IVAM reconstructs the history of boundaries through art
Dionisio González
Jornalista Roberto Marinho I, 2005
From the 28th of May to the 15th of November at the Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno. IVAM
Organized by: IVAM
In conjunction with: Ministry of Culture, Bancaja, Generalitat Valenciana and Alicante 2008-2009
Curatos: Consuelo Ciscar Pasabán, Vincenzo Trione, Robert Storr, Francesca Pietropaolo, Aaron Betsky, Robert Wilson.
INSTITUTO VALENCIANO DE ARTE MODERNO. IVAM.
C/ Guillem Castro, 118
Valencia (España)
Four shows comprise the sweeping project that IVAM launched on the 28th of May of this year devoted to exploring the ambiguous concept of “boundary” and its evolution in todays art and society. It aims to accomplish this through works by contemporary creators that re-create the scenarios of upheaval in which the flux of our world today is unfolding, and an everyday reality which despite the apparent empire of globalization is characterized by a constant resurgence of walls and barriers, of duplicity.
Anish Kapoor
The healing os St Thomas, 1995
The first section of “Confines” (Boundaries) is set up as a sort of historical prologue that predates the development of the rest of the exhibition and examines the mechanisms that diverse artists have drawn on to represent the idea of the boundary. This initial display, named “Historias del confín” (Histories of the Boundary), is arranged from a lyrical and thematic standpoint and is devoted to the line viewed as the division par excellence. Pieces by Mark Rothko, Anselm Kiefer, Fontana, Sean Scully, Tàpies, Daniel Buren and Miquel Navarro beckon visitors to consider the relationships, as well as the existing barriers, between realism and abstraction and between the visible and the invisible.
Vista de la exposición “Confines”, celebrada en el IVAM, Valencia, entre el 28-05-09 y el 15-11-09
Likewise “Confines del tiempo” (Boundaries of Time) and “Geografía del confín” (Geography of the Boundary) analyze the role of distance as a cloak, as a protective mechanism against possible outside dangers. The former exhibition is made of recent videos by both veteran and emerging artists from Asia, Europe and America (including David Claerbout, Liliana Porter, Patricia Esquivias and Jonas Mekas). These works, which have emerged from extremely diverse conceptual, formal and poetic approaches, share their attempt to capture time and its boundaries. They capture the figurative and perishable as a means of evoking the unlimited span of life. They share a concern with the rupture of borders and the collapse of temporal linearity with architects and creators who exhibit their installations in “Geografía del confín”. In this section, Los Carpinteros, Tom Sachs, Carsten Höller, Antony Gormley and Esther Stocker analyze the boundaries between painting and architecture.
To close the show, “Visiones del confín” (Visions of the Boundary) delves into the realm of utopia and strives to break with the idea that delimitations are always necessary. Christopher Knowles, Jonathan Meese, Misaki Hawai and Matt Leines reflect their particular vision of contemporary society in the installations chosen.
