Angelica Porrari, Nude Rovine Exhibition in Modena, Italy

Area Progetto Off, Galleria Civica, Modena, Italy  
Angelica Porrari, Nude Rovine
Antonio Delfini Library, Modena
4 December 2010 - 6 March 2011

 

ANGELICA PORRARI, NUDE ROVINE, 2010, (detail from the installation). Courtesy of the artist and Galleria Civica, Modena

 

An installation by artist Angelica Porrari will be inaugurated on Saturday 4th December at 6pm at the Delfini Library in Modena (Italy). The vernissage of this exhibition marks the begining of the new Area Progetto season – an event dedicated to young emerging creativity promoted by the Galleria Civica di Modena in collaboration with the Ufficio Giovani d'Arte of Modena City Council – curated by Silvia Ferrari, Serena Goldoni and Ornella Corradini.

Now at its third edition, the initiative this time changes formula, taking the creativity of young local artists into spaces external to the Galleria Civica, through the creation of projects designed especially for key sites around the town centre, such as the marketplace in via Albinelli or the public gardens. Yet the first stage is the Delfini Library, based in Palazzo Santa Margherita, the historic building which is also home to the Galleria Civica itself.  A selection of artists from the Archivio di Documentazione Giovani Artisti Modenesi – chosen on the basis of the quality and continuity of their work – were asked to plan a site-specific work which would dialogue with the large and articulate spaces of the library rooms.

The winning project was that proposed by the Modenese videomaker Angelica Porrari. The artist turned her attention to the fragments of frescoes still found in the lunettes of the room used as the children’s library, giving her own interpretation of the subjects, their actions and gestures. Through the use of an original linguistic code, she created a bridge between the ancient and the contemporary, through a space/time shift that the artist also grasped in the evolution of the library itself.

The project, entitled Nude Rovine, will consist of a video and a series of photographs, the result of her reappraisal of the frescoed images, the same shape and size as the ancient lunettes, installed in a space of the same dimensions inside the various vaults of the library ceiling, providing a kind of counterpoint to the originals.

The work proposed is part of the artist’s Gloves' Stories, a broader project which came to light in 2006 and which brings together Angelica Porrari’s entire video production, which focuses on the theme of the glove: an object which speaks of the relationship between the body – the female body in particular – and the outside world.

ANGELICA PORRARI BIOGRAPHY

Angelica Porrari was born in 1985 in Modena, where she lives and works. Her research is developed largely through the use of video while being strongly influenced by performance and theatre. She gained a diploma in Advertising Graphics at the Istituto d'Arte of Modena and then a degree in painting from the Academy of Fine Art of Bologna. In 2009 she came in for special mention at the Special competition (promoted by the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio of Modena), going on to win the section of the competition dedicated to artists from Emilia Romagna in 2010. Angelica Porrari has taken part in a range of group shows, including: Finalisti Premio Celeste, ISA, Rome (2007); Videoart Yearbook 2008, ex Convent of Santa Cristina, Bologna; Galleria Civica d'Arte Contemporanea, Trento; Festival d'Images Artistiques Video, Ecole des Beaux Art, Algiers (2008); Diari di Anatomia, Gemine Muse, Musei Anatomici, Modena; Biennale dei Giovani Artisti dell'Europa e del Mediterraneo, Skopje, Macedonia (2009); The Scientist, festival di videoarte internazionale, Ferrara (2010).

The project is accompanied by an exhibition brochure with a critical text by Serena Goldoni and colour images of the work.

Angelica Porrari’s installation has been realised in collaboration with the Libraries Service of Modena City Council. The exhibition is open to the public on Mondays from 2pm to 8pm and from Tuesday to Saturday from 9am to 8pm.

ANTONIO DELFINI LIBRARY
Palazzo Santa Margherita
corso Canalgrande 103
41121 Modena, Italy

GALLERIA CIVICA of MODENA

www.galleriacivicadimodena.it

EMAS awards 2010: Nomination EPLAAD Dijon. Quand urbanisme rime avec developpement durable

Urbanisme < Architecture et Urbanisme < France < Dijon 

Aménagement urbain et développement durable à Dijon : les EPLAAD nominées par la Commission Européenne aux EMAS AWARDS 2010 

Les Entreprises Publiques Locales d’Aménagement de l’Agglomération Dijonnaise (Société Publique Locale d’Aménagement de  l’Agglomération Dijonnaise et Société d’Economie Mixte d’Aménagement de l’Agglomération Dijonnaise), présidées par Pierre Pribetich, Vice-président du Grand Dijon et Maire-adjoint de Dijon,  figurent parmi les cinq entreprises françaises qui ont été sélectionnées par la Commission Européenne pour concourir aux Trophées EMAS 2010 - Eco-management and audit Scheme Awards - qui étaient décernés le 25 novembre 2010 à Bruxelles. 

Les 5 entreprises françaises sélectionnées par la Commission Européenne parmi 42  entreprises européennes nominées étaient : 

-  CONDAT SAS, Le Jardin Saint Lazare (24570) pour les grandes entreprises 

-  CMS high tech, Luigny (28480) pour les PME 

-  SOFIBUS, Paris (75009) pour les TPE 

-  Institut PAOLI CALMETTES, Marseille (13000) pour les grands organismes publics 

-  et les EPLAAD, Dijon (21000) pour les autres organismes publics 

Les EMAS AWARDS constituent la reconnaissance la plus prestigieuse accordée depuis 2005 par la Commission Européenne aux entreprises privées et organismes publics d’Europe parmi les acteurs les plus méritants pour leur gestion et leur performance environnementales. 

Cette  sélection met en compétition les organisations enregistrées au titre du règlement européen EMAS, c’est-à-dire celles qui ont passé avec succès l’étape d’un audit régulier de leur système de management environnemental par un vérificateur enregistré et attestant de leur performance par une déclaration environnementale, mise à jour, validée, rendue publique et assortie d’un ensemble d’indicateurs de performance. 

Les EPLAAD sont à ce jour les seules entreprises publiques locales d’aménagement françaises enregistrées EMAS : la Société d’Economie Mixte d’Aménagement de l’Agglomération Dijonnaise (SEMAAD) a été l’objet de cette certification en juillet 2009, par la Commission Européenne sur la proposition du Ministre de l’Ecologie, du Développement Durable, du Transport et du Logement ;  la Société Publique Locale d’Aménagement de l’Agglomération Dijonnaise  (SPLAAD) a, pour sa part, été l’objet de la même reconnaissance en juin 2010. 

Aucune entreprise française n’a remporté le Trophée dans sa catégorie, mais la nomination des EPLAAD confirme la reconnaissance européenne d’une démarche exemplaire d’aménageur durable. 

Site internet des EPLAAD : www.eplaad.com  

Drawing Machines at Gregor Podnar Gallery Berlin

Cimento dell’armonia e dell’invenzione:
or, The Drawing Machines
Galerija Gregor Podnar, Berlin
Through January 8, 2011

Artists: William Anastasi, Anna Barham, Emanuele Becheri, Alighiero Boetti, Ane Mette Hol, Albin Karlsson, Tim Knowles, Nick Laessing, Sol LeWitt, Giovanni Morbin, Marc Nagtzaam, Goran Petercol, Diogo Pimentão, Steve Roden, Jean Tinguely.

Cimento dell’armonia e dell’invenzione (“Trial of Harmony and Invention”) is the title of a 1969 work by ALIGHIERO BOETTI, a series of drawings in which he traced the lines of sheets of graph paper following a different path each time. A work that opposes established order (“armonia”) and the creation of something new (“invenzione”). The idea of both being at odds with each other is interesting, especially if it is applied to machinery and draughtsmanship.

The exhibition focuses on artists who produce drawings with machines or mechanisms following the path opened by JEAN TINGUELY’s drawing (and painting) machines Méta-Matics, but also by self imposed rules echoing the mathematical basis of mechanical procedures, such as Alighiero Boetti himself, SOL LEWITT, WILLIAM ANASTASI...

In fact, from the mid XXth century on, artistic drawing has been partly predicated upon drawing machines or mechanisms. Even in a broader and historical view, which has certainly influenced this phenomenon, drawing has been associated with mechanics in a combination of recreational and scientific uses. From the Jacquet-Droz automaton, which could draw (1772) to a machine inscribing on a sheet of paper the trajectory of a falling body, invented by Arthur Morin (1864), drawing has been both imitated and used. Etienne-Jules Marey, the inventor of chronophotography and other breathtaking experimental devices, researched the graphic translation of the body’s movements through the sphygmograph and the cardiograph, for instance, which were able to “draw” the beating of the human heart.

