Agnieszka Kurants Future Anterior Vitrine at This & There in Paris
The artist's 2020 New York Times forecast is on show in two European cities this spring, presenting Kurant's characteristic exploration of the nature of quasi-fictional forms and the hybrid values of today's society
In Paris the Fondation Ricard has included Agnieszka Kurant among the 100 artists invited to create an exhibition to mark the 10th anniversary of its Pavillon Neuflize OBC, a creative laboratory located in the Palais de Tokyo. The pavilions founders Ange Leccia and Christian Merlhio invited artist Claude Closky to curate the anniversary exhibition. For ÇA & LÀ / THIS & THERE Closky has spread the reach of exhibition beyond the confines of the laboratory itself, inviting each artist to present his or her work in the setting and media of their choice, whether that is a physical location in the private or the urban space or a virtual realm on the Internet, on the phone or television screen, by loudspeaker or even printed on a t-shirt. Several projects are presented outside of Paris and beyond, underlining the global aspects of the project. The environment and circumstances within which the work is placed is essential to the overall meaning of the work. The title of the exhibition plays upon two common phrases, this and that and here and there, combining the sense of object and location. As Closky has explained, "rather then defining rules, a theme, an architecture, a spatial design, a method of installation or a privileged medium, I have sought to preserve the liberty of each of the invited artists - and those associated - and to highlight their action".
Agnieszka Kurant's contribution to the show is her 2007 project Future Anterior (Thermochromic silkscreen ink on paper, 57 x 37.50 cm), initially made for the 2008 Performa Biennale in New York. The artist produced an actual issue of The New York Times based on the predictions of a professional clairvoyant who often collaborates with law enforcement agencies and businessmen as a reliable source of information. The clairvoyant predicted the collapse of the European Union, terrorist attacks on a massive scale in Europe, an uprising against Chinese government, and a ultimate destruction of the Amazon forest. These forecasts were later developed by the artist into an issue of The New York Times dated 29 June 2020 and featuring articles written by several regular contributors of the publication. The newspaper has all the parameters of paper, from the bar code to advertisements bought by existing companies. It is however printed with disappearing ink, which becomes completely invisible above 29 degrees and returns to black when it is cooled down. As a result the newspaper appears and disappears depending on the weather conditions. Its particular propensity for change is heightened given its outdoor location at 3 rue Planchat, Paris (FR-75020) in a display case typically suited for notices and advertisements. A map has been made available to the public by the foundation to help visitors find their way to each work, which indicates both physical and virtual locations.
According to Closky, the show is "also a way to question habits and preconceptions, such as the immutable character of art pieces installed in a public space, and the authority that comes with it. Or, inversely, the (deliberate) concealment of the substance of time and the experience of art in events subordinated to communication and box-office imperatives". The exhibition will also be accompanied by a catalogue released on the final day of the exhibition, presenting each work in a before-and-after style, each space shown before the artistic intervention and after, along with a collage of various images taken over the course of the show. The catalogue shall not contain any text pertaining to the works.
Currently a solo show of Agnieszka Kurant's works is being hosted by the Lucie Fontaine Gallery in Stockholm. Unknown Unknown refers to the artist's interest in the "unknown unknown" of knowledge, intellect, imagination, physical and immaterial property, labour, authorship, ownership, production, distribution, cognitive capitalism and the hybrid set of values of global society in the early 21st century. The show presents works related to the "economy of the invisible", exploring fictions and quasi-fictions, the paranormal, paradox, myth and their relation to the pragmatics of economics, society and the logic of time and space. The vision of the future and the manipulation of that projection are also among her chief concerns. Her works are in constant flux, shifting in status in various ways depending on the circumstances of their creation and subsequent exposition, such as the way weather impacts her work Future Anterior.
Future Anterior is among the works on show, along with more recent projects by the artist. Phantom Library (2011) consist of a library of fictional, invisible books. These books don’t exist, except in the pages of other books, cited by such authors as Philip K. Dick, Stanislaw Lem, Jorge Luis Borges, Vladimir Nabokov, Richard Brautigan. Kurant produced the fictional invisible books as real sculptural objects for which she bought ISBN numbers and barcodes to give them status in the material world. Behind each book there is a complex economy of its production process designed to manufacture hundreds or thousands of copies. In this piece the complex and costly economy serves to produce just one single copy of each book, imagining a new hybrid mode of production between singularity, individuality and mass production. The covers of the books were designed in collaboration with the artist and graphic designer Kasia Korczak from the collective Slavs and Tatars.
Agnieszka Kurant, Map of Phantom Island. Source: Lucie Fontaine Gallery Stockholm
Map of Phantom Islands (2011) is a map of the world including only fictional islands, a map of imaginary territories where colonial influences and power relations can also easily be shown. The maps depict all the phantom islands that during the history of civilization were ever shown on maps of the world as results of mirages observed in different places around the globe, cartography errors, misconceptions about the world, rumors, myth and legends. Some phantom islands were also intentional errors of explorers who tried to persuade governments to get money for conquering new lands and invented and placed on maps on some nonexistent territories, which later continued appearing on other maps over the centuries. All these islands appeared once or a few times and with the time and development of knowledge and cartography gradually disappeared from maps but many of them remained until 1943, which was when they started aerial photography. Some caused real political conflicts and almost led to wars. The piece also includes an archive of 30 phantom islands with fragments of old maps where they appeared together with descriptions of their history and origin as well as additional information we have about these phantom territories related to their economy, regime of climate.
Agnieszka Kurant is an artist based in Warsaw and New York. In 2010 she represented Poland at the Venice Biennale of Architecture (with Aleksandra Wasilkowska) with Emergency Exit, an installation resembling a ski-jump launching pad or a public pool spring board and jump into a cloudlike cushion, representing the desire to escape from real life and the illusory security of safety regulations in hi-rise buildings. In 2008 she was one of the Frieze Projects artists. She has presented her work at venues including: Witte de With in Rotterdam (2011), Venice Biennale (2011), Performa09, Athens Biennale (2009), Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw (2008), Yvon Lambert in New York (2005), Creative Time in New York (2007), Mamco in Geneva (2006) and Palais de Tokyo in Paris (2004).
Her forthcoming shows include a solo project at The Guggenheim Museum in New York (September 2012) and at Fortes Vilaça, Sao Paulo (June 2012).
ÇA & LÀ / THIS & THERE takes place between the 10th of April - 21st of May 2012 at the Fondation d'entreprise Ricard and beyond, in cooperation with the Pavillon Neuflize OBC, Palais de Tokyo Laboratory for Creation in Paris. For more information, see: www.palaisdetokyo.com/fr/pavillon/les-10-ans
Agnieszka Kurant - Unknown Unknown takes place at the Lucie Fontaine Gallery (Maria Skolgata 83) between the 28th of March - 16th of April 2012. For more information, see: www.luciefontaine.com/de215.html
Editor: Agnieszka Le Nart
Source: Ricard Foundation, Lucie Fontaine Gallery