LONGITUDES

Longitudes cuts across Latitudes’ projects and research with news, updates, and reportage.

2019 in 10 monthly Cover Stories

 Mon, Dec 23 2019
Since our 10th anniversary in Spring 2015, Latitudes has published a monthly cover story on its website (www.lttds.org) featuring past, present or forthcoming projects, as well as research, texts, artworks, exhibitions, films, objects or travel related to our curatorial work.  

2019 has been an active year of field trips. We have been lucky to visit ARCOmadrid, Buenos Aires (May 2019), Valencia (to research for an article and to participate in a conversation), Devon and Cornwall (September 2019), to Chicago and Detroit (hinted at in the September 2019 Cover Story), Helsinki (October 2019), Bilbao, Moscow (December 2019) and Amsterdam (and Reykjavík from the screen as featured in the April-May cover story).

Happy holidays and a joyful 2020!

Cover Story—December 2019: Curating and the Web of Life.
Cover Story—November 2019: ‘Fighting fires in Valencia: the 30-year story of the IVAM’.
Cover Story—October 2019: Mercedes Azpilicueta in Helsinki.
 Cover Story—September 2019: ‘Polperro to Detroit’
Cover Story—Summer 2019: Francesc Ruiz’s Brexit Bristol sequel, ten years ago.
Cover Story—June 2019: ‘Thinking like a drainage basin: Lara Almarcegui’s ‘Concrete’.
Cover Story—May 2019: Buenos Aires in Parallel.
Cover Story—March-April 2019: Icelandic refraction.
Cover Story—February 2019: Schizophrenic Machine.
Cover Story—January 2019: "Seesaw".


 → RELATED CONTENT:
  • Cover Story—December 2018: "Treasures! exhibitionism! showmanship!" 1 December 2018
  • Cover Story—November 2018: "Joan Morey—postmortem judgement reenactment" 1 November 2018
  • Cover Story–October 2018: "I can’t take my eyes off you: Eulàlia Rovira and Adrian Schindler" 1 October 2018
  • Cover Story–September 2018: Harald Szeemann’s travel sculpture, 10 September 2018
  • Cover Story–August 2018: Askeaton Joyride, 2 August 2018
  • Cover Story–July 2018: No Burgers for Sale 2 July 2018
  • Cover Story—June 2018: Near-Future Artworlds Curatorial Disruption Foresight Group, 4 June 2018
  • Cover Story – May 2018: Shadowing Roman Ondák, 7 May 2018 
  • Cover Story – April 2018: "Cover Story—April 2018: Dates, 700 BC to the present: Michael Rakowitz" 3 April 2018 
  • Cover Story – March 2018: "Armenia's ghost galleries" 6 March 2018 
  • Cover Story – February 2018: Paradise, promises and perplexities 5 February 2018 
  • Cover Story – January 2018: I'll be there for you, 2 January 2018 
 2019, art-agenda, Bilbao, Buenos Aires, Chicago, cover story, end of the year, field trip, Francesc Ruiz, Frieze, Joan Morey, Lara Almarcegui, latitudes, looking back, Mercedes Azpilicueta, Moscow, report
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Mariana Cánepa Luna's Amsterdam Roundup for art-agenda.com

 Tue, Dec 17 2019
https://www.art-agenda.com/features/306593/amsterdam-roundup
“Many cities have adopted the gallery weekend format, and while there is a risk that this proliferation can lead to homogeneity, the particular strength and energy of Amsterdam Art Weekend lies in its steadfast commitment to art and artists, and to not limiting its remit to the commercial sector. Now in its eighth edition, the event grew out of the Rijksakademie Open, the yearly open studio presentations by the forty-plus artists in the institution’s two-year postgraduate residency program.”

→ Continue reading. 

Originally published in art-agenda on December 13, 2019.

Below a broader selection of images from the exhibitions and events mentioned in the review, as well as others that couldn't fit in the 1,000-word review, such as Andrei Tarkovski’s exhibition at the Eye Filmmuseum, AKINCI’s group exhibition, Rozenstraat — a rose is a rose is a rose, more Rijksakademie artists’ studios and a short visit to Rotterdam's Witte de With and the new space of Wilfried Lentz in the Port. 

