Michael Smith
dal 19/6/2009 al 24/7/2009
Segnalato da
19/6/2009
Michael Smith
Homie Berlin, Berlin
School Work: Summer Session. For 30 years, Smith has intertwined the worlds of art and entertainment, through performances, video and installations, which tell the tales of his eponymous persona, Mike. On display are two works, Portal Excursions and Sears Class Portraits, which intertwine the artist and his alter ego's pursuit of belonging and achievement.
Homie welcomes Michael Smith and his exhibition, School Work: Summer
Session. For 30 years, Smith has intertwined the worlds of art and
entertainment, through performances, video and installations, which
tell the tales of his eponymous persona, Mike. Mike is the
contemporary Everyman whose character dispels any illusion of
transcendence. He is persistently ambitious, guided by the pitches of
mass media, but never quite comprehending or realizing their reward.
At Homie, Smith presents two works, Portal Excursions (2005-07) and
Sears Class Portraits (1999-2009), which intertwine the artist and
his alter ego’s pursuit of belonging and achievement.
In the 10-minute video, Portal Excursions, Mike's lonely lifelong
project of knowledge acquisition is renewed when, at middle age, he
discovers OpenCourseWare, MIT's 'free and open educational resource
for self-learners around the world.' In a dreamlike, deadpan
meditation on isolation in the Global Village, Mike expounds on the
potential to increase learning efficiency via digital platforms. Shot
and edited at the Center for Advanced Visual Studies at MIT, the
video is accompanied by a soundtrack by Red Krayola co-founder, Mayo
Thompson. (description adapted by Larissa Harris, EAI)
Over the past 10 years, Smith has taught at several institutions
including Yale, Cranbrook, UCLA, and currently the University of
Texas in Austin. Since 1999 he has taken many of his classes to the
local Sears where they pose for a group portrait. In the series,
Sears Class Portraits, Smith is grouped with his students as he
employs the same comic expressions as Mike. The portraits present a
contrast with the fictional Portal Excursions, and offer a sincere
glimpse of the artist’s real life.
Michael Smith has exhibited worldwide at museums, galleries,
universities, festivals, nightclubs, on TV and in the streets. In New
York City, he has had solo shows and screenings at The New Museum,
The Whitney Museum, Christine Burgin Gallery and MOMA.
Internationally, he has had solo exhibitions at Le Magasin in
Grenoble, Objectif in Antwerp, Galleria Emi Fontana in Milan, Hales
Gallery in London and EDB Projects in Amsterdam. In 2007-08, his
retrospective Mike's World: Michael Smith & Joshua White (and other
collaborators) was exhibited at the Blanton Museum of Art in Austin,
Texas and at the ICA in Philadelphia. Currently, Smith is included in
the group exhibition The Pictures Generation: 1974-1984 at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art. This fall, a large-scale video
installation made in collaboration with Mike Kelley will be at the
Sculpture Center in Long Island City, New York. He lives and works in
Brooklyn, New York and Austin, Texas.
Opening Saturday, June 20th, 8 PM
Homie Berlin
Stargarder Strasse 71 - Berlin
Open Saturday & Sunday 1-6 PM
Free admission