15/4/2010
Lara Almarcegui
Ludlow 38, New York
Guide to the Wastelands of Flushing River
Ludlow 38 European Kunsthalle Cologne Goethe-Institut New York proudly presents Lara Almarcegui’s first solo exhibition in the US, featuring Guide to the Wastelands of Flushing River, a new commissioned project, produced during several visits to New York City.
Lara Almarcegui, Guide to the Wastelands of Flushing River, 2010
Lara Almarcegui’s research-based work focuses on the varying realities underlying built environments and how excess and absence are manifested in urban design. For this exhibition the artist has explored the urban and environmental fabric of New York City. In a new work with two components, Almarcegui surveys currently unused areas along Flushing River in Queens. Flushing River is only four miles long, but its exploitation has generated a number of spaces currently not used for any particular purposes. Some of these wastelands are now slated for regeneration as natural reserves, parks or residential areas however many of them still offer possibilities to observe processes of decay and wilderness.
The publication Guide to the Wastelands of Flushing River contains photographs from 12 sites in Queens accompanied by concise descriptions that outline the locations’ history, present state and future. Visitors are invited to pick up a copy and explore these sites at their own leisure. A slide installation presents a selection of photographs taken during Almarcegui’s excursions along Flushing River, from its original source via Willow Lake and Flushing Meadows Corona Park, the site for the 1939 and the 1964 World’s Fairs, to its estuary at Flushing Bay.
The gallery also offers access to a variety of material pertaining to Almarcegui’s work-in-progress Going Down Into a Tunnel Excavation. The expected outcome of this piece is the organization of a guided tour to ongoing or recently accomplished excavations in the city.
In counterpoint to these new projects a group of earlier works are presented. For Construction Materials Sao Paulo City (2006) Almarcegui computed official data on how much building material was used in the city of São Paulo for its buildings (commercial, residential, institutional and industrial), shantytowns, streets and subway system. Exploring the Floor, Sala Moncada, Fundación La Caixa, Barcelone (2003) is a slide projection documenting the removal and reinstallation of a stone floor in an exhibition venue.
Lara Almarcegui was born in 1972 in Zaragoza, Spain, and lives in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. She has exhibited widely, e.g. at the Liverpool Biennial in 2004, the São Paulo Biennial in 2006, the Gwangju and Taipei Biennials in 2008 and the Ramallah and Athens Biennials in 2009. Recent solo exhibitions include Ruins in the Netherlands at Ellen de Bruijne Gallery, Amsterdam / Pepe Cobo, Madrid, and Bilbao Wastelands at Sala Rekalde in Bilbao, both in 2008.
With Lara Almarcegui’s first solo exhibition in the US, the European Kunsthalle Cologne concludes its curatorial collaboration with Ludlow 38, continuing the emphasis on both the discursive potential of contemporary art and the institutional effort to enable new productions. After Kunstverein München and the European Kunsthalle Cologne, the next curatorial partner for Ludlow 38 will be Künstlerhaus Stuttgart.
Ludlow 38 is sponsored by MINI and Friends of Goethe.
This exhibition has received additional support from the State Corporation for Spanish Cultural Action Abroad (SEACEX) and the Directorate General For Cultural And Scientific Relations. Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation.
Exhibition Opening: Friday, April 16, 6–8pm
Ludlow 38
38 Ludlow Street (between Grand and Hester) New York
gallery hours: Friday - Sunday 1-6pm and by appointment
free admission