ART-TRIBUTE:Bruce Nauman-Disappearing Acts, Part I
Bruce Nauman is a central figure in Contemporary Art and one of the most influential artists of his time. Throughout his career, Nauman has continuously explored how ways of understanding ourselves in the world are structured by our phenomenological and psychological experience of time, space, sound, movement, and architecture, as well as by power relations and language (Part II).
By Efi Michalarou
Photo: MoMA Archive
The retrospective “Disappearing Acts” is first comprehensive retrospective in 25 years devoted to the work of American artist Bruce Nauman, Encompassing Nauman’s full career and featuring a total of 165 works, the exhibition occupies MoMA’s entire sixth floor and the whole of MoMA PS1. This joint presentation provides an opportunity to experience Nauman’s command of a wide range of mediums, from drawing, printmaking, photography, and sculpture to neon, performance, film and video, and architecturally scaled environments. Covering his entire career, from the earliest fully realized sculptures of 1965 to his most recent work, the exhibition provides an opportunity to experience Nauman’s command of a wide range of mediums, from drawing, printmaking, photography, and neon, to performance, video, film, sculpture, and large-scale installations, including “Days” (2009), a 14-channel sound installation for which Nauman won the Golden Lion for Best National Participation at the Venice Biennial in 2009. Over the decades, Bruce Nauman has repeatedly managed to assume a pioneering role, whether through his interest in the latest developments in media technology or by exploring contentious social issues. These are just some of the attributes that explain his special status in the contemporary art scene and contribute to his lasting relevance. The exhibition traces strategies of withdrawal in Nauman’s work, both literal and figurative incidents of removal, deflection, and concealment. With a keen eye, he investigates the experience of one’s own body and its relation to space. His works often have the character of simple laboratory tests or critical self-interrogations. The Retrospective marks the US premiere of two works: “Leaping Foxes” (2018), Nauman’s first large-scale sculptural work in more than a decade, and his 3-D video projection “Contrapposto Split” (2017). Shot in state-of-the-art 4K 120-fps 3-D, “Contrapposto Split” reinterprets the iconography of his seminal 1968 video “Walk with Contrapposto”. Another rarely seen work “Kassel Corridor (Elliptical Space)” (1972) is on view in New York for the first time. Few can match Nauman’s wide-ranging intellect, deadpan wit, or formal invention. The artist strips away extraneous ideas and materials until he finds the most pointed but modest way to express his themes. While his work is never overtly political, a persistent sense of urgency pervades, with the artist insisting the viewer “Pay attention” an admonition that appears in reverse on one of his prints. Nauman has said his real interest is in “Investigating the possibilities of what art may be” rather than in making objects. For well over 40 years he has invigorated his work by questioning the philosophical underpinnings that define and give shape to it. At a time when young artists routinely cross disciplinary boundaries and performance has found a central place in museums, it remains difficult to single out another sculptor who has worked for so long and so persuasively in so many mediums
Info: Curators: Kathy Halbreich, Heidi Naef, Isabel Friedli, and Taylor Walsh, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), 11 West 53 Street, New York, Duration: 21/10/18-21/2/19, Days & Hours: Mon-Thu & Sat-Sun 10:30-17:30, Fri 10:30-20:00, www.moma.org and MoMA PS1, 22-25 Jackson Avenue, Long Island City, New York, Duration: 21/10/18-21/2/19, Days & Hours: Mon & Thu-Sun 12:00-18:00, https://momaps1.org
