Susan Hiller
dal 28/10/2008 al 19/12/2008
Segnalato da
28/10/2008
Susan Hiller
Timothy Taylor Gallery, London
Proposals and Demonstrations. Hiller uses ephemeral, everyday objects to tell stories and to extract new meanings from them. For this exhibition she premieres new video and photography, alongside earlier works from the 1970s and 1980s, all focusing on her interest in the relationships between altered states of consciousness such as dream states, trance, meditation and art practice.
Susan Hiller uses ephemeral, everyday objects to tell stories and to extract new
meanings from them – producing an art that is both visually stimulating and
emotionally compelling. She is intrigued by the unspoken, the unrecorded and the
unnoticed - in the gaps and overlaps between space and time, dream and
experience. For her second exhibition at Timothy Taylor Gallery, Hiller premieres
new video and photography, alongside earlier works from the 1970s and 1980s, all
focusing on her long-term interest in the relationships between altered states of
consciousness such as dream states, trance, meditation and art practice. The
consistency and significance of Hillerʼs output since the 1970s is currently being
acknowledged by curators and collectors alike. The Last Silent Movie, 2007, on
disappearing languages, was considered by many to be one of the high points of the
recent Berlin Biennale.
At the heart of Proposals and Demonstrations lies the ambitious new video
presentation, From Here to Eternity, 2008, a group of animated projections based
upon historical labyrinth patterns, by means of which the viewer may achieve a
contemplative state of mind. Like many works by Hiller, From Here to Eternity
reminds us of the strong links between modernism and the occult, spiritual practices
and traditions of the past - which influenced the work of Mondrian, Miró and others.
Hiller continues her mapping of this 'ghostly' legacy of Modernism in two new
photographic works in the exhibition: Auras: Homage to Marcel Duchamp, 2007/8
and Levitations: Homage to Yves Klein, 2007/8 which explore the popular
phenomenon of internet self-portraiture of subjects who depict themselves levitating,
flying, or emitting multicoloured auras.
The inclusion of significant earlier works in the exhibition reveals Hillerʼs long
association with the exploration of the hidden: Brian Dillon describes Hillerʼs work as
ʻconjuring the visible from the non-visible, tracking the movements of the unseen,
tracing the outlines of the evanescent – hearing voices out of the ether and giving a
shape to what is not there.ʼ One of the earliest works shown is Dream Mapping,
1974, a series of notebooks that record the dreams of participants who slept under
the stars in mushroom ʻfairy ringsʼ in rural Wiltshire, as part of a performance
orchestrated by Hiller. In Magic Lantern, 1987, a signature work originally
commissioned for the Whitechapel Art Gallery, Hiller blurs the boundaries between
scientific enquiry and the unruly and irrational, as ghost stories, optics, technology
and aesthetics collide.
Susan Hiller (b. 1940, Tallahassee, Florida) lives and works in London and Berlin.
Hiller is represented extensively in international private and public collections,
including Tate; The British Council; The Henry Moore Sculpture Collection; The
Victoria and Albert Museum; The Arts Council of Great Britain; The Government Art
Collection; Museum Ludwig, Cologne; The Ella Fontanals Cisneros Foundation,
Miami; The UBS Collection; Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography; Israel
Museum, Jerusalem, and others.
Hillerʼs five channel video installation, Psi Girls, 1999 is currently installed in the
States of Flux wing on level 5 of Tate Modern, London. Her most recent exhibitions
have included a mini-retrospective entitled Outlaw Cowgirl and Other Works at The
BAWAG Foundation, Vienna, and presentations of The Last Silent Movie at the 5th
Berlin Biennial for Contemporary Art, and at Mattʼs Gallery, London (all 2008), as well
as solo exhibitions at Moderna Museet, Stockholm (2007), Castello di Rivoli,Turin
(2006), Kunsthalle Basel (2005), Baltic Centre, Gateshead (2004), and Museo
Serralves, Porto (2004). Forthcoming solo events in October and November this year
include The J. Street Project at Der Deutsche Bundestag, Berlin and The Jewish
Museum, New York; and screenings of The Last Silent Movie at the Museum of
Modern Art and at Anthology Film Archives, New York in association with
ARTPROJX in November.
A double publication, commissioned by the ICA and co-published with BookWorks,
containing images and texts by the artist will be available during the exhibition in
paperback format and as a limited, boxed edition.
Reception 29 October 2008
Timothy Taylor Gallery
21 Dering Street - London
Open 10-6pm Mon-Fri; 10-1pm Sat.
Free admission