MESCHAC GABA

Museum De Paviljoens presents MESCHAC GABA: Museum of Contemporary African Art & More, the first overview exhibition in the Netherlands of the work of the artist Meschac Gaba. Since the time of his studies at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam, this Benin artist resides and works in the Netherlands for a major part of the year and has left his mark on the Dutch art history. In 2003 he was one of five artists selected by curator Rein Wolfs, currently artistic director at the Kunsthalle Fridericianum in Kassel, to represent the Netherlands at the Venice Biennale in the exhibitionWe Are The World.

Following Yael Davids in 2003-2004, Job Koelewijn in 2004-2005 and Barbara Visser in 2006-2007, Meschac Gaba (Cotonou, Benin, 1961) is the fourth artist to take centre stage in a series of solo exhibitions at Museum De Paviljoens that spotlight artists working in the Netherlands who have made an important contribution to Dutch art history in the past 10 years.

Museum of Contemporary African Art
The first room of his Museum of Contemporary African Art, de Salle Esquisse or Draft Room was presented by Meschac Gaba in 1997 at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam. In 2002 he showed the final room – the Humanist Space – at the Documenta XI in Kassel. His museum consists of 12 rooms in total, which have been on show at various institutes in different countries. In Museum De Paviljoens, all of the rooms come together for the first time in a total installation in which the boundaries between Museum De Paviljoens and the Museum of Contemporary African Art are blurred. However, this doesn’t mean that this conceptual Museum takes its definitive shape there. Following its presentation at Museum De Paviljoens, the Kunsthalle Fridericianum in Kassel will show a new version of the Museum of Contemporary African Art & More.

The Dutch Identity?
Starting with the 2002 exhibition Nonlinear Editing, Museum De Paviljoens has spotlighted the Dutch identity in a series of exhibitions, lectures and publications on Dutch art since 1960. In the coming four years this reflection will be intensified in a programme that in 2012 will result in a publication in which this investigation will be made manifest.

Following Meschac Gaba, Germaine Kruip will feature in the next solo exhibition within the framework of The Dutch Identity? The exhibition GERMAINE KRUIP: Only the Title Remains will be shown from 21 November 2009 through 11 April 2010.

MESCHAC GABA
Museum of Contemporary African Art & More
25 April 2009 – 9 August 2009, Museum De Paviljoens, Almere
29 August 2009 – 15 November 2009, Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel
www.museumofcontemporaryafricanart.com

Museum De Paviljoens - MESCHAC GABA

BARACK OBAMA: THE FRESHMAN

M+B is pleased to announce the inaugural exhibition BARACK OBAMA: THE FRESHMAN, black and white photographs by Lisa Jack. First featured in Time Magazine’s 2008 “Person of the Year” Issue, which chose then President-elect Barack Obama for his “rare ability to . . . organize himself and others to anticipate change and translate it into opportunity,” these photographs offer a window back in time before the posters and before the campaign, when a 20-year-old young man was caught up in just such a change that Time Magazine would later describe. Lisa Jack, then a student of photography at Occidental College, sought a striking subject for a portrait project and was tipped off about a charismatic freshman named “Barry” Obama who would make an ideal subject. After the shoot, these images would remain locked away for the next 28 years, until a dare from a friend triggered Lisa Jack to seek them out. At first worried these images could be used against President Obama, Jack realized they were not incriminating of anything other than being young and self-conscious, and that they offered a unique glimpse into how the man who made history went from being “Barry” to Barack. This exhibition marks the first time these rare photographs have ever been printed and on display.


As described in his memoir Dreams from My Father, Barack Obama’s time at “Oxy” (Occidental College) was one of confusion and self-searching. He was chided by his mother for being friends with someone who was arrested on a drug possession charge, having so-so grades and, worst of all, being undeclared. Having recently moved from his grandparents’ home in Honolulu, he searched for his place in his new environment and eventually translated a situation of uncertainty into opportunity. These images from 1980 offer a view of that young man grappling with issues that would shape him to become the 44th President of the United States. During this year at Oxy, Obama vigorously sought out peers who were politically active and would transfer a year later to Columbia in order to be part of a larger community. These photographs evidence the shift from what he described as “going through the motions” to finding a sense of self and, subsequently, purpose.


