17/09/2012

Thomas Demand’s Manipulation of Reality

Thomas Demand’s Manipulation of Reality

Fact and fiction. Even if photography and cinema are supposed to be the more suitable means to record and convey reality, capturing transitory situations, we should know by now that the camera is not necessary synonymous for objective form of representation. This subject, in the age of mediated images, has already been investigated in depth to reveal the actual mechanism of constructing fictional scenes from the real world – it is understood that what we see through the lens of the new and old media frames cannot be taken for granted, but needs to be investigated to evaluate its reliability.

The versatile German artist Thomas Demand (b. 1964, Munich), combining video, sculpture, photography and architecture, builds complex stages that play with reality and illusion, making us linger over the ways in which the reality could be manipulated. Using paper and cardboard, and starting from images “stolen” by mass media, Demand assembles 1:1 dioramas, without human beings, and shoots them with telescopic lens that enhances their verisimilitude. Privileged places where unclear political events and unsolved news items took place – circumstances that remain in collective memory, surrounded by an air of mystery – the artist leaves visible traces of his making of: tiny imperfections such as pencil marks here and there or small wrinkles in the paper. After the shooting the models are destroyed, while the final results are neutral, frozen, hyper realistic and definitely unsettling pictures.

Among the most intriguing works by Demand we mention the Büro/Office (1995) that shows the Stasi headquarters after they were ransacked after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Presidency (2008), the Oval Office of the American president after the presidential election (the one after which G. W. Bush left his chair to Mr. Obama), Kontrollraum/Control Room (2011), where he displays the interior view of the control room of the atomic reactor Fukushima, deserted soon after the earthquake, and the latest Pacific Sun (2012), a two-minute-long film made by 2.400 frames, where the artist recreated, thanks to the footage of a surveillance camera, the chaos of a turbulent sea condition on a cruise ship.

At present, works by Thomas Demand are on view at four exhibitions: Thomas Demand, Peter Fischli / David Weiss, Thomas Scheibitz, the group show among the collateral events of the 13th International Architecture Exhibition, More real? Art in the age of truthiness at Site in Santa Fe until 6th January 2013, Model Studies at Esther Schipper, and last but not least, Demand’s first solo show at Monika Sprüth and Philomene Magers’s Berlin gallery, which will run until 20th October 2012.


Monica Lombardi – Images courtesy of Sprüth & Magers Gallery

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11/09/2012

Arefin & Arefin: The Graphic Design of Tony Arefin

Arefin & Arefin: The Graphic Design of Tony Arefin

That graphic design and art often speak the same language has been an obvious point in different stages in history. Since the initial developments of what has now become a socially and culturally affirmed discipline, graphic design has been both used by artists as a tool for conveying their ideas, as well as a mean by which their work was communicated to the public through a concrete form of a poster, a book or other printed matter. As a direct consequence there have been, and still are, some graphic designers that have found their natural habitat working within the realm of the art world.


One of those practitioners was surely Tony Arefin (1962-2000), who’s work is at the centre of an exhibition at Ikon Gallery in Birmingham. Inaugurating tomorrow, the 12th of September, the show titled “Arefin & Arefin: The Graphic Design of Tony Arefin”, curated by James Langdon, finally pays homage to one of the most talented and slightly overlooked graphic designers involved with the art world. Tony Arefin, born in Pakistan as Abed Mohhamed Arefi, drew his path into the art domain first by working as photo editor for several magazines, which led him to organize a show of Neville Brody’s work for The Face magazine, and consequently brought him to design different art catalogues. Under the name “Arefin & Arefin”, deliberately playing with the names of huge corporate branding firms, Tony has worked for institutions and artists like Serpentine Gallery, ICA, Damien Hirst, Douglas Gordon, Cornelia Parker, Jasper Morrison and Adrian Piper, among many others, before moving to New York to work as creative director of I.D. Magazine.


Even though Arefin worked in the United States for large corporate organizations such as IBM or Nike, the widespread idea of his work still remains tightly bound to art publishing, where his ‘bold visual language, irreverent use of photography and striking typography’ act most strongly.
 The exhibition, accompanied by a catalog with essays by some of the most influential design critics and historians, will run until the 4th of November at Ikon Gallery, Birmingham.

