Artipedia - Arts News

Kunsthalle Wien and MUMOK

Dream & Trauma
Works from the Dakis Joannou Collection, Athens

KUNSTHALLE wien, hall 2 and MUMOK, Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Hofstallung
In cooperation with Deste Foundation For Contemporary Art, Athens
June 29th, 2007 - October 04th, 2007

"Everything you forget cries for help in your dreams" Elias Canetti

Dream & Trauma. Works from the Dakis Joannou collection, Athens — a joint project with Kunsthalle Wien and MUMOK. The exhibition approaches the two phenomena that draw on the unconscious, the dream as well as the psychic injury — the trauma, with over 40 contemporary artistic positions.

Dream and trauma are regarded as opposites that have a lot in common: the psychoanalytical background, the phenomena of the unconscious and suppression and, not least, their power of transcendence. An aesthetics of the traumatic as found in the works of William Kentridge or Cindy Sherman visualises forms of pain, fear and injury, it shows wounds to the essence of being and existential wounding. It depicts inner states of feeling, altered, crazy and uncanny perceptions of reality (Robert Gober), fragmented bodies (Paul McCarthy, Anna Gaskell) and remnant forms (Urs Fischer). It discovers an art that, in the works of Gregory Crewdson, Tim Noble/Sue Webster, visualises the repressed and depraved and so uncovers pain-filled wishes, desires and dreams. Dreams and trauma reveal their imaginary power in the tension between absence and presence; repression and a surfeit of emotion; abstraction (Olafur Eliasson, Christopher Wool) and visual overload (Aurel Schmidt, Ralf Ziervogel).

Dakis Joannou is regarded as one of the most important collectors of contemporary art in the world. The Greek businessman founded the Deste Foundation in 1983 with its own exhibition space. After the first presentation outside of Greece in the Tokyo Palace (2005) in Paris, Dream and Trauma is the second largest thematic exhibition with works from his collection.

Curators: Edelbert Köb (Director MUMOK), Gerald Matt (Director Kunsthalle Wien), Angela Stief (Kunsthalle Wien)

Participating Artists: Pawel Althamer, Tauba Auerbach, Hisham Baroocha, Maurizio Cattelan, Paul Chan, Nigel Cooke, Gregory Crewdson, Gerald Davis, Brian Degraw, Nathalie Djurberg, Marcel Dzama, Olufar Eliasson, Urs Fischer, Naomi Fisher, saul Fletcher, Barnaby Furnas, Anna Gaskell, Robert Gober, Matt Greene, Oliver Halsman Rosenberg, Adam Helms, Cameron Jamie, Dorota Jurczak, William Kentridge, Jeff Koons, Friedrich Kunath, Matt Leines, Ashley Macomber, Paul McCarthy, Tim Noble/Sue Webster, Chris Ofili, Poka-Yio, Dimitri Protopapas, Georgia Sagri, Aurel Schmidt, Cindy Sherman, Dasha Shishkin, Kiki Smith, Nedko Solakov, Christiana Soulou, Alex Stein, Nari Ward, Christopher Wool, Ralf Ziervogel

Address
Infoline: +43-1-52189-33 | http://www.kunsthallewien.at | http://www.mumok.at

Museumsplatz 1 in the MuseumsQuarter
A-1070 Vienna
phone +43-1-52189-33

public transport:
U2 / U3 Station "Volkstheater"
U2 Station "Museumsquartier"

For more information go to:

Neuer Berliner Kunstverein

Ortsbegehung 13:
A Product of Free Will
David Hatcher, Michael Müller,
Christine Würmell
Curated by Astrid Mania
7 July - 19 August, 2007

