Collezione Ramo with Untitled
A work on paper by Jannis Kounellis
June 10August 8, 2015
Collezione Ramo, Milan from collectorspace on Vimeo.
Jannis Kounelliss Untitled (1976) consists of a burn mark on paper. Using firea metaphor for both punishment and purification, the artist produces a hole on the surface, allowing the viewer to peek through the sheet of papermaterial for the artwork. Untitled stands out as an early work by Kounellis, who is a protagonist of Arte povera, the avant-garde movement that emerged in Italy in the late 1960s. Using naturally derived materials such as earth, stone, fire, and gold, as well as found objects such as bedframes, windows, and doorways, Kounellis has left a permanent mark on contemporary art by pushing the medium of painting into a new territory.
collectorspace brings Untitled from Collezione Ramo, based in Milan, Italy. The collection focuses on works on paperbe it preparatory drawings or autonomous artworksas a primary form of expression. The collector and his team take their starting point as the historical avant-gardes of their home country, and set out to document the diverse stylistic approaches of the 20th century. The collection also acts as a depository of exhibition catalogues and artists publications, which ground the works in art history, exhibition history, as well as social history of the artists it brings together. Taking on the responsibility of preserving and exhibiting works on paper, Collezione Ramo seeks to raise awareness of the remarkable achievements in this often overlooked medium.
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Jannis Kounellis (b. 1936, Piraeus, Greece) has been living in Rome, Italy since 1956. He exhibited for the first time in 1960, and is among the artists who have been associated with Arte povera movement since 1967. With a career spanning more than 40 years, Kounelliss works are included in many public collections, such as Tate Modern, London; The Centre Pompidou, Paris; the Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim Museum, New York. Recent solo exhibitions took place at Mus矇e dArt Moderne, Saint-Etienne (2014) and the Fondazione Volume, Rome (2013).
Based in Milano, Collezione Ramo is a collection of works on paper. Initiated by Giuseppe Rabolini, the collection consists of more than 600 works from the early 1900s onwards, focusing on artists who have been part of historical avant-gardes in Italy. The collection currently hosts works by more than 110 artists, such as Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carr, Lucio Fontana, Mario Sironi, and Fausto Melotti, among many others. For the first time, Collezione Ramo was opened to the public through Milanesi si diventa, an exhibition curated by Irina Zucca Alessandrelli at the collections office space in Milan in April 2015, which displayed 28 works that trace historical itineraries of artistic production in the city between 1900s and 1970s.
Image courtesy of Collezione Ramo, Milan.
In Conversation: Cesar Cervantes and Lorena Jauregui
collectorspace, Saturday, October 12, 2013, 6:30-8pm
The talk will be held in English. The event is free and open to all.
Photograph: Sebastiano Opellion
Courtesy of Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Esther Schipper, Berlin, and Cesar Cervantes Collection.
The Savage Detectives at the Cervantes Collection
September 11November 9, 2013
Collectorspace presents The Savage Detectives at the Cervantes Collection, featuring Dominique Gonzalez-Foersters Untitled (Bola簽o) (2011). In this work, Gonzalez-Foerster places a copy of Roberto Bola簽os The Savage Detectives (1998) on a pile of sand, stacked in a corner of the exhibition space, and leaves open the two pages that include a triplet poem, including a straight, wavy, and a broken line. The sand underneath the book does not denote a locational specificity, but rather suggests the authors relationship to a landscape. The landscape also materializes an image from the book, as the wavy line reappears on the sand. Gonzalez-Foerster thus creates a habitat for The Savage Detectives, treating it as a literary text, a visual image, as well as a living being.
Untitled (Bola簽o) reflects collector Cesar Cervantess interest in artworks that are connected to time, history, and the concept of ready-made. Based in Mexico City, Cervantes started off by collecting modern Mexican masters, but eventually shifted his attention to works by contemporary international artists. He later began to revisit conceptual works from the 1960s and 1970s, questioning the existing readings of contemporary artistic production. He now contemplates a question rarely discussed: when to stop collecting?
