Sky Arts Ignition:
Doug Aitken
The Source
15 September 2012–13 January 2013
Tate Liverpool
Albert Dock
Liverpool
Free admission
Hours: daily 10–18h (10–17h from 29 October)
External projections operate from close to 22h every evening
T 0151 702 7400
www.tate.org.uk/liverpool
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What is the source of a creative idea? Where does it start and what is its journey to the finished creation? Doug Aitken explores the creative drive behind many of the cultural pioneers who are shaping our creative future in Sky Arts Ignition: Doug Aitken – The Source. Presented as a series of filmed conversations between Aitken and celebrated cultural figures from diverse media including visual art, architecture, film, new media and music, The Source leads us to new frontiers of contemporary culture.
The Source is filmed on location in varied and unique destinations throughout the world. Whether it is musician Beck in the Mojave Desert or architect Jacque Herzog in his light-filled Basel studio, a seamless film aesthetic creates a visual cohesion tying together these disparate environments. Densely and crisply edited finished films create a fast moving road trip through the modern landscape of creativity.
The work brings the narrative back to the source, speaking directly with the creators whose work has the ability to steer culture in a significant way. Presented as a multi-dimensional medium—a social event, a philosophical exchange and a poetic dialogue—Aitken’s conversations reflect on culture while resisting a given boundary between different artistic genres. They capture the complexity and immediacy of creativity without pretence or formality, by distilling casual yet intimate dialogues into insightful sound-bites.
His first public realm installation in the UK, The Source showcases Aitken’s innovative approach to public art. Located at Liverpool’s Albert Dock, it is housed in a pavilion designed by the artist in collaboration with renowned British architect David Adjaye OBE. The deliberate separation from the traditional gallery space provides a new creative territory and cultural destination. The commission also forms part of Liverpool Biennial 2012: Unexpected Guest.
Sky Arts Ignition: Doug Aitken – The Source is the first project to be selected as part of the Sky Arts Ignition Series, a new funding initiative which will see Sky Arts partner with six leading arts organisations, to invest directly in the creation of new innovative art works, events and performances, and look to support them across Sky’s platforms
Supported by Tate Liverpool Members and LUMA Foundation.
Courtesy of 303 Gallery, New York; Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zürich; Victoria Miro Gallery, London; Regen Projects, Los Angeles.
Curated by Sook-Kyung Lee, Exhibitions & Displays Curator, assisted by Jose Diaz, Project Assistant, Tate Liverpool.
Doug Aitken’s The Source A 24 Hour Happening is broadcast on Sky Arts 2 from 12h on 15 September for 24 hours to mark the opening of The Source. This unique and groundbreaking intervention is curated by Aitken seeing the artist takeover Sky Arts for the day, and features revolutionary cinema classics by Luis Bunuel and Dziga Vertov along with excerpts and documentations from Aitken’s new work as well as previous projects. For details click here.
Thresholds
15 September 2012–7 April 2013
Also shown at Tate Liverpool as part of Liverpool Biennial 2012: Unexpected Guest is Thresholds, an exhibition that questions the boundaries of personal, geographical, political and cultural identities and the shifting and permeable nature of such boundaries. The exhibition addresses the instability, not only of immigrant or host identities, national and ethnic identities, but also of the questions of identity within and beyond the realm of art. Drawn from the Tate Collection, which is itself a host of creative processes with its own laws of hospitality, Thresholds looks at the ways of understanding what art means in a wider realm of culture and society where hegemonic power structures and changing political and economic environments become the fabric of art rather than a mere context. Artists include Gilbert & George, Mark Wallinger, Eugenio Dittborn, Sophie Calle, Thomas Hirshhorn and Kader Attia amongst many other.
Curated by Sook-Kyung Lee, Exhibitions & Displays Curator, with Eleanor Clayton, Assistant Curator, Tate Liverpool.
