Tour around Ghent: TRACK, Sint-Jan and "Esta puerta pide clavo" at Galerie Tatjana Pieters
Fri, Jun 22 2012
Described as "a contemporary city conversation" and "a unique art experience in the city of Ghent", TRACK enjoys the participation of around 40 artists that present (more or less) site specific works in/around the Belgium city, organised in several 'clusters' (Tondelier, Tolhuis, Macharius, Centrum, Blandijn and Citadel).
TRACK was initiated by the S.M.A.K. (it is curated by its artistic director, Philippe Van Cauteren and Mirjam Varadinis, curator at Kunsthaus Zürich) with the aim of continuing the tradition of two exhibition projects also organised by S.M.A.K.: the seminal Chambres d’Amis (curated by Jan Hoet in 1986), a show that exhibited art private houses around Ghent, and Over the Edges (2000, curated by Jan Hoet and Giacinto Di Pietrantonio), which took the idea of the corner as a starting point, or as the curators put it "the boundary between interior and exterior, between indoors and outdoors, between private and public".
Nearby Pilvi Takala's work was the video work by Swiss artists Christina Hemauer & Roman Keller, which we sadly missed as TRACK sites are closed on Mondays. Keller & Hemauer talk about 'The Postpetrolistic Internationale' choir piece here.
Their work began back in 2009 in Basel and has had iterations in Rotterdam (Latitudes' project 'Portscapes') and a year later in Aarhus, Denmark, where the piece was part of Hemauer/Keller's solo show "United Alternative Energies" (also curated by Latitudes). 'The Postpetrolistic Internationale' will be part of the group exhibition 'Ballena Negra' in late 2012 in MARCO Vigo, as part of the 10 year anniversary of the Prestige oil spill.
Lara Almarcegui's 700m3 "Concrete Mountain" in the Tondelier cluster.
The artist speaks about her work in this video.
Pascale Marthine-Tayou, "Le défi" (2012).
[from the website] "On 16 August 2009 the Jamaican Usain Bolt took the world record for the
10-metre sprint to an unreal 9.58 seconds. In 2012 Pascale Marthine
Tayou has laid out a single-lane athletics track in the heart of the
Tondelier district. Until the 1960s, this part of Ghent had been full of
working industries. Although most of the factories have since been
demolished or put to new use, one can even now still read the history of
this neighbourhood in its eroded urban skin. Pascale Marthine Tayou’s "Le défi" is a red gravel track that comes to a dead end at a wall. It is
clear how the work is to be read and used, but the consequences are
ambiguous. Le défi will not be recognised as an artwork by most of the
local residents. It is a playful but meditative reflection on the
significance of sport, the acceptance of a challenge and the generation
of social change and emancipation. In this way, Pascale Marthine Tayou
has created ‘an image’ of both the global, Olympic heroism of a world
record and the minor hitches facing every individual."
Teresa Margolles' Mesa y dos bancos (Table and Two Benches), 2012 in the Tondelier cluster.
"For TRACK [Margolles] had a public picnic bench cast in cement. She mixes this neutral substance with the water extracted from cloths that had been used to clean up the blood of victims of the Mexican drug war from the streets."
[from the website] "‘Search and Destroy’ is not only the title of a hit by the 70s nihilistic American punk band The Stooges, but also a military strategy first employed in the Vietnam War. To Garabedian, this phrase refers to the way the history of a place is handled and the way a fracture in the past continues to torment the present."
"The starting point for [his multi-part work] ‘Spectres’ is the murder of Patrice Lumumba a few
months after his election victory in the Congo in 1960. For TRACK,
Augustijnen sought in vain for the tree against which Lumumba was shot.
It had probably been chopped down to make charcoal. In the Citadel Park,
Augustijnen sets up an installation in which this charcoal – an
indispensable source of income but also a symbolic remnant of the tree –
is transported by bicycle, a ‘typically’ Congolese means of conveyance.
