Longitudes
Longitudes cuts across Latitudes’ projects and research with news, updates, and reportage.
Portscapes bus tour: Lara Almarcegui wasteland tour and Christina Hemauer & Roman Keller's 'Postpetrolistic Internationale' choir performance
Tue, Nov 10 2009
On Sunday 8 November 2009, SKOR and the Port of Rotterdam Authority organised a bus tour around the Port of Rotterdam coinciding with the 4th International Architecture Biennial Rotterdam and the culmination of 'Portscapes' projects, a year-long series of commissions in and around Maasvlakte 2, the 2,000 hectare ongoing extension of the port.
Over 80 visitors enjoyed the 'The Postpetrolistic Internationale' choir performance, a project by the Zurich-based artists Roman Keller & Christina Hemauer as well as the tour around four wasteland sites included in the research publication of the guide 'Wastelands of the Port of Rotterdam' by Rotterdam-based artist Lara Almarcegui.
During the tour, visitors were also able to see and listen to other 'Portscapes' projects by Marjolijn Dijkman, Fucking Good Art, Ilana Halperin (audio here), Jorge Satorre, Hans Schabus and Paulien Oltheten.
An exhibition of the projects will take place at the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen from 5 February, coinciding with Art Rotterdam. Exhibition on view until end of March 2010.
Portscapes is a series of newly commissioned art projects initiated by the Port of Rotterdam Authority on occasion of the construction of Maasvlakte 2, with advice and support from SKOR (Foundation for Art and Public Space, Amsterdam) and is curated by Latitudes (Barcelona).
Roman Keller and Christina Hemauer's participation has been made possible thanks to the support of Pro Helvetia.
'Portscapes' page updated with new flickr slideshows and announcement of a forthcoming exhibition at the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, February 2010
Wed, Nov 4 2009
Latitudes' 'Portscapes' page has been updated with new flickr slideshows for each project (see under each artist name) and incorporating a new page for the 'Portscapes' exhibition which will be on view at the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, from the 5 February until the end of March 2010 (date TBC).
The opening will coincide with the art fair Art Rotterdam (4–7 February) and 'Divided Divided', a solo exhibition by the Stockholm-based artist Carsten Höller also opening at the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen on February 5th.
The Museum Boijmans exhibition will present the year-long commissioning series with works that have been produced in and around Maasvlakte 2, the ongoing extension to the Port of Rotterdam, with works by 10 artists: Lara Almarcegui, Bik van der Pol, Jan Dibbets, Marjolijn Dijkman, Fucking Good Art, Ilana Halperin, Roman Keller & Christina Hemauer, Paulien Oltheten, Jorge Satorre and Hans Schabus. 'Portscapes' also involved artist Maria Barnas and the London and Zurich based architect, researcher, educator and writer Markus Miessen as website collaborators.
The films commissions by Rotterdam-based artists Bik van der Pol and Marjolijn Dijkman will be premiered coincinding with the exhibition.
Project website: www.portscapes.nl (Dutch/English)
Other Latitudes' flickr photo sets here.
We have also updated the 'Portscapes' projects timeline:
Portscapes is a series of art projects commissioned by the Port of Rotterdam Authority with advice and support from SKOR (Foundation for Art and Public Space, Amsterdam) and is curated by Latitudes.
Latitudes speak at seminar on Art and Ecology, 21 October 2009, The Wanås Foundation, Knislinge, Sweden
Mon, Nov 2 2009
Coinciding with the end of the 'Footprints' exhibition (17 May–25 October 2009) organised by The Wanås Foundation (presenting works by Tue Greenfort, Henrik Håkansson, Tea Mäkipää (with Halldór Úlfarsson), Tomás Saraceno and Nilsmagnus Sköld) this one-day seminar hosted by the foundation on the 21st October included three presentations from different areas of expertise and a panel discussion around the relationship between contemporary art practice and ecology, the language used by the media on climate change, individual and collective environmental efforts, etc.
Speakers include: Folke Tersman (Professor of Practical Philosophy at Uppsala University, author of 'Tillsammans: en filosofisk debattbok om hur vi kan rädda vårt klimat' (2009)); Joanna Yarrow (media commentator and expert in the field of ecologically sustainable lifestyles, founder of Beyond Green in London) and Latitudes, who presented projects including the group exhibition 'Greenwashing Environment: Perils, Promises and Perplexities' (2008), the publication Land, Art: A Cultural Ecology Handbook (2006) and the commissioning series in the port of Rotterdam 'Portscapes' (2009).
Images: Latitudes and The Wanås Foundation.
