John McCracken
Curated by Andrea Bellini
22 February–19 June 2011
Press preview:
Monday, 21 February 2011, 11.30 a.m.Piazza Mafalda di Savoia 2
10098 Rivoli, Turin
Italy
Among the leading historic exponents of the American Minimalism, together with Donald Judd, Carl Andre, Dan Flavin, and other, John McCracken views art as a means of aesthetic and spiritual emancipation and his works are as prototypes for a world to come, one dominated by pure thought and an absolute form of beauty. Convinced that art can give form to a hidden dimension of matter and the universe, reawakening consciousness and enriching our lives, McCracken, through the uniqueness of his artistic vision, reveals the true complexity of what we generically call “Minimalism.”
Curated by Andrea Bellini, co-director of the Castello di Rivoli, this retrospective, conceived specifically for the large spaces of the Manica Lunga at Castello di Rivoli, has been made possible thanks to the support of Fondazione CRT and covers the entire span of the artistic production of John McCracken, a legendary exponent of West Coast Minimalism. The exhibition, which presents approximately sixty historical works, basically follows a chronological path through an installment personally conceived by the artist and curator.
Published by SKIRA on the occasion of the large retrospective at Castello di Rivoli, the catalogue edited by Andrea Bellini and Marianna Vecellio includes new essays by Andrea Bellini, Alex Farquharson, Director of Nottingham Contemporary in Britain, and Marc-Olivier Wahler, Director of the Palais de Tokyo, Paris; a new interview made to the artist by Marianna Vecellio and a conversation on McCracken between Daniel Baumann and the artist John Armleder.
LECTURES
In conjunction with the opening of the John McCracken exhibition, Robin Clark, Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego will give a lecture entitled Phenomenal: Light as a Primary Medium for Art in Los Angeles, circa 1960-1980. This event will take place on Monday, February 21, 2011, 6 p.m., in the museum Theater, and is open to the public.
Saturday, March 5, 5 p.m.
Alex Farquharson and Francesco Manacorda will be discussing John McCracken’s work from today’s perspectives.
Friday, May 27, Theater, 6 p.m.
Marie de Brugerolle presents for the very first time in Italy the film devoted to Guy de Cointet (1934 – 1983).
Who’s that Guy? Tell me more, a portrait of Guy de Cointet, an artist by artists (90′, colour, sound)
Saturday, May 28, Theater, 6 p.m.
Larry Bell, in Perspective
Lecture by Marie de Brugerolle
OTHER EVENTS
L’arte di rivelare l’arte: Il caso Jef Cornelis – the three months screening series curated by Francesco Bernardelli, conceived in collaboration with Argos, Brussels, and devoted to historical exhibitions’ documentaries – acts as a prime example for the study of the social reception and cultural understanding of contemporary art at large, far beyond the usual parameters of TV journalism. Extraordinary, not only because of their inherent historical and documentary value, but also for the manifold essayist character, the body of works presented at Castello di Rivoli exemplifies and sums up the rich and tensed relationship between visual art and television, a medium for which Jef Cornelis directed more than one hundred films between 1964 and 1998.
Saturday, February 26, Theater, 5 p.m.
XXXIII Venice Biennale (1966), 24’11″
Documenta 5 (1972), 53’19″
Saturday, March 5, Theater, 6 p.m.
Sonsbeek. Buiten de Perken / Outside the bounds (1971), 46’03″
Saturday, March 26, Theater, 5 p.m.
Documenta 4 (1968), 53’40″
Richard Hamilton, 15 mei – 28 juni 1970 (1970), 5’30″
Saturday, April 2, Theater, 4 p.m.
Marcel Broodthaers, taped. Lecture by Koen Brams.
Saturday, April 2, Theater, 5 p.m.
Documenta 5 (1972), 53’19″
Marcel Broodthaers °1924 (1972), 5’06″
Marcel Broodthaers: Musée d’art du XVIIe siècle (1969), 4’58″
Saturday, April 16, Theater, 5 p.m.
Spaziergaenger mit Hund – Sonsbeek 86 (1986), 30’18″
Een openbaar bad voor Münster / A public bath for Münster (1987), 40′
Saturday, April 30, Theater, 5 p.m.
LITTLE SPARTA, et in Arcadia ego (1988), 41’45″
Saturday, May 7, Theater, 5 p.m.
Martial Raysse (1967), 13’55″
Les Vacances de Monsieur Mag (1993), 59′
Saturday, May 14, Theater, 5 p.m.
Ouverture. Castello di Rivoli (1985), 30′
Pau Brasil: Je vindt niet, wat je zoek (1992), 57’14″
Saturday, May 21, Theater, 4 p.m.
De langste dag (1986), 180′
Info:
www.castellodirivoli.org; tel. +39/0119565270, r.aghemo@castellodirivoli.org
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*Image above:
Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner, New York.
