain) and is also a Visiting Professor at Instituto Superior de Arte (Havana, Cuba), as well a lecturer at other universities in South America. From 2003 to 2005 he was assistant director of the Museo Nacional Reina Sofa in Madrid. He has worked as a critic and curator for the last twenty years.

MORONO KIANG GALLERY
218 West 3rd Street, Bradbury Building
Los Angeles, CA 90013
www.moronokiang.com

George Kontos, Renwick Gallery, NYC - Scykranes

George Kontos: Scykranes

Renwick Gallery, New York

September 8 – October 13, 2007

Renwick Gallery presents George Kontos's first solo show in New York. The exhibition "scykranes" features an animated short, drawing, sculpture, and photography.

The animated short illustrates a fictional operation taking place in the downtown area of Los Angeles by following computer-generated helicopters and distorted corporate symbols around a vacant high rise in the financial district. An array of "scykranes" take over the airspace of the corporate center while carrying large-scale objects that resemble civic-art sculptures, company trademarks, or a combination of both. The helicopters enter the vacant city center, which is controlled by ground police forces, and release the heavy objects on rooftops of high-rise corporate buildings. The camera pulls into a close-up shot of the architecture of the corporate center. The sharpness of the built space renders is as a film prop. The use of animation accentuates that feeling. The trademarks removed from their previous settings are transported to the downtown area and are dropped on the rooftops of high-rise buildings. The event taking place is recorded from cameras on the civic ground level. The helicopter plays a starring role in a scenario that is influenced by horror b-movies. The short illustrates a surreal operation taking place in the city center. It is a fictional construct of an anarchical event, reflecting a problematic society. George Kontos's concern is not to reconstruct an event that happened in the past, though referencing a collective memory of film, but to imagine one that could happen in the future using exaggerated means.

The fragments are being used in order to provide a context or a timeline in addition to or opposition to the sequel. The objects and drawings work as a counterpart for the constructed timeline, yet can interact as a broken narrative. There is no final stage of the work, usually film would operate as the final product after the construction of a script and the storyboards, however the film is constructed in a way that works by itself with no other additions. The surrounding media is either infiltrating the flow of the story by adding or subtracting.

GEORGE KONTOS was born in 1976 in Trikala, Greece, and lives and works presently in Los Angeles. He received his MFA from CalArts in 2005. His work has been exhibited in D301 Gallery at CalArts (2005), Event Gallery, London (2006), The Zoo Art Fair, London (2006), Enjoy Gallery, New Zealand (2006), REDCAT, Los Angeles (2005), and The Los Angeles Design Center (2005).

RENWICK GALLERY

45 Renwick Street, New York, NY 10013

www.renwickgallery.com

Art Dubai 2008 Announced – Art Fair

 

Art Dubai (formerly the DIFC Gulf Art Fair) will take place at the Madinat Arena Jumeirah Resort in Dubai on 19-22 March 2008. Reflecting the success that marked its first year, Art Dubai has doubled in size to feature more than 80 international art galleries, selected from over 350 applications. The change of name is intended to reflect Dubai’s growing role as a centre for art and a cultural melting pot.

“We were so delighted with the feedback from galleries, collectors and the art world at the inaugural fair, and with the positive impact this has had on Dubai’s image as a new international centre for the commercial art market. The change of name also reflects the commitment to arts and culture as highlighted in Dubai’s 2015 Vision,” said HE Dr. Omar Bin Sulaiman, Governor of the DIFC and Chairman of Art Dubai.

“Art Dubai will become a major international destination event and an important showcase for the best international contemporary art,” said John Martin, Director, Art Dubai. “Emphasis will be placed on galleries from the emerging markets of the Middle East, South and Central Asia and the Far East, showing alongside established international galleries from the West. As Art Dubai, we are proud to be able to contribute towards Dubai’s growing significance as an international cultural hub.”

