12 Signs. Transposed and Illuminated (with various indexes)
Ghent, Belgium: S.M.A.K.(Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, 2004. 24x17,5 cm. Hardcover. 79 pp. Dutch; English.
Exhibition catalogue / monograph on Durant's illuminated signs. Near Fine.
The 12 Signs. Transposed and illuminated (with various indexes) exhibition only focuses on the illuminated signs in Sam Durant’s oeuvre. In 2002 his work was assembled in the MOCA in Los Angeles and in the Kunstverein in Düsseldorf. During the Venice Biennale in 2003, he exhibited illuminated signs that were hung in unexpected places in the Giardini and the Arsenale. His work was also displayed in the Whitney Biennial in 2004. Throughout his variety of work, Sam Durant focuses on objects that have an historic, social, political or art history dimension. They all draw attention to aspects regarding the relationship between arts, culture and politics. For example, he made works on Land Art artist Robert Smithson or photographed designer chairs in an almost unrecognisable fashion. (...) His choice of working with illuminated signs originated from an interest in social movements in the USA during the sixties. The way language is used on the picket sings people carry around interests Durant. He appropriates handwritten texts of these pamphlets known from photographs in newspapers and magazines. He chooses texts that were more general and not specifically linked to a certain period or event, such as: ‘Tell it Like it is’, ‘We Are the People’, ‘No Lie Can Live Forever’ or ‘Justice’. The texts can be given different meanings in our present time. Another selection criteria, is the fact that they must be handwritten. The texts are then transformed into the industrial format of an electric illuminated sign, as used by commercial companies. The manual character of the text contrasts with the mechanical production. It also refers to the ‘manual’; the idea of how a work of art ‘should’ look. (...) [S.M.A.K. press release].
Exhibition catalogue / monograph on Durant's illuminated signs. Near Fine.
The 12 Signs. Transposed and illuminated (with various indexes) exhibition only focuses on the illuminated signs in Sam Durant’s oeuvre. In 2002 his work was assembled in the MOCA in Los Angeles and in the Kunstverein in Düsseldorf. During the Venice Biennale in 2003, he exhibited illuminated signs that were hung in unexpected places in the Giardini and the Arsenale. His work was also displayed in the Whitney Biennial in 2004. Throughout his variety of work, Sam Durant focuses on objects that have an historic, social, political or art history dimension. They all draw attention to aspects regarding the relationship between arts, culture and politics. For example, he made works on Land Art artist Robert Smithson or photographed designer chairs in an almost unrecognisable fashion. (...) His choice of working with illuminated signs originated from an interest in social movements in the USA during the sixties. The way language is used on the picket sings people carry around interests Durant. He appropriates handwritten texts of these pamphlets known from photographs in newspapers and magazines. He chooses texts that were more general and not specifically linked to a certain period or event, such as: ‘Tell it Like it is’, ‘We Are the People’, ‘No Lie Can Live Forever’ or ‘Justice’. The texts can be given different meanings in our present time. Another selection criteria, is the fact that they must be handwritten. The texts are then transformed into the industrial format of an electric illuminated sign, as used by commercial companies. The manual character of the text contrasts with the mechanical production. It also refers to the ‘manual’; the idea of how a work of art ‘should’ look. (...) [S.M.A.K. press release].
ID: 15130
Price:
€40
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