‘Anri Sala:Purchase Not By Moonlight’
December 3, 2008 – March 1, 2009
Museum of Contemporary Art
770 NE 125th Street
North Miami, FL 33161
The Possibility of an Island
December 4 – March 21, 2009
MOCA at Goldman Warehouse
404 NW 26th Street,
Wynwood Arts District
Miami, FL 33127
ANRI SALA and THE POSSIBILITY OF AN ISLAND
Exhibitions at Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami and MOCA at Goldman Warehouse during Art Basel
Miami BeachMOCA, North Miami
The first major museum exhibition by Albanian artist Anri Sala features seven films from the late 1990s to the present including a new film, Answer Me, along with photographs and sculptures that explore a dialogue about the interplay of the works with space and time. Co-organized by the Contemporary Arts Center (CAC), Cincinnati and Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami, Sala’s work is presented as one exhibition with two parts designed to resonate with each museum’s respective space.
The installation at MOCA, North Miami addresses the issue of rupture as Sala’s films play on a timer. Sala creates an environment in which the visitor’s focus is directed toward specific films that engage in dialogue with each other, with the space, and experience of the viewer. Sala includes several drums especially fabricated for the exhibition. Synched with particular films, the drumsticks respond to the low-frequency rhythm of the films’ soundtracks, a furtive, yet direct connection between musical instruments and the sound component of a particular narrative. Lighting of the space and drums follow the same sequence Sala has developed for the screenings. As some films end, they completely disappear and different films in other areas of the museum begin. The orientation of the installation is constantly changing, causing viewers to reorient themselves within the space
Anri Sala: Purchase Not By Moonlight is sponsored by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and is part of the Museum of Contemporary Art’s Knight Exhibition Series. Additional support provided by Starbucks Coffee Company and Monica Kalpakian.
Curated by Raphaela Platow, CAC’s Alice & Harris Weston Director and Chief Curator, the exhibition premieres at MOCA, North Miami from December 3, 2008 – March 1, 2009 and will be on view at the CAC from May 30 through September 6, 2009.
Opening reception
Tuesday, December 2, 7 – 9 pm
Catalogue
Sala’s first U.S. publication, an illustrated catalogue, includes essays by Svetlana Boym, Michael Fried, Raphaela Platow and Bonnie Clearwater.
MOCA at Goldman Warehouse
The Possibility of an Island, on view in the Museum of Contemporary Art’s annex space, MOCA at Goldman Warehouse, takes French author Michel Houellebecq’s 2005 novel of the same name as its starting point and poses existential questions in the face of an elusive future. Both exhibition and novel address fundamental anxieties about issues such as aging, death, irrelevancy, culture, destruction and sexuality in the present and the future. Featuring a group of international artists working in a variety of media, the exhibition explores the poetic and philosophical sides of science fiction literature. These artists approach science fiction as a genre that provides diversion from the banality of everyday life, making current dreams and anxieties more spectacular.
Artists featured in the exhibition include: Cory Arcangel; Davide Balula; Tobias Bernstrup; Heman Chong; Peter Coffin; Matias Faldbakken; Cao Fei; Kim Fisher; Claire Fontaine; K48; Chris Kraus; Cristina Lei Rodriguez; Nicolas Lobo; Martin Oppel; Philip (a novel written by Mark Aerial Waller, Heman Chong, Cosmin Costinas, Rosemary Heather, Leif Magne Tangen, Francis McKee, David Reinfurt, and Steve Rushton); Lisi Raskin; Julika Rudelius; and Mungo Thomson.
The Possibility of An Island is organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami and is curated by MOCA Assistant Curator Ruba Katrib.
The exhibition is sponsored by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and is part of MOCA’s Knight Exhibition Series. Additional support provided by the Arts Council Singapore, Office for Contemporary Art Norway and IASPIS.
Opening reception:
Thursday, December 4, 9 am – noon
Museum of Contemporary Art
770 NE 125th Street
North Miami, FL 33161
305.893.6211
MOCA at Goldman Warehouse
404 NW 26th Street, Wynwood Arts District
Miami, FL 33127
305.573.5441