At first, it could seem odd that drawing, a hand-based craft par excellence, was to be included in the domain of machine-made articles. But on closer inspection, automata imitating the skills of the draughtsman upset the standards by which drawing is normally adjudged as such and announce modernity: they demonstrate the mechanic aspect of drawing without destroying its appeal. Rather, they increase it. A triangular relation between the viewer, the artist and the machine, is thus implemented. The act of creation is assumed by others, namely the machine itself, while the artist operates like one. Drawing with, or like, a machine implies an alliance of the hand, the eye, the mind, the device, the artifact, the formula and the rule.

The contemplative and epistemological role of mimesis and utility are at stake here. For from this point on, the extraction of drawn data as well as the graphic transposition of the movement of matter moulds a different and modern beauty, largely based on abstraction and, the moment drawing becomes the result of self-applied rules or exterior factors, chance-based opportunities for the unpredictable emerges. Charles Baudelaire sensed this rather early when he confessed that a fine drawing captivates us beyond what it depicts ( in L’Oeuvre et la vie d’Eugène Delacroix, 1863).

On the other hand, freed from intention and traditional ideas of quality, and fascinated by machines, the artist chooses to work programmatically. Therefore, this abstract beauty is sometimes generated by a hand carefully automated by seriality and a rigorous set of rules.

But to return to Alighiero Boetti, a debate is then established as to what, exactly, one considers “harmony” and “invention” to be: would the mechanical aspect of drawing (i.e., order) be harmony? But aren’t machines, as actual mechanism or as rules and protocols, inventions? Should one consider chance itself to be the source of “invention”, as opposed to a system? Thus does this show aim to reveal the complexity and ambiguity that lurks behind such seemingly definite categories.

Cimento dell’armonia e dell’invenzione: or, The Drawing Machines showcases historical and recent works exploring this path of contradictions between the skilled machine and the automated draughtsman, connected by the mesmerizing appeal of their abstract productions, and so much more.

The exhibition is curated by SIMONE MENEGOI and accompanied by a writing of JOANA NEVES, The Drawing Automaton, or the Mechanics of Drawing.

GALERIJA GREGOR PODNAR BERLIN
Lindenstr. 35 - 10969 Berlin - Germany

www.gregorpodnar.com 

13.11.2010 - 08.01.2011

Exposition Photographies Ellen Kooi, Hors de vue – Institut Néerlandais, Paris

Ellen Kooi : Out of Sight / Hors de vue
Institut Néerlandais, Paris
Jusqu'au 22 décembre 2010

 

Photographie © ELLEN KOOI, Siblini – Rim, 2006.
Courtesy Galerie Les Filles du Calvaire, Paris, France

 

Dans le cadre du Mois de la Photo 2010, l’Institut Néerlandais à Paris présente la première grande exposition rétrospective en France de la photographe néerlandaise ELLEN KOOI. L’œuvre d’Ellen Kooi a été couverte d’éloges et louée par différents critiques d’art et des commissaires de grands musées pour son originalité et son esthétique aliénée. Un travail photographique féerique et inspiré par des paysages parfois très néerlandais, comme les grandes surfaces des polders et les digues. Ainsi, les photographies d’Ellen Kooi étonnent, intriguent, voire émerveillent. On s’interroge sur ce que l’on regarde  ; une image chimérique, parfois inquiétante ou bien une « vraie » image dont la mise en scène serait savamment orchestrée.

L’imagerie très particulière d’Ellen Kooi a plusieurs origines. Tout d’abord, sa prédilection pour la mise en scène est sans doute issue du théâtre, milieu dans lequel elle a débuté son travail de photographe. Elle s’en inspire à l’évidence dans ses compositions et préfigure d’ailleurs celles-ci par des croquis, et, tel un metteur en scène, utilise ses modèles comme des acteurs. Le spectateur est souvent confronté à des personnages dans des positions/actions incongrues qu’elle implante dans un milieu urbain ou dans des paysages verdoyants, telles six femmes pêchant en arc de cercle sur un quai du bout du monde ou bien une femme appelant un interlocuteur improbable devant une bouche d’égout.

Avec ces mises en situations quelque peu extravagantes, on peut également rattacher son travail penchant pour l’univers surréaliste. Cette prédilection pour l’absurde et l’humour fait écho aux travaux de nombreux artistes néerlandais tels que Teun Hocks.

On relève parallèlement, dans son œuvre, d’autres caractéristiques de la photographie néerlandaise contemporaine. Ainsi, ses images, mélange de réalité et de symbolisme, dont l’unicité des compositions est achevée en explorant les possibilités du numérique, sont certainement liées au goût pour une photographie manipulée que l’on retrouve chez de nombreux plasticiens néerlandais. Ces artistes, amoureux de l’étrange, tels que Inez van Lamsweerde, se font remarquer depuis quelques années par des manipulations oserions-nous dire plus « génétiques » que simplement numériques de l’image. Ellen Kooi quant à elle met à profit cette technique pour accentuer la « dé-réalisation » des mises en scènes et renforce ce procédé par l’usage d’éléments cinématographiques. D’une part, les prises de vues à la Hitchcock, souvent basses ou en contre plongée, imposent au spectateur une perception de la scène au niveau du sol comme s’il débouchait sur un monde dont il serait l’intrus tel Alice aux pays des merveilles. D’autre part, l’irréalité des scènes irisées de couleurs très particulières – qu’elles soient foues, saturées voire criardes – contribuent à nourrir l’aspect cinématographique du décor. Enfin, les photographies, souvent prises en format panoramique, confortent cette vision en cinémascope.

Née à Leeuwarden en 1962, Pays-Bas, ELLEN KOOI vit et travaille à Haarlem, Pays-Bas. Etudes artistiques : Académie d’Art Minerva ABK, Groningue, Pays-Bas (1981-1987) ; Post graduate en art à la Rijksacademie van Beeldende kunsten (Académie Nationale des Beaux-Arts), Amsterdam, Pays-Bas (1993-1994)

En 2010, elle a également exposée au Centre Image ⁄ Imatge, Orthez, 16 juillet - 25 septembre 2010 : Ellen Kooi, photographies, ainsi qu'à Paris Photo avec la Galerie Les Filles du Calvaire et à la Fiac avec la Galerie Beaumontpublic.

Expositions prévues en 2011 :

Imaginary Realities, 15 janvier - 10 avril 2011, avec Astrid Kruse Jensen, Stedelijk Museum, Bois-le-Duc, Pays-Bas
Ellen Kooi: photographies, 20 avril - 5 juin 2011,  Le Château d’Eau, Toulouse, France
Photo Event, juin - septembre, Mechelen, Belgique

Site internet d’Ellen Kooi : www.ellenkooi.nl

CATALOGUE D'EXPOSITION : il est édité par Filigranes Editions avec un texte de Bernard Marcelis, critique d’art, et une introduction de Frits Gierstberg, chargé des expositions au Musée néerlandais de la Photographie à Rotterdam.

Cette exposition de photographies est organisée en collaboration avec la Galerie Les Filles du Calvaire, Paris : www.fillesducalvaire.com

Elle est organisée en partenariat avec la galerie municipale du Château d’eau à Toulouse et le centre Image/imatge d'Orthez ; avec l’aide de la Fondation Mondrian, Amsterdam. Avec le soutien de Thalys.

INSTITUT NEERLANDAIS 
121, rue de Lille
75007 Paris

Horaires d'ouverture : Tlj sauf le lundi, de 13h à 19 h

www.institutneerlandais.com

17-11 -> 22-12-2010

Exposition Tony Cragg au Musée du Louvre, Paris

Tony Cragg Musée du Louvre, Paris 28 janvier - octobre 2011

A l’occasion de la première rétrospective du sculpteur allemand Franz Xaver Messerschmidt (1736-1783), le musée du Louvre  présente un ensemble de sculptures de l’artiste anglais TONY CRAGG (né en 1949), artiste majeur de la scène contemporaine, dans les cours Marly et Puget. Un rapprochement entre l’œuvre des deux artistes avait déjà été présenté au Belvédère à Vienne en 2008. Mais au Louvre la confrontation de l’œuvre de Tony Cragg avec les « têtes de caractère » de Messerschmidt concerne plus particulièrement une sculpture en bronze, Level Head, (2005) représentant sous un certain angle de vue, par ses déformations et superpositions de strates, un profil humain particulièrement expressif.

