some care_P.R. x galleria

e x t r a s p a z i o
via san francesco di sales 16 a
00165
roma
tel |fax 06 68210655
[email protected]
www.extraspazio.it
martedì – sabato 15.30 – 19.30
some care some less
masashi echigo|pieter hugo|gülsün karamustafa
1st December 2011 – 14th January 2012
e x t r a s p a z i o gallery presents the exhibition some-care-some-less with the works Satisfy by Masashi
Echigo, Permanent Error by Pieter Hugo and Bosphorus 1954 by Gülsün Karamustafa.
Three white refrigerators with their doors wide open invade the space of the gallery with their subdued
humming and purposeless cold.
They are empty, and closure of the doors is prevented by cages that fix them to the sides of the structures.
Cages which in turn contain nothing if not the shadow zones between the fridge doors and bodies.
Satisfy is the title that Japanese artist Masashi Echigo has given this installation which has just come from the
show Terrible Beauty in the context of Dublin Contemporary.
A title alluding to that which empty fridges cannot satisfy unless art takes possession of them, restores an
aura, a life beyond the ineluctable end on the scrap-heap.
“The glow from the caged refrigerators of Masashi Echigo’s Satisfy said more than the myriad outspoken
works throughout the city,” commented Chris Fite-Wassilak (“Dublin Contemporary”, Frieze Magazine,
November-December 2011).
The glow of the lights from Masashi Echigo’s fridges falls on images of a scenario at the limits of the
imaginable.
For his new series Permanent Error (to which the MAXXI in Rome is dedicating a large exhibition, opening 1st
December and curated by Francesca Fabiani) South African photographer Pieter Hugo has chosen
Agbogbloshie in Ghana, one of the dumps where, far from our eyes, waste from the fantastical world of IT
ends up: shapeless heaps of hard disks, computers, keyboards, monitors, cables, mice and so on. An
immense expanse dotted with the toxic fumes of fires lit to burn away plastic material and thus obtain the
metals for recycling. A damned place known as Sodom and Gomorra by the people who, out of
desperation and the need to survive, are obliged to work there where life expectancy is short.
“In his works the artist investigates human nature in dramatic or socially marginal conditions, capturing them
through the camera eye in a representation of great aesthetic fascination that makes us look at things we
normally avoid seeing […] a world in ruins, apocalypse of a humanity and civilisation that is drifting, that art
alone is capable of sublimating.”
(Bartolomeo Pietromarchi, Reset, July-August 2011)
Every year the west illegally dumps almost 40 million tonnes of technological waste in developing countries.
Lead, mercury, beryllium, chromium, barium, selenium and polychlorobiphenyls contaminate the land and
the water stratum.
A Permanent Error, a legacy in perpetual memory.
The concept of memory and its effects on humanity are investigated by Turkish artist Gülsün Karamustafa in
her video and photographic series Bosphorus 1954.
“The mechanism of the memory operations has a much more complex structuring than the linear
transference of recollections from past to the present” wrote Erden Kosova in an article for Frieze Magazine
on the occasion of this work being shown at the Kunstmuseum in Bonn.
Gülsün Karamustafa recounts the reactions of a population frightened by an epoch of disasters (Istanbul is
all too accustomed to dramatic events such as fires, earthquakes and floods) in which the state of red alert
is a collective reflex.
During the hard winter of 1954, icebergs floated down from the Danube, Dnieper and Dniester rivers,
blocking the Bosphorus. They fused together and formed a compact mass on the surface of the strait:
people could cross the sea on foot to the other side of the city.
Such a spectacle of nature, a unique event in the history of the place, might have been cause for marvel
and even amusement, but those were the years of the cold war and the blocks of ice from the north, from
the Black Sea, were first seen as signs of an imminent conflict and possible invasion.
Masashi Echigo was born in Toyama, Japan in 1982; lives and works between Tokyo and Belgium.
Among his solo exhibitions we mention: in 2011: From an Effort to a Cause, Cable Gallery, Helsinki; in 2010:
Stories, e x t r a s p a z i o, Rome; Immanence, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, Rome; The absence, Lokaal
01, Antwerp, Belgium; in 2009: Masashi Echigo, De Overslag, Eindhoven, The Netherlands; Appearance, Factory
Kunsthalle Krems, Austria; Encounter, Kusthuise SYB, Beeterzwaag, The Netherlands; in 2008: Lost Space,
Cacaofabriek, Helmond, The Netherlands. His work has been included in the following group exhibitions: in
2011: Terrible Beauty, Dublin Contemporary, Dublin; Tomorrow Is The Question, S.M.A.K., Ghent; in 2010: Aggetti,
Progettazioni, Proiezioni, Prominenze, Protuberanze, Sporgenze, e x t r a s p a z i o, Roma; Thank You for
Tomorrow, De Zwarte Zaal, Ghent; Otherwise, NAKED STATE gallery, Bruxelles; The Fifth Element, Gdansk,
Poland; Terminal Beauty, NAKED STATE gallery, Bruxelles; Watou kunst en Poezie Zomer: Past in Present, Watou,
Belgium; BAT 10: Beeldenroute Anti-tankgracht, Antwerp, Belgium; Guest ROOM #10, Museum Het Domein
Sittard, The Netherlands; The Morning News, BE- PART Platform voor actuele kunst, Waregem, Belgium; One little
Indian, And Then There Were None, La Generale en Manufacture.6, Paris; in 2009: Onder Spanning, Zwevegem,
Belgio; Watou kunst en Poezie Zomer: Polyphonie, Grenslandhal, Watou, Belgium; in 2008: Light Project,
Foundation B.a.d, Rotterdam.