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Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster (b. 1965) lives and works in Paris and Rio de Janeiro. Recent solo exhibitions include: Cloud Illusions I Recall (a collaboration with Cerith Wyn Evans), Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (2013); T.451, Tensta Konsthall and the Asplunds library, Stockholm (2012); chronotopes & dioramas, Dia Art Foundation, New York (2009); and TH.2058 The Unilever Series, The Turbine Hall, Tate Modern, London (2008). Selected upcoming and recent group shows with participation of the artist: Montreal Biennale, Montreal (2013); ELLES, CCBB RJ, Rio de Janeiro (2013), and Stage it! (Part II), Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2013).
Cesar Cervantes is a collector and patron of contemporary art based in Mexico City. The Cervantes Collection began by focusing on early works by On Kawara and Gabriel Orozco. The Collection includes numerous conceptual works from the 1960s and the 1970s by artists such as Alighiero Boetti and Robert Filliou, as well as more recent pieces by Bernadette Corporation, Abraham Cruzvillegas, Jimmie Durham, Claire Fontaine, Daniel Guzm獺n, Dami獺n Ortega, and Rirkrit Tiravanija.
collectorspace would like to thank the artist and the collector for participating in this presentation. Special thanks to Mari Spirito, Rocio Gordillo, Philip Dolin, and Esther Schipper, Berlin for their support, advice, and contributions.
Photograph: Sebastiano Opellion
Courtesy of the artist, Esther Schipper, Berlin, andCesar Cervantes Collection.
Plinth
March 8-May 31, 2017
Participants: Ali Tapt覺k, Bostanc覺’s Recipe Book (March 29-April 3); Nardane Ku癟u, Wild (April 4-11); Aye Umur, The Treasure Chests of Mnemosyne (April 12-18); Banu Cennetolu, discard (April 19-25); Leyla Pekin, Give Me Back My Innocence (April 26-May 2); Tolga T羹z羹n, Purrrr (May 3-9); Emrah Alt覺nok, plinth:poem (May 17-23); Ali Cindoruk (March 29-May 31)
Asl覺han Demirtas Kaide [Plinth] (2016) is a sculptural work made of rammed earth. Plinth is one of the several meanings of the word kaide in Turkish, which also means principle, foundation, and rulewords that have distinct relationships to soil. With Kaide, Demirta alludes to traditional growing beds still used at Istanbuls Historical Yedikule Urban Vegetable Gardens, and brings attention to how one senses and values soil. The work explores what soil is beyond its utilitarian materiality in cultivation and possession, and opens up discussions on ownership, inheritance, and cultural heritage.
Throughout the spring, collectorspace and Demirta invite a group of artists, collectors, thinkers, and farmerswith distinct collecting practicesto provide a piece from their collection to be exhibited on or with Kaide. Through these contributions, we hope to explore topics on cultural heritageboth tangible and intangibleembedded in soil, and evaluate our relative efforts in preserving and activating those two complimentary but different forms. As a recurrent theme on our program, we also aim to touch on the potential of collecting beyond accumulation of precious objects, and inquire into the notion of collective ownership as it relates to soil as well as artworks.
Kaide <> Ali Tapt覺k <> Bostanc覺s Recipe Book
March 29-April 4, 2017
Ali Tapt覺ks postcards act as a greeting and an invitation to barter. For his upcoming publication Bostanc覺s Recipe Book, Tapt覺k uses postcards to collect recipes from Istanbulites in exchange for photographs he took at Historical Vegetable Gardens in Yedikule. He seeks to trace a variety of local recipescoming from exhibition-goers, local chefs, and farmersand treats them as cultural forms and markers of heritage. The publication explores the entanglements of Yedikule Gardens, as well as the notions of lineage, permanence, and displacement.
