Several Silences
April 26 – June 7
5811 South Ellis Avenue
Chicago Illinois 60637
USA
Featuring Lewis Baltz, Manon de Boer, Troy Brauntuch, Paul Dickinson, Ryan Gander, Geissler and Sann, Gran Fury, CM von Hausswolff, Harold Mendez, Jonty Semper, Harry Shearer
OPENING RECEPTION
Sunday, April 26, 4:00–7:00 pm
Talk between Hamza Walker, curator of the exhibition, and Thomas Trummer, curator and Project Manager for the Siemens Arts Program, Munich, Germany, from 5:00 to 6:00 pm.
This event will take place in Cobb Hall room 307 (directly below the gallery). FREE
Titled after an essay by the late philosopher and literary theoretician Jean-Francois Lyotard, Several Silences is a group exhibition exploring various kinds of silence. As a discourse, the aesthetic of silence has been thoroughly domesticated within the visual arts. Although silence as a discourse in art arose out of conditions calling for the negation of art, it has subsequently become familiar subject matter no longer operating as the avant-garde ideal it once was. This is not to say silence has lost significance. If anything, it has become a more potent antidote to a culture of distraction. Silence, however, is not the absence of communication. It is dialectically opposed to communication, so that one sustains and supports the other. Inextricably bound to communication, which it tacitly evokes, silence itself is a form of communication with many meanings. There are voluntary and involuntary silences–some comfortable, others not. There is Cage’s silence, which calls for the distinction between clinical and ambient silences. There is silence as conscious omission or redaction. And then there is memorial silence.
Several Silences and the related publication are based on a cooperation between The Renaissance Society and Siemens Arts Program. Additional exhibition support has been received from The Stone Foundation, British Council, and Mondriaan Foundation. American Airlines is the official airline of The Renaissance Society’s 2008-2009 season.
OPENING RECEPTION
Sunday, April 26, 4:00–7:00 pm
Talk between Hamza Walker, curator of the exhibition, and Thomas Trummer, curator and Project Manager for the Siemens Arts Program, Munich, Germany, from 5:00 to 6:00 pm.
This event will take place in Cobb Hall room 307 (directly below the gallery). FREE
GALLERY TOUR
Sunday, May 3, 12:00 pm
Hamza Walker, curator of Several Silences
LECTURE
Sunday, May 31, 2:00 pm
Kyle Gann, music historian, critic and composer
John Cage’s 4’33″
This event will take place in Cobb Hall room 403 (down the hall from the gallery). FREE
CONCERT
Monday, June 1, 8:00 pm
Jack Wright solo saxophone
This event will take place in the gallery. FREE
CONCERT
Tuesday, June 2, 8:00 pm
Charlotte Hug (viola)
Lou Mallozzi (turntables, spoken word and assorted devices)
Fred Lonberg-Holm (cello)
This event will take place in the gallery. FREE
HOURS AND LOCATION
The Renaissance Society is located on the campus of the University of Chicago, in Cobb Hall, on the fourth floor. It is open Tuesday to Friday 10 am to 5 pm, and Saturday and Sunday from noon to 5 pm. Admission is free. Visit www.renaissancesociety.org to learn more about the exhibitions and events.
ABOUT THE RENAISSANCE SOCIETY
The Renaissance Society has earned its reputation as one of the premier cultural institutions for leading-edge contemporary art in the United States through its longstanding commitment to presenting work by the most challenging and compelling artists of the day. Many of these exhibitions represent the artists’ national or Midwestern premieres, and many have included newly commissioned work. The museum offers educational programs that supplement the exhibition schedule, including concerts, lectures and readings.
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