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Galerija Skuc : BAS JAN ADER - THE WORLD WAS YOUNG WHEN GRAVITY FELL - 7 Nov 2012 to 7 Dec 2012 Current Exhibition |
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BAS JAN ADER - THE WORLD WAS YOUNG WHEN GRAVITY FELL
Galerija Skuc - 7 Nov 2012 to 7 Dec 2012 |
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BAS JAN ADER THE WORLD WAS YOUNG WHEN GRAVITY FELL 7.11. – 7.12.2012 The exhibition The World Was Young When Gravity Fell features work by Bas Jan Ader, who disappeared at sea while attempting to cross the Atlantic Ocean in the smallest sailboat as part of the piece In Search of the Miraculous in 1975. Throughout Bas Jan Ader’s oeuvre, there is a constant tension between two opposite elements (heroic-failure, rational-emotional, analytical-poetical etc); and somehow, an endless rejection of the axioms of artistic approaches, and merely in this way, not taking any side, and by creating a constant ‘tension’ as his artistic approach, makes Ader’s conceptual gesture unique. The exhibition in Škuc Gallery examines Ader’s works, thoughts and ideas, and shows the importance and influence of his art in today’s art world. Bas Jan Ader’s work was largely inspired by conceptual and performance art, which were emerging as he began his career in the early 1960’s. He worked in diverse media: photography, film, video, installation and performance. He created a complex mix that was poetic, ironic, romantic, personal and conceptual and included physical challenges. He explored the boundaries between artifice and reality, control and inevitability. The title of the exhibition The World Was Young When Gravity Fell reveals Ader’s interest in the force of gravity. In his Fall films, Fall I, Fall II, Broken Fall (Organic), and Broken Fall (Geometric), whether he drives his bike into a canal in Amsterdam or attempts to balance on a chair on the roof of his house and falls down, or when he is hanging from a branch from a tree in the Amsterdamse Bos park and plunges into the water, or when he tips over sideways into a trestle, he is destined to fail – unable to keep his balance, unable to hold on or stand up. These films appear to be innocent and humorous, but never deviate toward slapstick. They present a vulnerability that was uncommon at the time. The artist allows himself to be exposed, whether physically or emotionally, as can be seen in one of his most famous works, I’m Too Sad to Tell You, where Ader cries in front of the camera. It is not a hysterical outburst, but seems like an intense sadness. Unlike most of the works of his peers, the work is very romantic. His entire if small body of work examines the conceptual with what appears to be its antithesis: romanticism. Ader’s work embodies the typical romantic approach: feelings of alienation, solitude, unfulfilled longing, and melancholia, like the installation Please Don’t Leave Me, in which the text is largely painted on a barely lighted wall. He creates a dramatic scene, and one wonders what might have happened, but one will never know, which creates an uncertainty. Similarly, in the film Primary Time, in which he repeatedly rearranges a bouquet by organizing the flowers according to colors: red, yellow and blue. One only becomes aware of what is happening at the moment it happens, but it is impossible to reconstruct the process. Ader reminds us that life is not only right angles and perfect squares, and shows the failure of these modern ideals as presented by Mondrian and De Stijl. In a way, it is an ambiguous salute to Mondrian. The work The Boy Who Fell over Niagara Falls is based on a story in Reader’s Digest in 1972. Bas Jan Ader would read the story while finishing a glass of water. At the end of the story, his glass was empty. The work exists as a performance and as an audio recording, and is documented by film and photographs. Like many conceptual art works of the 1970s, and characteristic of Ader’s work, it was recorded in descriptive notes and statements destined to have flexible and repeated incarnations. Each version has a slightly different feeling and sense of purpose. For Ader, art was a journey: he was always searching. His endless and structured thoughts and, on the other hand, straightforwardly intuitive acts create a constant tension and powerful drive that reveals the questions that Ader addressed as a man and as an artist. He explored the existential and emotional with an artistic approach that is as conceptual and analytic as it is poetic and personal. Therefore, he is part of our zeitgeist and continues to be influential, to trigger our perception and inspire successive generations of artists who are interested in the constant movement of the line between art and life. ACCOMPANYING EVENTS Guided Tours At 5 p.m. on Thursday, 8 November 2012 you are invited to attend a tour of the exhibitions Fragments of Unspoken Thoughts and Bas Jan Ader: The World Was Young When Gravity Fell, which will be guided by the curators Louky Keijsers Koning and Tev� Logar. The tour will start at the Jakopi� Gallery and continue at the Škuc Gallery. This Happy Day of Culture, 3 December 2012 A tour guided by the curator Tev� Logar of the exhibitions Fragments of Unspoken Thoughts and Bas Jan Ader: The World Was Young When Gravity Fell will start at 5 p.m. in the Jakopi� Gallery and continue in the Škuc Gallery. You are also cordially invited to the guided tours of the exhibition Bas Jan Ader: The World Was Young When Gravity Fel on Tuesday, 20th November at 6 p.m. in Škuc Gallery. Talk And Lecture You are cordially invited to attend the talk with Vlado Martek entitled Romanticism as an Individual Utopia, which will tak place on Friday, 16 November at 7 pm in Škuc Gallery. You are kindly invited to attend the lecture by Jo�e Barši entitled Crisis and failure/success – the falls of Bas Jan Ader, which will take place on 5 December at 7 p.m. in Škuc Gallery. In cooperation with the Bas Jan Ader Estate, Mary Sue Ader-Andersen and Patrick Painter Editions. Support: Galerie Paul Andriesse, Amsterdam (NL) Collection of NSCAD University, Anna Leonowens Gallery Exhibitions Archive, Halifax (CA) ZAVOD P.A.R.A.S.I.T.E. / Center in Galerija P74 Acknowledgements: Umetnice in umetniki / artists, Marry Sue Ader - Anderson, Paul Andriesse, Florian Berktold, Atila Boštjan�i�, Mojca De�elak, Ciara Ennis, Charles Esche, Thorlákur Einarsson, Jorg Grimm, Elbrig de Groot, Melchior Jaspers, Eleanor King, Bart Keijsers Koning, Emily Letourneau, Ana Mizerit, Joško Pajer, Marko Poga�nik, Pilar Tompkins Rivas, Walter Seidl, Tim Stark, Bojana Švertasek, Elín Thorhallsdóttir, Bettine Verkuijlen, Vladimir Vidmar in/and Theus Zwakhals. |
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