Kaide <> Nardane Ku癟u <> Wild
April 411, 2017
What kind of knowledge does the earth possess? For Nardane Ku癟u, a collector of heirloom seeds, the earth is a foundation, a common ground and a social network where there is a constant exchange of knowledge. To accompany Asl覺han Demirtas Kaide, Ku癟u brings a group of wild herbs to collectorspace, which she inventories and borrows from Nark繹yan ecological farm she co-founded. Ranging from melissa, common poppy and chicory to patient dock and roundleaf mallow, these herbs are not unwanted guests but rather mediators of knowledge between generations. The selection refers to the principles of nature, such as creativity, dynamism and integrity, and brings up the question what one could learn from the wild and untamed.
Kaide <> Aye Umur <> The Treasure Chests of Mnemosyne
April 1218, 2017
Art historian Uwe Fleckner states that If the memory goddess Mnemosyne is the mother of the nine Muses in Ancient Mythology, that means that memory is the source and the foundation of the arts. To accompany Kaide, Aye Umur brings The Treasure Chests of Mnemosyne to collectorspace. Made in collaboration between Fleckner and Sarkis, the publication acts as an art book and an anthology of philosophy, as it brings together photographs taken at Sarkiss studio and selected texts on memory theory by a range of authors from Plato to Derrida. First published in German in 1995 and in Turkish in 2016 by Umur Publishing, the book emphasizes the collective memory in the arts, and together with Kaide, it explores how earth could become a space of memory.
Kaide <> Banu Cennetolu <> 覺skarta?
April 1925, 2017
the eye that eyes the essentia the substantia
is also here [can substance be seen?].
did you carve the stone?
move away and look.
don’t be stoned about your carving
be stoned about the stone
then go wherever you go, the stone shall be yours.
because the world whirls you not
it whirls and whirls around itself
Franko Buskas. Translated from Turkish by Fulya Peker for e-pub Graft by Asl覺han Demirta to be published by SALT, 2017.
Lithography masters Sarah and Uli (Keystone Editions) worked with Banu for four weeks (February 6March 6, 2017), and by her request, poured some of the discardmade of sea shells, coral particles, emery powder, limestone powder, oil-based ink, gum arabic, nitric acid, and miscellaneous memory fragmentsthat has accumulated in their stone cleaning sink into a jar, and sent it to Istanbul with a dear friend (March 30, 2017). With Asl覺han and zges invitation, 覺skarta (discard) now accompanies Kaide.
Kaide <> Leyla Pekin <> Give Me Back My Innocence
April 26-May 2
Does earth belong to everyone or no one? Or to some? For Kaide, Asl覺han Demirta borrows 1.5 tons of soil, which will go back to where it came from at the close of the exhibition. Taking her cue from this gesture, collector Leyla Pekin brings an artwork she borrows from Tansa Mermerci Ekiolus collection to collectorspace, to explore common ownership models in contemporary art. Hale Tengers Give Me Back My Innocence (2005) consists of a crystal shoe on a velvet pillow, covered with a glass bell jar, sitting on its own pedestal, and questions the perception of freedom and happiness in a consumer society. Its title inspired by the lyrics of a Laurie Anderson song, The Day The Devil, the work calls to mind a story without a happy ending, contrary to what the folktales would project. After all, how would it be possible to take back innocence, and resist against the economy of desire?
Kaide <> Tolga T羹z羹n <> Purrrr
May 39, 2017
How does one sense the piece of earth on display here? Taking his cue from this question, Tolga T羹z羹n composes a work that transforms the cross-section of Asl覺han Demirtas Kaide into a sound piece, abstracting the seemingly monolithic qualities of the the rammed-earth installation. The six-minute piece shows a linear yet drifting character, reinforcing and prolonging sounds in its duration. Playing with the viewers habits of perception, T羹z羹n alters the perceived stability of Kaide while alluding to the earths vibrational pulse at the same time.
Kaide <> Saruhan Doan <> Deed
May 1016, 2017
Kaide <> Emrah Alt覺nok <> plinth:poem
May 1723, 2017
its only a few steps away from you. youre very close. follow the instructions to reach it:
first step:
face the plinth with the white shelf on your right.
[plinth: earth. simply earth.]
plinth of the earth, the earth itself.
at your arms length. greet it.
it greets you back.
second step:
scan the worn-out edges and corners of the plinth with your eyes.
