Artipedia - Arts News

49 Nord 6 Est - Frac Lorraine

Patrick Neu, Ailes de cire, 2007
Collection of the artist.
Copyright: Patrick Neu
Photo : Rémi Villaggi.

The moment that never ends
December 8, 2007 - March 9, 2008
49 Nord 6 Est - Frac Lorraine
1bis rue des Trinitaires, F-57000 Metz.
Tel : +0033 (0)3 87 74 20 02
info@fraclorraine.org

http://www.fraclorraine.org

“One must learn to love the irreversible,” or at least enjoy it. What is existence if not an attempt to seize the moment, to subvert the flow of time, to defy it, or, in a word, to appropriate its ineluctable passing? Some, more than others, have developed an acute consciousness of time and offer us a sensory experience of it: to try to inhabit a moment by recording it, to translate through writing the time as it passes–day, month, year, hour, minute, second–in order to touch eternity with one’s finger as does Jean-Christophe Norman, or to fix on fragile supports (crystal, butterfly wings) silhouettes and figures that may vanish at any moment, as does Patrick Neu. If–in the tradition of vanitas–absence, trace, disappearance, finitude are recurrent themes in the work of these two artists, their evocation of the ephemeral offers above all a glimpse onto the infinite and the sublime, a unique and intense experience of the present. With poetry and subversion their works
take on their own fragility and their own
possible disappearance.

The slow and elusive trickling of the sand in Paul Kos’s hourglass, which represents the length of the exhibition; Éric Poitevin’s and Hiroshi Sugimoto’s enigmatic images set the rhythm to the journey through the exhibition and extend an invitation to meditation and exploration of the moment.

Featured artists:
Patrick Neu
Jean-Christophe Norman
Including works from the Frac Lorraine Collection by: Paul Kos, Eric Poitevin, Hiroshi Sugimoto

Partner: Patrick Neu’s works are displayed in partnership with CEAAC (Centre européen d’actions artistiques contemporaines) in Strasbourg.
http://www.ceaac.org

OPENING HOURS //
Wednesday through Sunday, 12-7pm and Thursday 1-8pm.
Admission free.
Guided tours available free of charge Thursdays from 7 to 8pm and Sundays 5 to 6pm.
Group visits are available by appointment. Call 00 33(0)3 87 74 55 00.

SPRING 2008 //
Edition of a monograph dedicated to Patrick Neu
Bilingual French/English

Texts: Didier Semin, art historian, teacher in ENSBA, Paris, (National School for Fine Arts)
Edition: Frac Lorraine with the collaboration of CEAAC, Strasbourg

Bartram’s Garden

MARK DION: “Travels of William Bartram- Reconsidered”
Artist/Archeologist/Flea Marketer/Naturalist
MARK DION Heads South to Retrace the Journey of William Bartram

Travels of William Bartram — Reconsidered will examine the history and culture of 18th century American naturalists, John (1699-1777) and his son William Bartram (1739-1823). Using their travel journals, drawings, and maps, Mark Dion is retracing the journey of William Bartram, in particular, to northern Florida where, like Bartram, he is collecting things both natural and unnatural, making drawings and paintings of them, examining them, and, in keeping with his long standing interest in mail art, is mailing them back to Bartram’s Gardens on the banks of the Schuylkill River, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The treasures that Dion finds will be installed in the historic home of John Bartram, where they will be displayed in cabinets built especially to house the collections.

Dion’s journey is the quintessential exploratory road trip: part Lewis and Clark, part Jack Kerouac, part Pee Wee’s Big Adventure and part Borat. And you can interact with him online as he parallels William Bartram’s journeys. Armed with letters of introduction, in the manner of the Bartram’s in 18th century Philadelphia, Dion is using a variety of means of transportation and is meeting like-minded individuals on his travels, which commenced in Charleston, South Carolina. John Bartram Societies dot the southeast, and in the areas where the Bartrams traveled, they are particularly prevalent.

Dion’s journey started with a send-off from Bartram’s in mid-November, but his travels can be followed on-line at:

http://WWW.MARKDIONSBARTRAMSTRAVELS.COM where monthly video chats, video of daily travels, city stops, photo galleries, and audio along with blogs, Mark’s handwritten journals, drawings and maps that pinpoint where he is will provide a totally unique experience with the artist. From the website you can visit the lush gardens of Bartram’s online and interact with botanists, curators and others.

