M-KOS once more invited a telling selection of art professionals for the 2013 installment of its annual survey, to generously share some of their most memorable exhibition and art performance moments of this past year. Surely some choices will be debatable, some will demand a remark by our contributors, some not, albeit all were memorable for those very reason. M-KOS invites its readers to join in the discussion on this year’s listings, or suggest any other must see entry from the comment section below. This year’s participants include: Jonathan Shaughnessy (Associate Curator, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa); Cheryl Sim (Curator, DHC/ART, Montréal); Nathan Jenkins (Maria Stenfors, London, UK); Joseph Henry (Critic, Montréal); Nicolás Lamas (Artist, Belgium); Caroline Andrieux (Artistic Director, Darling Foundry, Montréal); Andrea Carson Barker (Blogger, Toronto); Niekolaas Johannes Lekkerkerk (Curator/Writer, Rotterdam); Graham Ellard & Stephen Johnstone (Artists, Professors at Central Saint Martins & Goldsmiths, London UK); Sebastian Kaempf (Architect, NY); Oli Sorenson (M-KOS, Montréal); Miwa Kojima (M-KOS, Montréal)
Jonathan Shaughnessy (Ottawa, Canada)
Associate Curator, Contemporary Art,
National Gallery of Canada
gallery.ca | @jonshaughn
– DAVID HARTT: STRAY LIGHT (STUDIO MUSEUM HARLEM, NY, 28 MAR – 30 JUN 2013)
Montreal-born, Chicago-based David Hartt’s exceptional photographs of the interior of the Johnson Publishing Company’s iconic headquarters in downtown Chicago are a powerful articulation of how the fundamental guiding principles of the late JPC founder John Johnson and his “vision for what an African American-owned business could be” coalesce with the building’s architecture and interior aesthetics.
– FIONA BANNER: CHINOOK, 2013. (16mm film transferred to high definition digital film projection, 10.14 minutes)
During a studio visit with the British artist a few months ago I found myself discussing my wonderment at watching a Hawker Harrier “jump jet” perform aerial manoeuvres at an air show in England when I was a child. The artist responded in saying that she had something I should watch. “Chinook” presents the ‘choreographed display’ of a Chinook Army helicopter as filmed some years ago at the Waddington Air show. Save a few nuances to a soundtrack comprised mainly of the audience’s many enthusiastic moments of applause Banner has left the footage alone. I watched and became that boy again, sort-of. Awe-struck by the mighty theatrics of it all, yet now unable to dissociate the spectacle from the true nature of its militarized message.
– ADRIÁN VILLAR ROJAS: TODAY WE REBOOT THE PLANET
(SERPENTINE SACKLER GALLERY, LONDON, UK, 28 Sep – 10 Nov 2013)
Villar Rojas artist more than rose to the challenge of filling the cavernous enclaves of the Serpentine Gallery’s new second space in a former munitions storehouse building re-purposed by architect Zaha Hadid. His site-specific installation of clay sculptures from the gargantuan to the miniscule, all on a shaky foundation of hand-made loosely placed bricks served to enhance this young Argentinian artist’s sculptural vision, and our understanding of it.
– VILLA ROMANA (FLORENCE, ITALY)
An artist residency program located in a villa originally purchased by the German painter Max Klinger in 1905 with a vision to create an “independent forum that is decided upon by the artist and which accommodates all forms of artistic expression.” The Berlin-based Canadian artist Shannon Bool was one of the fortunate recipients of a studio there this past year where she created some formidable new marble sculptures, one of which was on view at Daniel Faria Gallery, Toronto, this past fall.
– MERZ, PERFORMED BY PETER FROEHLICH (GREAT CANADIAN THEATRE COMPANY, OTTAWA, 3 – 5 Apr 2013)
I unfortunately did not get to see the ‘Schwitters in Britain’ exhibition at the Tate earlier this year. No matter, whatever that show had they didn’t have actor, director and University of Ottawa theatre professor Peter Froehlich’s brilliant adaptation of Kurt Schwitter’s writings and sound poems to the stage, including the Dadaist’s 52-minute triumph of wordless exigency “Ursonate.” Amazing.
