CHRISTODOULOS PANAYIOTOU (APT Dubai)
Kunsthalle Zürich
Zürich, Switzerland
Curated by Beatrix Ruff
February 12 – April 24 2010
www.kunsthallezurich.ch

Indefinite Destinations – Ergin Çavuşoğlu, ‘Liminal Crossing’ / ‘Eşik Geçişi’, 2009

We are living in unstable times. Sometimes we feel as though there is nothing to hold on to. But at the same time we all are going through a fascinating period of transition, the transformation and restructuring of whole systems in the world.

Society is a flexible and steadily changing structure. It encompasses human connections, different personal interests, passions, and hopes. It is also constrained by global economical, political and cultural conditions. This is the basis of a primary controversy – between flexibility and stability, between order and disorder, and that precarious balance between them.

Unceasing flows of capital and people across borders, and dialogues through different channels such as the Internet and other media have changed our understanding of what it is to belong to a community. People now feel that they belong to various communities even though they do not share a common territory. This also shows us that a national or regional culture does not reflect one homogenous identity.

For the past two decades we have witnessed the birth of new countries and the shifting of political systems. People living in a country for years have become members of another country without changing their residence. Since 9/11 countries have imposed boundaries for ‘security’ reasons, for the sake of protecting societies, forcing members of these societies to choose a side (one can only be in or out!) as if they are living in a closed system. We live in a world of oppositions and conflicts, but oppositions and conflict do not always necessarily create destructive relationships; instead they can create various interactions, or re-vitalize the existence of a healthy society.

In this continuous changing and unending reconstruction and transformation, artists can take up different positions. They can become observers who register the situation of the society, or  try to find a possible alternative. Playing with ideas about the future, in keeping with utopian social structures and hypotheses; they can provide a comprehensive analysis and make social dissections. They can choose a more aggressive position and go to war in an attempt to change the status quo, or try to deconstruct that tricky, cozy society, in which contemporary humans often feel lost.

Indefinite Destinations uses the notion of transformation as a starting point to look at new societies. Knowing that the subject is quite broad and that it is hard to deal with its every possible aspect, we want to bring artists together who may take on different positions, and whose trajectories do not intersect as well as those whose works are consistent and in dialog with each other. Some works will reflect directly on experiences or fiction; some will create a new reality to encourage the audience to think about other possible realities. Since we are all constantly confronted with all these problems we would like to encourage the audience (and also ourselves) to consider possibilities.

Indefinite Destinations is supported by Art Affairs and Documents Foundation, Bulgaria; General Consulate of The Netherlands, Istanbul; Platform Garanti Contemporary Art Center, Istanbul; St. Cyril and St. Methodius, Bulgaria; Turkish Consulate, Plovdiv, Bulgaria and Türker Transportation.

Artists: Mircea Cantor, Ergin Çavusoğlu (APT Dubai), Dani Gal (APT Dubai), Alina Viola Grumiller, Basim Magdy (APT Dubai), Bora Petkova, Kalin Serapionov, Stefanos Tsivopoulos (APT Dubai), Mürüvvet Türkyılmaz, Katarina Zdjelar, Arthur Zmijewski, Sislej Xhafa (APT Dubai).

Curators: Öykü Özsoy and Vessela Nozharova

In every country and culture, society imposes roles on individuals. Local traditions, familial and social expectations, and political propaganda often determine paths in life. Particularly in countries with growing economies, women are targeted by advertisements that present “perfect” dream lives – a life that starts with a good education, is followed by marriage and children, and eventually leads to ownership of a beautiful house. But whose dream is this? Why do so many women conform to fit this role? An exhibition curated by Esra Sarigedik Öktem for the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington DC, US and titled A Dream…but not yours explores these questions through the work of eleven artists from Turkey.

A Dream but not yours runs from February 12 – May 16, 2010 at the National Museum of Woman in the Arts, Washington DC, 1250 New York Avenue. Includes works by Nevin Aladag (APT Berlin), Selda Asal, Merve Brill, Ipek Duben, Inci Eviner (APT Dubai), Leyla Gediz, Gülsün Karamustafa (APT Dubai), Ceren Oykut, Canan Senol, Ayca Telgeren and Canan Tolon.