Also in its second year, The DIFC Global Art Forum 2008 takes place alongside Art Dubai from 19th -21st March 2008. Gathering together leading collectors, curators, artists and philanthropists, the Forum will consider the current state of art production in the Middle East and ways to develop opportunities for its artists and curators. The transcripts of the 2007 DIFC Global Art Forum will be published and launched in Paris in October 2007.

 

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• Pino Art Works Exhibition in Dubai at DIFC Gallery...

Kent Williams, Merry Karnowsky Gallery, Los Angeles - In Animate: New Paintings

Kent Williams 

In Animate: New Paintings 

Merry Karnowsky Gallery, Los Angeles 

September 8 - October 6, 2007 

The Merry Karnowsky Gallery presents a solo exhibition of new paintings by Kent Williams.

Symbols of death and playfulness abound in the new paintings by Kent Williams. In In Animate, the roles of humans and inanimate objects are reversed. Day of the Dead skeletons and devils beckon and entice the human figures to break from their internal struggles that have frozen them, while in another painting, cute Japanese dolls rise to dominate and dwarf an adolescent girl. These paintings incorporate the contrasting allure of the playful with the more ominous edge these symbols represent. The figures, however stable their bodies may seem, belie an inner turbulence that takes place in the psychology of their faces, and the paintings are effused with this introspective intensity.

Along with these multi-layered narratives, Williams sets into a place a series of portraits and selfportraits, where the figures are observantly painted, a study in character with all the enigma and

intelligence laid bare in the human form. As the art critic and historian, Edward Lucie-Smith states in the recently released monograph, Kent Williams, Amalgam: Paintings and Drawings, 1992 – 2007, “By representing his own likeness in this fashion Williams stresses the fact that painting is not just an act of physical making. Even more importantly it is an act of thinking.”

Kent Williams was born in 1962 in New Bern, NC. He attended Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY, where he received his BFA in Drawing and Painting in 1984. His work has been the subject of a number of exhibitions over the past ten years, including shows at Duke University Museum of Art and was included in the Outwin Boochever Portrait Painting and Sculpture Exhibition at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in 2006 – 2007.

MERRY KARNOWSKY GALLERY

170 South La Brea, Los Angeles, CA 90036

www.mkgallery.com

Daniel Firman, Galerie Alain Gutharc, Paris - La masse grave

Daniel Firman : La masse grave

Galerie Alain Gutharc, Paris

8 septembre - 20 octobre 2007

Cette nouvelle exposition de Daniel Firman  à la galerie Alain Gutharc s’intitule « la masse grave ». Elle s’articule autour de la notion physique du poids et de l’écrasement.

Lors de la chute libre d’un objet, deux masses sont convoquées « la masse grave » et la masse inerte.

La première provoque la mise en mouvement sous l’effet de l’attraction gravitationnelle. 

La seconde, la masse  inerte, résulte de l’impossibilité de l’objet à refreiner la vitesse de sa chute et d’éviter les conséquences du contact. C’est  ce  qui  génère  la  déformation  de l’objet. 

Daniel Firman propose un focus  sur « la masse grave » en retenant cette sensation de mise en mouvement  qui laisse présumer  un contact  ou  une cassure  de  l’objet soumis  à  cette  pression. 

Sur ce principe, Daniel Firman  crée une sculpture comme la fiction d’un dérèglement  produisant sur l’objet une transformation verticale. Les œuvres seront paradoxalement dessinées pour provoquer cette vision d’une inéluctable usure programmée des formes matérielles. 

Cette exposition présente un ensemble de sculptures, d’un caractère  plutôt  minimal, qui aborde cette notion de mise en mouvement où chaque proposition évoque une mise en tension résultant d’une onde de choc. 

L’exposition suggère une vibration ondulatoire d’où coule une architecture du pli, un mouvement ascendant, comme   la  mise  sur  pause  d’une résistance  en  cours.

