Longitudes

Longitudes cuts across Latitudes’ projects and research with news, updates, and reportage.

Latitudes’ (extended) Environmental Policy Statement

 Mon, Apr 17 2023

“Postpetrolistic Internationale” choir performance by Christina Hemauer & Roman Keller on Maasvlakte, Rotterdam, 8 November 2009. Commissioned and produced by the Port of Rotterdam as part of “Portscapes”, with support and advice from SKOR and curated by Latitudes. Courtesy: SKOR / Photo: Paloma Polo.


Latitudes recently published an Environmental Policy Statement on the website, below is an extended version which we invite you to read:

Since its beginning in 2005, Latitudes’ curatorial practice has critically engaged with environmental concerns through contemporary art. This has included curating ambitious group exhibitions including “4.543 billion. The Matter of Matter” at the CAPC musée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux in 2017, and “Greenwashing” at the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo in 2008, or solo shows such as “Christina Hemauer & Roman Keller: United Alternative Energies” at Kunsthall Århus in 2011, as well as convening the three-day symposium “Art, Ecology and the Politics of Change” for the Sharjah Biennial 8 in 2007. 

Cover of “LAND, ART: A Cultural Ecology Handbook” edited by Max Andrews, and coordinated by Mariana Cánepa Luna. Published and commissioned by the Royal Society of Art in partnership with the Arts Council England, 2006. Photo: Robert Justamente.

Spread of UOVO magazine #14, a 500-page issue + two CDs guest edited by Latitudes, 2007. Photo: Alexis Zavialoff.

Cover and back cover of the exhibition catalogue “Greenwashing” (Archive Books, 2008), Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Torino. The 192-page full-colour catalogue embraced environmentally-conscious design with a degree of irony, each of the book's thirteen sections was printed on a different 'eco-paper' such as Shiro Alga Carta (produced by harvesting algae from the Venetian lagoon), KeayKolour Recycled Honey or Shiro Tree Free Naturale, alongside their corresponding eco-credentials. Photo: Latitudes. 

Pages of Lara Almarcegui's first monograph “Lara Almarcegui. Projects 1995–2010” (Archive Books, 2011) covering 15 years of her artistic practice, with new texts by Cuauhtémoc Medina, Lars Bang Larsen and an introduction by Latitudes. Photo: Latitudes.

Latitudes edited the landmark publication “Land, Art: A Cultural Ecology Handbook” in 2006, the 500-page green issue of UOVO magazine in 2007, and Lara Almarcegui’s first monograph in 2011, as well as writing texts including a catalogue essay for TBA21’s exhibition “Abundant Futures” entitled “Soil for Future Art Histories” (2023), and presenting the lecture “Curating in the Web of Life” for Garage Museum of Contemporary Art’s exhibition “The Coming World: Ecology as the New Politics 2030–2100” (2019). 

View of “Ocells perduts” (Stray Birds) (2021) by Laia Estruch in the exhibition “Panorama 21. Apunts per a un incendi dels ulls” (“Panorama 21: Notes for an Eye Fire”), MACBA Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona, 22 October 2021–27 February 2022. Curated by Hiuwai Chu and Latitudes. Produced by MACBA Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona with the support of PUBLICS, Helsinki. Research supported by a Premis Ciutat de Barcelona 2020 grant from the Barcelona City Council. Photo: Roberto Ruiz. 

In terms of related public-realm commissions, we worked with Danish artist Tue Greenfort for The Royal Society of Arts’ pioneering Arts & Ecology programme (2005–2008) and curated ten public art projects around Europe’s largest seaport, the Port of Rotterdam (“Portscapes” in 2009–2010). We have also organised thematic curatorial residencies around geological agency (“Geologic Time”, Banff Centre, 2017) and a touring film programme on the legacy of Land Art (“A Stake in the Mud a Hole in the Reel”, 2008–2009).

Last but not least, since 2008 we have been custodians of the website of RAF/Reduce Art Flights, a reference resource about the campaign initiated by the late Gustav Metzger (1926–2017).

