4 May 2008 to 28 July 2008
Opening Reception: Sunday, January 13, 4-6 pm
SculptureCenter
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Image description at bottom of page Image � 2008 SculptureCenter and the artist(s) Photo: Jason Mandella
Decoys, Complexes, and Triggers: Feminism and Land Art in the 1970s May 4�July 28, 2008
Alice Adams, Alice Aycock, Lynda Benglis, Agnes Denes, Jackie Ferrara, Suzanne Harris, Nancy Holt, Mary Miss, Michelle Stuart, Jackie Winsor
SculptureCenter is pleased to present Decoys, Complexes, and Triggers: Feminism and Land Art in the 1970s, organized by guest curator Catherine Morris. Decoys, Complexes, and Triggers will be on view May 4�July 28, 2008 with an opening reception on Sunday, May 4, 4-6pm.
This exhibition focuses on work by women artists who made significant contributions to the development of sculptural practice in the 1970s. They explored the formal constructs of Post-Minimalism: altering notions of sculptural scale, introducing non-traditional mediums, as well as adapting unusual landscape and interior sites.
Utilizing an abstract, formal language, the artists in Decoys, Complexes, and Triggers helped define the structural conventions of Land Art and Post-Minimalism, such as architectural scale, the use of mathematical systems, and an awareness of the human body in relation to monumental works of art. The exhibition includes sculpture, models, photographs, drawings video, and other forms of documentation, some of which has not been shown since its original exhibition. Many of the works in this exhibition contain oblique references to the body, subjectivity, and self-portraiture.
While some artists in Decoys, Complexes, and Triggers identified their work as Feminist, many of them, including Alice Aycock, Mary Miss, Jackie Ferrara, and Nancy Holt, explicitly rejected such categorization. This is not to say that these artists were not Feminists, only that their work was not based in a Feminist ideology and did not draw upon imagery and subject matter common to Feminist art of the time. They produced work of equal scale, ambition, and critical intentionality as their male peers.
Some work included in Decoys, Complexes, and Triggers is well known, such as documentation of Agnes Denes' Wheatfield � A Confrontation (1982), where the artist planted and harvested a two-acre wheat field in downtown Manhattan (currently Battery Park City). However, much of the work has not been exhibited in many years, in some cases since the period in which it made, such as Alice Aycock's Stairs (These Stairs Can Be Climbed) (1974), in which the title of the piece invites the viewer to climb a staircase, monumental in scale, only to be confronted with the ceiling of the gallery. In spite of its size, the work does not overwhelm the viewer, but rather invites a responsive, physical relationship. In addition to large-scale sculpture, the exhibition includes models, photographs, drawings, video, and other forms of documentation.
Reviewing this work now is important. The exhibitions and publications devoted to Feminist art and more generally to art of the 1970s presented over the past decade have not addressed the significant contributions made by this group of artists. In addition, the critical interest in the formal issues of current sculptural practice makes a new examination of this radical work timely.
Catherine Morris is New York based independent curator and Adjunct Curator of Contemporary Art at the Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, Okalahoma. Focusing her independent work on alternative practices of the 1960s and 70s, Morris's projects include: 9 Evenings Reconsidered: Art, Theatre, and Engineering, 1966 (originating venue: MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts 2006); Gloria: Another Look At Feminist Art in the 1970s (originating venue: White Columns, New York, 2002, co-curated with Ingrid Schaffner); Fort Greene, Brooklyn, A Social and Architectural History of a Neighborhood (A:D/B Project Space, Brooklyn 2002); Food (originating venue: White Columns, New York, 1998) and Confrontations: The Guerrilla Art Action Group, 1969-1976 (Printed Matter at DIA, New York 1997, co-curated with Steven Harvey). At the Philbrook Museum, Morris has worked on projects with Josiah McEleheny, Cameron Martin and Lucy Gunning. Morris is a 2004 recipient of a Penny McCall Foundation Grant for Independent Curating and Writing.
Decoys, Complexes and Triggers: Feminism and Land Art in the 1970s is made possible in part with the support of Jeanne Donovan Fisher.