Neuer Berliner Kunstverein
Chausseestraße 128/129
10115 Berlin, Germany
P +49 (0)30 2807020
F +49 (0)30 2807019
nbk@nbk.org

http://www.nbk.org

‘A Product of Free Will’ presents work by Berlin-based artists David Hatcher, Michael Müller and Christine Würmell. Each artist’s practice is an idiosyncratic response to the effects of and possibilities inherent to our institutionalized contexts for art, yet their enquiries exceed a mode of pure analysis. Witnessing the co-opting of conceptually radical or formally ephemeral works into an art canon or market, Hatcher, Müller and Würmell decide against strategic dematerialization of their work as an antidote to such forces. Frequently referencing movements from the 20th century–particularly the historical avant-gardes and work from the conceptual era–they instead insinuate their work into the cultural and economic paradigms of contemporary art and its institutions. In doing so they attempt to negotiate the complex nature of sites that distribute and display art–the gallery space and all that it is contingent upon–without relinquishing an investment in
visual pleasure, a formal agenda, or the material foundation of their work.

David Hatcher probes the philosophical and political foundations of western societies to determine their structural integrity. He finds that a lot of what was once considered groundbreaking resides today in superficial references designed to lend a critical edge to aesthetic commodities. Rather than attempting a simplistic evasion of this condition, he creates art objects that stare down their fate. In his installations, however, he attempts to go further, attributing a practical, social use value to the art object.

In drawings and work with language Michael Müller questions his own potential to convey his artistic intentions and processes to the viewer. He does so by making reference to philosophical or scientific problems that resist resolution, and also by means of absurd endeavors of translation in which shifts in meaning are a foregone conclusion. He is fascinated by the discrepancy between scientific method and artistic product, between the seemingly infinite capacity of thought and the restrictions of all the systems it is bound to.

Christine Würmell’s work combines images and texts from the areas of politics, ecology, economics and the arts as she audits contemporary western culture. Her practice addresses the vacuous use of political, nonconformist gestures and concepts in pop culture and consumer societies, as well as the leeching of creative form and content as fine art is historicized and commodified.

The exhibition will also be on view at the Kunstverein Göttingen from 18 November - 31 December, 2007. A bilingual exhibition catalogue is available.

Opening hours:
Tuesday - Friday 12 - 6pm
Saturday & Sunday 2 - 6pm

For more information go to: http://www.nbk.org

Tate Britain and Tate Modern

Contemporary Art Talks at
Tate Britain and Tate Modern

Tate Britain
Millbank
London SW1P 4RG

Tate Modern
Bankside
London SE1 9TG

http://www.tate.org.uk

The Turner Prize: Then, Now & Beyond

Wednesday 26 September 2007, 18.30 - 21.00

An evening discussion that explores the 23-year history of the Turner Prize, from the impact the prize has had on contemporary art in Britain and abroad to the effect high-profile prizes have on artists’ work and their careers. This talk will explore the particular and more general in the contemporary world and, finally, what shape the Turner Prize might take in future. Speakers include Nicholas Serota and Rachel Whiteread, with Mark Lawson in the chair.

Tate Britain, Auditorium
Booking required
Price includes drinks afterwards
For tickets go to http://www.tate.org.uk/tickets or call 020 7887 8888

Martha Rosler
Talking Art

Saturday 29 September 2007, 14.00 - 15.30

The second event in the Talking Art series features renowned American artist Martha Rosler in conversation with Iwona Blazwick, Director of The Whitechapel.

Martha Rosler is one of the most influential artists of her generation whose work frequently compels the viewer to rethink the boundaries between the public and the private, the social and political. Her work centres on everyday life and the public sphere, often with an eye to women’s experience, and encompasses works in video, photo-text, installation, and performance, as well as writing about art and culture.