RAF/Reduce Art Flights website reduceartflights.lttds.org

Latitudes’ environmental impact is small, yet we acknowledge that the largest impact comes from flights and the disproportionate mobility practices of the sector we work in. We believe that art and culture have a role to play in bringing about ambitious change, applying best practices and setting a positive example to position the climate crisis at the centre of the political and social debate.

In January 2023 we became individual members of the Gallery Climate Coalition (GCC) and began to work with colleagues to set up the Spanish volunteer team, GCC España, that meets regularly to track progress on environmental targets and actions. 


Making of Jan Dibbets’ film “6 Hours Tide Object with Correction of Perspective” (1969–2009). Commissioned and produced by the Port of Rotterdam as part of “Portscapes”, with support and advice from SKOR, curated by Latitudes. Documentation included in the “Portscapes” multi-part publication box designed by Ben Laloua / Didier Pascal, launched to coincide with the “Portscapes” exhibition at the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, 2010. Photo: Latitudes.

Editors of Rotterdam-based magazine Fucking Good Art were ‘embedded’ in the port's Yangtzehaven for a month in the summer of 2009 from where they produced ‘Portscapes_ON AIR Station Maasvlakte’, a series of audio walks, field recordings and conversations with guests from different disciplines for the “Portscapes” website. Photo courtesy: FGA.


We will measure and publish our carbon footprint every year to comply with the GCC targets and commitments of reducing carbon emissions by 50% by 2030 (when compared to a 2019 baseline). Rather than purchasing carbon offsets, and following GCC guidelines on this matter, we are also setting aside a fund (€50 per tonne of emitted CO2 per year) to be spent on low-carbon purchasing options that would otherwise be unaffordable. Our intention is to eliminate unwarranted air travel, and we do not take flights when there is an alternative rail or sea route that takes less than 7 hours. The latter policy follows one adopted by the Ajuntament de Barcelona (the City Council) in 2020.

Latitudes requests external collaborators opt for train or alternative low-carbon transit and freight options in line with GCC’s guidelines (as well as Gustav Metzger’s RAF/Reduce Art Flights campaign) and this is reflected in work contracts. We hope to lead by example in implementing a sustainability strategy in the planning of exhibitions from an early stage, and whenever curating projects we always try to build the minimum necessary temporary architecture and ensure that any exhibition-related production is entirely locally tuned. We ask that collaborators use no plastic or other single-use materials when transporting works or for events.

Hike with “Geologic Time” participants to Stanley Glacier in Kootenay National Park, as part of the residency programme curated by Latitudes at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Banff, Canada, 11 September–6 October 2017. Photo: Latitudes.

Latitudes’ website runs on sustainable energy. According to websitecarbon.com (see stats below), LTTDS.org produces 16.76kg of C02 equivalent per year, roughly the amount of carbon that one tree would absorb in the same time, and it consumes 44kWh of energy (equivalent to 280km in an electric car). 


In our personal lives, we prioritise the 5 Rs: Refusing, Reducing, Reusing, Repurposing and Recycling. We do not own a car and use public transport networks. Other practical actions we undertake include periodically donating household or clothing items to charity organisations that offer support to vulnerable communities in our neighbourhood (including Fundació Roure and El Trampolí). And last but not least, since 2013 Latitudes banks with an ethical bank which finances initiatives that contribute to ecological, social and cultural change.

Left-sided entrance to the exhibition “4.543 billion. The Matter of Matter” with the participation of over thirty artists and the presentation of over a hundred works, CAPC musée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux, June 2017–January 2018. Photos: Latitudes / RK. 


RELATED CONTENT:


 2023, art and ecology, carbon cycle, Ecology, energy use, environmental compensation, environmental responsability, Gallery Climate Coalition, geologic time, Land Art, Reduce Art Flights
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Cover Story, March 2023: Art, Climate, and New Coalitions

 Wed, Mar 1 2023

  March 2023 cover story on www.lttds.org


The March 2023 monthly Cover Story “Art, Climate and New Coalitions” is now up on our homepage www.lttds.org

“The terminology of environmental consciousness and carbon emissions has shifted significantly in recent decades, from talk of the greenhouse effect to global warming and sustainable development, and now from climate change to the climate emergency. ” → Continue reading (after March 2023 this story will be archived here).

