ART NEWS:May 02

The group exhibition “A Temporary Futures Institute” wants us to think critically about things to come rather than looking back at how previous periods imagined “the future.” How shall exhibitions stimulate our thinking? Must they become immersive environments to lure us away from our screens? How autonomous will art and artists be in relation to the rest of the world? The exhibition combines visual displays by professional futurists with works (mostly new works premiered here) by contemporary artists, to see what these two contexts might have in common and how they might question each other. The exhibition is composed around the “Four futures” that Professor Jim Dator of the University of Hawaii proposed in the late /60s. He identified “continued growth,” “collapse,” “discipline” and “transformation” as generic images we may use to envision preferred futures. Info: Curators: Anders Kreuger and Dr Maya Van Leemput, Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp (M HKA), Leuvenstraat 32. Antwerp, Duration: 28/4-17/9/17, Days & Hours: Tue-Wed & Fri-Sun 11:00-18:00, Thu 11:00-21:00, www.muhka.be

“Sun Road” manifests Ahmet Güneştekin’s talent in a variety of mediums, from optic and dimensional paintings and patchwork quilts to his most recent forays in sculpture, and shows the way he imagines ancient elements of mythologies and religions in an acutely intricate and bright context. Combining mixed media items like concave mirrors and metal cages with optical illusions and color gradients, Güneştekin forges a unique space steeped in mythologies that have prevailed for centuries. His uses of symbolism influenced by ancient mythologies and religions and his treatment of iconography of objects make his art simultaneously ancient and modern. From his interventions into patchwork quilts to his hybrid use of metal and mirrors in wall reliefs and optic paintings, Sun Road gives focus to different chapters of his artistic career. Info: Curator: Christoph Tannert, Galerie Michael Schultz, Mommsenstraße 34, Berlin, Duration: 29/4-20/5/17, Days & Hours: Tue-Fri 10:00-19:00, Sat 10:00-14:00, www.schultzberlin.com

The exhibition “Erick Meyenberg: The wheel bears no resemblance to a leg” is the artist’s first solo show in New York. The project is the end result of the artist’s collaboration with members of the high school marching band, Banda de Guerra Lobos, at the Colegio Hispanoamericano in Mexico City. The artist and the teenagers, together with teachers, curators, musicians, composers, choreographers, costume designers, and a video production team—co-created choreographies, musical scores, and a series of performances that took the band through some of the city’s most emblematic and politically marked sites: the Plaza de Tlatelolco, where striking university students clashed with the state in 1968; the Monumento a la Revolución, commemorating the Mexican Revolution of 1910; and the Forum Buenavista shopping center, symbolizing Mexico’s embeddedness in transnational capitalism. Info: Curator: Curator Gabriela Rangel and Lucía Sanromán, Americas Society, 680 Park Avenue, New York, Duration: 4/5-22/7/17, Days & Hours:  Wed-Sat 11:00-18:00, www.as-coa.org

Albania will be the hosting country of “Mediterranea 18 Young Artists Biennale”, a multidisciplinary exhibition that takes place once in two years in a different location in Europe. For the first time, the Ministry of Culture of Albania organizes an international exhibition that brings together more than 230 international contemporary young artists in the city of Tirana and Durrës. The theme of Mediterranea 18 is “History + Conflict + Dream + Failure = HOME” and much more than a simple equation, Zeneli’s curatorial concept describes why HOME is themed around four elements: “History, intending the archive of the unaccountable number of individual stories, recorded or forgotten. Conflict, to consider the way we share homes. Dream as the project of home, as the fundamental human right to be free to choose and desire our real or imaginary home. Failure as the inner resistance of the various attempts, transformed along the way in search for the dream home”. Info: Artistic Director: Driant Zeneli, Curators: Jonida Turani, Maja Ćirić, Ema Andrea, Maria Rosa Sossai, Alban Nimani, Rubin Beqo and Eroll Bilibani, Mediterranea 18, Tirana-Durrës, Albania, Duration 5-28/5/17, www.mediterraneabiennial.org

“Backseat Boulevard” is a continuation of Chia-En Jao’s interest in historical remnants and their reproduction in modern-day society. In addressing these issues, the artist unfolds different interpretations of history, questioning the established, official versions produced by the nation-state and media. This exhibition comprises three works, including “Taxi” (2016. Adopting a documentary style and a cinematic language, the video chronicles the conversations between the artist and cab drivers as they took him around Taipei to various locations that significant historical events took place, mapping the hidden contours of the geographical, historical, and ideological landscape of Taipei. The second piece is a series of watercolor works on paper through which the artist contests history, and examines how history is being perused or traded, and weighs aesthetics against morality. Another piece is a video installation that grapples with the changing state of symbols and icons by documenting the process of a shrine being fenling from Japan and reconstructed in 2015. Info: TKG+, B1, No. 15, Ln. 548, Ruiguang Rd., Neihu Dist., Taipei, Duration: 6/5-25/6/17, Days & Hours: Tue-Sun 11:00-19:00, www.tinakenggallery.com

