SPRING/SUMMER, 2005, lino tiles 270 x 270 cm with works by John Armleder, Gareth Jones, Goshka Macuga, Mathieu Mercier, Allen Ruppersberg and Joe Scanlan, Program London.
Press Release
Simon Moretti presents ‘SPRING/SUMMER’
12 May – 11 June 2005
John Armleder, Gareth Jones, Goshka Macuga, Mathieu Mercier,
Simon Moretti, Allen Ruppersberg, Joe Scanlan.
The exhibition ‘Spring/Summer’ brings together a group of artists in a collaborative project initiated by artist and curator Simon Moretti. The project will continue Moretti’s exploration in the realm of authorship and display.
His work Compositional Device will act as the starting point for the exhibition. Consisting of linoleum tiles and inspired by Bauhaus design, this floor piece will be used in the space as a framing device and compositional template for the works by the other artists to be displayed on and around it.
As alluded to in the title, correspondences between different modes of presentation encompassing ‘high’ and ‘low’ culture, as well as assumptions around the mainstream and the exclusive, are playfully addressed in the show not only by the mood of the individual works themselves but also by the overall configuration and the use of display devices.
Many of the artists have worked with Moretti on previous projects such as ‘From A to B and Back Again’, Galerie Chez Valentin, Paris (2005), ‘EXPO21: Strategies of Display’, Angel Row Gallery, Nottingham and Mead Gallery, Coventry (2004) and ‘Vis-à-vis’, Platform, London (2003).
John Armleder (Switzerland): recent exhibitions include ‘From A to B and Back Again’, Galerie Chez Valentin, Paris (group, 2005); Kunstverein Ruhr, Essen (solo, 2004); ‘Works on Paper’, Kunsthalle Zurich (solo, 2004); ‘Playlist’, Palais de Tokyo, Paris (group, 2004); ‘Vision Einer Sammlung’, Museum der Moderne, Salzburg (group, 2004).
Gareth Jones (UK): recent exhibitions include ‘From A to B and Back Again’, Galerie Chez Valentin, Paris (group, 2005); ‘EXPO21: Strategies of Display’, Angel Row Gallery, Nottingham and Mead Gallery, Coventry (group, 2004); ‘Two or Three Things I Know About Her’, Produzentergalerie, Hamburg (group, 2004); Cubitt, London (solo, 2003); ‘Helmut Jacoby: Milton Keynes Drawings’, 38 Langham Street, London (solo 2003).
Goshka Macuga (UK): recent exhibitions include Kate MacGarry, London (solo, 2005); ‘From A to B and Back Again’, Galerie Chez Valentin, Paris (group, 2005); ‘EXPO21: Strategies of Display’, Angel Row Gallery, Nottingham and Mead Gallery, Coventry (group, 2004); ‘Draught/Trekkur’, Klink and Bank, Reykjavik (group, 2004); ‘Perfectly Placed’, South London Gallery, London (group, 2004); ‘Kabinett der Abstracten’, Bloomberg Space, London (solo, 2003); ‘Vis-à-vis’, Platform, London (group, 2003).
Mathieu Mercier (France): recent exhibitions include Galerie Medhi Chouakri, Berlin, (solo, 2004); Galeria Massimo Minini, Brescia (solo, 2004); ‘EXPO21: Strategies of Display’, Angel Row Gallery, Nottingham and Mead Gallery, Coventry (group, 2004); ‘Pour Les Oiseaux’, FRAC Pays de la Loire, Carquefou (group, 2004); ‘Photography, Video, Mixed Media II’, Daimler Chrysler Collection, Berlin (group, 2004).
Simon Moretti (UK): recent exhibitions include ‘Relations’, Galerie Rolf Hengesbach, Cologne (group, 2005); ‘From A to B and Back Again’, Galerie Chez Valentin, Paris (group, 2005); ‘None of the Above’, Swiss Institute, New York (group, 2004); ‘EXPO21: Strategies of Display’, Angel Row Gallery, Nottingham and Mead Gallery, Coventry (group, 2004); ‘Simon Moretti Featuring John Armleder’, Galerie Chez Valentin, Paris (solo, 2003); ‘Vis-à-vis’, Platform, London
(group, 2003).
Allan Ruppersberg (USA): recent exhibitions include ‘From A to B and Back Again’, Galerie Chez Valentin, Paris (group, 2005); ‘The New Five Foot Shelf’, De Hallen, Haarlem, (solo, 2004); ‘The Singing Posters’, Studio Guenzani, Milan and Gorney Bravin and Lee, New York (solo, 2003).
Joe Scanlan (USA): recent exhibitions include ‘From A to B and Back Again’, Galerie Chez Valentin, Paris (group, 2005); ‘Massachusets Wedding Bed’, Galerie de Expeditie, Amsterdam (solo, 2004); ‘NOT DONE! Het KUNST enaarsboek’, MHKHA, Antwerp (group, 2004); ‘Pay Dirt’, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham (solo, 2003).
SPRING/SUMMER, 2005, installation view with works by John Armleder, Gareth Jones, Goshka Macuga, Mathieu Mercier, Allen Ruppersberg and Joe Scanlan, Program, London.
SPRING/SUMMER, 2005, installation view with Number Plinth by Gareth Jones and
Picture Puzzle by Allen Ruppersberg, Program, London.
SPRING/SUMMER, 2005, installation view with John Armleder, Ginko Lewis, 2005,
cacti and John Lewis towels, Program, London.
SPRING/SUMMER, Poster.
Review
SIMON MORETTI: SPRING/SUMMER
Ends Saturday 11 June [Tue to Fri 10am - 6pm and Sat 11am - 4pm]
@ Program, 2 New Burlington Place, W1 (020.7439.1123) Tube: Oxford Circus/Piccadilly Circus
Ask Alex Coles and he'll tell you that the demarcation between art and design, like a demilitarised zone, is a very grey area and is constantly being renegotiated. Artists and designers have long been influencing and plundering each other, but in recent decades the space in which artists have been pondering truths has widened to include so much of our fabric of reality that everyday life is beginning to look just like art. Simon Moretti's art is, to say the least, elusive. Like his own work, his curated shows operate in the zone of "habitation", yet also touch upon ideas of inclusiveness and authorship. By careful selection and arrangement, the works in this show blend into one smooth installation. In fact Goshka Macuga's Lichtenstein mirror or Allen Ruppersberg's jigsaw puzzle or even Gareth Jones' plinth all appear so close to being domestic objects rather than artistic produce that with help of Moretti's floor-based rubber tiles one could be walking into a very eccentric, bohemian living room. And this is what one finds disconcerting about Morretti's endeavour, not where the world begins but where art ends.
Sherman Sam