Cover Stories are published on a monthly basis on Latitudes’ homepage featuring past, present or forthcoming projects, research, texts, artworks, exhibitions, films, objects or field trips related to our curatorial projects and activities.


→ RELATED CONTENTS: 

  • Archive of Monthly Cover Stories
  • Cover Story, February 2023: Soil for Future Art Histories, 2 Feb 2023
  • Cover Story, January 2023: Claudia Pagès’ ‘Gerundi Circular’, 2 Jan 2023
  • Cover Story, December 2022: “The Melt Goes On Forever. David Hammons and DART Festival, 1 December 2022
  • Cover Story, November 2022: Jorge Satorre’s Barcelona, 1 Nov 2022
  • Cover Story, October 2022: Stray Ornithologies—Laia Estruch, 3 Oct 2022
  • Cover Story, September 2021: Erratic behaviour—Latitudes in conversation with Jorge Satorre, 31 August 2021
  • Cover Story, July–August 2022:  Incidents (of Travel) from Seoul, 1 July 2022
  • Cover Story, June 2022: Cyber-Eco-Feminist Incidents in Attica, 1 June 2022
  • Cover Story, May 2022: Things Things Say in print, 2 May 2022
  • Cover Story, March 2022: The passion of Gabriel Ventura, 1 March 2022
 2023, climate change, climate emergency, cover story, Ecology, environmentalism, Gallery Climate Coalition, Land Art, RSA
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‘6 Hours Tide Object with Correction of Perspective’ by Jan Dibbets screened in Barcelona

 Tue, Dec 10 2019
Production of '6 Hours of Tide Object with Correction of Perspective' (2009) by Jan Dibbets. Photo: Paloma Polo / SKOR.

The 8-minute film ‘6 Hours Tide Object with Correction of Perspective’ by Dutch artists Jan Dibbets is currently exhibited as part of "Fingers Crossed" (pdf, Spanish), a group exhibition opening December 14, 2019, curated by Blanca de la Torre and Sue Spaid, at ADN Platform in Sant Cugat (Barcelona), on view until April 4, 2020. 

The film was produced in 2009 for ‘Portscapes’, the year-long programme producing ten new commissions in and around the Port of Rotterdam, The Netherlands, curated by Latitudes. 
Gerry Schum's 1969 'Land Art' series of films screened on German public TV.

Jan Dibbets’ (1941) film was ‘Portscapes’ inaugural project and was filmed on February 8, 2009. Originally filmed 40 years earlier, in February 1969, in black and white and in 16 mm, it was titled ‘12 Hours Tide Object...’. The film was originally presented in 1969 as part of Gerry Schum's seminal 'Land Art' series of artists' films screened that same year on German public TV (this programme was included in Latitudes-curated touring film programme ‘A Stake in the Mud, A Hole in the Reel. Land Art’s Expanded Field 1968–2008’ which began at the Museo Tamayo in April 2008.)

The film presents the drawing of an isosceles trapezoid in the sand using a bulldozer – the shape consequently appears as a rectangle in the resultant film due to the angle of perspective. The new 2009 realisation was filmed 40 years later to the month on the beach of the Maasvlakte, an area that was soon after forever transformed with the construction of Maasvlakte 2 – a land reclamation project, realised between 2008 and 2013, that extended Europe's largest seaport and industrial area by 2,000 hectares. 

The resulting 8 minute-long film was premiered at the FutureLand Information Centre of the Port of Rotterdam in June 2009 and during Latitudes’ participation in the New York festival NO SOUL FOR SALE – A Festival of Independents (24–28 June 2009). 
Dibbets’ film presented as part of Latitudes’ participation in the festival NO SOUL FOR SALE – A Festival of Independents, New York, 24–28 June 2009. Photo: Latitudes.

Projection of Dibbets' 1969 film as part of the itinerant film programme ‘A Stake in the Mud, A Hole in the Reel. Land Art’s Expanded Field 1968–2008’ on July 11, 2008, at the barn Hongersdijk Farmstead, Wilhelminapolder, Zeeland, The Netherlands, a programme hosted by SKOR (Foundation Art and Public Space, Amsterdam). Photo: Latitudes.

