Artipedia - Arts News

Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation (CIFO)

Olafur Eliasson
Blue double kaleidoscope, 2005 (detail)
Stainless steel, color effect filter glass, mirror
88 1/2 x 67 x 122 inches
(2.25 x 1.70 x 3.10 m)
Courtesy of the artist and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York
Photo: Jens Ziehe

CIFO PRESENTS FORTUNATE OBJECTS
AN EXPLORATION OF THE EVERDAY IN ART
December 5, 2007 - February 24, 2008

Exhibition Drawn from the
Ella Fontanals-Cisneros Collection
to Coincide with Art Basel Miami Beach 2007
in December
http://www.cifo.org

The Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation, known as CIFO, has announced the presentation of Fortunate Objects: Selections from the Ella Fontanals-Cisneros Collection, an exhibition curated by CIFO Chief Curator Cecilia Fajardo-Hill showcasing contemporary art inspired by seemingly ordinary, everyday objects. On view from December 5, 2007 to February 24, 2008, the exhibition will coincide with the international art fair Art Basel Miami Beach (Dec. 6-9 2007). It will feature works by leading artists such as Ai Weiwei, Damien Hirst and José Antonio Hernández-Diez, drawn from the exceptional collection assembled by international patron and arts advocate Ella Fontanals-Cisneros.

Since the early twentieth century, contemporary artists have incorporated the use of everyday objects–such as readymades, Dada assemblages, collages, and contemporary installations–in an ever-increasing attempt to bridge the distance between art and life. Fortunate Objects is about the space explored between art and life; about the processes taking place within this gap, and in some cases, the merging of the two. The exhibition surveys the many possibilities that exist in contemporary art through the reuse and reinterpretation of everyday things, be they found, constructed, bought, appropriated, instrumental or invented. The show features 59 works in various media by international emerging and established artists from different generations, ranging in scale from the monumental to the intimate.

“Fortunate Objects proposes a playful, imaginative, curious and unexpected approach to objects used in daily life,” said Cecilia Fajardo-Hill, Chief Curator of CIFO and the curator for the exhibition. “This show celebrates and investigates the nature of the objects surrounding us, and in doing so, encourages us to reexamine our environment and ourselves.”

CIFO’s founder Ella Fontanals-Cisneros added, “Fortunate Objects is an expression of CIFO’s commitment to showcasing contemporary art of the highest caliber that will excite, inspire and engage audiences in Miami. This exhibition offers a wide-ranging view of an enduring artistic practice–and through these artists’ work, we gain a new way of seeing our world.”

Fortunate Objects is structured around three main themes: the appropriated object, the surrogate object, and the object utilized. The appropriated object refers to the reuse of mass-produced objects in the form of assisted readymades, such as ‘Forever’ Bicycles by Ai Weiwei, Móvil by Marcela Astorga, and Mobile Home by Moris. The surrogate object features work that re-invents common objects, such as Einstein Table Upset or Blue Double Kaleidoscope by Olafur Eliasson, The Body of Christ by Damien Hirst (pill cabinet), El Gran Patriarca by José Antonio-Hernandez-Diez (billiard table), and Favela by Jon Kessler. The third section, the object utilized, involves the use of objects to ascribe meaning or produce new forms or themes, such as the chalkboards by Priscilla Monge, Mona Hatoum’s frottages, José Damasceno’s Durante o Caminho Vertical (an installation with shoe soles), and Donna Conlon’s video Espectros Urbanos. This particular section also includes photography revolving
around the tradition of the still life, including modernist works by Paulo Pires and Geraldo de Barros, and more contemporary photographers such as Gabriel Orozco, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Peter Fischli and David Weiss.

Ella Fontanals-Cisneros began collecting contemporary art in the 1970s, and today her collection includes important and cutting-edge pieces by some of the leading artists of our time. Collection highlights include photography by Barbara Kruger, Ana Mendieta, and Thomas Struth; abstract works by Barbara Hepworth, Jesús Soto, and Gego; and video installations by Bill Viola, Chantal Akerman, and Julian Rosenfeldt.

Art Basel Miami Beach Special Events & Hours
Wed., Dec. 5 - Sun., Dec. 9, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
CIFO will host a series of special events during Fortunate Objects in celebration of Art Basel Miami Beach 2007:

Wednesday, December 5
9 a.m. to Noon: Breakfast at CIFO
10:30 am: Fluxus Concert featuring Descarga with Robert Chambers

Friday, December 7
Opening Brunch for Fortunate Objects: Selections from the Ella Fontanals-Cisneros Collection
9:00 a.m. - Noon: By Invitation Only

Friday, December 7
Book Launch: CIFO and Charta release the new exhibition catalogue, Fortunate Objects and the second edition of Sites of Latin America Abstraction.

