THE GALLERY IS LOCATED AT 1181 BROADWAY, THIRD FLOOR, NEW YORK, NY
ALINA SZAPOCZNIKOW
MY AMERICAN DREAM
EXHIBITION September 11 - November 13, 2010
OPENING RECEPTION September 11, 6 - 8 PM
PREVIEW: Sculptures in the exhibition (PDF 2.9 mB)
PREVIEW: Drawings in the exhibition
(PDF 2.8 mB)
The second show of Polish-French artist Alina Szapocznikow (1926–1973) at BROADWAY 1602 presents for the first time a group of works, which could be termed the “conceptual” shift in the artist’s practice dating back to the beginning of the 1970s, when Szapocznikow extended her notion of sculpture into immaterial forms. While Szapocznikow radicalized the style and vocabulary of her pop-surrealist polyester based sculptures - exemplified in the show by a group of works dating from 1967-71 - the new decade with its movements expanding the boundaries of art gave inspiration to widen her practice. Different paths of experimentation existed by then side by side in her oeuvre and in genuine aesthetic synthesis.
Central to the exhibition is the first presentation of the complete portfolio My American Dream (1970/1). In correspondence to conceptual art forms of the time, this portfolio consists of extended research material, letters and text work written by the artist, in preparation of a massive sculptural project - a double life size marble Rolls Royce - which was from the beginning on of such material dimension that it could not be realized, but remained to exist on the level of an idea documented in this multi-facetted archival art work. Part of the portfolio is a correspondence with
Documenta ’72 director Harald Szeemann. Szapocznikow had proposed the marble Rolls Royce project to the curator, only to receive the regretting but sharp response that such a costly piece could only be realized with sponsors provided by the artist, while other responses of potential sponsors are pointing to the ‘difficult times’ overshadowed by the oil crisis. Altogether the documents of My American Dream keep up an ambiguity between playful concept and the artist’s determination to actually realize the gigantic marble car.
My American Dream was soon after shown simply in form of a text sheet/idea contribution, according to the instructions that curator Pierre Restany had given out to the participants of the show “Art Concepts from Europe” at Bonino Gallery in NYC. In this text Szapocznikow envisioned that if the precious marble Rolls Royce were to be bought by a collector - ‘if such a fantastic snob exists’ - who would have glamorous parties on his lawn in the car, then her American dream would be accomplished. With a conceptual reference to Pop Art’s playful affirmations of consumer culture Szapocznikow regarded the Roll Royce as an object being “completely useless, and a reflection
of the god of supreme luxury. In other words, a “complete work of art”.”
Anke Kempkes
NEWS
BABETTE MANGOLTE's The Sky On Location (1982) will be screened as part of the 10th series of Light Reading. The event will be followed by a dialogue between Mangolte and curator Fleur van
Muiswinkel.
no.w.here Gallery, London, UK
September 8, 2010, 7- 9 PM
More information here
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ALINA SZAPOCZNIKOW will be featured in:
Une Idée, une Forme, un Être - Poésie/Politique du corporel
Curated by Raphael Gygax
September 25 – November 28 2010
Opening September 24 2010, 6PM
Migros Museum, Zurich, Switzerland
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EDWIN BURDIS:
Back, Sack and Crack ( a work ) and HOME ( a performance )
September 9 - October 2 2010
Max Wigram Gallery, London
Novel and Something Blue
Joint Publication Launch at Archive Kabinett
July 20th, 2010 at 7 pm at Archive Kabinett in Berlin
LongMeg
September 11
Be Glad The Song Has No End - A festival of Artists' Music
Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridge
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EVEYNE AXELL will have a solo presentation curated by Elena Filipovic, Charles Gohy & Angelique Campens
Museum Wiels, Brussels, Belgium
October 22 2010 - January 16 2011
More information here
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EVELYNE AXELL will be part of the group exhibition
POWER UP. Female Pop Art - Curated by Angela Stief
Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, Austria
November 5 2010 - February 20 2011
More information here
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BABETTE MANGOLTE is part of:
Mixed Use, Manhattan: Photography and Related Practices 1970s to the Present"
Curators: Douglas Crimp and Lynne Cooke
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid
June 10 – September 27, 2010
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EVELYNE AXELL, SANJA IVEKOVIC, ALINA SZAPOCZNIKOW
are part of:
ELLES at Centre Pompidou, Paris
From may 27, 2009
More information here
UPCOMING SHOWS
November
ANNA MOLSKA