‘6 Hours Tide Object with Correction of Perspective’ was produced in collaboration with SKOR | Foundation Art and Public Space (1999–2012), an organisation which initiated, curated and developed art projects in relation to the public domain that no longer exists, realising over a thousand projects in public space in the Netherlands for over a decade. Portscapes was curated by Latitudes, culminating in a display of the projects at the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam in 2010.

→ RELATED CONTENT:
  • Portscapes commissions
  • Portscapes exhibition at the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen
  • Making of '6 Hours of Tide Object with Correction of Perspective' (2009) by Jan Dibbets – part 1 here.
  • Making of '6 Hours of Tide Object with Correction of Perspective' (2009) by Jan Dibbets – part 2 here.
 2009, 2019, 2020, ADN Platform, film, Jan Dibbets, Land Art, latitudes, No Soul for Sale, Port of Rotterdam Authority, Portscapes, SKOR
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Cover Story – March 2017: Time travel with Jordan Wolfson

 Wed, Mar 1 2017

The March 2017 Monthly Cover Story "Time travel with Jordan Wolfson" is now up on www.lttds.org – after March it will be archived here.  

"The film that lends its image to this month’s cover story – Jordan Wolfson’s Landscape for Fire, 2007 – was featured in the Latitudes-curated film programme A Stake in the Mud, A Hole in the Reel. Land Art’s Expanded Field 1968–2008, which premiered in April 2008 at the Museo Tamayo, Mexico City, before touring several venues in Spain, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the U.K. 

Landscape for Fire responded to a 1972 film of the same name by Anthony McCall in which the British artist, best known for his “solid light” works, attempted to integrate performance, installation, sculpture and images in movement. Thirty-five years on, Jordan had re-staged this work of the past as though it were a ritual, the repetition of which invoked the almost mystical aura that often surrounds the art of the late 1960s and early 1970s." Continue reading by clicking the grey bar underneath the image

Cover Stories' are published on a monthly basis on Latitudes' homepage and feature past, present or forthcoming projects, research, writing, artworks, exhibitions, films, objects or field trips related to our curatorial activities, and are archived here.

Related content:
 2017, A Stake in the Mud, cover story, Film programme, Jordan Wolfson, Land Art, looking back, MACBA, museo tamayo, No Soul for Sale, ProjecteSD, Sequelism, Stedelijk museum
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Cover Story – December 2016: Ten years ago – Land, Art: A Cultural Ecology Handbook

 Mon, Dec 5 2016

The December Monthly Cover Story is now up on www.lttds.org – after this month it will be archived here. 

"The publication Land, Art: A Cultural Ecology Handbook is ten years old. Commissioned by the Arts & Ecology programme of The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce (RSA), in partnership with Arts Council England, this book was one of Latitudes’s first projects. Through the inspirational contributions of people as varied as Lucy Lippard, Stephanie Smith, Amy Balkin, or the late Wangari Maathai – to mention just a few – the compendium charted the twin legacies of Land Art and the environmental movement while proposing how the critical acuity of art might remain relevant in the face of the dramatic ecological consequences of human activity. The research and reflection involved set Latitudes on a course that led to several further projects engaging with ecology, explicitly or otherwise." Continue reading...

Cover Stories' are published on a monthly basis on Latitudes' homepage and feature past, present or forthcoming projects, research, exhibitions and field trips related to our activities.  

Related content:
 10th anniversary, 2006, Amy Balkin, cover story, Ecology, environmental compensation, Land Art, Lucy Lippard, Max Andrews, publications, RSA
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Looking back – Visiting Robert Smithson's 'Spiral Jetty' (1970) on 7 September 2004

 Sun, Sep 7 2014

A decade ago today (!) we were lucky enough to visit Robert Smithson's most iconic earthwork 'Spiral Jetty' (1970). The water level of the Great Salt Lake was well down and the surface of the counterclockwise spiral was not only visible but also walkable. As we walked alone in the blazing heat we felt as if we were disappearing into the black basalt, pink salt and silent haze. Our visit to the site was completed a few days later visiting his 'Retrospective Works 1955-1973' at Los Angeles' MOCA, curated by Eugenie Tsai with Connie Butler. Happy memories.
 

