Für eine optimale Ansicht unserer Website drehen Sie Ihr Tablet bitte horizontal.
Das im Kontext der Sowjetunion wurzelnde Werk verbindet Elemente des Alltags mit konzeptionellen Ansätzen. SAF Art Spaces, Sharjah, 23. November 2013 - 23. Februar 2014. Kuratorin: Hoor Al Qasimi.
Feb 2014Bis zum 23. Februar 2014 zeigt die Sharjah Art Foundation eine Ausstellung, die dem Leben und Schaffen von Ilja und Emilia Kabakow nachgeht. Das in der Sowjetunion geborene, in den USA lebende Künstlerpaar verschmilzt in seinem Schaffen Elemente des Alltags mit einer konzeptionellen Herangehensweise. Wenngleich es oftmals im sowjetischen sozialen und kulturellen Kontext verwurzelt ist, in dem die beiden lebten, erlangt ihr Werk eine universelle Bedeutung hinsichtlich gescheiterter Utopien in aller Welt.
Der Ausstellungsort von Ilya and Emilia Kabakov: A Collective Memory ist das Gebäude I der neuen Kunsträume der Sharjah Art Foundation in Al Mureijah. Zu den gezeigten Werken gehören Gemälde aus der Serie Four Paintings About Freedom, Suprematist Painting which turn out great, With my respect to my Teacher Charles Rosenthal, sowie zwei Installationen: Memorial to Useless Things und The Blue Carpet.
Whilst describing Memorial to Useless Things, Ilya and Emilia Kabakov stated: "... because they are useless for whom? For somebody else. They always hold memories, and everything that is useless for somebody is always useful for another person. It is a memory, its part of your life. Nothing is useless in reality. We have another memorial, Memorial to Unknown People, so that's from the same category. It is a very deep idea of the memory because a huge monument is a memory of the society, of history now. But if we do not have personal memories, and memorials to personal memories, there is no history of personal life."
The Blue Carpet is an installation where visitors remove their shoes and enter a space that is covered by a large blue carpet with geometric designs. Small-scale drawings and texts in frames have been placed against the walls along the entire perimeter of the room. Visitors must sit or lie on the carpet in order to view these works, creating a sense of informality and intimacy. Ilya and Emilia Kabakov stated: "It is about two levels. Usually we look at the artwork at eye level. In this case it is on the floor, so in order to look at it you have to lie down and be on the same level as the art.You have to lower yourself down to be with it, you are still in the sky, but you see reality around you."
About the artists:
Ilya Kabakov
* 1933 Dnepropetrovsk, Soviet Union
After studying at the VA Surikov Art Academy in Moscow, Ilya Kabakov began his career as a children's book illustrator in the 1950s. He was part of a group of Conceptual artists in Moscow who worked outside the official Soviet art system. In 1985, Kabakov had his first solo exhibition at Dina Vierny Gallery, Paris. In 1988 he began working with his wife Emilia and from this point onwards, all their work was collaborative in different proportions according to the specific project involved. Today Kabakov is recognized as the most important Russian artist to have emerged in the late 20th century.
Emilia Kabakov
* 1945 Dnepropetrovsk, Soviet Union
Emilia Kabakov attended the Music College in Irkutsk in addition to studying Spanish and literature at Moscow University. In 1975 she moved to New York where she worked as a curator and art dealer.
The work of Ilya and Emilia Kabakov has been shown widely including in exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington DC, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, Documenta IX, at the Whitney Biennial in 1997 and the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. In 1993 they represented Russia at the 45th Venice Biennale with their installation The Red Pavilion. The Kabakovs have also completed major public commissions throughout Europe and have received a number of honours and awards, including the Oscar Kokoschka Preis, Vienna in 2002 and the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres, Paris in 1995.
Kuratorin: Hoor Al Qasimi
Ilja und Emilia Kabakow:
A Collective Memory
23. November 2013 - 23. Februar 2014
SAF Art Spaces, Gebäude I
Al Mureijah, Heritage Area
Sharjah, VAE
Veranstalter: