KIMSOOJA

September 30 – December 17, 2006

Curator: David Neuman, Tessa Praun

Kimsooja works with traditional Korean textiles and second-hand clothes. She spreads, folds, ties and hangs bed sheets full of history and cultural symbolism. The sheets bear signs of life – we are born, sleep, make love, dream, suffer and die on sheets. Existence and communication in contemporary society, and the nomadic rather than rooted life, are central themes in her work. She compares herself to a needle, holding the world together with her observations.

At Magasin 3 she has parked a truck from 1938 with the back piled with ‘bottari’ – cloth bundles used for storing personal belongings. A similar truck appears in the video work Cities on the Move: sitting on the pile of bundles, the artist travels to all the places in Korea where she has lived and which hold memories for her. Kimsooja is always present in her own video works, leading us into the works and into her art. In one of the exhibition spaces Kimsooja has hung colorful sheets that turn into swaying pictorial panels in the light draft. To the accompaniment of Tibetan monk chant, visitors can wander among the rows of bedclothes in the installation A Laundry Woman.

Kimsooja combines elements from Korean culture with contemporary artistic expressions, to create colorful installations and poetic performance-based video works. The exhibition at Magasin 3 is her first solo exhibition in the Nordic region, and presents works ranging from the mid-1990s to today.

Programme:

On Thursday, October 12, 2006 at 6 pm, Uta Lauer, professor of East Asian Art at Stockholm University will give a lecture, examining Kimsooja’s textiles and materials from a cultural perspective. Please observe that the lecture will be held in English.

Publication:

A richly illustrated catalogue is produced for the exhibition, with an essay by Doris von Drathen, art historian and art critic based in Paris, and a conversation between Kimsooja and Tessa Praun, assistant curator at Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall.

About the artist:

Kimsooja was born in 1957 in Taegu, Korea. Since the late 1990s, she has been living and working in New York. Her works have been featured by museums and galleries all over the world and she has participated in biennials such as those in Kwangju and Venice. Earlier this year, she exhibited at Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa in Venice and also created a site-specific work there for the city’s prestigious and recently reconstructed opera house, La Fenice. This spring and summer, Kimsooja also presented a new work at Palacio de Cristal in Madrid, produced in co-operation with Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia.

For press inquiries please contact:

Sannah Söderman, exhibition coordinator: soderman@magasin3.com, 08-545 680 40.

WALKING & FALLING

Anna Gaskell, Ann Hamilton, Rebecca Horn, Sigalit Landau, Richard Long, Bruce Nauman, Danica Phelps, Sam Taylor-Johnson (formerly known as Sam Taylor-Wood), Vangelis Vlahos

February 11 – May 28, 2006

Curators: Elisabeth Millqvist, Tessa Praun

With each step, you fall forward slightly. And then catch yourself from falling.
In Laurie Anderson’s quote, the everyday is paramount. Her observation on walking, on how we unconsciously are falling with every step, constitutes the point of departure for this exhibition, both as an observation and as a metaphor for life. Our sense of balance, the precondition for our ability to walk, also plays a central role in this exhibition.

Magasin 3 curators Elisabeth Millqvist and Tessa Praun have jointly examined artistic practices spanning from the late 1960s till today. This makes it possible for the viewer to experience the present from a different and visually strong perspective.

David Neuman, director, Magasin 3.

The works in this exhibition function as a series of poetic, contemplative, and surrealist associations. Rebecca Horn was fascinated by the way a woman walked and created a unicorn costume for her. During the early 1970s, Horn worked with costumes that elongated the shoulders, fingers, or head and emphasized the body’s movements. In Walking 9–5 Amsterdam (2001), Danica Phelps exchanges ”working” with ”walking.” She walked every day for a month from 9 am to 5 pm, an average workday. Bruce Nauman has examined walking in a number of performance pieces – he has stamped in his studio, walked in an exaggerated manner and in various patterns.

Vangelis Vlahos and Sigalit Landau challenge our sense of balance. In Vlahos’s video Untitled Knight 1 (1997), a knight in shining armor roller-skates in a gymnastics hall, while Landau stands balanced on a watermelon in the Dead Sea.

All the participating artists are represented in Magasin 3’s permanent collection but several of the works have been borrowed for Walking & Falling.

About the artists:

Anna Gaskell is born in 1969 in Des Moines, Iowa, USA.

Ann Hamilton is born in 1956 in Lima, Ohio, USA.

Rebecca Hornis born in 1944 in Michelstadt, Germany.

Sigalit Landau is born in 1969 in Jerusalem, Israel, and lives and works in Tel Aviv. A dancer trained at Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem, Landau frequently uses her own body as a means of expression.Solo exhibitions include Ballroom Marfa, Texas (2005), Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid (2005) and the Tel Aviv Museum of Contemporary Art (2004). Her work has also been exhibited at MoMA PS1, New York (2006), the Venice Biennale and Documenta X, Kassel (1997). She has previously been shown at Magasin 3 int he exhibition Spiritus (2003).

Richard Long is born in 1945 in Bristol, where he lives and works.

Bruce Nauman is born in 1941 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA.

