Chodzko has created two projects: cell-a 2006 is a slide projection installed at the gallery and an archive concealed in Margate, Kent; Better Scenery is a sculpture, split between Cubitt and Fargo, North Dakota, USA. Both cell-a 2006 and Better Scenery propose displacement - looking in the wrong place - as a way of creating links between apparently incompatible communities and places.
Adam Chodzko has been commissioned by Cubitt to make new work for his first solo exhibition in London since 1997. Chodzko has created two projects: cell-a 2006 is a slide projection installed at the gallery and an archive concealed in Margate, Kent; Better Scenery is a sculpture, split between Cubitt and Fargo, North Dakota, USA. Both cell-a 2006 and Better Scenery propose displacement - looking in the wrong place - as a way of creating links between apparently incompatible communities and places.
cell-a 2006 depicts the activities of a group of Kurdish asylum seekers in Margate, Kent, invited by Chodzko to become keepers of the archive of the last 10 years of exhibitions and events at Cubitt. The entire project is set in 2006 when the lease on Cubitt's current building expires and the future of the organisation is once again uncertain. The Kurdish asylum seekers will try to make sense of the archive, editing, interpreting and storing the material. They alone know its exact location, acting as guides to anyone who wishes to visit it.
Better Scenery becomes the third in a series of paired signs by Chodzko. A sign advising directions to Cubitt has been erected out 'in the middle of nowhere' in a flood plain near Fargo, North Dakota, USA. A sign giving directions to the Fargo sign is installed in an ash tree on Angel Mews outside Cubitt. Both signs use the casual language of directions given to a stranger in the street. The signs will 'disappear' in the spring, the Fargo sign submerged under water when the Red River floods during the thaw and the Cubitt sign obscured behind new foliage.
cell-a 2006 and Better Scenery are supported by London Arts and The Henry Moore Foundation. Better Scenery is produced in collaboration with the Plains Art Museum, Fargo, North Dakota, USA. cell-a 2006 is co-commissioned with Artracks EK 2003, part of East Kent Cultural Consortium's Visualize the Future programme and produced in collaboration with Kent Institute of Art and Design. cell-a 2006 will be shown in East Kent from March - June 2003
Adam Chodzko has recently been awarded an Artracks EK 2003 commission for CellA. Artracks EK is the commissioning strand of Visualize the Future, a three year programme which began in 2001 to support new work by South East and East Kent artists and to raise the profile of the visual arts in East Kent. Visualize the Future is an initiative of the East Kent Cultural Consortium comprised of the six local authorities of East Kent - Ashford Borough Council, Canterbury City Council, Dover Distict Council, Shepway District Council, Swale Borough Council & Thanet District Council. It is currently supported by Southern & South East Arts, through the Regioanl Arts Lottery Programme, Kent County Council and Esmée Fairbairn Foundation. CellA will be shown in East Kent from March - June 2003.
For further information: Christine Gist, Project Co-ordinator, T/F 01304 372 414
Adam Chodzko Biography
Adam Chodzko (b.1965) lives and works in Whitstable, Kent and London. Solo exhibitions include Ikon Gallery, Birmingham; Galleria Franco Noero, Turin; Sandroni Rey, Los Angeles; Els Hanappe Underground, Athens; Accademia Britannica, Rome and Arizona State University Art Museum. Chodzko's work has been included in group exhibitions at Dundee Contemporary Arts, Scotland; The Royal Academy, London; Deste Foundation, Athens; Venice Biennale; De Appel, amsterdam; Walker Arts Center, Minneapolis and Auckland Art Gallery, New Zealand. Recent publications include 'Plans and Spells', a catalogue published by Film and Video Umbrella, and 'Romanov', a book published by Bookworks. Chodzko was one of this year's recipients of the Hamlyn Award.
Private View: Thursday 5 December 7 - 9pm
Gallery Hours: Wednesday - Sunday 12 - 6pm
Closed: 25 December 2002 - 5 January 2003
Artists Gallery Talk: Saturday 11 January 4pm
Cubitt
8 Angel Mews
London
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