Michael Portnoy Casino Ilinx May 4�July 28, 2008
SculptureCenter is pleased to present Casino Ilinx, a solo exhibition by Michael Portnoy. Casino Ilinx will be on view May 4�July 28, 2008 with an opening reception on Sunday, May 4, 4-6pm. "Director of behavior" and performance artist since 1995, Portnoy's long-standing investigation of the poetics of humor and the rules of communication and play, takes form in Casino Ilinx as a series of gambling tables and related sculptures.
Drawing on gambling's roots in ritual and divination, Portnoy's tables are constructed of high and low materials including wood, mirror, sand, felt, bone, brass, vinyl, and shell. Influenced by gaming devices from various cultures and times, Portnoy's objects take on a life of their own. When activated by games, the stylized sculptural pieces trigger experimental and experiential situations for the study of human behavior. "Rules" are imparted through riddles and gestures interpreted by players of each game. The rules and language associated with each piece shift constantly, challenging the viewer's interaction with individual objects leading to dysfunctional, intimate, and absurd situations.
Portnoy explains, "the tables are supposed to be seductive, they appear like games that have been around for a long time for which no one was taught the rules. But the more closely you look, you see that the basic mechanisms of chance -- the role of the dice -- are compromised. You can't roll the dice, at least not in the way you are used to."
A new addition to Portnoy's repertoire of gambling tables is Tongue Pit (Linguistic Table), played within a perimeter of black sand. This particular game is composed of cryptic symbols and fragments of alphabets inspired from disappeared or endangered languages. These linguistic components are assembled into a frieze or disassembled to create a series of three-dimensional playing elements that form, in the words of the artist, "architectonic morphemes." Glass dice are rolled to provide clues for possible configurations. The total scope of the game is revealed in the presence of the Director of Behavior.
As a whole, Casino Ilinx is composed of a series of moments, surprises, dead ends, and trap doors. The viewer must negotiate sporadic performers, sculptures such as a rabid cube, a squirrel escort, and other opaque symbols and rules. Casino Ilinx will be activated by scheduled and intermittent performances and gaming sessions throughout the exhibition. During exhibition opening visitors will be greeted by two "bouncers" and ushered into the gambling room. A croupier will lead each of Portnoy's three abstract tables, instructing, coaxing, and hustling viewers into action.
Ilinx is defined by the sociologist Roger Caillois as a category of play that involves the pursuit of vertigo. Ilinx games "attempt to momentarily destroy the stability of perception and inflict a kind of voluptuous panic upon an otherwise lucid mind." The exhibition Casino Illinx is a journey into a fictional game structure, constantly dissembled and rebuilt by the artist with the complicity of the players and fellow performers.
Michael Portnoy is a New York based multimedia artist. His diverse work spans dance, theater, experimental stand-up, and meta-functional sculpture. He has presented work in museums, galleries, theaters, and music halls internationally, including: ACE Gallery, Canada Gallery, Le Confort Moderne (Poitiers), Dexter Sinister, Deitch Projects, EFA Gallery, Kaaitheater (Brussels), The Kitchen, Kling & Bang Gallery (Reykjavik), Kunsthalle St Gallen Foksal Gallery Foundation (Warsaw), The Migros Museum (Zurich), The Moscow Biennial, The National Review of Live Art (Glasgow), P.S. 1/MOMA, The Grammy Awards at Radio City Music Hall, SculptureCenter, Tensta Konsthall (Stockholm), ThreeAsFour fashion shows, and White Box.