La pyramide du Louvre accueillera une sculpture monumentale de l’artiste spécialement produite pour l’exposition. La nouvelle sculpture sera présentée sur la colonne d’entrée sous la pyramide de Pei. Cet espace demeuré vacant depuis l’ouverture en 1989, a cependant été conçu pour accueillir une œuvre contemporaine.

Les cinq autres sculptures ont été choisies par Tony Cragg pour dialoguer  avec l’espace des cours Marly et Puget. Elles sont de taille, de forme et de nature variées reflétant ainsi la diversité de sa pratique de sculpteur  tant dans les matériaux (bronze, marbre, fibre de verre, bois ) les couleurs (blanc, rouge, noir), que dans les méthodes utilisées (circonvolutions autour d’un axe central, déplacement latéral des volumes en oblique et en surplomb, accumulation de fines strates, percement de la surface). Des sculptures conçues sur le même principe, mais de différentes tailles permettent ainsi d’aborder la question de l’échelle, et une sculpture en deux parties, Double Zig, fait écho à certaines œuvres de la collection.

TONY CRAGG – BIOGRAPHIE (brève) 

Né en 1949 à Liverpool, diplômé de la Royal Academy de Londres, Tony Cragg vit et travaille depuis 1977 en Allemagne, à Wuppertal. Il a exploré de nombreuses voies nouvelles dans le domaine de la sculpture. La contribution de Tony Cragg au débat sur la sculpture contemporaine est considérable. Alors que ses œuvres de jeunesse des années 1970 étaient pour la plupart réalisées à partir d’objets récupérés, il recourt dans ses travaux plus tardifs à des matériaux  traditionnels, tels que le bois, le bronze et le marbre, renouvelant constamment les formes dans la direction d’une appréhension abstraite du corps humain. Aujourd’hui aucun sculpteur ne travaille le bronze avec autant de subtilité que Tony Cragg grâce à un procédé de fonte qui lui permet d’obtenir des formes molles, voire liquides. Il a remporté le Turner Price  en 1988 et a été élu à la Royal Academy en 1994. En septembre  2008, Tony Cragg a ouvert un parc de sculptures à Wuppertal, en Allemagne.

Commissaire de l’exposition : Marie-Laure Bernadac, conservateur général, chargée de mission pour l'art contemporain au Louvre.

Les oeuvres sont exposées sous la pyramide et dans les cours Marly et Puget. L'exposition et l'installation de Tony Cragg sous la pyramide ont été rendues possibles grâce au mécénat principal de Maybach. 

Horaires d'ouverture : Tous les jours de 9h à 18h, sauf le mardi. Nocturnes, mercredi et vendredi jusqu’à 22h. Tarifs : Accès avec le billet d’entrée au musée : 9,50 EUR ; 6 EUR après 18h les mercredi et vendredi.

« Faces à faces » : Tony Cragg Seconde nature

Soirée d’art contemporain le vendredi 4 février 2011 à 20h à l’Auditorium du Louvre
Tony Cragg en discussion avec Jon Wood, Henry Moore Institute, Leeds.

Loin d’une vision statique et immuable de la sculpture, Tony Cragg développera les notions de fluidité et de passage, centrales dans son œuvre. C’est notamment en s’inspirant de la figure humaine et de ses représentations comme celles du sculpteur Messerschmidt, mais de manière plus générale des formes organiques puisées dans la nature qu’il élabore un langage artistique propre. Il abordera ces questions avec Jon Wood, spécialiste de la sculpture moderne et contemporaine.

Accès libre dans la mesure des places disponibles. Programmation : Charlotte Chastel-Rousseau ; Marcella Lista, assistées de Camille Palopoli.

MUSEE DU LOUVRE, PARIS 

www.louvre.fr

Counter Space: Design and the Modern Kitchen at MoMA, NYC

Counter Space: Design and the Modern Kitchen
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Through March 14, 2011

 

MARGARETE SCHUTTE-LIHOTZKY (Austrian, 1897-2000). Frankfurt Kitchen from the Ginnheim-Höhenblick Housing Estate, Frankfurt am Main, Germany (reconstruction). 1926-27. Various materials, 8’9” x 12’10” x 6’10” (266.7 x 391.2 x 208.3 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Joan R. Brewster in memory of her Husband George W.W. Brewster, by exchange and the Architecture & Design Purchase Fund. Courtesy of MoMA, NY.

 

The Museum of Modern Art presents Counter Space: Design and the Modern Kitchen, an exhibition that examines the kitchen and its continual redesign as barometer of changing aesthetics, technologies, and ideologies, through March 14, 2011. Comprising almost 300 works drawn from the Museum’s collection, including design objects, architectural plans, posters, photographs, archival films, prints, paintings, and media works, the exhibition’s centerpiece is an unusually complete example of the iconic ―Frankfurt Kitchen,‖ designed in 1926-27 by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky and recently acquired by MoMA. In the aftermath of World War I, about 10,000 of these kitchens were manufactured for public-housing estates built around Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany, as part of a comprehensive 5-year program to modernize the city. Schütte-Lihotzky’s compact and ergonomic design, with its integrated approach to storage, appliances, and work surfaces, reflected a commitment to transforming the lives of ordinary working people on an ambitious scale. Since the innovations of Schütte-Lihotzky and her contemporaries in the 1920s, kitchens have continued to articulate, and at times actively challenge, our relationships to food; popular attitudes toward the domestic role of women, family life and consumerism; and even political ideology, as in the case of the famous 1959 Moscow “Kitchen Debate” between Richard Nixon and Nikita Khrushchev at the height of the Cold War.

Counter Space: Design and the Modern Kitchen is organized by Juliet Kinchin, Curator, and Aidan O’Connor, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Architecture and Design, The Museum of Modern Art.

 

 

MARGARETE SCHUTTE-LIHOTZKY (Austrian, 1897-2000). Frankfurter Küche (Frankfurt Kitchen). 1926-7. As illustrated in Das Neue Frankfurt 5 (1927).

 

Historically, kitchens were often drab, poorly ventilated, and hidden from view in a basement or annex, but by the end of the 19th century the kitchen became a bridgehead of modern thinking in the domestic sphere. Counter Space shows the variety of innovations that were developed in the 20th century through an array of design objects: appliances powered by gas and electricity (the earliest, a 1907 kettle designed by Peter Behrens for AEG); heat-resistant glass and steel wares that were featured in MoMA’s landmark 1934 Machine Art exhibition; and colorful plastics ranging from Tupperware to Japanese artificial food for restaurant display from the 1970s.  These objects are complemented by works by artists including Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenburg and Laurie Simmons, all drawn from MoMA’s collection.  

The exhibition is arranged in three sections which span the 20th century. The New Kitchen, an interwar design concept that embodied modernist principles of efficiency, hygiene, and standardization, appeared in numerous iterations throughout Europe and the United States. By transforming daily life at the level of the kitchen, it was argued, behavioral change and improved social well-being would follow. Modernist architects and designers like Schütte-Lihotzky looked to the model of the laboratory or factory to create rational, labor-saving kitchens that minimized drudgery. Their ambitions are reflected small-scale in works such as Wagenfeld’s 1938 Kubus storage system or Rex Stevens’ stainless steel mixing bowls. The section concludes with World War II, during which rationing of food and materials emphasized frugality and necessitated new products such as the glass frying pan by Corning, which introduced Pyrex.

 

LILLY REICH (German, 1885-1947). Boarding House at Die Wohnung unserer Zeit (The Dwelling of Our Time), German Building Exhibition, Berlin, Germany, Apartment for a Single Person, view of the living room and kitchenette. 1931. Gelatin silver print, 6 5/8 x 9" (16.8 x 22.9 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Mies van der Rohe Archive, gift of the architect. Courtesy of MoMA, NY.

