Runa Islam LOST CINEMA LOST Tobias Putrih
27th January – 30th March 2008
Palazzo Santa Margherita
c.so Canalgrande 103
Modena, Italy
The Galleria Civica di Modena is proud to present another first: a double solo exhibition housed simultaneously in the rooms of Palazzo Santa Margherita.
The exhibition will open in fact on 27th January at 12pm, under the title Runa Islam LOST CINEMA LOST Tobias Putrih, curated by Milovan Farronato, organised and produced by Galleria Civica di Modena and the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Modena.
Runa Islam and Tobias Putrih here display a new series of works especially designed for this occasion. The two artists have thus set out on an unprecedented collaboration project aimed at offering two separate projects, yet ones which feed off an ongoing dialogue and a well-balanced co-habitation.
Runa Islam returns to Italy with three unseen works created in 2006/2007 and put on show in Modena for the first time, including the film Merchants of Venice, produced by the Galleria Civica di Modena and the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Modena. The sense conveyed by the exhibition is completed with the presence of a number of previous works, both film works and sculptures, never seen before now in Italy.
Tobias Putrih uses this venue to present two film theatres and a luminous installation. Art, architecture and the human dimension are still the key elements which characterise his work. Cinema theatres continue to interest him in terms of providing the physical space for personal annihilation in the search for satisfaction.
Lost Cinema Lost (the common title of the exhibitions), for Islam means the cinema of lost origins, that which through its elementary magic, managed to come up with new and unreal images simply through the overlapping of two stills. For Putrih on the other hand, lost cinema is one of a series of spaces (along with department stores, amusement parks and other non-spaces) which marked the collapse and failure of both an individual and a collective utopia.
Biographical Notes
Runa Islam was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in 1970. She lives and works in London, where she trained at the Royal College of Art. Among her numerous solo exhibitions: Dunkers Kulturhus, Helsingborg, Sweden (2005); Santa Monica Contemporary Arts Centre, Barcelona (2005); UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2005); Camden Arts Centre, London (2005), Bergen Kunsthall, Bergen, Norway (2007). She has also taken part in a great number of biennial shows, such as that of Istanbul (2003), Venice (2005), Seville (2006) and Gwangju (2006).
Tobias Putrih was born in Kranj, Slovenia, in 1972. He lives and works in New York.
After training initially in the sciences, he studied visual arts at the Academy of Lubiana and at the Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf. His solo exhibitions include that at the Museum of Modern Art of Lubiana (2003), his one-man show at the Grazer Kunstverein, Graz (Austria, 2005), and Quasi-Random at the Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase College, New York (2007). He has taken part in a great number of international exhibitions, including the 52nd Venice Biennale (2007) and Manifesta 4 (Frankfurt 2002).
Runa Islam LOST CINEMA LOST Tobias Putrih
Palazzo Santa Margherita, corso Canalgrande 103, Modena, Italy
Opening times
from Tuesday to Friday 10.30am -1pm; 3pm – 6pm
Saturday, Sunday and public holidays 10.30am – 6pm
Closed on Mondays
Monday 24th March, holiday opening from 10.30am – 6pm
Galleria Civica di Modena, c.so Canalgrande 103, 41100 Modena
tel. +39 059 2032911/2032940 – fax +39 059 2032932
