|
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) presents Six Lines
of Flight: Shifting Geographies in Contemporary Art, which brings
together artists from six cities around the world that have become
burgeoning artistic centers: Beirut, Lebanon; Cali, Colombia; Cluj-Napoca,
Romania; Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; San Francisco, USA; and Tangier,
Morocco.
Six Lines of Flight explores the hybrid,
changing nature of today's international artistic landscape, presenting
work from various communities that provide a unique lens through which to
examine artistic production regionally and beyond. Artworks in all media
are presented, including installation, painting, sculpture, film,
photography, video, and performance. Featuring more than 60 works by 19
artists and collectives, the exhibition is organized by Apsara DiQuinzio,
former assistant curator of painting and sculpture at SFMOMA.
"Six Lines of Flight convenes artists who have created and helped
build diverse organizations on a grassroots level in six cities around the
world, presenting works that index the distinctive histories and cultural
character of each location," says DiQuinzio. "Through the cultivation of
new connections among these disparate regions, the exhibition itself
emerges as another cross-cultural platform."
Artists who have
developed institutions, collectives, or associations that have had a major
impact on their respective communities are represented. Through the
artists' foundational work, these platforms have anchored each region,
helping to foster vibrant art scenes. Artists featured in the exhibition
include: Yto Barrada, Tiffany Chung, Wilson Diaz, Futurefarmers, Adrian
Ghenie, Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige, Helena Producciones, Lamia
Joreige, Dinh Q. Lê, Victor Man, Oscar Muñoz, Ciprian Muresan,
Luis Ospina and Carlos Mayolo, The Propeller Group, Graziella and Jalal
Toufic, and Akram Zaatari.
Over the last decade, it has become
increasingly apparent that the art world is no longer defined by a few
primary art centers, but is now composed of many centers, small and large,
that possess distinctive histories, constituencies, and ethnic backgrounds.
The exhibition not only seeks out work being made in diverse geographic
locales, but also demonstrates the interconnected nature of the
international art landscape, exploring artworks from each region in
relation to common themes, such as cosmopolitanism, collaboration,
contested histories, the dynamics between center and periphery, the lasting
traces of war, and the effects of economic and cultural renaissance.
The title Six Lines of Flight refers to the six featured
cities and suggests distinct yet parallel perspectives and patterns of
movement. It also draws on the work of French philosophers Gilles Deleuze
and Félix Guattari, who coined the term "line of flight" to refer to
a pathway leading to new connections, experiences, and forms of knowledge.
In bringing together artists whose efforts have enriched each city's
cultural landscape, the exhibition explores such pathways and links between
them, illuminating the dynamic, global, and collective spirit of
21st-century art.
A fully illustrated catalogue accompanies the
exhibition, with an introduction by DiQuinzio and essays about each
locality authored by a curator or writer active there. In addition, three
thematic essays challenge traditional cultural frameworks and propose
various ways of understanding the shifting nature of the local and global
landscape, written by Tarek Elhaik and Dominic Willsdon, Hou Hanru and
Pamela M. Lee. The publication also includes a roundtable discussion
between artists from each city and SFMOMA curators DiQuinzio and Willsdon
that was held at the museum in September 2011.
Six Lines of
Flight: Shifting Geographies in Contemporary Art is organized by the
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Major support is provided by The Andy
Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Creative Work Fund, Pat and Bill
Wilson, and SFMOMA's Collectors Forum. Generous support is provided by the
Betlach Family Foundation and the Trust for Mutual Understanding.
Read the full press release at SFMOMA’s Press
Room.
*Image above:
Dinh Q. Lȇ, Sound
and Fury, 2012 (still). Three-channel video installation with sound,
7:30 minutes. Commissioned by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and
ARSENALE 2012; Courtesy the artist; Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Los Angeles;
PPOW Gallery, New York; and 10 Chancery Lane Gallery, Hong Kong; ©
Dinh Q. Lȇ.
|
