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Gwangju Biennale

Joachim Schoenfeldt
Four Musicians (moo, roar, chee-ow, yeeeoh), 2008 (detail of installation view, Gwangju Biennale Hall). Taxidermied animals, original composition for four musicians, pedestal. Courtesy the artist and Gallery AOP, Johannesburg Photograph: James Merle Thomas.

The 7th Gwangju Biennale
Annual Report: A Year in Exhibitions
September 5 - November 9, 2008

http://www.gb.or.kr

Duration: September 5 - November 9, 2008
Artistic Director: Okwui Enwezor
Co-Curators: Hyunjin Kim, Ranjit Hoskote
Position Papers Curators: Patrick D. Flores, Jang Un Kim,
Abdellah Karroum, Sung-Hyen Park, Claire Tancons
Venues: Biennale Hall,Gwangju Museum of Art,
Uijae Museum of Korean Art, Cinema Gwangju, Daein Traditional Market
Wednesday, September 3, 2008: Professional Preview
Thursday, September 4, 2008: Press Conference
Friday, September 5, 2008: Opening Ceremonies & Exhibition Tour,
SPRING Procession and performance

The Gwangju Biennale Foundation is pleased to announce that after over a year of intense planning and preparation, the 7th Gwangju Biennale will open to the public on September 5th, 2008. Under the artistic direction of Okwui Enwezor, Annual Report: A Year in Exhibitions is a report on the distribution system of artistic and cultural forms and a reflection on the intermediary gap between artists, producers, practitioners, and audiences. Consisting of 127 artists from 36 countries, Annual Report is developed around three principal components: On the Road, a series of exhibitions from 2007 and 2008; Position Papers, a series of curatorial proposals and experiments by curators working in Southeast Asia, North Africa, South Korea, and the United States; and Insertions, a series of new and independent projects, either commissioned specifically for the biennale or invited as proposals into the exhibition framework. Rather than forming a singular itinerary or declaration, these thre
e components assemble a wide array of artistic practices and forms of aesthetic and cultural production; resulting in a statement of collective authorship.

Accompanying Programs
The exhibition and the accompanying programs also reflect the Gwangju Biennale’s global commitment to various forms of cultural production. The Global Institute, held in collaboration with the Korean National University of Arts, Seoul; Chonnam National University, Gwangju; the San Francisco Art Institute; and the Royal College of Art, London, consists of the programs Open Studio and Arenas and Systems, organized into a series of workshops and clinics beginning in mid-August.

Also, a series of plenary sessions based in Seoul and Beijing, China, collectively entitled Formations of Global Civil Society and Domains of Public Culture will be held this fall; and an international symposium and an associated two-day seminar entitled The Politics of Spectacle and the Global Exhibition will take place in Gwangju from September 24 to September 27.

From September 1 through September 9, RADIO APARTMENT 22: GWANGJU 2008 will broadcast a variety of live and recorded programs including interviews, discussions, expeditions, music, sound works, and field recordings from Gwangju Biennale, its participants, and the surrounding environment. Founded by Abdellah Karroum in 2007, RADIO APARTMENT 22 is Morocco’s first exclusively art and culture radio station. R22: GWANGJU 2008 invites artists, curators, art historians, students, and other visitors who will be in Gwangju to join R22 during its week of on-site programming.

Publications
A 500 page bilingual catalog containing over 400 color illustrations has been produced as part of the 7th Gwangju Biennale. Annual Report: A Year in Exhibitions features original texts by the curatorial team, including essays by Okwui Enwezor, Ranjit Hoskote, Hyunjin Kim, Patrick D. Flores, Abdellah Karroum, Jang Un Kim, Sung Hyen Park, and Claire Tancons. The catalog is a joint publication from the Gwangju Biennale Foundation and BOM (Books on the Move), is designed by BASE Design (www.basedesign.com) and will be distributed via Actar-D.

In addition, a full color, 110-page exhibition guide will be published. This book contains concise information about each artist, exhibition sites and venues, as well as various projects that comprise the Biennale.

