Exhibition 211

Last updated

Exhibition 211 (at the time referred to as simply 'Exhibition' or '211') was an art exhibition that ran from March to August 2009 in New York City. It was initiated through a series of discussions between Warren Neidich and Mathieu Copelands in 2010 in Paris and New York City. But the series of instruments for its production, like the role of the roll of dice, the picking of cut up names out of a hat and the rules of engagement, see below, came later through discussions between Warren Neidich and Eric Angles. These were further formulated when the program was initiated and programmed by artist friends Elena Bajo, Eric Anglès, Jakob Schillinger, Nathalie Anglès, and Warren Neidich, offering "an experimental and contradictory artistic and curatorial approach", [1] notably a set of rules, defining when, where, and who by, artistic interventions would take place.

Contents

The project was established in the loaned storefront of 211 Elizabeth, a luxury condominium development. Being close to the New Museum, and two blocks from Prada and Armani, [2] Exhibition spoke not only to the current economic climate, following the financial crisis of 2007–2008, but the problems of art treated as a (luxury) commodity.

About Exhibition, Artist Diana Artus wrote: "The most important principle was that only one exhibition will be shown, during which time it will be in continuous development, as new people – artists, curators, and others known by the initiators – are invited to participate", she also wrote that "a fundamental aim was to provoke differences of opinion, rather than placate them." [3]

Exhibition (211) exhibited over 50, and up to 100 artists, including: Boshko Boskovic, Mathieu Copeland, Loretta Fahrenholz, Donna Huanca, Sean Raspet, Alexis Knowlton, [4] Liz Magic Laser, David Levine, An Te Lieu, Jen Liu, Jason Loebs, Emily Mast, Amy Patton, Georgia Sagri, Alexandre Singh

Mark Tribe, and B. Wurtz. [5] Although each artist's work was not specifically identified due to the rules of adaptation and evolution involved in their participation.

Rules

The approach, guided by a set of rules, became integral to the forms and conversations that pursued. Elena Bajo, Eric Anglès, Jakob Schillinger, Nathalie Anglès, and Warren Neidich discussed many potential artists to be invited, the names of which were then put into, and subsequently drawn from a hat. The artist would then be invited to space and asked if they would work with the concept and requirements:

On May 12, 2009, Kemi Ilesanmi described Exhibition for Art 21 Magazine: "at least every three days, there is a new artist intervention, and while they can make whatever manner of changes inside the space, artists may not remove their own art works afterwards." [6]

The approach of Exhibition echoed the cut-up technique by Bryon Gysin and William S. Burroughs, which is also visible in Warren Neidich's own artistic practice.

The method is simple. Here is one way to do it. Take a page. Like this page. Now cut down the middle and cross the middle. You have four sections: 1 2 3 4 ... one two three four. Now rearrange the sections placing section four with section one and section two with section three. And you have a new page. Sometimes it says much the same thing. Sometimes something quite different--(cutting up political speeches is an interesting exercise)--in any case you will find that it says something and something quite definite. Take any poet or writer you fancy. Heresay, or poems you have read over many times. The words have lost meaning and life through years of repetition. Now take the poem and type out selected passages. Fill a page with excerpts. Now cut the page. You have a new poem. As many poems as you like. As many Shakespeare Rimbaud poems as you like. [7]

Topics and discussions

Reflecting on the standard exhibition format, where "under the right light and organized by a strict aesthetic, the works displayed and valued are typically individual, finished objects", Diana Artus explained that exhibitions are therefore generally complicit with capitalism: "extolling the rules of a market society". [3]

Contrasting to this Exhibition worked against this system, "when an exhibition diverges from this format, the result is revealing not only art's continual complicity with capitalism, but also how, and with what consequences, the notion of such a ritual could be reconfigured". [3] As a summary of the type of engagement between the collaborators in Exhibition Artus said at the end of her article: "The notion of striving in a competitive world is reinterpreted in such a way that is promising: not only are we struggling against each other, but – more importantly – for each other. [3] "

In an important dialogue between the founders, published by Art Lies, [1] Elena Bajo further mused on the problem of capital explicit in exhibition formats: "Perhaps limiting actions to a specific site, which is free of rent, and creating a temporary time-frame of six months and a set of rules in which chance and conversation play a significant role frees us from the dangers of capitalistic assimilation that beset most large cultural institutions that rely on private funding." [1]