 

After World War II, particularly in America, a climate of abundance and an emphasis on consumer choice put a new spin on the well-established rhetoric of efficiency and anti-drudgery in design for the kitchen. Visions of Plenty looks at postwar kitchens—larger, more colorful, and family-centered—that glorified the ease and comfort of fully-automated design.   The idea of the ―dream kitchen,‖ captured in Tom Wesselmann’s exuberant Still Life #30 collage of 1963, was celebrated in commercial films produced by manufacturing giants such as General Electric and Frigidaire, several of which are in the exhibition. Images from the Museum’s vast collection of film stills, for example, Full of Life (1956), with Judy Holliday, emphasize how Hollywood helped prime consumer desire for modern kitchens and appliances.

 

ROLF HARDER (German, born 1929). Alcan Foil, Brochures for the Aluminum Company of Canada. c.1960-62. Lithograph, each: 8 x 4" (20.3 x 10.2 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of the designer. Courtesy of MoMA, NY.

 

During the 1950s, the German appliance company Braun, began to develop a cohesive family of objects that quickly became known for their superior functionality and pure form, such as the Multipurpose Kitchen Machine, which is exhibited complete with all 16 different fixtures. Italy pioneered design in plastics, and in the 1960s designers re-imagined the entire kitchen in flexible, mobile, and miniaturized forms. An example is Virgilio Forchiassin’s Spazio Vivo mobile kitchen unit (1968), featured in the exhibition.

 

VIRGILIO FORCHIASSIN (Italian). Spazio Vivo (Living Space) Mobile Kitchen Unit. 1968. Steel and plywood covered with plastic laminate, 36 1/4 x 48 7/8” closed (92 x 124 x 124 cm). Manufactured by SNAIDERO (Italy, founded 1946). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of the manufacturer. Courtesy of MoMA, NY.

 

Alternative design thinking for the kitchen by the 1970s pushed beyond new materials and forms to social and environmental concerns. In Sweden, groups like Ergonomi Design shaped kitchen tools for the elderly and physically disabled. And dedicated designers like Lebanese diplomat Adnan Tarcici supported sustainable energy with impressively simple solar cookers, a collapsible version of which is featured. Contemporary designers continue to creatively address the enormous range of materials, functions, possibilities and problems that reside in the modern kitchen.

The final section, Kitchen Sink Dramas, introduces a human element to the kitchen—a space that evokes a gamut of emotions, from genuine pleasure to anxiety. Photographs, prints, and media works by contemporary artists highlight the kitchen as a subject that has permeated artistic practice since the late 1960s as a means of addressing larger debates around economics, politics, and gender.  Included in the installation are Cindy Sherman’s untitled film stills with groceries in a kitchen, William Eggleston’s photographs of the inside of an oven and a freezer, and Martha Rosler’s 1975 video, Semiotics of the Kitchen.

Throughout the exhibition prominence is given to the contribution of women, not only as the primary consumers and users of the domestic kitchen, but also as reformers, architects, designers, and as artists who have critically addressed kitchen culture and myths.

The exhibition Counter Space is supported by Silestone Quartz Surfaces.

The Counter Space website offer users the ability to explore the exhibition, archival materials, and video clips, as well as a blog. www.moma.org/counterspace

MoMA, New York

09-15-2010 -> 03-14-2011

Hans Hartung: The Last Paintings 1989 at Cheim & Read, NYC

Hans Hartung: The Last Paintings 1989
Cheim & Read, New York
Through December 30, 2010

 

A landmark exhibition of Hans Hartung’s late paintings, dating from 1987-1989 is on view at Cheim & Read gallery in New York. This is the first showing of Hartung’s works in New York since his controversial 1975 exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and focuses on the artistic output of his last years of life. The show is accompanied by a full color catalogue with an essay by Joe Fyfe.

HANS HARTUNG, T1989-L14, 1989
Acrylic on canvas
76 3/4 x 51 1/4 in 195 x 130 cm
Courtesy of Cheim & Read, NY

 

HANS HARTUNG (1904-1989) BIOGRAPHY
Hans Hartung was born in Leipzig, Germany in 1904, but is often identified by his artistic activity in Paris and his involvement in the French Art Informel or Tachist movements. His life and work were greatly affected by the political and social upheavals in France and Germany during the Second World War; after fleeing his native Germany (he was considered a “degenerate” artist by the Gestapo) he fought with the French Foreign Legion and lost his right leg on the Alsatian front. His post-war paintings – emotional abstractions which explored varieties of gesture and mark – were considered reactions to his experiences in battle. In fact, the paintings were surprisingly premeditated, carefully copied from sometimes much earlier, spontaneous drawings enlarged to fit the canvas. Originally an economic decision (predetermined compositions guaranteed successful outcomes), Hartung’s exacting realization of his paintings is evidence of the great control, technical aptitude and thoughtfulness with which he approached his work, as well as his understanding of, as Fyfe states in his catalogue essay, “painting as an act of mimesis.”

As a child, Hartung tried to capture the quick flash of lightening in order to contain and comprehend its unpredictable energy. Light, space and shadow proved to be life long themes; nature and the cosmos were influential forces. Photography was a helpful aid – Hartung took over 30,000 photographs, mostly recording patterns of light and dark, which he used as references for his work. Though his paintings were decidedly abstract, with seemingly little foundation in representation or figuration, Hartung spent much of his early career copying works by Rembrandt, Goya and Van Gogh. He felt an artist’s single scribbled line could contain enough expressive energy and information for the whole image – such was the authority of an artist’s individual mark.

Hartung’s career, especially in his home countries of France and Germany, was successful. His shows and awards were numerous; mid-career, in 1960, he won the Venice Biennale’s International Prize. This also coincided with his transition from pre-planned compositions to paintings improvised directly on the canvas. Exploration and experimentation with various and unusual tools ensued, and included lithography rollers, plant fronds, wheelchair wheels and gardening paraphernalia. Hartung also began to experiment with sprayed paint, using a set up similar to an auto-body shop and eventually appropriating garden hoses and sprayers originally developed for disseminating fertilizer.

In 1975, Henry Geldzahler, then the Metropolitan Museum’s curator of contemporary art, organized an exhibition of Hartung’s recent paintings at the museum. Though several contemporary artists, including Frank Stella and James Rosenquist, reported favorably of the show, it was highly misunderstood, and Hartung’s work was not shown again in New York until now.

In the last year of his life (Hartung died in December 1989), he produced 360 paintings – a monumental accomplishment, especially given his restricted physical condition. Confined to his wheelchair, he seemed to focus entirely on his creative output; his late work presents a sense of freedom, innovation and ambition that was connected to his previous work. His spray paint technique facilitated productivity – the sensitivity of the sprayer allowed Hartung to exercise control over the canvas without physical strain. The tool also provided exceptional variations in paint layering and effects, from smooth, transparent blocks of color to saturated, calligraphic drizzles of line. These works hint at the natural world, the qualities of light and shadow, and the infinitude of space, while remaining distinct artistic entities, anticipatory of contemporary concerns. Ultimately, they are witness to Hartung’s continuous, fearless exploration, even with the looming inevitability of his failing health. Hartung stated: “As for me I want to remain free, mind body and spirit. I don’t want neither myself nor anybody else to shut me off it all.”

In an adjacent gallery at Cheim & Read, Abstract Works on Paper 1941-1971 from a Private Collection is exhibited. The dialogue between these works by de Kooning, Mitchell, Kusama, Rothko, Tobey, Twombly among others, and Hartung’s late work provides an interesting counterpoint.

CHEIM & READ
547 W 25 NYC

www.cheimread.com

30-10 -> 30-12-2010

MoMA New Photography 2010: Roe Ethridge, Elad Lassry, Alex Prager, Amanda Ross-Ho

New Photography 2010
Roe Ethridge, Elad Lassry, Alex Prager, Amanda Ross-Ho
MoMA, New York
Through January 10, 2011 

 

ALEX PRAGER (American, born 1979)
Crowd #1 (Stan Douglas). 2010
W, November 2010
Chromogenic color print - 48 x 80 1/2" (121,9 x 204,5 cm)
Courtesy the artist and Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York
© 2010 Alex Prager

For New Photography 2010, The Museum of Modern Art highlights four artists in its annual showcase of significant recent work in contemporary photography, with the 2010 edition marking the 25th anniversary of the series. The exhibition features the work of Roe Ethridge, Elad Lassry, Alex Prager, and Amanda Ross-Ho, all of whom engage photography as a medium with fluid borders between editorial work, film, and art. Their pictures—shot in the real world, posed in the studio, or culled from pop culture and the movie industry—constantly shift contexts, often circulating from the magazine page to the wall. New Photography 2010 is organized by Roxana Marcoci, Curator, Department of Photography, The Museum of Modern Art.