Hemauer & Keller's 'Portscapes' project begins: transportation of a wooden stage along the Rhine from Basel to Rotterdam
Fri, Oct 30 2009
'Postpetrolistic Internationale', the project by Zurich-based artists Christina Hemauer (1973) & Roman Keller (1969), started today with the transportation of a wooden stage along the Rhine from Basel (the most upriver navigable point of the Rhine), near the artists’ home, to Rotterdam (where the Rhine joins the sea).
Keller & Hemauer's project emerges from the medium of the collective human voice, the tradition of the aspirational social anthem alongside the artists’ long standing interest in energy use. Upon arrival of the stage, a Rotterdam-based choir will perform the 'Postpetrolistic Internationale', an anthem of hope-in-action on the stage, against a backdrop of local industry, to mark man’s changing relationship with fossil fuels and energy use.
Programmed performances:Saturday 7 November, time TBC, Maritime Museum, Rotterdam – MAP
Sunday 8 November, 13.30h, Futureland, the Maasvlakte 2 visitor center – MAPThe 'Postpetrolism' project (2006-ongoing) was launched with a performance in Zürich in April 2006 in which a new manifesto of hope for the future reality of energy was declared and a plaque erected to mark the end of one energy era (‘peak oil’ was passed in 2005, according to Kenneth S. Deffeyes) and the beginning of another beyond oil.
Images of the journey and arrival of the stage to Rotterdam's port on 2nd November:
Taken by the artists en route and upon arrival to Rotterdam's port.
Keller & Hemauer's project is part of 'Portscapes', a series of art projects commissioned by the Port of Rotterdam Authority with advice and financial support from SKOR (Foundation for Art and Public Space, Amterdam) and curated by Latitudes.
Portscapes' timeline: http://www.dipity.com/latitudes/PORTSCAPES
Keller and Hemauer's participation has been made possible thanks to the support of Pro Helvetia.
London's Frieze Art Fair 2009 and Fia Backström's project 'Studies in Leadership - The Review'
Tue, Oct 27 2009
On Sunday 18th October 2009 and as part of Frieze Projects, Max Andrews of Latitudes participated in Fia Backström's project 'Studies in Leadership - The Review' at invitation of Filipa Oliveira and Miguel Amado. Four art critics and writers – Amado, Michele Robecchi, J. J. Charlesworth and Andrews – worked with a professional voice coach to publicly read one of their recent exhibition reviews, and together consider the implications of performance and the author's 'voice'.
All images Latitudes | www.lttds.org
Ignasi Aballí's exhibition catalogue 'Nothing, or Something' now available
Mon, Oct 26 2009
Ignasi Aballí's exhibition catalogue 'Nothing, or Something' is finally out and available via Múltiplos, Barcelona.
The catalogue follows his recent exhibition at the project space run by Beijing's Today Art Museum placed at the Yintai Center, which took place between 22 May and 22 July this year. The exhibition catalogue includes an essay by exhibition curators Latitudes as well as installation images of the project which spreads throughout eight window displays on three floors. Aballí's project responded to the retail context of the commercial centre as well as an artistic history of absence, nothingness and invisibility.
To see images of the exhibition, see here.
Description of the exhibition, read here.
'Nothing, or Something'
Softcover, 88 pages, colour
Essay by Latitudes
English/Chinese publication
Published by the Today Art Museum.
All images: Latitudes | www.lttds.org
Sharjah Biennial 8 (2007) part 2 publication with proceedings of the 3-day conference organised by Latitudes and the RSA, London
Mon, Oct 26 2009
Edited by Joseph R Wolin
Paperback
567 pages, 299 visuals. Softcover 350g. Art Matt Card
Paper: 80g. offset wood free and 135 g. Art Matt24 x 16 cm
English and Arabic
Published by Sharjah Biennial, 2008ISBN 978-9948-04-328-6 Part II
The recently published vol. II of the catalogue of the Sharjah Biennial 8 [25º 22’N, 55º 24’E] titled 'Still Life: Art, Ecology and the Politics of Change (Part II)' includes installation shots of the exhibition as well as proceedings of the 3-day conference Latitudes organised in collaboration with the Royal Society of Art's Arts & Ecology programme (today the RSA Arts and Ecology Centre) (+ info). The book is a companion to volume I, published to coincide with the Biennial’s opening.
The symposium (images here) considered today’s uses and abuses of the ‘eco-’, notions of artistic agency and critical practice, as well as the role of the public realm in today’s artistic and institutional practices. How has it become fashionable (or profitable) to be seen to be eco? How has what we mean by ecology been transformed and evolved through the uses of terms such as ‘environmental’, ‘green’, ‘ethical living’, and so on?; How do some artists desire palliative results, while others offer strategies of friction or resistance? How far are the sources of materials a consideration for artists, designers and architects? And how does this relate to broader questions of resources—water, energy, oil in the Emirate and beyond?
