Artipedia - Arts News

Freddy Childers, Self-portrait with a picture of my biggest brother Everett, who killed himself when he came back from Vietnam.

WENDY EWALD Secret Games - Collaborations with Children
28.03. - 04.07.2008

With »Secret Games« the Gallery Parrotta presents the first exhibition of the 1951 born American photographer, conceptual and video artist Wendy Ewald in Germany. For more than thirty years Wendy Ewald gives cameras to children, to work together with them, documenting and bringing out their dreams, fears and experiences of their daily life in pictures and words.

As the project of her life, Wendy Ewald travelled around the world, to take pictures with children from different cultural and social backgrounds. Our stereotypical perceptions of childhood and innocent eyes are totally taken away through their pictures in one click. In a merciless, intensive and from time to time unsettling poetical way, the children show in their photographs their environment and put themselves into the pictures to bring their own meaning into it. It is the interchanging of position of power that makes the work of Wendy Ewald so deeply intensive and powerful. She creates situations to bring to the surface what attracts the children and what seemed to them important enough to tell. Therefore we see kaleidoscopical portraits of childhood, made of turbulent, dreamt, thoughtful and melancholical moments between reality and fiction, which evoke affections of closeness but on the other hand are inapproachable.

Wendy Ewald has received many honors, including a MacArthur Fellowship and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, The Andy Warhol Foundation, and the Fulbright Commission. She was also a senior fellow at the Vera List Center for Art and Politics at the New School from 2000-2002. She has had solo exhibitions at the International Center of Photography in New York, the Center for Creative Photography in Tucson, the George Eastman House in Rochester, Nederlands Foto Institute in Rotterdam, the Fotomuseum in Wintherthur, Switzerland, and the Corcoran Gallery of American Art among others. Her work was included in the 1997 Whitney Biennial. She has published ten books, her fifth, a retrospective documenting her projects entitled Secret Games, was published by Scalo in 2000. Two books on recent projects were published in 2005. A third, To The Promised land was published in 2006 to accompany an outdoor installation in Margate, England commissioned by ArtAngel. She is
currently teaching at Amherst College. She also remains an artist in residence at the John Hope Franklin Center and senior research associate at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University.

PARROTTA
CONTEMPORARY ART
AUGUSTENSTRASSE 87–89
70197 STUTTGART/GERMANY
T +49.711.69 94 79 10
F +49.711.69 94 79 20
M + 49.163.733 36 45
MAIL@PARROTTA.DE
WWW.PARROTTA.DE

Futuro presente /
Present continuous

Futuro presente / Present continuous
May 23-25, 2008

THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL THAT GIVES
A VOICE TO CONTEMPORARY ART: FAENZA.

http://www.festivalartecontemporanea.it

Somewhere in the world, almost every day a new contemporary art biennial, festival or fair is being announced. In spite of their diversity in terms of context, scope, themes, and financial resources, all these initiatives share a common goal: to exhibit exciting contemporary art. What is missing, however, is a moment and a place to pause and to reflect on where contemporary art is heading, devoting all energies and attention to debating in depth on such multi-faceted aspects as audiences, big events, museums, art schools, markets, curatorial trends, collecting, artists’ positions, etcetera.

Faenza, a beautiful Italian town with a worldwide reputation in the design and manufacturing of ceramics, is willing to fill this gap, launching the International Festival of Contemporary Art Futuro Presente / Present Continuous, which will take place on May 23 – 25, 2008. These three days will provide a global platform for curators, artists, scholars and professionals willing to investigate and understand the evolution of the contemporary art system in an epoch of turbulent change, burgeoning opportunities and unprecedented challenges.

The Festival offers a so far unique opportunity to listen to, and to discuss with, some of the outstanding personalities and opinion leaders in the field, in a situation where discussion takes the main stage, rather than being a side event to attend if there is spare time.

The scientific committee of the Festival includes Carlos Basualdo, curator of contemporary art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and professor of history of exhibitions at the IUAV University Venice, Pier Luigi Sacco, professor of cultural economics at IUAV University Venice, scientific director of goodwill and of the strategic plan for the cultural district of Faenza, and Angela Vettese, professor of history of contemporary art at IUAV University Venice, and director of the City Gallery of Contemporary Art
of Modena.

With its innovative format, Futuro Presente / Present Continuous will offer an intriguing mix of non-stop meetings, seminars, presentations, debates and workshops, in the context of a magnificent, lively Italian town renowned for its hospitality and its excellent food, and hosting a wealth of exciting side events in a variety of different fields such as music, performing arts, crafts, and so on.

