Doris Salcedo
posted on
February 16th, 2010
Bogotá, Colombia’s , Doris Salcedo is a part of the Guggenheim’s current show, Contemplating the Void. For the exhibit, which marks the building’s 50th anniversary, nearly two hundred artists, architects, and designers were invited to imagine their dream interventions in the rotunda of the space. Her mash- up art piece combines a downward view of the rotunda with a photograph of a New York tenement by the German-born artist Hans Haacke. The tenement photograph, part of his series documenting the holdings of a local real-estate baron, was scheduled to be featured in the 1971 Haacke show at the Guggenheim that was canceled for what were widely believed at the time to be political concerns by the museum’s director.
“What Hans was doing was amazing, and it was censored,” said Ms. Salcedo, a sculptor who is also politically inclined. She wrote to Mr. Haacke to obtain his image and then worked with four architects over several months to create the perfect alignment with the other picture. “It was a nightmare in Photoshop,” she said.
Her point is not so much an institutional critique as a take on the power of design, good or bad. “Architecture has a real effect on us,” she said. “The lack of architecture in the ghetto has a real effect on the people who live there.”
In another of her works Shibboleth sets out to intervene directly with the fabric of Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall. Rather than fill this iconic space with a conventional sculpture or installation, Salcedo has created a subterranean chasm that stretches the length of the Turbine Hall. The concrete walls of the crevice are ruptured by a steel mesh fence, creating a tension between these elements that resist yet depend on one another. By making the floor the principal focus of her project, Salcedo dramatically shifts our perception of the Turbine Hall’s architecture, subtly subverting its claims to monumentality and grandeur. Shibboleth asks questions about the interaction of sculpture and space, about architecture and the values it enshrines, and about the shaky ideological foundations on which Western notions of modernity are built.
In particular, Salcedo is addressing a long legacy of racism and colonialism that underlies the modern world. A ‘shibboleth’ is a custom, phrase or use of language that acts as a test of belonging to a particular social group or class. By definition, it is used to exclude those deemed unsuitable to join this group.
‘The history of racism’, Salcedo writes, ‘runs parallel to the history of modernity, and is its untold dark side’. For hundreds of years, Western ideas of progress and prosperity have been underpinned by colonial exploitation and the withdrawal of basic rights from others. Our own time, Salcedo is keen to remind us, remains defined by the existence of a huge socially excluded underclass, in Western as well as post-colonial societies.
Here is another one of her magnificent works she did for the Istanbul Biennial in 2003.
Joanna Lamb. Screenprint. 2009 © Courtesy the artist
Rob McHaffie. Oil paint. 2009 © Courtesy the artist
I adored The Shilo Project exhibition at The Ian Potter Museum of Art in Melbourne. One hundred different artists created their own version of the record cover of Neil Diamond’s Shilo (1970). Being that the original record cover is merely a ‘connect-the-dots’ image of Diamond’s face - it left the artists with lots of room to be creative in re-working it. I loved every single rendition of the cover (and I’m not even a Diamond fan!) WATCH this awesome video on the project here: http://www.abc.net.au/arts/stories/s2742418.htm
come check out Marianne Collins’ art.
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These are a few images from a project that I shot this summer in Moscow. The work is about women who work in the oil and gas industry in Russia, in a variety of different roles. I am interested in showing the individuals within this huge, faceless, traditionally masculine, environmentally destructive industry. I would like to make a connection between how Russia’s economy is absolutely dependent on this resource, and how capitalist society is contingent on the unpaid work of women. I also want to explore the idea of oil and gas as materials that are in some way ancient and sacred -formed as they are deep within the earth over millions of years.
My problem is that none of this is communicated in the images! I need to activate them somehow, most probably with text (I interviewed each subject about their job, their opinions about Russian society since Perestroika, the position of women and so on), but perhaps also with some kind of sculptural element incorporating oil by-product materials…. This might be overkill though as mixing photo with other mediums can often be too much….. But even if I just use text is will have to be presented in a beautiful and sculptural way, I don’t want it just below the image like a caption….yurg. I am very confused. So if anyone has suggestions for work I should look at, or reactions to these photos -what kind of feeling you get from them etc, that would be super helpful.
I’ve made it to the last time zone; I’m in Komsomolsk Na Amure on the Amur river. This city is all of 70 years old and was built by communist youth, gulag prisoners and japanese POWs as the heart of the military industrial complex supporting the Pacific front. Went on a pretty incredible tour today with a guide from a local travel agency. He calls it the Stalin tour, and when I asked him why he decided to offer such a tour his answer was that this is the only history this city has. Point taken. In effect, it’s like wandering around in an artefact. Heading towards Vladivostok tomorrow.
RAGE5’s PURGATORY (or some place like it) exhibition opens at The Emporium Gallery (3035 St. Antoine Ouest) on Thursday, November 5th from 7-11pm. The exhibition will also be open Saturday, November 7th - Sunday, November 8th. Private viewings available by appointment from Monday, November 9th to Wednesday, November 11th.
About PURGATORY (or some place like it)
Appropriating religious iconography in order to develop an aesthetic that takes cues its from the uncanny and the metaphysical, PURGATORY (or some place like it) is an exhibition that exemplifies the state of limbo and unease that RAGE5, a Montreal-based street artist, feels as he increasingly operates within a gallery environment. Bold and immersive, About PURGATORY (or some place like it) is as much a stunning visual statement as it is an insight into a state of mind.
Artist Statement
“Having made a name for myself as a graffiti artist, I now find myself experiencing a rite of passage as I attempt my way into the gallery scene. While keeping a foot firmly set in the urban landscape with my street art, I am now experiencing a state of limbo which PURGATORY (or someplace like it) refers to. The religious imagery and symbols adopted in this new work metaphorically portray my inhibitions, fears, hopes and desires as I now transition from a seemingly unregulated world to an organized system. This new series of work illustrates my limited yet growing understanding of the constructs that make up the art milieu vs. my anarchic approach to street art.” -RAGE5
About RAGE5
RAGE5 is a Montreal-based multi-discinplinary artist. Having studied visual arts at Dawson College and film at Concordia University, RAGE5 is an avid graffiti writer, painter, illustrator, photographer and filmmaker- which explains why his creative outputs can be found in the streets, galleries and cinemas. His iconic posters and stickers can be found throughout the urban landscapes of Montreal, Baja Mexico and Tokyo. He has previously participated in numerous group exhibitions (such as En Masse) and art festivals (having participated in Under Pressure on four different occasions) and, his new film is set to be released very shortly. RAGE5 is undeniably prolific, expressive and a genuine contributor to Montreal’s arts scene.
This exhibition is presented by The Emporium Gallery, Switzerland CS and Bierbrier.
