thomas hirschhorn exhibition poster
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8/2/2019 Thomas Hirschhorn Exhibition Poster
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/thomas-hirschhorn-exhibition-poster 1/2
Thomas Hirschhorn
World Airport
January16– February 23, 2000
The Renaissance Society
at the University of Chicago
5811 South Ellis Avenue
Chicago, IL 60637
773.702.8670
http://www.renaissancesociety.org
Museum Hours:
Tuesday-Friday:10am-5pm
Saturday, Sunday:12- 5pmClosed Mondays
RELATED EVENTS
Opening reception
Saturday, January 22
3:00to6:00pm
featuring an interview and discussion with t he
artist from 4:00to 5:00pm.
This event is free and will take place in Cobb
Hall Room 307 (directly below the gallery).
Poetry Reading
Sunday,February6
3:00pm
Bob Perelman
Perleman’s work is alternately lyrical, polemical,
funny, self-critical, didactic, socially
engaged and consistently engaging. Perelman
is Associate Professor of English at the
University of Pennsylvania. He has published five
volumes of poetry, The Historyof Memory
(1998), Virtual Reality (1993), Face Value (1988),
The First World (1986), Primer (1981) and
most recently a volume of selected workTen
to One (1999). This event is free and will
take place in Cobb Hall Room 402.(Down
the hall from the gallery.)
Concert
NewMusicfor OldAirportsSunday, January16
2:00pm
Jason Kao Hwang, violin
Fred Lonberg-Holm, cello
This bill features an afternoon of improvised music
by two extraordinary talents. Violinist/
composer Jason Kao Hwang has made numerous
recordings as both a leader with the Far
East Side Band and a much sought after collab-
orator. He has performed extensively with
such talents as Reggie Workman, Henry Threadgill,
Borah Bergman and Butch Morris. Cellist
Fred Lonberg-Holm defies categorization.
In addition to several ongoing projects, this self-
proclaimed anti-cellist has performed and
recorded with some of free jazz and improvised
music’smost outstanding talents including
the Peter Brotzmann Tentet, John Zorn, Anthony
Braxton, and Georg Graewe. This concert
is produced with Lampo, a non-profit presenter
of new and experimental music. This event i s free
and will take place at The Society.
WORLDAIRPORThas been madepos-siblethrough generoussupport fromÉtant Donnés;Lewisand SusanManilow;ThePeter Norton Foundation;ProHelvetia,the ArtsCouncil ofSwitzerland;HowardandDonna Stone;TheSwissBenevolent Society ofChicago,Illinois;and Swissôtel Chicago.
Additional support hasbeen receivedfromtheCityArts ProgramofTheChicagoDepartment ofCultural Affairs,amunicipal agency;The IllinoisArtsCouncil,astate agency;The John D.andCatherineT. MacArthur Foundation;ThePritzker Foundation;The SaraLeeFoundation;TheSiragusa Foundation;RegentsParkby The Clinton Company;WPWR-TV Channel 50 Foundation and
our membership.
isthe official airlineof TheRenaissanceSociety’s1999-2000 season.
WORLDAIRPORThas been madepos-siblethrough generoussupport fromÉtant Donnés;Lewisand SusanManilow;ThePeter Norton Foundation;ProHelvetia,the ArtsCouncil ofSwitzerland;HowardandDonna Stone;TheSwissBenevolent Society ofChicago,Illinois;and Swissôtel Chicago.
Additional support hasbeen receivedfromthe CityArtsProgramofTheChicagoDepartment ofCultural Affairs,amunicipal agency;The IllinoisArtsCouncil,a stateagency; TheJohn D.andCatherine T.MacArthur Foundation;ThePritzker Foundation;TheSara LeeFoundation;The SiragusaFoundation;RegentsParkby The Clinton Company;WPWR-TV Channel 50 Foundation and
our membership.
isthe official airlineofThe RenaissanceSociety’s1999-2000 season.