In collaboration with Art Monthly

Tate Modern, Starr Auditorium
Booking required
For tickets go to http://www.tate.org.uk/tickets or call 020 7887 8888

Sign up for Tate’s contemporary art e-bulletin at http://www.tate.org.uk

For more information go to: http://www.tate.org.uk

10th International Istanbul Biennial

10th International Istanbul Biennial

Not Only Possible But Also Neccesary:
Optimism In The Age Of Global War

Curator: Hou Hanru

September 8 - November 4, 2007
Professional Preview: September 6 - 7, 2007
Press Conference: September 6, 2007
ist.biennial@iksv.org

http://www.iksv.org/bienal

Organised by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts, the 10th International Istanbul Biennial will not be a conventional thematic exhibition, rather; it will emphasise artistic production based on collective intelligence and the living process of negotiating with physical sites. The Biennial will focus on urban issues and architectural reality as a means of exposing different cultural contexts and artistic visions regarding the complex and diverse forms of modernity.

More than 100 artists and artist groups from 35 different countries will exhibit more than 150 projects throughout the 10th International Istanbul Biennial.

10th International Istanbul Biennial will explore the venues through titles implying the venues’ role in Istanbul’s political, economic and social aspects of its modernisation process.

"Burn It or Not?", Atatürk Cultural Centre, Taksim
A leading example of the Republican Period Architecture and a symbol of the Taksim Square, the heart of Istanbul, the AKM Building serves as a major element of the city’s cultural and political memory. Obviously, this modernist edifice incarnates the ideological model of Turkey’s modernization driven by its republican revolutionary project. However, today it is under the threat of being gentrified by global capitalism’s expansion. Through using this building as an important venue for the Biennial with an exhibition focusing on the question of utopia and its fate all around the world; questions of social progress, modernization and democracy, etc. in the current conditions of globalization will be raised and debated.

"World Factory", Istanbul Textile Traders’ Market, Unkapani
The Istanbul Textile Traders’ Market, buit in the 60s consists of six blocks which accommodate approximately a thousand shops. This intelligently designed vernacular modernist building, explored by its users in an organic and self-organizational manner, shows an interesting and peculiar case of how local economic activities with a modern vision bring a vital element to contribute to the urban evolution. And it’s a perfect site for the project "World Factory" that manifests the reality and strategies of the negotiation between developed and developing worlds in terms of different models of production, consumption and economic development in the age of globalization and geopolitical conflicts.

"Entre-polis" and "Dream House", Antrepo no.3, Tophane
Old customs warehouses located on the Bosporus near Tophane were used for the 4th, 8th and 9th Istanbul Biennials. This particular location, function and architectural identity allow a highly complex project to grow from within: two exhibitions will be realized in two overlapping structures. An "Entre-polis", dealing with issues of global trading, migration, border crossing and their impacts on urban life will be constructed in a labyrinth-like street-square-street micro-urban structure. Above this micro-city, there will be a series of high-rise platforms opening only in the evenings. They are "Dream Houses" that welcome people to stay and discover some most unexpected elements of the Biennial, and enjoy Istanbul by night from an unusual angle.

Special Projects

Nightcomers

nightcomers is one of the night programme projects of the 10th International Istanbul Biennial and is based on the concept of "dazibao", used by Hou Hanru in reference to wall-mounted posters of political criticism produced by the public during the Chinese Revolution. Videos will be shown throughout the night in the streets, and the target is to reach a bigger audience than the Istanbul Biennial does in the daytime. The video programs have been selected by five local curators from the pool of videos sent by general public upon the open call of the Biennial. They will be projected in different parts of the city on certain nights of the week via a specific mobile device. This will bring the Biennial project to different sectors of the city, especially those out of cultural centres.

santralistanbul

santralistanbul is a project led by Istanbul Bilgi University, involving the conversion of the first power station built in Istanbul during the Ottoman period — Silahtaraga Power Plant — into a Museum of Contemporary Arts, a Museum of Energy and a cultural and educational centre.

santralistanbul will be the one of the sites for special projects focused on self-organisation for the 10th International Istanbul Biennial and will serve as a space of education, workshop and laboratory. Events like international workshops, residency program, a conference and a film program are going to be realized in santralistanbul in collaboration with Istanbul Bilgi University.