Rujana Rebernjak

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10/09/2012

Let’s START

Let’s START

Milanese art people are in ferment. For ten days, thanks to StartMilano – the non-profit association that gathers together some of the most important local galleries, museums and institutions – everything in the city will revolve around art. The umbrella event, founded in 2006 to give more dynamism to the Milan contemporary art scene, will run from 13th to 23rd September offering a myriad of exhibitions, talks, projections, parties and so on and so forth.

Our tip to get the most out of it, is to catch a map of the city and the full programme of openings and cultural activities to pinpoint the places of interest. This way you’ll be ready to set up your tour avoiding wasting time and energy being on the trot. But don’t forget that if you are not an “openings’ addict” and your interest is all focused on visiting good art shows, you could choose to concentrate all the visits during the last weekend, enjoying the extended opening time and the extra Sunday openings. No stress.

The ‘dances’ will begin on Tuesday at around 6pm, and for those who don’t know which way to turn, here we give you some glimpses (chosen according to the date of inauguration). From the first day of the festival, Camera 16 will propose a joint exhibition entitled Fashionality that displays, among the others, the talented photographers Màrton Perlaki and Brea Sauders; the same evening in the Navigli district, Le Casa d’Arte will present Rosemarie Trockel’s solo show Prisoners of Yourself, while Saturday 15th all eyes will be locked on the great artist Anselm Kiefer at Lia Rumma.


Just a small break to warm up for the following week that will start at Museo Pecci Milano with a selection of videos from China: Moving Image in China 1988 – 2011; then the exhibition by Rob Pruitt Faces: People and Pandas at Massimo De Carlo on the 19th; and the gallery evening which will take place on Thursday 20th all around the city. During the official opening day it would be worthwhile going to Porta Venezia – an area that gathers a high concentration of contemporary art galleries – and take a look at the historical gallery Studio d’Arte Cannaviello for Bernd Zimmer’s exhibition and to the experimental space of Galleria Zero for Michael E. Smith (or if you like it more, for Riccardo Beretta’s finissage).

We don’t want to keep this tour overlong, so let’s add just two more suggestions: Dan Perjovschi at Kaufmann Repetto Gallery and Paolo Chiasera at Francesca Minini, before getting to the usual closing party, which will be hosted, as in the last few years, at the Swiss Institute.

The full program of the event is available online, while an info point will be at visitors’ disposal at Villa Reale (Via Palestro) along with a special section devoted to independent publishers and a shuttle service, which will drive art lovers around the Milan galleries circuit.

Monica Lombardi – Many thanks to ch2

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03/09/2012

Moving Images in Venice

Moving Images in Venice

There are no doubts: the powerful French patron François Pinault, tycoon of the international fashion system, is one of the most influential – thus controversial – figure of the contemporary art world of the last decade. Some years ago Mr. Pinault, giving way to the lagoon city’s charm, set up home for his art pieces at the neoclassical Palazzo Grassi in Venice and opened the doors of an extraordinary collection that put together works of all the greatest artists of the 20th and 21st century. The exhibition space has since become an artistic hub, hosting thematic temporary shows arranged by international renowned curators, such as the latest exhibition La voce delle immagini (The voice of the images), curated by Caroline Bourgeois, opened simultaneously with the 13th international Architecture Biennale (29th August – 25th November 2012) and the 69th Venice International Film Festival (29th August – 8th September 2012).


In the current shows everything talks about and around moving images – the strict connection to movies seems to be a constant of this city. The works of twenty-five artists, on display in the hall and on the first floor of the building, investigate the relationship between visual plasticity of human body and its fragile existence, between documentation and the mystery of unknown facts, all through the exploitation of different media (film, installation, audio/video art).

This is the case of the video/sound installation Hall of Whispers (1995) by Bill Viola: ten B/W close-ups of men and women surrounded by a darkness and uncertain atmosphere from which only whispers come. In Uomoduomo (2000), the video projection presented by Anri Sala, an old and weak man (perhaps a homeless one) sleeps on a bench of the Duomo in Milano among Cathedral’s indifferent visitors; while the Man depicted by the Israeli artist Yael Bartana in A Declaration (2006) is a sort of pioneer of the reconciliation armed with an olive tree, which will replace an Israel flag waving on an Andromeda’s rock, which immediately reminds a poetic reflection on national symbols and the conflict between Israel and Palestine.

