e Art Fair .com » Installation art

Art 42 Basel (2011)

e Art fair .com — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 11:38:00 +0000

It’s coming up: Art Basil – time. Time to book your ticket for Switzerland, if you haven’t yet, is today. The world league art show in Basil will start June 14, 2011, and continue till June 19. As per previous years, Art Basil has a wide range of contemporary art disciplines that it aims to showcase in unique ways every year. A frequent site of discovery by those seeking emerging artists, Art Statements features 27 one-person stands from rising galleries worldwide. Furthermore, exhibitors will present more than 50 ambitious works in the Art Unlimited sector. Bringing the show into the city, the site-specific projects and performances in the Art Parcours sector will transform a variety of locations throughout the St. Alban neighborhood.

The Art Basel ~ Art Film Program – Highlights

One of my favorite programs of Art Basel, the Art Film Program, will be on all week long. The Art Film program at Art 42 Basel features a varied program of films by and about artists, screened at the Stadtkino Basel.

The nightly program from Tuesday to Sunday, curated by film scholar Marc Glöde (Berlin), presents films by artists including Jennifer Bornstein, Anna Gaskell, Anthony McCall, Nathalie Djurberg, Agnieszka Polska, Huang Ran, Lawrence Weiner and Sam Samore.

On Wednesday evening, This Brunner, the Zurich film connaisseur, will present the Swiss premiere of the feature-length 3D documentary film’The Cave of Forgotten Dreams’ (2010) by Werner Herzog.

Another highlight will be the Swiss premiere of Lawrence Weiner’s film ‘Dirty Eyes’ (2010) on Friday, followed by a conversation with Lawrence Weiner.

See the Art Basel 42 detailed, day-by-day art film program overview below.

About Art Basel

The premier annual art show, Art Basel feels like the summer reunion of the international artworld scene. 300+ galleries from 35 countries showcase contemporary art work by 2,500+ interesting artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. Founded by a group of local gallerists, the first Art Basel took place in 1970 and the event has long ranked as the most prestigious annual art show worldwide.

Art Film | Program Overview

THURSDAY | June 16
10pm | Stadtkino Basel | Landscapes of/for Theatricality | The screening is followed by a conversation with Anna Gaskell.

SUNDAY | June 19
11am | Stadtkino Basel | Hallucinations/Paradise by Sam Samore

(image source: Galleri Bo Bjerggaard)

Art Film | Program Details
The Cave of Forgotten Dreams | 2010 | by Werner Herzog | 3D projection | Swiss Premiere, Running Time 95′
Since the Chauvet Cave’s discovery in 1994, access has been extremely restricted due to concerns that overexposure, even to human breath, could damage the priceless drawings. Only a small number of researchers have ever seen the art in person. Legendary film director Werner Herzog gains exclusive permission to film inside the Chauvet Caves of southern France, capturing the oldest known pictorial creations of humankind. Putting 3D technology to profound use, he takes us back over 30,000 years in time.
Curated by This Brunner

The screening on June 15 is followed by a conversation with Harald Floss, Professor and Author, and Film Historian Marcy Goldberg.
The screening on June 18 is followed by a conversation with Jürgen Wertheimer, Professor and Author, and Film Historian Marcy Goldberg.

Landscapes of/for Theatricality | Curated by Marc Glöde, Running Time 59′
The program addresses questions relating to theatricality in the landscape and the theatricality of the landscape. The screened works alternate between performances in landscapes and processes in which landscapes themselves become performative, raising questions about the relationship between body, image, and space.
Anna Gaskell | SOSW Ballet, 2011, 27’04” | Galerie Gisela Capitain
Chen Quilin | Garden, 2011, 14’36” | Long March Space
Huang Ran | Blithe Tragedy, 2010, 14’52” | Long March Space
Elina Brotherus | Bright, bright day, 2010, 2’19” | gb agency
Jennifer Bornstein | Frauenkörperbewegungsbilder, 2011, 5’15” | greengrassi
Anthony McCall | Landscape for Fire, 1972, 7’05” | Galerie Thomas Zander, Sprüth Magers
Anthony McCall | Landscape for White Squares, 1972, 1’45” | Galerie Thomas Zander
Anthony McCall | Earthwork, 1972, 1’45” | Galerie Thomas Zander
The screening on Tuesday, June 14, is followed by a conversation with Huang Ran.
The screening on Thursday, June 16, is followed by a conversation with Anna Gaskell.