GALERIE ALAIN GUTHARC

7 rue Saint-Claude, 75003 Paris

www.alaingutharc.com

Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3 Prix EISA 2007

Quatre produits Panasonic primés aux EISA Awards 2007

· Lumix DMC-TZ3 : Meilleur appareil photo compact

· Viera TH-42PX71 : Meilleur téléviseur plasma HD Ready

· HDC-SD1 : Meilleur caméscope à carte mémoire

· Diga DMR-EX87 : Meilleur enregistreur DVD à disque dur

Paris, le 7 septembre – Panasonic est fier d’annoncer que le jury des prestigieux EISA Awards 2007 a récompensé quatre de ses produits parmi les catégories majeures de l’électronique grand public : meilleur appareil photo compact, meilleur téléviseur plasma HD Ready, meilleur caméscope à mémoire et meilleur enregistreur DVD à disque dur. Les Eisa Awards sont décernés par la « European Imaging & Sound Association » fondée en 1982 et regroupant 52 magazines spécialisés de 18 pays européens. Les journalistes comparent et analysent les résultats des tests et des mesures effectuées en laboratoire pour déterminer les lauréats.

Reconnu pour son objectif Leica performant couvrant une large focale de 28 / 280, le Lumix DMC-TZ3, doté du stabilisateur d’image MEGA O.I.S. et du Intelligent ISO Control, est le premier appareil photo numérique à intégrer un zoom optique X 10 conçu dans un boitier aussi compact.

Le TH-42PX71 offre un contraste de 10000 :1 et reprend ce qui fait le succès des écrans plasma Panasonic HD Ready, soit une qualité d’image inégalée grâce à la technologie V-real Pro, combinée à un traitement sonore avancé et une riche connectique.

Avec le HDC-SD1, Panasonic démocratise les caméscopes haute définition. Le SD1 enregistre sur carte mémoire SD des vidéos en qualité Full HD (1080i) et son 5.1 Surround à partir de 5 micros intégrés. Avec sa petite taille, il est caméscope 3CCD haute définition le plus petit et le plus léger au monde. Le HDC-SD1 fournit des enregistrements de haute qualité aux couleurs naturelles et aux détails d’une grande netteté grâce à son objectif Leica DICOMAR.

Le DMR-EX87, quant à lui reçoit le prix du meilleur lecteur/enregistreur de DVD à disque dur. Très complet, ce lecteur est compatible avec tous les formats DVD existants et son disque dur de 250 Go permet d’enregistrer jusqu’à 400 heures de vidéos. Le DMR-EX87 dispose en outre d’un tuner TNT et d’un slot SDHC. Il est également possible de regarder des vidéos en Haute-Définition grâce à sa connexion HDMI et son convertisseur HD 1080i.

A propos de Panasonic

Panasonic est la marque du Groupe Matsushita Electric Industrial Co Ltd, le leader mondial de l’électronique grand public et professionnelle, qui occupe la 3e place du classement Fortune 500 dans la catégorie « Electrique et électronique ». Créé en 1918 par Konosuke Matsushita, le groupe emploie aujourd'hui plus de 328 000 personnes.

Panasonic - Communiqué de presse - 09.09.2007 - Photo (c) Panasonic

Sony Reflex Numerique A700

Sony dévoile l’α700, Un nouveau réflex numérique hautes performances

Sony présente aujourd’hui, 6 septembre 2007, son nouveau boitier reflex numérique α (Alpha). Destiné aux amateurs avertis et aux photographes experts, l’α700 associe performances sans compromis et qualité d’image inédite. Superbe qualité d’image grâce au nouveau capteur CMOS Sony Exmor™ de 12,24 millions de pixels et au nouveau processeur de traitement d’image BIONZ™ Fonctionnement ultra-rapide, avec système autofocus à 11 zones et mode rafale à 5 im/s. Nouvelle fonction de navigation rapide “Quick Navigation” pour un accès instantané aux réglages essentiels. Boîtier robuste en magnésium avec joints de protection anti-poussière et anti-ruissellement. Écran ACL 3 pouces de 921.000 points et viseur optique très lumineux à fort coefficient de grossissement. Partage des images en haute définition sur téléviseur Full HD grâce à l’interface HDMI et nouveau mode d’affichage “PhotoTV HD” sur les nouveaux téléviseurs BRAVIA compatibles.