Beyond giving an excursus of the contemporary video art, the exhibition is the occasion to present, for the first time in Europe, the remarkable work by the American physicist/mathematician/artist Bruce Nauman entitled For Beginners (all the combinations of the thumb and fingers), purchased by François Pinault in 2011.

Among the other artists on view: Adel Abdessemed, Peter Aerschmann, Mohamed Bourouissa, Paul Chan, Liu Da Hong, Yang Fudong, Cao Fei, Peter Fischli e David Weiss, Michel François, Abdulnasser Gharem, Johan Grimonprez, Hassan Khan, Taro Izumi, Cameron Jamie, Zoe Leonard, Shirin Neshat, William Pope L., Javier Tellez and Mark Wallinger.

La voce delle immagini will run until 13th January 2013 at Palazzo Grassi, while at Punta della Dogana the show Elogio del dubbio (In praise of doubt) will be on view until 31st December 2012.

Monica Lombardi – Special thanks to Paola C. Manfredi Studio

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06/08/2012

Summer’s End at St.Moritz Art Masters

Summer’s End at St.Moritz Art Masters

The Upper Engadin is an inimitable mix of sun, mountains, lakes and parks. A natural paradise with a landscape that leaves you breathless, where relaxing, doing sports, but also enjoying a cosmopolitan atmosphere is everyday pleasure. For five years now this beautiful region, besides the wonders of nature, proposes a festival devoted to art and culture named St. Moritz Art Masters (SAM). The initiative, conceived by the versatile Monty Shadow – photographer, international event-maker, marketing manager and creative advisor of many luxury brands – and curated by Reiner Opoku, offers 35 free exhibitions scattered around the region also thanks to its parterre of notable “partners in Art”: Bank Julius Baer, Cartier and Mercedes-Benz.


Museums, cultural institutions, well-known international galleries, traditional 5-star hotels as well as public squares will host the shows of 42 contemporary artists coming from all around the world. Special guest of this anniversary edition will be Brazilian art and culture; among the representatives, in addition to the writer Paulo Coelho, one for all, the great artist Vik Muniz.

The works of the Swiss duo Lutz & Guggisberg, Tom Sachs, Mimmo Rotella, Hamish Fulton, Bettina Rheims, Albert Watson and many more will be on view from 24th August to 2nd September along with a tight programme of collateral events. One event especially worth of mentioning is the photography workshop held by Steve McCurry and the Engadin Art Talks/E.A.T. led by – no less than – Hans Ulrich Obrist (co-director of the Serpentine Gallery London) and Beatrix Ruf (director of the Kunsthalle Zurich).


The synergic union between art and nature seems to be very fruitful, and here in the Upper Engadin it finds year by year new followers among international art players and lovers. But since it’s widely known that St. Moritz is synonymous throughout the world with chic, elegance and for the snobs, we want to introduce you another project, which – maybe without SAM’s glamour allure and with a more genuine concept – involves the words Art and Nature. Dolomiti Contemporanee, visual art lab on location is an experiment of sharing, founded almost one year ago by young and willing people who by exploiting the idea of artist residences aim at discovering places surrounded by marvelous natural landscapes, creating a network of cultural exchange.

We’ll get back to DC very soon. In the meantime we wish you a happy art summer because we know: from Manifesta to Kassel; from Kassel to Basel; from Basel to St. Moritz and from there to Dolomiti, art spinning tops never stop!

Monica Lombardi

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30/07/2012

I Vespri | Civic Forum In Five Acts

I Vespri | Civic Forum In Five Acts

From 24th to 25th August 2012 Modica (Province of Ragusa, Sicily) will be the venue of an exhibition which will turn the town in a urban theatre where artists, inhabitants and visitors will play together. Drawing inspiration from Verdi’s drama of 19th century I Vespri Siciliani (The Sicilian vespers) – based on the historical event of Sicilians revolt against French domination in 1282 –, the show entitled I Vespri. Civic Forum In Five Acts will be developed in five acts, assuming the form of a public discussion; a place to take up with people coming from all the Mediterranean areas with the aim of putting on stage an opera between past and present, local and global. Artists from Lebanon, Libya, Israel, Egypt, Croatia, Cyprus, France and also from Italy will meet in Modica to get in touch with the local habits and customs and give birth to a contemporary ritual with an ancient taste: a 24 hours non-stop performative event that will start at dusk – the vesper is the prayer of setting sun, one of the oldest and major rites of Catholic Church – and finish at the same hour of the day after. Keeping an eye on traditional forms of local collective rituality, the exhibition will tackle with current social issues of North Africa and Middle East, mixing tradition and recent documents and interlacing history and cultural stratifications.