Image Nevin Aladag, Raise the Roof

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 2nd, 2010

The Way Out: Video Selections from the Artist Pension Trust
February 10th, 2010, 7 – 9 pm
Former Tower Records, Broadway & 4th Street, New York, NY

Artist Pension Trust® (APT) is pleased to announce a special screening of selected video-based artworks from the APT collection on February 10th, 2010. In conjunction with Never Records and No Longer Empty, this event will accompany the exhibition Never Can Say Goodbye, currently on view in the legendary Tower Records storefront in Downtown Manhattan.

This selection of artworks, curated by Lauren Rosati (Assistant Curator at Exit Art), considers the way in which music videos have influenced contemporary video art. The artists in this screening reference the formats and styles of music videos by creating “documentaries” about music icons, upending the notion of the rock concert, and utilizing sound and video collage. Indebted to the emergence of MTV, and the subsequent proliferation of the music video, these works present a way out of the television box—referencing and refashioning its influence for a new generation. Artists included in the screening are Jen Liu, Ted Riederer, Ian Forsyth, Jane Pollard, Rho Jae Oon, Rashid Johnson, Robert Boyd, and Rico Gatson. The piece by Rico Gatson appears courtesy of the artist and Ronald Feldman Fine Art.

Artist Pension Trust® (APT) is the first investment program dedicated to the needs of emerging and mid-career artists. APT’s long-term financial planning services allow artists to invest their artworks alongside a community of select artists, thereby providing a uniquely diversified, alternative income stream. Our vision is to build an integrated financial services firm that caters to the financial needs of the artist.

To attend this event, please RSVP to rsvp@aptglobal.org before February 9th. For more information, please contact Sarah Greenwalt at sarah@aptglobal.org or (212) 792.7963.

New York gallerist Jeffrey Deitch’s recent departure from the commercial art world to join the ranks of the institutional sector, notably as director of the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art (LA MOCA), sparked a moment of speculation, gossip, conjecture, and outrage. However, this is not the first time we have seen movement between the two sides of the aisle, albeit the flow is usually from non-profit museums into the for-profit sector. Consider David Ross’ and Robert Buck’s respective moves from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and Brooklyn Museum of Art as the directors of major museums to gallery consultants, or Lisa Dennison’s (former Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum director) prosperous jump from the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum to Sotheby’s auction house where compensations often included bonuses tied to performance. How did Deitch, a major player who builds artists’ careers into pinnacles of financial success, suddenly become the policy maker and standard-bearer for one of the largest not-for-profit cultural institutions presenting a contemporary art program in the U.S.? It is a question a lot of people are asking.

Photo: Patrick McMullan

Having spent 9 years of my professional art career in California, it is easy to understand the west coast chagrin some feel about Dietch’s appointment, a sort of capitulation to Hollywood entertainment values—Deitch is well known for the gallery’s extravagant funding of elaborate installation projects, themed parties, and enormous sculptures at the Basel art fairs. The radical shift in leadership from ousted director Jeremy Strick, who arrived in LA with the institutional accreditation of senior curator at the Art Institute of Chicago, to the impresario-styled Deitch will be something to witness. And who, one might wonder knowing what we know about the Deitch gallery history, will be signing the checks following Jeremy Strick’s dismissal for his financial mismanagement of LA MOCA.

A key player in Mr. Deitch’s selection is Eli Broad, the billionaire developer whose $30M contribution to LA MOCA rescued the museum from insolvency. Mr. Broad also had a hand in recruiting to the west coast another New York cultural leader, Michael Govan. Govan directed the New York City-based contemporary art presenting organization and artist support foundation Dia during its extraordinary development of the 300,000 square foot box printing factory in Beacon, New York into a repository and exhibition space of some of the most important works of art made between 1960 up to the present. Mr. Govan assumed the positions of Director and CEO of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 2006. One Californian colleague moaned, with a sort of despair, that LA is importing New York City’s talent and, thereby, it’s brand. But perhaps the reason is just simply about business. There is no question that Deitch and Govan have managed multi-million dollar operations with a degree of success.

