Leonor Antunes: joints, voids and gaps

Mudam Luxembourg – Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean’s Henry J. and Erna D. Leir Pavilion is the site for a new exhibition of recent sculpture by the acclaimed artist Leonor Antunes (b. 1972, Lisbon). Antunes has created a new installation that responds to the physical qualities and proportions of this iconic architectural space designed by Ieoh Ming Pei (b. 1917, Guangzhou; d. 2019, New York). 

For her exhibition at Mudam, Antunes has conceived of an expanded sculptural environment that occupies the Henry J. and Erna D. Leir pavilion and the glass-walled walkway that serves as its entrance. The installation is composed of a suspended structure made from steel and tied cords that doubles the hexagonal profile of the pavilion and serves to frame existing and new sculptures. They echoe the artist’s free-standing light sculptures, and a new body of so-called “climbing” sculptures made in situ from knotted cord and leather. Anchoring the installation horizontally is a new floor piece designed by Antunes in reference to painted volume studies by the artist Lygia Clark (b. 1920, Belo Horizonte; d. 1988, Rio de Janeiro). The floor work links the exhibition at Mudam with the artist’s recent exhibition at MASP – Museu de Arte de São Paulo and in the Casa de Vidro (Glass House) designed by architect Lino Bo Bardi (b. 1914, Rome; d. 1992, São Paulo). The title of this exhibition refers to Bo Bardi’s design and its joints, voids and gaps.

The sculptures of Antunes are often conceived and installed in response to a given spatial situation, its architecture and history as well as the physical or sensory experience of that place. Her works draw upon research that has encompassed less visible figures within the history of Modernist architecture and design such as architects Eileen Gray (b. 1878, Enniscorthy; d. 1976, Paris), Egle Trincanato (b. 1910, Rome; d. 1998, Venice), and Carlo Scarpa (b. 1906, Sendai; d. 1978, Venice), designers Anni Albers (b. 1899, Berlin; d. 1994, Orange) and Clara Porset (b. 1895, Matanzas; d. 1981, Los Angeles), and the artists Lygia Clark and Mary Martin (b. 1907, Folkestone; d. 1969, London). Antunes interprets their forms, motifs and measures in materials and textures such as rope, wood, cork, leather and brass, and a sculptural vocabulary inspired by handcrafted and artisanal techniques. Working at different scales and through processes of knotting, sewing, beading and weaving, she creates spatial environments composed of draping grids, and suspended, free-standing and climbing forms that constitute a visual and sculptural choreography and whose visual narratives are woven through time and through space.

Leonor Antunes. joints, voids and gaps is part of a new programme of exhibitions in which artists are invited to create works for the Henry J. and Erna D. Leir Pavilion of Mudam.

Curators Suzanne Cotter and Nelly Taravel

Publication leonor antunes. joints, voids and gaps
The accompanying catalogue edited by Amanda Carneiro and Adriano Pedrosa, is published by MASP – Museu de Arte de São Paulo in partnership with Mudam Luxembourg. This fully illustrated 280-page monograph is the most comprehensive publication on the artist to date featuring new contributions by Amanda Carneiro and Adriano Pedrosa, as well as essays by Clara Kim, Grant Watson, Caoimhín Mac Giolla Léith, María Inés Rodríguez, and Briony Fer. Available in English at Mudam Store and on mudamstore.com

Also on view:
Giulia Cenci. 2019 Baloise Art Prize | Mudam Collection through January 17, 2021
Charlotte Posenenske: Work in Progress through January 10, 2021
Portrait of a Young Planet | Mudam Collection through March 21, 2021

Mudam Luxembourg – Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean opened in 2006 in a purpose-built building designed by the renowned Sino-American architect Ieoh Ming Pei and is located in the Park Draï Eechelen, overlooking the historic city of Luxembourg. Through its collection, exhibitions, artistic and educational programmes and partnerships, Mudam Luxembourg aims to advance its mission to present the most relevant contemporary art of our time to the largest possible public.