calendario eventi  :: 

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29/11/2005

Three exhibitios

CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco

A Brief History of Invisible Art - Artur Zmijewski - Jeanne Dunning

A Brief History of Invisible Art

The CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts presents "A Brief History of Invisible Art," an exhibition that will bring together artworks from the past four decades that place an emphasis on the conceptual and communicative possibilities of the work of art, while bypassing its seeming requirements of visibility and materiality. Organized by Ralph Rugoff, director of the CCA Wattis Institute, "Invisible Art" is on view November 30, 2005-February 21, 2006, in the Logan Galleries on the San Francisco campus of California College of the Arts. An opening reception will take place on Wednesday, November 30, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. The exhibition and reception are both free and open to the public.

From Yves Klein's utopian plans for an "architecture of air" to Michael Asher's "Column of Air"—which subtly annotates the gallery architecture and the path of a visitor through space—to the "practical idealism" of Jay Chung's invisible film, the works in this exhibition underscore the role of audience response. "Going against the grain of a culture where seeing is believing, invisible art challenges our assumptions by emphasizing art's communicative possibilities over its visual qualities. And at a moment when art institutions compete to mount ever more spectacular exhibitions, invisible art is a much-needed tonic for our imagination. It can prompt us to see through the art world's grandiose distractions, and so, perhaps, to think a little more clearly about art's true importance," says Rugoff.

Spanning a range of aesthetic practices, "A Brief History of Invisible Art" will feature works by seminal figures in the history of conceptual art as well as by more recent artists who respond to their legacy. Artists in the exhibition include Art & Language, Michael Asher, Robert Barry, James Lee Byars, Maurizio Cattelan, Jay Chung, Trisha Donnelly, Tom Friedman, Carsten Holler, Bethan Huws, Bruno Jakob, Yves Klein, Glenn Ligon, Jonathan Monk, Gianni Motti and Andy Warhol.

Established in 1998, the CCA Wattis Institute serves as a forum for the presentation and discussion of leading-edge local, national and international contemporary culture. Through exhibitions, the Capp Street Project residency program, lectures, symposia, performances and publications in the fields of art, architecture and design, the Wattis Institute fosters interaction among the students and faculty of California College of the Arts; art, architecture and design professionals; and the general public.

Image: Gianni Motti, Magic Ink, 1989

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Capp Street Project: Jeanne Dunning

Jeanne Dunning is the fall 2005 Capp Street Project artist in residence at the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts. In this exhibition, Dunning elaborates on her continuing investigation of representations of formlessness that evoke disturbing corporeal associations. Centering around a series of large-scale photographs depicting a monochrome color field (composed of smashed stewed tomatoes), Dunning's installation explores boundaries between the sublime and the grotesque, while playing on our perceptions and misperceptions of images connoting physical vulnerability. Organized by Ralph Rugoff, director of the CCA Wattis Institute, "Capp Street Project: Jeanne Dunning" is on view November 30, 2005-February 21, 2006, in the Logan Galleries of the San Francisco campus of California College of the Arts. An opening reception will take place on Wednesday, November 30, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. The exhibition and reception are both free and open to the public.

"Jeanne's work explores our sense of the boundaries that separate our bodies and the outside world, and that enable us to define a sense of self," says Ralph Rugoff, director of the CCA Wattis Institute. "In this new series of images, she evokes the body at its most visceral—indeed, conjures a scene of terrible carnage—yet does so without depicting literal blood and guts. She keeps us in a state of suspense regarding what we are actually looking at, and how we should be responding to it, whether with horror, fascination or pleasure."

Jeanne Dunning was born in 1960 in Granby, Connecticut, and lives and works in Chicago. Her solo exhibitions include shows at the Malm Konstmuseum, Sweden, 1999, and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC, 1994 (traveled to the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago). Her work was included in New Photography 14 at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1998; the Sydney Biennale, 1996; the Venice Biennale, 1995; and the Whitney Biennial, 1991. She completed a web-based work for Dia Center for the Arts in 2002. A selective survey of her work will open at the Berkeley Art Museum in January 2006.

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The CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts presents world-renowned Stanford psychologist Philip Zimbardo in conversation with Polish artist Artur Zmijewski on Wednesday, November 30, at 6 p.m. in Timken Lecture Hall at the California College of the Arts San Francisco campus, 1111 Eighth Street.

This special event kicks off an exhibition of Zmijewski's 39-minute film "Repetition" (2005), a documentary recording his reenactment of Professor Zimbardo's 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment. The film screens every hour on the hour at the CCA Wattis Institute's Logan Galleries from November 30, 2005, to February 21, 2006.

Professor Zimbardo's experiment, which isolated groups of graduate students in randomly designated roles of prisoners and guards in a simulated prison, had to be interrupted due to the participants' own abusive behavior.

For "Repetition," Zmijewski hired unemployed Polish men to play the roles of prisoners and guards. Filmed with hidden cameras, their behavior quickly progresses from playacting to acts of seemingly genuine frustration and anger. Confrontations escalate, but just when it seems Zmijewski's experiment will replicate the original, things take an unexpected turn.

The outcome raises questions about individual responsibility and social roles, the similarities and differences between art and science, and whether either can offer convincing conclusions about human nature.

"'Repetition' is not only a conceptually astute investigation of ethics, but also an intriguing and innovative example of narrative art," says Ralph Rugoff, director of the CCA Wattis Institute. "Artur Zmijewski has emerged over the past five years as one of the most consistently challenging, provocative and profoundly thoughtful artists in Europe. His work examines in an unflinching manner complex moral issues that few of his contemporaries ever address."

Born in 1966 in Warsaw, Zmijewski works exclusively with photography and film, often taking the position of an observer of human behavior, provoking and studying unusual situations. His works often reference the aesthetics of violence and segregation and deal with fringe groups and the socially underprivileged.

The November 30 conversation marks the first time Zmijewski and Zimbardo will discuss "Repetition" and the issues surrounding it. The event and exhibition are free and open to the public.

Opening reception: November 30, 7-8:30 p.m; free entrance

CCA Wattis Institute
California College of the Arts'San Francisco campus, 1111 Eighth Street (at 16th and Wisconsin) - San Francisco
Hours: Tues., Thurs., 11 a.m.-7 p.m.; Wed., Fri., Sat., 11 a.m.-6 p.m.; closed Sun. and Mon.

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