Mark Tobey’s creates structured compositions, inspired by Asian calligraphy, resemble Abstract expressionism, although the motives for his compositions differ philosophically from most Abstract Expressionist painters. Along with Guy Anderson, Kenneth Callahan, Morris Graves, and William Cumming, Tobey was a founder of the Northwest School. “Threading Light” is the first comprehensive exhibition of Mark Tobey’s distinctive and original work in more than forty years and provides further insight into his intriguing oeuvre and its complicated and contradictory receptions in the United States and abroad. Curated by independent scholar Debra Bricker Balken, the exhibition includes 80 paintings from the late ‘20s until his last works of the ‘70s. Info: Debra Bricker Balken, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, Dorsoduro 701, Venice, Duration: 6/5-10/9/17, Days & Hours: Daily 10:00-18:00, www.guggenheim-venice.it

The exhibition “Philip Guston and The Poets” explores  the artist’s oeuvre in relation to critical literary interpretation. In a spirit reflective of how Guston himself cultivated the sources of his inspiration, considers the ideas and writings of major 20th century poets as catalysts for his enigmatic pictures and visions. Featuring works that span a 50-year period in Guston’s artistic career, the exhibition includes 50 major paintings and 25 prominent drawings dating from 1930 until his death in 1980. The exhibition draws parallels between the essential humanist themes reflected in these works, and the language of five poets: D. H. Lawrence, W. B. Yeats, Wallace Stevens, Montale and T. S. Eliot.  As a young muralist, his earliest influences were the frescoes of the Italian Renaissance masters, and his love of Italian painting persisted throughout his career. The exhibition is organized in thematic groupings, each corresponding to selected writings and poems by one of the five poets. Info: Curator: Prof. Dr. Kosme de Barañano, Gallerie dell’Accademia di Venezia, Rio Terà de la Carità, 1050, Venice, Duration: 10/5-3/9/17, Days & Hours: Mon 8:15-14:00, Tue-sun 8:15-19:15, www.gallerieaccademia.org

The group exhibition “Glasstress” brings together 33 contemporary artists in an ambitious exhibition exploring the endless creative possibilities of glass. Conceived by Fondazione Berengo, the project will take place in two exceptional historic locations: Palazzo Franchetti in Venice and “The Unplayed Notes Factory”, a solo exhibition by Loris Gréaud in Murano. The 2017 edition of Glasstress presents an impressive line-up of artists including Ai Weiwei, Jan Fabre, Abdulnasser Gharem, Alicja Kwade, Paul McCarthy, Laure Prouvost, Ugo Rondinone, Thomas Schütte and Sarah Sze. With little or no prior experience working with glass, these artists have embraced the challenge of creating extraordinary works in this very delicate medium in collaboration with Muranese artisans. The remarkable output of this unusual encounter defies the stereotypes associated with this ancient craft, ultimately pushing the boundaries of both contemporary art and glass. Info: Curators: Dmitry Ozerkov, Herwig Kempinger and Adriano Berengo, Palazzo Franchetti, San Marco, Venice 2847, Duration: 11/5-26/11/17, Days & Hours: Daily 10:00-18:30 & Berengo Exhibition Space, Campiello della Pescheria, Murano, Venice, Duration 11/5-26/11/17, Days & Hours: Sat-Mon 13:00-16:00, http://glasstress.it

Viviane Sassen presents her photographic project titled “UMBRA”. Sassen is one of the world’s leading photographers at this moment. Especially for the House of Photography-Deichtorhallen Hamburg, she has made a new series of works that focus on the play of light and shadow that is so characteristic of her work. Sassen supplements this series with previously unseen images from her archives. “UMBRA” is presented as one large spatial installation. The human figure, the body and the pose are major classical-artistic themes in her work. However, her play with realism and abstraction, which confuses our perception and leaves meanings open, is very modern. Sassen compels us to reflect on the realistic character of photography, which emphasizes the spectacular and poetic aspects of her work. Info: House of Photography/Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Deichtorstr. 1-2, Hamburg, Duration: 13/5-20/8/17, Days & Hours: Tue-Sun 11:00-18:00, www.deichtorhallen.de

In 1291, the Venetian Senate forced Venice’s glass blowers to settle on Murano island in order to protect the secrecy of glass-making processes. Each glass furnace on Murano has jealously guarded its trade secrets ever since. The same applied to the Campiello della Pescheria glass furnace. Despite being shut down for the last 60 years, a strange atmosphere still prevails in this building which seems haunted by the memory of those who once occupied the place. Loris Gréaud in her solo exhibition “The Unplayed Notes Factory” brings the factory back to life for duration of the 57th Venice Biennale. On this occasion, the former glass furnace has secretly revived and plays host to a whole new trade: an unofficial production line which is thought to conceal the mysterious vitrification of hourglass sand, with an almost alchemical ambition to crystallise time. Info: Curator: Nicolas Bourriaud, Fondazione Berengo, Campiello della Pescheria, Murano, Venice, Duration: 13/5-26/11/17, Days & Hours: Sat-Mon 13:00-16:00, http://theunplayednotesfactory.com