Artipedia - Arts News

Carnegie Museum of Art

Paul Thek (American, 1933-1988)
Untitled (Earth Drawing I), c. 1974
Acrylic on newspaper
Collection of Robert Wilson, New York
The Estate of George Paul Thek.
Courtesy Alexander and Bonin, New York

Life on Mars, the 2008
Carnegie International
May 3, 2008 - January 11, 2009

Carnegie Museum of Art
4400 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
412-622-3131

http://blog.cmoa.org/CI08

Are we alone in the universe? Do aliens exist? Or are we, ourselves, strangers in our
own world?

Life on Mars, the 2008 Carnegie International explores the important yet continually perplexing question of what it means to be human in the world today. Organized by Douglas Fogle, curator of contemporary art at Carnegie Museum of Art, the provocative Life on Mars will present the varying perspectives of 40 artists from 17 countries, spanning generations and continents. This is the 55th installation of the series of contemporary-art survey exhibitions that was founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1896. It will include 204 works of art in diverse media, from painting, sculpture, and drawing to animation, film, installation, and performance—all searching for the sublime in the confusion of everyday life.

The question “Is there life on Mars?” is a rhetorical one posed by the exhibition in the face of a world where political, social, natural, and economic global events increasingly seem to challenge and threaten to overtake the most basic forms of everyday existence.

“The thematic premise behind the show has to do with the idea of the intimate moments in our daily lives that we miss by walking through our worlds and not seeing what is right in front of us. It also has to do with the more infinite sense of being part of the larger universe and finding ourselves on the inside and looking out.” says Fogle. “The art world itself is Mars, and the best contemporary art asks you more questions than you sometimes have answers for.”

With Life on Mars, Carnegie Museum of Art is inviting its audience to ponder the questions and answers of humanity through real-life and virtual experiences. For the first time, the International web site
( http://www.cmoa.org/ci08lifeonmars ) offers opportunities for blogging by on- and off-site visitors, museum staff, and special guests; social networking outlets like MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, and Flickr will also have International sites. Video interviews with International artists, architects, and curators provide personal views of their work and their thoughts about Life on Mars. On-site education pods scattered throughout the exhibition will have computers where visitors can share their immediate responses to what they have seen. A robust schedule of interactive lectures with the curator, artist talks, a summer music series, and late night hours are just a few of the programs and activities that have been organized to further the discussion.

Life on Mars, the 2008 Carnegie International Artists
Doug AITKEN, United States, b. 1968
Kai ALTHOFF, Germany, b. 1966
Mark BRADFORD, United States, b. 1961
CAO Fei, China, b. 1978
Vija CELMINS, United States, b. 1938
Phil COLLINS, England, b. 1970
Bruce CONNER, United States, b. 1933
Peter FISCHLI, Switzerland, b. 1952 and David WEISS, Switzerland, b. 1946
Ryan GANDER, England, b. 1976
Daniel GUZMÁN, Mexico, b. 1964
Thomas HIRSCHHORN, Switzerland, b. 1957
Richard HUGHES, England, b. 1974
Mike KELLEY, United States, b.1954
Friedrich KUNATH, Germany, b. 1974
Maria LASSNIG, Austria, b. 1919
Sharon LOCKHART, United States, b. 1964
Mark MANDERS, The Netherlands, b. 1968
Barry McGEE, United States, b. 1966
Mario MERZ, Italy, b. 1925, d. 2003
Marisa MERZ, Italy, b. 1931
Matthew MONAHAN, United States, b. 1972
Rivane NEUENSCHWANDER, Brazil, b. 1967
NOGUCHI Rika, Japan, b. 1971
Manfred PERNICE, Germany, b. 1963
Susan PHILIPSZ, Scotland, b. 1965
Wilhelm SASNAL, Poland, b. 1972
Thomas SCHÜTTE, Germany, b. 1954
Ranjani SHETTAR, India, b. 1977
David SHRIGLEY, England, b. 1968
Paul SIETSEMA, United States, b. 1968
Rudolf STINGEL, Italy, b. 1956
Katja STRUNZ, Germany, b. 1970
Paul THEK, United States, b. 1933, d. 1988
Wolfgang TILLMANS, Germany, b. 1968
Rosemarie TROCKEL, Germany, b. 1952
Apichatpong WEERASETHAKUL, Thailand, b. 1970
Andro WEKUA, Georgia, b. 1977
Richard WRIGHT, England, b. 1960
YANG Haegue, Korea, b. 1971

