ANA TORFS
FIGURES/PROJECTIONS 2000-2005
January 27-April 23, 2006
Opening : January 26, 8pm
GAK
Gesellschaft für Aktuelle Kunst Bremen
Teerhof 21, D-28199 Bremen
T 49 421 500 897, F 49 421 593 337
www.gak-bremen.de
office [at] gak-bremen.de
The title Figures/Projections (German: Figuren/Projektionen) perfectly mirrors the intellectual context of Torfs work. In German a Figur refers to a prominent personality, a person, but also the shape, a figure of play or an arrangement. Projektionen may be the technical process of projection as well as to the psychological aspect of projecting something on someone for example, the attribution of one’s own ideas, feelings, or attitudes to other people or to objects. Mathematics knows the problem of projecting a 3D object on a surface. Last but not least it calls attention to the problem of the display of motion pictures by projecting an image upon a screen. Its a reference to cinema, with which Torfs deals in her extensive slide-projections.
This first solo show in Germany presents a major selection of Torfs works since 2000. It involves 3 installations with slide projections and a selection of silver-gelatin prints. Furthermore Torfs has developed a poster project for the glass windows at the exterior entrance alley of the GAK.
At the occasion of “Figuren/Projektionen 2000-2005,” GAK issues a bilingual reader with essays by Dirk Lauwaert, Gabriele Mackert, Catherine Robberechts and Jean Torrent, 112 pages, 15 B/W-images, German/English, ISBN 3-926865-30-X.
The recent work of Belgian artist Ana Torfs (born 1963) consists, among others, of a web project, various slide projection installations, photo series, a feature film and several publications. So it is hard to peg down the artist on a specific medium, but typically she sheds a new light on fragments from Western political as well as cultural history, presenting them in a surprising and topical way. Above all, her fascinating work offers an intense cinematic experience. But texts are often used as a starting point: the conversation booklets of a composer turned deaf (“Zyklus von Kleinigkeiten,” 1998), a text from a fifteenth century court case (“Du mentir-faux,” 2000), a theatre piece from 1890 (“The Intruder,” 2004). Her most recent work “Approximations/Contradictions”, was commissioned by Dia Art Foundation (New York, 2004): a web project based on the “Hollywood Songbook” by Hanns Eisler (www.diaart.org/torfs). More information online on Ana Torfs: www.kunstonline.info
Curator: Gabriele Mackert
Programme:
Lecture
A Passage between Art and Cinema
Winfried Pauleit
Thursday, February 23, 7pm
Lecture
Voice, Mood, Voices. Notes on Ana Torfs.
Michael Glasmeier
Thursday, April 20, 7pm
Film
Ana Torfs: Cycle of Trifle (Zyklus von Kleinigkeiten)
1998, 35mm-Film, 86 minutes
“Figuren/Projektionen 2000-2005″ is funded by the Flemish Community. Flemish Minister for Culture, Youth, Sport and Brussels Affairs
GAK is supported by the Senator for Culture, Bremen
GAK, Gesellschaft für Aktuelle Kunst Bremen
Teerhof 21, D-28199 Bremen
T 49 421 500 897, F 49 421 593 337 www.gak-bremen.de / office@gak-bremen.de
Opening Hours: Tue-Sun 11am – 6pm, Thu 9pm, Mon closed