 (Above and below) Adrián Villar Rojas, “Poems for Earthlings”, 2019. Courtesy of the artist and Oude Kerk, Amsterdam. All photos by Mariana Cánepa Luna (unless otherwise specified in the photo caption).
Adrián Villar Rojas, “Poems for Earthlings”, 2019. Courtesy of the artist and Oude Kerk, Amsterdam. Photo: Jörg Baumann. 
Adrián Villar Rojas, “Poems for Earthlings”, 2019. Courtesy of the artist and Oude Kerk, Amsterdam. Photo: Jörg Baumann. 
  (Above and below) Carlos Amorales, ‘Orgy of Narcissus’, 2019. Courtesy of the artist, kurimanzutto, Mexico City / New York, and Nils Stærk Gallery. These works were developed in collaboration with the TextielLab, the professional workshop of the TextielMuseum.
 Carlos Amorales during the press tour presenting ‘Life In The Folds’ a work produced for the Pavilion of Mexico at the 57th Venice Biennale in 2017.
 Carlos Amorales, Black Cloud, 2007 (installation view). Collection of Diane and Bruce Halle.
 Carlos Amorales, Aprende a joderte (Learn to Fuck Yourself), 2019. Courtesy of the artist and kurimanzutto, Mexico City / New York. 
  (Above and below) Patricia Kaersenhout, ‘Guess Who's Coming To Dinner Too?’, 2019, installation view, De Appel, Amsterdam.

(Above and below) Installation view of Andrei Tarkovski at the Eye Filmmuseum presented an interesting curatorial challenge: how to translate the oeuvre of a filmmaker into an exhibition. In the case of Tarkovski, his limited filmography (8 feature films, plus 3 short films) reduces the challenge considerably, yet the decision of screening 20-minute clips from each film and splitting those clips on two or three large screens simultaneously raises further artistic questions—how far can the immersive experience be stretched? Tarkovski’s unique imagery and tempo multiply throughout the exhibition space far from the durational, one-image-at-a-time consumption offered by the cinematic experience (not to mention the cacophony, which must be said, was reduced here thanks to state-of-the-art hovering speakers above visitor seats). The second challenge has to do with the institutional programme. The next exhibition at the Eye Filmmuseum will be dedicated to (yet another man) Belgium-born, Mexico-based visual artist Francis Alÿs, and in March 2020 to Chantal Ackerman, the Belgian avant-garde filmmaker who passed away in 2015. This will be the first institutional solo exhibition dedicated to a woman since the museum opened in 2012, which is quite eye-opening (intended pun) and significant in the context of the low number of institutions programming female artists solos — yet it's also important to take into consideration the larger picture of female representation in the filmmaking industry.
 Sander Breure & Witte van Hulzen, "Accidents Waiting to Happen", installation, sculpture, video, performance, 2019. Prix de Rome 2019. Courtesy tegenboschvanvreden, Amsterdam.
Femke Herregraven, "Diving Reflex (Because We Learned Not to Drown, We Can Sing)", multimedia installation, 2019-ongoing. Prix de Rome 2019.
Esiri Erheriene-Essi, "The Inheritance" (or Familiar Strangers), 2019. Prix de Rome 2019.
Rory Pilgrim, "The Undercurrent", multimedia installation, 2019-ongoing. Prix de Rome 2019. Courtesy the artist and andriesse eyck galerie. Pilgrim's film received the Prix de Rome Visual Arts 2019 award for his work, receiving 40,000 euros and a residency at the American Academy in Rome.

 Studio by Shahidul Zaman during the RijksakademieOPEN 2019.
  Studio by Christopher Manon during the RijksakademieOPEN 2019.
  Studio by Jude Crilli during the RijksakademieOPEN 2019.
 Studio by Aldo Esparza Ramos during the RijksakademieOPEN 2019.
Studio by Artor Jesus Inkerö during the RijksakademieOPEN 2019.
Studio by Catalina González during the RijksakademieOPEN 2019.
Studio by Catalina González during the RijksakademieOPEN 2019.
Studio by Salim Bayri during the RijksakademieOPEN 2019.
Remco Torenbosch “Now” (2019), video, 180min, during the RijksakademieOPEN 2019.
 Studio by Antonio Vega Macotela during the RijksakademieOPEN 2019. 

Studio by Anderu Immaculate Mali during the RijksakademieOPEN 2019.
Studio by Dan Zhu during the RijksakademieOPEN 2019.

Studio by Lotte van Geijn during the RijksakademieOPEN 2019.

Studio by Özgür Atlagan during the RijksakademieOPEN 2019.
Studio by Arturo Kameya during the RijksakademieOPEN 2019.
  (Above and below) Claudia Martínez Ayala solo show ‘A las revoluciones, como a los árboles, se les reconoce por sus frutos’ [Revolutions, like trees, are recognized by their fruits], 2019, installation view, Courtesy the artist and GRIMM Amsterdam | New York.
Rozenstraat – a rose is a rose is a rose presented the multichannel video-installation “Beyond Index” (2017) by Dutch artist Gerald van der Kaap.

LA-artist Matthew Monahan at Fons Welters, Amsterdam.

Day trip to nearby Rotterdam to visit three unique solo shows at Witte de With, by Rossella Biscotti (above and two below).


(Above) Alejandro Cesarco and Cecilia Vicuña (below)


(Above and below) Also had a chance to visit the new venue of Wilfried Lentz in the Port area, next door to Atelier van Lieshout studio, which had a solo show of James Beckett.