Charles Juhasz-Alvarado, I-Scream (resist!), 2004

Charles Juhasz-Alvarado: Complicated Stories will present the artist’s past and present bodies of works as an ongoing dialogue on social consciousness and cultural identity. Charles Juhasz-Alvarado’s elaborate site-specific installations engage the viewer through narrative, performance, audio, and sculpture to introduce a fantasy world that serves as an acute and humorous allegory of today’s multicultural society and the artist’s own background. The exhibition includes nine large-scale sculptural works including one piece commissioned for this exhibition, Winged Termite (2008). This piece references Leonardo daVinci’s “flying machines” and is modeled after the shape, proportions and mechanics of flying animals. This exhibition will be a vital opportunity to survey the work of this important contemporary artist and to introduce him to American audiences, where he has had limited exposure.

JRP|Ringier

5 Books 4 Berlin
JRP|Ringier
Letzigraben 134
CH-8047 Zurich

T +41 (0) 43 311 27 50
F +41 (0) 43 311 27 51
info@jrp-ringier.com

http://www.jrp-ringier.com

In the context of the Berlin Biennale, JRP|Ringier is proud to present the following publications:

When Things Cast No Shadow
5th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art catalogue
English/German, softcover, 200 x 270 mm, 592 pages
ISBN 978-3-905829-58-7

The World of Interiors by Marc Camille Chaimowicz
Artist’s book published with the migros museum für gegenwartskunst, Zurich
English, hardcover, 210 x 265 mm, 218 pages
ISBN 978-3-905701-67-8

*1977 by Katerina Sedá
Monograph, Tranzit series
English/Czech, box with 10 folders, 219 x 322 mm, 160 pages
ISBN 978-3-905770-95-7

For Every Dog a Different Master by Katerina Sedá
Monograph, Tranzit series
English/Czech, softcover, 210 x 300 mm, 200 pages
ISBN 978-3-905829-66-2
To be released this Summer

The Provisional Texture of Reality by Susan Hiller
Selected Texts and Talks, 1977- 2007, Positions series
English, softcover, 150 x 210 mm, 192 pages
ISBN 978-3-905829-56-3
To be released in September

In May JRP|Ringier will launch a newsletter. If you would like to receive regular information about our books, please subscribe here.

Images: (Left to right, top to bottom) Anne Siems, Tim Tate, Dirk Staschke, Adelaide Paul, Randall Sellers, Joe Boruchow, & Damian Hirst

WEXLER GALLERY
May 2 – June 28, 2008

PHILADELPHIA- Wexler Gallery is proud to present (In)Between; a group show curated by Sienna Freeman, Associate Director of the Wexler Gallery. The exhibition is based loosely on the idea of Vanitas- 16th century Dutch still-life paintings that celebrate life’s pains and pleasures while meditating on their inevitable loss. Featured artists include Damien Hirst, Randall Sellers, Adelaide Paul, Tim Tate, Anne Siems, Dirk Staschke and Joe Boruchow. The show will run from May 2nd through June 28th, 2008. *An Opening Reception will take place on First Friday, May 2nd from 5-8pm.

Working in two and three dimensions, these seven artists investigate the transitory nature of life and the contemporary human experience. Although their mediums and experiences in the art world are diverse, these artists are linked by a certain uncanny quality possessed by their work. Often illustrated with imagery revolving around the passage of time, nature, and earthly belongings, this quality begs the viewer to consider their own mortality and question their perception of reality.

The Wexler Gallery is located at 201 North Third Street in the historical district of Old City Philadelphia. We invite you to visit our gallery or explore our website at www.wexlergallery.com. For high resolution images or additional information, please contact Sienna@wexlergallery.com or call (215) 923-7030.

University of California,
Berkeley Art Museum and
Pacific Film Archive

Kiki Smith: Crèche, 1995
phosphorous bronze
various dimensions, 3 x 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 in. to 10 x 20 x 9 in.
gift of Richard and Lenore Niles.

