The Showroom

Ricardo Basbaum

12 Jul - 17 Aug 2013

[small operatic event] Would you like to participate in an artistic experience?, 1994–ongoing. Performance at The Showroom, London, 2010. Photo: Daniela Mattos
RICARDO BASBAUM
re-projecting (london)
12 July – 17 August 2013

The Showroom is delighted to present re-projecting (london), a major new commission by Brazilian artist Ricardo Basbaum, and the first significant presentation of his internationally renowned artwork in the UK.

During the month of July Basbaum will be based at The Showroom for a programme of nine new projects organised in collaboration with Louise Shelley who leads The Showroom’s Communal Knowledge programme. Each project will connect to one of nine locations that have been determined through the application of an abstract shape onto the map of the area. The shape, which Basbaum calls NBP (New Basis for Personality), has formed the basis of numerous works in diverse formats since the early 1990s, providing a situation that others are invited to take over and shape.

Contributors to re-projecting (london) include seven artists, an anthropologist, an opera singer, a mathematician, a choreographer, and a wide range of individuals and groups from Church Street neighbourhood.

Basbaum’s NBP shape creates a framework for individuals and groups to connect – including a women’s refuge, a women’s finance network, a homeless day centre, a domestic workers’ union, a youth club, an LGBT centre, a youth theatre group, an older people’s centre and a Further Education college – and for thoughts, experiences and ideas to circulate. Wooden objects derived from the angles of the NBP shape will be distributed to generate different public and private uses and to be passed between participants.

The nine projects will be presented in The Showroom’s gallery – which will also function as an “open working room” for collaborators, participants and public to meet, discuss and work together. A programme of public events, performances, screenings and conversations will run throughout the month.

“Although each of the nine actions can be taken as a singular activity, with its own proponents and audience, re-projecting (london) is also a collective and group occurrence. Its gestures negotiate the protocols of contemporary experience and art practice, as a line of flight for producing meaning.” Ricardo Basbaum, 2013.

Communal Knowledge is generously supported by Paul Hamlyn Foundation, City Bridge Trust, the City of London Corporation’s Charity, John Lyon’s Charity, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, Arts Council England, The Showroom Supporters Scheme. re-projecting (london) is produced in the framework of COHAB, a two-year project with Casco, Office for Art, Design and Theory, Utrecht and Tensta Konsthall, Stockholm, supported by a Cooperation Measures grant from the European Commission Culture Programme (2007-2013)

Ricardo Basbaum (b.1961, São Paolo) is an artist and writer who lives and works in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His work investigates art as an intermediating device and platform for the articulation between sensorial experience, sociability and language. Since the late 1980s, he has developed a vocabulary specific to his work. His work has been exhibited at the 30o São Paulo Biennale (2012), Garden of Learning (Busan, 2012), Counter-Production (Generali, Viena, 2012), documenta 12 (Kassel, 2007)

Contributors:
Ada Court, ASK!, Ania Bas, BNP Paribas Women’s Internal Network, City of Westminster College, Chris Dercon, DreamArts, Paul Elliman, FLAG, Fourth FeathersYouth Centre, Jamie George, Henrietta Hale, Studio Hato, Claudia Hummel, Eva Jablonka, Justice For Domestic Workers, Anton Kats, Annette Krauss, Simone Mair, Marylebone Project, Daniella Mattos, Massimiliano Mollona, Mosaic LGBTYouth Centre, Lania Narjee, Christian Nyampeta, Lucy Pawlak, Andrew Pickering, Read-In!, Seymour Art Collective, Louise Shelley, Patrick Staff
 

Tags: Ricardo Basbaum, Paul Elliman