Kadiköy Public Education Centre (KAHEM)

KAHEM is situated at the heart of the Asian side of the city. Built as a popular cultural centre as a part of the republican social education and culture project in the 1930s, it is a significant Turkish modernist building undervalued for long time. Organising special projects for the Biennial not only provides a platform for urban and geopolitical emergency, it also offers an opportunity for the public to rediscover such a specific architectural and cultural edifice.

Artist List

Hamra Abbas
Adel Abdessemed
AES+F
Vahram Aghasyan
Buthayna Ali
Allora Calzadilla
Selçuk Artut
Kutlug Ataman
Fikret Atay
Jonathan Barnbrook
Ramazan Bayrakoglu
Justin Bennett
Ege Berensel - Serhat H. Yalçinkaya - Banu Ornat
Ursula Biemann
Bik Van der Pol
Cao Fei
Banu Cennetoglu
Lia Chaia
Paul Chan
Chen Hui-Chiao
Chen Chieh-Jen
Claire Fontaine
Teddy Cruz
Nancy Davenport
Burak Delier
Democracia
Atom Egoyan
Idil Elveris - Zeren Göktan
Extrastruggle
Daniel Faust
Didier Fiuza Faustino
Christoph Fink
Nina Fischer - Maroan El Sani
Vicky Funari - Sergio de la Torre
Bodil Furu - Beate Petersen
Rainer Ganahl
Jean Baptiste Ganne
Gimhongsok
Renée Green
Ivan Grubanov
Ha Za Vu Zu
Erdem Helvac?oglu
Huang Yong Ping
Emre Hüner
Sanja Ivekovic
Eleni Kamma
Kan Xuan
Ömer Ali Kazma
Ian Kiaer
Sora Kim
Taiyo Kimura
Gunilla Klinberg
Aleksander Komarov
Rem Koolhaas/AMO
Markus Krottendorfer
Lee Bul
Minouk Lim
Lu Chunsheng
Cristina Lucas
Ken Lum
MAP Office
Ramón Mateos
Julio Cesar Morales
Multiplicity
Els Opsomer
Ou Ning
Ferhat Özgür
Peng Hung-Chih
Anu Pennanen
Alexandre Périgot
Tadej Pogacar
Julien Prévieux
Radek Community
Michael Rakowitz
Raqs Media Collective
Jewyo Rhii
Porntaweesak Rimsakul
Lordy Rodriguez
Sam Samore
Fernando Sanchez Castillo
Allan Sekula
Taro Shinoda
Sophia Tabatadze
David Ter-Oganyan
Nasan Tur
Katleen Vermeir - Ronny Heiremans
Wong Hoy-Cheong
Xu Zhen
Yan Pei Ming
Yan Lei
Yang Jiechang
Tomoko Yoneda
Young Hae Chang Heavy Industries
Yushi Uehara / Berlage Institute
Zhou Hao - Ji Jianghong
Zhu Jia

Special Projects

Nightcomers (curated by Övül Durmusoglu, Marcus Graf, Borga Kantürk, Pelin Uran, Adnan Yildiz)

Apartment Project
Art Experience (Istanbul Bilgi University / Domus Academy)
Atelier bow-wow
Emergency Biennale in Chechnya
Fiji Biennale Pavilions by Mladen Bizumic
Floating Territories (Evens Foundation)
Hafriyat
Innocent Act (studioKAHEM)
Isola/OUT
Nico Dockx - Kris Delacourt (for Floating Territories)
K2

For more information go to: http://www.iksv.org/bienal

Z33

STUDIO JOB
July 1st until September 27th 2007

Z33
Zuivelmarkt 33
B-3500 HASSELT
T: +32 (0)11 29 59 60

http://www.z33.be

Arts centre Z33 uses its exhibition projects to explore the areas between the contepmporary art and design. Each project also refers to social developments and scientific phenomena. After looking at critical design in ‘Designing Critical Design’, Z33 is now focussing on iconic design with the 16th consecutive project that it has produced: STUDIO JOB.