Augustijnen deliberately located this installation near the ‘Moorken’.
This small black sculpture on top of artificial rocks in the Citadel
Park dates from 1888 and is a reminder of the time when the Congo was
still Leopold II’s private pleasure garden. The ‘Moorken’ portrays the
Congolese boy Sakala, whom the pioneer Lieven Van de Velde brought back
to Belgium in 1884."
'Esta puerta pide clavo' (2 June–19 August 2012), is a group show curated by Rivet (Manuela Moscoso & Sarah Demeuse) with the participation of: Philippe van Snick, Lorea Alfaro, Rey Akdogan, June Crespo, Rubén Grilo, David Jablonowski, Lisa Oppenheim, Kiko Pérez, Asaha Schechter, Daniel Steegman-Magrané and Batia Suter.
[From the press release]
"Based on an idiom that literally translates as 'This door asks for a nail,' Esta puerta pide clavo not only highlights an economy of means that informed the making of the selected works but also emphasizes the equipment-like agency of matter over and above hermeneutics. One strand of "Esta puerta pide clavo" veers towards abstraction, possibly echoing a common language of design as well as artistic actions from the 20th-century."
[From the press release]
"Based on an idiom that literally translates as 'This door asks for a nail,' Esta puerta pide clavo not only highlights an economy of means that informed the making of the selected works but also emphasizes the equipment-like agency of matter over and above hermeneutics. One strand of "Esta puerta pide clavo" veers towards abstraction, possibly echoing a common language of design as well as artistic actions from the 20th-century."
(...) "David Jablonowski's sculptures [photo above and below] awkwardly materialize and juxtapose processes of scanning with generic computer visualization, digitized archival imagery as well as what look like casts spat out by 3-D printers."
"Equally focused on intermediary material components and backgrounds in the process of photography, Lisa Oppenheim's unique photograms resemble digitally designed patterns while being the repositories of a darkroom interpretation of Victorian flower arrangements."
"The other strand insists on specificity of materials and imagery. June Crespo's precise scans provide the source material for layered sculptures that force the object-image into three-dimensionality and volume."
Lambda print on PVC, metal rivets, plastic and spray, textile. 100x70cm.
"Philippe van
Snick's Kleurmachine, though made in the 1970s, foreshadows a similar
language of generic abstraction. (...) Van Snick's photography simultaneously fuses object and processed
image, similarly collapsing two- and three-dimensionality."
Catedral of Sint–Jan in the center of Ghent.
Jan Hoet and Hans Martens curated Sint–Jan (until 29 July 2012), an exhibition running paralel to TRACK,
in which 51 artists present their work around spirituality and religion
at the Saint-Bavo's Cathedral in the center of Ghent. The artist list
includes Kris Martin, Navid Nuur, Michaël Boremans, Abdel Abdessemed,
Berlinde De Bruyckere, Bruce Nauman, David Adamo, Luciano Fabro, Mandla
Reuter, Marlene Dumas, Wim Delvoye…
Mandla Reuter (on the wall, a Rubens).
David Adamo in one of the side chapels.
Adel Abdessemed (in the crypt)
Luciano Fabro (in the crypt)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
All photos: Latitudes | www.lttds.org
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
'Sad Eis' by Sarah Ortmeyer in Meessen de Clercq and "Force Justify (Part 2)" by Lucy Skaer at Tulips & Roses, Brussels
Thu, Jun 21 2012
'Sad Eis' (Sad Ice), Sarah Ortmeyer's first solo show in Meessen de Clercq (1 June–14 July 2012) is "an exhibition on ritualized happiness" as described in the exhibition guide.
During the opening night, the artist treated guests to liquorice, fennel and wasabi ice cream as well as cocktails made of Riesling wine with lavender ice cream.
View of 'LASSO LADEN' - An abandoned ice cream parlor.
