Roxana Pennie - Calum Sutton PR
Peter Coffin
Moyra Davey
Thea Djordjadze
Alex Hubbard
Rosalind Nashashibi
Joao Maria Gusmao
Pedro Paiva
Margaret Salmon
Oscar Tuazon
Klaus Weber
Andrea Zittel
Gigiotto Del Vecchio
'The art of narration changes with time', curated by Gigiotto Del Vecchio, juxtaposes a selection of works by Peter Coffin, Moyra Davey, Thea Djordjadze, Alex Hubbard, Rosalind Nashashibi, Joao Maria Gusmao and Pedro Paiva, Margaret Salmon, Oscar Tuazon and Klaus Weber. 'Pattern of Habit' is an exhibition of new work by Andrea Zittel. His work has examined how psychological structures, thought systems and beliefs are manifested as physical objects in the world that we create around ourselves.
The art of narration changes with time
Curated by Gigiotto Del Vecchio
Sprüth Magers Berlin is delighted to present ‘The Art of Narration Changes with Time’, a group exhibition
curated by Gigiotto Del Vecchio. The exhibition juxtaposes a selection of works by Peter Coffin, Moyra
Davey, Thea Djordjadze, Alex Hubbard, Rosalind Nashashibi, João Maria Gusmão and Pedro Paiva,
Margaret Salmon, Oscar Tuazon and Klaus Weber.
“There is a common problem that culture and the enjoyment of intellectual production are not often
approached with the right amount of clarity. Narration may be perceived as a closed concept, contained
within the confines of a structural ‘cage’, where order is dictated by a precise set of rules determined by
time as the modus operandi. However, time produces a different effect; it generates experience, demands
change and makes adjustments to the story to prolong its lifespan. It is not about being up-to-the-minute in
the sense of obsessively relating to our time or expressing the ‘here and now’.
Rather, with the realisation
that (new) escape routes have opened up and where intellectual progress may extend its roots further into
a background of experiences, one is open to the total capacity for anarchic self-organisation, in which
alternative codes develop, generally free from traditionally defined schemes. The art of narration changes
with time but time also changes with narration. The letters of Saul Bellow, published in ‘The New Yorker’,
come to mind, in which Bellow reacts strongly to the idea that if a writer enjoys too much credit during his
lifetime, he will stop dealing with the only thing with which he should be persistently and ironically
occupying himself: books, his own books, and the books of other writers. This observation is also
applicable to the more elusive dimension of the so-called visual arts, where the artist returns to
experiencing himself with more faith, more persistence, and more irony, free to work on understanding how
his own artistic practice develops.
This should also be true of the audience, those who ‘receive’ art. In this scenario, everyone has their
rightful role restored to them. In order to grasp the changes and the sense of these changes, it is
necessary to shed any blinkers or prejudices, and rather be ready, calm and watchful.”
Gigiotto Del Vecchio, 2011
Sprüth Magers Berlin will concurrently present Andrea Zittel’s solo exhibition ‘Pattern of Habit’ at the
gallery.
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Andrea Zittel
‘PATTERN OF HABIT’
Sprüth Magers Berlin is delighted to present ’Pattern of Habit’, an exhibition of new work by Andrea Zittel.
“For the last twenty years my work in one way or another has examined how psychological structures,
thought systems and beliefs are manifested as physical objects in the world that we create around
ourselves. Most recently this research has focused on the patterns and systems that are bound to habits,
schedules and rules. For instance, I live in the desert where there all of my day to day necessities are
ordered on-line, and delivered to my doorstep - a never ending stream of products, each carefully packed
in its own cardboard box. After I unpack its contents I eye the box thinking that it is a shame to throw out
such a perfect vehicle – especially if it has special proportions or clearly crisp edges and corners. Soon I
found myself stacking the boxes up along an empty wall, eventually devising a way to cement this irregular
structure together into an integrated unit that reflects a pattern of my own life through consumption.
The shape and pattern of the work titled ’Aggregated Stacks’ is that of a fractured grid. I find that we as
humans aspire toward the orderly and systematic, however life itself is quite chaotic. The ultimate reality of
these two forces is reflected in the dynamic of this imperfect system where patterns and shapes and
rhythms fall in and out of order, or flex to accommodate one another.
Another example of this fragmented patterning is the way that we order and compartmentalize our time.
Schedules are made by turning spendable units of time into measurable shapes stacked into a grid of
months, weeks, days, hours –ultimately not so different from the way that we organize boxes of cereal on a
supermarket shelf. When I observe the patterns of my daily routine I notice there are blocks of time when
I’m not really in my immediate reality at all. For instance, I live in the desert – but for about five hours a day
my entire focus is on projects and communications in an entirely different reality. ’Pattern of Habit’ is a work
that charts Internet usage over the course of 39 days. The blocks of time that are spent writing emails have
been turned into room-like shapes that reflect how focus can not only be related to duration, but also to
location.
Information in the media is likewise packaged into consumable blocks of content, which like time, can be
turned into a loose grid of interchangeable components. While we ’spend’ time, we ’consume’ content. But
similar to a schedule, the content of the cells in a newspaper is always replaceable – ultimately the format
creates a regularity that supersedes the chaos of the natural disasters, life dramas or and ever changing
world events that are represented within its format. ’Tellus Interdum’ is an issue of the local newspaper,
printed in Yucca Valley near my house in Joshua Tree, California, in which all of the content has been
replace by Lorem Ipsum. Lorem Ipsum is a placeholder text used by graphic designers – it is generated
using Latin phrases with words that have been altered, added or removed, in order to make it nonsensical
in meaning, but allow the structure to supersede it.
The one final work that connects all of the other investigations in this exhibition is the work titled ’single
strand forward motion’ - this project precedes and perhaps foreshadows the other works. It is generated
using crochet as an incremental, modular, building technology that could be ordered according to different
thought systems or rule sets. For instance if one makes a rule to crochet in a forward motion it creates a
different pattern than if one is allowed to go forward and backward. Each shape begins with a set of
’permissions’, however there is never a set plan for what the finished work will look like. All decisions are
made in the moment, as long as they qualify within the prescribed set of allowed actions. Finally a finished
work emerges – each pattern is entirely unique – yet there is always a particular formal pattern which
characterizes the prescribed set of permissions. It is these prescribed permissions, thought systems and
rule-sets that dictate the shape of the world around us. Making this work has increased my sensitivity to the
ordered world and allowed me to look behind the order in search of the underlying rational or belief that
may have created it.”
- Andrea Zittel, May 2011
Andrea Zittel, born 1965 in Escondido, USA, lives and works in Los Angeles and Joshua Tree, USA. Her
work has been exhibited internationally, recent solo shows include ’Costume Gallery’, at Palazzo Pitti,
Florence, ’A-Z Habitable Island’, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, USA, the retrospective ’Andrea
Zittel’ at the Schaulager Basel in 2008, and ’Small Liberties’ at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New
York, in 2006.
Additionally from 2005-7 she had a major North American touring show, ’Critical Spaces’, at the
Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, Albright-Knox Art
Gallery, Buffalo, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and at Vancouver Art Gallery, British
Columbia, Canada. Andrea Zittel’s forthcoming solo exhibitions include Magasin 3, Stockholm Konsthall,
Sweden – opening in September 2011.
For more information, interviews, or images, please contact Roxana Pennie at Calum Sutton PR:
E: Roxana@suttonpr.com
Private view: Tuesday 7 June 2011, 6-9pm
Monika Spruth Philomene Magers
Oranienburger Straße 18, Berlin
Opening hours: Tuesday – Saturday, 11am-6pm
Admission Free