JOHN MILLER
Kunsthalle Zürich
MARCUS COATES
Kunsthalle Zürich Parallel
29 August – 15 November 2009
Tue/Wed/Fri 12 – 6 Pm, Thur 12 – 8 Pm,
Sat/Sun 11 Am – 5 Pm, Mon Closed
Limmatstrasse 270
CH-8005 Zürich
Tel. +41 44 272 15 15
FRIDAY, 28 AUGUST
Press Information: 10.30 am
Opening: 6-9 pm, followed by a Summer Party in the courtyard
Concert: 11 pm; XXX MACARENA: With John Miller, Jutta Koether and Tony Conrad
SATURDAY, 29 AUGUST
SYMPOSIUM and PERFORMANCE:
The symposium “In Other Words” is the opening event of a series centering around artistic practice that use language as an integral medium. Organised by Kunsthalle Zürich in collaboration with the Milan based curatorial project Peep-Hole and the Istituto Svizzero di Roma.
1 pm: Questions & Answers, Performance by Marcus Coates.
2.30 pm: Podium discussion with Vincenzo de Bellis, Claire Fontaine, Jutta Koether, John Miller, Bruna Roccasalva, Beatrix Ruf and Falke Pisano.
PERFORMANCES BY MARCUS COATES:
SATURDAY, 5 SEPTEMBER, 10.30 pm as part of the Lange Nacht der Museen
TUESDAY to SATURDAY, 20 – 24 OCTOBER daily during the opening hours of Kunsthalle Zürich
The exhibition of the work of artist, musician and critic John Miller, who was born in 1954 and lives in New York and Berlin, provides a comprehensive insight into a body of work that has been formulated since the 1980s and creates societal and artistic identification and representation models with analytical precision, wide-ranging humour and visual urgency.
With over 45 paintings, sculptures and installations, a digitised slide show of over 1,500 photographs and video works, the exhibition provides a survey of Miller’s work from 1983 to 2009.
This exhibition presents the first comprehensive overview of the work of John Miller and follows on from his solo exhibition in Le Magazin in Grenoble in 1999 and the presentation of a selection of his Middle of the Day photographs at Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporaine in Geneva in 2004. The exhibition provides broad insights into the cosmos of an artist who assumes a unique artistic position among his contemporaries and fellow students such as Mike Kelley and Jim Shaw as well as Tony Oursler and Stephen Prina.
The exhibition is accompanied by an extensive monograph; with texts by Alex Alberro & Nora M. Alter, Branden Joseph, Jutta Koether and John Miller. With an introduction by Beatrix Ruf. Published by JRP|Ringier.
The artist Marcus Coates, who was born in 1968, explores human and social issues in his performances and the resulting video works. He experiments with forms of meaning and consciousness from the animal kingdom as parallel ways of experience and carries out almost shamanistic acts in an attempt to respond to urgent questions. In these performances, for which he dons half or full body costumes, he engages in a dialogue with the mode of being of animals and re-translates their voices into our language. In his first solo show to be staged at a Swiss institution, Coates presents a total of 6 of his video works for two-weekly periods. These ambivalent works oscillate between dark humour, fascination and irritation and are accompanied by notes and costumes used in the performances. Viewers can experience the artist himself in action on three occasions: Saturday, 29 August, 1 pm, as part of “In Other Words”, Saturday, 5 September, 10.30 pm, as part of the Lange Nacht der Museen, Tuesday to Saturday, 20 – 24 October, daily during the opening hours of Kunsthalle Zürich.
A catalogue to accompany the exhibition will be published in early 2010 in cooperation with the Milton Keynes Gallery, Milton Keynes (UK).
We would be happy to provide additional information and digital visual material. Please contact: Anna Caruso, Tel. + 41 (0)44 272 15 15 or caruso@kunsthallezurich.ch