The exhibition “Mark Dion: Travels of William Bartram — Reconsidered” is curated by independent curator, Julie Courtney. It will open June 20, 2008 at Bartram’s Garden coinciding with the Americans for the Arts Conference in Philadelphia.

This project has been supported by a grant from the Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative and the Marketing Innovation Program, both programs of the Philadelphia Center for Arts and Heritage, funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts, and administered by The University of the Arts, Philadelphia.

http://www.bartramsgarden.org
http://www.markdionsbartramstravels.com

Stedelijk Museum

ANDY WARHOL
OTHER VOICES, OTHER ROOMS
12 October 2007 - 13 January 2008
Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam
Oosterdokskade 5
Amsterdam
T +31 (0)20 5732911
info@stedelijk.nl

http://www.stedelijk.nl

Forty years after the first major European Warhol exhibition in Amsterdam, the Stedelijk Museum has organised an exhibition to shed new light on the oeuvre of the celebrated Pop Art master. With film, photography, video and famous icons ranging from Marilyn Monroe, Mao and Campbell Soup Cans, Andy Warhol — Other Voices, Other Rooms is a window onto the artistic thinking of this trendsetting artist, revealing the ‘conceptual soul’ of
his work.

In his art, Andy Warhol (1928-1987) merged the public with the personal and glamour and stardom with everyday life. He also predicted that everyone would have their fifteen minutes of fame, virtually predicting the coming of Idols and YouTube. With 27 films, rarely screened video tapes and audio recordings of Warhol himself, and extraordinary archive material, this exhibition zooms in on the focus of Warhol’s work: voyeurism, the mundane, the individual and the eradication of distinctions between high and low culture.

Visitors literally receive a ‘red carpet welcome’ to the exhibition, treated to a barrage of paparazzi-style camera flashes as their entrance is photographed. Music by The Velvet Underground, the band Warhol launched from his famous Factory, accompanies visitors as they roam through a film landscape that includes Screen Tests, Sleep, Blow Job, The Chelsea Girls, Kitchen and Mrs. Warhol. These films were Warhol’s experiments — secluded behind the camera, he shows people’s behaviour in all types of situations, without intervening, using time and observation as his ingredients. This land-scape leads to the poetic installation Silver Clouds, which, in contrast to the films is dreamy and calm.

The heart of the exhibition is the Warhol Cosmos, which highlights the master’s thinking and way of working. In addition to famous icons, the Factory Diaries, in which Warhol captured his life in the sixties, seventies and eighties with an imperturbable eye for detail, and objects from the Time Capsules play a significant role. Once again, drawings, photos and rare archive material are presented alongside audio fragments of luminaries such as Edie Sedgwick, Mick Jagger and Man Ray.

The final section of the exhibition synchronously presents all the material that Warhol produced for television — which was the latest medium in his lifetime. Now, he projects his voyeurism onto everyone, stars and ordinary people alike, in the medium that seemed best suited to the job. Just as he did in his magazine Interview Warhol also had a keen eye for detail and trivia, with which he exercised a specific influence on the development of both media. In this section, the museum created The Studio Room, where visitors can take a Factory-like screen test.

The exhibition is curated by guest curator Eva Meyer-Hermann, in collaboration with the Andy Warhol Museum, one of the four Carnegie museums of Pittsburgh, and is on view at the Moderna Museet, Stockholm from 9 February to 4 May 2008. The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue (NAi Publishers), the Andy Warhol Newspaper and a special issue of magazine Blend. The museum is offering various activities in The Andy Warhol Side Show — see http://www.stedelijk.nl for a complete range. Membership of the Andy Warhol Club provides unlimited free entrance to the exhibition and to parties, Factory Nights, film screenings and more. See also: http://www.andywarholclub.nl