Thirty years of MATRIX at BAM/PFA
University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAM/PFA)
2626 Bancroft Way
Berkeley, CA 94720
http://bampfa.berkeley.edu

Over the past thirty years, with more than 220 exhibitions, BAM/PFA’s acclaimed MATRIX Program has charted a unique course through the landscape of contemporary art. At the program’s inception in 1978, then museum director James Elliott brought to Berkeley an idea developed originally during his tenure at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Connecticut. The continuous exhibitions of contemporary art in the MATRIX Program were envisioned as “discrete units in a cumulative and ongoing statement reflective of the wide range of ideas being explored by today’s artists.”

Over the thirty-year history of the program, MATRIX curators Michael Auping, Constance Lewallen, Lawrence Rinder, Heidi Zuckerman Jacobson, Chris Gilbert, and Elizabeth Thomas have cultivated the development of exhibitions and special projects that embody experimentation, material and conceptual innovation, and engagement with the ideas of our times. This dedication to progressive art practices was rare when the program was founded in 1978, and the pioneering success of MATRIX has led many other art institutions to adopt similar programs.

Many artists had their first major exhibition in the MATRIX Program, and many have gone on to great prominence in the field. Past participants include Doug Aitken, John Baldessari, Jennifer Bartlett, Georg Baselitz, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Louise Bourgeois, James Lee Byars, Sophie Calle, Jim Campbell, Bruce Conner, Willem de Kooning, Richard Diebenkorn, Peter Doig, Brian Eno, Peter Fischli and David Weiss, Nan Goldin, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Eva Hesse, Robert Irwin, Alfredo Jaar, Sol LeWitt, Ree Morton, Tom Marioni, Chris Marker, Julie Mehretu, Elizabeth Murray, Adrian Piper, Charles Ray, Susan Rothenberg, Richard Serra, Ed Ruscha, Wilhelm Sasnal, Allan Sekula, and Cindy Sherman, to name just a few.

BAM/PFA will mark the thirtieth anniversary with a year of programs, beginning with MATRIX/REDUX (on view through July 6), an exhibition that samples from the rich history of the MATRIX program with selections from the BAM/PFA collection and loans from local collections rarely seen by museum audiences.

On April 25, BAM/PFA celebrates the MATRIX program with a birthday party, featuring special guest David Ireland, and including a collaborative performance with Deerhoof and future MATRIX artist Martha Colburn.

A year-long series of public conversations between past MATRIX artists and curators will begin with Heidi Zuckerman Jacobson and painter Peter Doig on April 27.

Other talks include Constance M. Lewallen, Larry Sultan, and Mike Mandel on June 22; Lawrence Rinder and Nayland Blake on October 19; Michael Auping and Susan Rothenberg on November 2; and Elizabeth Thomas and Paul Chan in January 2009.

In Spring 2009, at the end of the year of programs, BAM/PFA will publish a book gathering these live conversations, as well as selected artist conversations convened specifically for publication. To mirror the spirit of the program, New York-based designers Project Projects have been commissioned to generate an archival framework that contextualizes the totality of the MATRIX program’s eclectic history. Together, these dual aspects of the book will produce new reflections on the program and the artists who shaped
its history.

Credit Line
The MATRIX Program at the UC Berkeley Art Museum is made possible by a generous endowment gift from Phyllis C. Wattis.

Additional donors to the MATRIX Program include the UAM Council MATRIX Endowment, Jane and Jeffrey Green, Joachim and Nancy Bechtle, Rena Bransten, Maryellen and Frank Herringer, Noel and Penny Nellis, James Pick and Rosalyn Laudati, Barclay and Sharon Simpson, Roselyne C. Swig, Paul L. Wattis III, Penelope Cooper and Rena Rosenwasser, Paul Rickert, Iris Shimada, and other generous donors.