[plinth: imperfect perfect. incomplete completeness.]
lies like a living dead in front of you.
this is why its all the same,
what sustains the world, what kills the world.
third step:
walk to the other side of the plinth.
as you arrive, direct your eyes from your feet
to the base of the plinth.
what you see is sheerly a world with scattered parts.
[plinth: belongs to no one, belongs to everyone.]
irreversible. entropy.
fourth step:
find the long black stain on the wooden floor, connecting the plinth to the wall.
youll see a baseboard where the stain ends and opens to the city.
bend down and find the folded poem, hidden in the open end of the baseboard.
[poem: sets in place all that scatters around. plinth.]
read it. brace and embrace.
then fold it and neatly place it back,
as if nothing happened.
Kaide <> Ali Cindoruk <> Wheel
March 29May 31, 2017
Throughout the spring, Asl覺han Demirta and collectorspace have invited a group of artists, collectors, and farmers with distinct collecting practices to contribute to Kaide for one week with a piece that reflects on soil, memory, and collecting. Ali Cindoruk has registered each guest’s contribution on indexical cards that have accumulated throughout the exhibition to eventually form a site- and time-specific inventory of Kaide‘s collection. Cindoruk finalizes his contribution with a compacting and summarizing image, that borrows and abstracts elements from each guesta jar, a shoe, a plant, and a postal stamp, among others. His gesture alludes to the encounters and temporalities that have been formed with and around Kaide itself.
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Asl覺han Demirta is an architect and the principal of the interdisciplinary studios Aslihan Demirtas Architecture & Research Office and KHORA (founded with Ali Cindoruk) based in Istanbul and New York. Her practice purposefully crosses territories and boundaries of disciplines in the forms of building, landscape, installation projects, and exhibitions, as well as research. Her work threads through subjects and places such as urban agriculture, infrastructure, landscape, architectural knitting/weaving, activism through design, and any other coincidental commissions of architecture, landscape, and design.
Demirta holds a SMarchs from MIT, Cambridge, MA, and a BArch from the Middle East Technical University, Ankara. She is currently working on her upcoming e-book Graftto be published by SALT in 2017 with the support of Graham Foundation Grant she received in 2013, and on the strategic renovation of the Lumbardhi Cinema in Prizren. She is an active member of the Initiative for the Protection of the Historical Yedikule Urban Gardens, working to keep the 1,500 year old urban agriculture heritage and landscape of Istanbul.
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1.5 ton of soil, clay, flax fiber, fine grain k羹feki stone, and terracotta
1 m x 1.5 m x 0.55 m
Earth ramming by Naz覺m Can Cihan and Sad覺k Atar
Documentation by Ali Tapt覺k
Many thanks to Ali Cindoruk, Yiit Ozar, and to all of our participants.
Flowers from the Bilge Collection
October 27December 24, 2016
In Flowers, 羹kriye Dikmen uses the traditional genre of still life to achieve a minimalist composition of organic figures. With a solid black background and no depth, no perspective, the brightly colored flowers are almost transformed into abstract geometric shapes. The flatness of the painting, which gives it a modern feel, also hints at more historic references. Always staying within the representational frameworks of portraiture, landscape painting, and still life, Dikmen often reduces figuration to lines and monochromatic shapes. Flowers, date unknown, showcases Dikmens specific style, prominent in her paintings from the 1970s and 1980s.
羹kriye Dikmen is the first artist Muhsin Bilge included in his art collection which he started in the early 1990s. Focusing on painting and sculpture from post-1923 Turkey, the Bilge Collection aims to offer an in-depth survey of modern art in the country. While making a conscientious effort to collect artworks from all different periods of each artist, the collector also amassed their notebooks, sketches, and correspondence as a window into their practice. Since his passing in 2014, the collection is being run by his children Asl覺 and Ali Bilge. This provides an opportunity of discussing the issues faced by the next generation in preserving an established family collection, and envisioning its future.
