ART NEWS:May 02
“Tropisms”, a new project by Davide Zucco, shows a single installation, of which the central object will shift in space throughout the course of the exhibition. Acting in slow choreography, the work moves at the speed akin to the growth of the painting’s subject. Like the fern depicted in the painting, the movement is imperceptible to the human eye, but reveals itself upon revisitation, suggesting a secret livelihood in the object. Like many of his other works, this project leaves a residue of geologic time, felt through complex and mysterious materials. It dips deep into unknown durations, losing all reference points along this massive archaeological timeline. Info: Curator: Rachel Steinberg, Solivagant* Contemporary Art Projects, 53 Orchard Street, New York, Duration: 4/5-5/16, Days & Hours: Mon-Fri 9:00-19:00 by appointment only, www.solivagantnyc.com
The exhibition “The Visible Reminder of Invisible Light”, is dedicated to the renowned German artist Heinz Mack. The exhibition presents several of hismost important works from the 50s, evocatively illustrating the development of his poetry and his research into the next decade. Heinz Mack played a leading role during a period of great experimentation and exploration of the meanings and dynamics of artistic production and the obliteration of the barriers between art and life and art and nature that characterized the post–World War II era. With Otto Piene, he founded ZERO, which has become one the most important and innovative art movements of the 20th Century. Info: Cortesi Gallery, Via Frasca, 5, Lugano, Duration: 11/5-22/7/16, Days & Hours: Mon-Fri 10:00-18:00, www.cortesigallery.com
“Verbs” marks Hannah Whitaker’s most visually complex and ambitious photographs to date. For several years she has worked by layering exposures onto 4×5 film, shot through handcut paper screens. In this newest body of work, Whitaker turns her focus toward the body. Making frequent use of silhouettes, she combines the human form with blocks of color or the textures of materials. The resulting mark on the film is delineated less by the object itself than by cuts and holes in the screen. Info: Galerie Christophe Gaillard, Main Space, 5 rue Chapon, Paris, Duration: 12/5-18/6/16, Days & Hours: Tue-Fri 10:30-12:30 & 14:00-19:00, Sat 12:00-19:00, http://galeriegaillard.com
Eija-Liisa Ahtila presents in Spain her film “The Annunciation”, shot on the snowy Aulanko Nature Reserve in southern Finland during the winter of 2010. The installation consists of three projections which reenact a well-known passage in the Gospel of Luke (1:26–38) that narrates one of the most important themes in Christian iconography, which is also the central motif of some of the earliest paintings to successfully use perspective. The underlying viewpoint of the film is Estonian biologist Jacob von Uexküll’s idea that the different worlds of living beings all exist simultaneously. This concept implies certain limits, because it means living with and next to others; the same idea is also used to explore the nature of miracles and the possibilities of perception and knowledge. Info: Curator: Lucía Agirre, Guggenheim Bilbao, Abandoibarra et.2, Bilbao, Duration: 12/5-28/8/16, Days & Hours: Tue-Sun 10:00-0:00, www.guggenheim-bilbao.es
In the exhibition “Sip My Ocean”, are on presentation two earlier works by Pipilotti Rist: her first video work “I’m Not the Girl Who Misses Much” (1986), and the video installation “Sip My Ocean” (1996). The latter is almost entirely filmed under water, with various objects slowly sinking to the seabed. By mixing high and low culture, she actualizes art’s relation to the entertainment industry. Pop music and the music video’s interaction with themes such as gender, sexuality and the body receive a liberated, individualistic and feminine interpretation from Rist, who is herself the central actor. Info: SKMU Sørlandets Kunstmuseum, Skippergata 24B, Kristiansand, Duration: 12/5-28/8/16, Days & Hours: Tue-Wed & Fri-Sat qq:00-16:00, Thu 11:00-20:00, Sun 12:00-16:00, http://skmu.no
