14/2/2011
Hotel Sarkis
Mamco, Geneve
The show with a thematic design, features nearly all of the works Sarkis executed in connection with other artists, from musicians, architects, writers and philosophers to painters, sculptors and filmmakers. This broad range of works, brought together for the first time and displayed on Mamco's four floors, comprises video and sound installations, watercolors, sculptures, photographs and films.
From 16 February to 8 May 2011, Mamco will be playing host to a unique art exhibition devoted to Sarkis (1938, Istanbul ; lives and works in Paris since 1964) that will include over 200 pieces dating from 1971 to the present. Hôtel Sarkis, retrospective-oriented show with a thematic design, will feature nearly all of the works Sarkis executed in connection with other artists, from musicians, architects, writers and philosophers to painters, sculptors and filmmakers. This broad range of works, brought together for the first time and displayed on Mamco’s four floors, comprises video and sound installations, watercolors, sculptures, photographs and films.
This French artist of Armenian descent builds bridges between several temporalities, cultures and sensibilities. He draws on the memory of places and objects which he accumulates (his treasure), on collective history, and on his own biography to fashion works of art that boast multiple echoes. Sarkis links past and present, old and new objects, notably by reinterpreting through his pieces works by artists for whom he feels particular admiration, including Matthias Grünewald, Edvard Munch, Joseph Beuys or Andreï Tarkovsky.
With these “collaborations,” the term he uses to define the dialogs he introduces with other works, Sarkis manages to erase the historic or cultural distance separating him from these other individuals and infuse their creations with a new energy that results from their confrontation with the present.
Hôtel Sarkis is the latest in a series of Sarkis exhibitions at Mamco, namely, Sarkis, Sculptures obscures 1969-1975 (à Aram Iynedjian) in 1996, followed by L’ Atelier d’aquarelle dans l’eau in 2004 and À partir du JPG du livret de Parsifal in 2005. Since 1994, L’ Atelier depuis 19380 has been on permanent display at Mamco and includes works that are regularly updated by the artist.
Press contact:
Clarisse Jaouen T. 0041 (0)22 320 61 22 c.jaouen@mamco.ch
Image: Sarkis, au commencement, l’aura, 28.12.1997
film n°019, coll. de l’artiste © Sarkis (d’après A. Mantegna et G. Kurtág)
Opening Tuesday 15 february, 2011, 6pm
Mamco - Musée d'art moderne et contemporain
10, rue des Vieux Grenadiers, Geneve
Hours: tue-fri 12-18, sat-sun 11-18