Mori Art Museum

MAM Screen 002: Film Documentations by Gordon Matta-Clark

25 Jul - 12 Oct 2015

MAM SCREEN 002: FILM DOCUMENTATIONS BY GORDON MATTA-CLARK
25 July – 12 October 2015

Curated by: Kondo Kenichi (Curator, Mori Art Museum)

This edition of "MAM Screen" series will showcase Gordon Matta-Clark (1943-78), whose works convey the performative practice of his era, the 1970s, to us via the documentary nature of video. He was involved in a variety of activities including the creation of sculptures and installations, performance, and running of a restaurant although he was best known for his large-scale "building cut" projects, which he documented in numerous films and videos. In this exhibition, in addition to films of two famous projects, Splitting (1974), in which he cuts in two a house in New Jersey and Conical Intersect (1975), in which he cuts a hole in two houses scheduled for demolition due redevelopment in Paris, we also present lesser known works, including Clockshower (1973), a recording of a performance in which the artist himself climbs to the top of a clock tower in Manhattan and washes, shaves and brushes his teeth. These projects are all transitory, but how are the circumstances on each site recreated in the film documentations? Wouldn't it be possible to think of them as independent artworks separate from the projects themselves?
 

Tags: Gordon Matta-Clark