Crumb: Interviews with New York based curators

During a project-based visit at Eyebeam in Summer 2008, a series of interviews with New York based curators were carried out. Michele Thursz was interviewed by Verina Gfader and Beryl Graham on Mon 7 July at Eyebeam. The dialogue developed around questions of platforms built out of necessities; conceptual gallery spaces; using topical relevant information as principle in curatorial practice; curating as art project; the value of and insistence of layers of conversation; education as site of potential; the variety of art markets and the conversation about the art market fundamental to operate within and outside; interest in the longevity or continuation of an artist’s project; production team rather than collaboration.

Carlo Zanni

My Temporary Visiting Position from the Sunset Terrace Bar

January 24 - April 2009

Sandroni.Rey/Project Space

Sandroni Rey is pleased to present My Temporary Visiting Position From The Sunset Terrace Bar, an exhibition in the Container project space by Carlo Zanni. This is Carlo Zanni’s first exhibition with Sandroni Rey, organized by Julia Fryett and Michele Thursz.

Carlo Zanni (La Spezia, 1975) is an Italian born artist living between Milan and New York. His work is focused on the intersection of computation and representation fusing old and new media to shape landscapes and portraits often confronting themes of real time/real life; fiction/information. Zanni’s practice finds its minimalist roots in Sol Lewitt’s artist statement, “The idea becomes a machine that makes the art”, which he translates into a contemporary adaptation, “The idea becomes the code that renders the art.”

Shown in the Container is an archive of My Temporary Visiting Position from the Sunset Terrace Bar. Set in the city of Ahlen, Germany, the project imitates an amateur’s film of the landscape framed at sunset. The work confronts themes such as exile, migration and border control and is enhanced by a poem by the esteemed author Ghada Samman and music by Gotan Project and Gabriel Yared. While the city strip is prerecorded, the sky is captured in real time from a webcam shooting Naples, Italy at sunset. Zanni exposes a new dimension in cinematic production by the use of generative information, DATA CINEMA, using narrative structures and the use of live data feedback gathered from the Internet to create time based social consciousness experiences. The entire project may be viewed at http://www.fromthesunsetterrace.com, where visitors choose upon two ways to experience the work: a live mode, available only in a specific time frame during the sunset in Naples or browsing through the archive where a time accelerated HD version of the movie is rendered every day and archived online.

Carlo Zanni has shown worldwide in galleries and museums including: MAXXI Museum, Rome (2007, 2006); New Museum, New York (2005); Gavin Brown’s Enterprise at Passerby, New York (2005); Chelsea Museum, New York (2004); CCA Glasgow (2003); Analix Forever Gallery, Geneve (2003, 2002); P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York (2001).

ICA - Institute of Contemporary Art in London held his first retrospective in October 2005 and published the book “Vitalogy”.

“They Always Say That Time Changes Things…”

“They always say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.” - Andy Warhol

This series of short films studies how time has been interpreted by experimental film artists from 1963 to the present. Featuring works by Andy Warhol, Bas Jan Ader, Jørgen Leth, Christian Marclay, Joe Diebes, Annika Larsson, Reynold Reynolds, and Carlo Zanni, the series takes the conceptual films of Andy Warhol as a point of departure, investigating the fundamental ways in which the camera can either document or manipulate real time. Warhol utilizes both of these cinematic devices in Kiss when time appears to freeze. The trajectory of contemporary artists presented engages the many ways in which the camera can communicate passage of time, whether through simply recording an event or creating a hyper-real world with new technologies.

Series of short films:

1) Andy Warhol Kiss, four minute excerpts, 16 minutes

2) Bas Jan Ader, “Broken Fall (Organic)”, 1971, 1 minute, 44 seconds

3) Jørgen Leth, “The Perfect Human”, 1967, 13 minutes ( http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8341864322805018162)

4) Christian Marclay, “Telephones”, 1995, 7 minutes, 30 seconds

5) Joe Diebes, “Scherzo”, 2008, 13 minutes

6) Annika Larsson, “Hockey”, 2004, 26 minutes

7) Reynold Reynolds, “Secret Life”, 2008, 10 minutes

Carlo Zanni, “My Temporary Visiting Position From The Sunset Terrace Bar”, 2007, 13 minutes Total Time: 101 minutes

Organized by: AKTIONSART Foundation- Julia Fryett and Michele Thursz.

Public programs are made possible by a major gift from Ann and Jerry Moss.

Additional support is provided by Laura Donnelley, Bronya and Andrew Galef, and the Hammer Programs Committee.

am building a blog to replace my original website; a post media network; that acted as an archive and exhibition space.

The BLOG should bring to life the archive of my previous site and allow for a conversation. The act of sharing through conversation and participation is the conceptual underpinning of my professional practice as a curator .

During construction you may visit my old site: http://www.michelethursz.com/site/