Hilary Lloyd

The Museum für Gegenwartskunst Basel presents the first major exhibition in Switzerland showcasing the work of the British artist Hilary Lloyd (b. 1964, lives in London). The furtive eye of Lloyd’s camera records scenes of urban life, among other objects, illuminating the modern city as a site of voyeurism, fetishism, and sexual ambivalence. People engaged in everyday rituals and routine gestures of self-projection draw the artist’s interest, as do architecture, advertising, and the play of lighting effects on different surfaces.

Her installations from the early 1990s, which involve videos, slide projectors, and ambient sound, point up the mutual dependency between people and their city, which condition each other in an indivisible union. Workmen, waiters, skaters, DJs, and clubbers become the subjects of Lloyd’s inquiry. But her camera also captures unexceptional architectural elements or flowers, transforming them into autonomous images. The selective gaze paints a picture of urban fascination permeated by a dynamic choreography of static and moving sequences. Such effects of perception fused in pictorial montages are most obviously achieved by virtue of mirror reflections, split screens, and rotation, in works like Building (2011) and Motorway (2010). Other pictures present abstract studies that recall liquid quicksilver, broken glass, or bright concentric circles. In some instances, the viewer cannot infer the material reality of the surfaces. The pictures of lighting effects, architecture, advertisements, and poses in Lloyd’s most recent work (e.g., in Striped Man [2011]) emphasize this structuralist aspect. They are reduced to pure surface and materiality.

Yet Lloyd’s practice is not limited to the filmed image; the installation, with monitors, flat screens, and projectors elegantly and meticulously set out in the room, also acquires a strong presence. The visitor is inevitably confronted not only with the pictures, but also with their manifestation. Since the technical means are recognizable at first glance, the beholder immediately comprehends all spatial interrelations. This method moreover triggers an altered—and oddly mechanical—perception of time.

The numerous works selected—and in some instances specifically created—for the exhibition not only convey an impression of Hilary Lloyd’s immense productivity; in the ensemble, they also mark a significant moment in her evolution as an artist.

In 2001, Hilary Lloyd spent a year in Basel as a fellow of the Laurenz-Haus Foundation. She was nominated for the renowned Turner Prize in 2011.

Museum für Gegenwartskunst
Kunstmuseum Basel

Martin Fengel
“Puff the magic dragon”

Nusser & Baumgart presents “Puff the magic dragon”, Martin Fengel‘s first solo exhibition. The show is divided into two parts, including new works since 2011.

Under the title “Wachs (Wax)” are shown a series of works Fengel began in 2011. With this series, the artist explores the use of wax as a material, dealing with a variety of associations. On one hand, the works relate to 1960s hippie culture, a time when candles were essential requisites for the spiritual-esoteric scene: wax as a symbol for being able to observe the passing, „dripping” of time. The meditative process through which the sculptures are built up, drip by drip, are reminiscent of the lifestyle characterised by mind-expanding drugs.On the other hand, Fengel also refers to the rediscovery of wax in American Pop Art, which appeared almost simultaneously. The technique first enjoyed a revival by, for example, Jasper Johns in the 1950s. A connection to the then revolutionary drip paintings is also apparent: Fengel has taken drip painting a step further to creating drip sculptures. The abstract forms arise not through conscious intervention by the artist, but solely through the varying aggregate states. This temporary changeability is an essential aspect, during which, in every phase of the creative process, individual artworks arise and, under the different layers, the sculptures of earlier phases remain.

By showing only photos of the sculptures in the exhibition, Fengel contrasts constant change with the finality of depiction. The temporary changeability, which is so characteristic of the sculptures, no longer plays a role for the photographs. The various phases are permanently captured in the photos, and the hidden works under the layers are made visible for the viewer. At the same time, this approach underscores the transience of the wax sculptures that materialize during their creation: They exist only in the photographic images.

The story that Martin Fengel tells in the other part of the exhibition deals with the dark deeds of a weird sect, outside of civilisation. The presented motifs are connected with each other through strangeness and the bizarre. Although here too there is a clear connection to hippie culture, inspirational sources also include 1950s horror and fantasy comics, and the work of H.P. Lovecraft. The photos depict reality-based motifs which are then assembled to form a hypothetical setting.

In addition to the solo show, Martin Fengel exhibits as well at VILLA STUCK MUSEUM. On the occasion of its 20th anniversary, Martin Fengel has been invited to accompany the museum throughout the year. Each week, Fengel will hang a new photographic work in the entrance hall.

www.nusserbaumgart.com

Project Space: Stage and Twist

Anna Molska and Ciprian Mureşan

exhibition: 25 May – 14 October 2012
venue: Tate Modern, London

In Stage and Twist a child drinks a mixture of Pepsi and Coca-Cola, a giant puzzle is played by two half-naked young men, an iconic work by Yves Klein is re-enacted with the artist leaping into the void and hitting the pavement below and a group of workers assemble a monumental sculpture out of scaffolding in an empty field. In all of these works history is both re-staged and twisted as a means to engage critically with the present day.

This exhibition brings together the Polish artist Anna Molska and the Romanian artist Ciprian Mureşan for their first museum exhibition in London. Molska and Mureşan draw upon historical events and art history to highlight the power of the collective experience in the post-communism era. Both artists question social mechanisms and the construction of individuality. Rather than glorifying the past, each work cheerfully accepts the uncountable failures and shortcomings of contemporary society.

The exhibition is curated by Capucine Perrot, Tate Modern and Magda Lipska, Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw.

Project Space at Tate Modern (formerly the Level 2 gallery) is dedicated to presenting contemporary art through a series of collaborations with cultural organisations around the world. It brings together emerging curators from both Tate Modern and other international venues for contemporary art to work together on an exhibition for both locations. Based on curatorial exchange and dialogue, the series showcases the work of new, recently established or rediscovered international artists. The exhibitions therefore open up the possibility of introducing new work and interpretations within differing global contexts.

This series of discursive exhibitions began in 2011 and, to date, has included collaborations with institutions in Amman, Lagos, Istanbul, Mexico City and Warsaw. Forthcoming exhibitions are being developed with partners in Cairo, Lima and New Delhi. The Project Space series aims to explore the most challenging art of today as well as the complexities of operating within a global context for contemporary art.

Anna Molska (born 1983, Prudnik, Poland) lives and works in Warsaw. She graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw in 2011. Selected solo exhibitions include: Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw (forthcoming, Autumn 2012); The Forgetting of Proper Names, Calvert 22 Foundation, London (2012), Anna Molska, Malmö Konsthall, Sweden (2010). Selected group exhibitions include: The Third Room, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf (2011); Rearview Mirror, The Power Plant, Toronto (2011); While Bodies Get Mirrored – an exhibition about Movement, Formalism and Space, Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich (2010); The Generational: Younger Than Jesus, New Museum, New York (2009); 5th Berlin Biennial, Berlin (2008).

Ciprian Mureşan (born 1977, Dej) lives and works in Cluj, Romania. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts, Cluj-Napoca in 2000. Since 2005 Ciprian Mureşan has edited IDEA art + society magazine, published in Cluj-Napoca. Selected solo exhibitions include: Recycled Playground, Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève (2012); Ciprian Mureşan, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin, Germany (2010). Selected group exhibitions include: The Beauty and the Distance, 17th Biennale of Sydney, Australia (2010); Les Promesses du passé, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France (2010); The Generational: Younger Than Jesus, New Museum, New York, (2009); Seductiveness of the Interval, Romanian Pavilion, 53 Venice Biennale (2009); Staging the Grey, Prague Biennale 4 (2009).

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