Image: Shannon Bool, Tricilium Dancer (detail), 2013. Oil on Silk. Courtesy the aritst and Daniel Faria Gallery, Toronto
Cheryl Sim (Montréal, Canada)
Curator at DHC/ART, Montréal
dhc-art.org | @DHCART
– DAYANITA SINGH: GO AWAY CLOSER
(HAYWARD GALLERY, LONDON UK,
8 OCT – 15 DEC 2013)
– DAVID TOMAS: CONSIGNED FOR AUCTION
(ARTEXTE, MONTREAL, Part1: 7 SEP – 26 OCT 2013 / Part 2: 31 OCT – 11 JAN 2014)
– MARIGOLD SANTOS: COVER RING
(ARTICULE, MONTREAL, 18 OCT – 24 NOV 2013)
– MARK BOULOS: NO PERMANENT ADDRESS
(LISSON GALLERY, LONDON UK, 30 JAN – 9 MAR 2013)
– LEAH GORDON: KANAVAL
(PHI CENTRE, MONTREAL, 25 FEB – 27 APR 2013)
Image: Mark Boulos, No Permanent Address (2010). Installation view at Lisson Gallery, 2013. Courtesy the artist and Lisson Gallery, London UK
NATHAN JENKINS (London, UK)
Maria Stenfors
mariastenfors.com
@nathanejenkins | @MariaStenfors
– STEVE McQUEEN
(SHAULAGER, BASEL, 16 MAR – 1 SEP 2013)
An exquisitely installed retrospective. This was my first visit to Shaulager and has ingrained itself into my memory.
– KEEP YOUR TIMBER LIMBER
(WORKS ON PAPER)
(ICA, LONDON, UK, 19 JUN – 8 SEP 2013,
CURATOR: SARAH McCRORY)
A much needed exploration into the political issues of sex, gender and struggle through the democratic medium of paper.
– PHILIP NEWCOMBE: POLLEN
at CAPC MUSÉE D’ART CONTEMPORAIN DE BORDEAUX, 28 FEB – 21 APR 2013.
CURATOR: ALEXIS VAILLANT)
The miniscule nature of much of Newcombe’s practice was perfectly offset by the cavernous vaults of the 19th century Entrepôt space.
– DIRTY LOOKS: ON LOCATION
(in New York, 1 – 31 JUL 2013. DIRECTOR: BRADFORD NORDEEN)
The queer platform Dirty Looks put on an full month of queer interventions throughout NYC. An event for each night of July. The result was an epic victory in the heat of the summer.
– ELMGREEN & DRAGSET
(V&A, LONDON, UK, 1 OCT 2013 – 2 JAN 2014)
This is every bit what a museum show should be. The blurring of reality and historicity plays with your imagination and the performative nature of a museum display.
Image: Tom Of Finland (Finnish, 1920 – 1991), Untitled, 1961, Graphite on paper, Tom of Finland Foundation Permanent Collection #61.11, © 1961 Tom of Finland Foundation
JOSEPH HENRY (Montréal, Canada)
Critic
@joseph_p_henry
– STEVE McQUEEN
(THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO,
21 OCT 2012 – 6 JAN 2013)
This show has been topping critics’ lists this winter, and for good reason. But the real stars might be the Chicago presentation’s organizers, who offered something of a master class in curating the moving image.
– LAURENT GRASSO: URANIBORG
(MUSÉE D’ART CONTEMPORAIN DE MONTREAL, 7 FEB – 28 APR 2013)
Enormous and sprawling while intimate and effortless, Grasso’s installation thematized perception itself as a fraught, deeply historicized process.
– ELIZABETH PRICE: ARTIST TALK
(POP MONTREAL, 25 SEP 2013)
It goes without saying that most artist talks and ‘conversations’ are torturous affairs, but Price’s presentation of her complex video work carried the revelatory potential of the most astute works of art.
– CHERYL SOURKES (part of LE MOIS DE LA PHOTO DE MONTREAL 2013)
(GALERIE B-132, 7 SEP – 5 OCT 2013)
In a year that saw net and digital art homogenize itself to a remarkable degree, Sourkes’ voyeuristic but never cynical investigations of webcam and social media self-expression felt completely necessary.