(Above and below) Back in Amsterdam, kunstverein’s presented ‘Who's Werner?’ a group exhibition concerned with recognised authorship in collaborative artistic practices.


Next door, Martin van Zomeren presented a solo show of Marcel van Eeden.

Tahmina Negmat at Althuis Hofland.
Charbel-joseph H Boutros and Stéphanie Saadé at rongwrong.


Maarten Vanden Eynde's work at Cargo in Context, part of the group show "On-Trade-Off: The Weight of Wonders", an artistic trajectory initiated by the artists' initiatives Picha (DRC) and Enough Room for Space (BE).

And last but not least, the solo show presenting a site-specific sculpture by Belgian artist Leyla Aydoslu at P/////AKT.

→ RELATED CONTENT:
 2019, Amsterdam, art weekend, art-agenda, collaboration, Mariana Cánepa Luna, Oude Kerk, Remco Torenbosch, Rijksakademie, rongwrong, Rossella Biscotti, Rotterdam, roundup, Stedelijk museum, Witte de With, writing
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‘6 Hours Tide Object with Correction of Perspective’ by Jan Dibbets screened in Barcelona

 Tue, Dec 10 2019
Production of '6 Hours of Tide Object with Correction of Perspective' (2009) by Jan Dibbets. Photo: Paloma Polo / SKOR.

The 8-minute film ‘6 Hours Tide Object with Correction of Perspective’ by Dutch artists Jan Dibbets is currently exhibited as part of "Fingers Crossed" (pdf, Spanish), a group exhibition opening December 14, 2019, curated by Blanca de la Torre and Sue Spaid, at ADN Platform in Sant Cugat (Barcelona), on view until April 4, 2020. 

The film was produced in 2009 for ‘Portscapes’, the year-long programme producing ten new commissions in and around the Port of Rotterdam, The Netherlands, curated by Latitudes. 
Gerry Schum's 1969 'Land Art' series of films screened on German public TV.

Jan Dibbets’ (1941) film was ‘Portscapes’ inaugural project and was filmed on February 8, 2009. Originally filmed 40 years earlier, in February 1969, in black and white and in 16 mm, it was titled ‘12 Hours Tide Object...’. The film was originally presented in 1969 as part of Gerry Schum's seminal 'Land Art' series of artists' films screened that same year on German public TV (this programme was included in Latitudes-curated touring film programme ‘A Stake in the Mud, A Hole in the Reel. Land Art’s Expanded Field 1968–2008’ which began at the Museo Tamayo in April 2008.)

The film presents the drawing of an isosceles trapezoid in the sand using a bulldozer – the shape consequently appears as a rectangle in the resultant film due to the angle of perspective. The new 2009 realisation was filmed 40 years later to the month on the beach of the Maasvlakte, an area that was soon after forever transformed with the construction of Maasvlakte 2 – a land reclamation project, realised between 2008 and 2013, that extended Europe's largest seaport and industrial area by 2,000 hectares. 

The resulting 8 minute-long film was premiered at the FutureLand Information Centre of the Port of Rotterdam in June 2009 and during Latitudes’ participation in the New York festival NO SOUL FOR SALE – A Festival of Independents (24–28 June 2009). 
Dibbets’ film presented as part of Latitudes’ participation in the festival NO SOUL FOR SALE – A Festival of Independents, New York, 24–28 June 2009. Photo: Latitudes.

Projection of Dibbets' 1969 film as part of the itinerant film programme ‘A Stake in the Mud, A Hole in the Reel. Land Art’s Expanded Field 1968–2008’ on July 11, 2008, at the barn Hongersdijk Farmstead, Wilhelminapolder, Zeeland, The Netherlands, a programme hosted by SKOR (Foundation Art and Public Space, Amsterdam). Photo: Latitudes.

‘6 Hours Tide Object with Correction of Perspective’ was produced in collaboration with SKOR | Foundation Art and Public Space (1999–2012), an organisation which initiated, curated and developed art projects in relation to the public domain that no longer exists, realising over a thousand projects in public space in the Netherlands for over a decade. Portscapes was curated by Latitudes, culminating in a display of the projects at the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam in 2010.

→ RELATED CONTENT:
  • Portscapes commissions
  • Portscapes exhibition at the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen
  • Making of '6 Hours of Tide Object with Correction of Perspective' (2009) by Jan Dibbets – part 1 here.
  • Making of '6 Hours of Tide Object with Correction of Perspective' (2009) by Jan Dibbets – part 2 here.
 2009, 2019, 2020, ADN Platform, film, Jan Dibbets, Land Art, latitudes, No Soul for Sale, Port of Rotterdam Authority, Portscapes, SKOR
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Video of Latitudes' lecture "Curating in the Web of Life" at Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow

 Wed, Dec 4 2019

‘Curating in the Web of Life’ is in a 1-hour-long lecture presented on November 7, 2019, at Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow, in the context of their group exhibition ‘The Coming World: Ecology as the New Politics 2030–2100’. It is in English and a Q+A follows. You can also watch it with Russian translation (voice-over). 

