Roger Hiorns
Youth
30 August–3 November 2013
The Hepworth Wakefield
Gallery Walk
Wakefield
West Yorkshire WF1 5AW
Free admission
T 01924 247360
www.hepworthwakefield.org/thecalder
The Hepworth Wakefield is delighted to announce Roger Hiorns’ Youth as the inaugural exhibition at The Calder, the gallery’s new 600-square-metre contemporary art space, opening on Friday 30 August 2013.
Roger Hiorns is renowned for powerful works that ask key questions about technology, poetics, belief and meaning. His exhibition comprises a selection of found objects including street benches, jet and car engines and stainless steel preparation tables, coupled with the presence of a naked youth, a small fire and a simple sequence of actions described by Hiorns: “All these objects are tended to by a young man who enters the space, undresses, puts away his folded clothes and seats himself on the object, until a lit flame goes out.”
Hiorns will further influence the experience and meaning of the exhibition by creating a connection between Wakefield Cathedral and the gallery. Visitors to The Calder will hear a live backdrop of muted sounds—coughs, footsteps, choir practice, organ music or religious services that will be transmitted live from the Cathedral into the exhibition space of The Calder. Drawing further on the relationships and nuances within Hiorns’ work—the physical and conceptual, the enduring and the ephemeral—this sound intervention allows traces of Wakefield’s spiritual life to cross over into the secular space gallery space.
Andrew Bonacina appointed as Chief Curator at The Hepworth Wakefield
Andrew Bonacina has been appointed as The Hepworth Wakefield’s Chief Curator. Andrew will join the gallery from International Project Space, Birmingham, where as Artistic Director he has been successful in commissioning solo projects and exhibitions with artists at a pivotal stage in their careers, offering many their first institutional solo exhibitions in the UK. He also holds current positions as Curator at the Monsoon Art Collection and Milan International Art Fair. Andrew has held previous curatorial positions at The Island, Chisenhale Gallery and Frieze Foundation, alongside numerous independent curatorial projects at venues such as South London Gallery, The Clocktower Gallery (NYC), Whitstable Biennial and Art Dubai Special Projects (UAE). He has written on contemporary art for Frieze, Mousse, Phaidon & Taschen.