8/2/2019 Thomas Hirschhorn Exhibition Poster
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HowmuchshouldAZTcostin Swaziland?If onlythiswerea
trick question.For all of its seeming simplicity,it reflects
apainfully complex reality involving negotiations between two
governments and a multinational pharmaceutical corporation
asthousands await much needed treatment. This episode is one
of athousand facets of globalization,a phenomenathat minus
examples,masks difficultquestions regardingthe relationship
between industrialized and developingnations. Forbetter and,
orworse, this relationship is beingmediated on aregular
basis not so much through political channels as it is through an
expanding free market economy. Whether it is the multi-year
agendaof theWorld TradeOrganization orthelending policies
of the International Monetary Fund, globalization in an active
sense has to do with the mobilization of capital. The Gross
National Productof an industrialized nation is notsimply a
reflection of acountry’s ability toproduceand consumewithin
its own geographicborders, butalso its ability tobarter in
the global market place. In addition to being political entities led
by heads of state,industrialized nations areproducingand
consumingentities commandeered by thecaptains of industry
and commerce. Thebody politicdoubles as awork force
and its citizens as consumers.T heprosperity or stagnation of
theeconomy and the availabilityof goods and services are
linked to a larger network of global resources. If one is then
willingtoput asideMarxistalienation and growingclassdivision,
thecommodity can certainly begiven creditfor bringingtheworld closertogether, even if theterms arefar from ideal.
Althoughhisworkis executedinthe spiritof play,Swissborn,
Paris-based artist Thomas Hirschhorn has a healthy distaste
forthetermglobalization.Twoofhiswellknown,earlyworks
feature enlarged recreations of a Swiss Army knife and Rolex
wristwatches, objects thatcontribute substantially tothe Swiss
GNP.Clad,however,in aluminumfoil andexecutedat a
scalereminiscento f thework of Claes Oldenberg,these works
arenotpartof aGross National Productbutare instead
grosslynational products whose kindergarten appeal playfully
mockstheir commodity status.Although Hirschhorn is
usually referred to as a sculptor, his works do not revolve around
discreet pieces as much as elaborate installations featuring
dozens of components,notably makeshiftwalls featuringone
of themost importantcommodities of all,information. This
is in the form of hundreds of press and magazine clippings. The
central sculptural components of theseinstallations are
linked tothese walls through an elaboratesystem of aluminum
foil tentacles thatliterally connecthis objects––often fabricated
with recycled materials––to the rhetoric of globalization.
By this logic, globalization ceases to be an abstract phenomena
andcan instead betraced through the production of things
that surround us no matter how large or trivial. Steel, plastic,
clothes, labor––behind each of these is a narrative of social,
political and environmental relations that extend well beyond the
immediatecontext.
Born in Bern, Switzerland in1957, Hirschhorn later attended the
Schüle fur Gestaltung in Zurich where he was trained in
graphic design. After completing his studies in 1984, Hirschhorn
moved to France wherehe joined Grapus, a Parisian collective
of communist graphic designers. Despite, the power of graphic
design togalvanize an audiencefor eithercommercial or
political ends, Hirschhornfelt neither advertising nor propaganda
allowed much room forcreativity.By 1986,the yearof his
first solo exhibition at Bar-Floréal in Paris, he had altogether
abandonedgraphicdesigninfavorof thevisual arts.Among
theinfluences on his work,Hirschhorn cites theRussian
Constuctivists and Kurt Schwitters. Needless t o say, Hirschhorn,
retained his political convictions,translating his leftistideals
intoworksthatin additiontoculminatinginmuseumand
gallery installations took theform of publicalters and souvenir
stands on thesidewalks of several majorEuropean cities.
Thesculptural components,which consisted of cheap,tourist
sidewalk wares––hats, scarves, banners, and plates
featuringthe names of awide array of 20th century personages
––were displayed in stands f abricated with cardboard,
sheetplastic and plywood.Although Hirschhorn initially viewed
the transition from graphic design to the visual arts as
beingmotivated by frustration,in arecent interview,he cited
Warhol as asignificant precursorfor allowingsuch amove
tobeseenas continuous.“Warholremainedfaithfultohimself.
Ilook at these art ists and try to do the same thing; I aspire
tocontinuity.” Underthese circumstances,Hirschhorn is some-
whatskeptical of beinglabeled asculptor and even more
soasan installationartist.Accordingtohim,hisworkremains
two-dimensional.“My work remains two-dimensional,a
veryimportantpointforme.Of coursemy workhastakenon
threedimensional aspects at times, I makeobjects that
have volume but they aren ot thought in three dimensions.”
