calendario eventi  :: 

X

7/11/2008

The Art of Participation

SFMoMA, San Francisco

On view at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) from November 8, 2008, through February 8, 2009, The Art of Participation: 1950 to Now presents an overview of the rich and varied history of participatory art practice during the past six decades, exploring strategies and situations in which the public has taken a collaborative role in the art-making process.

Organized by SFMOMA Curator of Media Arts Rudolf Frieling, this large thematic presentation gathers more than 70 works by some 50 individual artists and collectives, and will feature projects both on-site and online, as well as several new pieces commissioned specifically for the exhibition. From early performance-based and conceptual art to online works rooted in the multiuser dynamics of Web 2.0 platforms, The Art of Participation reflects on the confluence of audience interaction, utopian politics, and mass media, and reclaims the museum as a space for two-way exchange between artists and viewers.

The exhibition proposes that participatory art is generally based on a notion of indeterminacy—an openness to chance or change, as introduced by John Cage in the early 1950s—and refers to projects that, while initiated by individual artists, can be realized only through the contribution of others. This artistic approach entices the public to join in; it questions the conventional divide between artists and their audiences, and it challenges assumptions about the symbolic value of art as well as the traditional role of the museum as a container for objects rather than a site for social engagement or art production.

The Art of Participation traces the influence and transformation of this concept across various genres, identifying its signal moments and charting a lineage of participatory art across a wide spectrum of media, including drawing, painting, sculpture, performance, film, video, photography, online projects, and interactive media installations. Seminal works by major historical figures will contextualize more recent projects, linking key aspects of contemporary participatory practice to their historical precedents.

SFMOMA, in association with Thames & Hudson, has published a 224-page, fully illustrated exhibition catalogue featuring original essays by Robert Atkins, Rudolf Frieling, Boris Groys, and Lev Manovich. SFMOMA will also produce a companion volume (a small print-on-demand paperback, to be released after the exhibition closes) reflecting the participatory aspects of the show by collecting texts, visuals, and other content contributed by artists and visitors.

Complete List of Featured Artists
Abramović/Ulay; Vito Acconci; Francis Alÿs; John Baldessari; Joseph Beuys; Joachim Blank, Gerrit Gohlke, and Karl Heinz Jeron; George Brecht; Jonah Brucker-Cohen and Mike Bennett; John Cage; c a l c and Johannes Gees; Janet Cardiff; Lygia Clark; Minerva Cuevas; Maria Eichhorn; VALIE EXPORT; Harrell Fletcher and Jon Rubin; Fluxus collective; Kit Galloway and Sherrie Rabinowitz; Jochen Gerz; Matthias Gommel; Felix Gonzalez-Torres; Dan Graham; Hans Haacke; Lynn Hershman Leeson; Allan Kaprow; Henning Lohner and Van Carlson; Chip Lord, Curtis Schreier, and Bruce Tomb; Rafael Lozano-Hemmer; Tom Marioni; MTAA (M.River and T.Whid Art Associates); Antoni Muntadas; Yoko Ono; Nam June Paik; Dan Phiffer and Mushon Zer-Aviv; Raqs Media Collective; Robert Rauschenberg; Warren Sack; Mieko Shiomi; Torolab; Wolf Vostell; Andy Warhol; Stephen Willats; Erwin Wurm

The Art of Participation: 1950 to Now
Exhibition information and program schedule:
http://ww.sfmoma.org/aop

Press contact
Sandra Farish Sloan, 415.357.4174, ssloan@sfmoma.org
Libby Garrison, 415.357.4177, lgarrison@sfmoma.org
Robyn Wise, 415.357.4172, rwise@sfmoma.org

The Art of Participation: 1950 to Now is organized by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. The exhibition is generously funded by The James Irvine Foundation and SFMOMA's Collectors Forum. Additional support is provided by Goethe-Institut San Francisco. Media support is provided by The Examiner and SFExaminer.com.

Image: Erwin Wurm, One Minute Sculptures (detail), 1997; thirty-two chromogenic prints; collection of the artist; photo: Kuzuyuki Matsumoto; © 2008 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VBK, Vienna

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA)
151 Third Street
San Francisco, CA 94103

stampa

permanent link