Of this session, Lisa Jack described it as initially awkward. “Barry” showed up to the shoot with a bomber jacket, flared jeans, a pack of cigarettes and a Panama hat he thought would look “cool.” Initially, he posed self-consciously, but as the shoot progressed, the personality and charisma we would all later bear witness to emerged. He began asking questions, which was unusual since normally the photographer asks questions in an effort to draw out the sitter’s personality. According to Jack, the key to Obama’s personality was his desire to understand where one comes from and how that determines one’s sense of self. Being herself a young undergrad, her interests did not lie at the time with questions of identity and selfhood, but rather she secretly hoped that “Barry” would ask her out afterward. He did not, and although pleased with the photographs, they did not maintain contact afterwards, until a random chance encounter 28 years later in Washington DC. Lisa Jack ceased photographing and went on to pursue psychology and is currently a professor of Counseling Psychology at Augsburg College. After having her one roll of film from that day sit neglected for almost thirty years, Jack now offers up these images “so that others may see a side to him [she has] yet to observe captured in the maelstrom of contemporary media”.

LISA JACK - M B

SIGINT 2009

SIGINT is a conference on discourse in the digital age, brought to you by the Chaos Computer Club, one of the biggest and most influential hacker organizations in Europe. Its stated purpose is to bring together, surprise, and enlighten those interested in playful and clever interactions with computers, networks, art, politics, and society. SIGINT is about participation and making the world a better place. The conference takes place in Cologne, Germany, in close proximity to the Ruhr area in Western Germany and not far from the borders of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxemburg.

SIGINT 2009

Una Fábrica, una Máquina, un Cuerpo...

Una Fábrica, una Máquina, un Cuerpo... Arqueología y Memoria de los Espacios Industriales
Del 6 de mayo al 30 de agosto de 2009

Proyecto expositivo de Alberto Sánchez Balmisa

Exposición coproducida por el Centre d’Art la Panera (Lleida) y el Museo Universitario de Arte contemporáneo (México)

Allora & Calzadilla - Oliver Boberg - Edward Burtynsky - Chen Chieh Jen - Octavi Comeron - Stéphane Couturier - Peter Downsbrough - Harun Farocki - Alicia Framis - Liam Gillick - Thomas Ruff.

Las fábricas se afirman como referentes de la cultura occidental, verdaderos iconos alojados en el imaginario colectivo de las sociedades capitalistas. Otrora símbolos de la revolución industrial y de la expansión de la economía de mercado, los espacios industriales poseen hoy la capacidad de sintetizar la memoria reciente, el presente incierto y la desnaturalización del futuro de un sistema que ha tendido sus redes a lo largo y ancho de nuestro planeta.
“Una Fábrica, una Máquina, un Cuerpo” presenta diez aproximaciones contemporáneas al mundo de la industria. El objetivo de la muestra es ofrecer una idea de conjunto del modo en que los artistas de nuestro tiempo se han “apropiado” de la memoria y de los elementos de la producción industrial a modo de referentes, iconos o metáforas de la condición del sujeto contemporáneo.
El resultado final cobra la forma de diez propuestas bien diferenciadas que circulan entre lo visual y lo objetual y que abordan aspectos tan variados como la relación entre el individuo y la máquina, la apropiación de los símbolos tradicionales del trabajo, la esclavitud, la dialéctica entre productividad e improductividad y el recuerdo de los espacios industriales.

centre d'art la panera

3me biennale d'art contemporain d'Anglet

La troisième édition de la Biennale d’art contemporain se tiendra sur le littoral d’Anglet du 23 mai au 31 juillet 2009.
Cette Manifestation, organisée par le service culturel de la ville d’Anglet, soutenue par la Communauté d’Agglomération de Bayonne, Anglet et Biarritz, le Conseil Général des Pyrénées Atlantiques, le Conseil Régional et la Direction Régionale des Affaires culturelles, associée à des partenaires économiques, a pour ambition d’offrir une scène singulière à la création contemporaine.
La direction artistique de cette biennale est confiée à Didier Arnaudet, critique d’art et écrivain.
Le littoral d’Anglet, composé de onze plages qui s’étendent sur 4,5 kilomètres, entre le rocher du Cap Saint Martin et la digue qui marque l’entrée de l’estuaire de l’Adour, s’impose comme une alliance singulière entre un paysage exceptionnel, une pluralité d’aménagements, la persistance d’une dimension sauvage, des infinies ressources de déambulation et un mélange d’usagers de tous les âges et d’intérêts les plus divers.