Related posts:

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 This is the blog of the independent curatorial office Latitudes. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
All photos: Latitudes | www.lttds.org (except when noted otherwise in the photo caption).
This post is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
 2014, documentation, field trip, Land Art, latitudes, looking back, Mariana Cánepa Luna, Max Andrews, Robert Smithson, Spiral Jetty
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The Indianapolis Museum of Art's transparency initiatives

 Wed, Dec 12 2012
Part of our interest in the #OpenCurating research we are currently carrying out is to look at how museums and curatorial departments are engaging in new ways with their audiences and the means through which "open" initiatives are being promoted and implemented in exhibition-making and via other types of programming.

 The Indianapolis Museum of Art has created two really dynamic initiatives which promote transparency throughout the museum's operations: a real-time statistics "Dashboard" including data such as the museum's energy consumption, works of art currently on display, the value of the museum's endowment, their operating expenses, average time of visits to the website, etc. 

The tool was implemented in 2008 and is the brainchild of museum director Maxwell L. Anderson, an active advocate of implementing new media technologies to advance public interest in art. 



The data can be compared to previous years (stats for 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011), filtered by museum departments (Buildings, Education, Conservation, Curatorial, Finance...) as well as by topics (Art, Greening the IMA, Attendance...). 
 Dashboard data of the curatorial.

 However admirable this tool is, the curatorial dashboard falls rather short on the depth of information, only offering statistics for the "number of acquisitions" and the "number of works with gaps in WWII-Era Provenance". They do not reveal full data sets of their departmental operational budget, for instance. This might show there is still some resistance to really open up  to show other kind of costs (shipping, insurance, exhibition display, fees paid to artists (or not?)...) or even interesting insights such as (air)miles travelled by the curatorial staff, or the amount of paper used for their publications, just to mention a few. 

 Some of these topics (how to articulate institutions and organisations complex needs in seeming transparent, responsible and benevolent) were addressed in Latitudes' 2008 exhibition "Greenwashing. Environment: Perils, Promises and Perplexities" (Archive Books, 2008) and in its catalogue essay "Shades of Green: a conversation between the curators", as well as in the essay by Stephanie Smith "'Alas for the dreams of a Dreamer!': Art Museums and Sustainability" included in the Latitudes-edited publication "Land, Art: A Cultural Ecology Handbook' (RSA, 2006).

A second initiative we find quite relevant is the "Deaccessioning database", which classifies pieces that have been deaccessioned at the museum since 2007 (following IMA's policy, see pdf here), explaining provenance, the reasons for its deaccession, listing the recipient and the day of sale, etc.
 Deaccessioned Artworks page www.imamuseum.org/art/collections/deaccession

Take for instance "Houses in the Snow", a 1929 canvas by Maurice de Vlaminck sold via Sotheby's in 2009 for $173700; or the 1889 suite of prints "Les Misères Humaines" by Gaugin, which were transferred to the Musée de Pont-Aven in 2009. Fascinating and revealing, isn't it?
Deaccessioned file for Maurice de Vlaminck's 1929 canvas.



 #OpenCurating, 2.0, 2012, Greenwashing, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Land Art, museums, statistics, technology, transparency
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Haegue Yang "Der Öffentlichkeit" commission and 'Ends of the Earth – Land Art to 1974' at Haus der Kunst, Munich

 Sun, Nov 11 2012
Haegue Yang has been the first artist to be commissioned for the DER ÖFFENTLICHKEIT – VON DEN FREUNDEN HAUS DER KUNST [To the Public – from the friends of Haus der Kunst] series, which will take place on a yearly basis in the 800 square-metre Middle Hall of Münich's Haus der Kunst. 

Her installation 'Accommodating the Epic Dispersion – On Non-cathartic Volume of Dispersion', organised by Haus der Kunst curator Julienne Lorz, and related to her dOCUMENTA 13 contribution, "consists of Venetian blinds suspended from the ceiling. These elements are structured in three autonomous, yet united parts: A massive towering structure, which is confrontationally located at the hall's entrance; a flat vertical grid wall, and a voluminous rectangle on top, which is gradually fragmented toward the floor. Depending on the angle of approach, the blinds overlap in a varying number of layers, and the interplay of light and shadow changes depending on the location. At times, the installation appears completely opaque, and at others, completely translucent." (text from the website). 