ARTECONTEXTO art, culture
and new media

Issue 16
Dossier: The teaching of visual arts
(Luis Camnitzer, Justo Pastor Mellado, Armando Montesinos, Sara Diamond and Daniel Canogar) + Ibon Aranberri and What is Happening in Portugal? + Cybercontext + Info + Books + International Reviews
ARTECONTEXTO is a quarterly publication in Spanish and English.
Distributed around the world in specialised bookstores.
Publisher and Managing Editor:
Alicia Murría

http://www.artecontexto.com

The teaching of visual arts is the issue we examine in this dossier, through the writing of renowned artists, teachers and theoreticians, such as Luis Camnitzer, Justo Pastor Mellado, Armando Montesinos, Sara Diamond and Daniel Canogar. They all emphasise the stagnation prevalent in the ways of conveying knowledge relating to art, in both practical and theoretical terms, and express the need for an urgent reform in schools and universities, as well as suggesting new models. In the centre pages of the dossier, What is Happening in Portugal? outlines a general view of the current situation in this country, through its creators, institutions and galleries. We present an extensive review of the work by the Basque artist Ibon Aranberri. The regular sections: Cybercontext (an analysis of websites that may be of interest), Reviews and Info provide a selection of the most relevant international exhibitions and events.

Generali Foundation

Sabine Folie appointed artistic and managing director of the
Generali Foundation.
Generali Foundation
Wiedner Hauptstraße 15
1040 Wien, Austria
Telefon +43 1 504 98 80
Telefax +43 1 504 98 83
foundation@generali.at

http://foundation.generali.at

Sabine Folie leads Generali Foundation into the future

Sabine Folie has been appointed artistic and managing director of the Generali Foundation, where she takes over programming from mid-February 2008. She will be responsible for exhibition and publication coordination, event management, the expansion and management of the collection and of reference facilities (archive, library, media lounge), the Foundation’s education program, and public relations.

Sabine Folie has been chief curator at Kunsthalle Wien since 1998. Besides her focus on art history, her research interests range from issues in cultural studies through feminist art and literature. Since fall 2005, she has also been teaching at the University of Applied Arts, Vienna.

Numerous exhibitions and publications, including: Rodney Graham. Cinema Music Video; A Baroque Theater. Moments of World Theater in Contemporary Art. Dinos and Jake Chapman, Wim Delvoye, Ulrike Grossarth, Yvonne Rainer, Paul Thek (with M. Glasmeier); Yayoi Kusama (with F. Gautherot, Kim Seung-duk, X. Douroux, P. Pique, E. Troncy); Tableaux Vivants. Living Pictures and Attitudes in Photography, Film and Video (with M. Glasmeier); „Lieber Maler, male mir…“ Radical Realism after Picabia (with A. Gingeras, B. Perica); Marcel Broodthaers (with G. Mackert); Eva Hesse. Transformations. The Sojourn in Germany 1964/65; Sculpture. Precarious Realism between Melancholy and the Comic; Yang Fudong (with G. Matt); The Impossible Theater. Performativity in the works of Pawel Althamer, Tadeusz Kantor, Katarzyna Kozyra, Robert Kusmirowski, and Artur Zmijewski; “Seek the Extremes…” Dorothy Iannone / Lee Lozano; William Pope. L. - Trophy Room.
Dr. Folie was born in Bozen in 1962 and is an Italian citizen. She received her doctorate in art history and ancient history.

Ms. Folie’s appointment followed an international call for applications. She was selected unanimously by a committee comprising: Monika Faber, Chief curator of the photography collection, Albertina, Vienna; Julian Heynen, artistic director, K21 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Duesseldorf; Edelbert Koeb, director, MUMOK, Vienna; and Roland Waespe, director, Kunstmuseum St. Gallen.

Dietrich Karner, president of the Generali Foundation, has expressed his confidence that Sabine Folie is the best choice for a director to lead the Generali Foundation into the future as an extraordinary and internationally acclaimed art institution. Dr. Folie brings not only the personal and professional qualifications to sustain the rigorous program and profile of the collection, but also the ability to continue its development in the light of new circumstances.

ERSTE Foundation

Ricarda Denzer, 10m2 tragbar, 2006;
photography: heiKE/NZ

ERSTE Foundation
PATTERNS_Researching And Understanding Recent
Cultural History

Call For Submissions
http://www.erstestiftung.org/patterns-call/

PATTERNS is a transnational programme in Central and South Eastern Europe (CSEE) that aims to research and understand recent cultural history. PATTERNS initiates, commissions and supports contemporary culture projects in a variety of formats and media. It aims to document, analyse and investigate different aspects of and practices related to the transformation of daily life and culture in CSEE, while accounting for the pluralities that describe the region. The programme focuses on the visual arts and culture that deal with cultural phenomena before 1989 until today, including aspects of popular, marginal and counter culture. It seeks to promote understanding and knowledge of a differently lived past, which can facilitate a shared present and future. In doing so, it takes on the role of a “contemporary witness”.

