Uncertain States of America
American Art in the 3rd Millennium
23 June – 23 September 2007
Le Musée de Sérignan
146 avenue de la Plage
34410 Sérignan
France
www.ville-serignan.fr
The exhibition “Uncertain States of America American Art in the 3rd Millennium” is currently on view at Le Musée de Sérignan. The exhibition has been travelling for almost two years, and will go to Prague and Beijing after Sérignan. The curators for the exhibition are Daniel Birnbaum, Gunnar B. Kvaran and Hans Ulrich Obrist.
‘Uncertain States of America — American Art in the 3rd Millennium’ presents a wide spectre of young, American artists who work in a number of different media. The curators crisscrossed the US for two years to search for new artists, and explain the curatorial process as both challenging and rewarding: “The exhibition [] presents but a small fraction of the challenging and sometimes disturbing works that we came across during this intense period of research. [] Clearly we want this exhibition to reflect the variety of expressions and heterogeneity of the artistic landscape, but in the end the intensity and indisputable quality of the works remain our key criteria.”
The show, described by the curators as floating archipelagos rather than a rock solid continent, has been well received by international press. Roberta Smith from the New York Times points to the fact that this is an American show put together by Europeans, and therefore presents an interesting outside view of the American art scene, whereas Tom Morton from Frieze states that “the best works had a conviction [..] that felt appropriate to our new century”.
The exhibition is organized by the Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art and was initially presented there in autumn, 2005. Since Oslo, the exhibition has been developing and growing into a number of international museums and institutions:
CCS Bard, New York, 24 June – 10 September 2006
Serpentine Gallery, 9 September – 15 October 2006
Reykjavik Art Museum, 4 November 2006 – 21 January 2007
Moscow Biennial (special video version), 1 March – 1 April 2007
Herning Art Museum, 4 March – 30 June 2007
CCA Warsaw, 23 March – 7 May 2007
Le Musée de Sérignan, 23 June – 23 September 2007
Galerie Rudolfinum, Prague, 5 December 2007 – 28 February 2008
Songzhuan Art Center, Beijing, spring 2008
Catalogue
The Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art has made a catalogue for the exhibition with presentations of all the artists as well as essays by Daniel Birnbaum, Gunnar B. Kvaran, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Bettina Funcke, John Kelsey, Gean Moreno, Frances Stark, Jan Tumlir, Elisa Turner. Special projects: Brooklyn Rail, e-flux video rental, McSweeney, North Drive Press, Quiet Industries, WhiteWalls. The catalogue can be ordered at: info@fearnleys.no www.afmuseet.no
Reader
Sternberg Press has published a reader as an addition to the exhibition, edited by Noah Horowitz and Brian Sholis. You can order the Reader directly from the Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art info@fearnleys.no, or from Sternberg Press mail@sternberg-press.com