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羹kriye Dikmen (b. 1918, d. 2000) graduated from the Istanbul Fine Arts Academy in 1948 and from the Art History Department at Paris cole du Louvre in 1953. She practiced painting with Fernand L矇ger as well as Gustave Singier and Roger Chastel at Acad矇mie Ranson in Paris. Dikmen opened her first solo exhibition in France in 1953 and in Turkey in 1954. She had several solo exhibitions throughout her long career at institutions such as the State Academy of Fine Arts (1968), Tiglat Art Gallery (1980), 襤 Bank Art Gallery (1983), and Yap覺 Kredi Kaz覺m Takent Art Gallery (1994). Dikmens paintings were also represented in international group exhibitions including the Edinbourgh Festival (1957), the S瓊o Paulo Bienal (1961) and Contemporary Turkish Art, Mus矇e dArt Moderne de la Ville de Paris (1964), among others.
Muhsin Bilge (b. 1944, d. 2014) started collecting art in the early 1990s after being an avid collector of objects all his life. With the ambition of representing the entire oeuvre of each artist in the collection, Bilge in many cases, established long lasting relationships with their families, and provided crucial financial support at a time when the commercial art market in Turkey had only few players. Being a public notary as profession, Bilge showed the works in his office that turned into an exhibition space of the most public kind. In his own description, his collection of artists includes works by Fahr-el Nissa Zeid, Nejad Devrim, Aliye Berger, Bedri Rahmi Ey羹bolu, Celal Tutant, zdemir Altan, Mehmet G羹lery羹z, Kemal nsoy, and Komet, among many others.
羹kriye Dikmen
Flowers (detail)
Date unknown
Oil on hardboard
129.5 x 69.5 cm
Image courtesy: The Bilge Collection
First Seen from the Lentz Collection
First Seen (2008) by Matts Leiderstam
June 9August 13, 2016
Wilfried Lentz, Rotterdam from collectorspace on Vimeo.
First Seen (2008) is an installation constituent of a framed vintage album print, a book, and a magnifying glass. In this work, Matts Leiderstam uses a tropical scenery photograph, taken during United States Navys expeditionin Panama in 187071, and combines this print with a book and his own text, questioning how the preconditionsbiography, bibliography, and provenanceinfluence the act of seeing. Leiderstam pushes this question further by placing a magnifying glass on the book, to focus the viewers gaze on the photographers image reproduced here, previously (falsely) used as proof of the photographs authenticity. The artist plays with the creation and perception of the photograph by subverting the gazes of the photographer, his subject, and the viewer. In his practice, Leiderstam often uses the tools of an art historian investigating historical accounts and contexts of images to create bodily experiences for the viewers.
collectorspace brings First Seen from the Wilfried Lentz Collection based in Rotterdam. Together with Carla de Kovel, Wilfried Lentz started buying artworks in the late 1980s, at that time primarily acquiring photography. Lentzs collecting practice has led him to be the first director of SKOR in 2000, an art institution that developed projects in relation to the public domain, and thenopen a gallery in Rotterdam in 2008, which has allowed him to form long-term collaborations with artists. Also one of the founders of C.o.C.A. (Collectors of Contemporary Art)a foundation that supports new artistic production in the NetherlandsLentz provides a reference point for how a collector could act as a producer, going beyond accumulating existing artworks. In his practice, he explores the ways to negotiate the roles of collector and gallerist, and dealing with potential conflicts of interest that may arise from merging these positions.
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Matts Leiderstam (b. 1956, Gothenburg) received his Ph.D. in Fine Arts from Malm繹 Art Academy, Lund University in 2006. He completed his MA at University of Gothenburg Valand Academy and BA at Konstfack College of Arts, Crafts and Design, Stockholm. Recent solo exhibitions include Kuntsi Museum of Modern Art, Vaasa (2011); Grazer Kunstverein, Graz (2010); Malm繹 Art Museum, Malm繹 (2010); and Kunsthalle D羹sseldorf, D羹sseldorf (2010). Leiderstams work has been exhibited in numerous group shows, such as Identity. Behind the Curtain of Uncertainty, The National Art Museum of Ukraine, Kiev (2016), the 8th Berlin Biennale, Berlin (2014), Ciclorama, Museo Tamayo, Mexico City (2013), Modernautst瓣llningen, Moderna Museet, Stockholm (2011), and The End of Money, Witte de With, Rotterdam (2011), among others. Leiderstam is represented by Wilfried Lentz, Rotterdam and Andrehn-Schiptienko Gallery, Stockholm. He lives and works in Stockholm.
