Adrian Piper actions
dal 13/4/2005 al 5/6/2005
Segnalato da
13/4/2005
Adrian Piper actions
Index - the Swedish Contemporary Art Foundation, Stockholm
He is a conceptual and political artist whose work over 3 decades has revolved around aspects of racism, xenophobia, gender and class. The show presents 3 of the artist's actions in documented form: as film, audio and text. The aim of the presentation is to use them as a basis for further discussion about their continued topicality in the present today.
Adrian Margaret Smith Piper is a conceptual and political artist whose work
over three decades has revolved around aspects of racism, xenophobia, gender
and class. The artist's opposition to a homogenous and patriarchal culture
manifested itself in the early 70s through direct actions, whereby she
manipulated her appearance and behaviour in order to question convention and
generally accepted norms in the public space. Probably Piper's best known
project, the performance series The Mythic Being (1972 - 1976), arose as a
spontaneous experiment in which the artist dressed herself as an
African-American man and wandered around the city, smoking and behaving
according to male stereotypes, as seen for example in The Mythic Being
Cruising White Women. Index presents three of the artist's actions in
documented form: as film, audio and text. The aim of the presentation is not
to attempt a reconstruction of Piper's work, but rather to use them as a
basis for further discussion about their continued topicality in the
present today.
Index also presents Peter Kennedy's Other than Art's Sake 1973 - 1974, a
documentary including interviews of artists and featuring their work from
the era being presented, including among others Adrian Piper and The Mythic
Being. This documentary film is shown in order to offer visitors a
reflection of this particular period and a presentation of the political era
in which Adrian Piper and some of her colleagues created their work. Other
than Art's Sake 1973 - 1974 was filmed in New York, London and Edinburgh.
Also seen here are Ian Breakwell, Judy Chicago, Hans Haacke, David Medalla,
Arlene Raven, Charles Simonds and Stephen Willats.
Adrian Piper's work has recently been exhibited in two retrospective
exhibitions in USA, Adrian Piper: A Retrospective 1965-1995, and
MEDI(t)Ations: Adrian Piper¹s Video and Audio Works 1968-1992. A
retrospective European exhibition, Adrian Piper since 1965, has been shown
at the Museu d¹Art Contemporani de Barcelona and at the Generali Foundation,
Vienna. Piper also participated in Documenta XI, Kassel, 2002.
The Index exhibition programme is curated Markus Degerman, Andreas Gedin,
Helena Holmberg, Mats Stjernstedt and Niklas Östholm.
Index The Swedish Contemporary Art Foundation
St Paulsgatan 3, Box 151 52, 104 65 Stockholm
open: Tue-Sun 12-4 pm, Wed 12-7 pm