 Latitudes during the lecture ‘Curating in the Web of Life’. Photo: Anton Donikov. © Garage Museum of Contemporary Art.

In the lecture, Latitudes discuss how Modern art and modernist art history largely assented to the ontological and epistemological lie which imagined humanity and the humanities making their own history by themselves, while hiding the fact that their productions, relations, and economy were always teeming with biophysical processes. The increasing violence by which the limits of the planet, its feedback loops and tipping points, are forcing themselves into world events has profound consequences for how we narrate (art) history and curate exhibitions in the web of life.


Max Andrews of Latitudes during the lecture ‘Curating in the Web of Life’. Photo: Anton Donikov. © Garage Museum of Contemporary Art.
Mariana Cánepa Luna of Latitudes during the lecture ‘Curating in the Web of Life’. Photo: Anton Donikov. © Garage Museum of Contemporary Art.
 
New disciplines are broaching the separation between human activities and Earth systems – environmental law, political ecology, ecological economics, and so on. Likewise, what is at issue when artists, curators, exhibitions, and museums venture into new formations and shared rather than adjacent perspectives? What is at stake in a curatorial ecology, an environmental art history, or in integrating socio-natural processes into an institution’s account of itself, and so on? Turning to a world-systems approach as well as the insights of micro-history, Max Andrews & Mariana Cánepa Luna presented a series of curatorial and artistic perspectives on such questions, drawing from “uncomfortable objects” and “dishonest research” [1] across their exhibitions “4.543 billion. The matter of matter” ( CAPC musée d'art contemporain de Bordeaux 2017–18), ‘Hemauer Keller: United Alternative Energies’ (Kunsthal Aarhus, 2011), “Greenwashing. Environment: Perils, Promises and Perplexities” (Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, 2008) and related projects such as the residency programme “Geologic Time” (Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, 2017).

[1] “Uncomfortable objects” is a notion borrowed from artist Mariana Castillo Deball, and “dishonest research” from artist Mercedes Azpilicueta.

Latitudes during the lecture ‘Curating in the Web of Life’. Photo: Anton Donikov. © Garage Museum of Contemporary Art

 → RELATED CONTENTS:
 2019, 4543 billion, Anthropocene, Capitalocene, decolonise institutions, deep time, Ecology, latitudes, Lecture, microhistory, Moscow, online, research, Youtube
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Cover Story—December 2019: Curating in the Web of Life

 Tue, Dec 3 2019
Latitudes' homepage www.lttds.org

The December 2019 monthly Cover Story ‘Curating in the Web of Life' homepage: www.lttds.org 

‘Last month Latitudes gave a lecture entitled “Curating in the web of life” at Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, as part of the public program for the exhibition The Coming World: Ecology as the New Politics 2030–2100. The presentation argued that modern art and modernist art history largely imagined humanity and the humanities making their own history by themselves while hiding the fact that their productions, relations, and economy were always teeming with biophysical processes.’

 → Continue reading
→ After December 2019, this story will be archived here.

Cover Stories' are published on a monthly basis on Latitudes' homepage featuring past, present or forthcoming projects, research, texts, artworks, exhibitions, films, objects or field trips related to our curatorial activities.

→ RELATED CONTENTS: 
 2019, cover story, Curatorial Practice, flowers, Lecture, MOMA, Moscow, web of life, world ecology
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Jurado premios, 3a edición del Dart Festival de cine documental sobre arte contemporáneo 2019

 Sun, Dec 1 2019

Latitudes ha tenido el placer de ser miembro del jurado de la ‘Sección Explora by Laie Llibreria!’ de la tercera edición del Festival de Cine Documental sobre Arte Contemporáneo 2019 junto al crítico de cine Quim Casas y la artista visual Núria Güell.

Los ganadores son los documentales ‘Elliott Erwitt - Silence Sounds Good’ de Adriana López Sanfeliu como mejor producción nacional, y ‘Barbara Rubin & The Exploding NY Underground’ de Chuck Smith, como mejor producción internacional. 


Elliott Erwitt ha pasado toda su vida adulta haciendo fotografías de presidentes, papas y estrellas de cine, así como de personas an´ y también de sus mascotas. Mientras que su trabajo es icónico en la cultura mundial,  su vida es en gran parte desconocida. ‘Elliott Erwitt - Silence Sounds Good’ es un retrato amable e íntimo de un artista en su trabajo, mostrando ser alguien que valora la compañía de todo tipo por encima de la conversación ociosa. Su trabajo vital es un importante testimonio del poder de la imagen. Con su primera película, Adriana López Sanfeliu logra crear un retrato íntimo de un fotógrafo de primer nivel.



