Longitudes

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

'Greenwashing...' preview in January's Artforum

Two corrections:
  • Curated by ... Mariana Cánepa Luna, NOT Cánapa.
  • The exhibition will be on view until 11 May.
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Interview with Lara Favaretto published in UOVO/16 (2008)

Lara Favaretto, Plotone, 2005. 20 air compressed tanks, 20 pressure regulators, 20 distributings, 20 timers, 20 electrovalves, 20 whistles, plastic cables, 165 x 10 each tank. Courtesy of the artist and Galleria Franco Noero, Torino.

In the first 2008 issue of UOVO, issue 16, Mariana Cánepa Luna from Latitudes interviewed Turin-based artist Lara Favaretto. The issue focuses on the relationship between art and architecture, man and environment and includes interviews with: Raimundas Malasauskas with Adam Carr, Tobias Putrih with Silvia Sgualdini, Michael Sailstorfer with Francesca Pagliuca, Dahn Vo with Adam Carr, Vincent Lamouroux with Céline Kopp, Daniel Arsham with Merce Cunningham, Tatiana Trouvé by Lillian Davies; texts by Michael Rakowitz, Liam Gillick, Marjetica Potrc and Hans Op De Beeck and many more...

Here is a peek at that interview (you can download the full text from Latitudes' website, here or buy the issue!):


MCL: In your recent Frieze Commission you sent out a letter inviting the Queen of England to visit the Frieze Art Fair (Project for Some Hallucinations, 2007). The letter in which she declines the invitation was pinned to a tree inside the fair. What kind of arrangements would you have made if the Queen had accepted?


LF: Very Few! After an official inspection by the Royal Staff, everything would have followed the Royal Protocol. My work stopped before that, with the very possibility to project an apparition, a ‘platonic’ intervention, a Goliardic visualisation, or a confrontation with the appearance of a movie star from early cinema. It was an objectless hallucination, a kind of sentimental investigation that was projected to appear yet be autonomous in denying itself. The failure was long-awaited and foreseeable and was highlighted at the fair by the sound of applause, that put an end to the great daily spectacle as everyone was heading for the exit.




Lara Favaretto, Project for Some Hallucinations, 2007, Frieze Art Fair Project, October 2007. Courtesy of the artist and Galleria Franco Noero, Torino. Photo: Latitudes.



MCL: In the context of that commission you said that ‘when one listens to the narration of an idea that is so powerful it ultimately does not matter if it's ever realised’. Can you tell me another such idea or story?

LF:
Don't you think it's like that? I think that if very few words can describe a work, just enough to capture the work's physiognomy, it could end up being even stronger than the work itself. The border is really subtle. Telling a story also means suspecting deception and trying to improve it, waiting for it to suddenly unravel, and having fun as much as I have. A story I haven't understood is: ‘I've been studying disguises for a long time now. I am hired to shadow one of the most important people on the American political scene. I am currently based high in the Tora Bora caves.’

Lara Favaretto lives and works in Turin, Italy. In 2008 she will be artist-in-residence at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston; the Hayward Gallery, London, and at the Proa Foundation, Buenos Aires, where she will subsequently have solo shows. She will also present work at The British School at Rome and participate in the 16th Sydney Biennial.
She is represented by Franco Noero in Turin and Klosterfelde in Berlin.
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Latitudes top ten of 2007

Following the traditional festive stocking/page filler of the year-end best-of list, here is Latitudes' pick of our ten favorite projects which we saw during the past 12 months. In no particular order...
  1. Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster ‘Expodrome’, ARC / Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris
  2. 'The Painting of Modern Life'. Hayward Gallery, London
  3. Wilhelm Sasnal. Hauser & Wirth, Zurich
  4. 'Jiri Kovanda Versus Rest Of The World'. CASM, Barcelona; Jiri Kovanda. Krobath Wimmer, Vienna
  5. 'Artempo', Palazzo Fortuny, Venice
  6. Erik van Lieshout ‘Kunsthaus Hollywood’, Kunsthaus Zürich, Zurich
  7. 'Robert Gober: Work 1976-2007', Schaulager, Basel
  8. Louise Bourgeois, Tate Modern, London
  9. Thomas Hirschhorn ‘Concretion Re’, Galerie Chantal Crousel, Paris
  10. Michael Rakowitz ‘The invisible enemy should not exist’, & 'A house with a date palm will never starve', Sharjah Biennial, Sharjah
Feliz Año Nuevo | Happy New Year!
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MACBA's director Manuel J. Borja-Villel to direct the Reina Sofia from end January 2008


The news broke on Saturday afternoon that Manuel J. Borja-Villel (Burriana, Castellón, 1957) will be the new Artistic Director of the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (MNCARS), and will start his new job at the end of January 2008. Borja-Villel has been Director of the Museu d'Art Contemporani Barcelona (MACBA) since 1998, and was founding director of the Fundació Tàpies (1990-1998). Despite his appointment not being a shock exactly, the news is important as it is one of the first appointments in Spain to follow the controversial 'Código de buenas prácticas' (Code of good practice) whereby there shouldn't be any more 'al dedo' ('made') appointments. Instead an international call for applications should be held, and was in this case, and appointments be made according to the decision of a selected international committee. And following each candidate's proposals and presentations, and not their political orientation.