En plus de sa construction solide et très soignée répondant aux attentes des photographes experts, l’α700 redéfinit avantageusement la simplicité d’utilisation pour un boîtier reflex de haut niveau. Grâce au nouveau système de navigation intuitive, les réglages fondamentaux peuvent être effectués en un clin d’œil afin d’adapter idéalement l’appareil aux conditions de la prise de vue.

Ce système de réglage instinctif est complété par une nouvelle palette exhaustive de réglages personnalisables et de modes créatifs qui apportent aux photographes la possibilité d’exprimer leur talent dans les meilleures conditions de technicité et de créativité.

Une extraordinaire qualité d’image

Le capteur CMOS Exmor™ de 12,24 millions de pixels effectifs est un des éléments clés de l’α700. Ce nouveau capteur a été développé grâce à l’expertise acquise dans le domaine des CCD et en particulier dans celui de la technologie de conversion analogique/numérique en colonne. Il associe des images de haute qualité et une grande vitesse de traitement. L’utilisation de semi-conducteurs Sony de toute nouvelle génération et les techniques perfectionnées de traitement du signal permettent d’obtenir des images d’une pureté et d’une netteté extraordinaires ainsi qu’une reproduction des couleurs, des nuances et des textures, extrêmement fidèle à la réalité. Intégré en exclusivité pour la première fois dans un boîtier reflex, le capteur CMOS Exmor™ de Sony permet une conversion analogique/numérique en utilisant des convertisseurs spécifiques implantés dans le capteur, à proximité de chaque rangée d’éléments photosensibles. L’élimination du bruit effectuée en préalable à cette conversion A/N est complétée ensuite par une nouvelle phase de réduction du bruit, toujours effectuée en interne, une fois les signaux numérisés. Ceci se traduit par la génération de signaux dénués de bruit extérieur et interférentiel habituellement à l’origine d’une dégradation de l’image, phénomène qui affecte souvent les signaux produit par des capteurs de technologie conventionnelle. Les signaux numériques avec très faible bruit sont ensuite transférés du capteur Exmor™ vers le nouveau moteur de traitement, le processeur BIONZ™, où ils sont à nouveau soumis à un ultime processus RAW de réduction du bruit avant l’étape de compression et d’encodage.

Avec une sensibilité maximum de 3200 ISO, l’α700 permet de réaliser des clichés de scènes d’actions et notamment de moments sportifs avec un taux de réussite nettement accru et permet de réussir davantage de prises de vues de scènes d’intérieurs et de portraits en lumière ambiante. Le système de stabilisation Super SteadyShot intégré au boîtier est compatible avec l’ensemble des objectifs de la gamme α. La performance de stabilisation a été accrue de l’équivalent d’une demi valeur de vitesse d’obturation supplémentaire sur la totalité de la gamme de focales. La correction des effets des vibrations correspond désormais à une plage comprise entre 2,5 et 4 valeurs de vitesses (valeurs dépendantes de l’objectif, des réglages de l’appareil et des conditions de prises de vues). Ceci réduit très efficacement le risque d’enregistrer des images dégradées par la présence de flous de bougé et permet en conséquence de photographier à main levée dans des circonstances qui imposent normalement l’utilisation d’un flash ou d’un trépied.