N° 16 STUDIO JOB features the artistic projects of two designers: Job Smeets (1970, Hamont-Achel, B) and Nynke Tynagel (1977, Bergeijk, NL), who work together under the name Studio Job.

"Studio Job is a love-’em-or-hate-’em Belgian Dutch design duo.", announced Time Magazine when it included Studio Job in its top 100 most influential interior designers.

Two of the studio’s projects won a place in the 2005 and 2006 editions of the Design Yearbook.
Just some of Studio Job’s famous clients include Bisazza, Koninklijke Tichelaar Makkum and Swarovski. Their work has been seen on the catwalk with a creation for Swarovski and collaborations with fashion designers, such as Viktor & Rolf. The studio participates nearly every year in the design fairs in Paris (Salon du Meuble) and Milan (Salone del Mobile), and was also present at the Miami edition of the Art Basel art fair.

The Groninger Museum, Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam) and Centraal Museum (Utrecht) all have work by Studio Job in their collection.

Despite this impressive resume, Z33 is the first to present Studio Job’s artistic projects in an extensive exhibition.

Jan Boelen, artistic director of Z33 and co-curator Mark Wilson, attached to the Groninger Museum, were responsible for selecting the works: unique and limited edition pieces, recent artistic projects and new objects. Studio Job also made a new ‘Paper Chandelier’ for Z33.

The exhibition gives visitors a glimpse into the world of work and ideas created by Job Smeets and Nynke Tynagel and depicts the pair’s vision on design. Because they studied at the Eindhoven Design Academy, they both regard themselves as designers, but prefer the freedom of art to the restrictions that accompany mass production.

The exhibition is open
Tuesday - Saturday: 11 am - 6 pm
Sunday and public holidays: 2 pm - 5 pm

Free admission

For more information go to: http://www.z33.be

Associação Cultural Videobrasil

16th International Electronic Art
Festival_SESC Videobrasil
September 30 to October 25, 2007

SESC Avenida Paulista
Av. Paulista, 119 CEP 01311-903,
São Paulo, SP
Promotion: SESC São Paulo
Concept and production:
Associação Cultural Videobrasil

http://www.sescsp.org.br
http://www.videobrasil.org.br

16th Videobrasil researches ties between
video, visual arts, and cinema

The ties between video, cinema, and the visual arts are the object of investigation of the 16th International Electronic Art Festival_SESC Videobrasil, to be held at SESC Avenida Paulista, in São Paulo, from September 30 to October 25, 2007. Synthesized in the curatorial theme Limite: Movimentação de imagem e muita estranheza [Limit: image movement and lots of strangeness], the relations among those fields, which unfold into expanded images and multiple narratives, are present in all sections of the Festival, from the competitive exhibition to the special curatorships, from the conferences to the participation of guests Peter Greenaway, Marcel Odenbach, Kenneth Anger, Arthur Omar, Carlos Adriano, Edgard Navarro, Eder Santos, and Detanico Lain.

The theme of the 16th Videobrasil was inspired by the feature film Limite (1930), by Mario Peixoto, which caused surprise by introducing, into Brazilian cinema and audiovisual production, all sorts of hybridizations and experimental strategies, using a camera that assumes its own visibility and the intentionality of writing. The film will receive a special tribute at the Festival, and is one of the subjects of the third edition of the annual publication Caderno Videobrasil, to be released during the event.

Southern Panoramas
Curated by Solange Farkas, director of Associação Cultural Videobrasil and of the Museum of Modern Art - Bahia, the 16th Videobrasil will bring together, in the Southern Panoramas competitive exhibition, sixty-six works produced during the last two years in seventeen countries in Latin America, Africa, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Oceania. The selection was made from 791 works submitted, and includes both productions by artists with a background in the field of electronic art, and those who use video as a research tool.

