SITE SANTA FE
SIXTH INTERNATIONAL BIENNIAL
CURATOR/CRITIC KLAUS OTTMANN TO ORGANIZE EXHIBITION
Still Points of the Turning World
July 9, 2006 – January 7, 2007
SITE Santa Fe
1606 Paseo de Peralta, Santa Fe,
NM 87501
Wednesday through Saturday, 10:00 am5:00 pm;
Friday, 10:00 am7:00 pm; Sunday, noon6 pm.
Intensity, experimentation, and visceral presence are the hallmarks of the thirteen significant one-person installations that constitute SITE Santa Fes Sixth International Biennial. Curator Klaus Ottmanns exhibition, entitled Still Points of the Turning World, both concentrates and amplifies these singular works, empowering them to speak for themselves without the common filter of a prescriptive curatorial theme. As Ottmann explains, I want this Biennial to be about the artists, not about the curator.
Ottmann has envisioned a bold concept for this timely, groundbreaking biennial. Eager to steer away from the now ubiquitous mega-biennials, he has dramatically reduced the quantity of artists to 13 and the exhibition to approximately 40 works. Most of the artists will have separate rooms, designed to encourage as well as seduce their audiences with a purer, unmediated experience. Furthermore, Ottmanns exhibition reaffirms the ephemeral power of performance artseveral of the artists in the show will create performances as part of their work which, at its very essence, demands a direct engagement between the artist and the viewer.
The exhibition will cover the full spectrum of contemporary art media, comprising photography, installation, painting, performance art, soundscapes, sculpture, and video. Most of the works have been made in the last two years, and several artists have been commissioned by SITE Santa Fe to create works expressly for the Biennial.
The participating artists are:
MIROSLAW BALKA*, JENNIFER BARTLETT, PATTY CHANG*, STEPHEN DEAN, PETER DOIG, ROBERT GROSVENOR*, CRISTINA IGLESIAS*, WOLFGANG LAIB, JONATHAN MEESE, WANGECHI MUTU*, CARSTEN NICOLAI, CATHERINE OPIE, THORNS LTD* (Snorre Ruch, Finn Olav Holthe, Jon Wesseltoft)
* indicates works created specifically for the Biennial (for a complete press release, visit www.sitesantafe.org)
Biennial Curator Klaus Ottmann
Klaus Ottmann, an independent curator and scholar based in New York, is the author of numerous articles, essays, and books on art and philosophy, including The Genius Decision: The Extraordinary and the Postmodern Condition; James Lee Byars: Life, Love, and Death, and The Essential Mark Rothko.
Ottmann has curated over forty exhibitions, including Life, Love, and Death: The Work of James Lee Byars, (Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, 2004); Wolfgang Laib: A Retrospective (Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.,2002-2004); and Mark Morrisroe: My Life. Polaroids 1977-1989 (Wesleyan University, 1996), among others. He is currently working on a book on the philosophy of the French painter Yves Klein.
Opening Weekend Celebrations
The public opening of the Biennial will be include exciting array of special events to be held from Friday, July 7 through Sunday, July 9, 2006. For more information about opening weekend and tickets, please call SITE Santa Fe at 505-989-1199 or visit www.sitesantafe.org.
Education and Public Programs
In the spirit of curator Klaus Ottmanns unmediated approach to the Biennial, SITE Guides will utilize a dialogue-based rather than didactic methodology. SITE Guides will offer free, in-depth exhibition tours at any time during public visits, as well as Fridays at 6pm, Saturdays & Sundays at 2pm. SITE Santa Fe will present a line-up of public programs that will examine the concept, context, and key themes in the Biennial.
Catalogue
SITE will publish a full-color, hard-bound exhibition catalogue in two volumes, each approximately 96 pages, to be distributed worldwide by Distributed Art Publishers (D.A.P.)
Support
The Biennial is made possible in part with generous support from an anonymous donor; Jeanne and Michael Klein; Linda and William Herrmann; UBS; and Sothebys (as of February 14, 2006). Additional funding has been generously provided by New Directions/New Donors for the Arts: A Ford Foundation Cultural Initiative. This announcement is partially funded by the City of Santa Fe Arts Commission and the 1% Lodgers Tax.
SITE Santa Fe
SITE Santa Fe is located at 1606 Paseo de Peralta, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Hours are Wednesday through Saturday, 10:00 am5:00 pm; Friday, 10:00 am7:00 pm; Sunday, noon6 pm. Reduced admission for students and seniors; SITE members are free. Free admission is offered on Fridays, made possible by a grant from The Brown Foundation, Inc., Houston.
For more information, contact SITE Santa Fe at 505-989-1199 or visit our website at www.sitesantafe.org
Press Contact:
Anne Wrinkle, PR & Marketing Manager
Tel. 505.989.1199; fax 989.1188
SITE Santa Fe 1606 Paseo de Peralta, Santa Fe, NM 87501
wrinkle@sitesantafe.org, www.sitesantafe.org