Nouveau système autofocus très sensible à 11 zones

Un autofocus très sensible et très rapide est une nécessité pour tout photographe expert. Avec 11 lignes de capteurs, le nouveau module AF de l’α700 dont les capteurs centraux sont en double croix est une avancée majeure sur le plan de la performance autofocus dans un grand nombre de situations concrètes de prise de vues. Une mise au point AF de très grande précision est obtenue dès la pleine ouverture des objectifs les plus lumineux, en particulier ceux ouvrant à plus de f/2,8. Parallèlement, le temps de réaction du système de pilotage des objectifs α a été réduit, notamment pour les phases de calcul de la distance appareil-sujet et de focalisation de l’objectif. Un illuminateur AF intégré au boîtier assure une mise au point tout aussi rapide et précise en faible lumière ambiante ou en présence de sujets présentant un faible contraste.

Navigation rapide et intuitive et contrôle facile des fonctions

“Quick Navi”, une nouvelle interface très simple permet des réglages rapides et directs pour réagir très vite face à des conditions de prises de vues particulières pour lesquelles il n’y a pas de temps pour chercher la bonne configuration dans différents menus. L’accès aux réglages de l’appareil s’effectue instantanément grâce à un bouton joystick très simple à actionner et à l’affichage d’icônes sur le grand écran 3 pouces. Les paramètres sélectionnés peuvent être modifiés directement, sans qu’il soit nécessaire de naviguer dans des sous-menus complexes. Pour un meilleur confort d’utilisation en prise de vues de studio notamment, un script de 28 réglages de configuration de l’appareil peut être enregistré dans l’une des trois mémoires-utilisateur afin d’être immédiatement rappelé si nécessaire. Un bouton de commande personnalisé peut être affecté à la commutation immédiate de fonctions fréquemment utilisées comme la résolution de fichier ou la sélection de la zone autofocus active.

Un boîtier sur lequel on peut compter en toutes circonstances

L’α700 est fabriqué selon un cahier des charges qui répond à la demande des photographes les plus exigeants en matière de fiabilité face aux réalités de la prise de vues sur le terrain. De ce fait, le boîtier est composé d’un châssis en alliage d’aluminium renforcé et le capot supérieur ainsi que la façade sont en alliage de magnésium. Ces matériaux de qualité lui confèrent une solidité rassurante alors que des joints en silicone protègent les boutons de commandes et les logements cartes mémoires des intrusions de poussière et d’humidité. Cette conception de type professionnelle est confirmée par un puissant moteur d’autofocus plus silencieux et n’engendre pas de vibrations et par un bruit de fonctionnement plus silencieux de l’obturateur.

SONY - COMMUNIQUE DE PRESSE - 06.09.2007

Photo Miami 2007 – International Art Fair

 

 

Photo MIAMI 2007 RETURNS TO MIAMI’S WYNWOOD ART DISTRICT, DEC. 4-9

Photo MIAMI, the International Contemporary Art Fair for Photo-Based Art, Video, and New Media, returns to the Wynwood Art District, in an exciting new location, when the event takes place during Art Basel Miami Beach, December 4-9. Organized by artfairs, inc., producer of globally acclaimed photography and contemporary art fairs in Los Angeles, the second annual fair will be staged in a 40,000-sq. ft. marquee structure at NW 31st street and North Miami Avenue, just steps away from the Rubell Family Collection and the developing Midtown Miami district.

Photo MIAMI, the only fair during Art Basel Miami Beach dedicated exclusively to contemporary photography and media based art, offers an expansive and immediate overview of these current international trends. It showcases a range of established to emerging galleries, presents curated sections by global artists and curators, and partners with local and international art institutions. This year the fair will host an even greater number of selected exhibitors from 11 countries. 60 galleries will be represented at PM07.

Highlights of the fair include invitational solo projects by artists including Alex Prager (Robert Berman Gallery) and Lidia Benavides (Estiarte) and Timothy Greenfield-Sanders’ premier showing of his photographs of returning injured soldiers from Iraq (Wetterling Gallery). Madrid based independent curator and writer Paco Barragán will curate “The Last Painting Show,” a series of works investigating traditional aspects of painting through a combination of media based arts and installation.