The exhibition will feature work by the Brazilians Eustáquio Neves, Wagner Morales, Cao Guimarães, Giselle Beiguelman, Marcellvs L., and Nuno Ramos, the duo Maurício Dias (Brazil) and Walter Riedweg (Switzerland), the Argentines León Ferrari, Andrés Denegri, Gustavo Galuppo, Marcello Mercado, and Federico Lamas, the Australian John Gillies, the South African Gregg Smith, the Lebanese Akram Zaatari, the Chilean Claudia Aravena Abughosh, the Moroccan Bouchra Khalili, and the Mexicans Marco Casado and Salvador Ortega.

Divided into the sections State of the Art (for the production of established artists), Contemporary Investigations (for research processes), and New Vectors (for emerging artists), Southern Panoramas will highlight proposals that use cinema as raw material and/or "data bank," remixing sequences, recontextualizing scenes, and reprocessing classic images by Hitchcock, Antonioni, Tarkovsky, and Godard.

Guest artists
The quest for a deterritorialized cinema, the procedures of which are in line with contemporary artistic practice, has also determined the choice of guests such as Peter Greenaway, who will bring to the event new developments of Tulse Luper Suitcases, his project-manifesto on the future of cinema. His participation includes a live image session, an installation, lectures, and a blog http://blogdovideobrasil.blog.uol.com.br . The German video art pioneer Marcel Odenbach will have his largest exhibition to date in Latin America, featuring installations, films, a lecture, and a previously unseen work, commissioned by the Festival. Kenneth Anger, one of the inventors of underground cinema in the United States, will have a retrospective screening of nine short films produced between 1947 and 1972.

The Brazil Axis will feature artist Arthur Omar, who has been breaking down borders between different artistic territories since the 1970s, as he travels between film, photography, video, installations, and Web art; Edgard Navarro, from the state of Bahia, whose résumé includes some of the most irreverent and original videos in the history of Brazilian visual art; filmmaker and master in cinema Carlos Adriano, who operates between documental and experimental film; Eder Santos, one of the foremost Brazilian electronic artists; and the duo Detanico Lain, which is also responsible for the graphic identity of Videobrasil.

For more information on the 16th International Electronic Art Festival_SESC Videobrasil and other Associação Cultural Videobrasil activities, visit our Web site: http://www.videobrasil.org.br

Press contact:
Teté Martinho
Communications Manager
55 11 9901 0375
tetemartinho@videobrasil.org.br

For more information go to: http://www.sescsp.org.br

VOLUME Magazine

VOLUME Magazine issue 12: AL MANAKH
Out now!

VOLUME is a collaborative project by
Archis + AMO + C-Lab +…

info@archis.org

http://www.volumeproject.org

Subscription
Purchase

VOLUME #12 AL MANAKH, analysis of developments along The Gulf: A Guide, a Survey, an Agenda

‘We live in an era of completions, not new beginnings.
The world is running out of places where it can start over.’
Rem Koolhaas

AMO / ARCHIS / MOUTAMARAT released the book AL MANAKH, the first ever comprehensive analysis of the development of The Gulf, unveiled at the International Design Forum in
Dubai (27-29 May 2007).

AL MANAKH offers a detailed analysis of the history, culture and architecture of the Gulf region including Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah and discusses the implications of the rapid development of these territories for the rest of the world.

This is the first time that the unprecedented urban condition of this region has been comprehensively documented from diverse viewpoints and communicated to outside the region. Voices of architects, intellectuals and developers making The Gulf happen are represented in the numerous essays and interviews that accompany this richly illustrated study. Key figures such as, Rem Koolhaas, Ole Bouman, and Thomas Krens give their take on the current situation in The Gulf, along with their predictions for the future of this ‘ultimate tabula rasa’.

AL MANAKH is divided into three sections:

I. The Dubai Guide: This opening chapter edited by MOUTAMARAT considers current projects, productions, plans and ideas happening specifically in Dubai. Highlights include essays by George Katodrytis, Elie Domit and Nadim Karam.