Since its inception in 1985, the New Photography series has introduced the work of over 70 artists from 16 countries. The Museum continues this tradition of highlighting significant accomplishments in contemporary photography with this year’s edition featuring four artists and 36 works of photography and film. 

“These artists engage in a kind of post-appropriative practice,” explains Roxana Marcoci. “If in the 1970s Richard Prince questioned notions of originality by rephotographing advertising images and presenting them as his own, this younger group of artists reinvest in photographic authorship, creating pictures that often exist simultaneously as commercial assignment and artwork. They recognize photography to be a fluid medium.”

 

 

ROE ETHRIDGE (American, born 1969)
Comme des Garçons Scarf with Glass Plate. 2010
Chromogenic color print - 72 x 60" (182,9 x 152,4 cm)
Courtesy the artist and Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York
© 2010 Roe Ethridge

 ROE ETHRIDGE (American, b. 1969), who studied photography at The College of Art in Atlanta, takes his shoots in “editorial mode,” directly borrowing images already in circulation, including outtakes from his own commercial work. Drawing upon the traditions of descriptive photography and photography as a resource of mass imagery to be duplicated and recombined, the artist orchestrates visual fugues: a plain white plate grabbed from Bed Bath & Beyond’s website is superimposed on a checkered Comme des Garçons scarf; a model dressed in an Alexander McQueen shirt poses against a tripod at Pier 59; two filmic pictures of a Juilliard ballet student were initially published in Vice magazine; a model from the Chanel Spring ’09 fashion show is culled from The New York Times; a pumpkin sticker is shot in close-up view and magnified; a red bag is featured in a corner of the artist’s studio; and a still life displays moldy fruit. Abandoning conventional photographic aesthetics in favor of intentionally inconsistent modes of representation, Ethridge’s pictures acquire their distinct meaning from the salient way they are reshuffled, sequenced, and laid out.

 

 

ELAD LASSRY (Israeli, born 1977), Woman (Camera), 2010. Chromogenic color print, 8 1/2 x 10 1/2" (21,6 x 26,7 cm) The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Fund for the Twenty-First Century © 2010 Elad Lassry, courtesy David Kordansky Gallery.

 ELAD LASSRY (Israeli, b. 1977) defines his practice as one consumed with pictures, meaning with generic images culled from vintage picture magazines or film archives. After attending CalArts as a film student, the artist earned an MFA from the University of Southern California. Tapping into the visual culture of still and motion pictures, Lassry’s practice is as much engaged with the history of building stories with images as with the ghosts of history that persist long after images have been lifted out of their original context. Lassry demands viewers to rethink what it means to arrive at a point visually. His vibrantly colored pictures—studio portraits of friends and celebrities, still life compositions, and photocollages—never exceed the format of a magazine spread and are displayed in matching frames that derive their color from the dominant hues in the photographs. In their deadpan objecthood and Pop subject matter, Lassry’s images mimic the condition of non-art; yet his most direct shots are upended by an occasional blur, double-exposure, or the sandwiching of multiple negatives. Lassry often places his photographs beside 16-mm film projections. Untitled (2009), featuring Eric Stoltz in the role of choreographer teaching steps to a dancer dressed in red bodysuit, heightens the tension between stillness within the moving image and the temporality of the static image. A deft explorer of the relationship between image and picture, Lassry perks up the seductive language of film and advertising with a touch of subversive conceptualism.

 

 ALEX PRAGER (American, born 1979), Susie and Friends from the series The Big Valley. 2008. Chromogenic color print, 48 x 73 1/2" (121,9 x 186,7 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Acquired through the generosity of the Contemporary Arts Council of The Museum of Modern Art © 2010 Alex Prager, courtesy Yancey Richardson Gallery

A self-taught photographer, ALEX PRAGER (American, b. 1979) takes her cues from pulp fiction, the cinematic conventions of movie directors such as Douglas Sirk and Alfred Hitchcock, and the stylized fashion works of Guy Bourdin to construct images that are intentionally loaded, not unlike silent movies. Her unnerving narratives feature women disguised in synthetic wigs, dramatic makeup, and retro polyester attires. Shot from unexpected angles and dramatically lit, her crisp, boldly colored photographs offer a feeling of disquiet. Crowd #1 (Stan Douglas), one in a series of pictures shot for the November 2010 issue of W magazine, makes its debut here. It draws from Stan Douglas’s Hastings Park, 16 July 1955 (2008), among other sources, but Prager has enlisted a new cast of characters, dressed in 1970s outfits (which she selected), and shot the scene in her own signature style. The exhibition also presents the U.S. premiere of Prager’s debut film, Despair (2010). This four-minute film starring the actress Bryce Dallas Howard is, according to the artist, a “full-sensory version” of her photographs. Set in 1960s Los Angeles to a score by composer Ali Helnwein, this short is inspired by the 1948 film The Red Shoes, about a prima ballerina whose obsession with dance conflicts with her need for love, ultimately leading to her suicide. Focusing on the actress’s face to capture one intense emotion, Prager’s construction of images is intentionally loaded, reflecting her fascination with, and understanding of, cinematic melodrama. 

 

AMANDA ROSS-HO (American, born 1975), Irreconcilable Indifferences, 2010
Chromogenic color print - 44 x 34 3/16" (111.8 x 86.8 cm)
Courtesy the artist, Cherry and Martin, Los Angeles and Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York   © 2010 Amanda Ross-Ho

AMANDA ROSS-HO (American, b. 1975) received a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an MFA from the University of Southern California. Nodding to various stages of the creative process, her distinctive installations typically include a mix of collages, assemblages, mural-scale inkjet prints of studio residues, and hand-drilled Sheetrock panels propped against the wall that function like architectural backdrops. The Sheetrock panel in this exhibition is lined up with found images scanned from the pages of craft manuals and photography textbooks, but also includes pictures that have familial significance, such as a gelatin silver print portrait taken by the artist’s mother in the 1970s, and a reprint from a large color transparency of a composition with glasses, originally taken by her father in the context of his work as a commercial photographer. Ross-Ho grew up in a family of photographers, both commercial and artistic. As a child she spent time with her mother while she worked in the darkroom, and often stood as a model for test shots taken by her uncle and father. Within this framework of relationships, Ross-Ho renegotiates the definition of craft processe and commercial photography in contemporary practice.

The exhibition is made possible by the Carl Jacobs Foundation.

MoMA - The Museum of Modern Art, NY
The Robert and Joyce Menschel Gallery, third floor
September 29, 2010 - January 10, 2011 

Website: www.moma.org

Andy Warhol: Motion Pictures - MoMA Exhibition, NYC

Andy Warhol: Motion Pictures
MoMA, Museum of Modern Art, NYC December 19, 2010 - March 21, 2011

Among ANDY WARHOL’s cinematic oeuvre, the black and white silent films are the most daring and experimental in their selection of subject and theme, psychological acuity, rhythmic pacing, and sheer beauty of form. Although these films were originally shot at sound-film speed (24 frames per second), Warhol specified that prints be projected at a slower speed of 16 frames per second, a rate used in the projection of silent films from the 1890s through the 1920s.

Image: ANDY WARHOL. Screen Test: Lucinda Childs, 1964. 16mm film (black and white, silent). 4 min. at 16fps. ©2010 The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA, a museum of Carnegie Institute. All rights reserved. Film still courtesy of The Andy Warhol Museum.

 ANDY WARHOL. Kiss, 1963-1964. 16mm film (black and white, silent). 54 min. at 16fps. ©2010 The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA, a museum of Carnegie Institute. All rights reserved.

Film still courtesy of The Andy Warhol Museum.

For this exhibition, a selection of Warhol’s films made in 1963-1966 has been transferred from 16mm film to DVD at the speed of 16 frames per second, and projected onto screens and monitors in a gallery setting. Thus it is again possible to see the works as Warhol intended, and to appreciate the ways in which he challenged and provoked both subject and viewer in his manipulation of moving images. 

ANDY WARHOL. Screen Test: Salvador Dalí, 1966 

16mm film (black and white, silent). 4 min. at 16fps. ©2010 The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA, a museum of Carnegie Institute. All rights reserved. Film still courtesy of The Andy Warhol Museum. In the film the image is upside down.

