Matthew Buckingham
dal 1/5/2008 al 6/6/2008
Segnalato da
1/5/2008
Matthew Buckingham
Konrad Fischer Galerie, Berlin
Paleography. This solo exhibition by the American artist is comprised of new video ("Within the Sound of Your Voice") and sound works, prints, photographs and an enigmatic staircase with seven steps, one being slightly higher than the others. All the works are informed by a dialectic between presence and absence.
The Konrad Fischer Gallery Berlin is proud to present its first solo exhibition with the American artist Matthew Buckingham. The show is comprised of new video and sound works, prints, photographs and an enigmatic staircase.
A strange object, a staircase with seven steps, one being slightly higher than the others, leans against the gallery wall without any obvious function. It could be considered as the first sculpture ever exhibited by Matthew Buckingham. More interesting than the formal aspects of the object is the fact that it is an abstract version of an old alarm system built into the staircases of old houses. Buckingham’s staircase -- with its ‚hidden noise’ -- functions as an object in a very similar way to the uncommented quotations in Walter Benjamin’s Passagenwerk. Both Burglar Alarm and Bejamin’s quotes hint at a particular understanding of time and history -- neither past or present but Jetztzeit.
Infinite Tuning is a continous audio loop presenting the recording of an orchestra alternately warming up and tuning. These sounds of preparation are extended and repeated but the concert never begins. The unfulfilled anticipation the sounds arouse in us bring to mind the question of what music we´re expecting to hear and also point to the seemingly stable connotations of European classical music such as narratives of state, romantic expression, etc. despite the actual abssence of the music.
A similar dialectic between presence and absence informs the video projection Within the Sound of Your Voice which shows dozens of people writing this phrase. The work’s title is a figure of speech paring down the act of communication to its core -- listening and being heard. Writing extends this process into space and time then comes full circle as the words can be read aloud to be heard once again. The viewer of this silent black and white video hears nothing and cannot read what is being written. Thus the information provided by the small typology of handwriting does not offer clear conclusions but rather stimulates an open reflection of the relation between speech, language, handwriting.
Matthew Buckingham was born in Nevada, Iowa and currently lives in New York City. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, received a BA from the University of Iowa, an MFA from Bard College and attended the Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study program.
His work has been seen in solo exhibitions at Artpace, San Antonio; Charles H. Scott Gallery, Vancouver; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas; Fundación Telefonica, Madrid; Hamburger Bahnhof, Museum fuer Gegenwart, Berlin; Lunds Konsthall, Lund; Midway Contemporary Art Center, Minneapolis; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Museum Moderner Kunst, Vienna; P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York; St. Louis Museum of Art, St. Louis; Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen (with Joachim Koester); Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, St Gallen; The Kitchen, New York (with Joachim Koester); Westfälischer Kunstverein, Münster.
He participated in the 2006 Liverpool Biennial and will be in this year’s Sydney Biennial. His traveling exhibition Play the Story has been presented at the Camden Arts Centre, London and Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee. The show is currently on view at the Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines and FRAC Bourgogne, Dijon and will travel to the Henry Art Gallery, Seattle in July 2008.
Opening reception: May 2nd, 6 to 9 pm, 2008
Konrad Fischer Galerie
Lindenstrasse 35 - Berlin
Free admission