Wilfried Lentz is a collector of contemporary art and founder of the gallery Wilfried Lentz in Rotterdam. Lentz was the founding director of SKOR (Foundation for Art and Public Domain), and worked there between 200008. Lentz and Carla de Kovel collaborated with the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in 2007 for Private / Public, an exhibition around the idea of landscape and photography, where works from their private collection and the Boijmanss collection were exhibited together both in the museum and in their home that was temporarily open to the public. Lentz opened his gallery with an exhibition by Matts Leiderstam in 2008. His collection includes works with a shared interest in current cultural and social issues, with a wide range of media, including film, photography, performance, and installation.
Supported in part by Consulate General of Sweden, Istanbul.
Alientos from the Teixeira de Freitas Collection
Alientos (2012) by Juli瓊o Sarmento
Guest Curator: Luiza Teixeira de Freitas
March 18May 14, 2016
Juli瓊o Sarmentos Alientos [Breaths] (2012) is a collection of fifty empty jars of different shapes and sizes, placed side-by side in an open cabinet. Each sealed jar is supposed to contain the breath of a contemporary artist, and carries the respective name-tag. The fifty names are selected from a group of artists included in a private art collection, and the work is gifted by the artist to the collector on the occasion of his 50th birthday. Alientos plays with the immateriality and ephemeral nature of its own medium, and questions a value system of artworks that is based on physical qualities and their permanence. The artist, who is also an art collector in his own right, highlights the difference between collecting names versus accumulating artworks versus breathing the same air as the artist, i.e. gaining direct access to the source of the ideas for the artworks.
The collector who is the inspiration for and the recipient of this artwork is Luiz Augusto Teixeira de Freitas. Lisbon-based Teixeira de Freitas collaborated with curator Adriano Pedrosa for ten years when he started building a contemporary art collection that was focused on architecture as a main theme. Since concluding this phase, he has diverted his attention onto literature, acquiring artists books as well as text-based ephemera and archival documents. Related to his collecting activities, having been involved in public-private partnerships within the art context, Teixeira de Freitas has been a vocal activist on issues concerning the lack of regulation in the art market and the conflicts of interest in and around art institutions.
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Juli瓊o Sarmento (b. 1948, Lisbon) studied painting and architecture at the Lisbon School of Fine Arts. Throughout his career, Sarmento has worked in a wide range of media: painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, film, video, performance, sound and installation. He has had numerous solo and group exhibitions throughout the world over the past four decades. Sarmento represented Portugal at the 46th Venice Biennale (1997), and was included in Documenta 7 (1982) and Documenta 8 (1987), the Venice Biennale (1980 and 2001), and the S瓊o Paulo Biennale (2002). The artist lives and works in Estoril.
Luiz Augusto Teixeira de Freitas is a contemporary art collector and a lawyer based in Lisbon. Cole癟瓊o Teixeira de Freitas is a contemporary art collection that focuses on works from the previous two decades and on emerging artists. The collection also includes a number of historical works from the 1960s and 1970s, which provide a historical background to the different themes and concepts covered by the collection. Teixeira de Freitas also built a drawing collection, which is currently deposited at the Museu Serralves, a public-private partnership in Porto.
Luiza Teixeira de Freitas is an independent curator based in Lisbon. Recent exhibitions include El que camina al lado (Travesia Cuatro, Madrid, 2016); Without Knowing When the Dawn Will Come (Galeria Silvia Cintra, Rio de Janeiro, 2016); An Infinite Conversation (Museu Berardo, Lisbon 2014); Apestraction by Dami獺n Ortega (Freud Museum, London, 2013); In Lines and Realignments (Simon Lee Gallery, London, 2013); The Exact Weight of Lightness (Travesia Quatro, Madrid, 2012); Like Tears in Rain (Pal獺cio das Artes, Porto, 2010); and The Moon is an Arrant Thief (David Roberts Art Foundation, London, 2010).
