Santiago Sierra
3 October 2004 – 07 November 2004
MDD – Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens
Museumlaan 14
B-9831 Deurle
Tel. +32.9.282.51.23
info [at] museumdd.be www.museumdd.be
Curator Edith Doove
Santiago Sierra
1966, Madrid; lives and works in Mexico City since 1995
With his installation for the Spanish pavilion during the Venice Biennial of 2003 (“Wall closing off a space”) Santiago Sierra confirmed his reputation as one of the most interesting artists of his time. Sierra continued with this installation his aesthetic and social questioning of the border in its broadest sense. He wants amongst others “to create incidents which will heighten perception of social inequalities thus compelling the viewer to adopt an ideological stance”.
Sierra likes to describe himself as “a minimalist with a guilty conscience” and is an admirer of artists like Judd, LeWitt or Morris. For the titles of his work he uses the factual style of minimalism and conceptual strategies for its content. Sierra adds however a direct, emotional involvement with an individual, institutional and/or political reality.
Using very visual strategies like blockades and (mass)performance that always in one way or another involve a degree of destruction, there is also a part of his work that stays invisible, namely the whole aspect of exchange, transaction and thus negotiation. Also the fact that his work has consequences for those that are directly confronted with it is an important ‘invisible’ element. With these I don’t mean the accidental passers-by, but rather the owners or employees of the galleries, museums and other places that Sierra uses.
We deliberately do not want say much about his installation for MDD. Maybe only that, similar to the Spanish pavilion and his installation for Kunsthaus Bregenz ’300 tons’ earlier this year, he sheds new light on this ‘minimalist’ museum building raising all kinds of questions and thoughts about the museum as institute. One unexpected aspect will surely be the aesthetical and poetical quality of this intervention.
Edith Doove, September 2004
For more information contact the museum or simply visit us. We are open day and night.
MDD – Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens
Museumlaan 14
B-9831 Deurle
Tel. +32.9.282.51.23
info [at] museumdd.be www.museumdd.be
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