Eighteen silver, black and wooden ice cream parlor stools, one silver chair and two golden locks.
View of the installation 'SAD EIS' - Monolithic ice cream displays that look like sad, chubby teenagers.
Five ice cream cones painted in Signal White, Silk Grey, Traffic Grey A,
Traffic Grey B, Dusty Grey, Telegrey 4 and Platinum Grey.
147 x 60 x 60 cm each cone.
Five ice cream cones painted in Signal White, Silk Grey, Traffic Grey A,
Traffic Grey B, Dusty Grey, Telegrey 4 and Platinum Grey.
147 x 60 x 60 cm each cone.
View of the installation of MILLI VANILLI
Formally virginally white towels covered in sweet sauce.
Organic ice cream on towel: Vanilla, Strawberry, Rasperry, Currant, Pistacchio and Mango.
MARRY ME ME - Wedding cake stands as bland and grey as an anti-rainbow.
Wedding cake stands of 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7 storages.
Dimensions variable.
Wedding cake stands of 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7 storages.
Dimensions variable.
BOW BOUQUET - A bouquet composed of cones and exotic silk, a reminiscent of Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love’s pajama wedding.
Flowers: Purple and rosé orchids
Cones: Cono Fiore, Cono Pralinex Cocco, Cono Pralinex Bianco Grande,
Cono Pralinex Nero Grande, Big Fun, Maxi Cone and Trottole.
circa 170 x 100 cm.
Flowers: Purple and rosé orchids
Cones: Cono Fiore, Cono Pralinex Cocco, Cono Pralinex Bianco Grande,
Cono Pralinex Nero Grande, Big Fun, Maxi Cone and Trottole.
circa 170 x 100 cm.
LA FIN - An ice cream parlor left behind with four bar tables and one tabletop.
One tabletop and four ice cream parlor bar tables.
Dimensions variable.
One tabletop and four ice cream parlor bar tables.
Dimensions variable.
KISS KUSS - A room filled with aniconic carpets and tender, empty kisses.
Carpets of different colours: grey, anthracite, beige, eggshell white.
Dimensions variable.
Carpets of different colours: grey, anthracite, beige, eggshell white.
Dimensions variable.
In the Wunderkammer space: 'PETER WEISS' - A white, damp, fresh and heartbreakingly canny laundry room.
Thirty-one washed towels.
Thirty-one washed towels.
Ortmeyer was one of the five artists that participated in Latitudes' exhibition 'Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes & des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne' that took place between February and April 2011, also at Meessen de Clercq.
Abdijstraat 2A / Rue de l'Abbaye
B-1000 Brussels
BELGIUM
Lucy Skaer's solo show 'Force Justify (Part 2)' (24 May–16 June 2012) at Tulips & Roses:
[From the press sheet]
The ship of fools is an archetype based on the Narrenschiff by Sebastian Brandt, a medieval book in which a ship full of fools set sai to a fools utopia Narragonia.
Starting from a woodcut illustration from the book, I have made a work that inhabits and performs the allegory. (...) First the image was carved in to the floor of the K21 museum in Düsseldorf, and a large print was made from it. The floor was then lifted and moved, rearranged and reprinted in a scrambled form. The original ballast from the Düsseldorf ship was transformed from its shape as copies of Brancusi's Newborn sculptures to instead match the tile shapes from the floor of Tulips & Roses.
This "second part of 'Force Justify' the tile pattern was again replicated in a series of woven sails, rigged up in the space giving a thwarted ability to move forward. This absurdist sense of agency is typical of the project, a series of misuses of objects and ideas to make immediately appealing stop gaps."
The ship of fools is an archetype based on the Narrenschiff by Sebastian Brandt, a medieval book in which a ship full of fools set sai to a fools utopia Narragonia.
