Longitudes
Longitudes cuts across Latitudes’ projects and research with news, updates, and reportage.
Gustav Metzger's RAF / Reduce Art Flights campaign initiative changes URL to www.reduceartflights.lttds.org
Wed, Jan 28 2009
The website established for RAF / Reduce Art Flights in conjunction with the Latitudes-curated group exhibition 'Greenwashing. Environment: Perils, Promises and Perplexities' can now be found at a sub-domain of our site www.reduceartflights.lttds.org. The previous URL (reduceartflights.com) is no longer in operation.
The content is the same however, the main feature being a 12-minute interview with Gustav Metzger, initiator of the campaign, conducted by Emma Ridgway (now curator at RSA Arts & Ecology) as well the catalogue entry text by Max Andrews of Latitudes.
Page of the exhibition catalogue. Purchase the book via Motto.
Fischli & Weiss premiere their new film 'Parts of a Film with a Rat and a Bear' at the Teatro Arsenale, Milan
Wed, Jan 21 2009
As enthusiasts of Peter Fischli & David Weiss' peerless work, we are excited to hear about their upcoming film premiere in Milan: 'Parts of a Film with a Rat and a Bear' (2008). The piece, produced by the Fondazione Nicola Trussardi, Milan, was filmed in the same venue, the spectacular 17th Century Palazzo Litta, that hosted the Trussardi's leg of the artists' survey show 'Flowers & Questions' last February.
In the first two films of their famed 'rat and bear' saga ('The Point of Least Resistance' (1981) & 'The Right Way' (1983)) the artists explore exhibitions, Los Angeles' streets, or the bucolic mountains, dark forests and treacherous ravines of the Swiss Alps, wearing costumes of a giant bear and a rat. With no real aim in mind, the bear and the rat bungle along in folk tales of their own devising – these films are both monumental and intimate, serious and hilarious.
In the new 3-screen film 'Parts of a Film with a Rat and a Bear' (2008), the animals "return to cubhood and wander through the stuccoed, frescoed halls of Palazzo Litta, playing with the bizarre sculptures and peculiar images that inhabit them. Through constant flashbacks and visions of the future, the two look at their own reflected images, encounter themselves in old age, and play with their ancestors in youth, in a constant reversal of roles that seems inspired as much by '2001: A Space Odyssey' as by Grimms’ fairy tales." [1]
Premiere of 'Parts of a Film with a Rat and a Bear' by Peter Fischli & David Weiss
16 February 2009, 6.30pm
Teatro Arsenale
Via Cesare Correnti, 11 / Milan, Italy
Open daily 10 am to 8 pm, from 16 to 22 February 2009
Free admission
Clips from 'The Right Way' and 'The Point of Least Resistance' below:
[1] As described in the Press Release (link here)
Images: Peter Fischli / David Weiss, 'Parts of a Film with a Rat and a Bear', 2008
Video stills - 3 HDV-Videos
Produced by Fondazione Nicola Trussardi, Milan
© The Artists. Courtesy Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich; Monika Sprüth & Philomene Magers, Berlin/London; Matthew Marks Gallery, New York.
Juan Muñoz's 1992 'Una Habitació on sempre plou' under construction
Mon, Jan 19 2009
Over 16 years after its inauguration and after years of poor maintenance and neglect, “Una habitació on sempre plou” (A room where it always rains), (1992) by Juan Muñoz (1952–2001) and its surroundings are finally under renovation. It seems that the construction of a luxury sailboat-shaped hotel nearby (coincidentally looking very much like Dubai's iconic Burj-Al-Arab) might have helped the Ajuntament to get their act together and rethink the environment the piece needs – hopefully this will improve the displacement and elevation it suffered in 2004 due to the construction of a parking lot.
“A room where it always rains” (1992) is one of the public works that emerged from the 'beautification' of the city post-1992 Olympic Games. The piece is placed in the Passeig Marítim [map] near the beach and was part of the 'Urban Configurations' commissions led by Glòria Moure.