Call For Submissions

The call for submission addresses projects in CSEE that share PATTERNS’ areas of interest. ERSTE Foundation supports research, publications, as well as artistic and cultural projects and initiatives. The Foundation is particularly interested in projects which are just about to start and develop cross-border issues from local contexts, strengthening local structures and initiatives.

The call is open to projects in the framework of non-profit organisations in Central and South Eastern Europe. Since PATTERNS is an international programme, projects from other countries are also invited to apply if the topics they tackle are connected to the region or operate in at least one country of
the region.

Funding is offered exclusively to non-profit organisations. Grants are not made to individuals or political parties. Individual project work must be embedded in the framework of a non-profit organisation.

Projects must be submitted online at: http://www.erstestiftung.org/patterns-call/

Questions can be addressed to: culture@erstestiftung.org

Deadline for submission of project proposals is Friday, 11 January 2008.

Projects are selected by the PATTERNS Advisory Panel:
Cosmin Costinas (author and curator, Bucharest/Romania, Vienna/Austria)
Veronica Kaup-Hasler (director of steirischer herbst festival, Graz/Austria)
Piotr Piotrowski (art historian, Poznan/Poland)
Georg Schöllhammer (editor of Springerin and documenta 12 magazines, Vienna/Austria) and ERSTE Foundation

Please check the website for detailed information:
http://www.erstestiftung.org/patterns-call/

ERSTE Foundation
ERSTE Foundation began its activity in 2003. As the main shareholder of ERSTE Bank Group, ERSTE Foundation is one of the largest foundations in Europe. It is active in the entire CSEE region, focusing its work on the three programmes “Social Affairs”, “Culture” and “Europe”. The programmes are geared to respond to and deal with issues regarding social cohesion, cultural development and history as well as the challenges of the European unification process.

The focal point of the culture programme is intended to be a practice of mutual exchange and communication and respect for the different historical experiences and circumstances. The strengthening of initiatives locally, the integration of people who bring in their knowledge, their know-how and their history from a CSEE perspective is a priority. Particular attention will be paid to the overhauling of structures of the past and their references to the present and dealing with art and culture in the former communist states. ERSTE Foundation will promote knowledge about a past that has been lived in different ways, which can facilitate a shared present and future.

ERSTE Stiftung
Graben 21
1010 Vienna
Austria
culture@erstestiftung.org
http://www.erstestiftung.org

Queens Museum of Art

David Hammons
African-American Flag, 1990
Dyed cotton fabric
Courtesy of Ellipse Foundation — Contemporary Art Collection

NEW YORK STATES OF MIND
December 16, 2007 - March 23, 2008
Queens Museum of Art
New York City Building
Flushing Meadows Corona Park
Queens, NY 11368-3398
718.592.9700

http://www.queensmuseum.org

THE QUEENS MUSEUM OF ART AND BERLIN’S HOUSE OF WORLD CULTURES INVESTIGATE NEW YORK CITY AS MYTH AND MUSE IN NEW YORK STATES OF MIND