Animated Worlds | Curated by Marc Glöde, Running Time 35′
This program brings together some of the most interesting new and historical trends in animated film. A cross-section of works ranging from clay animation to the latest developments in CAD demonstrates the diversity and aesthetic scope of the medium.
Keiichi Tanaami | Good-Bye Marilyn, 1971, 4’25” | Nanzuka Underground
Per Dybvig | Hunter Hare Dog, 2009-2010, 6’51” | Christine König Galerie
Magnus Wallin | Elements, 2011, 5′ | Galerie Nordenhake, Elastic Gallery
Agnieszka Polska | The Forgetting of Proper Names, 2009, 3’45” | ak Branicka foundation
Józef Robakowski | The Dynamic Rectangle, 1971, 3′ | ak Branicka foundation
Józef Robakowski | Attention: Light!, 2004, 5′ | ak Branicka foundation
Nathalie Djurberg | Untitled, 2010, 6′ 05”, Music by Hans Berg | Gió Marconi Gallery

Dirty Eyes | 2010 | by Lawrence Weiner | Swiss Premiere | Konrad Fischer Galerie, Mai 36 Galerie, Running Time 49′
Lawrence Weiner’s latest film, ‘Dirty Eyes,’ probes cinematic conditions per se. In conjunction with the conceptual text pieces that typify his work, cinematic images transmute into questions about the specific conditions of looking and seeing.
Curated by Marc Glöde
Both screenings are followed by a conversation with Lawrence Weiner and Art Film curator Marc Glöde.

Hallucinations/Paradise | 2010 | by Sam Samore | European Premiere | Galerie Gisela Capitain, Galerie Rodolphe Janssen, Running Time 70′
In his most recent film the American artist Sam Samore tells the story of three couples who have moved from other cities to Shanghai. Oscillating between reality and fiction, the story is told in a non-linear way and reminds the viewer of fragmented fairy tales or dream sequences. Samore describes ‘Hallucinations/Paradise’ as ‘a fable about everyday life, madness, love and Shanghai.’
Curated by Marc Glöde
The screening on Saturday, June 18, is followed by a conversation with Sam Samore and Art Film curator Marc Glöde.

Christo & Jeanne-Claude – Interview, Environmental Art, Gates

e Art fair .com — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 17:00:28 +0000

Large-scale public art installations are conceptually and aesthetically daunting to produce. However, that is the easy part when compared to the physical labor and the public lobby involved to obtain permits, privileges and community consent. Ask Christo ~ arguably the most visible and widely known public artist alive today.

Project for the Gates, IV

Christo

The husband-and-wife collaborators and renowned environmental artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude have tackled monumental-size art installations in man-made and natural environments. And they have been for three decades. They know.

In Europe, Christo & Jeanne-Claude commanded fame, if not fortune, by fabric wrapping architectural landmarks in fabric,such as the Reichstag in Berlin, and the Pont Neuf in Paris. Besides grants, the preparatory drawings and associated materials and photo books produced by the artists usually fund future projects. The renderings by the artists of their installations are considered art objects in and by themselves.

The Gates, Project for Central Park, …

Christo

Examples of their work in the US include the twenty-four-mile fence of nylon that lined through California’s Sonoma and Marin counties. And of course, the more recent Gates Project in Central Park in New York City. The Gates Project involved 7,500 gateways clad with saffron-colored synthetic fabric, covering twenty-three miles of park walkways.

In this interview Christo and Jeanne-Claude talk about about the Gates Project in particular, as well as about their artistic endeavors, and the challenges of living and working together in New York in general.

Free Video Interview with Christo & Jeanne-Claude on their Art

While monumental in scale and ambition, these projects undermine the notion of the solitary, heroic artistic genius; they are temporary, leaving no permanent mark on the sites, and their existence is owed to the collective efforts of hundreds of workers.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude typically engage in lengthy campaigns to persuade myriad public-interest groups, private landowners, and municipal and state authorities in order to win permission for their projects. This social process is central to their work; the pair proposes a fundamentally democratic vision of art, one that moves beyond the walls of the museum and into the space of the community to engage the widest possible audience.

Talking about the art of lobbying… one has to have a long term perspective. The Gates Project was originally conceived in 1979. Then, the installation was finally granted permission by the city in 2003. The completed installation was on view for sixteen days in February 2005.

Art Books

To learn more, here are some recommended books on Christo & Jeanne-Claude’s Gates Project, and on their international public art projects.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude: On the Way to The Gates, Central Park, New York City (Metropolitan Museum of Art Series)

Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Through the Gates and Beyond

Christo and Jeanne-Claude: International Projects

Pamela Z’s Pendulum

e Art fair .com — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 05:02:31 +0000

Pamela Z will perform her new work The Pendulum – a song cycle/performance work exploring binaries of “Yes and No” through voice, electronics, projected video and manipulation of objects at the Royce Gallery in San Francisco in California from 27-29 of June, 2008.

The Pendulum is a solo multi-media performance work exploring binaries of “Yes and No” through voice, electronics, projected video and manipulation of objects. Using a minimal set large including dangling objects, and two channels of projected video, Pamela Z performs a series of art songs and text-sound pieces with live voice, real-time processing, and sampled voices and sounds.