That said, the decision to appoint the MACBA director has not been surprising for two reasons. Firstly, a few weeks ago the Spanish newspaper El País [15.11.07] announced Borja-Villel as the favourite for the job, together with a list of the top candidates. How were their names known when the process is supposedly strictly secret? Rightly, there was much discussion in the artistic community [read A-Desk and SalonKritik]. Secondly, the requirements for the job were that candidates should be a 'Spanish or national of a country member of the European Union' (appearing to rule out any Spanish-speaking Latin American candidates, or indeed any other non-European Spanish speaker, and clearly questioning the tip-off that had Dan Cameron shortlisted in the El País article). The candidates were also asked to have 'Excellent level of Spanish' and 'To present, in Spanish or anyone of the co-official languages in the Independent Communities, or English or French, the main lines of the Museum Plan for the Institution'. Spanish prefered, we get it. It makes one wonder what will be the requirements for the now vacant MACBA Director job, if they are to follow the 'código de buenas prácticas' with an open call.

One of the first responses to the appointment was from art critic and curator David G. Torres in A-Desk's blog, in which he briefly analysed the pros and cons of the mandate: Borja-Villel has put MACBA on the map – for sure – and has given a direction and coherence to its collection – again, yes – but it has lacked a dialogue with the city of Barcelona and its visitors. According to Catalina Serra [El País, 23.12.07], the Catalan arts community has already responded by demanding an international open call for the MACBA position, but with more time for the potential applicants to prepare proposals (candidates had a month to make their applications for the MNCARS job). Let's see what happens here; interesting times ahead! The news are, however, great for MNCARS, Spain's forever-in-crisis national museum, which has had no leading figure since September 2007, that lacks coherence in its collection, has a so-so programme, but of course holds a precious treasure in world history: Picasso's Guernica.

For more info read MNCARS' Press Release (Spanish) and the announcement in El País (23.12.07)
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MACBA Study and Documentation Centre

MACBA yesterday officially opened its excellent Centre d'Estudis i Documentació / Centro de Estudios y Documentación in an adjacent building to the main museum site on Plaça dels Àngels, Barcelona. 

The ground floor hosts an exhibition space, and the third floor hosts the luminous MACBA library and archive, with books, magazines and journals, as well as videos available for consultation. The tolomeo-lamped study tables have plugs for laptops, and according to staff, wi-fi will soon be available throughout. 

As the Director himself has commented, while other museums add cafés and shops, MACBA invests in hardcore study. For those who have been craving a no-appointment-needed contemporary art resource and study environment in the centre of Barcelona (us!), this initiative is a godsend.

MACBA Study Center
Plaça dels Àngels 8, 08001 Barcelona, Tel. 93 481 33 66

[email protected]
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Latitudes in 'Dazed & Confused' (December 2007 issue)

Photo of the magazine spread by Alexis Zavialoff.


The December 07 issue of 'Dazed and Confused' have profiled UOVO magazine as a 'heavy-duty zine'. Their short review is subtitled 'Latitudes, the Spanish curators, take over the doorstep-sized art quarterly with the help from Dash Snow and Ryan McGinley' and the caption under the photograph reads 'Latitudes take over the reins at UOVO'.

They are indeed dazed and confused. We have NOT taken over the magazine nor have we met Dash Snow or Ryan McGinley, at least not yet. Snow and McGinley were interviewed in previous UOVO issues as were, in fact, all the other artists mentioned in the review.

However, Latitudes did guest edit the summer issue #14 (Green) 'Ecology, Luxury and Degradation' which included interviews and projects by artists such as Tue Greenfort, Sergio Vega, Michael Rakowitz, Lara Almarcegui, Federico Martelli, Noguchi Rika, Arturas Raila, etc. 


We are also collaborating with The Bookmakers Ed., the design office led by Chiara Figone which has just begun to publish monographs, as members of their Advisory Board together with Andrew Bonacina, Adam Carr, Lillian Davies, Silvia Sgualdini and Francesco Stocchi.
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'Greenwashing...' website

Sergio Vega, 'Paradise on Fire', 2007. Series of five inkjet archival prints, 106 x 134 cm each. Courtesy the artist and Umberto di Marino Arte Contemporanea, Naples.

We have launched the project website for 'Greenwashing. Environment: Perils, Promises and Perplexities': www.greenwashing.lttds.org. The site will be updated over time as an extension to the printed catalogue, with expanded contents such as installation shots, interviews, artists CVs, etc.