 On view until 22 September 2013. More info and photos here.
 

 Also on view at Haus der Kunst is the much awaited 'Ends of the Earth – Land Art to 1974' (until 20 January 2013) organised in collaboration with The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA – see website of the exhibition). The show is notable for its careful and thoroughly-researched reconsideration of the idea of Land art, and the way in which it incorporates many artists outside of the usual American white male practicioners associated with the term. (And also through its inclusion of three part-reconstructions of seminal exhibitions/projects: "Earthworks" at Virginia Dwan Gallery, Willoughby Sharp's "Earth Art" as well as Gerry Schum's "Fernsehgalerie Land Art" ). Unfortunately, this is its only iteration on its European tour.
Exhibition poster with an image of the 1967-74 film "Athmospheres: Duration Performances" by Judy Chicago.
  Hans Haacke's "Grass Grows" (1969–2012) at the entrance to the museum.
Robert Smithson's "Spiral Jetty" (1970) film projected in the background and "A Nonsite (Pine Barrens)" from 1968 in the foreground.
Robert Morris' "Earthwork aka Untitled (Dirt)" (1968–2012) a 2000-pound pile of earth, grease, peat moss, brick, steel, copper, aluminum, brass, zinc and felt – urban debris gathered from the surrounding New York environs, originally made for the 1968 exhibition at Virginia Dwan Gallery.
Two views (above and below) of Joshua Neustein's 1970 "Road Piece", originally presented in the Tel Aviv Art Museum and remade for the first time for 'Ends of the Earth' exhibition.

All photos: Latitudes | www.lttds.org (except when noted otherwise in the photo caption)

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
"Der Öffentlichkeit – Von den Freunden Haus der Kunst", begins on November 9

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"Der Öffentlichkeit – Von den Freunden Haus der Kunst",

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"Der Öffentlichkeit – Von den Freunden Haus der Kunst",

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"Der Öffentlichkeit – Von den Freunden Haus der Kunst",

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"Der Öffentlichkeit – Von den Freunden Haus der Kunst",

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Copyright © artdaily.org
As announced in May, this installation is the first in a series of commissioned work that will be exhibited in the museum's 800 square-meter Middle Hall over a period of one year. The series, "Der Öffentlichkeit – Von den Freunden Haus der Kunst", begins on November 9.

More Information: http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=58839#.UJ6Z7YVe6kI[/url]
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"Accommodating the Epic Dispersion – On Non-cathartic Volume of Dispersion", 2012.

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 2012, commissions, documenta, Exhibition, haegue yang, Haus der Kunst, Julienne Lorz, Land Art, Munich, Robert Smithson
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Publication "Robert Smithson: Art in Continual Movement" (Alauda Publications, 2012) includes essay by Max Andrews

 Wed, Mar 28 2012
 Cover of the publication. All photos: Latitudes | www.lttds.org

We just received a copy of the wonderful and long-awaited publication "Robert Smithson: Art in Continual Movement" (Alauda Publications, 2012) for which Max Andrews of Latitudes contributes the essay "A Dark Spot of Exasperation: From Smithson to the Spime" (an essay which was the basis of his recent lecture at the Royal College of Art in London).

Pages 44-45, with the section "Art, Research, Ecology".

Robert Smithson's seminal Land Art work Broken Circle/Spiral Hill (Emmen, The Netherlands, 1971) is treated as a case study that opens up to a number of topics, still relevant in contemporary art: 'Models of Spectatorship', 'Art, Research, Ecology', 'Documentation', 'Museum, Media, Society' and 'The Cinematic'." 

 Above: pages with Max Andrews' essay "A Dark Spot of Exasperation: From Smithson to the Spime".

Max Andrews' essay "A Dark Spot of Exasperation: From Smithson to the Spime". 

In his text, Andrews stresses that Smithson's innovations in terms of post-studio practice are not about "the question where, or what is the work of art?", but about investigating the structure of the multiple elements which constitute the form of an art project and its place in the world. According to Andrews, the essential feature of Smithson's kinship to post-studio practice is not so much his institutional critique, but a move away from the museum and the curator as existing power structures to a "curatorial function which incorporates a social ecology: a new meaning- and value-generating system in and around art." In his essay, Andrews traces the points of congruence between Smithson and the practices of contemporary artists like Lara Almarcegui, Jorge Satorre and Cyprien Gaillard.