Update March 2010:
[All photos by Latitudes | www.lttds.org ]Süddeutsche Zeitung reports the "malaise" of Spanish contemporary art
Sat, Jan 17 2009
Last weekend an article on the Spanish art landscape appeared in the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung (pdf 248KB), which was later reported and summarised in English by Jennifer Allen in Artforum.com's International News Digest (week 12 January 2008).
According to the writer, Merten Worthmann, the Spanish art scene lacks experimentation and this is effecting Spanish galleries as well as ARCO, the country's main art fair. The whole discussion as to why Spanish contemporary art is not where it should be on the international map is not an easy one to tackle. The truth is, there is not one reason – there are as many as there are challenges. Although a lot has been achieved in the last 30 years of democracy and today we have many museums and art centres, the question is now not just about more, but about improving and investing in the existing quality.
Here is a 'shopping list' for starters: renewed focus on debate and theory with productive confrontations; targeted resources for medium-scale institutions; engaged art magazines and cultural supplements with less 'press release-y' or purely descriptive writing; simplification and modernisation of the 'cultural-export' model of funding and bureaucracy to reflect contemporary practice; wider transparency in selection processes for key curatorial positions; pragmatic vocational teaching at graduate level (and a life for post-Picasso art history); a competitive postgraduate art practice programme that meets the international standards of Amsterdam's Rijksakademie or Frankfurt's Städelschule; improved teaching of foreign languages; fiscal benefits to autónomos (self-employed) on a par with other EU countries...
The list continues. Without trying to sound profound or political, changes have to be made from within through sheer initiative, and that, alongside rabid generosity, is surely the way forward. It is certainly not all doom and gloom (we would not be here otherwise!), but the current economic climate will certainly focus the minds as well on the 'values that we value'. Onwards 2009!
Here is Artforum's summary...
REPORT FROM SPAIN (Artforum.com, International News Digest)
In anticipation of ARCO, the Süddeutsche Zeitung’s Merten Worthmann delivers a mixed report from Spain. According to Worthmann, the young Spanish arts scene is missing some experimentation—a deficiency that has had a negative impact on both galleries and the Madrid-based fair. Moreover, the Centre d’Art Santa Mónica—which has featured exhibitions by younger artists—will be closing at the end of January, according to a directive from the Catalan minister of culture. “Barcelona is a kind of anti-Berlin,” says Bartomeu Marí, head of Barcelona’s MACBA. “A city that doesn’t know how to attract any artists.” For Worthmann, the closure of Santa Mónica is a sign of a larger malaise. “The Spanish arts scene suffers from its weak connection to central Europe, the center of the market, and of discourses,” writes Worthmann, who cites the lack of both an international public and a national network. “To be an artist in Spain is a handicap, both inside and outside the country,” artist Jorge Galindo told the newspaper.
Ferran Barenblit, who was until recently the director of Santa Mónica, and who now heads the art center Dos de Mayo outside Madrid, believes that Spain doesn’t have enough international pull and has lost its “exotic” status in the ever-expanding European community. “Barenblit can be very critical with respect to the homegrown arts scene,” writes Worthmann. “But he holds the unclear reception from outside the country responsible for the lack of resonance.” Chus Martínez, who headed the Frankfurt Kunstverein before recently heading to Barcelona to direct the MACBA collection, adds some “geopolitical” arguments. “Germans, for example, orient themselves above all toward the United States and, since reunification, strongly toward the east,” Martínez told the newspaper. “Spain long existed on the outside. We were never a stop on the Grand Tour, nor could we profit later from the Marshall Plan.” The Franco dictatorship, which ended just over thirty years ago, also played a major role in the isolation of the country’s artists. Despite the end of the dictatorship, many artists still leave the country. And despite the rise of several spectacular exhibition sites—MUSAC in León, MACBA in Barcelona, Herzog and de Meuron’s Caixaforum in Madrid, Gehry’s Guggenheim in Bilbao, and Madrid’s Matadero, a multidisciplinary center that will be fully complete in 2011—few institutions have managed to create a “solid profile.” “For regional politicians, often the architectural gesture was more important than the ongoing maintenance of an ambitious program,” writes Worthmann, who adds that museum directors are often at the mercy of changing ruling parties of the government. Despite new directives for running museums from the minister of culture, the sudden closure of Santa Mónica as an art center is a case in point.
