Two exhibitions
dal 19/3/2007 al 30/4/2007
Segnalato da
19/3/2007
Two exhibitions
Swiss Institute - Old location, New York
The piece 'Broadway' by Jacob Kirkegaard is a five-channel sound installation that draws its source from the five subtly vibrating columns running through the gallery space. When you put your ear to these columns you can hear them resonating with the sound of Broadway below. Georg Gatsas captures the protagonists of underground art and music scenes in intimate photographs. In an immediate and undisguised fashion, he creates portraits of artists and musicians, literally trying to be as near as possible to the people he depicts.
Jacob Kirkegaard - Broadway
Danish artist, Jacob Kirkegaard has received international attention for his artistic ventures
into "hidden" acoustic spheres: Using accelerometers and other scientific equipment, he
explores those resonant spaces that usually remain inaccessible to sense perception.
The piece ‘Broadway’ is a conceptual elaboration on the myth of Broadway and an
examination of the sonic space of the Swiss Institute, situated in the New Era Building on
Broadway.
For the installation, Jacob Kirkegaard records the sounds of the metal columns running
through the gallery space with accelerometers (hypersensitive contact-microphones) and
plays the recordings back into the space by means of exciters, turning the five columns into
loudspeakers - each one of them playing the recorded sound in another resonant scale.
The sound that is derived from the underlying structure of the New Era Building is the sound
of Broadway below. It is not a scenario of show-bizz extravaganza, but the sound-scape of
an average urban environment with honking horns, accelerating engines and the deep
rumble of the subway below.
For further information please contact Marie Kølbæk Iversen, marie@swissinstitute.net
Kirkegaard’s ‘Broadway’ coincides with ‘THE PROCESS VI’ by GEORG GATSAS.
The exhibition period is concluded with FINAL, a concert series featuring a line of Gatsas’
photographed subjects.
.....................................
Georg Gatsas - The Process VI
With works by Lizzi Bougatsos, Ira Cohen, Brian DeGraw, Amy Granat, Manon, Kembra Pfahler, Breyer P-Orridge
“Standing in a room of photographs by Georg Gatsas is a bit like finding oneself suddenly
submerged in the second hour of a Fassbinder film. Coming into focus is a motley group of
characters tied together in loose, provisional alliances, but each one also determinedly, almost
defiantly alone. Gatsas succeeds in creating such a rich, outsider scene with his lens precisely
because he lives in the world he shoots. The Swiss-born photographer also books shows for
touring American and European bands like the Dead Kennedys and the Locust in his hometown
of St. Gallen and neighboring Zurich, picking up his camera around musicians, artists, and
friends when he feels inspired. “I don’t see any difference between the musicians I shoot and my
friends,” he explains. “It’s who I hang out with, who I’m around. They all have moved me in some
way to pursue something there.”
Shooting bohemian figures from the cultural sidelines is certainly not a new photographic
practice, and Gatsas’rough, “as-is” environments have their historic anchors in works from
Goldin to McGinley. But unlike his predecessors, Gatsas doesn’t seem to be trafficking some
collective intimacy or tender domestic vision behind his band of night dwellers and music
makers—no suffering artistic soul just like the rest of us when we get a glimpse into their
bedrooms or recording studios. Rather, these performers seem to run their lives performing.
They carry their personalities on and off stage without a clear shift. Strong, tightly cultivated
identities set the mood here, and the subjects stare out at us as if daring us to consider them.”
Christopher Bollen, Excerpts from “In With the Out Crowd”, published in V Magazine,
November 2004.
Georg Gatsas captures the protagonists of underground art and music
scenes in intimate photographs. In an immediate and undisguised
fashion, he creates portraits of artists and musicians, literally
trying to be as near as possible to the people he depicts. Icons of
the younger New York scene such as Brian DeGraw, Lizzi Bougatsos,
Black Dice or the members of the now-disbanded Antipop Consortium,
open their doors to Gatsas, who becomes part of their world as they
pose for him in bohemian home stories. Gatsas' approach of getting
extremely close to his subjects is at once startling and refreshing.
Not only are his portraits disquietingly close, but his method of
infiltrating networks of artists and musicians allows him the benefit
of proximity in finding new subjects. Utterly unassuming in his
manner, he networks effortlessly, finding recommendations for new
subjects, knocking on doors and again, charming his way into new
scenes. His subjects always pose willingly, opening themselves to
Gatsas - a guest who asks for a lot, but does so modestly. His open
and inconspicuous manner allow him to spread and grow his network of
subjects, continuing to capture the most interesting and dynamic
characters of contemporary art and music.
Image: Georg Gatsas. Foetus II, 2006, Cibachrome print
Opening reception: Tuesday March 20, 6 – 8 PM
Swiss Institute
495 Broadway - New York