 Documentation pages, clippings from 1987.

  Pages 150-151, Section "A Living Archive – Film"

 Page 194-195, Section "A Living Archive"

 Pages 208-209, Section "A Living Archive"

The 240-page monograph publication will be launched on 30 March 2012 in The Hague during the symposia Rethinking Robert Smithson organised by the publishers in cooperation with Leiden University Institute for Cultural Disciplines.

Initiator and publisher: Alauda Publications
Edited by: Ingrid Commandeur and Trudy van Riemsdijk-Zandee
Authors: Max Andrews, Eric C.H. de Bruyn, Stefan Heidenreich, Sven Lütticken, Anja Novak, Vivian van Saaze
Design: Esther Krop
ISBN: 9789081531481
Price: 39,95 Euro
Available in bookshops or order online: alaudapublications.nl

Related links: 



 2012, Alauda Publications, Cyprien Gaillard, Jorge Satorre, Land Art, Lara Almarcegui, Max Andrews, Robert Smithson, SKOR, The Netherlands
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Robert Smithson's 'Broken Circle/Spiral Hill Revisited' (1971–2011) and The Land Art Contemporary programme

 Wed, Sep 14 2011
http://www.landartcontemporary.nl/ website
 
Land Art Contemporary year-long initiative showcases works of art located in the countryside of Drenthe, a province in the northeastern Netherlands, which will be complemented with an international events programme dealing with the contemporary aspects of Land art. Starting on 17 September 2011, the programme is linked to the 40th anniversary of the creation of Robert Smithson's film Broken Circle/Spiral Hill in Emmen for the exhibition Sonsbeek 1971.  

Coinciding with the anniversary, Land Art Contemporary kicks off with the exhibition 'Robert Smithson – Broken Circle/Spiral Hill Revisited', at the Centre for Visual Arts (CBK) in Emmen. The exhibition's star piece will be the recently completed film 'Breaking Ground: Broken Circle/Spiral Hill' (1971–2011), uncompleted due to Smithson's untimely death in 1973, which is now finally produced, following his instructions for direction and editing, by his widow Nancy Holt in collaboration with SKOR. The film will also be screened once on 22 September at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. Holt will introduce the video.

Parallel to this major exhibition, SKOR is also organising The Ultraperiferic (17 September – 27 November 2011), an exhibition that will feature the work of Lara Almarcegui (ES/NL), Jorge Satorre (MX/NL) and Cyprien Gaillard (FR/DE), three artists with whom Latitudes has worked in the recent past and whose work will also be featured in Max Andrews' essay "A Dark Spot of Exasperation: From Smithson to the Spime" in the forthcoming publication 'Robert Smithson: Art in Continual Movement' (ISBN 9789081531481) by Alauda Publications to be released in early 2012. The essay and The Ultraperiferic both feature Jorge Satorre's 'The erratic. Measuring compensation' (2009) which was produced in the context of 'Portscapes' and recently featured in his exhibition at Labor, Mexico City.


The project will continue in 2012–13, with a series of 'assignments' to contemporary artists "a number of artists will be set the assignment of creating a work in the spirit of Smithson, whereby the landscape is viewed as a continual process that is constantly in a state of transformation due to the interaction between man and nature", to be curated by SKOR's curators Nils van Beek and Theo Tegelaers. + info...

Land Art Contemporary is an initiative of STICHTING LACDA, Drenthe, a foundation established in 2011 by the Sanders-Ten Holte family. The program has been made possible thanks to (content and financial) support from SKOR | Foundation for Art and Public Domain, Province of Drenthe, European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development: Europe Investing in Rural Areas (LEADER), Municipality of Coevorden, Municipality of Emmen, Cultuurfonds BNG and the Sanders-Ten Holte family.
 2011, catalogue, Cyprien Gaillard, Jorge Satorre, Land Art, Lara Almarcegui, Max Andrews, Portscapes, Robert Smithson, SKOR, Stedelijk museum, The Netherlands, writing
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