Agnieszka Kurant, still from "Cutaways", 2013. Courtesy of the artist
The show has been commissioned through SculptureCenter, where Kurant is currently an Artist-in-Residence, exploring "the ways in which rumors, fictions, myths and paranormal activity become phantom capital and enter into social, economic, and political systems of the contemporary world", as is stated in the press release. Kurant makes use of the ambiguity of objects and the gaps in everyday logic in which fiction and reality merge, often confusing our understanding of the world. One of the most characteristic concepts in Kurant's practice is the idea of "phantom capital" - the globe's "invisible economy" and its implications on the world - many of which appear to defy basic logic. She is also interested in the creative aspects of the editorial process in creating both art and propaganda. In 2010 she represented Poland (along with Aleksandra Wasilowska) at the Venice Architecture Biennale, with a work that invited visitors to jump into a "rabbit hole" of sorts and leap into the unexpected, deepening the experience of architecture through an enigmatic, multi-sensory experience. Her 2011 project Map of Phantom Islands depicts all the phantom islands that during the history of civilization were ever shown on maps of the world as results of human error or myth.
The title of her latest show, exformation, plays upon an opposition to information, where facts are purposely withheld, creating a new message or situation. The word was coined by the Dutch journalist Tor Nørretranders in the 1990s to describe a process in which certain information is voluntarily withheld. The show presents works that make use of the editing process to demonstrate its aesthetic and political power. For Cutaways (working title) Kurant worked with renowned film editor Walter Murch - who has films like Apocalypse Now and The Godfather under his belt - to take up discarded footage of characters in films and combine these scenes with new footage in which all the phantom characters meet and interact. The exhibition will also feature an earlier work, the shortwave radio piece, 103.1 (previously titled Silence is Golden), which is an edited compilation of meaningful pauses from important political, intellectual and economic speeches spanning a century, inspired by Heinrich Boll, “Murke's Collected Silences” (1955) and produced as a radio transmission. SculptureCenter is also hosting a programme of meetings and workshops with the artist. See more at sculpture-center.org
Simultaneously, at the Stroom in The Hague, the artist presents Cutaways alongside some of her earlier works, including Phantom Estate, a phantom building in miniature (designed in cooperation with French architect Didier Faustino) that houses a collection of non-existent works of art. These works are based on conversations with conceptual artists, such as Edward Krasiński, Marcel Broodthaers and Aligherio Boetti, about works that were never finished... or merely dreamt of.
Agnieszka Kurant, Map of Phantom Islands, 2013. Photo: Eduardo Ortega / courtesy of the artist
Agnieszka Kurant (1978) is an artist based in Warsaw and currently New York. She represented Poland at the Polish Pavilion at Venice Biennale 2010 (collaboration with the architect Aleksandra Wasilkowska). Her works have been shown in art institutions including: Witte de With, Rotterdam (2011); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2004); Tate Modern, London (2006); Yvon Lambert Gallery, New York (2005) , Creative Time, New York (2007). In 2008 she was commissioned to realize Frieze Projects at Frieze Art Fair, London. In 2009 she was shortlisted for the International Henkel Art Award (MUMOK, Vienna). Kurant was an artist in residence at Palais de Tokyo, Paris in 2004; ISCP, New York in 2005; Konstfak, Stockholm in 2007 and at the Paul Klee Center (Sommerakademie) in Bern, 2009 and Location One (New York, 2011-2012).
Agnieszka Kurant - exformation
10.11.2013 – 27.01.2014
1.12.2013 – 23.02.2014
Source: SculptureCenter, Stroom Den Haag, based on the original article on culture.pl. Editor: AMG
15.11.2013
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