ANDY WARHOL: MOTION PICTURES  AN EXHIBITION ON THE ROAD (2003-2011…)

This exhibition originated at MoMA as Andy Warhol: Screen Tests shown at MoMA QNS from May 1 to September 1, 2003. With the addition of Andy Warhol’s silent films, the show debuted as Andy Warhol: Motion Pictures at KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin (May 8 - August 8, 2004), and was also presented at Museu de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janeiro (April 26 - June 26, 2005); Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo (June 16 - August 14, 2005); Malba-Colección Costantini, Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (September 23 - November 21, 2005); the Moscow Museum of Modern Art (December 18, 2008 - February 9, 2009); and the Galerie Rudolfinum in Prague (January 29 - April 5, 2009). It is organized by Klaus Biesenbach, Director of MoMA PS1 and MoMA’s Chief Curator at Large.

ANDY WARHOL. Screen Test: Lou Reed, 1966

16mm film (black and white, silent). 4 min. at 16fps. ©2010 The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA, a museum of Carnegie Institute. All rights reserved. Film still courtesy of The Andy Warhol Museum.

MoMA - The Museum of Modern Art – New York At The International Council of The Museum of Modern Art Exhibition Gallery, sixth floor
www.moma.org

Japan’ Photography 1860-1910. An ineffable perfection, Villa Ciani, Lugano - Curated by Museo delle Culture (Castagnola)

Ineffable Perfection. Japan’s Photography. 1860-1910

Curated by Museo delle Culture (Castagnola)

Villa Ciani, Lugano

Through February 27, 2011

KUSAKABE KIMBEI

Woman washing her hair, 1880 ca.

Photo Courtesy of the Museo delle Culture, Castagnola

Villa Ciani plays host to Ineffable Perfection. Japan’s Photography Between 1860 and 1910. This is the largest temporary exhibition of its kind ever to be realised, worldwide. The themed path, the fruit of research carried out by the the team of the Museo delle Culture in Castagnola beginning in 2007, takes its audience on a journey of discovery into Japan's traditional image.

OGAWA KAZUMASA 

Craftsman who makes traditional Japanese sandals (geta), 1890 ca. 

Photo Courtesy of the Museo delle Culture, Castagnola   

Step by step, the visitor is introduced to a more mature vision of the encounter between Japan and the West. The principle themes focus on the representation of the landscape and nature as 'educated' by culture, the importance of photographic media in the definition of Japan's image, the taste for the exotic and the deep relationship between photography and the ukiyo-e  prints. The exhibition offers a profound analysis of the works and styles of the main Japanese and European photographers who were active in the period and features a surprising exploration of the historical and anthropological dynamics of 'travel to the East' and the 'aesthetic of the souvenir'. 

KUSAKABE KIMBEI (Studio)

Young woman reading in bed, 1880 ca.

Photo Courtesy of the Museo delle Culture, Castagnola

The photographic  albums displayed show finely lacquered and engraved covers which are, in themselves, an artistic genre of great interest. The exhibition path itself shows a particularly charming scenographic arrangement, which produces the sensation of walking through a Japanese garden. 

RAIMUND VON STILLFRIED-RATENITZ

Sumo wrestlers and referee, 1872

Photo Courtesy of the Museo delle Culture, Castagnola

The exhibition is completed by the presence of some fifty artworks and refined objects of material culture from prestigious private collections. Among these, magnificent samurai armour from the Fifteenth Century, a group of precious sculptures of religious character, a  highly refined selection of men’s and women’s clothes and a range of sixteen extraordinary Nō theatre-masks.

Villa Ciani
Parco Ciani, CH - 6900 Lugano

Ineffabile Perfezione. La fotografia del Giappone. 1860-1910.
October 23, 2010 - February 27, 2011

www.ineffabileperfezione.com

Concours Photo SNCF Les Français vus du train

Concours Photo Les français vus du train organisé par la SNCF

La rencontre de deux inconnus assis l’un à côté de l’autre… Le regard d’un enfant émerveillé face au paysage qui défile. Un au revoir sur le quai de la gare… Telles sont les images que l’on peut garder de certains voyages en train. et qui font de ces moments, des instants particuliers qu’on ne veut pas oublier.

C’est autour de ce sentiment nostalgique que nous pouvons ressentir lors de voyages en train que la SNCF a lancé un concours photos “les français vus du train” réalisé par l’agence Creads.

Ce concours qui se termine le 9 décembre 2010, permet à l’ensemble des voyageurs, qu’il s’agisse de professionnels ou non de la photographie, de poster leurs plus belles photos réalisées au cours d’un voyage en train. Les 4 meilleures d’entre elles seront affichées sur le site internet de la SNCF (http://www.sncf.com) et les meilleurs photographes se verront récompensés par une participation à l’exposition Les français vus du train qui se déroule depuis le 15 septembre 2010 jusqu’au 2 Janvier 2011 au Jardin du Luxembourg à Paris. Cette exposition présente des noms emblématiques de la photographie comme Robert Doisneau ou encore Boris Lipnitzky.

Si vous souhaitez participer, c’est sur le site  http://www.lesfrancaisvusdutrain.com

Christophe Cherix MoMA Chief Curator of Prints and Illustrated Books

Christophe Cherix Appointed Chief Curator of Prints and Illustrated Books at MoMA, New York

CHRISTOPHE CHERIX, The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Chief Curator of Prints and Illustrated Books, The Museum of Modern Art, NY. 
© Photograph by Robin Holland. Courtesy of MoMA

 

Christophe Cherix has been appointed The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Chief Curator of Prints and Illustrated Books at The Museum of Modern Art. In this role, he will guide all aspects of the department, including its installations, acquisitions, exhibitions, and loan programs. Mr. Cherix has served as Curator of Prints and Illustrated Books at MoMA since 2007. He succeeds Deborah Wye, who will assume the position of Chief Curator Emerita.

Christophe Cherix's concentration is modern and contemporary art, with a particular focus on printed art of the 1960s and 1970s. He has specialized in such American artists as Carl Andre, Robert Morris, Barry Le Va, Allen Ruppersberg, and Mel Bochner, and in European figures including John M Armleder, Maurizio Nannucci, and Lucy McKenzie. A longstanding interest of Cherix has been artists’ books, and at one point in his career he cofounded a publishing house where this medium was a focal point. As commissioner of the 25th Biennial of Graphic Arts in Slovenia in 2003, he featured artists’ books as well as a range of printed works that expanded traditional definitions of the medium.  

“Christophe is an outstanding curator who has demonstrated leadership in organizing exhibitions and working with MoMA’s extensive collection of prints and illustrated books,” said MoMA Director Glenn D. Lowry.  “He brings to this position a critically important breadth of knowledge and passion for modern and contemporary printed art that is matched by his ability to work with colleagues across the institution and beyond.”

At MoMA he most recently co-organized, with MoMA’s Associate Director Kathy Halbreich, the exhibition Contemporary Art from the Collection (through May 9, 2011). He also organized the exhibitions In & Out of Amsterdam: Travels in Conceptual Art, 1960–1976 (2009); Projects 88: Lucy McKenzie (2008); and Book/Shelf (2008), an exploration of how artists have used the book as an object in contemporary art. He is currently organizing a survey of prints, books, and ephemera from the late 1980s to the present, which will open at the Museum in 2012. 

Mr. Cherix has played a key role in critical acquisitions for his department and has facilitated numerous cross-departmental acquisitions by artists such as Josef Albers, Huma Bhabha, David Hammons, General Idea, Donald Judd, Lucy McKenzie, Lyubov Popova, Robert Rauschenberg, Josh Smith, Dan Walsh, Charles White, Hannah Wilke, and Zarina. Over the last three years he has brought to the Museum major collections of European and American Conceptual art of the late 1960s and early 1970s. He was also instrumental in securing the Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection, considered the largest and most important of its kind, which documents the founding and development of the international Fluxus movement. The collection comprises some 10,000 works in a range of mediums, an extensive archive including artists’ correspondence and scrapbooks, and a comprehensive reference library. Fluxus Preview, organized by Mr. Cherix in 2009 with MoMA’s Fluxus Consulting Curator Jon Hendricks, celebrated this important gift with a special installation of posters, newspapers, Fluxus editions, films, and photographs in the Museum’s galleries for painting and sculpture.  