 El documental “Christmas on Earth” (1963) conmocionó la escena del cine experimental de Nueva York. Su autora, la cineasta experimental Barbara Rubin, realizó la película cuando solo tenía 18 años. Durante su trayectoria, trabajó con el cineasta Jonas Mekas en la Filmmaker’s Coop, colaboró con Andy Warhol y fue fundamental en la creación de la próspera comunidad de cine underground de Nueva York. Durante años Mekas, que en la película tenía 94 años (falleció con 96), guardó todas las cartas de Barbara y atesoró su memoria. Trabajando con las imágenes de Mekas y los extraños clips de los archivos de Warhol, ‘Barbara Rubin & The Exploding NY Underground’ nos transporta dentro del mundo y la mente de Barbara Rubin, una cineasta que realmente creyó que el cine podría cambiar el mundo.
Proyección en el Cinema Girona. Cortesía: DART Festival 2019.

→ CONTENIDO RELACIONADO:
  • Mariana Cánepa Luna vocal del jurado del Premi Ciutat de Barcelona 2017 en el ámbito de las Artes Visuales 1 Febrero 2018
  • Antoni Hervàs's exhibition "El Misterio de Caviria" awarded the Visual Arts prize of the Premis Ciutat de Barcelona 2016 1 February 2017
  • Jurado y equipo tutorial de Barcelona Producció 2017 – Anuncio de los proyectos ganadores 25 Mayo 2017
  • Jurado y equipo tutorial de BCN Producció 2016, La Capella, Barcelona. 2 Febrero 2016
  • Latitudes-nominee artist Annette Kelm shortlisted for the Aimia | AGO Photography Prize 2015 24 June 2015
    Resolución Convocatoria 2012 de Artes visuales y Tutorial de la Sala d'Art Jove 7 Diciembre 2011
  • Fallo Jurado Premios Casablancas 2008, 20 Junio, 20h 16 junio 2008
  • Otros jurados – véase sección "About"
 2019, cinema, DART Festival, documentary, festival, Film programme, jury, latitudes
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Max Andrews' Valencia Feature in frieze magazine, November-December 2019

 Sat, Nov 2 2019
Institut Valencià d’Art Modern (IVAM), 1989. Courtesy: Institut Valencià d’Art Modern. Photograph: Juan García Rosell.

Max Andrews, co-director of Latitudes and contributing editor to frieze magazine, has written the feature-length article ‘The Rise, Fall and Reinvention of Spain’s First Modern Art Museum’ for the November–December 2019 (issue 207) of frieze. 
The article focuses on the rise, fall, and reinvention of the city’s trailblazing Institut Valencià d’Art Modern (IVAM) through the cultural and (often notorious) political agents that have forged its institutional history since it opened in 1989. It also touches on the roles of other important institutions in the contemporary art landscape in Valencia, such as the Centre del Carme, the galleries Luis Adelantado, espaivisor, and Rosa Santos, and the private art foundation Bombas Gens Centre d'Art, that opened in 2017 in a former 1930s hydraulic pump factory.

Fermín Jiménez Landa, ‘Salvar el foc’ (Save the Fire), 2018, public sculpture and performance documentation. Courtesy: the artist.

"On the night of 19 March 2017, artist Fermín Jiménez Landa lit a match from the embers of a smouldering monument in a square within the Spanish city of Valencia. From that flame, he lit a candle, then a lantern, then a gas heater, keeping the fire alive through various technologies for 365 days and nights, until it sparked the incineration of his own monument, a wooden representation of an apartment block. Jiménez Landa’s action was done as part of Valencia’s fabled fallas festivities, which culminate each Saint Joseph’s night with a vast spectacle of burning all over the city, as hundreds of elaborate sculptures, conventionally groups of clownish figures, go up in smoke. The fallas have long brought a satirical zest, and an irresistibly primal symbolism, to Spain’s third-largest city. They’re a searing reminder of the transience of art." 

→ Continue reading here.


View of the collection gallery ‘Matter, space and time. Julio González and the avant-gardes’, Institut Valencià d’Art Modern (IVAM). Photo: Latitudes, May 2019.
(Above and below) Views of the collection show ‘TIMES OF UPHEAVAL. Stories and microstories in the IVAM collection’, Institut Valencià d’Art Modern (IVAM). Photo: Latitudes, May 2019.
View of the exhibition ‘The Gaze of Things. Japanese Photography in the context of Provoke’ at Bombas Gens Centre d’Art, Valencia. Photo: Latitudes, May 2019. 


