Czech Film Avant-Garde: Episode 2 (The 1920s)

Münster Sculpture Projects 2017 Announces Artists List

The fifth edition of the once-in-a-decade Münster Sculpture Projects, taking place in the north German town of Münster from June 10 to October 1, released its participating artists list. Among the thirty-five artists representing nineteen countries in this massive exhibition are Michael Dean, Cerith Wyn Evans, Justin Matherly, Emeka Ogboh, Gregor Schneider, Thomas Schütte, Hito Steyerl, and Oscar Tuazon.

In a statement, Münster Sculpture Projects said, “We are as convinced as ever that art in the urban realm is capable of activating historical, architectural, social, political, and aesthetic contexts. We see its great potential not in the occupation, but rather in the creation, of spaces.”

The exhibition is organized by LWL-Muse-um für Kunst und Kultur and curated by artistic director Kasper König in collaboration with Britta Peters and Marianne Wagner. This year’s concept will revolve around experiences of body, time, and space in an age of increasing digitization.

https://www.skulptur-projekte.de

The full artists list is as follows:

Ei Arakawa (born 1977, Fukushima, Japan) 
Aram Bartholl (born 1972, Bremen, Germany) 
Nairy Baghramian (born 1971, Isfahan, Iran) 
Cosima von Bonin (born 1962, Mombasa, Kenya) 
Andreas Bunte (born 1970, Mettmann, Germany) 
Gerard Byrne (born 1969, Dublin) 
“Camp” with Shaina Anand (born 1975, Mumbai, India) and Ashok Sukumaran (born 1974, Hokkaido, Japan) 
Michael Dean (born 1977, Newcastle Upon Tyne, England) 
Jeremy Deller (born 1966, London) 
Nicole Eisenman (born 1965, Verdun, Germany) 
Ayşe Erkmen (born 1949, Istanbul) 
Lara Favaretto (born 1973, Treviso, Italy) 
Hreinn Fridfinnsson (born 1943, Bær í Dölum, Iceland) 
Monika Gintersdorfer (born 1967, Lima, Peru) and Knut Klaßen (born 1967, Münster) 
Pierre Huyghe (born 1962, Paris) 
John Knight (born 1945, Los Angeles) 
Xavier Le Roy (born 1963, Juvisy sur Orge, France) with Scarlet Yu (born 1978, Hong Kong) 
Justin Matherly (born 1972, New York) 
Sany (Samuel Nyholm) (born 1973, Lund, Sweden) 
Christian Odzuck (born 1978, Halle, Germany) 
Emeka Ogboh (born 1977, Enugu, Nigeria) 
Peles Empire with Barbara Wolff (born 1980, Făgăraș, Romania) and Katharina Stöver (born 1982, Gießen, Germany) 
Alexandra Pirici (born 1982, Bucharest) 
Mika Rottenberg (born 1976, Buenos Aires) 
Gregor Schneider (born 1969, Rheydt, Germany) 
Thomas Schütte (born 1954, Oldenburg, Germany) 
Nora Schultz (born 1975, Frankfurt) 
Michael Smith (born 1951, Chicago) 
Hito Steyerl (born 1966, Munich) 
Koki Tanaka (born 1975, Tochigi, Japan) 
Oscar Tuazon (born 1975, Seattle) 
Joelle Tuerlinckx (born 1958, Brussels) 
Cerith Wyn Evans (born 1958, Llanelli, Wales) 
Herve Youmbi (born 1973, Bangui, Central African Republic) 
Barbara Wagner (born 1980, Brasilia) and Benjamin de Burca (born 1975, Munich)

Czech Film Avant-Garde: Episode 1 (Searching for the Czech Film Avant-Garde)

 

The Czech film avant-garde. A unique artistic direction of the 1920s and 1930s with great persons of Czech culture like Vítězslav Nezval, Jaroslav Seifert, Alexander Hackenschmied, Jan Kučera and many others being mentioned. However, is it really a forgotten landmark of the Czech cinematography or an artificial construct, created subsequently by film history?

Salon | Art Basel Cities Discussion | The Future of Buenos Aires' Cultural Landscape

Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, Mayor of Buenos Aires City, Buenos Aires; Diego Radivoy, Director General of Creative Industries of Buenos Aires City, Buenos Aires; Orly Benzacar, Owner and Director, Ruth Benzacar Galería de Arte, Buenos Aires; Alec Oxenford, Collector and Founder of OLX & Letgo, Buenos Aires

Moderator: András Szántó, Author and Cultural Consultant, New York

Date: Thursday, December 1, 2016, 2pm to 3pm

Filmed on site at Art Basel in Miami Beach 2016

Who is Wolfgang Tillmans?