Mr. Cherix plays a leadership role in the research-based collaboration C-MAP (Contemporary and Modern Art Perspectives), which links MoMA curators with their colleagues around the world, encouraging international dialogue, research, and professional partnerships between institutions. His group focuses specifically on Fluxus in former Central/Eastern Europe and Japan.

Christophe Cherix began his career at the Cabinet des estampes at the Musée d’art et d’histoire in Geneva. He served in various positions, including Assistant Curator (1991-2005), and initiated important donations from artists to the collection, including Mel Bochner and Robert Morris. As Chief Curator from 2005 until 2007, he oversaw the budget, exhibition program, and acquisitions of an institution whose collection comprises over 300,000 prints. While these holdings represent the history of prints from the Renaissance to the present, the Cabinet‘s major area of concentration is modern and contemporary art. Among his recent exhibitions was a study of Henri Matisse’s prints (2006) and a survey of vacuum-formed plastic multiples, organized with New York painter John Tremblay, which featured nearly thirty artists ranging from Claes Oldenburg to Gillian Wearing (2007). During that period, Mr. Cherix actively cultivated a relationship between the Cabinet des estampes and the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Geneva (MAMCO), enabling the two institutions to collaborate on joint projects. 

His numerous publications include the catalogue accompanying In & Out of Amsterdam: Travels in Conceptual Art, 1960–1976, and the catalogues raisonnés of prints by Henri Michaux (coauthored with Rainer Michael Mason) and Robert Morris. In addition, he has written extensively for many art journals and has participated widely in panels and lecture series at museums and other venues. 

Christophe Cherix was born in Switzerland and received a License ès lettres from the University of Geneva. He was a Fellow of the Class of 2010 at the Center for Curatorial Leadership in New York, which included a residency at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. He has been active in many organizations and committees that support the arts, both in Europe and the United States.

MoMA – The Museum of Modern Art, NYC

www.moma.org

Patricia Erbelding et Tony Soulié à Paris - Une expo et un livre d’artistes à voir rapidement

Pirates
Patricia Erbelding et Tony Soulié
Le cabinet d’amateur, Paris
23 - 28 novembre 2010

Organisée par le cabinet d’amateur, à Paris, l’exposition  PIRATES  présente un livre d’artiste et une série de dessins de TONY SOULIÉ et PATRICIA ERBELDING, réalisés autour d’une thématique commune, les histoires de pirates, ou plus précisément, de Libertalia, une colonie de Pirates évoquée par William S. Burroughs dans plusieurs de ses livres.

L’origine se trouve dans les écrits du capitaine Charles Johnson dans l'Histoire générale des plus fameux pirates (que certains attribuent à Daniel Defoe, l’auteur de Robinson Crusoé). Des pirates, conduits par un certain Capitaine Misson, se seraient installés à la fin du XVIIème siècle au nord de Madagascar, afin de fonder une société idéale, sorte d'espace de l'utopie réalisée, de modèle d’utopie politique. Cette aventure durera environ vingt cinq ans. Histoire ou fiction ? Peu importe après tout pour William S. Burroughs à l’instar d’autres écrivains qui s’empareront du mythe pour le faire vivre. La faune si particulière de l’ile de Madagascar, le seul endroit au monde ou vivent les lémuriens, sa géographie, déchirée du continent africain en font un lieu fantastique habité des fantômes de W. S. Burroughs que les deux artistes vont explorer et traduire dans la continuité des cut-ups de l’écrivain.

The Ghost Lemur
of William S. Burroughs

 

Ce livre d'artistes ce présente ainsi :

• Un boitier 32cm x 32cm x 4cm toilé, rouge ou anthracite
• Trois peintures originales de  Patricia Erbelding et trois peintures originales de Tony Soulié.
• Un texte de 4 pages imprimées au jet d’encre noir sur film transparent, format 30 x 30 cm, présentées chacune dans une double feuille de papier.
• Le texte est constitué d’extraits issus de deux romans de William S. Burroughs : Ghost of Chance, Tail Edition, London, 1995 et Cities of the Red Night, Picador Edition, publié par Pan Books Ltd, London, 1982.
• La couverture, le titre, le colophon, les 4 doubles pages contenant le texte sur film et les peintures sont sur papier Canson Arches platine blanc 310 gr, 100% coton.

L’ensemble a été édité en 12 exemplaires numérotés et signés au colophon par chaque artiste, constitue l’édition originale du livre, fait à Paris en mars 2010.

 

PATRICIA ERBELDING - BIOGRAPHIE
Patricia Erbelding est née et travaille à Paris. Elle y fait ses premières expositions individuelles à la Galerie du Haut Pavé, au début des années 90. Son travail, bien que centré sur la peinture, intègre aussi la photographie et la sculpture. Son œuvre tend vers une proposition, sous la forme d’un vocabulaire de signes et de matières, qui éclaire la nature malléable de notre perception visuelle en s’appropriant, en déchiffrant et en réinterprétant les tensions et pressions extérieures. Il s’agit d’une peinture en mutation, attachée à l’expression d’une réflexion constante sur le medium en proie aux archétypes et aux dogmes imposés. Sans toutefois jamais dévoiler ses secrets, s’y développe un langage intime se jouant de paradoxes et d’antithèses. Patricia Erbelding travaille aussi en collaboration avec des écrivains et poètes, notamment pour l’édition de livres d’artiste. Elle participe à de nombreuses expositions individuelles et collectives depuis 1991, principalement en Europe, en Asie et aux Etats-Unis.

TONY SOULIÉ - BIOGRAPHIE
Tony Soulié, ancien élève de l’Ecole des Beaux-arts et de l’école des Arts appliqués de Paris, expose depuis 1977. Il a pratiqué le théâtre, l'acrobatie et, toujours, la photographie et la peinture. Artiste abstrait, pratiquant une peinture gestuelle et instinctive, il exécute certaines de ses œuvres sur des supports photographiques. Tony Soulié tire sa source d’inspiration de ses nombreux voyages. Il apprécie particulièrement les contrées extrêmes - déserts, volcans - et cherche à restituer, dans ses œuvres, les émotions ressenties devant le spectacle de l’univers. Depuis sa première exposition personnelle, en Suisse (1977), Tony Soulié a participé à ce jour à plus de 200 expositions collectives tant en France qu'en Europe ainsi que, principalement, aux Etats-Unis, en Amérique latine et au Japon. En 1983 il réalise sa première installation, à l'usine Citroën et, depuis, il est intervenu sur des sites aussi variés que le volcan Etna, qu'à Pompei, dans le désert du Hoggar, sur le mont Olympe, à Big Island ou dans le vignoble de Pomerol. En 2008 est paru chez Art in Progress une superbe monographie consacrée à ses peintures de 1976 à 2008. En 2009, une grande rétrospective lui est consacrée à l'atelier Grognard (Rueil Malmaison), organisée par les éditions de l'Estampe. Ses œuvres peintes et gravées ainsi que sa monographie y sont présentées. Tony Soulié est présent tant dans les collections publiques, comme le musée d'Art moderne de Paris ou à la Villette, que dans de nombreuses collections d'entreprises.

LE CABINET D’AMATEUR 
12 rue de la Forge Royale
75011 Paris

www.lecabinetdamateur.com

Exposition Felix Nussbaum, MAHJ, Paris. Une rétrospective d’un peintre trop méconnu en France

Felix Nussbaum Osnabrück, 1904 - Auschwitz, 1944 
Musée d’art et d’histoire du Judaïsme, Paris Jusqu'au 23 janvier 2011

Qui est FELIX NUSSBAUM ? Son œuvre a été redécouverte tardivement. On le connaît mal en France. Sa peinture n’y a jamais été montrée, sinon dans l’exposition  Face à l’histoire, au Centre Pompidou (1996). Le MAHJ présente jusqu’au 23 janvier 2011 la première rétrospective de son œuvre hors de l’Allemagne et des Etats-Unis. A travers 40 peintures et 19 dessins, elle rassemble les œuvres les plus importantes et les plus spectaculaires de l’artiste ; la plupart d’entre elles sont conservées dans la Felix-Nussbaum-Haus, musée que lui a consacré Osnabrück – Basse-Saxe –, sa ville natale, accomplissant ainsi sa volonté :

« Si je meurs, ne laissez pas mes peintures me suivre, mais montrez-les aux hommes »

Il est un peintre moderne allemand, formé au temps de la Nouvelle Objectivité et au contact des avant-gardes européennes des premières décennies du XXe siècle, notamment la  pittura metafisica italienne, le surréalisme international, références qui l’unissent à quelques uns de ses contemporains : Max Beckmann, Otto Dix, ou John Heartfield. Mais avant tout, il incarne de façon saisissante le parcours d’un artiste que sa condition de juif persécuté ne laissera jamais en repos. Ce bourgeois juif allemand, d’une famille honorable, au talent soutenu par son père et reconnu par ses pairs, espoir de la jeune peinture, se retrouve, un jour de 1933, mis au banc de l’académie, jeté sur les routes, sans retour. De critique de la bourgeoisie et de l’ordre établi, il devient le guetteur inquiet de la menace qui rôde. Il la rencontre désormais sous les traits de la révocation, de l’exil, de la guerre, de l’internement, et de la clandestinité : les nouvelles dramatiques forment les étapes d’un processus dont  l’issue ne fait pas de doute.