The invited artists, under Marco Scotini’s supervision and the collaboration of local people and associations, will show their works in different locations around the town, among which Garibaldi theatre, Palazzo Tommasi Rosso Tedeschi, St. Peter’s Church and St. George’s Cathedral.

Roy Samaha (Lebanon, 1978) will present Transparent Evil (2011) a 27 minutes film, which represents a sort of artist’s diary of his time in Cairo, featuring the events of Egyptian revolution, while the French filmmaker Eric Baudelaire will show The Anabasis of May and Fusako Shigenobu, Masao Adachi and 27 years without images, a story of hiding and revolution, the report of two lives set between Tokio and Beirut. The other emerging or already internationally known artists who will take part to this heterogeneous artistic event, sharing and exchanging their personal and unique experiences, will be Wael Noureddine (Lebanon, 1978), Adelita Husny-Bey (Italy-Libya, 1985), Stefanos Tsivopoulos (Greece, 1973), Amir Yatziv (Israel, 1972), Igor Grubic (1969), Celine Condorelli (Italy-UK, 1974), Marianna Chrisofides (Cyprus, 1980) and the duo of French filmmakers Jean-Marie Straub (1933) and Danièle Huillet (1936-2006).


Monica Lombardi – Images courtesy of the artists

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27/07/2012

Skyscraper: Art and Architecture Against Gravity

Skyscraper: Art and Architecture Against Gravity

Skyscrapers have always been so much more than pieces of architecture. In the modernist culture skyscrapers have stood for belief in prosperity, innovation and a better future as the symbols of power and enormous possibilities the world shaped by man could achieve. These incredible building structures that have for almost two centuries involved the most illuminated minds in architecture, engineering, art and design are being celebrated with an exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago.

The exhibition titled “Skyscraper: Art and Architecture Against Gravity” tries to show the impact this iconic artefact has had in our contemporary society. The myth of the sky and the possibilities of men to reach it through artificial means have inspired not only the imagination and poetics of architects, but also artist from all over the world. These artists have taken as subject the form, technology, message, symbology and image of the skyscrapers as the central idea and subject of their work. Even though years have passed since the first concrete structures have reached meters and meters above ground, the skyscrapers, highly mechanical but also extremely elusive structures, still continue to play with our imagination.

The artist showcased in the exhibition are Fikret Atay, Jennifer Bolande, Roger Brown, Jeff Carter, Roe Ethridge, Jonathan Horowitz, Bodys Isek Kingelez, Claes Oldenburg, Gabriel Orozco, Thomas Struth, Jan Tichy, Andy Warhol, Peter Wegner, Wesley Willis and Shizuka Yokomizo, among others.

While currently many Western and Eastern cities continue to fight over who will build the next ’world’s highest building’ in search for technological domination and cultural glory, Chicago still remains one of the most important sights on the skyscrapers map. Hence, this exhibition, in some way, certainly plays homage both to this incredible piece of architecture, as well as the city of Chicago where it is being hosted.

Skyscraper: Art and Architecture Against Gravity runs until the 23rd of September at Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago.

Rujana Rebernjak – Images courtesy of Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago

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23/07/2012

Reading Ed Ruscha at Kunsthaus Bregenz

Reading Ed Ruscha at Kunsthaus Bregenz

Ed Ruscha is surely one of those super-star art names you may hear quite often even outside the highly selective art world. Born in 1937 and living in California, Ruscha is one of the most elusive contemporary artists. Even though he is commonly associated with the pop-art movement, his work doesn’t actually fit any precise category. Perhaps that is precisely why we were instantly attracted by the equivocal title of his latest exhibition.

Entitled Reading Ed Ruscha the exhibition was specially conceived by the artist for Kunsthaus Bregenz. The show’s main interest is to give an interpretation of Ed Ruscha’s work in ‘generating meaning’ through writing and language. Even though speaking about writing and Ruscha may immediately lead you to think about his book-works, namely the notorious “Twenty-Six Gasoline Stations” or “Every Building on Sunsent Strip”, these are actually not the most significant ones as far as words and language are concerned. Reading Ed Ruscha tries to explore the significance of writing in Ruscha’s work through a vast array of media – drawing, photo-gravure, book, film, photography and painting, with the obvious attention to the book through the act of “reading”.

