Investigations of a Dog
Works from the FACE (Foundation of Arts for a Contemporary Europe) Collections
15 May – 5 September 2010
Opening: 15 May 2010, 7 pm
Art Centre
Alameda das Fisgas, 79
2645-117 Alcoitão
Cascais, PORTUGAL
info [at] ellipsefoundation.com
The exhibition Investigations of a Dog draws its title from a 1922 short story by Franz Kafka. (…) The French philosophers Deleuze and Guattari, in their analysis of Kafka’s work, have come up with the notion of “minor” literature, to describe this link between writing and politics, i.e. the possibility for artistic creation to carry revolutionary messages, starting precisely from the subversive use of language. (…) The artists brought together here share a practice of art that can be read in the light of this category of minor. They have initiated an “eccentric” art discourse, which cannot be associated with any of the acquired aesthetic categories, and subverts the conventional use of the expressive means it adopts. (…) Like the dog-protagonist in Kafka’s short story, these artists ask themselves questions about the meaning of art making, spurred by a passionate emotional involvement in the society of humans.”
from “Introduction” in exhibition guide of Investigations of a Dog, Art Collections from Five European Foundations – Turin: Face, 2009, pp.6-7
The exhibition features over 40 major works from the following artists:
Vasco Araújo
Virginie Barré
Philippe Bazin
Mircea Cantor
Maurizio Cattelan
Roberto Cuoghi
Mark Dion
Gardar Eide Einarsson
Urs Fischer
Fischli&Weiss
Claire Fontaine
David Hammons
Annika von Hausswolff
Thomas Hirschhorn
William Kentridge
Kimsooja
Jeff Koons
Sigalit Landau
Sherrie Levine
DeAnna Maganias
Mark Manders
Esko Männikkö
Marepe
Paul McCarthy
Boris Mikhailov
Bruce Nauman
Cady Noland
Martin Parr
Navin Rawanchaikul
Aurel Schmidt
Gregor Schneider
Lara Schnitger
Santiago Sierra
Lorna Simpson
Stéphane Thidet
Kara Walker
FACE founding members – DESTE Foundation, Athens (Greece), Ellipse Foundation, Cascais (Portugal), Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin (Italy), La Maison Rouge, Paris (France) and Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall (Sweden) – are non-profit foundations which have set up public spaces for the production and promotion of contemporary art. This new alliance aims at broadening and empowering the scope of their activities through ambitious international projects.
The exhibition will thereafter travel to the other three FACE partner institutions during the following periods: La maison rouge – Fondation Antoine de Galbert, Paris (France) – Autumn 2010 Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall, Stockholm (Sweden) – Spring 2011 DESTE Foundation, Athens (Greece) – Summer 2011.
The Ellipse Foundation is located in Alcoitão, Cascais. Opening hours are Friday to Sunday from 11 am to 6 pm.
Art Centre
Alameda das Fisgas, 79
2645-117 Alcoitão
Cascais, PORTUGAL
info@ellipsefoundation.com
