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28/2/2014

Four exhibitions

Sculpture Center, New York

Rossella Biscotti
The Undercover Man

SculptureCenter is pleased to announce the simultaneous presentations of new work by four artists, Rossella Biscotti, David Douard, Radames "Juni" Figueroa, and Jumana Manna, each artist to have a solo project in an U.S. institution for the first time.

SculptureCenter will present the U.S. premiere of Rossella Biscotti's film The Undercover Man (2008). Part of a larger project that includes sculptures, photographs, and a publication, the film is a portrait of Joseph D. Pistone, an FBI agent also known as Donnie Brasco. Pistone spent six years undercover with New York's Bonnano crime family resulting in the conviction of over 100 members of the mafia in the 1980s. To make the film, Biscotti worked directly with Pistone, interviewing him at length and reviewing with him photographs and documents she retrieved from the archives of the FBI and National Archives and Records Administration. Unlike the dramatic narrative of the 1997 Hollywood film, Donnie Brasco, Biscotti's film uses the stylistic tropes of film noir to present direct interviews with Pistone, original audio recordings and surveillance images, and symbolic objects such as a light bulb, a clock, and an audio recorder. The film explores the memories and identity of a man who lived a fictional role and now lives in the shadows to protect himself.

Rossella Biscotti (b. 1978, lives and works in Brussels) recent exhibitions have included Secession, Vienna (2013); the CAC Vilnius (2012); Fondazione Galleria Civica di Trento (2010); and the Nomas Foundation, Rome (2009.) She has participated in major group exhibitions including the Encyclopedic Palace at the 55th Venice Biennale (2013); dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel (2012); Manifesta 9, Genk (2012); MAXXI National Museum for 21st Century Art, Rome (2010-11); Witte de With, Rotterdam (2010); and Museu Serralves, Porto (2010). Biscotti received the Premio Italia Arte Contemporanea Award in 2010.

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David Douard
)juicy o'f the nest.

For his exhibition at SculptureCenter, )juicy o'f the nest., David Douard is creating new works that explore notions around the literal and figurative underground, or underbelly, of a city. Mirroring systems that aren't necessarily seen, but are essential to the support of daily life and routine (such as sewage systems and public transport), Douard creates an elaborate scheme connecting fruit, fountains, a sofa, as well as other elements. The resulting kinetic sculptures incorporate systems of decay, growth, and contamination. Through these disparate elements, Douard's works employs poetics to integrate organic and technological modes of degeneration, a process that reforms and questions assumptions around hygiene, energy production, and nutrition. Through breaking down technological and biological systems, Douard creates a new logic.

David Douard (b. 1983, lives and works in Paris) recent exhibitions include Meanwhile...Suddenly, and Then, as a part of the 12th Lyon Biennale (2013/14). Solo exhibitions include MO'SWALLOW, at the Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2014); Narrow-Cold Lovel, at The Signal Center for Contemporary Art, Malmö(2013/14); Sick Saliva, at Valentin, Paris (2013); and Innerspace: Jean Comandon/ David Douard, at the Bétonsalon, Paris (2012). He has also been included in group shows such as Urschleim, at Fauna, a non-profit exhibition space located in Copenhagen (2013); and Orlando, presented by the Brodbeck Foundation in Cantania, Italy (2012). Douard was also nominated for the Prix Fondation d'enterprise Ricard Award in 2012.

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Jumana Manna
Menace of Origins

Jumana Manna is creating a group of new sculptures in relation to her video work, Blessed Blessed Oblivion (2010). The video work references Kenneth Anger's Scorpio Rising (1963), and examines macho culture in East Jerusalem. The men in her video are portrayed in the social spaces they have carved out for themselves, in auto shops, barbershops, and gyms, in an examination of this particular performance of gender and the materials that support it. Objects like tires, watches and dumbbells become props in an assertion of masculinity that borders on camp.

The sculptures that Manna is producing in relation to the video comprise a reexamination of its subject matter through the notion of relics. Using archaeology as a device, Manna explores ruins and architectural forms from a site in the same area that the protagonist from her film lives in. Creating an unlikely pairing of subject matter, Manna questions the construction of power, nationalism, gender, and history through material relationships.

Jumana Manna (b. 1987, lives in works in Berlin) solo exhibitions include projects at the Kunsthall Oslo (2013) and Kunstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin (2013). Manna's work was shown in the group exhibition, Points of Departure, at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London (2013). She also participated in the Sharjah Biennale (2013) and the Performa 13 Biennial, New York (2013). Her work has been included in multiple film festivals such as the Norwegian Short film Festival, Grimstad (2013); the London Palestine Film Festival, London (2013); the International Film Festival, Rotterdam (2013); and the Toronto Palestine Film Festival, Toronto (2013). In 2012, Manna received the Qattan Foundation's Young Palestinian Artist Award (first prize).

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Radames "Juni" Figueroa
Naguabo Rainbow
Daguao Enchumbao
Fango Fireflies

For his exhibition the SculptureCenter, Radames "Juni" Figueroa is creating a site-specific structure that will reference a previously built tree house in Naguabo, Puerto Rico. The construction will incorporate materials from and related to the tropics, but also from the city. This hybrid environment invites interaction, celebration and socialization, essential elements to most of his works. The sculpture incorporates materials inspired by the tropical rain forest in Puerto Rico, as well as by urban structures found throughout the island. With this work, Figueroa is further investigating ideas concerning tropical architecture, a type of construction mostly determined by available materials, while also making connections to the context of New York City. Figueroa's works' explore and amplify associations from the tropics through a mix of personal references and critical humor. At SculptureCenter, Radames will further explore his experiences within the forest though sound installations, paintings, and his "Tropical Ready Mades".

Radames "Juni" Figueroa (b, 1982, lives and works in San Juan, PR) Solo exhibitions of his work include Sal Si Puedes, at Roberto Paradise Gallery, San Juan (2012). Past projects include Tree House - Club House, a live monumental sculpture at a forest in Naguabo, Puerto Rico (2013); Triangle Eucalyptus for Meditation, 43 Salon Inter-Nacional, Medellin, Colombia (2013), Salvajismo Caribeño, an intervention on the Roof of Houses in Barrio La Perla in San Juan, Puerto Rico (2009); and Parada "Phantom," (Tropical Bus Stop), created in a public space in San Juan (2009). Figueroa will be included in the 2014 Whitney Biennial.

Image: Rossella Biscotti, The Undercover Man, 2008. Still from film transferred to HD video, 30 min. Image courtesy Wilfried Lentz Rotterdam and prometeo gallery di Ida Pisani.

For media inquiries, please contact Frederick Janka, press@sculpture-center.org
Adam Abdalla / Andrea Walsh Nadine Johnson & Associates 212.228.5555 adam@nadinejohnson.com / andrea@nadinejohnson.com

Opening: Saturday March 1, 5–7pm

SculptureCenter
44-19 Purves Street Long Island City, New York
Hours: Thursday–Monday 11am–6pm
Admission:
$5 suggested donation

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