 

From intimate still-lifes and portraits, to images that address vital political issues, discover the photographs of Wolfgang Tillmans.

 

German-born, international in outlook and exhibited around the world, Tillmans spent many years in the UK and is currently based in Berlin. In 2000, he was the first photographer and first non-British artist to receive the Turner Prize.

 

Alongside portraiture, landscape and intimate still lifes, Tillmans pushes the boundaries of the photographic form in abstract artworks that range from the sculptural to the immersive.

Wolfgang Tillmans. Solo Exhibition at Tate Modern, London

Since the early 1990s, German artist Wolfgang Tillmans has earned recognition as one of the most exciting and innovative artists working today. In 2000, he was the first photographer and first non-British artist to receive the Turner Prize. Tillmans spent many years in the UK and is currently based in Berlin. Wolfgang Tillmans’ current show is Wolfgang Tillmans’s first ever exhibition at Tate Modern and brings together works in a variety of media – mainly photographs, but also video, digital slide projections, publications, curatorial projects and recorded music. The show has its focus on the artist’s work produced in the fourteen years since his exhibition at Tate Britain. The year 2003 is the exhibition’s point of departure, representing for Tillmans the moment the world changed, with the invasion of Iraq and anti-war demonstrations. The social and political form a rich vein throughout the artist’s work. This video provides you with an exhibition walkthrough on the occasion of the press view of the show.

Wolfgang Tillmans / Tate Modern, London. Press view, February 14, 2017.

Hans Op de Beeck: The Silent Castle / Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen

The Silent Castle is the title of Belgian artist Hans Op de Beeck's solo exhibition at Museum Morsbroich in Leverkusen, Germany. Op de Beeck works in various mediums, from small watercolors to large, three-dimensional installations such as The Collector's House. The show at Museum Morsbroich presents works from the last twelve years, mainly drawn from the Goetz Collection. 

Hans Op de Beeck: The Silent Castle. Solo exhibition at Museum Morsbroich (Leverkusen, Germany). Press Preview, February 9, 2017.

Conversations | Premiere | Artist Talk | Julio Le Parc

On the occasion of Julio Le Parc’s major exhibition at the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), he talks with Estrellita B. Brodsky, curator of Julio Le Parc’s exhibition at PAMM. Le Parc, born in Argentina in 1928, has lived in Paris since 1958, where he became a leading voice among artist-activists and a pioneer in the use of light and color. He is a founding member of the artist collective Groupe de Recherche d’Art Visuel (GRAV) and his experimental work is central to the Op and Kinetic art movements. He set out to challenge existing structures and systems by way of the unmediated experience – by shifting individuals’ perceptions.

Julio Le Parc, Artist, Paris, in conversation with Dr. Estrellita B. Brodsky, Guest Curator ‘Julio Le Parc: Form into Action', Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), Miami

Date: Thursday, December 1, 2016, 10am to 11:30am

Filmed on site at Art Basel in Miami Beach 2016

Conversations | Artist Talk | Artists' Influencers

Conceived by Hans Ulrich Obrist, this new series brings together artists with the individuals who have been of great influence to the development of their artistic practice. It partners artistic vision with the important thinkers who have informed and inspired them. In some instances the artists’ influencer is a leading figure in the art community; in others the creative force comes from alternative practices. The intersection of these pairs will address concerns in
each of their works as well as timely matters. This conversation often serves as their first personal encounter.

Glenn Ligon, Artist, New York, in conversation with Claudia Rankine, Frederick Iseman Professor of Poetry, Yale University, New Haven

Moderator: Hans Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director, Serpentine Galleries, London

Date: Friday, December 2, 2016, 10am to 11:30am

Filmed on site at Art Basel in Miami Beach 2016

Conversations | Public/Private | Debating Disruption: Has Technology Really Changed the Artworld?

Technology has had a profound effect on almost every walk of life. Every other week, it seems, new digital ventures are launched in the artworld. When it comes to the fundamentals, has technology already left a mark on the artworld? Compared to other fields, digital disruption in cultural institutions and markets is still in its infancy. What will transformative disruption look like? Where will the game-changing technologies come from? Departing from a note of healthy skepticism, the conversation seeks to clarify what is truly new and what digital innovation holds in store for tomorrow's artworld.

