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Arthouse

KATRINA MOORHEAD

NAMED RECIPIENT OF 30,000 DOLLARS 2007 ARTHOUSE TEXAS PRIZE
http://www.arthousetexas.org

Arthouse Texas is proud to announce that Katrina Moorhead has been awarded the 2007 Arthouse Texas Prize. Presented by independent art critic and curator Dave Hickey at the 2007 Arthouse Texas Prize Party on the evening of November 2, the 30,000 dollars juried prize is one of the largest regional arts awards in the United States. The first-ever prize in Texas created to acknowledge the accomplishments of an emerging or under-recognized Texas-based artist, the Arthouse Texas Prize distinguishes Moorhead as an exceptional and innovative talent and recognizes her contribution to the energetic and growing Texas art scene.

Katrina Moorhead, who was born in Northern Ireland, has resided in Houston for more than ten years. Her practice centers on exploring the contrast between human and natural creation, often revealing new and beautiful relationships through otherwise mundane objects. In 2005 she participated in the Northern Ireland Pavilion at the 51st Venice Biennale, and her work was recently the subject of a solo exhibition at the Blaffer Gallery, University of Houston. For the 2007 Arthouse Texas Prize Exhibition she has meticulously handcrafted boxes of spent fireworks and strings of unexploded fireworks using paper mâché, archival paper, and silver leaf. Each firework’s potential explosion refers to the forms of dragons, flowers, and the like, and the strings serve to symbolize a chain of events in the three different romantic courtships.

According to the jury, “The 2007 Arthouse Texas Prize finalists all created new work that demonstrates a level of maturity, individual ambition, and execution. Because the five artists’ works were strong, our selection becomes one of subjective response. Katrina Moorhead, the prize recipient, brings together in her work ideas and concepts related to her recent experience in Iceland. Her installation at Arthouse expresses her exceptional ability to create objects resonant with individual and universal meaning. The clarity and complexity of the artist’s vision as well as her distinctly personal touch, evident in the handcrafted quality of her objects, are among the qualities that informed our decision to award Moorhead the 2007 Arthouse Texas Prize.”

The Arthouse Texas Prize encourages the growth of the state’s artistic community by providing the means for artists to develop their work while remaining based in Texas and by bringing prominent international art professionals to the state. Artists living in Texas for the past three years are eligible for nomination but could not have had a solo exhibition at a major museum during that time. Works created especially for the Arthouse Prize exhibition by prize recipient Katrina Moorhead along with the other four finalists Dawolu Jabari Anderson, Justin Boyd, Margarita Cabrera, and Bill Davenport are featured in a special exhibition at Arthouse where they will remain on view until November 11, 2007. A catalogue accompanied by a DVD featuring images, essays and videos of the works being created was produced for the exhibition.

The Arthouse Texas Prize Jury
The second biennial Arthouse Texas Prize jury was chaired by Arthouse’s Executive Director, Sue Graze, and includes Frances Colpitt, Deedie Potter Rose Chair of Art History, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth; Elizabeth Dunbar, Curator, Arthouse; Eileen Maxson, 2005 Arthouse Texas Prize recipient; Debra Singer, Executive Director and Chief Curator, The Kitchen, New York; and Franklin Sirmans, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Menil Collection in Houston. In February 2007, the jury convened to select the five finalists from 136 nominations.

About Arthouse
Headquartered at the Jones Center in Austin, Texas, Arthouse is the oldest statewide contemporary art organization in Texas. Arthouse seeks to promote the growth and appreciation of contemporary art and artists in Texas. Through its exhibitions and programs in Austin and statewide, Arthouse helps nurture artists’ careers and deepen public understanding of contemporary art.

For more information on Arthouse, please visit http://www.arthousetexas.org or contact Virginia Jones at 512-453-5312 or vjones@arthousetexas.org

Media Contact
Kellie Honeycutt
Blue Medium, Inc
T: 212-675-1800
F: 212-675-1855
E: kellie@bluemedium.com

Image above:
KATRINA MOORHEAD
RedGreenBluePeony, 2007
archival board, archival paper, wheat starch paste, rice paste,
graphite, gouache
5’ x 5’ x 6”
Commissioned for the 2007 Arthouse Texas Prize
Courtesy of the artist and Inman Gallery, Houston, TX
Photo: Shuane Kolber

Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg

Nobuyoshi Araki
Untitled (From Painting Flowers), 2004
Cibachrome Print
50 x 60 cm
Courtesy Jablonka Galerie, Köln/Berlin
Foto: Matthias Langer, Braunschweig/Varel
Copyright: Nobuyoshi Araki

Araki, Miyamoto, Sugimoto:
Contemporary Japanese Photography
10.11.2007 - 24.03.2008
Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg
Hollerplatz 1
38440 Wolfsburg, Germany
phone: +49-5361-2669-0
fax: +49-5361-2669-66
info@kunstmuseum-wolfsburg.de
http://www.kunstmuseum-wolfsburg.de