A FRESH VISION OF NEW YORK THROUGH EUROPEAN EYES

After critical and popular acclaim at Berlin’s House of World Cultures, the Queens Museum of Art presents New York States of Mind, an exhibition and film program on view December 16, 2007 through March 23, 2008. New York States of Mind offers a fresh vision of New York City from an outsider’s perspective while evoking nostalgia for the city’s gritty past. New York City, the larger-than-life myth that envelops our everyday reality, is an urban hub where diverse communities seek refuge and flourish, a concrete jungle where only the strong survive, and a 24-hour space of limitless opportunity. Through an interdisciplinary exploration, New York States of Mind provides a corrective backdrop to this mythical New York while demonstrating how artists have engaged with the city as a democratic and experimental space. Featuring a dynamic group of emerging and established artists whose work reflects the New York City’s shifting paradigms and demographic, New York States of Mind foc
uses on the more flexible practice of contemporary art from Marcel Duchamp to Kehinde Wiley. Featured artists include: Iona Rozeal Brown, Ian Burns, Laura Carton, Carolina Caycedo, Patty Chang, Marcel Duchamp, Rainer Ganahl, Hans Haacke, David Hammons, Jonathan Horowitz, Tehching Hsieh, Kim Jones, Michael Joo, Jon Kessler, Terence Koh, Nikki S.Lee, Mark Lombardi, Mary Ellen Mark, Gordon Matta-Clark, Josephine Meckseper, Ana Mendieta, Sarah Morris, William Pope.L, Printed Matter Inc., Elaine Reichek, Carolee Schneemann, Ward Shelley, Tavares Strachan, Kehinde Wiley, Fred Wilson and
Jordan Wolfson.

“The selection of artworks and artists for this exhibition helps to define contemporary culture and the cultural understanding of makers based in New York, of how living in New York impacts on production, especially since the sixties,” said curator Shaheen Merali. “The selection purposefully collates a series of works by artists from a diverse set of social, political, ethnic, and intergenerational spaces bound together only by the confined space that is the city of New York.”

New York States of Mind is also a timely contribution to the transnational dialogue between the United States and Germany. The exhibition opens a month after Carnegie Hall’s first major international festival, Berlin in Lights: a celebration of artistic production in contemporary Berlin. Both Berlin in Lights and New York States of Mind have emerged as parallel collaborations between two of the world’s most cosmopolitan locales. Queens Museum Director Tom Finkelpearl states, “Last year, we examined Robert Moses’ vision for New York City. This season, New York-States of Mind presents a complete contrast which, combined with the curatorial vision of Shaheen Merali and 30 artists, conveys the messy vitality of the city.”

The films in New York States of Mind range from early silent films documenting the rise of the world-famous Manhattan skyline in the 1920’s to contemporary shorts, art films and feature documentaries. Collectively, these works portray New York City as a political, social and sexual sphere of interaction and evaluate how artistic production has been influenced by these dynamics. The film program corresponds to the themes Counter Cinema, Slow Motion and Trans-Borders and includes works by Abigail Child, Jem Cohen, Laura Cottingham, Mary Jordan, Sarah Morris, Jennifer Reeves and Michael Winterbottom.

ORGANIZATION AND SUPPORT
New York States of Mind is an exhibition curated by Shaheen Merali of the House of World Cultures, Berlin. New York States of Mind film program is supported in part by the New York State Council on the Arts.

The exhibition and film program was on view at the House of World Cultures, Berlin from August 8, 2007-November 11, 2007.

DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY
Available upon request. Please contact Krista N. Saunders at 718.592.9700 x221 or ksaunders@queensmuseum.org

# # #

The Queens Museum of Art was established in 1972 to provide a vital cultural center in Flushing Meadows Corona Park for the borough’s unique, international population. Today it is home to the Panorama of the City of New York, a 9,335 square foot scale model of the five boroughs, and features temporary exhibitions of modern and contemporary art that reflect the cultural diversity of Queens, as well as a collection of Tiffany glass from the Neustadt Museum of Tiffany Art. The Museum provides valuable educational outreach through a number of programs geared toward schoolchildren, teens, families, seniors and individuals with physical and mental disabilities.

The Museum’s hours are: Wednesday - Friday: 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., Saturday and Sunday: 12:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Admission to the Museum is by suggested donation. seniors, students and children, and free for member and children under 5. For general visitor information, please visit the Museum’s website http://www.queensmuseum.org or call 718.592.9700.

The House of World Cultures has set itself the task of presenting cultures from outside Europe through their fine arts, theatre, music, literature, film and the media and engaging them in a public discourse with European cultures. The House of World Cultures’ programme focuses on the contemporary arts and current developments in the cultures of Africa, Asia and Latin America as well as on the artistic and cultural consequences of globalisation. It gives priority to projects that explore the possibilities of both intercultural co-operation and its presentation.

All photos may be printed free of charge solely when published in context with
the exhibition.

Full caption and credit line must be given.
All photographers - if they are listed - must be named.