And while this is happening on the institutional level of museums, what is happening in the commercial sector? It is clear there are cracks in the system. As the galleries and auction houses struggle to pull ahead of unemployment and the fragile recovery from the recession, the second tier of the current chatter is: What lies in store for the gallery model? Some see Deitch’s departure as a clever golden parachute out of a high-flying plane that is going down—that his rebooting is a harbinger of the future and a paradigm shift in how transactional business will be conducted going forward. West coast art consultant Dorothy Goldeen’s blog recently observed following Miami Basel:

“The Art Fairs have become the venue of choice for viewing and buying by the art-loving public. Sixty thousand people pass through Basel or Arco in a few days, while galleries have weeks that deliver only a few dozen viewers.”—Dorothy Goldeen

This is surely evident as one takes a walk through galleries in New York’s Chelsea or Lower East Side, London, Los Angeles, Berlin, even Beijing. How sustainable, then, is the high cost of maintaining these architecturally-designed, pristinely white-washed “four walls that smell of latex paint,” as an artist recently smirked? Yet, it remains surprising how few galleries have closed in the past 18 months, though a number are starting to downsize or take on new partners.

Goldeen also points out in her blog that “bricks and mortar still count.” On more than a few occasions art world colleagues have argued that the “boutique” is still a necessary part of the art-buying experience. It is the “feel good” part of transacting a major purchase, the place where you are addressed not only as a client, but also as a sophisticate—a member of an exclusive class. As art increasingly becomes a part of popular culture, does this popularization matter enough to enfranchise this newly enabled purchasing power? Taking Goldeen’s statistic into account, it is clear that the art fairs generate a growing audience of potential buyers, and, therefore, like other capital-based markets, should result in economic growth in the art industry that outpaces the extraordinary boom of the past decade.

Finally, given the shifting landscape of commerce and information dissemination, is it possible that the Internet will be the emergent delivery system? Last week the NY Times reported that young people (and that includes pre-teenagers) spend 7.5 hours with some sort of electronic media device—handhelds, video game consoles, computers, and the like excluding telephone talk time or texting—each day! This is an extraordinary statistic that the purveyors of culture, and here we are talking about the visual art world, must consider.

For my part, I am watching, considering, refiguring, and implementing new strategies. It is hard not to see Mr. Deitch’s new role in the art world as something of significance. Not because of the person, but rather because of the imminent change.

Miha Strukelj APT Studios Nov 2009 from Residency Unlimited on Vimeo.

Miha Štrukelj (APT Dubai) (b. 1973) is a visual artist from Ljubljana, who represented the Slovenian pavillion at the Venice Biennial in 2009. He works primarily in painting, drawing and site-specific work. Strukelj explores the mechanism of perception and (de-)construction of images, examining the position of individuals in urban landscapes. He is a recipient of the Pollock-Krasner Foundation grant and the Henkel Drawing Award. His work is included in “Vitamin P; New Perspectives in Painting” by Phaidon Press. He was an artist-in-residence at ISCP and APT Studios in New York in 2009.

Via Residency Unlimited: Conversations – a video series, curated by Boshko Boskovic, featuring contemporary artists and their thoughts on conceiving, producing and disseminating work within an art residency context and beyond.

Involving more than 300 artists at more than 80 venues throughout the city, Philagrafika 2010 will be one of the largest art events in the United States and the world’s most important print-related exposition. Prominent museums and cultural institutions across Philadelphia are participating in Philagrafika 2010, offering regional, national and international audiences the opportunity to see contemporary art that references printmaking in dynamic, unexpected ways and to experience the rich cultural life of the city in the process. The Philagrafika 2010 festival is the result of more than five years of planning by a group of enthusiastic and committed individuals who have mobilized the entire community around a common interest. The Artistic Director and the members of the curatorial team traveled extensively across the country and across continents, visiting studios, print shops, biennials and other art events in search of artists to include. And the administrative staff of Philagrafika, the Artistic Director and the curatorial team have worked closely with local institutions in planning and implementing a wide range of exhibitions, public programs and events, resulting in a citywide collective effort, which appropriately reflects the collaborative nature of printmaking itself.

The Graphic Unconscious is the core exhibition organized by the Artistic Director and the curatorial team. Works by 35 artists from 18 countries will be displayed across five venues: Moore College of Art & Design; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA); Philadelphia Museum of Art; The Print Center; and Temple Gallery, Tyler School of Art, Temple University; with significant installations by different artists on view at each site.

José Roca (CCM – APT Mexico City)
Philagrafika 2010 Artistic Director, Chief Curator

Jose Roca is a Colombian curator working out of Bogotá and Philadelphia, where he is currently Artistic Director of Philagrafika 2010. He managed for a decade the arts program at the Banco de la República in Bogotá, establishing it as one of the most respected institutions in the Latin American circuit. Roca was a co-curator of the I Poly/graphic Triennial in San Juan, Puerto Rico (2004); the 27th Bienal de São Paulo, Brazil (2006); the Encuentro de Medellín MDE07 (2007); and of Cart[ajena], a series of urban interventions in Cartagena, Colombia (2007), and served on the awards jury for the 52nd Venice Biennial (2007).