The symposium included focused presentations by keynote speakers such as Bruce Sterling (read his paper here), critical panels by biennial artists Sergio Vega or Peter Fend as well as by Van Abbemuseum director and Sharjah Biennial juror Charles Esche, or Smart Museum's Curator of Contemporary Art Stephanie Smith, as well as breakout seminars with biennial artists Tomás Saraceno and Michael Rakowitz.
You can download the symposium programme, the exhibition guide and view press-related materials in this archive.
The recently published vol. II of the catalogue of the Sharjah Biennial 8 [25º 22’N, 55º 24’E] titled 'Still Life: Art, Ecology and the Politics of Change (Part II)' includes installation shots of the exhibition as well as proceedings of the 3-day conference Latitudes organised in collaboration with the Royal Society of Art's Arts & Ecology programme (today the RSA Arts and Ecology Centre) (+ info). The book is a companion to volume I, published to coincide with the Biennial’s opening.
The symposium (images here) considered today’s uses and abuses of the ‘eco-’, notions of artistic agency and critical practice, as well as the role of the public realm in today’s artistic and institutional practices. How has it become fashionable (or profitable) to be seen to be eco? How has what we mean by ecology been transformed and evolved through the uses of terms such as ‘environmental’, ‘green’, ‘ethical living’, and so on?; How do some artists desire palliative results, while others offer strategies of friction or resistance? How far are the sources of materials a consideration for artists, designers and architects? And how does this relate to broader questions of resources—water, energy, oil in the Emirate and beyond?
The symposium included focused presentations by keynote speakers such as Bruce Sterling (read his paper here), critical panels by biennial artists Sergio Vega or Peter Fend as well as by Van Abbemuseum director and Sharjah Biennial juror Charles Esche, or Smart Museum's Curator of Contemporary Art Stephanie Smith, as well as breakout seminars with biennial artists Tomás Saraceno and Michael Rakowitz.
You can download the symposium programme, the exhibition guide and view press-related materials in this archive.
Cover and Back Cover, 'Still Life: Art, Ecology and the Politics of Change (Part II)'. Photos: Sharjah Biennial.
'Portscapes' news: Bus Tour around the Port of Rotterdam, Sunday 8 November 2009, 10–15h
Sun, Oct 25 2009
–ENG–
Bus Tour – Portscapes public art projects on the Maasvlakte, Rotterdam.
SKOR invited the duo Latitudes from Barcelona, who has curated a series of projects reflecting on the architectural, political, social and ecological aspects of the past, present and future of the Rotterdam port with a focus on the new Maasvlakte 2. Portscapes consists of ten new commissions in and about the Maasvlakte by Dutch and international artists, including interventions, films, performances and mobile seminars.
Bus tour bookings: write to ad [at] skor.nl by 2 November 2009
Free tour. English spoken
An exhibition of the Portscapes projects will be on show at the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam from 5 February, until late March 2010.
Programme on 8 November
(Programme subject to changes)
9.45 am – Leave from NAI Rotterdam, Museumpark 25 3015 CB, Rotterdam
On the way to the port you can listen to interviews by Fucking Good Art on mp3 players in the bus. Amongst others, Hans Aarsman, an industrial ecologist, a botanist and an archaeologist, will describe his vision of the Maasvlakte on the basis of his field of expertise. The artistic duo FGA broadcast this and other conversations from a temporary web radio station in a container united placed on the Maasvlakte between 21 August and 21 September.
10.45 am – Visit to wastelands by artist Lara Almarcegui and botanist Remko Andeweg
The Spanish-born Rotterdam-based artist Lara Almarcegui has published a free newspaper research project concerning the ‘wasteland’ areas which can be encountered throughout the Port of Rotterdam. Almarcegui and botanist Remko Andeweg will describe these areas characterised by an apparent lack of human intervention.
12.00 am – Arrival at Futureland, the Maasvlakte information centre
On the way we pass the billboards by the artists Marjolijn Dijkman, Jorge Satorre, Paulien Oltheten and Hans Schabus.
Lunch in Futureland, provided by the Rotterdam Port Authority.
Introduction by Latitudes, curators of 'Portscapes'
1.00 pm – Tour of the artworks in and around Futureland
You can view work by Paulien Oltheten and Hans Schabus and explore the nearby area picking up Ilana Halperin’s audio tour. Halperin created a compelling narrative of fragments which draws on fact, fiction and personal fieldwork – as well as site surveys by volcanologists, geologists and the experts involved in the construction of Maasvlakte 2.
