calendario eventi  :: 

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29/1/2015

Two Exhibitions

Haus der Kunst, Munich

David Adjaye: Form, Heft, Material

The heterogeneous work of architect David Adjaye (b. 1966) comprises approximately 50 built projects - from luxury shops and museums to libraries and social housing. His most recent commissions include the design of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., as well as the National Museum of Slavery and Freedom in Cape Coast, Ghana. The buildings of the Ghanaian-British architect are often developed in collaboration with artist friends, including the homes he designed for Chris Ofili, Sue Webster and Tim Noble, and Lorna Simpson and James Casebere.

Adjaye's private structures play with the contrast between hermetically sealed fronts and unexpectedly generous openings in the back, thereby accommodating the owners' need for a private retreat. In contrast, as open and permeable structures, his public buildings are socially effective architecture. Unlike structures of pure functionalism and iconic monumentality, they approach their users rather than patronizing them. Adjaye often uses materials that change color through their exposure to light, take on different textures due to varying weather conditions or provoke viewers to touch them because of their distinctive tactile qualities. They thereby also engage sensually in a dialogue with their audience.

The survey exhibition, the most extensive of Adjaye's career, is organized by Haus der Kunst and Art Institute of Chicago. It is curated by Okwui Enwezor, director of Haus der Kunst, Munich, and Zoë Ryan, John H. Bryan Chair and Curator of Architecture and Design at the Art Institute of Chicago.

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Mark Leckey: As If

British artist Mark Leckey (born 1964) is one of the most important artistic representatives of his generation. In 2008 he was awarded the Turner Prize for his work, which navigates the boundaries between pop culture, consumerism, and technology. Leckey's early, dandyish works primarily focused on London's subculture and music scene and explored the allure of brands and products. Today Leckey's interests concentrate on digital technology and how they affect concepts of life and identity.

The exhibition's layout is episodic and structured according to three thematic threads: The show opens with autobiographical works – from "Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore" (1999), an ode to the British club culture that made Leckey famous overnight, to "MyAlbum: A Rough-Demo Video," an ongoing project that examines the decades following Leckey's birth, to his artistic breakthrough with "Fiorucci." In the central space, all five of the artist's "Sound Systems" (2001–12) are presented for the first time as an ensemble: The speaker towers have their origins in mobile discotheques and have been a recurring element in his work since the early 2000s. Leckey understands music in general, and his "Sound Systems" in particular, as alternative communication channels: "Music speaks to everyone and art doesn't. Art has a very narrow appeal. It's not that I'm populist; I just don't understand why art can't be a language that can be understood universally." Leckey refers to the third part of the exhibition as the "Glyptothek", a collection of his videos and films. The artist claims he only really understands things when he sees them on screen. The focus of his works for the “Glyptothek” are objects that Leckey sets in motion or animates – such as the speaking refrigerator in "GreenScreenRefrigeratorAction" (2010). The origin for these is the emotional intensity of our relationship to things, which the artist demonstrates in an equally entertaining and lucid way.

Image: Mark Leckey, Felix Gets Broadcasted, 2007 (Production still), Courtesy of the artist and Gavin Brown's enterprise, New York; Galerie Buchholz, Berlin/Cologne; and Cabinet, London

Opening: Friday 30 January 2015

Haus der Kunst
Prinzregentenstr. 1
80538 Munich
Germany

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