Danica Phelps is born in 1971 in New York, USA.

Sam Taylor-Wood is born in 1967 in London.

Vangelis Vlahos is born in 1971 in Athens.

For press inquiries please contact:

Sannah Söderman, coordinator: soderman@magasin3.com, 08-545 680 40

FABRICE GYGI

February 11 – May 28, 2006

Curator: Richard Julin

Fabrice Gygi places riots barricades at museums, hangs up bombs so that they resemble chandeliers, and makes a provisional voting booth for an undecided nation.

Artist Fabrice Gygi has compared himself to a figurative painter in that he copies objects that he observes in the world around him. Gygi uses their characteristics in forms and materials but displaces their function and context. At Magasin 3, the rooms are filled with sculptures in industrial and military materials such as stain- less steel, tarpaulin, and tension straps.

Gygi critiques authoritarian systems in our culture by studying everyday architecture and ordinary objects. He questions the police’s preparations ahead of expected riots and our obsession with feeling secure. His objects demand reflection. Confusing resemblances emerge between an object made for torture and a mon- key bar, between a refugee camp and a structure for housing a party. But, as exhibition curator Richard Julin emphasizes, there is also a sense of ”proximity and play, revolt and resistance” in his sculptures.

For the powerful, sculptural exhibition at Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall, the artist has made a new work. It is at once monumental and on a human scale, and gives a strong feeling of containment – a central theme of many of Gygi’s works. The exhibition is accompanied by a richly illustrated catalogue with an essay by among others Irene Hofmann, curator OCMA.

Artist talk:

Fabrice Gygi will give a lecture arranged by Magasin 3 in collaboration with the Royal University College of Fine Arts on Tuesday, February 7 at 3 pm. Venue: The Royal University College of Fine Arts, Flaggmansvägen 1 (Skeppsholmen), Stockholm.

About the artist:

The Swiss artist Fabrice Gygi is born 1965; he lives and works in Geneva. A solo exhibition of Fabrice Gygi’s works is currently showing at the Orange County Museum of Art in Newport Beach, California. Recently his works have been shown separately at Kunstmuseum St. Gallen and Musee d’art moderne et contemporain (Mamco), Geneva.

For press inquiries please contact:

Sannah Söderman, coordinator: soderman@magasin3.com, 08-545 680 40

HERE COMES THE SUN

Pilar Albarracín, Francis Alÿs, Ghada Amer, Tacita Dean, Olafur Eliasson, Avital Geva, Rivane Neuenschwander, Tobias Rehberger, Jeroen/Willem de Rijke/de Rooij

August 27 – December 11, 2005

Curators: Daniel Birnbaum, Rosa Martìnez, Jerôme Sans, Sarit Shapira

Here Comes the Sun is an exhibition on cosmology, time, and our most prominent celestial body. Today we continually encounter the technologies of the digital age, and concepts such as time, space, movement, and speed are experienced in new ways. Many artists today work with various aspects of time and its passage. This was the point of departure for the exhibition Here Comes the Sun and the selection of the ten participating artists.

The exhibition will occupy all of Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall with a wide array of works. Among these is Rivane Neuenschwander’s installation visualizing the passage of time with the help of water drops; Olafur Eliasson’s model of a house based on how the sun’s rays fall on the Swedish capital, which is a component in his installation Stockholm Solar Lab; Tobias Rehberger’s Seven Ends of the World, featuring 222 hand-blown glass lamps that correspond in real time to the light in various parts of the world; a film by Tacita Dean central to her work in which she tracks a solar eclipse, following the course of events before, during, and after; and a living eco-system in a fish pond by Avital Geva, whose concern is with nature and time.

This is a unique opportunity to see a prominent group exhibition comprising some of the most fascinating artists of our time. And that the exhibition has been put together by such a colorful and strong group of curators adds to the excitement.

David Neuman, director, Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall.

Daniel Birnbaum (Sweden/Germany), Rosa Martínez (Spain), Jérôme Sans (France), and Sarit Shapira (Israel), four of the world’s most prominent curators, have developed Here Comes the Sun together as their first exhibition for Magasin 3, where they have been associate curators since June 2004.

Artist talk:

On August 24th at 6 pm, a conversation between Rosa Martínez and Daniel Birnbaum will be held at the Konstakademien (The Royal Swedish Academy of Art) at Fredsgatan 12 in Stockholm.

Publication:

A generously illustrated catalogue in two parts co-written by the curators will be published to accompany the exhibition.

About the artists:

Pilar Albarracín is born in 1968 in Sevilla, Spain. She lives and works in Madrid.

Francis Alÿs is born in 1959 in Antwerp, Belgium. He lives and works in Mexico City.

Ghada Amer was born in 1963 in Cairo, Egypt and lives and works in New York.

Tacita Dean was born in 1956 in Cantebury, England. She lives and works in Berlin and London.

Olafur Eliasson is born in 1967 in Copenhagen. He lives and works in Berlin.

Avital Geva is born in 1941, lives and works in Ein Shemer, Israel.

Rivane Neuenschwander born in 1967 in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, where she lives and works.