II. Gulf Survey: This sizable section presents the in-depth research on The Gulf region carried out by AMO, the creative think tank of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA). In this survey individual social, cultural and urban histories are presented for seven territories along The Gulf coast. Detailed statistics offer new insight into the architecture and urban ambitions of the Gulf and the social, economic and cultural consequences that the new urban condition can have on a society.

A collection of essays reveals some of the most cogent aspects of The Gulf now, such as The World man-made islands off the coast of Dubai or the construction workers’ cities. Writings by Rem Koolhaas, Reinier de Graaf and Todd Reisz offer vital insight into the significance of the phenomena of The Gulf in the contemporary global context.

At the end of this section a comprehensive overview of all the current urban and resort developments in The Gulf is offered. This is the first list of its kind that acts as an invaluable resource providing detailed information on projects taking shape today.

III. The Global Agenda: The last section edited by ARCHIS reflects concepts and strategies for design to provide shelter, security, sustainability, fairness and dialogue. Authors and artists like Nader Ardalan, Stefano Boeri, CRIT, Ricardo Devesa, Emiliano Gandolfi, Jiang Jun, Jeroen Mensink, Bas Princen, Ilka & Andreas Ruby, Urban Think Tank and others reflect on ‘what can be the mission for design today’. Thirteen ‘Creative Design Agendas’ are compiled as a design manual for the greater good.

With impressive graphics, a mirage of images and ground breaking new discoveries AL MANAKH will be the most instrumental and immediately useful tool on The Gulf for architects, planners, designers, developers, decision makers and academics alike.

AL MANAKH is a special issue of VOLUME Magazine

FACTS
Editors: Rem Koolhaas, Mitra Khoubrou, Ole Bouman
Managing editor: Arjen Oosterman
Design: Irma Boom, Natasha Chandani, Sonja Haller
Format: 24×17, 500 pages
Publisher: Archis Foundation
Distribution: Europe, Asia and USA by Idea Books, IPS Pressevertrieb
Release Date: August 2007
ISBN: 978-90-77966-12-9

For more information go to: http://www.volumeproject.org

LACMA

LACMA PRESENTS OVER 300
YEARS OF LATIN AMERICAN ART
IN GROUNDBREAKING EXHIBITION

Los Angeles County Museum of Art
5905 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90036
Tel. 323-857-6000;
323-857-0098 (TDD)

http://www.lacma.org

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) presents The Arts in Latin America, 1492-1820, an ambitious exhibition of more than 200 works of art created in the Spanish viceroyalties of New Spain (which today comprises Mexico and the countries of Central America, including Guatemala, Cuba, Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico) and Peru (now the countries of Ecuador, Venezuela, Colombia, Chile, Bolivia, and Peru), as well as the Portuguese colony of Brazil. Spanning three centuries, from the arrival of Christopher Columbus to the emergence of the national independence movements, the exhibition explores both the artistic differences and commonalities throughout colonial Latin America, and features a remarkable collection of objects from public and private collections from around the world–many seen for the first time in the United States. The Arts in Latin America, 1492-1820 opens at LACMA on August 5, 2007 and remains on view through October 28, 2007. It will be the final stop
of a major international tour.

"LACMA is delighted to bring this revelatory exhibition of richly diverse objects from Latin America to the City of Los Angeles," said Michael Govan, LACMA CEO and Wallis Annenberg Director. "Our visitors have an unprecedented opportunity to see some of the most significant pieces created in the New World, many expressly restored for the exhibition, including a monumental sculpture of the crucifix from the Monastery of São Bento in Olinda, Brazil. Colonial Latin American art is a unique, original, and marvelous epoch of art history, which will become fully understood in this landmark exhibition."

Organized by the Philadelphia Museum of Art in collaboration with LACMA and the Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso, Mexico City, The Arts in Latin America, 1492-1820 presents a panoramic view of the artistic achievements of the New World, beginning with Columbus’s first encounter with the people of the Caribbean and concluding with the final moments of the colonial era–a period marked not only by the independence movements and formation of national states, but also by the rise of academic art.