University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
2626 Bancroft Way, Berkeley CA 94720
http://bampfa.berkeley.edu

Information:
(510) 642-0808
TDD: (510) 642-8734

Press contact
Jonathan L. Knapp jlknapp@berkeley.edu

Tanya Mars, From ‘Tyranny of Bliss’ (Hope), 2004

Lilith Performance Studio prudly presents:

TANYA MARS (CA)
In Dulci Jubilo
2 & 3 May, from 7 pm
Tickets: SEK 40. Address: Bragegatan 15, Malmö, Sweden www.lilithperformancestudio.com, +46 (0)40-789 97

For the first time ever in Sweden: Lilith Performance Studio proudly presents the legendary performance artist Tanya Mars. Tanya Mars recently received the prestigious Canadian General Governor’s Award inVisual & Media Art, the first woman performance artist to do so. Since 1974, Tanya has been one of the most active artists in the Canadian performance scene where she has worked as as an artist, writer, editor and professor of performance influencing an entire generation of students. In her theatrical and visually bombastic performances Tanya uses humor to poke fun at patriarchy and to critique those art forms (performance) and ideologies (feminism) that she cares most about. In her work, Mars has been inspired as much by Dada and Surrealism as by cheerleading and burlesque vaudeville.

Before staging her spectacular performance piece and tableau vivant Tyranny of Bliss in 2004, which received a Chalmer’s Fellowship, Tanya Mars had primarily used cabaret and more traditional performance strategies. Tyranny of Bliss consisted of 14 live-tableaux, of 7 hours duration each, taking place at the same time at different locations around Toronto during one day. At Lilith Performance Studio Tanya Mars has once again been given the opportunity to work on a large scale. In Dulci Jubilo (“O Sweet Joy”. dulci in Latin and Italian also translates as: dessert, cookie) will be a long-durational work developing over the course of two days, and beginning several hours before the doors open to the public. This new work will be a sugar sweet and humorous jubilee revolving around the conflict between generosity and selfishness, where Tanya will transform the space at Lilith Performance Studio to create a surreal image with 150 cakes, a thousand white dessert plates, magic!
tricks
and fire. A new video work shot in an elevator in Malmö and a sound piece based on the hymn played by a medieval clock in the Lund Cathedral – In Dulci Jubilo – and the Swedish alphabet, also play important parts in this new piece.

Throughout her career Tanya Mars has consistently investigated the boundaries and expectations surrounding women’s lives, using the absurd or humorous as her point of departure. In the 1980’s she did a performance trilogy on the theme of women-and-power, titled Pure, where she embodied Queen Elisabeth I (Pure Virtue, 1984), the curvy Hollywood sex symbol Mae West (Pure Sin, 1986) and Alice in Wonderland (Pure Nonsense, 1987). But in Mars’ versions, the Virgin Queen breathes fire, Mae West reveals that she in fact is the real Snow White, but she drifted; and when Alice in Wonderland lifts her crinolines it turns out that she is wearing strap-on-dildo with the text ”Why does a Venus not have a penis?”

Tanya Mars (b. 1948 in the US) lives and works in Canada. She is a Senior Lecturer and Program Supervisor of the Visual and Performing Arts/Studio Department of Humanities at the University of Toronto Scarborough. In 1973 Tanya Mars was one of the founding members of Powerhouse Gallery (La Centrale) in Montreal, which was one of the first feminist art collectives; from 1976 to 1989 she was the editor for the art magazine Parallellogramme; she has been the President of the performance artist-run centre FADO; she is a member of 7a*11d Festival of Performance Art collective in Toronto and has also taught and given workshops at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. Together with the performance artist Johanna Householder she edited the book Caught in the Act: an Anthology of Performance Art by Canadian Women, 2005. In May of 2008 the first biography about her work will be published: From Ironic to Iconic ¬– The Performance Works of Tanya Mars, by Paul Couillard (publish!
ed in
the series ”Canadian Performance Art Legends”) and as well Mars has received a Canada Council grant for ‘International Artist in Residency’ in Paris in the fall of 2008.

Lilith Performance Studio is the first combined production space and arena for new performance in Europe. Swedish and international artists are invited to working periods of around one month to realize their dream project and present this new work to an audience. Since the start in January 2007 we have presented 30 artists from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, The Netherlands, The Philippines and Indonesia, in 11 solo productions and one performance festival. On our websiste you will find documentation films from all our productions, video interviews with all artists and a complete backlist from the Teater Lilith productions 2001-2006: www.lilithperformancestudio.com.