Hirschhorn’s solo museum debut will be held in two venues. For
TheArt Instituteof Chicago,Hirschhorn has created anew
work which takes its title JumboSpoonsand BigCake from its
main components. At The Renaissance Society, he will
exhibit World Airport,the piecehe created forthe1999 VeniceBiennale.In scaleand garishness, both installations have
somethingofa parade’svulgarcharms.ButHirschhorn’sflare
forspectacle is offsetby an itinerantaestheticfeaturing
his signaturematerials, cardboard,blueplastic and aluminum
foil.Most of Hirschhorn’swork has critiqued globalization
from thevantagepoint of thecosmopolitan center.Hirschhorn,
however,usually chooses to make work with discarded
materials from sections of thecity with alarge immigrantpopu-
lation.The Fifty/Fifty sculptures,an earlierseries of small
works consistingof half-found materials and half-new materials
suggest that centralization and marginalization are
alternating pistons in the engine of globalization as metropolises
simultaneously conglomeratecapital and an immigrant
workforce.In World Airport and JumboSpoonsand BigCake ,
Hirschhorn has broadened his critiqueto includecultural
tourism. Jumbo Spoons rendersa wideassortmentoffigures,
places,events and phenomena,from Rosa Luxembourg
tothe ChicagoBulls, from Nietzscheto fashion,from Malevich
totheMoon,in theform of thecollectiblespoon,a gesture
that eliminates any hierarchy in their importance. They are equally
glamorousand equallytragic,abletoofferbutin noway
fulfillthe promiseofa betterlife,promisesmadeandbrokenas
much by the shiny commodity as the cruel glints of hope put
forth by many of modernity’s utopian visionaries. World Airport,
ahomemade Fisher-Price like airport and lounge area,
repletewith arunway comeparade of nation-states,will fill The
Society’s gallery.The airplanes sitprepared fortake-off
and areemblazoned with logos in national colors suggesting
the airline’s complicity in thebrand managementof the
corporate nation-state. Business or pleasure; first class, third
world––between theweb of flight patterns spun by TWA
and theWTO wehave becomestarlings in theslipstream. This
is not to say that Hirschhorn’s critique is cynical. Far from the
case,for his work is tooelaboratetobe of a singularsentiment.
If anything, Hirschhorn’s work is a state of t he world equation
whosefactsand variablesadd up totheglobalportraitaspainted
inthenextday’snewspaper;a semblance,no doubt,to be
savored overa cup of Seattle’s Best.
FOCUS: THOMAS HIRSCHHORN has been made possible through generous sup-portfrom Lewis and Susan Manilow, Swissôtel Chicago, Howard and Donna Stone,ProHelvetia, The Arts Council of Switzerland, and Janice and Mickey Cartin.
TheRenaissanceSociety
Non-ProfitOrganizationUSPostage
PAIDChicago,IL
PermitNo.2336
TheRenaissanceSocietyatThe UniversityofChicago
5811South Ellis AvenueChicago,Illinois 60637
Phone:(773) 702-8670
http://www.renaissancesociety.org
Museum Hours:Tuesday-Friday:10am-5pm
Saturday,Sunday:12-5pm
Closed Mondays
Gross National Product
t e x t b y H a m z a
W a l k e r
/ l a y o u
t b y
J a s o n
P i c k l e m a n
f o r t h e J N L G r a p h
i c D e s i g n
/ c h i c a g o
ThomasHirschhorn
JumboSpoonsand BigCake
January23–April 9,2000
TheArt Institut e of Chicago
111South MichiganAvenue
Chicago,IL 60603
RELATED EVENTS
Gallery Talk
James Rondeau,
Exhibition Co-curator
Sunday, January23at 3:00pm
and
Tuesday, February1at 6:00pm
TheArt Institut e of Chicago
Gallery 262
GalleryTalk
Hamza Walker,
Director of Education,
The Renaissance Society
Friday,February18at 12:15pm
The Art Institute of Chicago,
Gallery 262
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