1.30 pm – Performance 'Postpetrolistic Internationale'
The project by Swiss artists Roman Keller & Christina Hemauer emerges from the medium of the collective human voice, the tradition of the aspirational social anthem alongside the artists’ long standing interest in energy use. The project starts with the transportation of a wooden stage along the Rhine from Basel (where the Rhine begins), near the artists’ home, to Rotterdam (where the Rhine joins the sea) – see post 30.10.09. Upon arrival a local choir will perform this anthem of hope-in-action (composed by the artists in collaboration with musician Mathias Vette) on the stage, against a backdrop of local industry, to mark man’s changing relationship with fossil fuels and energy use.
2 pm – Return to NAI Rotterdam with a number of stops at various art projects along the way: wastelands by Lara Almarcegui and works by Paulien Oltheten
3 pm – Arrival in NAI Rotterdam. End of the journey.
Portscapes is commissioned by the Port of Rotterdam Authority with advice from SKOR (Foundation for Art and Public Space, Amterdam) and is curated by Latitudes.
–CAST–
Bus tour dirección al puerto de Rotterdam, Domingo 8 Noviembre 2009, 10–15h, organizado por SKOR y la Autoridad Portuaria de Rotterdam coincidiendo con la 4th International Architecture Biennial Rotterdam. Tour organizado en ocasión de Portscapes, la serie acumulativa de proyectos públicos que en el Puerto de Rotterdam
Presentación de dos nuevos proyectos: performance de los suizos Roman Keller y Christina Hemauer (7–8 Noviembre) y publicación de la guía 'Wastelands of the Port of Rotterdam' realizada por Lara Almarcegui. Durante el tour se podrán ver y escuchar los proyectos realizados por Marjolijn Dijkman, Fucking Good Art, Ilana Halperin, Jorge Satorre, Hans Schabus y Paulien Oltheten.
Para reservar tu plaza, escribe a [email protected] antes del 2 November 2009.
Accesso gratuito, tour será en inglés.
Exposición de los proyectos de Portscapes tendrá lugar en el Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, a partir del 5 de Febrero y hasta finales de Marzo 2010.
PROGRAMA 8 NOVIEMBRE
9.45-15hs
(Programa sujeto a cambios de última hora)
09.45 am – Salida desde NAI Rotterdam, Museumpark 25 3015 CB, Rotterdam
Durante el recorrido se podrá escuchar mediante auriculares una entrevista al ecologista, botanista, y arqueólogo Hans Aarsman realizada por el duo FGA durante su residencia en un container emplazado en el Maasvlakte, desde donde recogieron conversaciones temáticas y exploraciones de campo. + info...
Durante el recorrido se podrá escuchar mediante auriculares una entrevista al ecologista, botanista, y arqueólogo Hans Aarsman realizada por el duo FGA durante su residencia en un container emplazado en el Maasvlakte, desde donde recogieron conversaciones temáticas y exploraciones de campo. + info...
10.45 am –
Visita de terrenos baldíos por Lara Almarcegui y el botanista Remko Andeweg.
La artista española afincada en Rotterdam Lara Almarcegui ha publicado una guía en formato periódico en la que se recoge su investigación entorno a los actuales terrenos baldíos que pueden encontrarse a lo largo de puerto de Rotterdam. En contraste con la gran planificación que circunda el futuro Maasvlakte 2, Almarcegui se interesa por los espacios definidos por la aparente falta de diseño y desarrollo. El público navegará el puerto como un territorio interconectado con la ayuda de esta guía que, como ha manifestado la artista, "actuará como una herramienta para conocerlo mejor (...) para ver cómo el territorio está cambiando. En el futuro, cuando la mayoría de estos terrenos se vean modificados, la guía actuará como un documento histórico que describirá cómo fue el puerto en el 2009".
12.00 am – Visita del centro de visitantes Futureland y almuerzo
Durante el viaje se podrán ver las vallas publicitarias de los artistas Marjolijn Dijkman, Jorge Satorre, Paulien Oltheten y Hans Schabus. A la llegada Latitudes, comisarios de 'Portscapes', introducirán los proyectos.
Durante el viaje se podrán ver las vallas publicitarias de los artistas Marjolijn Dijkman, Jorge Satorre, Paulien Oltheten y Hans Schabus. A la llegada Latitudes, comisarios de 'Portscapes', introducirán los proyectos.