During the colonial era, the various art forms produced throughout Latin America reflected the seismic changes that took place and were central in the development of new identities. The exhibition includes an impressive assortment of objects in all media–painting, sculpture, feather-work, shell-inlaid furniture, objects in gold and silver, ceramics, and textiles–that reveal the interchange between Native, European, African, and Asian cultures in Latin America. Also featured are examples of paintings by some of the most prominent masters working in the colonies, such as Miguel Cabrera, Luis Juárez, and Carlos de Villalpando in Mexico; and Melchor Pérez Holguín and Miguel del Berrío in Bolivia, among many others.

LACMA’s presentation offers a unique perspective of the period by grouping the objects into several compelling themes, and incorporates several artworks seen only in Los Angeles. The first part of the exhibition traces the early period of contact between native and European artists and how the formation of new identities became the subject of some of the most intriguing works of art created in the viceroyalties, including casta paintings (depictions of racial mixings), painted maps, and festivals. The second part of the exhibition addresses the development of painting, beginning with the arrival of European masters in the sixteenth century to the emergence of local schools of painting in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, which manifest a high degree of stylistic and iconographic originality. The tradition of local devotions, including the Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexico or the depiction of Archabusier Angeles from Peru, will show the great originality that colonial pain
ting reached. Other major themes include the splendor of silverwork (Latin America was the main supplier of silver world wide); and the tradition of polychrome sculptures, an artistic form that developed in Europe and achieved some of its highest exponents in the New World, as seen in works from Brazil, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Mexico, among other countries. Lastly, the exhibition features an assortment of decorative arts, showcasing how luxury became part of the everyday fabric of colonial society and how the amalgam of visual vocabularies converged in the New World, resulting in works of tremendous vibrancy.

History
In 1492, Columbus’s world changing voyage joined a vast network of trade routes between Asia, Europe, and Africa to the complex systems of trade and interaction that were already in place throughout the Americas.

Africans (both free and enslaved) accompanied the early Spanish and Portuguese expeditions, and before the end of the sixteenth century, trade with Japan and China was established via the legendary Manila galleons. While the indigenous arts like feather painting and weaving continued, European artists traveled to the Americas to ply their trade and train native craftsmen.

With the blessing of the Pope, the Spanish and Portuguese monarchs began converting the indigenous peoples to Christianity. The missionaries established hundreds of churches, religious houses, and missions to educate the natives. During this period, churches were in need of religious objects and the indigenous people applied their artistic skills to create many of these relics, including silver chalices, candlesticks, censers, and elaborately wrought altarpieces, as well as embellished paintings and sculptures depicting Christ, the Virgin Mary, and a host of saints. Also, secular art–furnishings, luxury goods, portraits, and ephemeral decorations–were fabricated for the viceroys and other crown officials, along with the nobility and merchant class who moved all these examples of material culture around the vast region of Latin America.

Credit
The international tour of The Arts in Latin America, 1492-1820 was made possible by Fundación Televisa. The exhibition was organized by the Philadelphia Museum of Art in collaboration with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso, Mexico City. This exhibition was also supported by an indemnity from the U. S. Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities. Initial scholarly research was supported by a Collaborative Research Grant from The Getty Foundation; funding for conservation was provided in part by the Huber Family Foundation and the Ceil and Michael E. Pulitzer Foundation. The Los Angeles presentation was made possible in part by LACMA’s Wallis Annenberg Director’s Endowment Fund, LACMA’s Art Museum Council, The Getty Foundation, and Bank of America. In-kind support for the Los Angeles presentation was generously provided by KKJZ 88.1 FM. The organizers are grateful for the special collaboration of the National Council for Cul
ture and the Arts (CONACULTA), the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), and the National Institute of Fine Arts (INBA), Mexico.</I

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