Among the many speakers and participants who already confirmed their presence are Alexander Alberro, Iwona Blazwick, Achille Bonito Oliva, Germano Celant, Eduardo Cicelyn, TJ Demos, Danilo Eccher, Alberto Garutti, Massimiliano Gioni, Dan Graham, Udo Kittelmann, Vasif Kortun, Beral Madra, Gianfranco Maraniello, Gerald Matt, Viktor Misiano, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Marjetica Potrc, Nancy Spector, Robert Storr, Francesco Vezzoli, to name but a few.

The program will also offer previews of the programs of some of the most important institutions and events on the forthcoming calendar of contemporary art. These range from the long-awaited travelling biennial exhibition, Manifesta, scheduled for the first time in Italy in 2008, to the new Whitechapel, which will open to the public in 2009, after an important extension plan, designed by the architects Robbrecht en Daem.

Special attention will be paid to the increasing interaction between the contemporary art world and the economy, from the development of markets to the growing role of contemporary art as a source of identity, innovation, and organizational involvement, and so on. These issues will be discussed by a selected forum of entrepreneurs explaining the meaning and motivation of their involvement, and investment, in contemporary art today.

Also the interactions between contemporary art and cultural and creative industries (fashion design, food design, product design, architecture) will be explored with the help of Flavio Albanese, director of Domus, Stefano Boeri, director of Abitare, Maria Luisa Frisa, professor of Fashion Studies at IUAV University Venice, Alexander von Vegesack, director of the Vitra Design Museum, and with world-renowned guests such as fashion designer Antonio Marras, chef Massimo Bottura, and
many more.

Promoted by
Municipality of Faenza
Moto d’idee - Faenza verso il distretto culturale evoluto
goodwill

With the patronage of
Commissione Europea
Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri
Ministero degli Affari Esteri
Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali
Regione Emilia Romagna
Provincia di Ravenna
GAI – Giovani Artisti Italiani
Goethe Institute - Mailand

With the support of
Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali
Parc

partners
Gruppo Hera
Costruzioni Edili Bertozzini
Byblos
Pirelli & C. Real Estate SpA
Teseco

In collaboration with
Acax, Bucharest
AMACI
ANGAMC
CAIC, Vilnius
Polish Institute of Rome
Scope Art Fair, Miami, New York, London, Basel
Trans Europe Halles
University IUAV of Venice
University UIAH, Helsinki
uqbar, Berlin
Viafarini, Milan

Scientific committee
Carlos Basualdo, Pier Luigi Sacco, Angela Vettese

Organisation and communication
goodwill

For further information:

Santa Nastro, press office
sn@good-will.it
+393295794324
+39051220080
http://www.festivalartecontemporanea.it
http://www.good-will.it

Fondazione Prada

Nathalie Djurberg
“Turn into me”
19 April - 1 June 2008

Fondazione Prada
Via Fogazzaro 36, Milan
Italy

http://www.fondazioneprada.org

The Prada Foundation is pleased to announce its next exhibition, dedicated to the Swedish artist Nathalie Djurberg (Lysekil, Sweden, 1978), to be held at the Prada Foundation at Via Fogazzaro 36, Milan, from April 19th until 1st June 2008.

The project, which has been specifically designed for the exhibiting space of Fondazione Prada, consists of models that remind of parts of human body and hint at universal symbols. These models become pavilions inside which the videos of the renowned Swedish artist are projected representing visceral compelling desires and possessive sexual thoughts.

Djurberg’s videos are short animations made using Stop Motion techniques where small plasticine figures create surreal atmospheres and, often, grotesque stories. The staging of these stories is rudimentary but ingenious, infusing an ambiguous sense of anxiety and unease through their sexual reflections, with references to violence, the macabre, gruesome, and subtle pleasure of cruelty
and perversion.

Djurberg’s works are characterised by an obsessive rhythm, permeated by a taste for the ironic and the humorous, conveying a sense of anxiety and nostalgia, along with unease and sometimes even profound anguish. It’s a sensation that is re-enforced throughout all her work by accompanying music, composed by the Swedish composer, Hans Berg.

Nathalie Djurberg lives and works in Berlin; she is one of the leading new generation Swedish artists, strongly active on the international scene. She has participated to the last edition of Performa in New York ( 2007); she has presented solo shows at Kunsthalle Wien in Vienna (2007) and at Färgfabriken in Stockholm (2006); her videos have been shown at Tate Britain in London (2007), P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center in New York (2006) and at the 4th Biennial of Contemporary Art in Berlin (2006)

The exhibition will be accompanied by a book written by Germano Celant and published by Progetto Prada Arte.