On Thursday, May 29, at 7pm Michael Portnoy Presents: Milk the Weasel, Pull the Rug
Director of Behavior Michael Portnoy and special guests open the tables for gambling sessions. Accompanied by a card counting demonstration by Melissa Brown, a lecture on the acceleration and collapse of time by Adina Popescu, and a presentation on dice-footed animals and pre-Columbian dermatology by Marianne Vitale.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION
1. Image � 2008 SculptureCenter and the artist Photo: Jason Mandella
Foreground: Alice Adams Large Vault, 1975 Laminated wood and wood lath in eight sections, bolted together. 3.6ft x 15ft
Background:
All by Nancy Holt:
Light & Shadow Photo/Drawing Series: Eight Prints, 1978 Gelatin-silver prints 16 3/4 x 13 in
Sunlight in Sun Tunnels, 1976 Inkjet print on paper 32 x 38 in
Views Through a Sand Dune, 1972 Inkjet print on paper 49 1/4 x 36 in
Sun Tunnels, 1973-76 Inkjet print on paper 59 1/2 x 36 in
Stone Enclosure: Rock Rings, 1977-78 Inkjet print on paper 53 3/8 x 36 in
30 Below, 1979 Inkjet prints on paper 68 7/8 x 36 in
Hydra's Head, 1974 Inkjet prints on paper 58 1/2 x 36 in
2. Jackie Ferrara Reconstruction of Wave Hill Project, 1980/2008 Treated fir 9.4 x 20.2 x 12 4 1/2 ft Courtesy of the artist and Frederieke Taylor Gallery, New York
3. Left to right:
Alice Aycock Stairs (These Stairs Can Be Climbed), 1974/2008 Wood 14. 2 x 10 x 14 x 2 ft
Michelle Stuart Sayerville Strata Quartet, 1976 Earth from site, Sayerville, NJ (different strata) Four panels, 144 x 62 in, each; approximately 144 x 280 in overall
Jackie Winsor Cement Sphere, 1971 Cement 18 in diameter Collection of Keith Sonnier, New York
Suzanne Harris Inhabitat, 1975/2008 Cardboard and metal 12 x 3 x 8 ft
Alice Adams Large Vault, 1975 Laminated wood and wood lath in eight sections, bolted together. 3.6 x 15 ft
Mary Miss Screened Court, 1979 Plywood, steel mesh Approximately 10 6 x 25 ft
4. Foreground: Alice Adams Large Vault, 1975 Laminated wood and wood lath in eight sections, bolted together. 3�6�� x 15�
Background (left to right): Alice Aycock Stairs (These Stairs Can Be Climbed), 1974/2008 Wood 14� 2� x 10� x 14� x 2�
Jackie Winsor Coil Piece, 1969 Hemp 8 �� x 39� diameter Courtesy of the artist
Michelle Stuart Sayerville Strata Quartet, 1976 Earth from site, Sayerville, NJ (different strata) Four panels, 144� x 62�, each; approximately 144� x 280� overall
Jackie Winsor Cement Sphere, 1971 Cement 18� diameter Collection of Keith Sonnier, New York
Suzanne Harris Inhabitat, 1975/2008 Cardboard and metal 12� x 3� x 8�
5. Foreground:
Mary Miss Screened Court, 1979 Plywood, steel mesh Approximately 10.6 x 25 ft
Background (left to right): Alice Adams Large Vault, 1975 Laminated wood and wood lath in eight sections, bolted together. 3.6 x 15 ft
Michelle Stuart Sayerville Strata Quartet, 1976 Earth from site, Sayerville, NJ (different strata) Four panels, 144 x 62 in, each; approximately 144 x 280 in overall
Suzanne Harris Inhabitat, 1975/2008 Cardboard and metal 12 x 3 x 8 ft
6. Foreground: Jackie Winsor Cement Sphere, 1971 Cement 18� diameter Collection of Keith Sonnier, New York
Background (left to right): Alice Adams Large Vault, 1975 Laminated wood and wood lath in eight sections, bolted together. 3�6�� x 15�
Alice Aycock Stairs (These Stairs Can Be Climbed), 1974/2008 Wood 14� 2� x 10� x 14� x 2�
Jackie Winsor Coil Piece, 1969 Hemp 8 �� x 39� diameter Courtesy of the artist
Jackie Winsor Lath Piece, 1970 Wood, nails 50� x 56 3/4� x 1 1/2� Courtesy of the artist
Exhibition: Decoys, Complexes, and Triggers: Feminism and Land Art in the 1970s
Alice Adams, Alice Aycock, Lynda Benglis, Agnes Denes, Jackie Ferrara, Suzanne Harris, Nancy Holt, Mary Miss, Michelle Stuart, Jackie Winsor