Sebastian Cwilich, President and COO, Artsy, New York; Simon Denny, Artist, Berlin; Laurent Gaveau, Head of the Lab, Google Cultural Institute, Paris; Christiane Paul, Adjunct Curator of Digital Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Moderator: András Szántó, Author and Cultural Consultant, New York

Date: Saturday, December 3, 2016, 10am to 11:30am

Filmed on site at Art Basel in Miami Beach 2016

Conversations | Artist Talk | The Artist and the Gallerist

This panel offers a frank and informal conversation about the unique and fundamental relationship between artists and their gallerists. Jill Magid, conceptual artist and writer, speaks with gallerist Pamela Echeverría. Moderated by curator Sofía Hernández Chong Cuy, they discuss how they met, how they came to work together, and if and how their working relationship has changed over time. How has the dynamic of an emerging market affected, if
at all, the development of the artists’ work? What is the significance of this relationship and how does it differ from other relationships? What have they learned from each other and what are their plans for the future?

Jill Magid, Artist, New York, in conversation with Pamela Echeverría, Founder, Labor, Mexico City

Moderator: Sofía Hernández Chong Cuy, Curator of Contemporary Art, Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, New York/Caracas

Date: Sunday, December 4, 2016, 10am to 11:30am

Filmed on site at Art Basel in Miami Beach 2016

Printing in the Dark Room | TateShots

 

Adrian Ensor has been developing and printing photographs in his London dark room for over forty years.

He has worked with photographers such as Hamish Fulton and Richard Long as well as more recently printing his own photographs.

After visiting The Radical Eye exhibition of Modernist Photography at Tate Modern Adrian sat down to talk us through the subtle and delicate process of developing, exposing and printing photographs on gelatin silver paper.

The gelatin silver process was introduced at the end of the nineteenth century and dominated black-and-white photography in the twentieth century. The paper or film used to make gelatin silver prints and negatives is coated with an emulsion that contains gelatin and silver salts.

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KINETIC ART AND THE AGE OF ROBOTICS - WHAT CAN WE EXPECT?

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Derived from the Greek word kinesis, representing motion or change in Aristotelian philosophy, Kinetic art refers to works that feature real or apparent movement. In its widest definition, it includes a number of different art forms, media types and styles. Since the early twentieth century, artists strived to introduce movement into their work, partly to explore the possibilities of motion, partly to explore the element of time, and partly to reflect the importance of the machine and technology in the modern world. Embracing a huge array of different forms, ranging from cinematic and animation art, to performance art, land art and stroboscopic or light-related artwork (Lumino Kinetic art), this vast movement explored and further developed our nature of vision. With today’s kinetic artists pushing the envelope with the latest technological achievements, solar power, sound waves and fiber optics are just some of the elements incorporated in the modern version of this artistic expression. Robotic art is another extension which falls under the broad umbrella of kinetic art, representing the ultimate connection between art and machine, between creativity and automated technology. So, how far has this art form come? What is the history behind it and what is the future vision we can expect to see? Let us examine the origins, development and influence of this ground-breaking, dynamism-based visual experience that is called Kinetic Art.

 

Jean Tinguely – Metamechanics

 

History and Origins

Although the idea of Kinetic Art wasn’t established as a major artistic movement until the 1950s, its origins date back to the early 1920s. The conceptual introduction of movement into art goes back to Futurism, where the actual word “kinetic” was first used in the visual arts in the Realistic Manifesto (1920). Kinetic Sculpture (Standing Wave), created by Naum Gabo in 1919-20, was an electrically powered strip of wire which oscillated rapidly from side to side, creating a motion-like illusion of solid matter. This work represented one of the first attempts to show how mass could dissolve into subtle effects of movement and light in order to create a completely fresh visual experience. Soon after, Alexander Rodchenko, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Marcel Duchamp and others started involving mechanical movement into their artwork. Vibrating wires, suspended plywood and junk art were the first pieces of art focusing on motion as the core of the aesthetics. The theoretical foresight of the Futurists influenced many creators, among them, Alexander Calder stood out with his Mobiles and Stabiles. Weightless linear sculptures which could move, turn and dance in the air were named mobiles and stabiles. Calder quickly became one of the leading names behind the notion of moving sculpture.

 

To go even further back in history, interest in Kinetic art could be traced back to 1913, in the Dada and Constructivist movements. Jean Tinguely, a Swiss painter and sculptor, and several other artists were fascinated by the possibilities of movement in art and wanted to explore the potential to create interactive relationships which would encompass a visual experience beyond the boundaries of traditional, static objects. The Swiss author was one of the first people to create sculptures that had an active presence which would provide a different experience for the viewer both in the gallery and outside. Anthropomorphic assemblages of motors and light, fused with brightly colored metal wheels were the first signature pieces of this innovative art form. Optical illusions and mechanical movement were combined to produce the sensation of movability. However, after a decade, Op art movement became increasingly more popular and many artists lost interest in kinetics. It was not until 1955 that Kinetic Art actually became an international success, pursued by artists like Takis, Soto, Agam and Schoffer, when it was officially recognized as a movement in the 1955 exhibition Le mouvement at Galerie Denise René in Paris.