Starting from a woodcut illustration from the book, I have made a work that inhabits and performs the allegory. (...) First the image was carved in to the floor of the K21 museum in Düsseldorf, and a large print was made from it. The floor was then lifted and moved, rearranged and reprinted in a scrambled form. The original ballast from the Düsseldorf ship was transformed from its shape as copies of Brancusi's Newborn sculptures to instead match the tile shapes from the floor of Tulips & Roses.
This "second part of 'Force Justify' the tile pattern was again replicated in a series of woven sails, rigged up in the space giving a thwarted ability to move forward. This absurdist sense of agency is typical of the project, a series of misuses of objects and ideas to make immediately appealing stop gaps."
The Good Ship Blank and Ballast (Force Justified), 2010-2012
Woven fabric, Re-cast Aluminium (Dimensions variable)
Woven fabric, Re-cast Aluminium (Dimensions variable)
(...) The sculptures were made out of 98 aluminium copies of Brancusi's Newborn
sculpture. These copies were melted down and recast to fit the ornament
of the gallery's floor. The notion of 'ballast' implies something that
is shaped entirely by its function - simply being dumb weight - without
any necessity of representational qualities.
Liquidity in the Mind of the Fool, 2012
Glass, Enamel on copper, Tin, Bronze, Fossils, Shells, Coins, Books (Dimensions variable).
Glass, Enamel on copper, Tin, Bronze, Fossils, Shells, Coins, Books (Dimensions variable).
"Liquidity in the Mind of the Fool contains small Brancusi's Newborn
sculptures now tumbled and submerged in melted glass or enveloped in
Tin. Visible through a melted red glass panel is the original image of
the woodcut, now transformed in to a specially printed secure bank note.
One of the sculptures is made up of badly minted coins, which present a
balance between material and symbolic, with the validating stamp
sliding from the face of the metal disc."
See images of Skaer's 'Force Justify (Part 1)', also at Tulips & Roses.
19, rue de la Clé
1000 – Brussels
1000 – Brussels
BELGIUM
Images 1–9: Courtesy of Sarah Ortmeyer and Meessen de Clercq.
Images 10–13: Courtesy of Lucy Skaer and Tulips & Roses, Brussels.
All photos: Latitudes | www.lttds.org
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
2 June 2012: Book launch and exploration of former Amikejo
Mon, Jun 18 2012
On June 2, after having visited Manifesta 9, we took the route towards the Belgian city of Kelmis-La Calamine, nearby the German and Dutch border, where we planned to launch the 'Amikejo' publication (Mousse Publishing, 2012) later that day.
Entrance to Kelmis-La Calamine. Trying to match today with the archive material included in the publication.
"The International Office for Travelling Merchants (‘Senpaga Internacia Oficejo por Komerco-Vojagxistoj’) was located in the Bergerhoff Hotel." (Hotel Bergerhoff was located on Luikerstraat, formerly Hasardstraat, in the place which today accommodates the ‘Select’ Café in Kelmis.)" in Ryszard Żelichowski, "Neutral Moresnet and Amikejo – The Forgotten Children of the Congress of Vienna", one of the texts in 'Amikejo' (Mousse Publishing, 2012. Edited by Latitudes).
"There were as many as 135 registered Esperantists in a population then numbering four thousand. The Esperantists enjoyed the right to have two free Esperanto lessons in a primary school on Kerkstraat, which was a present to the city from the Vieille Montagne mining company. [Mr Charles] Schriever gave four lessons of Esperanto a week for children in his house on Kapelstraat, where there was a book shop with literature in Esperanto. The house also functioned as an office for the local Esperanto group and the venue for its meetings. The Esperantists’ guest houses were marked with a green star on their facades and the caption ‘Esperanta Gasttablo’; some of them survive to this day.
What is now Park Hotel in Kelmis, built in 1843, was once the Vieille Montagne Director’s villa. Situated in a beautiful private park and with a huge ball-room, it was presented to the Esperantists by Charles Timmerhaus, the penultimate Director of the company, in 1907." in Ryszard Żelichowski, "Neutral Moresnet and Amikejo – The Forgotten Children of the Congress of Vienna", one of the texts in 'Amikejo' (Mousse Publishing, 2012. Edited by Latitudes).