La Biennale d’art contemporain proposera un dialogue actif, innovant avec ce paysage, d’y développer une proposition culturelle d’envergure et d’inviter un très large public à des rencontres inattendues, surprenantes, intrigantes avec l’art d’aujourd’hui dans ses tendances les plus incisives. Il s’agira de mobiliser les regards, de les confronter à des échappées, des aventures imprévisibles, de les entraîner dans la dynamique d’un mouvement de récits, de bifurcations et d’élargissements insolites.
L’enjeu de cette Biennale, c’est d’affirmer l’exigence d’une qualité de choix et d’une force d’événement en proposant des expériences artistiques originales, variées et intenses, et en les confrontant aux milliers de personnes qui fréquentent tous les jours en été ce littoral.
Cette Biennale s’appuiera sur une sélection de dix artistes (*) et trouvera sa cohérence dans une juste articulation entre les oeuvres créées pour l’occasion. Les artistes sont représentatifs des questionnements et des propositions de l’art d’aujourd’hui. Leurs oeuvres seront réalisées
spécifiquement pour le littoral et la durée de la manifestation. Des oeuvres d’autant plus saisissantes qu’elles se situeront dans un espace voué au divertissement, à la détente et qu’elles feront appel à l’émotion, l’humour, la divagation, l’étrangeté, la participation ou la
contemplation.

(*) Juan Aizpitarte - Wilfrid Almendra - David Boeno - Stéphanie Cherpin - Arno Fabre - Michel Herreria - Laurent Le Deunff - Manu Muniategiandikoetxea - Julien Prévieux - Aurélie Slonina

Une politique de médiation sera mise en place. Ce dispositif permettra l’accueil et l’accompagnement des publics les plus variés.
Des actions pédagogiques particulières seront entreprises en direction des publics scolaires.
Un dépliant, disponible dès l’ouverture de la manifestation, présentant la Biennale, le parcours, les artistes et les propositions, sera diffusé le long de la promenade mais aussi dans différents lieux sur le littoral et dans la ville.
En collaboration avec l’École Supérieure d’art de Biarritz, un film sera réalisé sur les différentes étapes de cette Biennale (installations des oeuvres, témoignages des artistes, rencontres avec les publics…). Un dvd sera édité.
Lors du vernissage, samedi 23 mai, un programme de rencontres avec les artistes sera proposé ainsi que diverses animations et un concert.
Durant toute la durée de la manifestation, des interventions dans divers domaines seront prévues (théâtre, musique, conférence-débat et visites organisées autour d’un invité).

3me biennale d'art contemporain d'Anglet

A History of the Heart in Three Rainbows

May 02, 2009 — May 30, 2009
18 Wooster Street, New York

A History of the Heart in Three Rainbows, a monumental suite of large-scale watercolor paintings by Francesco Clemente, will be presented at Deitch Projects’s Wooster Street gallery in May. The paintings will wrap around the perimeter of the gallery, creating an atmosphere of contemplation and ritual. The work continues the artist’s ongoing project of transforming spiritual life experience into art. The lightness of the rainbow represents a breakthrough from the darkness, from the long night of the artist’s darker palette.

For Clemente, the rainbow is a bridge, a structure to bring things together, like religion in its original sense. The rainbow represents the necessity to connect different worlds. The translucence of the rainbow connects with the translucence of watercolor. The rainbow unmasks the nature of light and watercolor brings the light out of paper. In watercolor, the artist does not build the highlights – they are the parts the artist does not touch. The light is behind the paint.

The artist considers his paintings to be ritual implements. They function as mnemonics, keys to remembering the practice of daily ritual. The harlequin that appears in the narrative is an icon of the fragmentation of self, a surrogate for the artist and a link to man’s primeval nature. The artist notes that the earliest image of a harlequin is a man covered in leaves. The webs, cages and fences in the paintings may mean confinement, but they also connote the interrelationship of all things, and ultimately, freedom.

Deitch