Lying Freely. Hurt Locker Instruments. Circular Facts.

Casco – Office for Art, Design and Theory presents:

Ruth Buchanan: ‘Lying Freely’
Installation, book
28 March – 2 May 2010

‘Lying Freely’, an itinerant project by artist Ruth Buchanan, arrives in its fourth and final phase with an installation at Casco and a book that meets its three previous stages. Over the course of two years Buchanan has investigated questions surrounding the tension between private need and public appearance, individual agency and collectively received legacy, producing a series of works that each deal with particular figure constellations, location and format. Her three-staged work consists of a guided tour, a theatre piece and two exhibitions whereby the installation at Casco consists of a viewing platform raised in close proximity to the ceiling, an audio piece, a dividing wall, a new film and a slide work, all of which create deliberate forms of (not) appearing in public. The exhibition also works as a host structure for the book, which in itself is an experiment of how to reiterate and share “works” that have already happened, without representing. The book was made in close collaboration with designer David Bennewith and co-published by Casco and Jan van Eyck Academie (ISBN: 978-90-72076-41-0. It is possible to order the book from both institutions and Clouds publishing).

Ei Arakawa w/d Mari Mukai, Gela Patashuri and Sergei Tcherepnin: Hurt Locker Instruments
Off-site performances in the city of Utrecht, concert, exhibition

23 April 2010 17.00-18.00 performance, Park de Gagel, Overvecht
24 April 2010 12.00-13.00 performance, Kanaalstraat, Lombok
24 April 2010 18.00-19.00 performance, Esperanto monument, Overvecht
25 April 2010 15.00-16.00 concert, Casco
26 April–23 May 2010 exhibition, Casco

Ei Arakawa’s method of practice, which often consists of group dances, actions, improvisational performance, building workshops and informal architecture/exhibition as a result of these, can be marked by the notion of “makeshift”. By extrapolating from a given context or an existing cultural reference and collaboratively moving towards an estranging situation, Arakawa resists the tendency to limit human productivity by allotting it a proper form, a proper place or a proper name. Instead, he enquires about the extent of “make-shift” agency whilst animating a communal space.

In ‘Hurt Locker Instruments’, Arakawa merges two references – ‘Lying Freely’ by Ruth Buchanan and ‘Tbilisi’, an annual contemporary art event in Tbilisi that Arakawa was involved in, experimenting with how different urban contexts, individuals from Utrecht and Tbilisi (two cities seemingly with no common ground) can be connected “with and against” their distinctive historical, cultural and political frames. Accordingly, he also invited three artist-friends from Tbilisi, Paris and Tokyo, Mari Mukai, Gela Patashuri and Sergei Tcherepnin to team up with him. Their performances comprise of different referential archives—including ones from ‘Lying Freely—and materials and will be open for spectator participation and last-minute collaborators. The results of the performances will be then reconstructed at Casco, where they will alter and extend Ruth Buchanan’s installation.

This project is developed upon the invitation from Casco in partnership with Springdance, the annual dance festival in Utrecht (16-26 April, http://www.springdance.nl).

‘Circular Facts’ launching event
24 April 2010 15.00-16.00

Both ‘Lying Freely’ and ‘Hurt Locker Instruments’ have been developed in the framework of ‘Circular Facts’, a cooperative circuit for itinerant research and projects by artists and other practitioners initiated by Casco, Objectif Exhibitions (Antwerp) and The Showroom (London) in collaboration with Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen and Electric Palm Tree, financially supported by the European Union Culture Programme. An introduction to this open-ended “circuit” will be at an interval during ‘Hurt Locker Instruments’ by Binna Choi, Mai Abu Eldahab and Emily Pethick, the directors of the three initiating institutions and accompanied by the artists mentioned above.

For further information, please contact Jaring Dürst Britt (jaring@cascoprojects.org).

Casco
Office for Art, Design and Theory
Nieuwekade 213-215
3511RW Utrecht
The Netherlands
T/F: +31 (0)30 231 9995
info@cascoprojects.org
http://www.cascoprojects.org

Casco – Office for Art, Design and Theory, established in 1990 in Utrecht, is committed to the production and presentation of cross-disciplinary projects and “participatory” activities initiated with artists, designers and writers. Its primary focus is on the areas where art, design and theory intersect to form critical, imaginative and collaborative inquiries into our social and physical environment.

Casco’s programme is generously supported by the Mondriaan Foundation and the Utrecht City Council. ‘Lying Freely’ is financially supported by Jan van Eyck Academie and the European Union Culture Programme. ‘Hurt Locker Instruments’ is financially supported by the European Union Culture Programme.