→ RELATED CONTENT:
       2019, Bombas Gens, Fermin Jiménez Landa, Frieze, IVAM, Max Andrews, report, rethinking institutions, Valencia, writing
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      Cover Story—November 2019: ‘Fighting fires in Valencia: the 30-year story of the IVAM’

       Fri, Nov 1 2019
      Latitudes' homepage www.lttds.org

      The November 2019 monthly Cover Story ‘Fighting fires in Valencia: the 30-year story of the IVAM’ on Latitudes' homepage: www.lttds.org       

      "How does a museum recover from scandal? What imperatives exist for regional institutions outside of capitals? When, in 1989, the IVAM (Institut Valencià d’Art Modern) opened the doors to its imposing, new, slab-like building on the edge of what was once Valencia’s medieval walled core, it became the first public museum in Spain dedicated to collecting and exhibiting 20th-century art. Discussing IVAM’s rise, fall and reinvention, an article in the current frieze (issue 207, November–December) by Latitudes' Max Andrews (also a frieze Contributing Editor) is a case study on how right-wing politics impacted an entire city art ecology."
      → Continue reading
      → After November 2019, this story will be archived here.

      Cover Stories' are published on a monthly basis on Latitudes' homepage featuring past, present or forthcoming projects, research, texts, artworks, exhibitions, films, objects or field trips related to our curatorial activities.

      → RELATED CONTENTS: 
       1989, 2019, case study, cover story, Frieze, IVAM, Max Andrews, museums, rethinking institutions, Spain, text, writing
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      Lecture ‘Curating in the web of life’ in Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, 7 November 2019 at 7:30pm

       Mon, Oct 28 2019

      Image: Dan Perjovschi.

      On November 7, 2019, at 7:30pm Latitudes will present the lecture ‘Curating in the web of life’ in the context of the public programme related to the group exhibition ‘The Coming World: Ecology as the New Politics 2030–2100’ on view at Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, until December 1, 2019. 

      Curated by Snejana Krasteva and Ekaterina Lazareva, the exhibition ‘The Coming World: Ecology as the New Politics 2030–2100’ currently occupies the entire Museum and presents historical and new works by over 50 Russian and international artists—from a 16th-century tapestry to works using VR.
      Roman Keller and Christina Hemauer, ‘A Road Not Taken. The Story of the Jimmy Carter White House Solar Installation’, film still, 66 min., 2010. Courtesy of the artists.


      ‘Curating in the web of life’
      — A lecture by Latitudes

      Modern art and modernist art history largely assented to the ontological and epistemological lie which imagined humanity and the humanities making their own history by themselves, while hiding the fact that their productions, relations, and economy were always teeming with biophysical processes. The increasing violence by which the limits of the planet, its feedback loops and tipping points, are forcing themselves into world events has profound consequences for how we narrate (art) history and curate exhibitions in the web of life. 

      New disciplines are broaching the separation between human activities and Earth systems – environmental law, political ecology, ecological economics, and so on. Likewise, what is at issue when artists, curators, exhibitions, and museums venture into new formations and shared rather than adjacent perspectives? What is at stake in a curatorial ecology, an environmental art history, or in integrating socio-natural processes into an institution’s account of itself, and so on? Turning to a world-systems approach as well as the insights of micro-history, Max Andrews & Mariana Cánepa Luna will present a series of curatorial and artistic perspectives on such questions, drawing from “uncomfortable objects” and “dishonest research” [1] across their exhibitions “4.543 billion. The matter of matter” (2017–18), “Hemauer Keller​: United Alternative Energies” (Kunsthal Aarhus, 2011) “Greenwashing. Environment: Perils, Promises and Perplexities” (Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, 2008), and related projects such as the residency “Geologic Time” (Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity​, 2017).
       
      [1] “Uncomfortable objects” is a notion borrowed from artist Mariana Castillo Deball, and “dishonest research” from artist Mercedes Azpilicueta.
       
      → RELATED CONTENTS:

       2019, Ecology, environmentalism, global trade, latitudes, Lecture, world ecology
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      Report: Trip to Chicago and Detroit in pictures, 18–25 September 2019

       Wed, Oct 23 2019
      Good morning Chicago!

      As we shared in our recent newsletter, in mid-September we had the opportunity to visit Chicago and Detroit, thanks to an invitation from Stephanie Cristello, Artistic Director of EXPO Chicago, who we met last year during the 2018 Amsterdam Art Weekend. As participants of the inaugural collaboration between EXPO CHICAGO and Red Bull Arts Detroit Global Curatorial Initiative, a smaller selection of participants had the opportunity to extend their trip to Detroit (21-23 September), in an effort to foster dialogue with the greater Midwest.


       18 September 2019: Visiting the Chicago Cultural Center (photo above), the main venue of ‘And Other Such Stories’ the 2019 Chicago Architecture Biennial curated by Yesomi Umolu, Sepake Angiama and Paulo Tavares. Personal highlights: works by Forensic Architecture, Clemens von Wedemeyer, Theaster Gates, Vincent Meessen, performances by Jimmy Robert, Alexandra Pirici, and the powerful collaboration between the Settler-Colonial City Project and the American Indian Centre. In the afternoon, we visited the Art Institute Chicago and attended a performance by Samson Young at the Chicago Symphony Center.
      (Above and below) Museum of Oil— The American Rooms by Territorial Agency on display in the Chicago Cultural Center's Exhibit Hall.
      (Above) Work by Oscar Tuazon.
      (Above) Work by Clemens von Wedemeyer. 

