Inside Installations
Presentation Collection S.M.A.K.
5 June – 3 December 2010
Paolo Chiasera – Ain’t No Grave Gonna Hold My Body Down
5 June – 22 August 2010
Citadelpark – 9000
Ghent, Belgium
Presentation Collection S.M.A.K.
5 June – 3 December 2010
S.M.A.K.’s collection contains more than 1800 works and covers a wide range of developments in international art history from 1945 to the present day. Inside Installations brings 11 installations from the collection face to face with one another and with the space in which they are located: Leo Copers, Honoré d’O, Noritoshi Hirakawa, Mariusz Kruk, Mark Manders, Dennis Oppenheim, Jason Rhoades, Andreas Slominski, Paul Thek, Joëlle Tuerlinckx, Wolf Vostell … The exhibition immerses the spectator in the multifaceted world of installation art and at the same time explains the questions and difficulties which can be involved in conserving these sometimes quite complex artworks and making them accessible.
Inside Installations focuses on the ‘invisible processes’ that take place in the museum. How does a museum deal with installations that were designed for a highly specific space? Can one depart from this and display the work elsewhere? How are installations documented? Are plans and photographs sufficient to be able to reconstruct the exact arrangement of an installation at a later date? S.M.A.K. has examined these questions and developed documentation which also includes the spatial perception of an installation. This allows the installation to be rearranged following its dismantling without losing any of its essential elements. For each installation, a dossier is drawn up containing every possible item of information. Ideally, various arrangements are tested and adapted according to the specific space in question. Joëlle Tuerlinckx, for example, designed five different scenarios for displaying Un Ensemble autour de Mur (1999). For PIG (Piece In Ghent) (1994), a complex installation with objects which each refer to elements from The Lamb of God (1432) by the Van Eyck brothers, Jason Rhoades devised a single arrangement which had to be rigidly adhered to. During the course of the exhibition, Honoré d’O will arrange Draaiboek voor de Schatbewaarder (1996) in five different ways. These scenarios will be closely documented, thereby allowing S.M.A.K. to create an optimal documentation in dialogue with the artist.
www.inside-installations.org | A European research project
The exhibition is an offshoot of or a reflection on the European-wide research project Inside Installations: Preservation and Presentation of Installation Art, which took place between 2004 and 2007 and met with an international response. S.M.A.K. was involved in the project as one of the co-organisers and in this exhibition it aims to involve the spectator in the somewhat ‘hidden’ but nevertheless important tasks which a museum has to fulfil, namely conservation and guardianship. Together with Tate Modern in London and Reina Sofia in Madrid, among others, the S.M.A.K. investigated the complexity of installation art and the issues, which arise when an installation is included in a museum collection.
Paolo Chiasera – Ain’t No Grave Gonna Hold My Body Down
5 June – 22 August 2010
Paolo Chiasera (b. 1978, Bologna Italy) is fascinated by historical icons, myths and cultural symbolism. The artist isolates excerpts from cinema, literature and philosophy, which he then uses as pawns within a new story that makes use of the visitor’s ‘collective memory’. In the Ain’t No Grave Gonna Hold My Body Down exhibition S.M.A.K. focuses on two artistic projects which are dismantled and exposed layer by layer. In this way Chiasera refers to the philosophy and ideas of Martin Heidegger and immerses himself in the life and work of Vincent Van Gogh, Pieter Breughel the Elder and Cornelius Escher. The artist joins in the special visual and narrative game that is revealed by way of drawings, installations, videos and sculptures.
Next exhibitions
- 03.07… 03.10.2010: XANADU ! The S.M.A.K. collection presented by Hans Theys.
- 30.10.2010… 27.02.2011: Hareng Saur: Ensor and Contemporary Art.
More info:
S.M.A.K.
Museum of Contemporary Art
Citadelpark – 9000
Ghent – Belgium
www.smak.be
Facebook
Twitter: SMAK_gent
Practical information.
The museum is open every day, from 10 am to 6 pm, closed on Mondays.
Press. Requests for Press Information or Images of the exhibited works may be made to
Eline Verbauwhede: Eline.verbauwhede@gent.be – tel.: +32 (0) 9 240 76 60 | mobile: +32 (0)479 270 604