 

Photo MIAMI 2007 Exhibitors

Galería 356, San Juan
ADN Galería, Barcelona
Alonso Art, Inc., Miami
Galeria Altamira, Gijón
Art Gaspar, Barcelona
Fundación Alfonso y Luis Castillo / Arte x Arte, Buenos Aires
Robert Berman Gallery, Santa Monica
Galería Adora Calvo, Salamanca
Camara Oscura Galeria de Arte, Madrid
Galería Candela, San Juan
Chinasquare, New York
Cohen Amador Gallery, New York
Stephen Cohen Gallery, Los Angeles
Galerie Conrads, Duesseldorf
Cristinerose Gallery, New York
[DAM] Berlin, Berlin
DNA, Berlin
dpm Gallery, Miami
Estiarte, Madrid
Galerie f5,6, Munich
Lukas Feichtner Galerie, Vienna
FGA, San Juan
Galerie Dominique Fiat, Paris
Galerie les Filles du Calvaire, Paris
Flowers, London
Charles Guice Contemporary, Berkeley
Galerie Hafenrichter und Fluegel, Nuremberg
Hardcore Art Contemporary, Miami
J.J. Heckenhauer, Berlin
Herrmann und Wagner, Berlin
Galerie Caprice Horn, Berlin
Galerie Olivier Houg, Lyon
Galeria Maria Llanos, Cáceres
MKgalerie, Rotterdam
Robert Morat Gallery, Hamburg
The New Art Project, Paris
Claire Oliver Gallery, New York
Pierre-François Ouellette Art Contemporain, Montreal
photo-eye Gallery, Santa Fe
Galerie Polaris, Paris
Galerie Poller, Inc., New York
Galería Fernando Pradilla, Madrid
Marc de Puechredon, Basel
Galerie Vanessa Quang, Paris
SCALO | GUYE West, Hollywood
Galerie Schuebbe Projekt, Duesseldorf
Lisa Sette Gallery, Scottsdale
Galeria Sicart, Barcelona
Skew Gallery, Calgary
Cokkie Snoei, Rotterdam
The Third Gallery Aya, Osaka
James Francis Trezza, New York
TZR Galerie, Duesseldorf
Van Kranendonk Gallery Den, Haag
Galerie Voss, Duesseldorf
Galerie Anton Weller - Isabelle Suret, Paris
Wetterling Gallery, Stockholm

 

Photo MIAMI, The International Contemporary Art Fair For Photo-Based Art, Video and New Media

Wynwood Art District
NW 31st Street and North Miami Avenue
Miami, FL 33127

Public Hours
December 5th, 10 am - 3 pm
December 6th, 10 am - 7 pm
December 9th, 10 am - 6 pm

Tickets are $10.00 for a one-day pass.

The Art of Lee Miller at Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The Art of Lee Miller

Victoria and Albert Museum, London

15 September 2007 - 6 January 2008

On the 100th anniversary of the birth of the remarkable photographer Lee Miller on 23 April 1907 and 30 years after her death, the V&A announced that it will stage an extensive tribute to her this autumn. The Art of Lee Miller will celebrate the life and career of one of the most original and creative photographic artists of the 20th century.

The Art of Lee Miller will bring together the greatest images of and by Lee Miller and will feature works never before exhibited or published, including satirical drawings and some of the most disturbing photographs ever taken. It will also explore Lee Miller’s other talents as model, Surrealist muse and journalist, charting her unconventional and eventful life.

Lee Miller excelled at many kinds of photography in her extraordinary career and the exhibition will show how multi-faceted her work was. It will include striking Surrealist images and portraits of celebrated figures of her time including Charlie Chaplin and Picasso. It will cover her fashion and advertising work, travel and documentary photography of Egypt and Romania, and her photojournalism in the Second World War as the only official female photojournalist in combat areas.