Image courtesy of the artist and Teixeira de Freitas Collection.
‘Til I Get It Right from the Samdani Collection
November 4, 2015January 2, 2016
Samdani Collection, Dhaka from collectorspace on Vimeo.
For Ceal Floyers ‘Til I Get It Right (2005), an audio system is installed in an otherwise empty room so that the sound is heard evenly throughout the space. The words “falling in love” have been edited out of country music singer Tammy Wynettes famous song, rendering it a simple, looped repetition of “Ill just keep on . . . til I get it right”. In its new form, the song evokes a search for perfection in the creative process, and suggests a self-reflexive turn as it questions its own presentation and meaning. With its ironic and unassuming quality, the piece is exemplary of the tropes Floyer uses in her works, such as repetition, humor, word plays, and the displacement of everyday objects and sounds.
collectorspace presents Til I Get It Right from the collection of the Samdani Art Foundation based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Initiated by the collector couple Nadia and Rajeeb Samdani, and managed by curator Diana Campbell Betancourt, the collection has a focus on contemporary artistic production in South Asia. The Foundation aims to create intergenerational and interregional dialogues by juxtaposing contemporary production of local artists with their modern predecessors as well as with works of international artists with ties to the region. By presenting the collection from the Samdani Art Foundation with its multi-dimensional programs promoting art production and appreciation, collectorspace aims to bring to attention the effort behind a mission-driven private initiative that serves as a support structure for an entire region.
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Ceal Floyer (b. Karachi) lives and works in Berlin. Recent solo exhibitions include Kunsthalle Bonn (2015), Museion, Bozen (2014), the K繹lnischer Kunstverein (2013), Kunst-Werke, Berlin (2009) and Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2009). Among other exhibitions, her sound installation ‘Til I Get It Right was also included in Carolyn Christov-Bakargievs dOCUMENTA (13) in Kassel, Germany. Floyers work is part of public collections, including Tate Modern, London; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, California, CA; Museum fur Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt; FRAC Lorraine, Metz; Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; and Jumex Collection, Mexico City. Floyer is represented by Lisson Gallery in London, 303 Gallery in New York, and Esther Schipper in Berlin.
The Dhaka-based Samdani Collection is part of the Samdani Art Foundation, a private foundation that aims to increase artistic engagement between Bangladesh and the rest of the world. Founded in 2011, the Foundation provides exhibition, residency, and education programs, offers production grants, and organizes the Dhaka Art Summit, the bi-annual nonprofit platform for art from the region. In 2018, the Foundation will open the first phase of a public Art Center in Sylhet, Bangladesh.
In Conversation: Ali Tapt覺k and Asl覺han Demirta
Thursday, October 8, 2015, 6.30pm, collectorspace
In conjunction with the exhibition The Lookout from the Kadist Collection, collectorspace hosts a conversation between Asl覺han Demirta and Ali Tapt覺ktwo practitioners who pursue artistic and academic research while collaborating in urban farming initiatives in Istanbul. Demirta and Tapt覺k will depart from Jean-Luc Moul癡ne’s The Lookout (extrait 6) (20042011) and explore its relation to street photography, spontaneous vegetation in urban areas, as well as the ideas of resistance, resilience and hope.
La Vigie (extrait 6) is part of Jean-Luc Moul癡nes photographic essay about a princess tree (Paulownia tomentosa) that keeps sprouting in the cracked sidewalk across from the Ministry for the Economy, Industry, and Employment in Paris. The princess treethe observer and the observed in this seriesis known for its adaptability, fast growth, and invasive qualities; its ability to sprout prolifically from adventitious buds on stems and roots allows it to survive fire, cutting, and even bulldozing. It is this resilient tree that bears witness to the daily events that take place in this popular spot for public protests in front of the Ministry also referred to as ‘Bercy Fortress.’ La Vigie (extrait 6)presents eight pairs of images from the entire series of 299 photographs that document the state of the tree (usually the early phases of the sprout, full of potential for change and long-term resistancea recurrent theme in Moul癡nes practice) as well as the view from the sprouts perspective on a particular day during a seven year time span.
