Two exhibitions
dal 19/8/2010 al 9/10/2010
Segnalato da
19/8/2010
Two exhibitions
Kunsthalle Bern, Bern
Dora Garcia and Marco Poloni. Film, video, photography and performance
Dora García
I Am a Judge
The exhibition on Dora García, who was born in Spain and today lives in Brussels, features different media like film, video, photography and performance. The analysis of paradigms and conventions of art is a central motif in García’s works. To achieve this, she often uses texts and stories as a basis for scenarios which raise complex ethical and moral questions, and which yet remain entertaining and witty. Black humor is ever-present in García’s works, especially in the video Just because everything is different, it does not mean that anything has changed from 2008.
The piece evokes the story of comedian Lenny Bruce, who was arrested in Australia in 1962 for making indecent statements in public after he had uttered one single sentence at the beginning of his first show in the country. The work Steal this Book, then, poses a dilemma to the visitor. Should he or she take the title of Abbie Hoffmann’s book at face value and steal one of the 250 books, thereby running the risk of being caught in the act in the museum?
The exhibition was produced in cooperation with Index Stockholm.
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Marco Poloni
The Majorana Experiment
Kunsthalle Bern is pleased to present a continuation of Swiss artist Marco Poloni’s series of works called The Majorana Experiment. Poloni was born in Amsterdam in 1962. He lives and works in Berlin and Geneva. Poloni uses different media, but primarily works with video and photography.
The Majorana Experiment deals with the story of the Italian physicist Ettore Majorana. Mysteriously, Majorana disappeared without a trace on a boat trip from Palermo to Naples in 1938. At that point, Majorana, an acquaintance of Heisenberg and Fermi, was only thirty-one years old and considered one of the most brilliant physicists of his generation. His most important papers concern nuclear physics and relativist quantum mechanics, with special consideration given to analyses of Neutrino Theory. Majorana’s last journey is the stuff of legends and conspiracy theories. Poloni interprets the physicist’s fate as a parable on the "secret history of the invention of nuclear weapons" – for one especially popular theory on Majorana’s disappearance posits that the Italian anticipated the nuclear arms race and, despairing, either killed himself or fled to another country. The latter possibility is especially prominent in Poloni’s work.
At this juncture, Poloni’s series comprises three films, a cycle of photographs and a historical document. Together, these works constitute, in Poloni’s words, an "open historical arrangement". For the exhibition at Kunsthalle Bern, Poloni’s cycle of works will be complemented by a selection of new pieces which illuminate additional facets of the complex story of Majorana’s life.
Press contact:
Julia Strebelow Tel.+41(0)31 350 00 40 Fax.+41(0)31 350 00 41 j.strebelow@kunsthalle-bern.ch
Image: Dora García
Opening august 20
Kunsthalle Bern
Helvetiaplatz 1, CH-3005 Bern
Opening hours
Monday closed
Tuesday - Friday: 11 am to 6 pm
Saturday/ Sunday: 10 am to 6 pm
Ticket prices:
Adults: CHF 8.00.
Apprentices/retirees/students/teachers with ID: CHF 4.00.
Children: CHF 2.00.