In Concert
26 September - 2 October 2005
Martin Creed and his band, © the artist, photo: Andy Bromley.
SCHIRN KUNSTHALLE FRANKFURT
Römerberg
60311 Frankfurt, Germany
phone: ( 49-69) 29 98 82-0
fax: ( 49-69) 29 98 82-240
welcome [at] schirn.de
The Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt presents In Concert, a musical project consisting exclusively of visual artists. In Concert presents the musical side of the British Turner Prizewinner Martin Creed, the duo Sergej Jensen / Michaela Meise, the German shooting star Martin Eder, the New York newcomer Janine Gordon aka JahJah, the Canadian artist Rodney Graham, the American artist Stephen Prina, and the Viennese artists association Albers. Schirn not only picks up on a tradition begun in 2002 with a series of concerts and performances that opened the exhibition Frequenzen [Hz] or events like its concerts given by Carsten Nicolai but also demonstrates that artists are once again more frequently organizing professional bands. In Concert will present a broad musical spectrum, ranging from the lyrics of the American artist Stephen Prina with guitar accompaniment by way of the strident Dadaist play of the Englishman Martin Creed all the way to the polished hip-hop and rap of American Janine Gordon.
DATES:
September 26, 2005: MARTIN CREED
September 27, 2005: SERGEJ JENSEN / MICHAELA MEISE
September 28, 2005: MARTIN EDER aka RICHARD RUIN
September 29, 2005: JANINE GORDON aka JAHJAH
September 30, 2005: THE RODNEY GRAHAM BAND
October 1, 2005: STEPHEN PRINA
October 2, 2005: ALBERS
In Concert begins on September 26, with the British artist Martin Creed (b.1968), whose minimalist objects and installations frequently incorporate music as an integral element. In 1994, the future Turner Prize winner (2001) founded the band Owada with Keiko Owada (bass) and Karen Hutt (percussion), and in 1997 the released the album nothing. In addition to numerous performances with Owada, since 1999 Creed has also developed solo projects as guitarist and singer in the context of his exhibitions. Creeds music is a catchy mix of pop and Dada; sometimes his texts merely cite the chords of the music being played or count off the time remaining until the song ends. With his numbers reduced to elementary structures Creed systematically undercuts pop cultural expectations.
The second concert, on September 27, is presented by the duo Sergej Jensen / Michaela Meise. Jensen was born in Denmark in 1973 and, like Meise, studied at the Städelschule in Frankfurt; currently he lives in Berlin. He is active primarily as a painter and in mixed media; he has participated in numerous exhibitions in Berlin, Karlsruhe, and New York and in the exhibition deutschemalereizweitausenddrei at the Frankfurter Kunstverein. Michaela Meise, born 1976, works with installations, drawing, painting, and performance. Both artists took part in the performance Squirrel Prism at the Hamburger Kunstverein in 2003. They are currently planning a joint project on songs by the singer Nico. Nico joined the Velvet Underground in 1966, having been introduced by Andy Warhol. As the bands lead singer she performed on songs like All Tomorrows Parties and Femme Fatale. Later Nico had a solo career. A CD will be released relating to the project by Sergej Jensen and Michaela Meise.
On September 28, one of the shooting stars on the German scene, Berlin-based Martin Eder (b. 1968), can be seen and heard as the singer of the band Richard Ruin. The kitschy-bleak moods, between idyll and horror, that characterize Eders paintings of dogs, cats, and naked women are also found in his ballads, which recall the Bad Seeds of the 1980s. In small Berlin nightclubs the band, which was formed in 2003, has demonstrated its qualities live. Its first album will soon appear, with songs like In a Song of No Sorrow and Speak a Little Spell.
Janine Gordon, born 1976, will give a solo concert on September 29. The New Yorker, whose photographs were shown at the Whitney Biennial in 2003 and at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris in 2004, performs under the pseudonym JahJah. She has already made a name for herself on the American rap and hip-hop scene, which she has entered just as resolutely as she did the punk rock scene whose concerts she photographs so impressively, capturing moments filled with intensity and ecstatic movement. Janine Gordon aka JahJah will soon release her first album.
On September 30 Vancouver-born artist Rodney Graham (b. 1949) will be the Schirns guest. For more than twenty years Graham has been active in a variety of artistic media, including prints, photographs, music, film, and video, in which he has created dense complexes of works on historical and cultural contexts. His musical oeuvre revolves around classical music and pop as well as extreme sounds. Hs career spans from his early rock years together with Jeff Wall by way of a series of pop CDs on to a composition on Wagners Parzifal. This year will see the release of a new CD by the Rodney Graham Band. In his Schirn concert Rodney Graham will appear as singer and guitarist.
On October 1 Stephen Prina will give a solo concert. Born in Illinois in 1954 and now living in Los Angeles, the artists projects relate to works of visual art, music, literature, film, and philosophy and he reflects on their social, historical, or media context. Prinas musical compositions feature complex structures. They sometimes relate to spontaneous and improvised Fluxus concerts and sometimes to songs from films by Chantal Ackerman or Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Prinas musical knowledge are based in theory but also worked out in practice. With his CD Push Comes to Love the composer and musician, who participated in documenta IX and teaches at Harvard University. At the Schirn Stephen Prina will present new compositions and accompany his own singing with piano and acoustic guitar.
In Concert Iwill conclude on October 2 with the group Albers. Founded in Vienna in 1993, the band has four members, all of whom work in the visual arts: Stefan Sandner (drums), Ludwig Gerstacker (bass), Christian Wallner (guitar), and ,Hanno Millesi (guitar). The bands name alludes both to the northern German folk musician and to the German-American painter Josef Albers; these two points of association establish the framework within which the four artists move. Albers has evolved from noise by way of free improvisation to increasingly structured songs. Albers released the album Tom Baldwin in 1999.
DIRECTOR: Max Hollein CURATORS: Max Hollein and Matthias Ulrich
CONCERT BEGINS: 8 PM. (ADMISSION: 7.30 PM)
INFORMATION: www.schirn.de