For detailed information on the biennale and the programs please visit the website: http://www.gb.or.kr

For press information please contact:

Jin-Kyung Jeong
PR & Business Department, The Gwangju Biennale Foundation
Biennale 2-gil Buk-gu Gwangju, South Korea
Tel +82 62 608 4264 / Fax +82 62 608 4269
1212jjk@gb.or.kr

CCA Wattis Institute
for Contemporary Arts

Bruce Conner
Valse Triste (still), 1977
Courtesy Michael Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles.

The Wizard of Oz
September 2 - December 13, 2008

CCA Wattis Institute
for Contemporary Arts
California College of the Arts
1111 Eighth Street
San Francisco CA 94107
T: 415.551.9210
http://www.wattis.org

Robert Bechtle, Jennifer Bornstein, Ulla von Brandenburg, Bruce Conner, Walker Evans, Simryn Gill, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Loris Gréaud, Joseph Grigely, Carsten Höller, Evan Holloway, Glenn Ligon, Steve McQueen, Gareth Moore, Rivane Neuenschwander, Raymond Pettibon, Clare Rojas, Harry Smith, Donald Urquhart, Andy Warhol, Cerith Wyn Evans

Curated by Jens Hoffmann

The Wizard of Oz translates the narrative of L. Frank Baum’s famous book into the narrative of an exhibition. It features sculpture, film, video, painting, drawing, and photography by 22 international artists, several of whom are contributing new pieces specially conceived for the show; others are represented by existing artworks related to one of the book’s key themes. A number of cultural artifacts, inspired either by the novel or by the famous 1939 film, create a framework for the visitor’s journey. This is the second in a series of exhibitions by curator Jens Hoffmann that take a written narrative as their point of departure (the first was Around the World in Eighty Days [2006]).

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz has become one of the most beloved stories in popular culture. Written in 1900, it captured a moment in American history when society was rapidly changing, due in part to industrial, sociopolitical, and technological developments as well as increased expansion toward the West. Some of the themes that it touches upon—the realities of childhood, rural life, poverty, displacement, and migration as well as the more intangible, but nonetheless powerful, ideas of security, friendship, and dreams—continue to have resonance with the way that we experience the world and approach the idea of America itself.

Designed by Jon Sueda / Stripe, the 76-page exhibition catalog is inspired by the first edition of Baum’s novel. It includes a full-color plate section (including photographs of the new commissions), a text on each participating artist, and critical essays by Jens Hoffmann (curator and director of the Wattis Institute) and Rebecca Loncraine (writer and Baum biographer).

About the CCA Wattis Institute
The Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts was established in 1998 in San Francisco at California College of the Arts. It serves as a forum for the presentation and discussion of international contemporary art and curatorial practice. Through groundbreaking exhibitions, the Capp Street Project residency program, lectures, symposia, and publications, the Wattis Institute has become one of the leading art institutions in the United States and an active site for contemporary culture in the Bay Area.

Lead sponsorship for The Wizard of Oz is provided by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

Founding support for CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts programs has been provided by Phyllis C. Wattis and Judy and Bill Timken. Generous support provided by the Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation, Grants for the Arts / San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund, Ann Hatch and Paul Discoe, and the CCA Curator’s Forum.

CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts
Kent and Vicki Logan Galleries
California College of the Arts
1111 Eighth Street
San Francisco CA 94107
T: 415.551.9210
http://www.wattis.org

Ray Smith surrealist painting, 2 29 am

A fresh museum concept is the interactive museum; one that is found in science museums but not often in the art world.

Lux Art Institute, located in Encinitas, Calif., opened its doors to the public in November 2007 and is redefining the modern museum experience with its artist-in-residence program. Artists live and work on site, while producing a commissioned work of art. This one-of-a-kind institution invites visitors to not only “see art,” but also to “see art happen.”

Internationally recognized painter and sculptor Ray Smith, known for his vivid and surrealistic images, will be the first artist-in-residence of the 08/09 season.