Contact:
Krista N. Saunders
718-592-9700 x221
ksaunders@queensmuseum.org

ARTE FIERA ART FIRST

ARTE FIERA ART FIRST -
32nd EDITION
International Exhibition of Contemporary Art in Bologna (Italy)
January 24th-28th 2008

Bologna Exhibition Center
Friday 25th to Sunday 27th
January, 11am - 7pm
Monday 28th 11am - 5pm
Private view by invitation only
Thursday 24 January 3pm
Opening Thursday 24th January 5 pm
http://www.artefiera.bolognafiere.it

32nd ARTE FIERA ART FIRST
The Italian appointment for art

The new appointment with Arte Fiera Art First 2008 confirming itself as a reference point allowing a unique comparison of Italian and international art.

Through the over 200 prestigious galleries of Modern and Contemporary art from Italy and abroad, including important confirmations and new entries, the fair operates a synthesis between works by the 20th and 21st century, particularly focused on the promotion of the Italian art highlighted by works ranging from Arte Povera to Transavanguardia and Conceptual art to the emerging art.

YOUNG GALLERIES

Arte Fiera Art First draws a special attention to the emerging artists by a careful selection of 26 young galleries with no more than five years of activity, that will be located into the heart of the fair exhibition center in order to give them the opportunity of a higher visibility in an international context.

Participations: T293 and Annarumma404 (Naples); Massimo Carasi - The Flat, Galica, Federico Luger, Pianissimo, Prometeo Gallery, Riccardo Crespi (Milano); agenzia 04, Fabio Tiboni Arte Contemporanea (Bologna); Monitor, C.a.o.s. Extraspazio (Rome); Citric (Brescia); Galleria 42 Contemporaneo (Modena); Galleria SpazioA Contemporanearte (Pistoia); Galerie Davide Gallo, Kunstagenten, Galerie Martin Mertens (Berlin); Galerie Magda Danysz (Paris); Dukan & Hourdequin (Marseille); Patrick Heide Contemporary Art (London); Mizuma Action (Tokyo); Virgil de Voldère Gallery (New York); Acb Gallery (Budapest), Galeria Posibila (Bucharest).

BOLOGNA ART FIRST

The city of Bologna becomes ‘a place to live the art’ outside and inside the stands. From January 24th to February 29th 2008 the third edition of Bologna Art First project, which was born from the collaboration between the City of Bologna and Arte Fiera, will offer a fascinating journey through the world of modern art and the architecture of the past. The works selected by an Advisory Board from the projects submitted by exhibiting galleries will be hosted in some historical sites in Bologna’s center such as Palazzo Accursio, Palazzo Re Enzo, Museo della Musica, Museo della Memoria, Civico Museo Archeologico, Museo Medievale, Museo della Sanità at Santa Maria della Vita, Musei Universitari of Palazzo Poggi besides the Airport Guglielmo Marconi.

ARTEFIERA OFF

ARTEFIERA OFF, a case of a series of collateral events to Arte Fiera, will be increased for this second edition with a new program of exhibitions, screenings, conferences, performances such as the exhibition Giacomelli. Cose mai viste curated by Enzo Cucchi at the hospital Hospice Seragnoli di Bentivoglio or L’invenzione del paradiso. Il cinema e lo sguardo plurale by Daniel Schmid, a retrospective dedicated to the Suisse director recently dead, at the Cineteca from 21st to 31st
January 2008.

CONFIRMATIONS AND NEW ENTRIES

Among the international and Italian confirmations and new entries: Alfonso Artiaco (Naples), Ben Brown Fine Arts (London), Bodhi Art (Mumbai), James Cohan Gallery (New York), Continua (San Gimignano, Beijing, Le Moulin), Monica De Cardenas (Milan), Massimo De Carlo (Milan), Jerome de Noirmont (Paris), Austin/Desmond (London), Faggionato Fine Art (London), Galerie Jablonka (Berlin, Köln), Alison Jacques Gallery (London), Galerie Lelong (Paris, New York, Zürich), Diana Lowenstein Fine Arts (Miami), Massimo Minini (Brescia), Giò Marconi (Milan), Friedrich Petzel Gallery (New York), Galerie Thaddeus Ropac (Paris, Salzburg), Galleria Lia Rumma (Naples, Milan),Tucci Russo (Torre Pellice), Galeria Mário Sequeira (Braga), Sperone Westwater Gallery (New York), Christian Stein (Milan), Studio La Città (Verona), Xin Dong Cheng (Beijing).

