Persol Art Video | New Media Lounge
ZOOOM! Decoding Common Practice
Ai Wei Wei, Marìa Teresa Hincapié, Lucia Nimcová, Isabel Rocamora, Miguel Angel Rios, Suara Welitoff
Curated by Julia Draganovic
Persol Art Video | New Media Lounge
The Art Miami Pavilion, Midtown Miami | Wynwood
3101 NE 1st Avenue
Miami, FL 33137
Documentation, apparently neutral recording, seems to be the most appropriate way to provide video material for any kind of analysis. Ai Weiwei shows the aporia of this approach by taking the viewer on a 10 hour lasting trip across the city of Bejing, following the Chang’an Boulevard and taking shots every 50 meters—how many viewers might have seen this work entirely? Lucia Nimcová and Suara Welitoff, don’t use their own shootings but found footage. Both artists, coming from different continents, chose those pictures that have been discarded by others and they reassembly them—in completely different ways—to accentuate details that have been neglected, occasionally or intentionally. Restaging is another way to analyze daily actions: Una Cosa es Una Cosa by Maria Teresa Hincapié is the documentation of a performance realized by the artist herself, who repeats everyday gestures by reorganizing what seem to be overlooked belongings of a life time. By displaying them in front of the viewer in a meticulous and careful way, Hincapié charges even the most humble object with a special value. Matambre by Miguel Angel Rios is based on a staged action, which the artist organized for the eye (and the ear) of the camera only. The dancing men attacked by hungry dogs and the constantly accelerating rhythm of his steps trigger symbolic associations in a viewer able and willing to contextualize the rite in a geopolitical context.
Isabel Rocamora’s Body of War might look like a dance performance, but is based on the performance-like training of soldiers, which serves to make certain movements, reactions and behaviors enter into their physical memory, in order to make fight as a matter of life and death part of their everyday habits. ZOOOM! Decoding Common Practice was made possible with the support of Persol and thanks to the following lenders: Colección de Arte del Banco de la Republica, Bogotà, Colombia; Collection Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio Modena, Italy; Collection of Manuel de Santaren, Washington DC, USA; Collection Rocío and Boris Hirmas, Miami, Florida, USA; Collection MUDAM Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg; collection of Western Bridge, Seattle, USA.
Outstanding Sculpture and Special Projects.
Artist list includes: Arman, Daniel Borlandelli, Beto de Volder, Marc Chagall, Chul Hyun Ahn, Jim Dine, Scott Eunson, Tim Etchells, Peter Mill, Cheryl Pope, Simon Raab, Carolina Sardi, Lino Tagliapietra, Federico Uribe, Carlo Zauli.
Featuring site-specific projects by Kaarina Kaikkonen and Sofia Maldonado.
Curated by Julia Draganovic
Art Miami’s “Outstanding Sculpture Projects” will be presented throughout the Art Miami pavilion, featuring more than 20 works from multiple artistic disciplines. Highlights of this year’s exhibition include three major modern works: Marc Chagall’s Les Amoureux à Saint Paul de Vence / La Fete Heureuse (1971–72) a mosaic the artist created to celebrate his days in Saint Paul de Vence; French-born American artist Arman’s Wall of Violins (1984), a sculpture of violins made from die-cut brass; and Italian ceramic sculptor Carlo Zauli’s Stele (1972).
Two site-specific pieces have been created for Art Miami’s front area and interior walls: After her memorable installation at the Bass Museum in 2004, Finnish artist Kaarina Kaikkonen, presented by Gallery Forsblom, Helsinki, came back to Miami creating one of her outdoor installations made out of local second-hand clothing specifically for Art Miami. The idea of protection and caretaking for our environment is an essential part of her artistic practice. “As a Tree I Can Feel the Wind” has an almost animistic approach to nature, trying to trigger thoughts about the interconnectivity between human beings and nature. The poetic palm tree installation picks up on global environmental issues in an encouraging way.
Sofia Maldonado, presented by New York gallery Magnan who is known for an urban sensibility that draws inspiration from aspects of street and youth culture, fashion and commercial design, abstraction and pop art, will produce, partly during the show period and in presence of the audience, two large-size wall panels featuring her ubiquitous brash girls.
The Outstanding Sculpture Project was made possible thanks to the collaboration of Arcature Fine Art, Cynthia-Reeves Projects, David Lusk Gallery, Denise Bibro Fine Arts, Durban Segnini Gallery, Evelyn Aimis Fine Art, Galerie Forsblom, Galerie Peter Zimmermann, Galleria Bianconi, Greg Kucera Gallery, Grimaldis Gallery, Jenkins Johnson Gallery, Lausberg Contemporary, Leslie Smith Gallery, Magnan Metz Gallery, Allan Stone Gallery, NOW Contemporary Art, PanAmerican, Richard Levy Gallery, Schantz Galleries, Jim Kempner Fine Art and Catharine Clark Gallery