– JON RAFMAN & ROSA AIELLO: REMEMBER CARTHAGE
(GALERIE ANTOINE ERTASKIRAN, MONTREAL, 28 AUG – 5 OCT 2013)
I’ve had to draft this sentence ten times in an effort to get at the core of Rafman and Aiello’s film. They accomplished the masterful task of uncovering the cultural, aesthetic, and affective baggage behind video games and CGI media without leaning on citation as the sole semantic gesture.
[Read Joseph’s essay Sex in Publi – Streetview and Vincent Chevalier’s PWIF’d at the Canadian Centre for Architecture” on M-KOS here.]
Image: Jon Rafman, Remember Carthage, 2013, HD video, 13min42. Courtesy the artist and galerie antoine ertaskiran, Montréal
NICOLÃS LAMAS (Ghent, Belgium)
Artist
lamasnicolas.blogspot.ca
– GABRIEL KURI: BOTTLED WATER BRANDED WATER
(PARC ST-LÉGER, POUGUES-LES-EAUX, 18 DEC 2013 – 9 FEB 2014)
– NIELS TRANNOIS: B (HANDS IN A CHINESE COOKIE JAR)
(GALERIE VALENTIN, PARIS, 19 OCT – 23 NOV 2013)
– NINA CANELL & ROLF JULIUS: LAUTOLOS
(HAMBURGER BAHNHOF, BERLIN, 30 NOV 2012 – 21 APR 2013)
– MICHAEL E. SMITH
(KOW, BERLIN, 27 APR – 21 JUL 2013)
– AGNIESZKA KURANT: 88.7
(OBJECTIF EXHIBITIONS, ANTWERP, 26 JAN – 9 MAR 2013)
Image: Michael E. Smith, Untitled, 2013, sweatshirt, wasp nest, plastic. Courtesy the artist and KOW, Berlin
CAROLINE ANDRIEUX (Montréal, Canada)
Artistic Director, Darling Foundry, Montréal
fonderiedarling.org | @FonderieDarling
– RUDOLF STINGEL
(PALAZZO GRASSI, VENICE ITALY,
7 APR 2013 – 6 JAN 2014)
An installation masterpiece in which technical ability and varieties of images defy perception.
– YOKO ONO
(SCHIRN KUNSTHALLE FRANKFURT, GERMANY, 15 FEB – 12 MAY 2013)
My first big retrospective of this artist asserting herself as precursor of conceptual art.
– DYNAMO – A CENTURY OF LIGHT AND MOTION IN ART, 1913 – 2013
(GRAND PALAIS, PARIS, 10 APR – 22 JUL 2013)
Monuments of kinetic art, from Duchamp’s roto-reliefs to immersive installations of all kinds, although a bit didactic.
– MICHAEL SNOW: SOLO SNOW
(GALERIE DE L’UQAM, MONTREAL, 11 JAN – 16 FEB 2013. CURATOR: LOUISE DÉRY)
A grand Canadian artist marking 1960/70s history of art attracting international attention.
– LYNN COHEN: FALSE CLUES
(MUSÉE D’ART CONTEMPORAIN DE MONTREAL, 7 FEB – 27 APR 2013. CURATOR: FRANÇOIS LETOURNEUX)
Despite being in the shadow of simultaneously shown Laurent Grasso, and beside a clumsy hanging of her works, Lynn Cohen’s photography was astonishing for its menacing beauty.
– THOMAS DEMAND: ANIMATIONS
(DHC/ART, MONTREAL, 19 JAN – 12 MAY 2013)
Not memorable for his elaborate reconstructions of the last sways of the Titanic or of the diplomatic office, but indeed for the poetry of the rain drops falling on asphalt.
– ALEXANDRE DAVID: L’UN SUR L’AUTRE and JUSTIN STEPHENS: METHOD ACTING TODAY
(PARISIAN LAUNDRY, MONTREAL. DAVID: 6 SEP – 12 OCT 2013; STEPHENS: 30 OCT –
30 NOV 2013)
Two of the greatest emerging Québec artists, simultaneously presented in one of the best galleries in Montreal, Waoooo!