As for ARCO, a public initiative dating from the 1980s, the new director Lourdes Fernández will be decreasing the number of Spanish galleries in order to increase international participation at the fair. Last year, the fair dedicated more space to curatorial projects featuring artworks with an experimental edge. “And the display window has long functioned in both directions,” writes Worthmann. International collectors acquire Spanish art while Spanish collectors are increasingly acquiring works by international artists. In 2009, all purchases may well be welcome, whatever the artist’s origin.
On another note, Matt Elmore from the The Art Newspaper has also written about the Barcelona art scene, though giving a much more simplistic and superficial account - including mistakes such as the "Santa Monica space as a visual arts centre devoted to Catalan artists...", when only one of the three exhibition spaces it had was penciled for Catalan or Spanish artists. See archive of previous shows to see exhibition history between 2003-9.
Ferran Barenblit, who was until recently the director of Santa Mónica, and who now heads the art center Dos de Mayo outside Madrid, believes that Spain doesn’t have enough international pull and has lost its “exotic” status in the ever-expanding European community. “Barenblit can be very critical with respect to the homegrown arts scene,” writes Worthmann. “But he holds the unclear reception from outside the country responsible for the lack of resonance.” Chus Martínez, who headed the Frankfurt Kunstverein before recently heading to Barcelona to direct the MACBA collection, adds some “geopolitical” arguments. “Germans, for example, orient themselves above all toward the United States and, since reunification, strongly toward the east,” Martínez told the newspaper. “Spain long existed on the outside. We were never a stop on the Grand Tour, nor could we profit later from the Marshall Plan.” The Franco dictatorship, which ended just over thirty years ago, also played a major role in the isolation of the country’s artists. Despite the end of the dictatorship, many artists still leave the country. And despite the rise of several spectacular exhibition sites—MUSAC in León, MACBA in Barcelona, Herzog and de Meuron’s Caixaforum in Madrid, Gehry’s Guggenheim in Bilbao, and Madrid’s Matadero, a multidisciplinary center that will be fully complete in 2011—few institutions have managed to create a “solid profile.” “For regional politicians, often the architectural gesture was more important than the ongoing maintenance of an ambitious program,” writes Worthmann, who adds that museum directors are often at the mercy of changing ruling parties of the government. Despite new directives for running museums from the minister of culture, the sudden closure of Santa Mónica as an art center is a case in point.
As for ARCO, a public initiative dating from the 1980s, the new director Lourdes Fernández will be decreasing the number of Spanish galleries in order to increase international participation at the fair. Last year, the fair dedicated more space to curatorial projects featuring artworks with an experimental edge. “And the display window has long functioned in both directions,” writes Worthmann. International collectors acquire Spanish art while Spanish collectors are increasingly acquiring works by international artists. In 2009, all purchases may well be welcome, whatever the artist’s origin.
On another note, Matt Elmore from the The Art Newspaper has also written about the Barcelona art scene, though giving a much more simplistic and superficial account - including mistakes such as the "Santa Monica space as a visual arts centre devoted to Catalan artists...", when only one of the three exhibition spaces it had was penciled for Catalan or Spanish artists. See archive of previous shows to see exhibition history between 2003-9.
Redesigned website home page
Mon, Jan 12 2009
We have recently redesigned the home page of our web with some photo galleries and quick links to our projects. We have also introduced an index – a useful tool to navigate our current, previous and future projects through an ongoing list of collaborators (artists, curators, institutions, writers, etc).
News and updates on www.lttds.org/blog
Looking back – 2008 "Annual Report"
Mon, Dec 29 2008
Looking back at the past year is a infectious exercise at this point in the calendar. We would like to thank everyone that has visited or taken part in our projects, from the small ones to the 3 year-long collaborations, whether from nearby or far away.
