MARGARET SALMON
TRIS VONNA-MICHELL
20 May-19 Aug 2007
WITTE DE WITH
CENTER FOR
CONTEMPORARY ART
WITTE DE WITHSTRAAT 50
3012 BR ROTTERDAM
THE NETHERLANDS
31 10 411 0144
This summer, Witte de With is proud to announce two solo exhibitions: Margaret Salmon and Tris Vonna-Michell, opening simultaneously on Saturday 19 May 2007.
Margaret Salmon (b. 1975, New York, USA) creates filmic portraits that weave together poetry and documentary. Focusing on individuals in their everyday habitats, her slow-moving films capture the minutiae of daily life and infuse them with gentle grandeur to touch upon universal human themes. As she puts it, it is the ghost narrative in mundane tasks that I find interesting.
Inspired by Soviet propaganda films and American realist fiction, Salmon portrays the common struggle of ordinary people. Her position as a film-maker is never aggressive or intrusive. Balancing intimacy with respectful distance, she creates works that are at once sober and lyrical.
Music often plays a central role in her work. Technically, she draws upon practices pioneered by cinematic movements such as Italian neorealism and Cinema Vérité.
Salmon studied at the School of Visual Arts, NYC, and at the Royal College of Art, London. She now lives in Whitstable, UK. In 2006, she was awarded the first MaxMara Womens Art Prize and Le Prix Gilles Dusein. She is a candidate for the Vincent Award. In early 2007, she had a solo exhibition at the Whitechapel Art Gallery (London) and her work will be shown in the Arsenale at this summers Venice Biennale.
The exhibition is curated by Zoë Gray and Nicolaus Schafhausen, with support from The British Council.
WdW Publishers will produce the book Margaret Salmon, featuring texts by André Bazin, Raymond Carver, Zoë Gray, Nicolaus Schafhausen, and Bina von Stauffenberg.
To be launched at the opening. ISBN:978-90-73362-75-8
Tris Vonna-Michell (b. 1982, Southend on Sea, UK) tells tall tales and short stories. His work is both public performance and mental process, as he tries to unravel and articulate numerous real and fictional histories. His practice is at once structured and spontaneous, allowing his performances to be directly influenced by his audience.
Employing slide-projectors, excerpts from texts, and collected objects as theatrical props, Vonna-Michell moves rapidly through his fantastical stories. The influence of sound poems such as Kurt Schwitters Ursonata and the Spoken Word compositions of Allen Ginsberg or William S. Burroughs are discernible in Vonna-Michells work. The incredible rapidity of his delivery, his use of repetition and his streetwise London accent conjure up images of a Samuel Beckett character crossed with a Grime MC.
Vonna-Michells performances function as chapters within an over-arching, non-linear narrative. His tales overlap, run in parallel or find themselves reconfigured as they are retold in new settings. This young artist thus adds a new chapter to the age-old tradition of storytelling.
Witte de With will produce a 7-inch vinyl recording by Vonna-Michell titled Tall Tales and Short Stories. Graphic concept by Tine Melzer.
The artist will be at Witte de With to perform his work on the following dates:
May 19, 20 & 22
June 1, 2 & 3
June 16, 17 & 19 in collaboration with Poetry International Festival.
Dates of his presence in July and August will be available online at www.wdw.nl
The exhibition is curated by Renske Janssen and Nicolaus Schafhausen, with support from The British Council and Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen.
Opening: Saturday 19 April
1 p.m. Opening of Margaret Salmon, Tris Vonna-Michell and PRIXDEROME.NL
3 p.m. Artists talk: Margaret Salmon in conversation with Polly Staple (Frieze).
For more information, please see our website www.wdw.nl or contact info@wdw.nl
