Double Life
December 13, 2014–March 15, 2015
Contemporary Arts Museum Houston
5216 Montrose Boulevard
Houston, TX 77006
Hours: Tuesday–Friday 10am–7pm, Thursday 10am–9pm, Saturday 10am–6pm, Sunday noon–6pm
Admission free
T +1 713 284 8250
The Contemporary Arts Museum Houston is pleased to present Double Life, which features works by the internationally celebrated artists Jérôme Bel, Wu Tsang, and Haegue Yang. The exhibition includes an immersive light and sculpture installation, a 16mm film loop, a video projection, live dance presentations, and a new multimedia work commissioned by CAMH.
The works in Double Life blur the boundaries between staged narratives and real world encounters, and transform quotidian materials and situations into memorable and affective experiences. They reference a range of temporalities and operate in spaces between the visual and performing arts, fiction and documentary, feeling and representation. The bodies appearing in these works traverse a variety of physical, conceptual, and spatio-temporal boundaries. “Movement” is considered in its gestural and sociopolitical capacities. We are invited along for a ride that is, to quote Gertrude Stein, “a spectacle and nothing strange.”
Public programs
Events at CAMH are free and open to the public.
Opening reception: Double Life
Friday, December 12, 6:30–9pm
Celebrate the opening reception of Double Life. Curator Dean Daderko leads a tour of the exhibition at 7pm.
In conversation: Haegue Yang and Dean Daderko
Saturday, December 13, 2pm
Artist Haegue Yang joins Curator Dean Daderko in a conversation about her work and the exhibition Double Life. Yang is a South Korean artist living and working in Berlin and Seoul. She is best known for drawing on a wide repertoire of household objects to create works whose abstract sensibilities explore a range of historic, cultural, and sociopolitical narratives.
In conversation: Jérôme Bel and Dean Daderko
Saturday, January 31, 2pm
Choreographer Jérôme Bel joins Curator Dean Daderko for a conversation about his work and the exhibition Double Life. Based in Paris and working worldwide, Bel’s work explores issues such as appropriation and non-virtuosity with an invigorating and often deadpan sense of humor. Their conversation is followed by a performance of Cédric Andrieux.
Dance performance: Cédric Andrieux
Friday, January 30, 7pm
Saturday, January 31, 3pm
Jérôme Bel’s performance Cédric Andrieux explores a dancer’s life. Andrieux, who has danced with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company and the Lyon Opera Ballet, offers his audience personal stories and reflections on his life in dance. Previously performed on proscenium stages, this presentation at CAMH has been re-choreographed to accommodate an audience that surrounds the stage.
Publication
The illustrated catalogue accompanying Double Life includes essays by Litia Perta, Ph.D., a writer and core faculty member of the Critical and Curatorial Studies Program at the University of California, Irvine; and the exhibition’s curator, Dean Daderko. Designed by AHL&CO, this publication also includes an introduction by CAMH Director Bill Arning, extensive full-color documentation of the exhibition, a complete checklist, and biographic and bibliographic information on the participating artists. The catalog is available in CAMH’s museum shop and is distributed by Distributed Art Publishers (D.A.P.).
This catalogue is made possible by a grant from The Brown Foundation, Inc.
To purchase a copy of the forthcoming catalogue for Double Life (or other recently published titles, including Radical Presence: Black Performance in Contemporary Art, Trenton Doyle Hancock: Skin and Bones, 20 Years of Drawing; Parallel Practices: Joan Jonas & Gina Pane; LaToya Ruby Frazier: WITNESS; and Outside the Lines), please email museumshop [at] camh.org.