Our 2008 began as intense preparations were well underway for the group exhibition 'Greenwashing. Environment: Perils, Promises and Perplexities' at Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin (29.02 –18.05.2008) co-curated with Ilaria Bonacossa. 'Greenwashing...' presented the work of 25 artists and artists groups (11 of those produced new work). A 192 page catalogue was published by The Bookmakers Ed., Turin – you can buy a copy here (English/Italian editions).
Following 'Greenwashing...' we presented 'A Stake in the Mud, A Hole in the Reel: Land Art's Expanded Field 1968–2008', a film and video programme curated at the invitation of the Museo Tamayo in Mexico City that later toured to 8 venues between April and October: MARCO, Vigo; Stadtkino (Kunsthalle Basel), Basel, Switzerland; CAAC, Sevilla; Fundació Suñol, Barcelona; Barn Hongersdijk Farmstead, Wilhelminapolder, The Netherlands; Spike Island, Bristol, United Kingdom; Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo, Móstoles. For further information you can read an essay in the Winter 2008-9 (upcoming) issue of Art & Co magazine or download press articles and programmes here.
Before the end of the summer we were part of the jury for the Premi Miquel Casablancas, an award for Spanish artists under 36. From around 200 portfolios and projects submitted Latitudes, together with Aimar Arriola, selected four artists to participate in the exhibition later in the year: ‘La, la, la, la: on winning and losing’ (29.11.2008 – 10.01.2009).
The summer was filled with more research and work to be done, which was carried out thanks to the support and hospitality of the Deutsche Börse Residency Programme, Frankfurter Kunstverein, Germany.
The 2008-9 season began with the exciting realisation of 'The Crest of a Wave’, a four-part project by Lawrence Weiner at Fundació Suñol, Barcelona (08.10 – 15.11.08) that had a great press, radio, specialised media and TV coverage (see post 12 November); followed by the conclusion of the 3 year-long public commission by Tue Greenfort which was presented in a discrete mode alongside his Frieze Art Fair project (16-19 October). This commission was an initiative of the RSA Arts & Ecology programme, London, which has recently become the Arts & Ecology center. Soon there will be a small publication gathering the history of the commission as well visual documentation of the project.
In November, as part of Artissima 15 Latitudes presented 'X, Y, etc!', a video programme comprised of around 40 works that was inspired by Charles Fort's research methodology, the paranormal and anomalous phenomena, the uncanny and the unexplained.
And now looking a little towards what's to come in 2009 ... since May 2008 (see previous posts here and here) we have been working on 'Portscapes', a series of artists’ projects that will take place throughout 2009 alongside the construction of ‘Maasvlakte 2’, a 1,000 hectare area of reclaimed land that will extend the Port of Rotterdam, Europe's largest seaport and industrial area. Mirroring a port's function of transit and exchange 'Portscapes' will involve Rotterdam-based artists and those from countries including China, Austria, Mexico, Scotland and the US, with the aim of considering the physical and conceptual implications of the new lands of Maasvlakte 2, as well as the city-port as a distributive network across artistic, marine and mercantile registers. 'Portscapes' will be introduced during Art Rotterdam (5–8 February 2009) by a small ‘prologue’ publication designed by Ben Laloua / Didier Pascal.
Throughout 2008 we have also contributed several catalogue essays, articles, exhibition reviews, artists profiles, etc. a selection of which can be downloaded from our writing archive.
Happy New Year!
Haegue Yang at Sala Rekalde & 2009 Korean Pavilion Venice Biennale
Thu, Dec 25 2008Haegue Yang's new exhibition at sala rekalde 'Symmetric Inequality' (18.12.08-19.04.09) "belongs to a group of installations the artist has been developing over the course of this year, focusing her interest on investigating new possibilities for parallel crossings between abstraction and narration. Together with Kunstverein (Hamburg), Cubitt (London), the Carnegie Museum of Art (Pittsburgh), Portikus (Frankfurt) and REDCAT (Los Angeles), sala rekalde now contributes to the closure of a serial project that has taken the medium of portraiture as the point of departure for its own articulation." (from e-flux 18.12.08).