Pieter Hugo was born in Johannesburg in1976. Lives and works in Cape Town.
From 1st of December 2011 MAXXI museum in Rome is dedicating a large exhibition to his Permanent Error
series.
Among his solo exhibitions we mention: Nollywood, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, New Zealand| Te Tuhi Centre
for the Arts, Auckland, New Zealand (2011); On reality and Other Stories, Brass, Bruxelles | Galerie Municipale
du Château d'Eau, Toulouse (2010); Nollywood, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane (2010) |
e x t r a s p a z i o, Roma | Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney (2009); The Hyena and Other Men,
Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art, Israel (2010) | Foam_Fotografiemuseum, Amsterdam (2008);
Messina|Musina, National Gallery, Cape Town | Standard Bank Gallery, Johannesburg (2008) |
e x t r a s p a z i o, Rome (2007). Among his group exhibitions: Paraty em Foco photography festival, Brazil; All
Cannibals, Me Collectors Room, Berlin; Contact Photography Festival, Toronto; Il corpo metafora di
un'esperienza, CIAC Centro Italiano Arte Contemporanea, Foligno, Italy; Lens: Fractions of Contemporary
Photography and Video in South Africa,Stellenbosch University Art Museum, Stellenbosch (2011); ARS 11,
Kiasma, Helsinki Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki; Tous cannibales, Maison Rouge, Paris; Possible Cities:
Africa in Photography and Video, Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery, Haverford College, Pennsylvania; Figures and
Fictions, Victoria & Albert Museum, London; Breaking News, Ex Ospedale Sant’Agostino, Modena, Italy;
Disquieting Images, Triennale di Milano, Milan (2010); A Life Less Ordinary: Performance and display in South
African art, FFotogallery, Cardiff (2009); Street & Studio: An Urban History of Photography, Tate Modern, London
(2008).
Gülsün Karamustafa was born in Ankara in 1946. Lives and works in Istanbul.
Among her solo exhibitions we mention: Solo für ... Gülsün Karamustafa: ETIQUETTE, ifa-Galerie, Stuttgard | ifaGalerie, Berlin; The Monument and the Child, Akademie der bildenden Künste, Vienna (2011); The City and The
Secret Panther Fashion, 3,14 International Contemporary Art Foundation, Bergen, Norway (2010); Mobile
Stages, Salzburger Kunstverein, Salzburg; Bosphorus 1954, Kunstmuseum, Bonn; Unawarded Performances,
Konsthall C, Stoccolma; Gülsün Karamustafa - Video Exhibition, Contemporary Art Institute EXIT, Pejë, Kosovo |
Siyah Beyaz Gallery, Ankara (2008); Yapý Kredi Kazým Taþkent Sanat Galerisi, Istanbul; Video Works, Istanbul
Modern Museum, (2007); Memory of a square, Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel; Memory of a square (perceived
from an interior), Museum Villa Stuck, Monaco; m2, Dunkers Kulturhus, Helsingborg; Galata: Genova (scavare
finestrini), Alberto Peola Arte Contemporanea, Turin (2004). Among her most recent group exhibitions we
mention: Open House, 3rd Singapore Biennale(2011); Starter - Vehbi Koc Foundation Contemporary Art
Collection, Kunsthaus Arter, Istanbul ; e-flux video rental, Fondazione Giuliani, Rome; correct me if i´m critical,
Felleshus - Gemeinschaftshaus der Nordischen Botschaften, Berlin; Live Cinema/In the Round: Contemporary
Art from the East Mediterranean, Philadelphia Museum of Art (2010); Istanbul Modern Berlin, Martin-GropiusBau, Berlin; Vreemd en vertrouwd - Play van Abbe, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven; Neuerwerbungen 2009,
Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin (2009); 3rd Guangzou Triennial; 11th Cairo Biennale (2008); Anos 80 - Uma
Topologia, Museu de Serralves, Museu de Arte Contemporânea, Porto (2007)
the gallery is open from tuesday to saturday from 3.30 to 7.30 pm and by appointment