One week performance by Lovett/Codagnone. Viewers enter a dark space, illuminated only by a very low red light, similar to those used in photo darkrooms or sex darkrooms. There are benches along the walls around the room where viewers are able to sit, similar to those found in saunas.
One week performance by Lovett/Codagnone:
Opening reception & performance: Saturday, March 29 6 - 8 pm
Performance dates & hours:
Tuesday, April 1 - Friday, April 4 6 - 8pm
Saturday, April 5th noon - 6pm
Viewers enter a dark space, illuminated only by a very low red light, similar to
those used in photo darkrooms or sex darkrooms. There are benches along the
walls around the room where viewers are able to sit, similar to those found in
saunas. A scent is emitted from within the room. This fragrance will be
manufactured by the artists, based on extensive research of aphrodisiacs and
their presumed effects. The scent will include essences of Hemp, Thorn Apple,
Fennel, and Ylang-Ylang - ingredients strongly associated with powers of
love, seduction, arousal and potency.
The smell of love is coupled with stories, often scatological in nature, derived
from Salo (120 Days of Sodom), by Pier Paolo Pasolini. Text excerpts from the
1975 film will be read live by the artists during the opening night, and each of
the following nights for the duration of the exhibition. Each live reading will
be recorded and played the subsequent day, prior to the next live reading.
Through each daily reading and re-recording, a layer of sound fragments will
be constructed, becoming increasingly complex by the end of the week-long
performance. The chosen sound fragments concern memories and the ways in which
they pertain to the senses.
In Ask*, the visitor is engaged in a non-spectacle manner that is created
through the delivery of stories only in the form of sound. In this space,
deprived of visual stimulation, the spectator is encouraged to appropriate the
stories as part of his/her own imaginary. Confronted by limited visibility, the
viewer may experience a heightened sense of smell that is instigated by the
aphrodisiac. The volume and storytelling quality of the sound excerpts is
designed to create an illusion of intimacy, as if someone else is with the
viewer in the space, guiding them through the memories of others, as well as
their own.
Ask* at TRANS> area is in conjunction with "Wenn ich mir was wunschen dArfte"
(If I could wish something...), a large-scale single-channel video installation by
the collaborative team Lovett/Codagnone at the Participant, inc. located at 95
Rivington Street, between Ludlow and Orchard Streets in the Lower East Side.
Dates of the exhibition: March 8 - April 6, 2003. Gallery hours: Wednesday-Sunday, 12-7pm.
About Lovett/Codagnone
Lovett/Codagnone live and work in New York. They have
been working together since 1995 and have exhibited in public and private spaces
including Palais de Tokyo, Paris, 2002; Centre of Contemporary Art, Riga,
Latvia, 2001; Galerie Praz Delavallade, Paris, 2001; Brent Sikkema, New York,
2001; Galleria Emi Fontana, Milan, 2001/1997; Thread Waxing Space, New York,
2000; Musee des Beaux Arts, Nantes, 1998; Centro Atlantico de Arte Moderno, Las
Palmas, 1998. Upcoming exhibitions include Galleria Emi Fontana, Milan, The
Laura Mars Grp., Berlin, and Neue Gesellschaft fur Bildende Kunst, Berlin.
About TRANS>
TRANS> area is a non-profit exhibition space based in New York City.
TRANS> arts.cultures.media, a bilingual cultural publication
TRANS> publications a series of monographs and artists books.
TRANS> editions, signed, small numbered art editions. Newest Release: Arturo Herrera
TRANS> is made possible by grants from The Rockefeller Foundation, The Andy Warhol Foundation, The Peter Norton family Foundation, Conaculta and Friends of TRANS>.
Gallery hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 10 - 6 pm.
TRANS> area
5II west 25 st.
new york, ny 10001
646.486.0252