 

Bob Potts – Cosmographic Voyager

 

The Rise and Fall of the Kinetic Art Movement

Early works of kinetic art included experimentation with both actual and virtual movement. Through mechanized motion in artworks, artists embraced the technology and tried to spread it to other areas of everyday life. However, not all of the practitioners shared the same perception of machines and modern technology. Those who borrowed much from Dada also picked up the anarchic strain, satirical attitude and a somewhat skeptical view of the potential of technology to improve human life. One of the pioneering artists in Kinetic Art, Jean Tinguely, strived to convey a more anarchic, satirical viewpoint of machines and movement, suggesting that rather than serving the humanity, the machine might become the master. Either way, the geometric abstraction as a traditional style was in decline in the post-war period, but the Kinetic art movement brought a revitalization of that tradition. Utilization of mechanical or natural motion represented a newly-formed relationship between art and technology. Kineticism was spread across several forms of art, painting, drawing, and sculpture were just some of the mediums used to convey the art of movement. 1960s rolled in, and the decade saw a considerable success for the movement and its practitioners. The artists were garnering international recognition and started winning various prestigious awards for painting, sculpture and other areas in their work. The entire notion of a radical art movement began to lose its strength as it got more and more accepted by the art world. The avant-garde spirit faded, anti-establishment ethos was getting further and further lost in the general trend which followed Kineticism. Ironically, reaching worldwide success and acceptance was actually what caused the downfall of the movement. As it became just another successful art style, the following generations lost interest and Kinetic art spiraled down to its decline, giving way to the rise of the Op artists.

 

Giles Walker – Peepshow

 

Robotic Art

With mechanical elements such as motors, machines and electrically powered systems brought to focus in Kinetic Art, the automated technology developed with time and Robotic art became a style of its own under the umbrella of Kinetic art. As electronic media and technology bloomed, robotics became a popular medium of experimentation. The first hydraulic sculptures were the genesis of contemporary robotic art, and their origins can be traced back to the 1960s. Nam June Paik, Shuya Abe and Tom Shannon were the pioneering names of this futuristic art style. The cybernetic interaction between the viewer and the artwork was a fresh way of conveying social messages. Automated installations and computer-aided performance art quickly became integral parts of several other art forms. Robotic art continued to develop as the technology blossomed through the decades. Nowadays, a great number of kinetic sculptors, scrap artists and creators incorporate robotic creations in their artwork. With the ever-expanding influence of technology, Robotic artists continue to develop a complex and fascinating body of work, pushing the creative expression of the digital age into different directions. As the tech discoveries grow, so will the artists find never-before used ways to incorporate it into their work.

 

Left: Marcel Duchamp – Bicycle Wheel, 1913 – sold for 1.6 million dollars at an auction in 2002 / Right: Alexander Calder – Arc of Petal

 

Kinetic Art Today

Today, Kinetic Art doesn’t exist according to critics. However, its influence can be found in many modern works, and creators keep drawing inspiration from the movement, some staying true to its basic principles, some simply adopting the concept and completely reinventing the outcome. The MIT Museum displayed an exhibition in 2013, entitled 5000 Moving Parts, which showcased the works of Takis, Arthur Ganson, Anne Lilly, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and John Douglas Powers. The show was presented as an inaugural “year of kinetic art” at the Museum, including special programming related to the artform. Authors from all over the world include principles of kinetic art in their work even today. Illusion, space and perception are explored through the works which mimic forms and movements found in nature. Recently, Kinetic Art saw a considerable rise according to Artprice.com. The price index of kinetic artists rose by 128 percent in the past ten years. For instance, in 2007, artwork by Naum Gabo, one of the fathers of kinetic art, sold for astounding 1.1 million pounds ($2.1 million). Marcel Duchamp’s famous Bicycle Wheel from 1913, was sold for 1.6 million dollars back in 2002. Motorized sculptures of Jean Tinguely are high on the art market, so are the artworks of Alexander Calder. So, even though the art style is no longer active in its original form, Kinetic art still shows signs of life in today’s scene and market. Dynamism remains a unique fascination of today’s artists and Kinetic Art serves as a well of inspiration for the future generations. The perpetual motion of kineticism keeps on going.

 

All images used for illustrative purposes only
Featured images: Rosaline de Thélin, TIME SMILES, Homos Luminosos, 2008 – 2010 ; Jean Tinguely – Homage to NY, 1960 ; Dwight Eschliman – Hand of Man

 

by http://www.widewalls.ch/kinetic-art-movement/