Doug Aitken
9 July–27 September 2015
Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt
Römerberg
60311 Frankfurt
Germany
schirn.de
Online magazine: www.schirn-mag.com
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From July 9, Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt dedicates its entire exhibition space, inside and out, to the impressive work of American multimedia-artist Doug Aitken. It is not only the most comprehensive solo presentation of Aitken’s work in Germany and beyond, but also an exhibition transcending spatial boundaries: Aitken’s kaleidoscopic universe will be presented in more than 1400 square meters of exhibition space. SONG 1 (2012/2015), Black Mirror (2011), migration (empire) (2008) and diamond sea (1997) will be shown in atmospheric spaces with selected sculptures, such as Sunset (black and white) (2011) and Listening (2011). Sonic Fountain II (2013/2015) will transform the public and freely accessible Rotunda of the Schirn into an acoustic-spherical space.
Born in 1968 in Redondo Beach, California, Aitken transcends boundaries with his award-winning work. He combines film and music, architecture, performance and sculpture in a dynamic way. For more than 20 years, he has been creating artworks of fascinating audiovisual intensity and suggestive-seductive power. Aitken belongs to a generation of artists who have reassessed and decisively influenced the way we look at art: His works bear witness to a more profound observation of reality and reflect a philosophical analysis of the present world. In his projects, Aitken has re-formulated the exhibition model to worldwide attention. Be it with the presentation of his work on the exterior facades of museums, including sleepwalkers at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, or the staging of unparalleled happenings, such as Station to Station, a 4,000 mile train journey from New York to San Francisco. Aitken continues his concept of spatially boundless exhibiting in Frankfurt. He goes beyond the walls of the Schirn and into the public realm. Thus, variations of his work “migration (empire)” (2008) can be viewed at Frankfurt Airport, in hotels and across large City-Light-Boards at various locations around the city.”
“For more than two decades, the works by American artist Doug Aitken have expanded our possibilities of perception. For Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, Doug Aitken, for the first time, casts a retrospective look at his influential oeuvre, resulting in a parcours that renders the architecture of the building invisible while connecting the different works to form a coherent spatial unit,” says Max Hollein, Director of Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt.
Doug Aitken takes the viewers of his work on a synesthetic journey around the world and to their inner self—in a maelstrom of expressive and rhythmically structured images. He poses existential questions, but does not provide easy answers. Instead, the artist expresses an almost ingenious enthusiasm for humanity and communal interaction. His themes continuously revolve around human civilization: the alienation of the individual and isolation in the mass; man’s relationship with nature and technology; and technology’s coexistence with nature as well as human relationships per se.
Director: Max Hollein
Curator: Matthias Ulrich
Press contact: Axel Braun (Head of Press/Public Relations):
T (+49 69) 29 98 82 153 / F (+49 69) 29 98 82 240 / presse [at] schirn.de
Press material: www.schirn.de (texts, images, and films for download under PRESS)
