Henry Moore Institute programme highlights 2015–16
Henry Moore Institute
The Headrow
Leeds, LS1 3AH
The Henry Moore Institute is a centre for the study of sculpture, and a part of The Henry Moore Foundation. Our 2015–16 programmes feature exhibitions addressing sculpture and industry, the object and its context, the senses and mortality, while our research programme presents lectures, conferences and fellowships.
Spring
The Event Sculpture
Since November the Henry Moore Institute has turned inside out. Lara Favaretto (b. 1973), Urs Fischer (b. 1973), Ceal Floyer (b. 1968), Simone Forti (b. 1935), Simon Martin (b. 1965), Anthony McCall (b. 1946), Maria Nordman (b. 1943), Tino Sehgal (b. 1976) and Roman Signer (b. 1938) have been invited to create events on and around our building, and today these are guided inside by Sehgal’s Kiss (2002). Lasting from a few seconds to several hours, the nine event sculptures encompass sound, objects, dance, actions, and projections as the exhibition explores how transitory sculptures are written into history.
A Study of Modern Japanese Sculpture
Introducing modern Japanese sculpture to Britain, this study presents nine small-scale sculptures from the Taisho and early Showa periods (1912–41) by Heihachi Hashimoto (1897–1935), Tetsuya Mizunoya(1876–1943), Risaburo Miyamoto (1904–98), Chozan Sato (1888–1963) and Kotaro Takamura (1883–1956). It focuses on representations of nature: a stone carved in wood is placed beside the object it studies, polychrome carvings represent living creatures, while a hand is modelled in clay then cast in bronze.
Garth Evans: Sculpture Photographs
Garth Evans (b. 1934) is central to the narrative of British sculpture, consistently exploring possibilities of medium, form, weight and scale. Over 100 vintage photographs produced during his 1969 fellowship at the British Steel Corporation are shown alongside a never previously exhibited colour slide-work from 1977.
Carol Bove / Carlo Scarpa
Bringing together sculptures by Carol Bove (b. 1971) and rarely seen sculptural experiments and exhibition furniture by architect and exhibition designer Carlo Scarpa (1906–78), this exhibition investigates how artworks are given meaning through display. At the centre is a new setting by Bove for Scarpa’s objects made for the 1968 Venice Biennale. A selection of Bove’s sculptures made between 2003 and 2013 join museum vitrines and easels by Scarpa, as well as tests for his masterwork, the Brion Tomb.
Summer
Eileen Agar: Natural Ready-mades
Eileen Agar (1899–1991) sought out sculptural forms in nature, combing the shoreline for natural ready-mades that she choreographed into collages and sculptures. In 1936 she began working with a camera, taking images of sculptural coastal rock formations. Permeating Agar’s photographs and assemblages is a strong sense of visual pleasure, playfulness and wit, as shown by Marine Object (1939) at the centre of this focused display, combining an amphora with shells and a starfish.
Paul Neagu: Palpable Sculpture
Paul Neagu (1938–2004) demanded sculpture be appreciated by all five senses. The Romanian-born sculptor started to make tactile objects in Bucharest in 1968, developing a unique artistic vocabulary. Taking his 1969 Palpable Art Manifesto as a guide, this exhibition celebrates multi-sensory encounters with sculpture. Presenting over 100 works Paul Neagu: Palpable Sculpture proposes a phenomenological understanding of sculpture. This exhibition shows two decades of art-making that loop between tactile boxes and edible sculptures, performances and fictional collaborators, object making and drawings.
Autumn
Object Lessons
Developed by Swiss educationalist Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (1746–1827), the “object lesson” used a wooden box holding an encyclopaedic selection of materials, including glass, botanical specimens, spices and fabric. Presenting a series of boxes made in the late 19th century, Object Lessons draws on the implications of this system on the sculptor’s education, exploring relationships between sculpture, touch and agency.
Katrina Palmer: The Necropolitan Line
Katrina Palmer (b. 1967) writes about objects, reformulating sculpture’s association with the body with her sculptures taking the form of books, readings and recordings. The Necropolitan Line uses as source material the 1854 London Necropolis Railway linking London to Brookwood in Surrey, the site of UK’s largest cemetery. Filling the galleries with sound and narrative, in this commission Palmer unsettles the very definition of sculptural form.
Christine Kozlov: Information
Christine Kozlov (1945–2005) questioned how objects are used to communicate information. This first posthumous presentation considers information as sculptural material through artworks and archival material. Using films, tapes, photographs and texts Kozlov examined the limits of documentation—INFORMATION: NO THEORY (1970), for example, is a tape recorder recording its surrounding space, only to be erased and replaced every two minutes.
Exhibition programme partners: Museion, Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Musashino Art University Museum and Library, Slade School of Fine Art
Exhibition programme supporters: Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation, Japan Foundation, Graham Foundation for the Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation, Terra Foundation for American Art