– ANARCHISM WITHOUT ADJECTIVES: ON THE WORK OF CHRISTOPHER
D’ARCANGELO, 1975-1979
(LEONARD & BINA ELLEN GALLERY, MONTREAL, 4 SEPT – 26 OCT 2013)
A show fitting like hand in glove in the conceptually trending and curator research-led university gallery.
– KAREN KRAVEN: AS ABOVE, SO BELOW
(CENTRE CLARK, MONTREAL, 24 JAN – 2 MAR 2013)
For the strength and quality of objects manipulating the themes of daily life in splendid lightness.
– MULTIN GUBASH: IN UNION
(DARLING FOUNDRY, MONTREAL, 4 APR – 12 MAY 2013)
For the quality of his intervention within the space, contextualised by a solid concept.
Image: Lynn Cohen, Untitled (Astroturf), 2007Courtesy the artist and Olga Korper Gallery, Toronto
ANDREA CARSON BARKER (Toronto, Canada)
Blogger
viewoncanadianart.com | @Carzoo
– IRIS HÄUSSLER: ALSO KNOWN AS…
(DANIEL FARIA GALLERY, TORONTO,
3 APR – 11 MAY 2013)
– THOMAS DEMAND: ANIMATIONS
(DHC/ART, MONTREAL, 19 JAN – 12 MAY 2013)
– PAUL McCARTHY: WS
(PARK AVENUE ARMORY, NEW YORK,
19 JUN – 4 AUG 2013)
– GEOFFREY FARMER: THE SURGEON AND THE PHOTOGRAPHER
(THE CURVE, BARBICAN CENTRE, LONDON UK, 26 MAR – 28 JUL 2013)
– MICAH LEXIER‘s curated project MORE THAN TWO (LET IT MAKE ITSELF) in his survey show “ONE, AND TWO, AND MORE THAN TWO” (THE POWER PLANT, TORONTO, 21 SEP 2013 – 5 JAN 2014)
Honorary Mentions (Exhibitions that I missed but really wish I’d seen):
– ARNAUD MAGGS (RYERSON IMAGE CENTRE, TORONTO, 1 MAY – 2 JUN 2013)
– JULIA DAULT (JESSICA BRADLEY, TORONTO, 25 JAN – 9 MAR 2013)
Image: Geoffrey Farmer, The Surgeon and the Photographer, Installation view at The Curve, Barbican Center, via fluxmagazine.com
NIEKOLAAS JOHANNES LEKKERKERK
(Rotterdam, The Netherlands)
Curator and writer, The Office for Curating
theofficeforcurating.com
– DORA GARCÃA: THE JOYCEAN SOCIETY
(THE 55TH VENICE BIENNALE,
29 MAY – 24 Nov 2013)
– REFLECTIONS FROM DAMAGED LIFE. AN EXHIBITION ON PSYCHEDELIA
(RAVEN ROW, LONDON UK, 26 SEP – 15 DEC 2013)
– TAUBA AUERBACH: TETRACHROMAT
(WIELS, BRUSSELS, 22 MAR – 2 JUN 2013)
– PIERRE HUYGHE
(CENTRE POMPIDOU, PARIS, 25 SEP 2013 – 6 JAN 2014)
– FRIENDS OF LONDON. ARTISTS FROM LATIN AMERICA IN LONDON
FROM 196X – 197X
(DRAF, LONDON UK, 7 JUN – 3 AUG 2013. CURATOR: PABLO LEÓN DE LA BARRA w/ CARMEN JULIÁ)
– CHARLES AVERY: IT MEANS IT MEANS
(PILAR CORRIAS, LONDON UK, 20 NOV 2013 – 11 JAN 2014).