With over 140 works, including drawings, a rare collage, film extracts and magazine pages, the exhibition will represent the entire range of Lee Miller’s astonishing oeuvre. All her most outstanding photographs will be brought together: the avant-garde Exploding Hand (c.1930) and her series of nudes; the shocking Severed Breast (c.1930) will be exhibited for the first time; her haunting photograph of the Egyptian desert, Portrait of Space (1937); Women with Fire Masks (1941), which captures in unmistakeable Lee Miller-style the surreal quality of life during the Blitz; the moving, posthumous war portraits, Bürgermeister of Leipzig’s Daughter Suicided (1945) and Dead SS Guard in Canal (1945); and the witty portraiture of ‘Working Guests’, her final series for Vogue, including her memorable image of Alfred H. Barr Jr, the first director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, feeding the pigs while at Miller’s family home in Sussex.

One section in the exhibition will reveal Lee Miller’s skill in front of the camera and will bring together studies of her by many of the era’s greatest fashion and art photographers including George Hoyningen-Huené, Edward Steichen and Man Ray.

The Art of Lee Miller will also show drawings by Miller, revealing her unease with her role as a model, and extracts from Jean Cocteau’s 1930 avant-garde film The Blood of a Poet in which Miller stars. Miller’s work as accredited freelance war correspondent for Vogue during the Second World War will be shown through original magazine spreads, and will attest to both the power of her images and her eloquent reporting.

Mark Haworth-Booth, curator of The Art of Lee Miller, said: “Lee Miller’s life has been described as a ‘jig-saw puzzle’. Now, 100 years after her birth, this exhibition finally weaves together her many arts and tells the tale of one of the 20th century’s most creative women.”

Antony Penrose, director of the Lee Miller Archives and Lee Miller’s son, said: “It’s wonderful that the V&A is holding an exhibition of such breadth to mark the centenary of my mother’s birth.”

Six main chronological sections of the exhibition:

· The Art of the Model begins with Lee Miller’s debut as a 1927 Vogue cover-girl and charts her role as muse to many of the period’s greatest photographers – including Edward Steichen, George Hoyningen-Huené and, above all, Man Ray.

· Paris 1929-1932 reveals Lee Miller as one of the most remarkable Surrealist photographers of that time.

· In 1932, Lee Miller left Paris (and her lover Man Ray) and returned to New York where she established her own photographic studio. New York 1932-34 explores the portraiture, fashion and advertising works she produced during her time there.

· Lee Miller’s marriage to engineer Aziz Aloui Bey saw her move to Cairo. Egypt 1934-39 includes photographs of the country’s landscape and ruins. The section also features her portraits of the Surrealists at play, including Roland Penrose for whom Miller would leave Egypt and her husband.

· War: as a freelance war correspondent for Vogue, Miller captured in words and pictures, the liberation of Paris, the siege of St Malo, the Buchenwald and Dachau death camps, and the kitsch banality of Adolf Hitler’s Munich flat.

· Post-war: Lee Miller concluded her photographic career capturing her renowned friends – including Pablo Picasso, Max Ernst and Saul Steinberg – in a humorous series called ‘Working Guests’ at her family farm in Sussex.

The Art of Lee Miller is the result of a close collaboration between the V&A, Antony Penrose and the Lee Miller Archives.

After the V&A, the exhibition will travel to the Philadelphia Museum of Art (26 January - 27 April 2008), then onto the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (1 July - 21 September 2008), and finally to Jeu de Paume Museum in Paris (13 October 2008 - 11 January 2009).

To accompany the exhibition, the V&A has published The Art of Lee Miller (£35Hardback). Written by the exhibition curator Mark Haworth-Booth, the book is the definitive account of the relationship between Lee Miller’s eventful life and her art.

The V&A is holding a Lee Miller symposium on 7 December 2007.

The Art of Lee Miller is sponsored by Olympus.

Other 2008 exhibitions at A&V London

Cold War Modern: Design 1945-1970

Blood on Paper: The Art of the Book

The Story of The Supremes from the Mary Wilson Collection

China Design Now

The Golden Age of Couture: Paris and London 1947-1957