PRESS OFFICE
ARTEFIERA ART FIRST
Silvia Macchetto
Tel. +39 334 6931534
artepress@bolognafiere.it

PRESS OFFICE BOLOGNAFIERE
Isabella Bonvicini
Tel. +39 051 282261
Isabella.bonvicini@bolognafiere.it

Giuliana Tinti
Tel. +39.335 7622025
giuliana.tinti@bolognafiere.it

Exit Art

Guerra de la Paz, The Kiss
(from the GI Joe Series)
digital print, 2006

Love/War/Sex
December 1, 2007 - January 26, 2008
Exit Art
475 Tenth Avenue
New York, NY 10018
212-966-7745

http://www.exitart.org

Jakob Boeskov, Margot Herster, Tessa Hughes-Freeland, Fawad Khan, Ellen Lake, Rebecca Loyche, Guerra de la Paz, Francesco Simeti, Nick Waplington

Exit Art wants to tell you war stories through the vision of nine international artists. Love/War/Sex considers memory, history, weapons and personal stories. As a cultural center, our mission is to reflect what is going on in our society. We respond to current global conflicts by presenting this exhibition, Love/War/Sex, a comment on our culture’s fascination with, and addiction to, war. The title itself demonstrates the paradox of what war is, a combination of emotions, passions and idealistic convictions. This exhibition connects longing with violence and love with war, imagining the business of war in all its sensual manifestations.

Exit Art is known for its unique exhibition and installation design that heighten the concept of the show. The installation of Love/War/Sex, conceived and designed by Papo Colo, is an innovation in exhibition design and presentation, in part for its inclusion of real weapons of war. Choosing these objects, these “readymades”, and applying their historical contexts to the exhibition, creates an environment that provokes and confronts the viewer with the real tools of war. The idea of exhibiting weapons as art hearkens back to Leonardo da Vinci, who designed weapons for a living, and allows one to experience both the extraordinary craftsmanship and design of these killing machines.

Another installation approach was to wallpaper the exhibition space with texts of personal experiences of the war. This allows the viewer/reader to evoke images from the text. Here, the force of the narrative replaces the object and gives the viewer another kind of visual imagination, creating a sacred space for meditation. Taken from newspapers, magazines and soldiers’ blogs, the texts make one think of war in terms of these intimate stories. The juxtaposition of these weapons and the wall papered texts creates a stage for the exhibition and the public.

Jakob Boeskov’s apocalyptic video War Wizard depicts lustful soldiers and their “wizard” enemy as they invade a little boy’s dreams. The “wizard”, who embodies at once Jesus, Osama bin Laden and an Iraqi prisoner, is tortured with sex and violence by dancing soldiers. Margot Herster presents an insider view of Guantanamo politics with This is an introduction tape, a video of the families of detainees telling their relatives to trust the lawyers representing them. Referencing sports and porn as stimulants, Tessa Hughes-Freeland’s ‘educational’ video Watch Out! explains how explicit films can warp the minds of young men. Fawad Khan fuses car culture with war imagery to create a sexy but violent wall painting that evokes the chaos of a suicide bombing. Ellen Lake’s short film Betty + Johnny combines digital video and home movies shot in the 1930s and 40s to tell the story of a love lost during World War II. Rebecca Loyche’s three-channel video installation
, All’s Fair in Love and War, is a disturbing portrait of a weapons specialist who teaches military personnel how to kill. Guerra de la Paz presents Crawl, a sculpture of a dying soldier, and The Kiss, an intimate photograph of two soldiers embracing. Francesco Simeti’s Watching the War combines landscapes and images of the war in Afghanistan to create deceptively ornate wallpaper. Nick Waplington’s photographs juxtapose images of life at the war front and back at home.

Curators: Jeanette Ingberman and Papo Colo

ABOUT EXIT ART
Exit Art is an independent vision of contemporary culture. We react immediately to important issues that affect our lives. We do experimental, historical and unique presentations of aesthetic, social, political and environmental issues. We absorb cultural differences that become prototype exhibitions. We are a center for multiple disciplines. Founded in 1982 by Directors Jeanette Ingberman and Papo Colo, Exit Art has grown from a pioneering alternative art space, into a model artistic center for the 21st century. Exit Art is internationally recognized for its unmatched spirit of inventiveness. With a substantial reputation for curatorial innovation and depth of programming in diverse media, Exit Art is always on the verge
of change.