Finding our way around Kelmis-La Calamine.
Welcome to Kelmis–La Calamine.
Façade of the Geuldalmuseum, Göhltalmuseum or Musée de la Vallée de la Gueule (how confusing) on Maxst. 9, Kelmis/Neu-Moresnet, Belgium. Info here. A copy of the publication 'Amikejo' (Mousse Publishing, 2012. Edited by Latitudes) was donated to the museum's archive on our visit.
Detail of the topological map of the area. In red the Drielandenpunt, towards Aachen, where we'd be going after visiting the museum.
Map of the triangular-shapped territory of Neutral Moresnet (Amikejo) in yellow and green.
First floor: Introduction to Neutral Moresnet, the first Esperanto state. Those who spoke Esperanto wore a green star (verda stelo). In the picture avid Esperantists Dr. Wilhelm Molly and french professor Gustave Roy, who in 1908 founded the first esperanto state (Amikejo, place of friendship in Esperanto) in Neutral-Moresnet. Summary of its history here.
Wonderful panels explaining the history of Amikejo, its streets,
founders, borders, flag, postcards, maps, stamps, coins, certificates, letters, lyrics of the anthem, coat of arms...
One of the original border markers.
Views of Kelmis–La Calamine and its surroundings.
Flora and fauna of the mining area.
Driving towards Vaals and the Drielandenpunt and going under the viaduct.
Arrived. "The Vaalserberg is also the location of the tripoint between Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands and its summit is therefore referred to as Drielandenpunt ("Three-Country Point") in Dutch, or Dreiländereck ("Three-Country Corner") in German, or Trois Frontières ("Three Borders") in French." (from Wikipedia).
A small mention of Neutral Moresnet (1815–1919, which in 1908 changed its name to Amikejo). Between this period, the location was a quadripoint, bordering also Neutral Moresnet. See progress of the borders here.
Vaalserberg ("Mount Vaals") is 322.7 metres hill and the highest point in the European part of the Netherlands. It used to be like this.
Visitors reading about the drienlandenpunt's history and geographical situation.
Tower from where one can observe Germany, The
Netherlands and Belgium from on high.
The 'Amikejo' book resting on the Drielandenpunt (the apex of the triangle-shaped borders of what was Amikejo). The green lines mark the borders of Germany (whole top), The
Netherlands (triangle to the left) and Belgium (to the right).
All images: Latitudes | www.lttds.org
Manifesta 9, "The Deep of the Modern", Genk, Belgium, 2 June – 30 September 2012 in pictures and seen by the critics
Tue, Jun 12 2012
Façade of the Waterschei industrial complex of the former coal mine in Genk where Manifesta 9 takes place.
Extra materials:
In her prologue Manifesta founding director Hedwig Fijen, defines the difference and the strength of the current incarnation of the European biennial: "'The Deep of the Modern'" is the first Manifesta biennial to intentionally leave behind its strictly contemporary origins as the basis of its exhibition model. As an uncompromising European contemporary art event, Manifesta 9 distances itself from the much-hyped model of showcasing only the latest artistic production by emerging talent, typical of these mega-shows. Instead it embarks on a critical attemps to foster interdisciplinary and intergenerational dialogue between the history of the site and the sometimes overlooked memories of the mining communities."
The introduction of an art historical perspective into the project has been a way to appeal to a more diverse audience, as Cuauhtémoc Medina, Chief Curator of Manifesta 9, has noted in his introductory essay: "our hope is that the long historical perspective will attact a local audience in a region that has not customarily been a consumer of contemporary art, along with a number of scholars and the descendants of the miners that built the region."