– & SO ON & SO FORTH
(EKKM, TALLINN, 14 SEP – 20 OCT 2013. CURATOR: MARGIT SÄDE LEHNI)
Image: Pierre Huyghe, installation view at Centre Pompidou, Paris. Courtesy Centre Pompidou, Paris
GRAHAM ELLARD & STEPHEN JOHNSTONE
(London, UK)
Graham Ellard: Artist, Professor at Central Saint
Martins College of Art and Design
Stephen Johnstone: Artist, Professor at Goldsmiths
University of London
ellardjohnstone.com
– WARREN SONBERT: TRUTH SERUM
(as part of the Warren Sonbert film retrospective at TATE MODERN, LONDON UK, OCT 2013)
– FRED SANDBACK
(DAVID ZWIRNER, LONDON UK, 10 JAN – 16 FEB 2013)
– ANTHONY McCALL: FACE TO FACE IV
(GALERIE MARTINE ABOUCAYA, PARIS, 19 OCT – 21 DEC 2013).
– KENZO TANGE: TRADITION AND CREATION FROM SETOUCHI TO THE WORLD
(KAGAWA MUSEUM, TAKAMATSU, SETOUCHI TRIENNALE, JAPAN, JULY 2013)
– MIWA YANAGI: ATTENDANT PERFORMANCE
(AICHI ARTS CENTER, AICHI TRIENNALE 2013, NAOYA, JAPAN, AUG 2013).
Image: Anthony McCall, Face to Face IV, 2013. Installation view. Courtesy the artist and Galerie Martine Aboucaya, Paris
SEBASTIAN KAEMPF (Brooklyn, NY)
Architect
– MARTIN KIPPENBERGER: VERY GOOD
(HAMBURGER BAHNHOF, BERLIN,
23 FEB – 18 AUG 2013)
Very small but very fine.
– MIKE KELLEY
(MoMA/PS1, NY, 13 OCT 2013 – 2 FEB 2014)
Very large and also very fine.
– ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE
(MORI ARTS MUSEUM, TOKYO, 26 APR – 1 SEP 2013)
My favorite, this year.
– PAUL McCARTHY: WS
(PARK AVENUE ARMORY, NY, 19 JUN – 4 AUG 2013)
I don’t care much about this old man, but a monstrous installation was quite impressive.
– JAMES TURRELL
(Guggenheim, NY, 21 JUN – 25 SEP 2013)
Another monstrous installation. I liked the old installations from his beginnings in the 60’s but thought the big piece in the rotunda was a bit obscene in its lighting tech and construction effort. A crowd pleaser as it has been called. It reminded me of the movie ‘Being John Malcovic’ where this wonderful street puppeteer comes to fame and has to stage huge opera productions that are unbearably big and obscene and stripped of all poetry of the original simple hand puppet street work. It’s not an untypical dilemma for a successful artist isn’t it?
Image: Mike Kelley, Installation view at MoMA PS1, NY. Photo by Sebastian Kaempf
OLI SORENSON (Montréal, Canada)
Editor-in-chief, M-KOS; Artist
m-kos.net | @MKOSnet
– JEAN_MICHEL BASQUIAT
(GAGOSIAN GALLERY, NY, 7 FEB – 6 APR 2013)
An incredible outpour of art in such a short time span surveyed in optimal gallery conditions
– RAGNAR KJARTANSSON: THE VISITORS
(LUHRING AUGUSTINE GALLERY NY, 1 FEB – 23 MAR 2013)
The ultimate hipster chic film technically rendered to impeccable timing and finish with a bang!
– CORY ARCANGEL: POWER POINTS
(DHC/ART, MONTREAL, 21 Jun – 24 Nov 2013)
Basically one of my favourite artists of al time. Wanted to see even more, but amazing achievement for montreal scene.
– CHRISTOPHER KULENDRAN THOMAS: WHEN PLATITUDES BECOME FORM
(MERCER UNION, TORONTO, 6 SEP – 12 OCT 2013)
Thomas addresses a critique of the globalizing art ecosystem as his primary creative material.
– RAFAËL ROZENDAAL: SLOW EMPTY (ONLINE)
One of the leaders of this year’s most exciting trends, Rafael has nailed the immaterial digital exhibition genre.
