Monday, November 16, 2009

In & Out of Amsterdam: Travels in Conceptual Art, 1960-1976

In & Out of Amsterdam: Travels in Conceptual Art, 1960-1976

http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2009/inandout/

This small show from MoMA showcases the work of 10 artists: Bas Jan Ader, Allen Ruppersberg, Jan Dibbets, Gilbert & George, Stanley Brouwn, Hanne Darboven, Lawrence Weiner, Charlotte Posenenske, Ger van Elk, and Sol LeWitt. The exhibit is, in the words of a recent review "odd, offbeat and often thrillingly intelligent." The show captures the essence of the art scene in Amsterdam from 1960-1976, when many avant-garde artists from Holland, the rest of Europe, and the United States congregated there. Several of the works in the exhibition are performance-based, such as Ger van Elk's Paul Klee—Um den Fisch, 1926 (Around the Fish), a set of 8 slides projected on a table, showing the artist eating a fish similar to the one in Klee's more well-known painting (only one frame is shown in the web exhibition). Other works also comment on the fleetingness of time, such as Jan Dibbets' The Shortest Day at my House in Amsterdam, 80 color prints taken at eight-minute intervals between dawn and dusk on the winter solstice in 1970; or Hanne Darboven's 100 Books 00–99, 100 open books, each representing a year in a century, arranged face up on a table. [>From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2009. http://scout.wisc.edu/]

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