"What is beyond doubt is the amazing density of heady conceptualizing and self-reflexive musing this echo chamber has been injecting into our daily conversation. [1] " said Eric Anglès, emphasizing that the social engagement became the most important factor, "what might at first glance look like a theater of freedom and constraint, the rehearsal of a tired dialectic between an artist/curator enforcing the law and an artist/Houdini dancing her way out of those shackles, is far more immediately and compellingly an experimental site where each one of us present in this space is made to decide, over and over again, how to face one other. [1] "

Given the complexity of the project, little documentation remains. Warren Neidich discussed the question of the archive "when this experiment closes on the last day of August, what traces will be left for future audiences now transformed into historical readers? Is having a physical archive a complete contradiction to the spirit of the project? Or is it a form of generosity? [1] "

Related Research Articles

A chord is in close harmony if its notes are arranged within a narrow range, usually with no more than an octave between the top and bottom notes. In contrast, a chord is in open harmony if there is more than an octave between the top and bottom notes. The more general term spacing describes how far apart the notes in a chord are voiced. A triad in close harmony has compact spacing, while one in open harmony has wider spacing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whitney Biennial</span> Art exhibition in New York

The Whitney Biennial is a biennial exhibition of contemporary American art, typically by young and lesser known artists, on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, United States. The event began as an annual exhibition in 1932; the first biennial was in 1973. The Whitney show is generally regarded as one of the leading shows in the art world, often setting or leading trends in contemporary art. It helped bring artists like Georgia O'Keeffe, Jackson Pollock, and Jeff Koons to prominence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moscow Biennale</span>

The Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art is one of the most important Russian cultural events and was founded in 2003.

Brad Adkins is an American self-taught artist and curator. In 2002, Chas Bowie of The Portland Mercury declared Adkins "the poster boy of low-rent artwork.", Also in 2002, D.K. Row of The Oregonian listed Adkins as one of ten "artists you don't know, but should." Matthew Stadler of Nest and Clear Cut Press calls Adkins "an orchestrator of the quotidian", "whose interventions turn the everyday into art."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hans Ulrich Obrist</span> Swiss art curator, critic and historian (born 24/5/1968)

Hans Ulrich Obrist is a Swiss art curator, critic, and historian of art. He is artistic director at the Serpentine Galleries, London. Obrist is the author of The Interview Project, an extensive ongoing project of interviews. He is also co-editor of the Cahiers d'Art review.

Art intervention is an interaction with a previously existing artwork, audience, venue/space or situation. It is in the category of conceptual art and is commonly a form of performance art. It is associated with the Viennese Actionists, the Dada movement and Neo-Dadaists. Stuckists have made extensive use of it to affect perceptions of artworks they oppose and as a protest against existing interventions.

Kenneth Charles Knowlton was an American computer graphics pioneer, artist, mosaicist and portraitist. In 1963, while working at Bell Labs, he developed the BEFLIX programming language for creating bitmap computer-produced movies. In 1966, also at Bell Labs, he and Leon Harmon created the computer artwork Computer Nude .

<i>The Brooklyn Rail</i> Journal of arts, culture and politics

The Brooklyn Rail is a publication and platform for the arts, culture, humanities, and politics. The Rail is based in Brooklyn, New York. It features in-depth critical essays, fiction, poetry, as well as interviews with artists, critics, and curators, and reviews of art, music, dance, film, books, and theater.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Campbell Works</span>

Campbell Works is the creative partnership of artists Neil Taylor and Harriet Murray established in 2004. It runs a programme of contemporary art exhibitions, public engagement projects, publications and education schemes. By initiating and developing collaborative frameworks and creating a platform for new curatorial projects, Campbell Works acts as a meeting point for ideas and explores contextual relationships between art, spaces and people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warren Neidich</span> American artist (born 1958)

Warren Neidich is an American artist who lives in Berlin and Los Angeles. He was a professor at Kunsthochschule Weißensee School of Art, Berlin and visiting scholar at Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles.

The Townhouse Gallery was established in 1998 as an independent, non-profit art space in Cairo, Egypt, with a goal of making contemporary arts accessible to all without compromising creative practice. The Townhouse supports artistic work in a wide range of media through exhibitions, residencies for artists and curators, educational initiatives and outreach programs. By establishing local and international relationships, as well as diversifying both the practitioners and audiences of contemporary art, the Townhouse aims to support and expand the knowledge, appreciation and practice of contemporary arts in Egypt and the region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Archive (non-profit publishing organisation)</span> Non-profit publishing organization

Archive is a publishing and research platform based in Berlin.