So far we have confirmed the participation of Jennifer Allora & Guillermo Calzadilla, Lara Almarcegui, Maria Thereza Alves, Amy Balkin, The Bruce High Quality Foundation, Chu Yun, A Constructed World, Ettore Favini, Cyprien Gaillard, Tue Greenfort, Norma Jeane, Cornelia Parker, Jorge Peris, Wilfredo Prieto, RAF / Reduce Art Flights, Tomás Saraceno, Simon Starling, Nikola Uzunovski, Sergio Vega, Wang Jianwei and James Yamada.

The show will open on 28 February 2008 at the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin and remain on view until 11 May. The exhibition is curated by Fondazione's curator Ilaria Bonacossa and Latitudes (Max Andrews & Mariana Cánepa Luna).

For any press enquiries please email: [email protected]
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out of the studio! photos

Here are a few photos of our recent presentation at the 'out of the studio! symposium of art and public space' in Hasselt, Belgium (26–28 October). We were joined in our session by Bristol-based curator Claire Doherty and Mexican-based curator Cuauhtémoc Medina.

out of the studio!
out of the studio!
out of the studio!

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New Berlin Galleries: Feinkost & Maribel López Gallery


Two friends of Latitudes are opening their own galleries in Berlin: Feinkost and Maribel López Gallery.

Feinkost opened at the end of September with a show with work by the bulgarian artists Luchezar Boyadjiev. Tomorrow they will inaugurate their second show titled 'The Art World' with works by Ad Reinhardt, Alan Phelan, Balthasar Burkhard, Ben Gavin, Charles Gute, Christian Jankowski, IRWIN, Luchezar Boyadjiev, Matthieu Laurette, Pablo Helguera, Rainer Ganahl, REP Group, SOSka Group, et al.


On December 15th, Maribel López Gallery will open her space with the show 'Game Over Expanded' by Barcelona-based artist Francesc Ruiz.

"Francesc Ruiz (Barcelona, 1971) deploys an array of ‘possible’ fictions, laden with irony and bordering on delirium, which encompass multiple horizons of escaping from and re-inventing reality. His ink drawings alternate with other media, such as installations of black-and-white photocopies glued to the wall, videos and sculptures.On this occasion, in a new series of drawings and an installation, Francesc Ruiz tackles one of his recurring themes—his interest in places of consumption. These spaces enable him to develop narrative exercises charged with unexpected potential for action."

Francesc Ruiz was present at such recent exhibitions as Existencias, MUSAC, León (2007); Où? Scènes du Sud: Espagne, Italie, Portugal, Carrée d’Art – Musée d’art contemporain, Nîmes (2007), Registros y hábitos. Máquina de tiempo/imágenes de espacio, Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona and CGAC, Santiago de Compostela (2006).

Feinkost (Aaron Moulton & Mette Ravnkilde)
Bernauer Straße 71 - 72
13355 Berlin
T. +49 (0)172 1849732
info[at]galeriefeinkost.com

Maribel López Gallery
Holzmarktstrasse 15-18
S-Bahnbogen 54
10179 Berlin
T: +49 (0) 30 200 54 530
info[at]maribellopezgallery.com
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Hamsterwheel & Jiri Kovanda, Centre d'Art Santa Mònica, Barcelona

El viernes 16 se inauguró la exposición-consulta 'JIRI KOVANDA vs EL RESTO DEL MUNDO', comisariada por la agencia curatorial Work Method dirigida por Guillaume Désanges y François Piron. La exposición presenta fotografías de performances realizadas por Jiri Kovanda en los 70 (presentadas en la zona superior blanca) acompañadas de fotocopias con obras de la cultura occidental que sugieren conexiones con la obra del artista (en la zona inferior gris). La muestra ha ido viajando por diversos centros (gb agency, Paris; De Appel, Amsterdam...) y en cada uno de ellos se reedita el material expuesto y se presenta una pieza nueva realizada por el artista checo.


También incluimos fotos de la instalación de 'HAMSTERWHEEL', un proyecto de Franz West, comisariado por Antonio Ortega y con la participación de Reinhard Bernsteiner, David Bestué/Marc Vives, Songül Boyraz/Peter Holl, Philippe Bradshaw, Jean-Marc Bustamante, Urs FischerOlivier Garbay, Gelitin, Douglas Gordon, Heiri Häfliger, Rachel Harrison, Sarah Lucas, Bernhard Martin, Rubén Martinez, Mel O’Callaghan, Antonio Ortega, Rudolf Polanszky, Anselm Reyle, Tamuna Sirbiladze, Una Szeemann, Piotr Uklanski, Frank West y Toby Ziegler.

Centre d'Art Santa Mònica
del 09/11/2007 al 03/02/2008
La Rambla, 7 | 08002 Barcelona
Tel. 93.316.28.10 | Fax. 93.316.28.17
[email protected]
Martes–Sábado; 11-20h domingos y festivos: 11-15h. Lunes cerrado. Entrada Gratuita.

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