Below an excerpt from the catalogue essay by Latitudes' Max Andrews "Towards Haegue Yang's 'Blind Rooms'", which will be included in the forthcoming publication (out Spring 2009) followed by a video of the installation:
"Yang has developed a finely-tuned articulation of space through deft assemblage that has encompassed mirrors, multifarious electric lamps, scent atomizers, infrared motion detectors, heat sources and Venetian blinds. Variously sensory and sensible (i.e. readily percieved), such devices are not necessarily socially meaningful in themselves, yet they allow an interactive atmospherics that suggest zones of indeterminate necessities – part domestic interiors, part private theatres – and “localized effects” akin to political action."
As the Arts Council Korea announced on the 23 December Eungie Joo, Director & Curator of Public Programs at the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, recently appointed commissioner of the Korea Pavilion at the forthcoming Venice Biennale has invited Yang to represent Korea at the 53rd International Venice Biennale. Joo is the first non-Korean national commissioner for the Korean Pavilion.
Haegue Yang was featured in an interview by Doryun Chong in the Summer 2007 issue, which Latitudes guest edited, of UOVO/14 titled 'Ecology, Luxury and Degradation' (see inside the issue here).
HAEGUE YANG
'Symmetric Inequality'
18 December 2008 - 19 April 2009sala rekalde
Alameda de Recalde 30
48009 Bilbao, Spain
www.salarekalde.bizkaia.net
Erick Beltrán at Galería Joan Prats, Nati Bermejo at Estrany de la Mota, Peter Piller at ProjecteSD
Sun, Dec 21 2008This past Wednesday 17 December saw the opening of three compelling exhibitions in Barcelona. Erick Beltrán's "Calculum Series" was a precise suite of objects and texts (including Rasputin's finger nails and a bone die) which circulated around a consideration of value. The show continues at Galería Joan Prats until late January 2009. Nati Bermejo presented an exquisite set of large scale black-and-white drawings at Estrany de la Mota ("Look Left / Look Right" continues until February 12th 2009). Meanwhile at ProjecteSD, Peter Piller showed "Swiss Landscapes" – photographs gleaned from over 500,000 images taken for insurance claims purposes from the digital archives of the Swiss insurers Bâloise.
All images: Latitudes | www.lttds.org
Gone with the wind: on the 'art crunch' and the Centre d'Art de Barcelona, the saga continues...
Tue, Dec 16 2008
Happy Christmas.
The dark cloud looming over the art world in recent months is how the worldwide economic recession is going to hit. We've already seen some of its consequences (from the dire situation of MoCA LA's finances to the apparent 'return to painting' in the art market), but what about daily practicalities? How is the lack of cash flow or collapse of the British pound, for instance, going to affect programming in art centres and museums? Is waning support for new productions, residencies, research and travel obvious already?
In the Nov–Dec. Frieze, Dan Fox wrote around the last recession in the 1990s, when "newspapers and television talked about art rather than the art market and how dynamic or corrupt it might be" and when there were "fewer of everything: fewer artists, curators, galleries, magazines, art consultants, private foundations." As Fox states, the credit crunch is also a "content crunch". Having exchanged "crunchy" opinions with a few artists and curators recently, one senses that the relentless rhythm of e-fluxes and the like, and the constant proliferation of and aspiration to travel to and from biennials/triennials/quadrennials, art fairs, symposiums, gala dinners, discussion platforms, art auctions, etc. are feeling increasingly, well, just too much. Maybe a downsizing will have its benefits?