Eric Butcher is a contemporary British abstract painter known for his reductive, processed-based approach.

<i>Woman with a Fan</i> Painting by Jean Metzinger

La Femme à l'Éventail, or Woman with a Fan, is a painting by the French artist Jean Metzinger. The work was exhibited in 1914 at Moderni Umeni, S.V.U. Mánes, Prague. A 1914 photograph taken at the exhibition in Prague was published in the magazine Zlatá Praha showing Woman with a Fan hanging next to another work by Metzinger known as En Canot , 1913. Donated by Mr and Mrs Sigmund Kunstadter in 1959, Woman with a Fan forms part of the permanent collection in Gallery 391B at the Art Institute of Chicago, US.

Christine Y. Kim is an American curator of contemporary art. She is currently the Britton Family Curator-at-Large at Tate. Prior to this post, Kim held the position of Curator of Contemporary Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Before her appointment at LACMA in 2009, she was Associate Curator at The Studio Museum in Harlem in New York. She is best known for her exhibitions of and publications on artists of color, diasporic and marginalized discourses, and 21st-century technology and artistic practices.

The Hnatyshyn Foundation Visual Arts Awards, the Award for Outstanding Achievement as an Artist and the Award for Curatorial Excellence in Contemporary Art are two annual arts awards of $25,000 and $10,000 that recognize mid-career Canadian visual artists and curators. The Hnatyshyn Foundation is a private charity established by Ray Hnatyshyn, Canada’s 24th Governor General.

Smadar Sheffi is the Chief Curator of the Contemporary Art Center, Ramle – CACR. She is an art critic, researcher of contemporary art and culture, and independent curator. Over past years, she has gained vast experience in curating exhibitions in historical structures, among them the Bialik House Museum, Jerusalem Artists House, Contemporary Art Center, Ramla-CACR, and the Pool of the Arches, Ramla. Dr. Sheffi’s bilingual blog of art criticism and notes on contemporary culture, The Window [1] has been active since 2012.

Cecily Nicholson is a Canadian poet, arts administrator, independent curator, and activist. Originally from Ontario, she is now based in British Columbia. As a writer and a poet, Nicholson has published collections of poetry, contributed to collected literary works, presented public lectures and readings, and collaborated with numerous community organizations. As an arts administrator, she has worked at the Surrey Art Gallery in Surrey, British Columbia, and the artist-run centre Gallery Gachet in Vancouver.

Tina Sauerlaender is a Berlin-based independent curator and writer. She is the co-founder, director and head curator of peer to space, a platform and exhibition hub for curatorial projects founded in Munich, Germany in 2010.

Pilvi Takala is a performance artist presenting candid camera as art. Takala won the Dutch Prix de Rome in 2011 and the Emdash Award in 2013. Her works have been exhibited in various exhibitions worldwide, most recently in London, Aarhus and Glasgow. She is known best for being in time-based media.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Neidich, Warren. "The Rules of Engagement: EXHIBITION by Warren Neidich | ART LIES: A Contemporary Art Quarterly". www.art-lies.org. Retrieved 2018-03-27.
  2. ↑ "Mercato dell'Arte: Le tendenze del mercato dell'arte, delle opere ed artisti". ArtEconomy - Il Sole 24 ORE (in Italian). Retrieved 2018-03-27.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Diana, Artus (2009). "More than the Sum of its Parts" (PDF). Trafo-M.
  4. ↑ "Berlin Calling: Alexis Knowlton by Mary Jones - BOMB Magazine". bombmagazine.org. Retrieved 2018-03-28.
  5. ↑ Bajo, Elena (2009-07-08). "Update Contributing Artists as of August 31st, 2009". EXHIBITION. Retrieved 2018-03-27.
  6. ↑ "Free & Clear: Exhibition and the Free Store | Art21 Magazine". Art21 Magazine. Retrieved 2018-03-27.
  7. ↑ "William Burroughs, "The Cut Up Method"". www.robertspahr.com. Retrieved 2018-03-27.

Coordinates: 40°43′21″N73°59′40″W / 40.722637°N 73.994315°W / 40.722637; -73.994315

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.