      (Above and below) Room with works by Theaster Gates and Vincent Meessen.
      (Above) Works by Wendelien van Oldenborgh (left) and Do Ho Suh (right).
      (Above) Movimento Sem Teto do Centro (MSTC) fights on behalf of families experiencing homelessness.
      One of the examples of the impactful collaboration between the Settler-Colonial City Project and the American Indian Centre.

      The American Indian Centre also contributed with a Land Acknowledgement.
       Performance ‘Descendance du nu (Chicago)’ by Jimmy Robert.

       ‘Re-collection’, 2018–ongoing, a performance by Alexandra Pirici situated in the Grand Army of the Republic Rotunda of the Chicago Cultural Center, a memorial to Civil War veterans.
      (Above and three below) ‘In a Cloud, in a Wall, in a Chair: Six Modernist in Mexico at Midcentury’ at the Art Institute Chicago, exploring the impact Mexico had on the lives and artistic practices of Clara Porset, Lola Álvarez Bravo, Anni Albers, Ruth Asawa, Cynthia Sargent, and Sheila Hicks. 
      Also at the Art Institute Chicago we were surprised to see that this work by Andrés Jaque on Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona pavilion that recently entered the collection. Can't help to think such work should have been acquired by a Spanish collection, not to mention a Barcelona collecting institution?
      A great exhibition with very few photographs by Sara Deraedt at Art Institute Chicago. Since 2008 the artist has been photographing vacuum cleaners as she encounters them in places where they are sold. 
      The Flax project started in 2012 by Dutch artist Christien Meindertsma.
      Before Samson Young's performance and Q&A at the Chicago Symphony Center.

      19 September 2019: Morning session at the Graham Foundation. But first, stop at their beautiful bookstore and their current show by Tatiana Bilbao. In the afternoon, we visited EXPO CHICAGO until we got fair exhaustion and later caught Abraham Cruzvillegas' impressive solo show at The Arts Club of Chicago.

      "Tatiana Bilbao Estudio: Unraveling Modern Living" at the Graham Foundation.
      Marking the commencement of the 2019 Curatorial Exchange and Curatorial Forum was a keynote lecture by Artistic Director Zoe Butt from The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre in Ho Chi Minh City.
      Mid-morning tour around EXPO CHICAGO.

      One of the best stands was this presentation by Brazilian gallery Bergamin & Gomide, an art and architecture atlas of modernist and contemporary Brazil. Curated by Sol Camacho.
      “In/Situ” section curated by Jacob Fabricius (artistic director of the Kunsthal Aarhus in Denmark) around EXPO CHICAGO.

      We caught ourselves in this picture by Casa Bosques browsing at books in the Index Art Book Fair. 
      (Above and below) Solo show ‘The Ballad of Etc.’ by Abraham Cruzvillegas at The Arts Club of Chicago.

      20 September 2019: On our last day in Chicago, we joined closed-door presentations by the  2019 Curatorial Exchange participants, moderated by Art Institute Dittmer Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art Hendrik Folkerts (Above). Later we attended a lunch at EXPO CHICAGO, and in the afternoon took off with a couple of colleagues, to enjoy the impressive wealth of exhibition-centres the University of Chicago campus has to offer: the Logan Center, The Renaissance Society, the SMART Museum, the Oriental Institute, and the Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society.

      Above: Assemble and Duval Timothy in collaboration with Demond Melancon and the Material Institute, New Orleans, an exhibition at the Logan Center, The University of Chicago.
       (Above and below) LaToya Ruby Frazer's "The Last Cruze" at The Renaissance Society also in The University of Chicago campus. 
       (Above and two below) Michael Rakowitz's work in one of the galleries of the Oriental Institute also in The University of Chicago campus.
      (Above and below) Frederick C. Robie House, aka The Robie House, a landmark building by Frank Lloyd Wright on 5757 S Woodlawn Ave, in the University of Chicago campus.
      (Above) Exhibition by Martha Rosler at the Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society (also in The University of Chicago campus) centred primarily on her interest in flowers, gardens, and related “green” motifs. 
      (Above and two below) "Samson Young: Silver Moon or Golden Star, which will you buy of me?" at the Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago campus.

      University of Chicago campus.
      In the evening, we attended the opening of the solo exhibition by Vienna-based artist Sarah Ortmeyer at the project space Chicago Manual Style, curated by Stephanie Cristello, artistic director of Expo Chicago. Latitudes collaborated with Ortmeyer in the 2011 exhibition ‘Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs...’ at Meessen de Clercq, Brussels.

      One of the outdoors installations at the MBAD African Bead Museum, Detroit.