Art Agenda's review by writer and Co-Director of Tulips & Roses gallery in Brussels, Jonas Žakaitis provides the backstory:
"Genk is a town built for the sole purpose of getting the black stuff out of the ground. Early in the last century, after geologist André Dumont discovered significant amounts of coal lurking in the area, something like 60,000 people moved in from various parts of the world to work in and around the pits, building several large-scale mining complexes with the town's modest amenities sprinkled around them. When heavy industry glaciers started moving out of Western Europe in the 1980s, Genk was left with a large useless hole right in the gut. The remaining fraction of the Waterschei mine (23,000 sq. m of it) is an involuntary witness to this process of de-industrialization, a derelict but beautiful and proud building. After Manifesta 9, or so it tells me in the press pack, it "will be redeveloped as part of a master plan to create Thor park (is this name a jolly wink to the Germanic god of thunder, I wonder), a business and science complex focusing on innovation and knowledge."
Stairs connecting the first and second floor of the Waterschei.
Kate Sutton's Artforum.com review also framed the loaded context: "Chief curator Cuauhtémoc Medina, together with co-curators Katerina Gregos and Dawn Ades, selected the Belgian province of Limburg, “a mini European Union” also known as “Euregio-Meuse-Rhine.” The region has spent much of this century heavily dependent on coal production, but, with the last mine closing in 1992, Limburg is now eager to transition to new technology. Once a kind of Emerald City for coal miners, the garden city of Genk provides the ideal venue with its massive, Art Deco–style André Dumont mine."
Top floor of the Waterschei building.
As Javier Hontoria noted in his El Cultural review, Medina wanted to concentrate everything in the Waterschei, "favoring the concept of "exhibition" versus the "festival", and consequently emphasizing the metaphor of the vertical versus the horizontal to the light of new economic systems." (...) "The idea of strata" – he continues – "so tied to the world of mining, backbones the sense of the exhibition, which, under the title "The Deep of the Modern", unfolds in a concise and accurate way throughout the three levels of the building."
As explained in the press kit, 'The Deep of the Modern' begins with '17 Tons' "an exploration of the cultural
production that has been powered by the energy of memory that courses
through the diverse heirs of coal mining in the Campine region of
Limburg, as well as several other regions in Europe".
Models of the Underground from the 1950s, 3D representations used to teach 14–17 year old boys mining techniques and location of the coal layers.
Works by Manuel Durán (an 82 yeard old self-taught artist and former miner for 19 years) who has been making "Miners' heads" sculptures since the 1950s out of potato pulp, coal, salt and paint.
Lara Almarcegui, "Wasteland (Genk), 2004–16. More than 1 hectare of wasteland in public space." For the project, Almarcegui identified a neglected plot of land and scouted, surveyed and described the land. "Through negotiations iwth the City of Genk, Almarcegui arranged to protect the terrain from development for ten years (...). For Manifesta 9, the City of Genk agreed to extend the work for an additional two years and is currently in the planning stages of protecting it in perpetuity." (text by Steven Op de Beeck included in Manifesta 9 manual "The Deep of the Modern – A subcyclopaedia", Silvana Editoriale). Latitudes' visited the site back in 2007 (see blog here).
Continuing on the second floor we encounter 'The Age of Coal': "An art historical exhibition comprising
artworks from 1800 to the early 21st century about the history of art
production aesthetically related to the industrial era" (...) "organized into several thematic
sections with artworks in which coal played an important role. Coal as
the main fuel of industry, as a major factor of environmental change, as
a fossil with significant consequences in the field of natural science,
as the main referent of certain forms of working class culture and as a
material symbolic of the experience of modern life".
One of the three works by Marcel Broodthaers, "Trois tas de charbon", 1966-67.
David Hammons, "Chasing the Blue Train" (1989) "focuses on the powerpul metaphor of the railroads that have tgransformed the landscape and socity of the US since the 19th Century." (text by Mieke Mels in Manifesta's "The Deep of the Modern – A subcyclopaedia", Silvana Editoriale).