Among these media, a special attention has been given to his book-objects, which play with the idea of the book as a picture, while still retaining its status as an object and thus creating a tension and play between the content itself and the artwork on the cover. Some of the works displayed are “The End”, “O Books”, “Oh No” and “Pep” books. Reading Ed Ruscha tries to show how the artist cleverly ‘dramatizes the relation of text and image, signifier and signified’.

Reading Ed Ruscha, the artist’s first institutional solo exhibition in Austria is running until the 24th of October at Kunsthaus Bregenz.

Rujana Rebernjak

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20/07/2012

Heath Ceramics Summer Shop and Show

Heath Ceramics Summer Shop and Show

Even though you may not be into arts&crafts, you have to admit that design is and will always be part of your everyday life. Some things, besides being incredibly beautiful, are also fundamentally necessary and utterly useful for our daily experiences. 
One of those things are ceramics, which can be a tricky subject to handle as pottery is a mastery that often merges with art. That is why choosing to speak about a specific manufacturer among a long list of quality producers could have been a though decision, if we hadn’t found Heath Ceramics.

Founded in 1948 by Edith Heath, the company has a 60-year-old history based on a strong belief in beautifully crafted objects. But besides that, Mrs. Heath also believed in simplicity and innovation, thus creating ceramics that can be produced at a lower temperature, which allows saving energy while producing a durable and non-porous product. Through years, Heath Ceramics has become known for the simplicity of its products – functional and thoughtfully designed tableware and tile.

Besides being fully engaged with their small, partially hand-made production, Heath Ceramics also dedicates itself to promoting other excellences in the world of design and ceramics. Hence, you can often find their Los Angeles and the new San Francisco showrooms dedicated to pop-up shops and exhibitions. This time, Heath has paired with Starnet, a Japanese manufacturer, for a summer shop that features designs made by its founder Baba Koshi and the Starnet workshop. In the same time, the newly opened San Francisco showroom is featuring the work of Akio Nuraga in the exhibition titled “Very New Work”, showing the artist’s hand-thrown pots and vessels.

If you’re in California and don’t mind a six hour drive between SF and LA, make sure to check both of them, running respectively until the 10th and 5th of September.


Rujana Rebernjak

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17/07/2012

Century of the Child: Growing by Design at MoMA

Century of the Child: Growing by Design at MoMA

“Children are the future and our most valuable resource,” is an overly heard saying whose meaning we don’t take quite seriously. That is why a soon opening exhibition at MoMA, taking design as its maginfying glass, should open our eyes to the infamous saying and make us reconsider the position of a child in our society. 
Titled “Century of the Child: Growing by Design, 1900-200”, curated by Juliet Kinchin and Aidan O’Connor. The exhibition departs from Swedish design reformer and social theorist Ellen Key’s book “Century of the Child”. The book, written in the 1900, tries to emphasize the importance of children’s well-being as an interest of utmost importance to all society.

The paradigm of children’s prosperity was taken throughout the 20th century as a paradigm for progressive thinking and the renewal of the modern society. As a consequence, designers and artists have produced work that often involved childhood, but as such, has even more often been disregared in design cycles. Hence, many of the objects (around 500) exhibited in the show, even though created by famous figures of design and architecture history, have remained almost unknown. For their authors, the design projects have functioned as a sort of escape, particularly during the avant-garde, from the roughness and routine of everyday life.

The exhibited works include Jean Prouve’s School Desk, a glass desk designed by Gio Ponti, children’s chairs by Marcel Breuer, Alvar Aalto, and Kit Nicholson, LEGO building blocks and the Slinky, Charles and Ray Eames’ projects, Aleksandr Rodchenko’s photograph Pioneer Girl, Roald Dahl’s The Gremlins, to name but a few.

If we are fond of believing that design has a fundamental role in our society, and that children are its future, then this exhibition showing years of prolific designers’ work on the theme can only confirm it.

“Century of the Child: Growing by Design, 1900 -2000” will be on show from July 29 – November 5, 2012 at MoMA.

Rujana Rebernjak

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