From September 12 - 27, Smith will be in residence at Lux and create a 6 ft. x 13 ft. oil painting on canvas from start to finish. Visitors can “see art happen” while he is in the studio and view his completed work through November 1, 2008.

Smith’s work is highly figurative, often featuring dogs and other animals as anthropomorphic beings that hint at aspects of human nature. He bends, twists, and transplants his imagery, creating dreamlike distortions and juxtapositions.

His exhibit at Lux will include paintings imbued with a sense of his Mexican-American heritage. “From his roots in the new expressionism of the 1980s to his surreal vision of clock portraits, Ray Smith is a captivating artist to open Lux’s second season,” said Lux Director Reesey Shaw. “With a foot in Mexican culture, inherited from his mother’s family, to his father’s family’s ranch in Texas, Smith’s influences and experiences have resonance in San Diego as a border town with a bi-national culture. It’s a thrill to welcome him to Lux.”

Smith was born in Brownsville, Texas in 1959, on lands that his family had settled in the early 19th century. He studied fresco painting with traditional craftsmen in Mexico, attended art academies in Mexico and the United States, and settled in Mexico City. Since 1985, he has divided his time between New York and Cuernavaca, Mexico.

Lux Hours: Thursday and Friday, 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. $10 for two visits. For more information about Lux Art Institute, please visit www.luxartinstitute.org or call 760.436.6611

Americas Society

Carlos Cruz-Diez,
Maze of Chromosaturation and Chromatic Walkway, 1969. Public Intervention, Odeón Métro Station, Paris. Image courtesy of the Atelier Cruz-Diez, Paris.

Carlos Cruz-Diez:
(In)formed by Color
September 10 - December 13, 2008

Guest Curator: Estrellita B. Brodsky,
Assistant Curator: Isabela Villanueva
Americas Society
680 Park Avenue at 68th Street
New York, NY 10065
T: 212.249.8950
http://www.americas-society.org

Americas Society will present Carlos Cruz-Diez’s first solo show in a major United States cultural institution. Focusing on the relationship between color and perception, the exhibition seeks to correct the limited understanding and visibility of Cruz-Diez, one of Latin America’s Kinetic art masters.

(In) formed by Color: Carlos Cruz-Diez will feature Cromosaturación, a site-specific environment designed by the artist for the Americas Society’s gallery. Initially conceived of in 1965, this groundbreaking artwork consists of three separate light-infused color chambers of red, green and blue. The real content of the work is the visitor’s experience of walking through the shifting chromatic space and interacting over time to his or her own physical movement. In addition to the Cromosaturación, the exhibition will include 20 of Cruz-Diez’ early Fisicromías, a series of changeable chromatic structures that he initiated in 1959. These offer insight into the thinking process behind the artist’s exploration of the liberating, participatory experience of color projected into space. The Fisicromías illustrate Cruz-Diez’s dynamic chromatic experimentation in which he used parallel strips of raised cardboard or wood on striped backgrounds to demonstrate the effects of additive co
lor. The artist’s continued exploration of the additive and reflective effects of shifting compositions culminates in the 1970 large-scale wall piece presented at the Venezuelan pavilion for the XXV Venice Biennale, Physicromie no. 500 (1970). In all these works different material elements and color schemes combine to produce a variable sensation depending on the spectator’s position and the angle at which the light—natural or artificial—of the environment is reflected.

In contrast to well known artists such as Mark Rothko, Barnett Newmann, and James Turrell, who offered color as a contemplative experience, Cruz-Diez demands the viewer’s involvement through color as an autonomous, constantly shifting spatial event. Barely known in the United States, Cruz-Diez is considered a pioneer in the use of color as a participatory tool as well as a visionary who pushed the boundaries of art towards everyday life.

A fully illustrated publication will accompany the exhibition, including contributions by Alexander Alberro, Nuit Banai, Mariela Brazon, Estrellita Brodsky, Gabriela Rangel, and Isabela Villanueva. The catalogue will be available in November 2008.