Richard Long's 26 meter long black "Bolivian Coal Line" carpet from 1992.
Rossella Biscotti, "Title One: The Taks of the Community", 2012. Biscotti also contributed with "A Conductor", 2012: On December 2009, the Unit 2 of the Ignalina Nuclear Poer Plant in Lithuania closed, consequently materials from the site were put up for auction. Biscotti acquired lead which have now been reused in Belgium into the new electrical wires to supply electricity for the show. She also acquired lead, which is the basis for her floor sculptures in the spectacular Sint-Barbara's hall.
Antonio Vega Macotela (below) Study of Exhaustion — The Equivalent of Silver (2011), "a
(failed) venture to export a “boleo” of coca leaves from Bolivian
silver mines represented by a boleo-shaped piece of silver, roughly the
amount of silver one miner gets out in a day" (Jonas Žakaitis in Art Agenda); and Rossella Biscotti (above).
Finally on the top floor, we find the section 'Poetics of Restructuring', with "contributions from 39 contemporary artists, focusing on aesthetic responses to the worldwide “economic restructuring” of the productive system in the early 21st century".
"This
archetypal kind of socio-econo-political development from
industrialization to de-industrialization to post-industrial
capitalism—and the corresponding forms of production, geographies, and
distributions of resources—is what Manifesta's contemporary art section,
mostly on the third floor of the building, is about." (Jonas Žakaitis in Art Agenda)
Manifesta educational materials and leaflets: "developed by the Manifesta 9 Education
& Mediation department. There are 3 different 3x3 Newspapers for 3 age groups (12-, 12+ and 18+), so make sure you have
the right one for you."
Ante Timmermans' "Make a Molehill out of a Mountain (of Work)" (2012).
View of the landscape from Ante Timmermans' space and the remaining Waterschei building (not in use).
Goldin + Senneby's "The decapitation of Money", 2010. From the exhibition newspaper: "Goldin + Senneby and team test the hypothesis that Headless Ltd. (a mysterious offshore company registrered in the Bahamas) is a reincarnation of the secret society "Acéphale", founded by Georges Bataille and friends in 1936."
Emre Hüner, "A little Larger Than the Entire Universe", 2012.
Duncan Campbell's "Make It New John", 2009, 50' video. Depicting the "history of the DMC-12, the extravagant, futuristic automobile created by American engineer and entrepeneur John Delorean (1925-2005). Campbell documents the strange attempt to use its production as a tool of social engineering. Relying heavily on archival footage, and incoporating a few staged scenes that introduce a political and biographical allegory, Campbell attempts to construct a panoramic view of the polar extremes that have characterized the social life of this icon of consumerism." (text by Cuauhtémoc Medina in in Manifesta's "The Deep of the Modern – A subcyclopaedia", Silvana Editoriale)
Back to Žakaitis analysis: (...)
The weird part though is that all of these things, displayed in a
generic and anemic way, are fenced from Mijndepot Waterschei, a full-blown and fully functioning museum assembled by former miners themselves back in 2004. Be sure to go there
if you visit this Manifesta, and check out hundreds of mining tools,
helmets, saint statues, a small train, and a 1:1 scale model of a coal
shaft: great stuff that can get you really sooty.
Miners museum in the Waterschei's first floor.
Nicoline van Harskamp, "Yours in Solidarity", 2009–12. Video, audio and archive material.
Praneet Soi's slideshow "Kumartuli Printer, Notes on Labor Part 1", 2010, which "parsed out the gestures of a printer's hands as he interacts with an ancient pedal-operated press in Calcutta. As the operator feeds paper into his anachronistic machine, it spits out grainy, high contrast images of his own hands, immersed in labor" (text by Cuauhtémoc Medina in in Manifesta's "The Deep of the Modern – A subcyclopaedia", Silvana Editoriale).
