Claire Fontaine opens the exhibition season
Via Dante 6
39100 Bolzano, Italy
www.museion.it
Claire Fontaine
M – A – C – C – H – I – N – A – Z – I – O – N – I
4 February–13 May 2012
Opening:
Friday, 3 February, 7 pm.
Museion Passage
concepted by Martino Gamper
Thursday 2 February:
7.30 pm opening
8 pm “The New Public” panel discussion with Rein Wolfs, Martino Gamper, Angelika Burtscher (Lupo&Burtscher), Daniel van der Velden (Metahaven) and Emanuela De Cecco (Libera Università di Bolzano)
Sonia Leimer
Along those Lines
4 February–18 March 2012
Opening:
Friday, 3 February, 7 pm.
The exhibition “M – A – C – C – H – I – N – A – Z – I – O – N – I” by Claire Fontaine opens Museion’s 2012 exhibition season on 3 February.
The Bolzano show presents a selection of previous works and new creations: videos, neon signs, installations and the collective’s “machinery-sculptures”, that refer to the closed, irrational nature of the capitalist economy, intent on preserving its status quo at any price. The title of the exhibition (which translates as ‘Machinations’) references the machine metaphor that underpins capitalism, with its relentless production/consumption cycle.
The Claire Fontaine collective, founded in Paris in 2004, takes its name from a well-known French brand of stationery. The works of this self-styled “ready-made artist”, underpinned by theoretical research, often resemble those of other artists. Challenging the very notion of the artist figure, the collective views itself as a “whatever singularity”, the subjective equivalent of a urinal or a box of Brillo pads, and therefore equally interchangeable. The Museion event is the collective’s first solo show in an Italian museum.
The exhibition is curated by Letizia Ragaglia.
It is accompanied by a catalogue published by Walter König (in two versions: Italian/French and German/English) with texts by Letizia Ragaglia, Hal Foster, Bernard Blistène and John Kelsey.
Museion Passage
Museion’s 2012 season opens with a new look for the ground floor: thanks to the Museion Passage project by the designer Martino Gamper (Italy, 1971), this area now fulfils the role of “covered square”, offering a physical meeting place also open to external events.
On occasion of the opening of Museion Passage, there will be a panel discussion and poster project devoted to the theme “The New Public”. These initiatives are part of a programme of related events surrounding the exhibition of the same name curated by Rein Wolfs, Museion’s guest curator for 2012. The posters have been designed by H I T Berlin, Lupo&Burtscher Bolzano, Metahaven Amsterdam and NORM Zürich. The discussion chaired by Rein Wolfs will feature Martino Gamper, Angelika Burtscher (Lupo&Burtscher), Daniel van der Velden (Metahaven) and Emanuela De Cecco (Libera Università di Bolzano).
New project room at Museion
The west wing of Museion Passage will host a project room, an exhibition space for new or ad hoc projects by young artists, with a special focus on local talent. The first artist to present a project is Sonia Leimer (Italy, 1977) with the work “Along those lines” curated by Frida Carazzato.