The exhibition will be an occasion not only for the audience to get to know the work of one of Venezuela’s most celebrated artists, but also will provide an opportunity for challenging public discussions about Kinetic and participatory art. The following free public programs will accompany the exhibition:

• Conversation with the artist
Wednesday September 10, 6:30 p.m.
Moderator: Gabriela Rangel (Director, Visual Arts Americas Society)
Speakers: Carlos Brillembourg (Architect), Carlos Cruz-Diez (Artist), Estrellita Brodsky (Guest Curator), Tahia Rivero (Curator, Colección Mercantil), Isabela Villanueva (Assistant Curator).

• New Mythologies: Color as a Participatory Tool
Thursday October 2, 6:30 p.m.
Moderator: Edward Sullivan (Dean of Humanities, New York University)
Speakers: Tanya Barson (Curator, Tate Modern), Estrellita Brodsky (Guest Curator), Ariel Jiménez (Curator, Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros), Arnauld Pierre (Art Historian).

• Perceptual Transformations
Tuesday October 14, 6:30 p.m.
Moderator: Edward Sullivan (Dean of Humanities, New York University)
Speakers: Nuit Banai (Art Historian), Marisa Carrasco (Chair of Psychology, New York University), Pedro Reyes (Artist).

Americas Society gratefully acknowledges the following donors for their generous support of the exhibition, Carlos Cruz-Diez: (In)formed by Color, and related public programs: Rockefeller Brothers Fund; Luis Alfonso and Maria Graciela Oberto; Mercantil; Stelac Foundation; New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency; Luis Benshimol; Clarissa Alcock Bronfman; Chevron; Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros; Fundación Eugenio Mendoza; Leonor Giménez Pocaterra de Mendoza; Sotheby’s; Alberto Vollmer Foundation; New York City Department of Cultural Affairs; Venezuelan American Endowment for the Arts; PINTA Art, LLC; and Tiqui Atencio Demirdjian.

The listed events are 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.
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

Smadar Dreyfus: Mother’s Day

13 September – 8 November 2008
Opening Friday 12 September

Mother’s Day by Smadar Dreyfus (1963 Tel Aviv, lives and works in London) originates at the Israeli-Syrian ceasefire line in the Golan Heights, across which the local Druze community has been geographically separated for several decades in the absence of a peace agreement. At the heart of this audiovisual installation are sound recordings of dialogues on the annual Syrian ‘Mother’s day’ celebration, between mothers on the Israeli-controlled side of the ceasefire line and their student daughters and sons who arrived from Damascus to what is known as the ‘Shouting Hill’ on the Syrian side. Exchanging greetings via a sound system set up for the occasion, these voices enact an imposed boundary, striving for intimacy across the geography of the valley.

Extra City
centrum voor hedendaagse kunst

Tulpstraat 79, BE-2060 Antwerpen
tel/fax +32 (0)3 677 1655 | info@extracity.org | http://www.extracity.org

Swiss Institute

JORDAN WOLFSON
untitled false document
Sep 10 - Oct 25

Opening Reception:
Sep 9 2008, 6-8PM

Swiss Institute / Contemporary Art
495 Broadway / 3 RD Floor
New York / NY 10012

http://www.swissinstitute.net

Swiss Institute is pleased to present the first New York solo exhibition of Jordan Wolfson. The newly commissioned film project, untitled false document, encompasses the entire exhibition space.

On the occasion of the exhibition, an illustrated catalogue will be published with contributions by Maxwell Graham, Beatrix Ruf, and Philippe Vergne, edited by Max Andrews / Latitudes

Curated by Gianni Jetzer

Also on view, in Studio 495, is Greg Parma Smith: Adult Learning
Curated by Piper Marshall

SI programming is supported, in part, by funds from Pro Helvetia – the Swiss Arts Council and by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

untitled false document is made possible in part with funds from The Greenwall Foundation, and public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts and Manhattan Community Arts Fund, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and administered by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

Swiss Institute / Contemporary Art
495 Broadway / 3 RD Floor
New York / NY 10012
http://www.swissinstitute.net