Image: Cory Arcangel, Photoshop CS: 84 by 66 inches, 300 DPI, RGB, square pixels, default gradient “Spectrum”, mousedown y=8900 x=15,600, mouse up y=13,800 x=0, 2009 Unique c-print, 84 x 66 inches. Courtesy the artist and Team Gallery, NY, Collection of Ninah and Michael Lynne.
MIWA KOJIMA (Montréal, Canada)
Managing Editor, M-KOS
m-kos.net | @MKOSnet
– THE BRIDE AND THE BACHELORS: DUCHAMP WITH CAGE, CUNNINGHAM, RANSCHENBERG AND JOHNS MISE-EN-SCENE BY PHILIPPE PARRENO
(BARBICAN ART GALLERY, LONDON UK, 14 FEB – 9 JUN 2013)
Magnificently orchestrated by Philippe Parreno, the exhibition revisits this important moment in art history. Parreno’s soundscapes created serene and tranquil ambiences that exhilarated and humbled me.
– EVE SUSSMAN & RUFUS COOPERATION: WHITEONWHITE
(MUSÉE D’ART CONTEMPORAIN DE MONTREAL, 24 MAY – 8 SEP 2013)
Sussman’s meticulously coded, open-ended complex film “whiteonwhite:algorhythmicnoir” (2011) was so irresistible that I was fixated in front of the screen and felt totally trapped in its cinematic labyrinth.
– ROSEMARIE TROCKEL: A COSMOS
(SERPENTINE GALLERY, LONDON UK, 13 FEB – 7 APR 2013)
Throughout the exhibit, Trockel’s cosmos blended her own work together with those of other artists as well as unclaimed artifacts, seemingly juxtaposed without any hierarchy, to interconnect altogether and make this an unlikely yet very likable retrospective.
– MING WONG: ME IN ME
(SHISEIDO GALLERY, TOKYO, 6 JUL – 22 SEP 2013)
Wong’s solo act enact ‘other’ personas within iconic Japanese period styles as well as modern and futuristic scenarios, to self-reflect yet highlight broad issues of race, gender, language and cultural identity. His performance was rather awkward and sometimes funny but always very engaging.
– AICHI TRIENNALE 2013: AWAKENING: WHERE ARE WE STANDING – EARTH, MEMORY, RESURRECTION
(Special mentions: Alfredo Jaar: Umashimenkana; Arnout Mik: Cardboard Wall; Lieko Shiga: Spiral Coast; Kohei Nawa: Foam)
(10 Aug – 27 Oct 2013)
Although the power of art to change the world is very much in question, in this show many artists responded creatively to the aftermath of Japan’s 2011 tsunami to participate in their nation’s ongoing process of recovery.
[Read our review on Aichi Triennale 2013 here]
Image: Rosemary Trockel, installation view at Serpentine Gallery. Courtesy the artist and Serpentine Gallery, London
Image from top left to right: Thomas Demand, Pacific Sun, 2012. Production still © Thomas Demand/SODRAC (2012) Courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery, New York/Sprüth Magers, Berlin and London/Esther Schipper, Berlin; The Bride and the Bachelors: Duchamp with Cage, Cunningham, Rauschenberg and Johns, Installation/Performance view at the Barbican Art Gallery. Photo: Felix Clay; Rudolf Stingel, installation view at Palazzo Grassi; Marigold Santos, Encounter, 2012. Watercolor, acrylic, pigment, gold and silver leaf on canvas. Courtesy the artist. Photo: Dan Matheson; Steve McQueen, Charlotte, 2004. detail. Courtesy the Artist © Steve McQueen; Öyvind Fahlström: The Little General (Pinball Machine), 1967–68. Exhibition views (Back to Reflections from Damaged Life. An exhibition on psychedelia) Collection Sharon Avery-Fahlström. On long-term loan to Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA). Photo: Marcus J. Leith; Laurent Grasso, Uraniborg 2013. Exhibition view at MACM; Ragnar Kjartansson, The Visitor, 2012. Still. 9 Channel HD video installation. Courtesy the artist and Luhring Augustine, NY; Adrián Villar Rojas, Today We Reboot the Planet, Installation view, Serpentine Sackler Gallery, London. Photo: © 2013 Jörg Baumann
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