Maarten Vanden Eynde, "Plastic Reef", 2008–12: a collection of melted down plastic trash collected while swirling in the Pacific Ocean. For more info see his comprehensive website.
As for the publication "The Deep of the Modern – A subcyclopaedia" (Edited by Silvana Editoriale), the curator writes that it has been "designed to suggest the complexity of meaning involved in the whole project as well as the richness of the individual elements themselves. (...) We have chosen to publish a book that breaks from the mould of conventional exhibition catalogues. We evoke the form of the encyclopaedia as a means of organising a whole made up of multiple unities (...). This Subcyclopaedia will thus serve as a record of the research process behind the biennial. (...) Our neologism is meant to suggest a comparison between the use of this reference book and the exhumation of modernity's underworld in the heritage, culture and history of coal mining.".
Despite this intention of "breaking the mould", the 320-page book does include the traditional institutional forewords (to be precise, four) and an introductory curatorial essay by Medina. Many other texts are disseminated throughout the publication, which is organised in alphabetical order A to Z, mixing concepts (starting with "Accumulation", ending with "Underground as Hell"), with artist texts by a network of over 30 writers, and essays by Gregos ("Poetics of Restructuring: On the question of production in the contemporary section of Manifesta 9") and Ades ("The Age of Coal: An Underground History of the Modern"), amongst other long form texts (by Medina himself, Svetlana Boym, as well as misfit entries such as "The Legacy of Manifesta" by Hedwig Fijen).
Manifesta 9 curator Cuauhtémoc Medina (purple shirt) giving a tour during the opening weekend.
These and more photos (93 total) on Latitudes' flickr.
All photos: Latitudes | www.lttds.org
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
out of the studio! photos
Fri, Nov 30 2007Here are a few photos of our recent presentation at the 'out of the studio! symposium of art and public space' in Hasselt, Belgium (26–28 October). We were joined in our session by Bristol-based curator Claire Doherty and Mexican-based curator Cuauhtémoc Medina.
Latitudes' lecture 'Notes towards an ecology of risk' in 'Out of the Studio', Hasselt, Belgium
Mon, Nov 5 2007
Last Sunday 28th October we spoke during the final session of out of the studio!The session included lectures by:
Cuauhtémoc Medina – Associated curator of art from Latin America, Tate Modern, London and researcher at the UNAM, Mexico. Lecture: “A different typology of public art in Latin America”
Max Andrews & Mariana Cánepa Luna – Founders of Latitudes, an independent curatorial office, Barcelona. Lecture: “Notes towards an ecology of risk”
Claire Doherty – Editor of 'Contemporary Art: From Studio to Situation' (2004), senior research fellow at the University of the West of England, Bristol. Lecture “Public Art as Situation: from temporary intervention to long-term commitment”
Closing remarks by: Frank Lubbers – Independent curator and art advisor, Brussels.
Latitudes in the 'Out of Studio!' symposium
Tue, Oct 2 2007
The Out of the Studio! symposium is organised by Jan Debbaut and the Province of Limburg, in collaboration with Z33 Center for Contemporary Art, Hasselt, Belgium. More than twenty leading international artists, curators and scholars will present a variety of projects ranging from the Snow Show in Lapland to the Echigo Tsumari Triennial in Japan, from the make-over of Barcelona to the complexity of commissioning art in public space in New York City and addressing actual concerns and strategies.
When: Friday 26, Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 October 2007
Where: Hasselt, Belgium
The number of participants is limited. Booking in advance is necessary by returning a.s.a.p. the registration form.The registration fee of €200 includes documentation, receptions, lunches, dinner and transfer to Alden Biesen. For further information and assistance with travel arrangements please contact Monique Verhulst at mverhulst@z33.be
Presentations and discussions will be in English. Proceedings will be published afterwards.
For a printable version of the programme and registration form, please go to: http://www.z33.be/outofthestudio