1.00 pm – Visita de las obras presentadas en Futureland y alrededores
Visita de las obras de Paulien Oltheten y Hans Schabus así como la audioguía 'A Brief History of Mobile Landmass' realizada por Ilana Halperin. La audioguía narra fragmentos reales y ficticios recogidos a partir de la investigación de la artista y expertos entorno a volcanes y estudios de campo relacionados con la presente construcción del Maasvlakte 2 – escuchar capítulos o descargar archivos aquí
Visita de las obras de Paulien Oltheten y Hans Schabus así como la audioguía 'A Brief History of Mobile Landmass' realizada por Ilana Halperin. La audioguía narra fragmentos reales y ficticios recogidos a partir de la investigación de la artista y expertos entorno a volcanes y estudios de campo relacionados con la presente construcción del Maasvlakte 2 – escuchar capítulos o descargar archivos aquí
13.30h – '
Postpetrolistic Internationale', performance de Roman Keller & Christina Hemauer
El proyecto de los suizos Roman Keller & Christina Hemauer comienza con el transporte de un escenario a lo largo del Rin, desde Basilea (donde el Rin abandona Suiza) y cerca de donde viven los artistas, hasta Rotterdam (donde el Rin desemboca en el mar) - léase post 30.10.09. A su llegada un coro cantará la 'The Postpetrolistic Internationale', un himno social compuesto por los artistas en colaboración con el músico y compositor Mathias Vetter, que proclama el comienzo de una nueva era donde el petróleo pertenece al pasado. Los días 7 y 8 de noviembre un coro local interpretará este himno de esperanza sobre el escenario en pleno paisaje industrial, para poner en perspectiva la historia evolución de hombre y su relación con los combustibles fósiles y el uso de la energía. Ésta será la primera vez que se cantará en inglés.
2 pm – Regreso al NAI Rotterdam con varias paradas durante el recorrido a los terrenos valdíos seleccionados por Lara Almarcegui y obras de Paulien Oltheten
Portscapes es un encargo de la Autoridad Portuaria de Rotterdam con el consejo de SKOR (Foundation for Art and Public Space, Amsterdam) y comisariado por Latitudes.
The Bruce High Quality Foundation y Latitudes en MOUSSE magazine (#20 Septiembre 2009)
Sun, Oct 25 2009
En el número 20 de la revista italiana MOUSSE la crítica y comisaria Cecilia Alemani entrevista al grupo de artistas neoyorkinos The Bruce High Quality Foundation, quienes hacen referencia a dos proyectos en los que Latitudes colaboró con el grupo: la oficina temporal que crearon para nuestra participación el festival 'NO SOUL FOR SALE' que tuvo lugar el pasado Junio en X Initiative en Nueva York y la obra exposición colectiva 'Greenwashing. Environment: Perils, Promises and Perplexities' en la Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo en Febrero–Mayo 2008.
Fotos de nuestra oficina durante el festival 'NO SOUL FOR SALE' aquí.
Fotos de la exposición colectiva 'Greenwashing...' aquí.
Lawrence Weiner, 'Under the Sun', Espai d'Art Contemporani de Castelló
Sun, Oct 25 2009
All photos: Latitudes | www.lttds.org
A year after 'THE CREST OF A WAVE' exhibition at Fundació Suñol in Barcelona, Lawrence Weiner has just opened a new exhibition in Spain, this time at the Espai d'Art Contemporani de Castelló. 'Under the Sun' includes an exhibition in EACC (on view until 28 March 2010) as well as a public piece in a city centre park which will open in a second phase, in early February 2010. Below Weiner's text from the exhibition invitation:
THE MARKING OF A SPACE WITHIN A PUBLIC PARK THAT IS DEPENDENT UPON MEANING NOT MEANS
THE PLACING OF A CLUSTER OF STRUCTURES THAT AFFORD A PLACE DEMARKED AT THAT MOMENT
BY THE RESULT OF A FLICK OF A WRIST
A FORM THAT CAN FLY A KITE OR KILL A BULL WITH GRACE
THAT SETS ASIDE A PLACE FOR THE MOMENT THAT IS YOURS
BEING ONLY ONE METER HIGH THEY AFFORD NOT PROTECTION BUT A DEMARCATION OF SOVEREIGN
TERRITORY WHEN OCCUPIED
TWISTED & TURNED UNDER THE SUN
Update February 2010:
Completing the first part of his 'Under the Sun' exhibition for Castelló, the artist recently inaugurated a permanent public work at 'El Pinar', Castellón. As written in the press release the project brings to mind 'the bullfighting but also the lightness and the elegance of a wave that takes shape in the space as its own territory.' More images here.
Images courtesy of EACC. Photos: Ángel Sánchez.