The Great Transformation
07 Jun - 07 Sep 2008
Joanne Tatham and Tom O'Sullivan,
"You have forgotten why you asked us here; We cannot remember why we came"
2005
"You have forgotten why you asked us here; We cannot remember why we came"
2005
The Great Transformation - Art and Tactical Magic
7 June 2008 - 7 September 2008
Jonathan Allen, Marcel Breuer, Center for Tactical Magic, Erich Consemüller, Roberto Cuoghi, Maya Deren, Claire Fontaine, Aurélien Froment, Werner Herzog, Mike Kelley, Joachim Koester, Maria Loboda, Goshka Macuga, Michele di Menna, Eduardo Navarro, Olivia Plender, ride.1, Jean Rouch, Allen Ruppersberg, Kerstin Stoll, Joanne Tatham & Tom O'Sullivan, Banks Violette and Adrian Williams.
The last decade has seen an increased interest in a new understanding of belief, comm-unity, and the possibility for social transformation using the tools and languages of transcendental forces. Dealing with reactionary forces – superstition, the occult, the obscure, magic – at the same time keeps possibilities alive for change and for promoting experimental attitudes.
The group exhibition The Great Transformation sets out to document a new interest that contemporary art production has taken in magic and the occult. The artists in this show stress magic as the trait that can help us to understand the role of the producer or artist and that of the viewer as a participant in a ritual.
Tactical magic, the subtitle of the show, means using magic as a methodology to reflect upon questions beyond the realm of the spiritual. The artworks and projects to be presented in The Great Transformation show how magic can be employed as a methodology with a critical potential to challenge our views on society and notions of communication. Through a subject like magic, we gain a new perspective into the organization of social space, into the existence of grey zones between the rational and the irrational.
The exhibition will travel to MARCO (Museo de Arte Contemporánea de Vigo, Spain), where it will be on view from September 19, 2008 to January 11, 2009.
7 June 2008 - 7 September 2008
Jonathan Allen, Marcel Breuer, Center for Tactical Magic, Erich Consemüller, Roberto Cuoghi, Maya Deren, Claire Fontaine, Aurélien Froment, Werner Herzog, Mike Kelley, Joachim Koester, Maria Loboda, Goshka Macuga, Michele di Menna, Eduardo Navarro, Olivia Plender, ride.1, Jean Rouch, Allen Ruppersberg, Kerstin Stoll, Joanne Tatham & Tom O'Sullivan, Banks Violette and Adrian Williams.
The last decade has seen an increased interest in a new understanding of belief, comm-unity, and the possibility for social transformation using the tools and languages of transcendental forces. Dealing with reactionary forces – superstition, the occult, the obscure, magic – at the same time keeps possibilities alive for change and for promoting experimental attitudes.
The group exhibition The Great Transformation sets out to document a new interest that contemporary art production has taken in magic and the occult. The artists in this show stress magic as the trait that can help us to understand the role of the producer or artist and that of the viewer as a participant in a ritual.
Tactical magic, the subtitle of the show, means using magic as a methodology to reflect upon questions beyond the realm of the spiritual. The artworks and projects to be presented in The Great Transformation show how magic can be employed as a methodology with a critical potential to challenge our views on society and notions of communication. Through a subject like magic, we gain a new perspective into the organization of social space, into the existence of grey zones between the rational and the irrational.
The exhibition will travel to MARCO (Museo de Arte Contemporánea de Vigo, Spain), where it will be on view from September 19, 2008 to January 11, 2009.