Saturday, December 8
9 a.m. to Noon: Breakfast at CIFO
10:30 am: Contemporary Art: Technology, Interactivity and the Object:
A panel discussion moderated by Dan Cameron and including Leandro Erlich, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and Jon Kessler.

Sunday, December 9
9 a.m. to Noon: Breakfast at CIFO

Exhibition Catalogue and Brochure
Fortunate Objects: Selections from the Ella Fontanals-Cisneros Collection is accompanied by a fully illustrated, 160-page catalogue.This catalogue can be purchased in paperback and hardcover.

Visitors to the show are provided with a variety of education materials, including a free, illustrated brochure designed to provide information concerning the exhibition and its related programs and events. The exhibition and programs brochure and the catalogue will be available in the admissions desk.

About CIFO
The Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation is a non-profit organization established in 2002 by Ella Fontanals-Cisneros and her family to foster cultural and educational exchange within the visual arts. CIFO has three primary initiatives:
• CIFO Art Space — a permanent venue for the presentation of engaging and provocative contemporary art exhibitions highlighting works from the Ella Fontanals-Cisneros Collection, works by its grantees and commissioned artists, and experimental, challenging art programs;
• Grants and Commissions Programs supporting emerging and mid-career contemporary artists from Latin America; and
• Foundation-initiated support for other arts and culture projects.

CIFO is located at 1018 North Miami Avenue. The galleries are open to the public Thursday through Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. or by appointment. Special hours during Art Basel Miami Beach week: Wed., Dec. 5 - Sun., Dec. 9, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Public information is available online at http://www.cifo.org or by calling 305.455.3380.

# # #

Media in Miami contact:
(English and Spanish)
Maria Elena Useche, Communications Manager, CIFO
305.455.3349; museche@efcholdings.com

National and international media contact:
Resnicow Schroeder Associates
Lily Mitchem, 212.671.5155; lmitchem@resnicowschroeder.com

LE GRAND CAFÉ, Centre d’art contemporain

IVAN GRUBANOV
NON-INSTITUTIONAL
Curator: Sophie Legrandjacques

IN CONVERSATION
Ivan Grubanov and Philippe Pirotte,
art critic and director of the Kunsthalle, Bern
Sunday December 9 at 3pm, free

Exhibition from October 6 to December 30 2007
Hours: Daily (except Monday) 2PM to 7PM, Sunday
3PM to 6PM
LE GRAND CAFÉ, Centre d’art contemporain, Saint-Nazaire (F)
Place des Quatre Z’horloges
44 600 Saint-Nazaire - FRANCE
T + 33 (0)2 44 73 44 00 - F + 33 (0)2 44 73 44 01
grand_cafe@mairie-saintnazaire.fr
http://www.grandcafe-saintnazaire.fr

Le Grand Café has invited Ivan Grubanov (born in 1976, and living in Belgrade) for his first individual exhibition in France. He is one of the most active young artists on the Balkan scene and his work has caught the attention of many European observers during residencies at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam and the Delfina Studio Programme in London. He has recently taken part in the Istanbul Biennial.

In the 2006 group exhibition Histoire(s), Le Grand Café presented one of his works (Study of My Father, A Relation To The Origin). This time the exhibition, entitled “Non-Institutional”, offers a wider view of the artist’s work. It brings together recent work (paintings, videos), including a new installation in the art centre’s main gallery space, with the fundamental piece Visitor: a series of 170 drawings of the trial of Slobodan Milosevic at the International Criminal Tribune in The Hague.

Ivan Grubanov’s work takes us into a complex universe that borrows from theatre, with the artist occupying the principal role. In the works that make up the “Stages” series — representing the temporary structures used both at political meetings and at rock or techno events — and also in the artist’s performance addressing the crowd in front of Belgrade’s parliament building… and again in the daily drawings made at the Tribunal; the image and the representation are shot through with the complexity and the violence of having to describe a personal trajectory, as a man and as an artist, in a historic context that ceaselessly imposes itself. Ivan Grubanov is very much concerned with bringing out the full complexity of the historical moment in which he finds himself while avoiding at all times the traps and caricatures of ‘political art’.

Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (MOT)

Junya Ishigami
“balloon”
2007
Mixed media
1400 x 730 x 1280cm
supported by American Center Foundation
Courtesy of Gallery Koyanagi
photo(c) Keizou Kioku

SPACE FOR YOUR FUTURE:
Recombining the DNA of Art and Design
27 October 2007 - 20 January 2008
Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (MOT)
4-1-1, Miyoshi, Koto-ku, Tokyo 135-0022 JAPAN
Tel: +81 (0)3 5245 4111
Fax: +81 (0)3 5124 1141

http://www.mot-art-museum.jp
The exhibition’s official site: http://www.sfyf.jp

SPACE FOR YOUR FUTURE brings together a group of thirty-four Japanese and international contemporary artists, architects and designers in an exhibition which asks them to respond to the current and future conditions of creative production in the 21st Century; a moment in which shared visions of the future are no longer possible while the eclecticism and quotations of the postmodern world are fading into the past. A participatory exhibition that visitors can experience through physical involvement, SPACE FOR YOUR FUTURE occupies the 4,300m square of floor space in MOT’s temporary exhibitions galleries while also offering displays in public spaces and in a library.

Technological advances are offering new freedoms and flexibility to enable creators to engage in multidisciplinary practices without being governed by historical and hierarchical programs. This open receptiveness to information can be seen as a characteristic of many young Japanese creators.

The participants’ range of production varies from art and architecture to fashion and graphics, product design, advertising, film and video. Like scientists programming DNA, each fuses the techniques and methods of multiple fields to produce highly creative works according to their own personal vision of
the future.

Through a large selection of installations, graphics, proposals and objects — of which fifteen are new commissions, and many shown in Japan for the first time — the exhibition attempts to reconstruct physical space as a conceptual idea which can allow us a glimpse into future ways of living more closely fitted to individual sensibilities and ways of thinking. Offering insights into emerging art and design trends that are defining our times, not only aesthetically, but also as conscientious responses to the shifting world around us.

The participants featured are Kiichiro Adachi (Japan), AMID* Architecture(Cero9) (Spain), assume vivid astro focus (avaf), BLESS (France/Germany), Campana Brothers (Brazil), Hussein Chalayan (UK/Cyprus), COSMIC WONDER (Japan), DAIKIN Air Design Project (Japan), DEMAKERSVAN (Netherlands), Elisabetta Di Maggio (Italy), Olafur Eliasson (Denmark), Shaun Gladwell (Australia), Ichiro Higashiizumi (Japan), Junya Ishigami (Japan), Haruka Kojin (Japan), Michael Lin (Taiwan), Yukinori Maeda (Japan), Mikiko Minewaki (Japan), MONGOOSE STUDIO (Japan), Nendo (Japan), ContenidoNeto (Argentina), Ernesto Neto (Brazil), Carsten Nicolai (Germany), Mika Ninagawa (Japan), Tobias Rehberger (Germany), R&Sie(n)+D (France), SANAA (Japan), Noriyuki Tanaka (Japan), Grazia Toderi (Italy), Luca Trevisani (Italy), Patrick Tuttofuoco (Italy), Ryosuke Uehara and Yoshie Watanabe (Japan), Barbara Visser (Netherlands), Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Thailand)

The exhibition is curated by Yuko Hasegawa, Chief Curator, MOT and Akio Seki, Curator, MOT, with the assistance of Chiara Bertola as curatorial advisor.

For further information please contact Kaoru Shinahama, Press Office, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Japan.

Tel: +81 (0) 3-5245-1134 / Fax: +81 (0) 3-5245-1141, Email: k-shinahama@mot-art.jp

SPACE FOR YOUR FUTURE was organized by: Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and
Culture — Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo / Nikkei Inc.

The presentation of Hussein Chalayan’s work for this exhibition was made possible by SWAROVSKI.

The presentation of Junya Ishigami’s work for this exhibition was made possible by the American
Center Foundation.

Supported by: Japan Arts Fund / Mondriaan Foundation / American Center Foundation / Australia Council / Japan Foundation / Embassy of Spain / British Council

With the special sponsorship of: FURLA / Jim Thompson / H.P.France S.A. / Shiseido Co.,Ltd

Sponsored by: hhstyle.com / INAX Corporation / Sankyo Tateyama Aluminium Inc. / Takenaka Corporation / Device Inc.

In cooperation with: Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands / Office of Contemporary Art and Culture, Ministry of Culture, Thailand / CÏBONE / CITIZEN T.I.C. CO., LTD. / Daiko Electric Co., Ltd. / DESIGN ASSOCIATION NPO / Diptricks / Eslite Gallery / Hewlett-Packard Japan, Ltd. / hiromi yoshii / Japan Airlines / Juana de Arco / Kakitsubata / Tomio Koyama Gallery / Gallery Koyanagi / Marubeni Information Systems Co., Ltd. / NEC Display Solutions, Ltd. / nextmaruni / Sherman Galleries, Sydney / shu uemura / TOKYO FILMeX

With the special cooperation of：SWAROVSKI