APT Artists involved:

Erick Beltran (APT Mexico City)

Image: The World Explained, 2008. Installation view at the Sao Paulo Bienal, Brazil.

Mexico D.F., 1974.
Lives and works in Barcelona.
Beltrán received a Degree of Visual Arts from the Universidad Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico City, in 1997. His work was recently included in SITE Santa Fe’s Seventh International Biennial, and Democracy in America, Creative Time, New York.

Mark Bradford (APT Los Angeles)

Image: Dementia (2009), mixed media collage, 114″ x 67.5″; detail.

Los Angeles, United States, 1961, lives and works there. Bradford received both his BFA and MFA from California Institute of the Arts. Recently, the Whitney Museum of American Art held a solo exhibition of Bradford’s work, Neither New Nor Correct: Recent work by Mark Bradford.

Pablo Helguera (APT Mexico City)

Image: Behind the set of “What in the World”, 1950s. Archives Collection, University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia.

Mexico D.F., 1971.
Lives and works in New York City. Helguera currently works as the Director of Adult and Academic programs at Museum of Modern Art. He studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He has performed and exhibited extensively, including at the Museum of Modern Art, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, P.S.1 Contemporary Arts Center, and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago.

Image: Brand New View, 2009; Plotter-cut vinyl on window; Dimensions variable; View of installation at Zeppelin University, Bodensee; Image courtesy of the artist, Stockholm

Stokholm, Sweden, 1966, lives and works there.
Klingberg studied magazine and newspaper design at RMI-Berghs, Stockholm, and sculpture at Konsfstack, University College of Arts, Crafts, Design, Stockholm. Numerous solo exhibitions of her work have been held across Europe, and in 2005 she received a five year working grant from the Swedish Visual Arts Fund.

Qiu Zhijie (APT Beijing)

Image: Installation view of Monuments (2007) in the artist’s studio; series of prints from Monuments: International Politics, ink rubbing on paper, 16 sheets 23.6″ x 23.6″

Zhangzhou, China, 1969. Lives and works in Beijing and Hangzhou. Qiu Zhijie studied at the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts, now the China Academy of Art, and currently is Associate Professor in Mixed Media there. He has recently had a solo exhibition at the Shanghai Zendai Museum of Modern Art and has also been included in exhibitions at Tate Liverpool, the 3rd Ghangzhou Triennial, and the International Photography Center, New York. Qiu Zhijie’s most recent solo museum shows are “Breaking Through The Ice” at the Ullens center of Contemporary Art in Beijing and “Twilight of the Idols” at the house of World cultures, Berlin. Qiu is part of the current Venice Biennale, in the China pavillion.

Betsabee Romero (APT Mexico City)

Espiral sin fin (Endless spiral), 2008; Carved tires and imprints on domestic fabrics; Dimensions variable. Image courtesy of the artist, Mexico City

Mexico D.F., 1963, lives and works there.
Romero received her MA in the History of Art, and her MFA from Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. She has created many site-specific installations, one recently in 2007 during ARCO Madrid at Galeria Ramis Barquet.

Francesc Ruiz (APT Berlin)

Image: The High Zone (2007), photocopies.

Barcelona, Spain, 1971. Lives and works in Barcelona and Berlin. Ruiz’s recent solo shows include Comic Brick at L’Estruch, Sabadell, Barcelona, and La visita guiada / The guided tour organized by Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía at Abadía de Santo Domingo de Silos, Burgos.

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Superflex (APT London)

Image: Copy Light (2008-09). Wood and printed paper hanging lamps.

Superflex is a Danish artists’ group founded and directed by Jakob Fenger (Copenhagen, Denmark, 1968), Rasmus Nielsen (Copenhagen, Denmark, 1969) and Bjonstjerne Christiansen (Copenhagen, Denmark, 1969) since 1993. Superflex has gained an international reputation for their projects and has had solo shows among others at Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland; REDCAT, Los Angeles; and in 2003 participated in the Utopia Station exhibition at the Venice Biennale.

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YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES (APT Beijing)

A Seoul based web-art group formed in 1998. In 2007 a solo exhibition of their work, Black on White, Grey Ascending, was presented at the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York.

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