      21 September 2019: Upon arriving in Detroit in the afternoon, our local host Scott Campbell took us to visit the MBAD African Bead Museum, 18 outdoor installations using iron, rock, wood and mirrors by visual storyteller Olayami Dabls on the corner of Grand River and West Grand Blvd, Detroit. (above and three below)



       22 September 2019: (Above and 8 photos below) Morning tour by Laura Mott, Senior Curator of Contemporary Art and Design, and curator of the exhibition ‘Landlord Colors: On Art, Economy, and Materiality’ at the Cranbrook Art Museum. "Materiality, a large-scale exhibition and public engagement series that brings together artworks from five international art scenes that have experienced economic and societal upheaval: Italy (the 1960s-80s), Korea (1970s-80s), Cuba (1990s–present), Greece (2009-present), Detroit, USA (1967-present). The exhibition showcases the work of more than 60 artists from a wide variety of backgrounds to highlight shared themes of ingenuity, resourcefulness, and resistance highlighting seminal historic works and new work from contemporary artists such as Reynier Leyva Novo, Zoë Paul, Kostis Velonis, Matthew Angelo Harrison, and Scott Hocking."

      Matthew Angelo Harrison, ‘Dark Povera Part 1’, 2017.
      Two chairs by Olayami Dabls of the Dabls’ MBAD African Bead Museum.

      Afternoon visiting Red Bull Arts Detroit studio and gallery space. We are taken around their current show ‘Sick Time, Sleepy Time, Crip Time: Against Capitalism’s Temporal Bullying’ by the Red Bull Arts Detroit Curatorial Fellow Taraneh Fazeli.
      Anders Ruhwald’s installation occupies an entire apartment in Detroit’s Eastern Market neighbourhood. 
      In the afternoon we had time to squeeze in a visit to The Heidelberg Project, in the McDougall-Hunt neighbourhood on Detroit's east side. (Above and 10 below) Since 1986 artist Tyree Guyton (1955) has progressively transformed vacant houses and lots on Heidelberg street into one large outdoor installation. Guyton's "grotesque materialism" project is one of the most visited sites in Detroit, attracting 200,000 visitors annually.



      23 September 2019: Morning studio visit with artist Matthew Angelo Harrison (no photos), and pm appointment with Executive Director Elysia Borowy-Reeder and current
      Ford Curatorial Fellows Jova Lynne and Tiziana Baldenebro of The Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, which was in between shows. MOCAD is the keeper of Mike Kelley's ‘Mobile Homestead’, "located on the grounds of the museum, it is a full-scale replica of the home in which Kelley grew up: a single-story, ranch-style house in the Detroit suburb of Westland. Kelley, who died in Los Angeles in 2012, sought to ensure that the Mobile Homestead remain relevant to the cultural interests and concerns of its local communities. In that spirit, the home was designed with a detachable facade, allowing it to be driven to neighbourhoods throughout the city, offering public services during its travels."



      The official programme finished and we had time to visit the Michigan building on 220 Bagley Avenue (above and two below) which was designed for Detroit philanthropist and movie theatre tycoon John H. Kunsky. It opened in August 1926 with the film "You Never Know Women" with Florence Vidor and Lowell Sherman, and could seat over 4,000 people who enjoyed a programme of five shows daily. It hosted live performances by The Marx Brothers, Betty Grable and Bob Hope, and many others. The theatre was built on the site of the small garage where automobile industrialist Henry Ford built his first automobile, the quadricycle (the garage was later disassembled and moved to The Henry Ford Museum in the nearby suburb of Dearborn). It closed in 1976 after operating as a nightclub named The Michigan Palace. In 1977 the building's owners paid $525,000 to gut the theatre and build a three-level, 160-space parking deck inside it. The site of Ford Motor's birthplace replaced by a movie theatre, reclaimed by the automobile.


      Evening walk to see Canada on the other side of the river.

      24 September 2019: (Above and below) On our last day, we visited the Detroit Institute of Arts, home to Diego Rivera murals and an impressive 19th and 20th Century collection. The "Detroit Industry" murals (1932-1933) were conceived by Diego Rivera (1886-1957) as a tribute to the city's manufacturing base and labour force of the 1930s. Rivera completed it in 11 months and was paid a 20,000 U$ fee. Rivera's murals show the automobile manufacturing process, Coaltulicue (the Aztec goddess of creation and war), the production of the 1932 Ford V-8, personnel involved in the industry as well as managers and Henry Ford, giving all of them equal stature.


      Our last expedition was to John K. King Used & Rare Books on 901 W Lafayette Blvd, holding over a million books in stock. No computer search, just browsing.


      → RELATED CONTENT:
       2019, architecture, art fairs, biennale, Chicago, decolonise institutions, detroit, invitational programme, LaToya Ruby Frazer, Michael Rakowitz, report, Samson Young, travel, visiting programme
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