Lilith Performance Studio is supported by: Stiftelsen framtidens kultur, Malmö Kulturnämnd, Statens Kulturråd, Folkuniversitetet, Sparbanksstiftelsen Skåne and Kulturkontakt Nord. The studio collaborates with: Malmö Art Academy, Beckers färgservice, AV-SYD and Svanströms Repro AB.

Americas Society

Melvin Charney, Parable No. 22… Battery Park City Finally Starts, New York, 1974, 1994 - 1995 (detail), Collection Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec

Between Observation and Intervention:
The Painted photographs of Melvin Charney
May 1 - July 31, 2008

Guest Curator: Gwendolyn Owen

Americas Society
680 Park Avenue at 68th Street
New York, NY 10065
T: 212.249.8950

http://www.americas-society.org

New York, May 1st 2008, Americas Society will open a major exhibition on Melvin Charney, one of Canada’s foremost contemporary artists. Between Observation and Intervention: the Painted Photographs of Melvin Charney, organized in collaboration with the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, continues the Americas Society’s tradition of presenting timely and compelling exhibitions of contemporary artists from across the hemisphere to the New York public. This exhibition marks Melvin Charney’s first solo show in a New York Cultural Institution since his P.S.1 installation in 1979.

According to guest curator, Gwendolyn Owens: “Artist/architect Melvin Charney has focused his eye upon the city. The art resulting from his careful study includes photographs, sculpture, installations, monuments, and urban plans; among the most arresting works are his painted photographs in which bold images in pastel and paint are overlaid on printed mass media images”. These large scale layered works, which challenge our understanding of cities and their components, will be the focus of the exhibition at Americas Society

First begun in 1989, the painted photographs grew out of an ongoing project, Un Dictionnaire, for which the artist has—since 1970—been collecting images of buildings reproduced in newspapers, and then painting over them with semi-transparent gray wash and mounting them together to create a ever-expanding work of individual panels that focus on buildings and the ways in our society sees and
uses them.

Public Programs
The exhibition will be an occasion not only for the audience to get to know the work of one of Canada’s most celebrated artists, but also will provide an opportunity for challenging public discussions about the city in the 21st century. The free public programs will begin on Thursday, May 1 at 6:30 p.m. with a curatorial dialogue between the guest curator, Gwendolyn Owens, and Gabriela Rangel, Director of the Americas Society’s Visual Arts Department. The series continues on June 11 with a panel discussion about the city in the 21st century with Anthony Kiendl, (Director of Plug In ICA, Winnipeg), Carlos Brillembourg (Architecture Editor of Bomb magazine), Saul Ostrow (Chair, Visual Arts, The Cleveland Institute of Art) and Gwendolyn Owens; and on June 24 with another panel discussion held at Storefront for Art and Architecture featuring panelists Susan Herrington (University of British Columbia), Dan Graham (Artist), and Yasmeen Siddiqui (curator at Storefront), who wil
l examine the intersection of art and architecture, and discuss the development and transformation of public spaces and cities.

Americas Society gratefully acknowledges the following donors for their generous support:
Government of Canada, Consulate General of Canada, New York; Government of Québec, Québec Government Office in New York; Parnassus Foundation, courtesy of Jane & Raphael Bernstein; Power Corporation of Canada; and Rosamond Ivey. This exhibition is also made possible in part with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency. Additional support has been received from the Nicholas Metivier Gallery.

Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec gratefully acknowledges the following donors and partners for their generous support: American Apparel Canada; Gluskin Sheff + Associates Inc.; Webster Foundation, and anonymous donors; Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Canada; and Canada Council for the Arts.

The Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec is a government corporation funded by theministère de la Culture, des Communications et de la Condition féminine du Québec.

Melvin Charney would also like to thank the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec for their support.

The listed event is free, open to the public and will take place at Americas Society.
We are located at 680 Park Avenue at 68th Street, in New York City.
For wheelchair access, kindly call in advance.
Reservations are mandatory, so please RSVP to: (212) 277-8359 or
culture@americas-society.org

For more information, visit http://www.americas-society.org . If you have questions or comments, please email us at culture@americas-society.org