Tobias Rehberger is born in 1966 in Esslingen/Neckar, Germany. He lives and works in Frankfurt am Main.

Jeroen de Rijke is born in 1970 in Brouwershaven, Netherlands. Willem de Rooij is born in 1969 in Beverwijk, Netherlands. Both live and work in Amsterdam.

For press inquiries please contact:

Sannah Söderman, koordinator: soderman@magasin3.com, 08-545 680 40

INFINITE LOGIC CONFERENCE
Katharina Grosse
March 27 – June 6, 2004
Curator: Richard Julin

The exhibition Infinite Logic Conference at Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall is the first presentation of the German artist Katharina Grosse in Sweden. Katharina Grosse makes paintings directly on architecture, in rooms and also on canvas. Her exhibition at Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall occupies two of the exhibition halls. She uses a spray gun for her enormous, nonfigurative paintings on walls, floors, and ceilings. Here for the very first time, Grosse has incorporated objects into the exhibition space as part of the work – a bed, books, and clothes constitute a part of her paintings. She has also made canvases up to twelve meters long for the exhibition halls. Her paintings grow patch by patch, almost organically spreading over the surfaces with layers of intense color. The result involves the whole room and gives a feeling of the movement the work necessitates, of how the paint has dripped, run, and been painted over. It is a powerful and unique mode of painting. Few have seen her works in reality as most exist only during the run of the show and are then painted over. Grosse relates her practice to the art historical painting tradition, reminding one not only of American Color Field Painting but also other styles and genres.

Richard Julin, the exhibition curator, states:

While working together, Grosse and I discussed the need for explaining the meaning of abstraction. The title of the exhibition is a commentary on this attempt to understand, or in fact its opposite: allowing the abstract to remain abstract.

About the artist:

Katharina Grosse is one of the most talked-about artists working today. She first gained recognition for her painting in the 1990s. After working in a more traditional brush-on-canvas technique, she has increasingly shifted to using a spray gun and painting large surfaces. Except interior space she has used a large billboard as her canvas in Auckland in 2001, and in 2002 she painted the facade of Birmingham Central Library. Grosses exhibitions include solo shows at the Chinati Foundation, Marfa, Texas, 1999, White Cube, London, 2002 and Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, 2002. During the past year, Grosse has participated in group exhibitions at CASO in Osaka and at Kiasma in Helsinki, among  others.

Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall is publishing a catalogue that will be available one month after the exhibition opens. The catalogue will document the fascinating process of making the work and how it grew. The catalogue also includes an independent essay by Lars Mikael Raattamaa (b. 1964) for whom photographs of Grosse’s painting nevertheless furnished the point of departure. Raattamaa writes architectural theory and political poetry in a style that combines the journalistic debate article with the essay. He is a well-known name in Swedish contemporary poetry and has published the acclaimed books Helgonlegenderna: väv  (Albert Bonniers Förlag, 2000) and Politiskt våld  (OEI Editor in collaboration with Modernista, 2003).

For press inquiries please contact:

Tove Schalin at Magasin 3 Stockholm  tel + 46 8 545 680 40, fax + 46 545 680 41, e-mail: schalin@magasin3.com

 

STÄNGSEL

LG Lundberg

February 7 – June 6, 2004

Curator: David Neuman

For six years, from 1973 to 1979, the artist LG Lundberg devoted himself entirely to painting one single motif, fences against a dark background. The fence motif eventually evolved into a shape which he turned into objects and sculptures.

David Neuman, curator of the exhibition and director of Magasin 3:

Now that Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall is featuring LG Lundberg’s fence paintings, it is like rediscovering a forgotten, unique and extremely condensed oeuvre from this period. The works from those six years have never before been exhibited comprehensively.

This exhibition presents 50 fence paintings and objects, together with works that can be seen as a prelude to the fence period. Before LG Lundberg devoted himself to fences, he made detailed paintings influenced by pop art and neo-realism. Today, he is known primarily for his paintings of the Stockholm archipelago, characterised by formal and coloristic reductions and a photographic quality. LG Lundberg’s unrelenting work on one single motif in the 1970s stands out in the history of Swedish art. His enterprise is fascinating but also provokes questions.

As Olle Granath comments:

There is a rich plurality, and deciding one’s own position – within or without – grows increasingly difficult. The question is if one is fenced in or fenced out. But the artist has found his answer, he has found poetic licence, regardless of which side of the fence he is on.

About the artist

LG Lundberg has been frequently exhibited since the mid-1960s. In 2003 he had solo shows at the Konsthall in Hishult and Gallerie Flach in Stockholm. He has also exhibited abroad, in Finland, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain and Germany. Lundberg is represented in several collections, including those of Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall, Moderna Museet,Stockholm, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm and the Gothenburg Museum of Art.

In conjunction with the exhibition a richly illustrated catalogue will be published, with texts by Olle Granath, former director of Statens Konstmuseer, and Elisabeth Millqvist, assistant curator at Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall.

For press inquiries please contact:

Tove Schalin at Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall, phone: +46 8 545 680 40, fax: +46 8 545 680 41, e-mail: schalin@magasin3.com