Hito Steyerl
4 November – 19 December 2010
Chisenhale Gallery
64 Chisenhale Road
London E3 5QZ
+44 (0) 20 8981 4518
mail [at] chisenhale.org.uk
www.chisenhale.org.uk
The space of the junkyard allows various ‘crash’ narratives to unfold, with the stories of actual crashes and the remnants and afterlife of these machines becoming metaphors for economic decline. This is an investigation of planes as they are parked during the economic downturn, stored and recycled, revealing unexpected connections between economy, violence and spectacle, finding perfect example in the form of the Boeing 4X-JYI, an aircraft first acquired by film director Howard Hughes for TWA, which was subsequently flown by the Israeli Airforce before finding its way to the Californian desert to be blown up for the Hollywood blockbuster Speed. Through intertwined narratives of people, planes and places Steyerl reveals cycles of capitalism incorporating and adapting to the changing status of the commodity, but also points at a horizon beyond this endless repetition.
A prolific writer, filmmaker, theorist and teacher, Steyerl’s research and interests cover topics as diverse as cultural globalisation, feminism, culture, migration and racism. Her films are a montage of politics and pop, Hollywood and independent film, interviews and voice-over commentaries, which present provocative filmic analyses of the present.
Hito Steyerl (b. 1966) is based in Berlin. Recent solo exhibitions include Picture This, Bristol; Collective, Edinburgh; Henie Onstad Centre, Høvikodden; Villa Stuck, Munich; Collective, Edinburgh (all 2010); Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (2009); and Moderna Museet, Stockholm (2008). Group exhibitions include Taipei Biennial; 1st Ural Biennial; Gwangju Biennial; ‘Antiphotojournalism’, La Virreina, Barcelona; ‘Horizons’, BAK, Utrecht (all 2010); ‘Dispersion‘, ICA, London; U-Turn Kvadriennale for Samtidskunst, Copenhagen (both 2008); ‘documenta 12′, Kassel (2007) and ‘Manifesta 5′, San Sebastian (2004).
TALKS & EVENTS
Wednesday 17 November, 7pm Mark Fisher, author of Capitalist Realism (2009, Zero Books) and lecturer at Goldsmiths and University of East London, presents a talk in which he asks the question: ‘Can anything genuinely new emerge in a political landscape that is clogged with ideological junk?’
Saturday 27 November, 2pm A panel discussion focusing on the notion of the ‘biography of the object’ with Hito Steyerl, Peter Osborne, Professor of Modern European Philosophy at Kingston University, and Eyal Weizman, Director of Centre for Research Architecture, Goldsmiths, University of London, and chaired by Melissa Gronlund, Managing Editor, Afterall.
Thursday 2 December, 7pm Screening of Hito Steyerl’s November (2004) and On Three Posters. Reflections on a video-performance (2004) by Rabih Mroué.
The exhibition is supported by IFA, Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen and Creative Scotland.
Chisenhale Exhibitions Partner 2010: Outset Contemporary Art Fund
Chisenhale Gallery is funded by Arts Council England and is a registered charity no. 1026175
For more information please contact mail@chisenhale.org.uk or +44 20 8981 4518