Exhibition details

Title: Nathalie Djurberg
Dates: 19 April - 1 June 2008
Opening: Friday, 18 April 2008, 6 pm
Place: Fondazione Prada
Address: Via Fogazzaro 36, Milan
Opening time: Tuesday - Sunday, 11 am - 8 pm; closed on Monday
Access: Free
Catalogue: Progetto Prada Arte
Information: Fondazione Prada, ph. +39 02 54670515, fax +39 02 54670258
http://www.fondazioneprada.org , info@fondazioneprada.org
Press office: Fondazione Prada, ph. +39 02 54570981, fax +39 02 54670258
press@fondazioneprada.org
International Communication and Press:
Alessandra Bognetti, ph. 0044 (0) 786 7788554
Internationalpress@fondazioneprada.org

Galleria Civica di Modena

Heimo Zobernig, Senza Titolo, 2008, prova digitale

HEIMO ZOBERNIG
20th April - 20th July 2008

Palazzina dei Giardini, corso Canalgrande
Modena, Italy

http://www.galleriacivicadimodena.it

The Galleria Civica di Modena is proud to announce the upcoming exhibition of Heimo Zobernig (1958, Mauthen, Carinthia). This is the first one-man show in an Italian museum to be held by the Austrian artist, and it will open on 20th April at 12pm, in the exhibition space of Palazzina dei Giardini in corso Canalgrande, Modena. The Heimo Zobernig exhibition, curated by Cornelia Lauf, an independent curator and artist’s book editor, is organised and sponsored by the Galleria Civica di Modena and the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Modena.

The Austrian artist, a reference point in the European arts scene, will present two projects in Modena: the installation of a “blue box” especially created for the exhibition spaces of the Palazzina dei Giardini, as well as the installation of two of his artist’s books.

Zobernig debuted as an artist working for the theatre and the performing arts. Ever since the mid-‘80s, Zobernig has been producing paintings and sculptures of an abstract geometric nature, aimed essentially at thematising the figurative language. The object-based character of his sculptures shows his personal sense of poetics aimed at reducing forms through the potential offered by abstraction. With almost scientific precision, Zobernig analyses the premises of artistic creation and carries forward his own critical analysis of the potential of figurative art through a range of expressive media.

In Modena, Zobernig intervenes on the very architectural space of the Palazzina, laying out a symmetrical display structure. In the right wing of the ancient building, he will install one of his typical “blue boxes”, (3m x 4m x 10m), especially designed for the event. The Modenese “blue box” is a structure made up of steel girders, ones normally used in scaffolding, the inside of which is covered with blue industrial netting. A video is then projected onto the back wall of the “blue box”. There is a sort of auditorium to be found in the room before the video-installation, with 40 white seats and screens standing on tripods, some with a white material screen, the other black.

The “blue box” itself is a device used in television production. It creates an optical illusion which consists of the background being replaced with other material, for when coloured blue, it disappears completely when covered by a layer of other video during the editing stage. In this manner, a negative-positive space is formed, and the invisible is rendered visible.

The other two rooms of the Palazzina will house first a video-installation, then two series of two books: Atlas and Die Kunst der Enzyklopädie. Atlas is a series of 30 collages of images taken from scientific magazines and geography texts, abstract figures, maps, diagrams and graphs. The book thus highlights issues linked to the concept of scale and dimensional relationships, questioning the ability of symbols and signs to represent the actual substance of reality.

Die Kunst der Enzyklopädie, created in collaboration with the Austrian poet and writer Ferdinand Schmatz, was presented for the first time as a limited edition by Artelier Graz at the Galerie Peter Pakesch in Graz in 1988. Through a wide range of texts and illustrations, the written and figurative languages are examined in terms of communicative media, along with the reciprocal interrelations that run between them, their final effects and their various differences.

The exhibition is accompanied by a portfolio containing three artist’s books, designed by Heimo Zobernig and produced by the Galleria Civica di Modena in collaboration with Christophe Boutin and Onestarpress, an artists’ book publisher based in Paris.

Heimo Zobernig
Palazzina dei Giardini, corso Canalgrande, Modena

Opening times
20 April until 1 June 2008
Tuesday to Sunday 10.30am – 1pm; 4pm – 7.30pm
3 June until 20 July 2008
Tuesday to Sunday 5pm – 10pm
closed Mondays

Galleria Civica di Modena
c.so Canalgrande 103, 41100 Modena
tel. +39 059 2032911/2032940 - fax +39 059 2032932
http://www.galleriacivicadimodena.it