FELIX NUSSBAUM - BIOGRAPHIE

Né en 1904, Felix Nussbaum  étudie aux beaux-arts à Hambourg et à Berlin ; lauréat de l’Académie allemande à Rome, il est pensionnaire à la Villa Massimo en 1932. L’arrivée d’Hitler au pouvoir le précipitera sur le chemin d’un exil qui, après l’Italie, la Suisse et la France, le conduit à Ostende en Belgique. Arrêté après la défaite de la Belgique, le 10 mai 1940, en tant que ressortissant du Reich, il est déporté au camp de Saint-Cyprien dans le sud de la France. Evadé, fugitif il retourne à Bruxelles où il demeure caché, avec son épouse Felka Platek, une artiste juive polonaise. Il est finalement déporté avec elle, le 31 juillet 1944, à Auschwitz et assassiné. 

Son œuvre témoigne des influences qu’il revendique : le Douanier Rousseau, Van Gogh, Beckmann, Ensor, Chirico ; son goût pour l’autoportrait d’une part, et ses allégories de la Mort d’autre part, le rattachent aux maîtres anciens flamands et allemands. L’exil et le danger le plongeront dans une peinture existentialiste sur la condition du juif pourchassé auquel il donnera une expression fascinante.

Portraits et surtout autoportraits  scandent  l’œuvre  de l’artiste, évoquant ses interrogations, en tant qu’homme, fils, artiste, amant et proscrit ; Nussbaum use de symboles qui questionnent le pouvoir de l’art, et le rôle des modèles et des réalités auxquels il s’attache.  Sa peinture forme à la fois une traversée de  l’histoire de l’art, une trame narrative et autobiographique qui atteste d’un esprit d’une grande complexité et une fresque métaphysique d’une inquiétante étrangeté, qui décrit un monde conduit à sa destruction par la main de l’homme.

A travers cet événement, le MAHJ poursuit une série d’expositions consacrées à des artistes persécutés et assassinés lors de la Shoah, Friedl Dicker-Brandeis, Bruno Schulz, Charlotte Salomon, ou à des artistes rescapés et marqués à jamais par cette expérience, Isaac Celnikier ou Serge Lask.

Dans le cadre de cette exposition, une série de manifestations sont organisées : conférence, journée d’étude, témoignages filmés.

CATALOGUE de l'exposition publié en coédition par le MAHJ et Skira-Flammarion. Avec une introduction de Laurence Sigal, directrice du Musée d’art et d’histoire du Judaïsme, un texte de Inge Jaehner, directrice de la Felix-Nussbaum-Haus, « Pour une histoire de la collection », ainsi qu'un texte de Philippe Dagen, historien de l'art, Université de Paris I, conseiller scientifique de l'exposition : « L’art philosophique de Felix Nussbaum »
192 pages, format 24 x 26 cm, 30 EUR

L'exposition a été organisée avec la participation exceptionnelle de la Felix-Nussbaum-Haus d’Osnabrück. Elle a reçu le soutien de la Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Shoah, de la Fondation Pro-MAHJ, de la Fondation du Judaïsme Français, de la direction régionale des Affaires culturelles d’Ile-de-France et de donateurs privés.

Commissaires de l'exposition : Nathalie Hazan-Brunet, Laurence Sigal, assistées de Virginie Michel

Conseiller scientifique : Philippe Dagen, professeur d'histoire de l'art contemporain à l'Université de Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne

MUSEE D'ART ET D'HISTOIRE DU JUDAISME Hôtel de Saint-Aignan
71, rue du Temple
75003 Paris
www.mahj.org 
22-09-2010 - 23-01-2011

Lauréats du Concours Photo Syngenta 2010 – Les photos gagnantes

Syngenta a annoncé le nom des lauréats de l’édition 2010 de son concours Photo.

Please scroll down for english version

Nigel Hallett originaire d’Australie, Zoltán Balogh originaire de Hongrie et Mario Pereda, originaire d’Espagne ont remporté le premier, le deuxième et le troisième prix, dotés respectivement de 8000, 5000 et 3000 dollars en matériel photo Canon de leur choix.

 

© NIGEL HALLET, Summer Scorcher - Canicule estivale
Courtesy of Syngenta

 

Les photos lauréates, sélectionnées sur un total de 3800 en provenance de 87 pays, ont été choisies pour « leur qualité, leur créativité et la manière dont elles symbolisent la raison d’être de Syngenta : Exprimer le potentiel des plantes ». 

Le nom des lauréats a été annoncé le 16 novembre lors d'une exposition spéciale organisée au Kunsthalle de Bâle, en Suisse, dans le cadre des célébrations du 10ème anniversaire de Syngenta. 

Nigel Hallett, qui a remporté le premier prix, est un photographe professionnel. Il travaille pour un journal australien local.

Zoltán Balogh est photographe  semi-professionnel, il a décrit son cliché, Campagne finlandaise, comme un « moment de chance ». Habitué des portraits, Balogh s’est senti « obligé de photographier l’exceptionnelle symétrie du paysage ».

 

© ZOLTAN BALOGH, Countryside in Finland - Campagne finlandaise
Courtesy of Syngenta

 

Mario Pereda est un photographe professionnel. Sa photo « Rizières en terrasses d’Ifugao », prise lors d'un voyage de trois mois aux Philippines, symbolise pour lui « l’un des endroits les plus intéressants qu’il ait jamais visités ». 

Le concours Photo Prize de Syngenta récompense chaque année les « meilleures photos de plantes, paysages, communautés et technologies dans le contexte de l’agriculture mondiale".  Le site Internet www.syngentaphoto.com  lui est consacré. On peut y découvrir toutes les photos participantes à l’édition  2010, dont les lauréates, ainsi qu’une présentation des vainqueurs des années précédentes. 

 

© MARIO PEREDA, Ifugao rice terraces - Rizières en terrasses d’Ifugao
Courtesy of Syngenta

 

Syngenta announces their PHOTO PRIZE 2010 winners

Syngenta  has  announced  the winners of its  2010 Photo Prize competition. Nigel Hallett from Australia, Zoltán Balogh from Hungary and Mario Pereda from Spain were awarded first, second and third prize vouchers of $8000, $5000 and $3000, respectively, to buy Canon products. The winning photos were selected from 3800 entries, from 87 countries,  based upon their "quality, creativity and  interpretation  of  Syngenta's purpose: Bringing plant potential to life." 

The winners were announced at a special exhibition at the Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland, as part of Syngenta's 10th Anniversary celebrations (November 16). 

First prize winner, Nigel Hallett, is a professional photographer working  for a local Australian newspaper. His entry was named Summer Scorcher.

Zoltán Balogh, a semi-professional  photographer, described his winning  picture,  Countryside  in Finland, as “a  fortunate moment.” Usually keen to photograph people, Balogh  felt  “compelled  to capture the outstanding symmetrical composition in the landscape.”

Mario Pereda is a professional  photographer. Taken during a three month trip to the Philippines, he described his winning  entry Ifugao Rice Terraces as  “one of  the most  interesting places he had ever visited.”

The annual Syngenta Photo Prize seeks outstanding images of plants, landscapes, communities and technologies in  the  context of global agriculture. The website www.syngentaphoto.com  is  dedicated to the photo prize  and  features all  of  the 2010 winning entries and submissions, and showcases the winners from previous years.