Tacita Dean

The Espace Louis Vuitton Munich continues its celebration of female artistic ingenuity in 2016 with a new monographic exhibition from the critically-acclaimed British artist, Tacita Dean, serving as the second edition of the Fondation Louis Vuitton’s “Hors-les-murs” project in Munich. Conceived and produced under the artistic direction of the Fondation Louis Vuitton, the “Hors-les-murs” exhibition program introduces previously unseen artworks from its permanent collection to audiences of the Espaces culturels Louis Vuitton in Munich, Venice, Beijing, and Tokyo, thus realizing its mission to curate ambitious international art projects and share its collection with a broader public.

Working in a diverse range of media, including film, photography, drawing, painting, sound installation, found objects, and prints, Tacita Dean’s practice commemorates the passing of time by documenting its imprints on natural elements, such as rocks and trees, and ageing bodies. Her detective-like interest in seemingly mundane moments results in works that are inquisitive, precise, and poetic. Her meditative response to the frantic technological changes of the modern age celebrates the fragility of human endeavour, the timeless context of nature, and traces of time left throughout history. Through her meticulous methodology, she instills a quiet depth in her works, where time is the major protagonist. Dean is passionately attached to analogue modes of cinema (16mm) and photography (silver gelatin photographs and photogravure), finding in these a metaphor for the acute awareness of time that informs her work. In parallel to her practice in film and photography, she also produces chalk drawings on blackboards since the 1990s and paintings on postcards and photographs since 2005: all evolving from comparatively slow, complex processes.

Tacita Dean brings together five major works from the Fondation Louis Vuitton collection to illustrate the great diversity of the artist’s oeuvre during the last decade. At the same time, it provides a testimony to Dean’s unique and highly poetic artistic language, with which she plays in a virtuosic manner across all media.

The meditative installation Presentation Windows (2005) is an allegory of an 18th century convent building in Cork, Ireland, whose natural decay aroused the artist’s fascination. The film Human Treasure (2006) focuses on the octogenarian master of traditional Japanese comedy, Sensaku Shigeyama, and his daily ritual of having breakfast in the famous Takaragaike Prince Hotel in Tokyo. “Lightning Series I–VII” (2007) captures the impermanence of lightning by engraving its image on carbon paper. The painted photograph Hünengrab (2008) depicts a prehistoric stone formation in Cornwall, England, anchored in a nature beyond time. To make The Book End of Time (2013), the artist dipped a J.G. Ballard book in potash and invited the passing of time to immerse it in saline crystals. To complement these works from the collection, the artist has chosen to show Fernweh (2009), a photogravure using four found photographs from the 19th century which embodies the archaic German word meaning “a longing to travel to faraway places.”

Tacita Dean underscores the Fondation Louis Vuitton’s commitment to showcasing outstanding artistic positions from diverse backgrounds and several generations at Espace Louis Vuitton Munich, following the success of the previous “Hors-les-murs” exhibition Chantal Akerman / Annette Messager Les Approches.

About the artist
Tacita Dean was born in Canterbury, England, in 1965. She now lives and works in Berlin. She studied painting at the Slade School of Art in London. Dean has exhibited internationally in major institutions, including the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC (2001); Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris (2003); Schaulager, Basel (2006); New Museum, New York (2008); MUMOK, Vienna (2011); Tate Modern, London (2011–12); Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne (2014); and Instituto Moreira Salles, Rio de Janeiro (2014). Dean participated in the Venice Biennale in 2003, 2005 and 2013, and in dOCUMENTA (13) in 2012. She has received many international prizes, including the Turner Prize (1998), Hugo Boss Prize (2006) and Kurt Schwitters Prize (2009).

About the Fondation Louis Vuitton
The Fondation Louis Vuitton is an institution dedicated exclusively to contemporary art and artists, as well as 20th century works to which their inspirations can be traced. The Fondation’s own collection and the exhibitions it organizes seek to engage a broad public. The building created by architect Frank Gehry constitutes the seminal artistic statement by the Fondation and is already recognized as an emblematic example of 21st century architecture. A year after its inauguration, the Fondation Louis Vuitton had already welcomed more than a million visitors from France and around the world.

From its opening in Paris, the Fondation Louis Vuitton announced that it would engage in international initiatives, both at the Fondation and in partnership with public and private institutions, including other foundations and museums. The Fondation itself has cultural spaces in Munich, Venice, Beijing, and Tokyo devoted exclusively to exhibitions of works from its collection. The Fondation is responsible for the artistic direction of these Espaces culturels Louis Vuitton. The exhibitions they organize are open to the public free of charge, and their programs are promoted through specific cultural communication.