In the exhibition “El Camino”, Rick Leong presents a series of paintings in respond in the flora and fauna of Ecuador. Each painting illustrates the moments experienced on this journey, becoming more fantastical through the subjectivity of memory. Leong’s practice encompasses hybrid landscapes drawn from direct experience, memory, and imagination, and is also informed by eastern and western painting traditions. The exhibition can be interpreted as a road trip, journey, path or way, and Leong’s work invites us to come along for the ride. Furthermore, in Leong’s paintings the landscape can be understood less as a definitive backdrop than a fluctuating environment in relation to subjects that are imbued with their own histories. Info: Parisian Laundry, 3550 St-Antoine West, Montreal, Duration: 13/5-11/6/16, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 12:00-17:00, www.parisianlaundry.com
The exhibition “Exquisite Corpse” is named after and based on the principle of the game invented by André Breton and the Surrealists in 1925 in Paris to liberate unconscious thought by means of random word and image associations. At first they played with poetic language, then it developed into collaborative drawings. The works are based on fragments, on the principle of collage, or on collaboration conjure the original surrealist spirit. But the exhibition itself should also be envisioned as an exquisite corpse. In this playful process, the same bodies are subject to new associations, giving rise to other, possibly more irrational, narratives. Info: Curator: Niklas Svennung, The Mistake Room, 1811 East 20th Street, Los Angeles, Duration: 14/5-2/7/16, Days & Hours: Wed-Sat 11:00-18:00, www.tmr.la
“Quasi Tutto” is the first museum survey of paintings and drawings by the Italian artist Giorgio Griffa. The exhibition at Serralves presents an expanded selection of 40 paintings and 50 drawings dating 1969-15. While his use of simple materials and gestures aligns him with the work of the Italian Arte Povera artists and the proponents of Supports/Surfaces in France who were his peers, his interest in the immediacy and performative dimension of painting as a time-based process was also inspired by Zen philosophy. The exhibition includes important works from the artist’s cycle of paintings known as “Alter Ego” that constitute a conceptual and intellectual dialogue with painters from Tintoretto to Matisse, Brice Marden and Agnes Martin. Info: Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, Rua D. João de Castro 210, Porto, Duration: 14/5-4/9/16, Days & Hours: Tue-Fri 10:00-19:00, Sat-sun 10:00-20:00, www.serralves.pt
Photo London (founded in 2015), was created to give London an international photography event befitting the city’s status as a global cultural capital. Photo London will showcase the work of 80 galleries, 10 more than at the inaugural event in 2015. For 2016’s edition, the exciting public programme supported presents specially-commissioned exhibitions from institutions and private collections, two new installations and a wide variety of book signings. The extensive talks programme is also scheduled to include renowned photographers Martin Parr, Nadav Kander and Rankin Don McCullin, will be the subject of a special exhibition of his work at Photo London. Info: Photo London 2016, Somerset House, Strand, London, Duration: 19-22/5/16, Days & Hours: Thu (19/5) 12:00-20:30, Fri (20/5) 12:00-19:30, Sat-Sun (21-22/5) 12:00-18:00, entrance Fee: Adult 27£, Child 4-16: 17,28£, Students or over 65: 21,60£, http://photolondon.org
In their new video installation “I Belong to the Ship”, Patrick Bernier & Olive Martin correlate the bodily attitudes of the visitors at the Memorial to the Abolition of Slavery in Nantes with those of the passengers on a Mediterranean cruise ship. While historical memory at the monument is made lighter by the visitors’ attitude, the haunting music score accompanying the cruise ship images demands instead a more contemplative reading. This creates an atmosphere that recalls scenes of historical sea trade, refugee traffic or class hierarchy, echoing long-term economical imbalance. Info: Curator: Heidi Ballet, CAPC Contemporary Art Museum Bordeaux, 7 rue Ferrère, Bordeaux, Duration: 21/5-4/9/16, Days & Hours: Tue & Thu-Sun 11:00-18:00, Wed 11:00-20:00, www.capc-bordeaux.fr