Fiona Tan: Geography of Time

Fiona Tan: Geography of Time
The work of Fiona Tan, with its characteristic visual richness and singular temporalities, examines complex issues such as the relationship between personal and collective history, the presence of the past in the present, the intertwinement of memory and forgetfulness, and the porous nature of identity. As epitomised by “Vox Populi,” a series of works each consisting of several hundred photographs borrowed from the family albums of inhabitants of a given city or country, these concerns revolve essentially around the question of the gaze—the way in which we look at images and, through them, at the world that surrounds us, but also the way in which images, like mirrors, sometimes seem to look back at us.

The exhibition Geography of Time, which brings together ten works made between 2000 and 2013, highlights the importance in the artist’s practice of the intimate links that connect individuals to the space and time they inhabit. The works in this survey, evoking diverse influences such as historic Dutch painting or the modern photographer August Sander, encourage viewers to reconsider the very idea of portraiture as a fixed entity, and focus instead on its permeable, evasive and evanescent dimension. Whether imaginary or real, the protagonists around which Fiona Tan constructs her video installations are often at the centre of the image, as in the six filmed portraits of inhabitants of Amsterdam that form Provenance, or in Nellie, a portrait of Cornelia van Rijn, Rembrandt’s illegitimate daughter, who emigrated to Indonesia at the age of 16. In other works, their presence becomes manifest even through their absence, as in Inventory, which combines sequences shot inside Sir John Soane’s Museum in London.

On the occasion of the exhibition, a catalogue has been published jointly by the four partner museums. 
Fiona Tan, Geography of Time, Koenig Books, London, 2015. ISBN 978-3-86335-839-6.

Curators: Christophe Gallois - Eva Klerck Gange
Associate curator:  Sarah Beaumont
In collaboration with: National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo. MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt am Main, Tel Aviv Museum of Art
With the support of: Mondriaan fund

Other exhibitions at Mudam

Damien Deroubaix: Picasso And Me
February 20–May 29, 2016

Following the first stage of the project presented at the Maeght Foundation (2014–15), this exhibition juxtaposes paintings, prints, sculptures and tapestries by Damien Deroubaix with a group of artworks by Pablo Picasso, thus underlining the essential role the Spanish master has played in the development of Deroubaix’s work. From this unexpected “dialogue” emerges a shared approach to certain graphic and pictorial aspects such as line, flatness and contrast, but also the convergence of two visions of the world.

Curator: Enrico Lunghi
Associate Curator: Émilie Bouvard
With the exceptional support of: Musée national Picasso-Paris
Exhibition partner: KBL European Private Bankers
 

Sarah Oppenheimer: S-399390
February 20–May 29, 2016

The American artist Sarah Oppenheimer has been invited to exhibit in the Grand Hall and presents a new project that consists in two movable glass corridors whose dimensional ratios are directly derived from the proportions of the Grand Hall and that appear transparent or reflective to visitors depending on the lighting conditions.
These two structures allow visitors walking through or around them to gain not just a new and constantly changing view of Ieoh Ming Pei’s architecture, but also a deeper understanding of their own awareness.

Curators: Marie-Noëlle Farcy, Clément Minighetti
 

Beatrice Gibson
February 20–May 29, 2016

British artist Beatrice Gibson develops an experimental approach to storytelling in her films. She is interested in the collaborative dimension, both in terms of the articulation of narrative and the production process, and thus works regularly with other artists, especially from the musical field. 

Curator: Marie-Noëlle Farcy


Quiz 2 - Based on an Idea by Robert Stadler
Part of Design City – LXBG Biennale April 27–May 22, 2016
February 20–May 22, 2016

The objects shown in Quiz 2 defy traditional typologies of sculpture, product or furniture. They intrigue. These objects are things. They are unrecognisable things that go beyond the usual “art or design?”/“art and design?” formulas, thus rendering questions about the status of objects obsolete. Their facture and their liberated forms subvert their identification and fully introduce the topicality of thingness. 

On the occasion of this exhibition, Robert Stadler and Alexis Vaillant brought together 30 texts in a digest entitled On Things as Ideas. Written between 1790 and today, these texts published in English address the economic, cultural and philosophical aspects of the “thingness of the thing.” Release in spring 2016.

Curators: Robert Stadler - Alexis Vaillant
Exhibition design: Studio Robert Stadler