Mark Dion.
Concerning Hunting
Once upon a time there was a ring…
Jewels by Gabi Dziuba
presented by
Christian Philipp Müller
1st February – 26th April 2009
Opening: Sunday 1st February, 12.00pmGalleria Civica Di Modena
Palazzo Santa Margherita
corso Canalgrande 103, Modena, Italy
MARK DION. CONCERNING HUNTING expresses all the fascination exerted on the American artist Mark Dion by the phenomenon of hunting. Inherent contradictions aside, the artist is interested in hunting in terms of the sensitivity of the hunter and the profound knowledge he has of nature. A fact that stands out as a paradox in the light of the death of the animals involved.
Five hunting blinds, six standards in felt which portray animal prey, a series of around 100 photographs from different times and places, each in a different style and with a different frame, put on show together here as a large wall installation and a selection of preparatory sketches, for a project on the practice or the tradition of hunting, which may be read either as a cultural practice, or as a “passionate activity, traditionally rich and yet full of controversies”
The show is the result of an international collaboration project between Denmark, Austria, Germany and Italy, and is one of the five stops of an exhibition tour which is adapted and modified on the basis of the conditions of each of the institutions that host it: the Kunstraum Dornbirn (Austria, April 2008), the Aarhus Kunstbygning (Denmark, June 2008), Herbert-Gerisch-Stiftung Neumünster, (Germany, May 2009) and at the Kunsthalle Krems, (Austria, November 2009).
The exhibition is curated by the Head of the Kunsthalle Krems, Dieter Buchhart as well as by Verena Gamper and will be accompanied by a bilingual catalogue, printed by Hatje Cantz, featuring a wide range of images of the works on show, and critical texts by Dieter Buchhart, Verena Gamper, Martin Henatsch, Angela Vettese and Jacob Wamberg.
GABI DZIUBA, a German artist who lives and works in Munich, here presents a selection of original works in gold, silver and precious stones, half of which created in collaboration with some of the most important artists on the contemporary German art scene including Martin Kippenberger, Heimo Zobernig, Hans-Jörg Mayer and Günther Förg. The artist has often created jewels that pre-empt styles and fashions that have gone on to form part of both the street style and the haute couture of jewellery making.
In this case she offers a concise yet meaningful retrospective of her work and undertakes an original investigation into the border between art and craft. One of the aims of the exhibition is to highlight and question the relationships between different artistic practices; opening up questions such as: to what point is a jewel the result of craft work? What relationship is there between the artist who designs the work and the one who creates it?
The jewels on show in their own glass cases interact with the installation created by the artist CHRISTIAN PHILIPP MÜLLER, who also created the graphics of the exhibition catalogue, edited by MER with critical texts by Cornelia Lauf, curator of the exhibition, Anne Shloen and Angela Vettese.
The articles chosen for the exhibition in a certain sense retrace the history of Gabi Dziuba’s artistic production, with her jewels both of an antique nature as well as a profoundly humorous one, and at times even ironic: an opera hat or the key to an imaginary manor house, a beer tankard, a pendant of diamonds bearing the legend Scheisse (shit), or the ring with the clenched fist in silver and amethyst made in 2008.
Both exhibitions are organized and produced by the Galleria Civica di Modena and the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Modena.
Galleria Civica di Modena
from Tuesday to Friday 10.30am – 1pm; 3pm-6pm
Saturday, Sunday and public holidays 10.30am – 6pm
Closed on Mondays
entrance free