Taking as our starting point the extensive group of works by Nobuyoshi Araki in the collection of the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, we are showing an exhibition of photographs by Japanese artists as a complement to the programmatic exhibition “Japan and the West” being presented in the main hall. “ Araki, Miyamoto, Sugimoto Contemporary Japanese Photography” illustrates key phenomena in Japanese aesthetics — reduction, concentration and minimalism — by focussing on three examples of contemporary Japanese photography. In addition to the photographs by Nobuyoshi Araki from the collection and other examples of his recent work, a group of photographs by Ryuji Miyamoto will be presented alongside works by Hiroshi Sugimoto. During their studies, both of these photographers were greatly influenced by the American art movements of Minimal art and Conceptual art. The defining principle of both Hiroshi Sugimoto’s and Ryuji Miyamoto’s work is seriality, whereby they pursue indivi
dual pictorial ideas over extended periods of time. Araki’s work is strongly inspired by the everyday aesthetics of modern-day Japan and the particular feel of Japanese cities with all their light and dark sides. Sugimoto’s series of rigorously reduced photographic images of “Theatres” and “Seascapes” invite the use of superlatives: it seems impossible for photographs to be more perfect, more reduced or more lucid than these. Sugimoto’s poetic, breathtaking images are included in the most important collections of art throughout the world. Ryuji Miyamoto turns his camera on the suppressed aspect of the transitory nature of architecture. The Museum für Moderne Kunst in Frankfurt has a series of 34 photographs by Miyamoto in its permanent collection; these images were captured in the city of Kobe after it was almost completely destroyed by a massive earthquake. Miyamoto’s photographs lend a distinctly sculptural quality to the damaged houses and the materiality of the shattered facades, storeys and walls.

Canadian Centre for Architecture

George Löf, designer and engineer with
glass plate used in solar collectors, 1975
Photo Copyright Jon Naar, 2007

1973: Sorry, Out of Gas
7 November 2007 to 20 April 2008
CCA
1920, rue Baile
Montreal, Québec, Canada
H3H 2S6
514 939 7026

http://www.cca.qc.ca/exhibitions

Curated by Mirko Zardini, CCA Director and Chief Curator, with Giovanna Borasi, CCA Curator of Contemporary Architecture, the exhibition presents an unprecedented exploration of the architectural response to the 1973 oil crisis.

The exhibition 1973: Sorry, Out of Gas and its accompanying catalogue are the first to study the architectural innovation spurred by the 1973 oil crisis, when the value of oil increased exponentially and triggered economic, political, and social upheaval across the world. Featuring over 350 objects including architectural drawings, photographs, books and pamphlets, archival television footage, and historical artefacts, the exhibition maps the global response to the shortage and its relevance to
architecture today.

The research and innovations of thirty years ago are of particular relevance in the context of contemporary concerns about diminishing energy resources. While influential at the time, much of the innovative work of architects, engineers, and activist groups of the period was forgotten once financial markets and energy distribution systems adjusted, and political focus diminished. Today, however, a new sense of urgency is emerging, provoked by the reality of a deteriorating environment and a finite supply of fossil fuels. “It is of vital importance to consider the radical yet, in many cases, little-known work from the 1970s as architects today struggle to address similar issues,” said CCA Director and exhibition curator Mirko Zardini. “By providing insight on the forerunners of many contemporary approaches to sustainable living, the exhibition aims to increase public awareness and encourage contemporary research in the field.”

EXHIBITION CATALOGUE

The accompanying catalogue, Sorry, Out of Gas, is a unique publishing project combining the diverse materials assembled for the exhibition with a specifically commissioned children’s component by illustrator Harriet Russell. In her 32-page story entitled “An Endangered Species,” Ms. Russell introduces the exhibition’s subject to a broader audience of young readers. With her distinctive drawings and hand-lettered text, Ms. Russell uses humour to describe the role of oil in daily life and to suggest alternatives to this rapidly diminishing resource.

An essay by curator Mirko Zardini follows the introductory children’s component, while specific themes and projects are highlighted throughout the book in short texts written by co-curator Giovanna Borasi along with Adam Bobbette, Daria Der Kaloustian, and Pierre-Edouard Latouche.

Co-published by the CCA and Corraini Edizioni, Mantua, and designed by Massimo Pitis with Bianca Baldacci, Sorry, Out of Gas reproduces over 200 colour and black-and-white images on 232 pages. The volume is available at the CCA Bookstore.

EXHIBITION DESIGN

Created by Montréal-based architect Gilles Saucier of Saucier + Perrotte Architectes, the exhibition design employs an imposing, dark structure that links the different galleries and establishes a continuous flow among the content. Visitors can choose different paths through the space, where thematic ideas are centered in certain areas but the presentation of material reflects the mixing of concepts and research of the period. The graphic design is by Zab Design & Typography of
Winnipeg, Canada.

ABOUT THE CCA

1973: Sorry, Out of Gas is the third in a series of thematic exhibitions organised by the CCA to explore contemporary issues in architecture with a specific focus on urban, social, and environmental concerns. It follows Environment: Approaches for Tomorrow (2006) and Sense of the City (2005), the groundbreaking exhibition dedicated to the sensory dimensions of urban life that have traditionally been ignored or repressed.

The CCA is an international research centre and museum founded in 1979 on the conviction that architecture is a public concern. Based on its extensive collections, the CCA is a leading voice in advancing knowledge, promoting public understanding, and widening thought and debate on the art of architecture, its history, theory, practice, and role in society today.