Summer Exhibitions
TRIS VONNA-MICHELL, LUKE FOWLER, KEREN CYTTER
and
TODAY AND EVERYDAY
July 10 through September
548 West 22nd Street
New York, NY 10011
T: 917-697-4886
info [at] x-initiative.org
Open Tuesday through Friday
Exhibition July 10 through September
FREE ENTRANCE
For its summer phase opening on July 9th, X is pleased to present solo shows by Tris Vonna-Michell, Luke Fowler, and Keren Cytter. Each artist has attracted the attention of several European institutions and has participated in prestigious exhibitions worldwide, including the Berlin Biennale, the Yokohama Triennial, and the Venice Biennale. This is the first large-scale American presentation for each artist. Vonna-Michell, Cytter, and Fowler all share an interest in personal narratives and storytelling, exploring the secret workings of memory and resuscitating obsolete genres to open up new creative possibilities.
On the fourth floor, British artist Tris Vonna-Michell will present an exhibition that expands on the artist’s investigation into language and convoluted narratives. Working across different genres such as performance, visual poetry, and sound art, Vonna-Michell has been exploring the ways in which stories and events are remembered and re-told. Intersecting personal memories with forgotten histories and using outmoded technologies such 35-mm slides and record players, old family photographs and photocopies, Vonna-Michell creates environments that recall fictional archives in which accelerated monologues and frantic speeches resonate. For his exhibition at X, Vonna-Michell will present a new body of work alongside a selection of existing projects and site-specific interventions.
The recipient of the 2008 Derek Jarman Award from the Serpentine Gallery in London, Scottish artist Luke Fowler will present a survey of his films on the third floor of X. Fowler’s work expands the conventional boundaries of documentary filmmaking. Mixing historical materials and original recordings, archival footage and new takes, Fowler creates a personal form of cinematic narrative that follows free associations and idiosyncratic connections. Populated by maverick figures such as anarchic musicians, experimental psychoanalysts, and other unconventional figures, Fowler’s films compose a personal history of dissent and liberation.
On the second floor, X will host Keren Cytter‘s first major survey in the United States. Born in Tel Aviv and currently living in Berlin, Cytter creates movies that appropriate and transform different cinematic genres, such as film noir, melodrama, documentary, and soap opera. Often set in cheap domestic interiors, Cytter’s films depict dysfunctional families and alienated friends on the verge of nervous breakdowns. The exhibition will include the US premiere of her new movie Four Seasons, 2009, presented alongside a selection of her videos and a group of drawings never exhibited In America. Cytter conceived the project as an immersive experience in which synchronized videos will alternate on different screens and lights will suddenly illuminate her drawings, creating a theater of images in the exhibition space. Keren Cytter’s exhibition is supported by Artis – Contemporary Israeli Art Fund, New York and Tel Aviv.
In addition to the three solo exhibitions on view on floors 2, 3, and 4, X will present Today and Everyday, an exhibition that will place a group of artworks in three different contexts, presenting them first as part of a still life photograph, then as an installation, and finally as a memento. Initially portrayed in a photograph, the works—collected, arranged and photographed by Margaret Lee—allude to the relational nature of art and commerce, form and function. The expansion of the photo into an installation allows participating artists Olaf Bruening, Carissa Rodriguez, Sam Wilson, Donna Chung, Josh Kline, Anicka Yi, Maggie Peng, and Piet Houtenbos to install their work accordingly in opposition to the still life photograph, which will also hang in the space. Closing with a memento, independent publishing house Used Future will produce a zine and that will be available throughout the duration of the exhibition.
About X Initiative
X is a not-for-profit initiative of the global contemporary art community that will exist for one year and present exhibitions in four phases. X will feature durational artist interventions, site-specific projects, historical in-depth exhibitions, one-night performances, lectures and weekly events. Questions posed in the form of programming will address relevant and pressing issues pertaining to the changing landscape of contemporary art.
Media Contact:
Justin Conner at Black Frame
jconner@framenoir.com // 212-226-2196