About the inspiration for the work, the artist says:
“When I was growing up, my mother often wrote long lists of questions about things that concerned her. She would then dangle a small object -such as a needle, key, or trinket- on a thread and divine yes or no answers from the direction of its swinging – systematically writing the answers next to each question. Now in her advanced years, I have found that she amassed a great deal of documentation of her consultations with the pendulum for answers to questions both monumental and insignificant. A few years ago, while helping her to move, I discovered veritable reams of such pages- hand-written and typed. These papers chronicle a portion family history – albeit through my mother’s rather distressed and confused filter.”

Some of the language from these pages finds its way into The Pendulum as a mesh of vocal texture throughout it’s visually rich and sonically layered segments.

Pamela Z is a fabulous San Francisco-based composer/performer and audio artist who works primarily with voice, live electronic processing, and sampling technology. Her performances are kind of ‘sound installations’ that have much in common with a visit to a contemporary museum ~ provocative, interesting and thoroughly unique.

She creates solo works combining operatic bel canto and experimental extended vocal techniques with found percussion objects, spoken word, digital processing, and a MIDI controller called The BodySynth™ (which allows her to manipulate sound with physical gestures.) In addition to her solo work, she has composed and recorded scores for dance, theatre, film, and new music chamber ensembles.

Her large-scale multi-media works have been presented at Theater Artaud and ODC in SanFrancisco and at The Kitchen in New York, and her audio works have been presented in exhibitions at the Whitney Museum in New York and the Diözesanmuseum in Cologne. Her multi-media opera Wunderkabinet – based on the Museum of Jurassic Technology (created in collaboration with Matthew Brubeck and Christina McPhee) has been presented at The LAB Gallery (San Francisco) in 2005 and at REDCAT (Disney Hall, Los Angeles) in 2006.

Pamela Z has toured extensively throughout the US, Europe, and Japan. She has performed in numerous festivals including Bang on a Can at Lincoln Center in New York, the Interlink Festival in Japan, the Other Minds Festival in San Francisco, Pina Bausch Tanztheater Festival in Wuppertal, Germany, and La Biennale di Venezia in Italy.

She is the recipient of numerous awards including a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Creative Capital Fund, the CalArts Alpert Award in the Arts, the ASCAP Music Award, and the NEA and Japan/US Friendship Commission Fellowship.

The Pendulum was made possible through grants from the San Francisco Art Commission and the Zellerbach Family Foundation.

To better understand what Pamela Z is about, here is a clip of a multi-media performance work by Pamela Z, ‘Gaijin’ which explores the concept of ‘foreignness’, or what it’s like to be a Western foreigner in Japan.

American Conceptual Artist Barbara Kruger Probes Your Views

e Art fair .com — Sat, 10 May 2008 05:37:18 +0000

Barbara Kruger juxtaposes mass media photographs with biting slogans. Her art both questions and condemns mass media’s ways of control self-identity, desire, and public opinion.

In their trademark black letters against red background, her slogans are instantly recognizable. Much of her often razor-sharp text questions the viewer about feminism, classicism, consumerism, and individual autonomy and desire, although her black-and-white images are taken from the popular magazines that promote the very ideas that Barbara Kruger is disputing. Examples are: “Your body is a battleground” and “You are not Yourself”.

Besides showing around the world in museums & galleries, Kruger’s work has appeared on billboards, t-shirts, bus cards, posters, a public park, a train station platform in Strasbourg, France, and in other public commissions.

“Distinctively feminist in orientation, the work also examines how gender difference is reinforced through media presentation. Traditionally, women have been displayed in film and advertising as objects of desire for the male viewer. The exception occurs when women are targeted by the media as consumers; only then do they become subjects, but merely as patrons of desirable images of themselves.”

“Kruger brings the issue of gender identification into question through her ambiguous use of the neutral pronouns “I,” “you,” and “we” in her phrases, such as the following: YOUR GAZE HITS THE SIDE OF MY FACE; YOU MAKE HISTORY WHEN YOU DO BUSINESS; YOU INVEST IN THE DIVINITY OF THE MASTERPIECE; WHEN I HEAR THE WORD CULTURE, I TAKE OUT MY CHECKBOOK. ” 2)

Who speaks? Who is silent? Who is seen? Who is absent? These questions focus on how cultures are constructed through pictures and words, how we are seduced into a world of appearances: into a pose of who we are and aren’t.

After Syracuse School of Visual Arts and Parson’s School of Design, Kruger commenced a career in graphic design, working on magazines like, Mademoiselle, House and Garden, Aperture, and other publications. This background in design is evident in the work for which she is now internationally renowned.

Born 1945, Newark, New York, USA. The artist lives and works in Los Angeles and New York. She has taught at the California Institute of Art, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and the University of California, Berkeley.

Sources:
1) BarbaraKruger.com
2) Nancy Spector at GuggenheimCollection.org