Phantom fuel. Visitors will see a work melting, trash becoming theory, a functioning neon tube becoming a grave to part of another, paint becoming a phantom, a split second metamorphosing into jewellery, voice materialising, absence becoming presence, and along with all this movement comes a mandatory experience.
Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art is delighted to host the largest and most
extensive presentation of the work of Iran-born Dutch artist Navid Nuur. This, his first-ever
solo exhibition in a UK institution, shows from 13 March to 19 May 2013.
Nuur’s works are based on phenomenological experiences. He commonly attributes
transformative properties to found objects, thereby repositioning their function, meaning and
impact in ways that provide viewers with a whole new experience.
NAVID NUUR: PHANTOM FUEL undoubtedly provides a visual experience, but invariably
visitors also find themselves entering a world of discovery. They will see, for example, a
work melting, trash becoming theory, a functioning neon tube becoming a grave to part of
another, paint becoming a phantom, a split second metamorphosing into jewellery, voice
materialising, absence becoming presence, and along with all this movement comes a
mandatory experience.
Whilst often sculptural in form, Nuur’s works are neither sculpture nor installations, forms
which he considers to be too immobile and rigid to produce the spatial and temporal
interaction he wants them to have with their environment and viewers. Rather, he frequently
uses the term ‘interimodules’ (part ‘interim’, part ‘module’). In the artist’s own words, they
are ‘temporary module-like works that feed off each other when they are together’. For
example, in the exhibition at Parasol unit, light emitted by one work is absorbed by another,
which both allows and enhances one’s own visual experience of it.
Although often referred to as a conceptual artist, Nuur’s art refuses to be simply the
physical manifestation of an idea or concept. Rather, his work is imbued with a certain
feeling and subjectivity, in which temporary or interim situations and opportunities play an
important role.
About his work, Nuur says: ‘Many of my pieces begin with an object or an idea that irritates
me.’ For example, the work Where You End and I Begin, on show at Parasol unit, is about
the full stop at the end of the exhibition wall text. Nuur will take out this punctuation
mark, which will not have been written by him, and will enlarge it hundreds of times until
the full stop itself posits its own objectivity. He will then frame this work and exhibit it
beside the wall text. Of this process, Nuur says, ‘the dot, an object derived from information
about my work, holds the key to my artistic practice, while the text explaining my practice
has been turned back into art.’
Born in Tehran in 1976, Navid Nuur currently lives and works in The Hague, The Netherlands.
Image: Untitled, 2006–2008, Light box, paint and sensor, 60 x 80 cm
Press contact:
Anna Lehmbruck on 020 7490 7373, at anna@parasol-unit.org
Preview: 12 March 2012, 6.30 – 9 p.m.
Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art
14 Wharf Road London N1 7RW
Hours:
Monday by prior arrangement, Tuesday–Saturday 10am–6pm
Sunday 12–5pm, First Thursday of every month open until 9pm
Closed on Good Friday, 29 March 2013, and Easter Sunday, 31 March 2013.
Open on Saturday 30 March 2013.
Admission Free