Two exhibitions
dal 20/3/2013 al 22/6/2013
Segnalato da
20/3/2013
Two exhibitions
Henry Moore Institute, Leeds
"The Institute of Endless Possibilities" considers Robert Filliou's work outside of his close ties to Fluxus in order to focus specifically on his sculptural output and his concern with objects. This exhibition asks the question: when does an everyday object become a sculpture? "Keir Smith: From Wall to Floor" focuses on the artist's work made in the 1970s and early 80s, a time when he made the transition from figurative painting into sculpture.
Robert Filliou
The Institute of Endless Possibilities
Robert Filliou: The Institute of Endless Possibilities is the first institutional solo exhibition devoted to Filliou (1926-87) in the UK. It considers Filliou's work outside of his close ties to Fluxus in order to focus specifically on his sculptural output and his concern with objects. This exhibition asks the question: when does an everyday object become a sculpture?
Filliou interrupted the definition of sculpture with time and chance. He destabilised sculpture as a fixed and incontrovertible object to construct sculpture through multiple moments of encounter. His work embodies Marcel Duchamp's 1957 statement: 'The creative act is not performed by the artist alone; the spectator brings the work in contact with the external world by deciphering and interpreting its inner qualifications and thus adds his contribution to the creative act'. Robert Filliou: The Institute of Endless Possibilities positions Filliou as an object-maker whose sculptures examine the very nature of the creative act. His methodology pre-empts the first wave of conceptual art, and is a crucial moment for understanding sculpture today.
Underscoring Filliou's work is an interest in what defines and constitutes an artwork. A trained political scientist, Filliou was greatly inspired by the work of Charles Fourier, especially his concept of 'attractive passions' that championed the concept of work as pleasure. Play and joy occupy crucial roles for Filliou, who believed art making was part of a permanent, universal and endless process deeply embedded everyday life.
Two key works in this exhibition are 'Eins. Un. One.' (1984) and 'Musique télépathique nº 5' (Telepathic Music number 1, 1976-1978). 'Eins. Un. One.' consists of 16,000 wooden dice, each bearing the number one on all sides, negating the laws of probability. A similar ludic bluntness can be seen in 'Musique télépathique nº 5', a sculpture made of thirty-three music stands holding playing cards and short notes inscribed with directions. The absence of players is tangible, with the work's title insinuating a collectively shared idea of a score or outcome.
Although this is the first solo exhibition of Filliou's objects in the UK, this is not the first time his work has been seen in Leeds. In 1969 he visited Leeds College of Art, to teach with Robin Page and George Brecht, where he staged a game that became a multiple art works named 'Leeds' in 1976, which will be displayed in the Institute's foyer. Two card players are blindfolded and guided through their moves by a surrounding audience - the players must collaborate with and trust the judgement of their audience.
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Keir Smith
From Wall to Floor
Keir Smith: From Wall to Floor focuses on the artist's work made in the 1970s and early 80s, a time when he made the transition from figurative painting into sculpture, experimenting first with process-based art and performance before moving into a landscape setting. Smith's oeuvre presents an ongoing conversation between sculpture and painting. He moved back and forth between the two, using two-dimensional media to develop and document his three-dimensional ideas, and to explore qualities of surface and narrative imagery, which remained key themes throughout his artistic practice.
As a student in Newcastle in the early 1970s, under the tutelage of Ian Stephenson, Smith started to investigate the material possibilities of paint, canvas and stretcher and to work these elements into three-dimensional compositions. Later, he developed wall-based installations that harnessed the physical properties of different materials, but were often realised only, or most completely, on paper in highly skilled, polychromatic technical drawings. In the early 1980s, he turned process into performance, creating a series of sculptures and installations documenting his interaction with the landscape, often presented as compositions or images on the ground.
The exhibition celebrates the acquisition of Keir Smith's archive, together with works on paper and sculptures to the Leeds collection in 2012. It is one of a number of recent additions to the collection focusing on artists who emerged in the 1970s and 80s including Helen Chadwick, Phyllida Barlow, Darrell Viner and Shelagh Cluett.
Keir Smith (1950-2007) studied at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (1969-73) and at Chelsea School of Art (1973-75). He exhibited extensively in solo and group exhibitions in the UK and completed many commissions for sculptures for public and landscape sites in the 1980s and 90s, including Grizedale Forest, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Henrietta House, London (Public Art Development Trust) and the Forest of Dean Sculpture Trail. He lived and worked in London and Suffolk, teaching at Wimbledon School of Art.
This exhibition is drawn from our archival collections: Keir Smith Archive
Image: Eins. Un. One.'1984, 16,000 painted wooden cubes. Courtesy Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporaine Genève © Marianne Filliou
Press contact:
Rebecca Land +44 (0)113 246 7467 Rebecca@henry-moore.org
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