Exit Art is located at 475 Tenth Avenue, at the corner of 36th Street. Tuesday - Thursday, 10 - 6 pm; Friday, 10 - 8 pm; Saturday, noon - 8 pm. Closed Sunday and Monday.

For more information: 212-966-7745 or http://www.exitart.org

Anna Ning Fine Art

Requiem for Matter — The Transformation of Material by Jiao Xingtao
December 4 - 16, 2007
Opening: December 4, 2007 6 pm - 8 pm
Hong Kong Arts Centre
4th & 5th Floors, 2 Harbour Road,
Wanchai, Hong Kong

Anna Ning Fine Art is proud to present the first-ever solo exhibition in Hong Kong of the work of the exciting young Chinese sculptor Jiao Xingtao in collaboration with Hong Kong Arts Centre from December 4 - 16, 2007.

Born in 1970 in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, Jiao Xingtao takes familiar everyday items such as discarded packing boxes, an empty milk carton, toothpaste boxes, a rolled-up Wrigley’s chewing gum wrapper or plastic bags from department stores, and using fibre glass transform them into meticulously crafted aesthetic objects.

These works at once thrill, amuse and shock the viewer as not only does Jiao Xingtao recreate the objects with hyper-realistic attention to detail, he also plays with scale to produce the most amazing visual effects. In Jiao Xingtao’s work, small insignificant objects suddenly assume grand proportions. An old cardboard packing box, crushed at the corners, is enlarged to become a formal, monumental sculpture. One is reminded of Rauschenberg’s cardboard boxes of the 1970s, and of his determination to “work in that gap between art and life”. In the same way, Jiao Xingtao questions the distinction between art object and everyday objects, portraying boxes with marks and worn labels that reveal their history and create a patina of wear and age.

In today’s consumer society, Jiao Xingtao seems to be saying, packaging has taken on an importance out of proportion to the object it contains. Packaging may inspire and induce a desire to consume and possess; or confer a certain status. Several of his works bear well recognized luxury logos and commercial symbols including OMEGA, A/X, AK47 and bar codes. Such commercial symbols are reminiscent of Wang Guangyi’s Great Criticism series. However, Jiao Xingtao also distances himself from this consumerism and chooses instead to portray thrown away packaging. With a healthy disrespect for luxury brands, he prefers a trampled Hermes tie box to the pristine bright orange original; and finds a crumpled Marks and Spencer bag pleasing to the eye. In an ephemeral consumer culture, he manages to invest trivial and cast-away objects with dignity and value.

Jiao Xingtao considers these discarded items to be the by-products of mankind’s ceaseless pursuit of materialistic desires. He is also fascinated by the inverted relationship between the “inside” and the “outside” of such packages; he would like to inspire our imagination to penetrate the packaging and go beyond the surface. In “Green Bust” he uses a Wrigley’s Doublemint chewing gum green paper to “wrap”, Christo-like, a bust of Mao Zedong. This would once have been sacrilegious, but today the wrapping merely hints at something forgotten, fading into the past. The combination of a Chinese icon with a Western brand refers to the idolization of American commercial culture in China; and perhaps conversely, since a Chinese icon is packaged as if for export, to the current popularity of Chinese art in the West.

Jiao Xingtao’s choice of subject matter could not be further removed from that of traditional sculpture. At first it may seem strange, risky, even absurd. But he feels as his crumpled and shapeless objects impart unconscious information about our everyday lives, they gain a spiritual symbolic value forming a closer connection with us. Certainly they present a different dimension within the form of sculpture. They explore the ambiguous relationship of reality to artifice as the objects are familiar and vivid, yet transformed and strange. Jiao Xingtao pushes artistic boundaries, creating sculptures that provoke a philosophical as well as a visual response.

For information:
Anna Ning Fine Art
Room 101, 1/F, St. George’s Building, 2 Ice House Street, Central, Hong Kong.
Tel: +852 2521 3193 Fax: +852 2810 9228
email: info@annaningfineart.com
http://www.annaningfineart.com