Bringing in some examples close to home, one wonders how are the many Spanish museums that have appeared in the last decade facing up to the new economic year. In Catalunya alone, there has been a flourishing of art centres (Lleida, Granollers, Girona (with temporary venues)), and soon there will be further venues in Vic and Tarragona. On the other side of the coin, in Barcelona already a few key art spaces, which offered invaluable support for new commissions, have already 'gone with the wind' and there is a clear lack of infrastructure and of competitive study programmes (La Vanguardia, 30/11/08). Sala Montcada, for instance, has gone. Operating since 1981, it has just had its two final seasons at Caixaforum after much revolt within the artistic community when, in 2005, 'La Caixa' foundation announced its closure and then stayed its execution – at least until now. After two lacklustre seasons with works produced by Le Fresnoy, Espai 13 in Fundació Miró, began to show signs of life again last October with a programme curated by Jorge Díez. But most notably there was the sudden closure (or 'reconversion'/new orientation in the words of the politicians) of the Centre d'Art Santa Mònica (CASM), whose programme limps on until early 2009. The pre-Christmas news (El País, 10.12.08) was that the announcement of the new venue for the long-awaited replacement kunsthalle space (renamed as Centre d'Art de Barcelona - see post 17.07.08) will be located in a 1,200m2 space in the newly-opened 'Imagina' building. Built in the former site of a textile factory, Ca l'Aranyó in the new-technology branded district called 22@, east of the city, the site is near the future Disseny Hub Barcelona, the Auditori, the Teatre Nacional de Catalunya, and Hangar, Barcelona's only surviving production and residency centre, in Poblenou. According to councillor Joan Manuel Tresseras, the new art centre will be a joint force of the Ajuntament de Barcelona (Barcelona City Council) and the Conselleria de Cultura (Art Department of the Catalan Government). But, two days later the Ajuntament said they knew nothing about this new venture (El País, 12.12.08) becoming clear that Tresseras wanted to close the 'open wound' that began with the 'reconversion' of CASM, before its new director, Vicenç Altaió, announces the new exhibition programme.
Dejà vu? How can Tresseras insist on providing a transparent procedure of selection for a new director for the art centre, when there is a clear and alarming lack of transparency, dialogue and set of priorities amongst the cultural agents operating within the same city? How can an independent management and operational funding be secured to attract a competitive bunch of professionals to apply following an open-call selection process? Ideally it should also establish an open call not only for its head figure, but for its whole team, from organisers to restaurant caterers. Find the best, by offering the best.
Jordi Mitjà at Bòlit, Centre d'Art Contemporani in Girona
Wed, Dec 10 2008
"From Excess. Recipes for an architecture of accumulative thought" is the title of Jordi Mitjà's contribution to the group show In construction. Recipes from Scarcity, Ubiquity and Excess, the inaugural show – in two temporary spaces – of BÒLIT, the soon-to-open Centre d'Art Contemporani in Girona, Spain, directed by Rosa Pera.
Mitjà's project comprises the installation Espai Diògenes (see images above; last two from Santiago Cirugeda's Niu project); the documentary cycle Diogenes Cinema and Anatomia Diògenes, a beautiful publication published by Crani (www.crani.org) that compiles photographic material accumulated in the Empordà region between 1988 and 2008.
Mitjà's Espai Diògenes continues the investigative spirit of previous projects such as the film Concèntric. Poble petit, infern gegant (presented in 2006–7 at Espai Zero1, Olot) drawing on found documents, films from amateur film-makers, articles, books, notes, photographs, etc., that he has been gathering from abandoned sites, rubbish, or simply given by friends or family throughout the past years. Mitjà is as persuaded by these materials as he is curious to dissect the history and stories behind each found object. Espai Diògenes presents an esquisite selection of works (collages, slide projections, objects including slide projectors, photographs, films...) in a nest-like space, "a defence structure, a protection from the outside world, an infinite skin" (1) - "nests" recalling the claustrophobic spaces created by those that suffer from Diogenes syndrome.
Capella de Sant NicolauPlaça de Santa Llúcia s/n
17007 Girona
Exhibition dates: 10 October 2008 - 11 January 2009
(1) 'Runa', by Jordi Mitjà. In "Anatomia Diògenes. Obres inèdites acumulades entre 1988-2008. Ed. Crani, October 2008.