The event is free and open to all. The talk will be held in Turkish.
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Asl覺han Demirta is an architect. She is the founder of Aslihan Demirtas Design and Research Studio, based in Istanbul and New York.
Ali Tapt覺k is an artist, photographer and architect. He is currently a PhD candidate in Architectural Design at Istanbul Technical University.
Image courtesy of the artist and Kadist Art Foundation.
The Lookout from the Kadist Collection
August 26October 24, 2015
La Vigie (extrait 6) (20042011) is part of Jean-Luc Moul癡nes photographic essay about a Princess tree (Paulownia tomentosa) that keeps sprouting in the cracked sidewalk across from the French Ministry for the Economy, Industry, and Employment in Paris. The Princess treethe observer and the observed in this seriesis known for its adaptability, fast growth, and invasive qualities; its ability to sprout prolifically from adventitious buds on stems and roots allows it to survive fire, cutting, and even bulldozing. It is this resilient tree that bears witness to the daily events that take place in this popular spot for public protests in front of the Ministry also referred to as Bercy Fortress. La Vigie (extrait 6) presents eight pairs of images from the entire series of 299 photographs that document the state of the tree (usually the early phases of the sprout, full of potential for change and long-term resistancea recurrent theme in Moul癡nes practice) as well as the view from the sprouts perspective on a particular day during a seven year time span.
collectorspace brings La Vigie (extrait 6) from the collection of the Kadist Art Foundation, based in Paris and San Francisco. Initiated by Vincent Worms in collaboration with Sandra Terdjman in 2001, Kadist has developed an international contemporary art collection that puts transparency and social engagement at the core of its mission. To these ends, Kadist makes the content of its collection public online, and closely works with artists through its residency and exhibition programs. Kadist employs the expertise of curators and art historians in developing the collection, challenging the familiar format of individual-centric private collections. It pays special attention to represent the art production from different regions of the world by selecting advisors who possess an in-depth understanding of a particular region on top of their global competence. With Kadist, collectorspace aims to present a reference point for a professionally-managed, mission-driven private initiative and its collection.
Jean-Luc Moul癡ne (b. 1955, Reims) studied aesthetics and the sciences of art at the Sorbonne University in Paris. His work has been shown at Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (2016); Villa Medici, Rome (2015); Kunstverein, Hannover (2015); Beirut Art Center (2013); Modern Art Oxford, Oxford (2012); Dia Art Foundation, New York (2011); Carr矇 dart Mus矇e dart contemporain, N簾mes (2009); Culturgest, Lisbon (2007); Jeu de Paume and Mus矇e du Louvre, Paris (2005). He has been featured in group exhibitions at Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Fran癟ois Pinault Foundation, Venice; CCA Wattis Institute, San Francisco; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Sharjah Biennial; Witte de With, Rotterdam; Venice Biennale; and Documenta 10, Kassel. The artist lives and works in Paris.
Kadist Art Foundation aims to encourage the contribution of the arts to society. Its programs support the engagement of artists with contemporary issues, and promote their role as cultural agents. The advisors for the collection include Philippe Pirotte, Dean of the Staedelschule and Director of Portikus, Frankfurt; Jean-Marc Pr矇vost, Director, Carr矇 d’Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, N簾mes; Hou Hanru, Artistic Director of MAXXI National Museum of the XXI Century Arts, Rome; Jens Hoffmann, Deputy Director of the Jewish Museum, New York, among others. The collection includes more than 1,000 artworks in various media by some of the most influential artists working today.
Image: Jean Luc Moul癡ne, La Vigie (extrait 6), (20042011), detail.
Image courtesy of the artist and the Kadist Art Foundation.
In Conversation: Irina Zucca Alessandrelli and Nazl覺 G羹rlek
Wednesday, June 10, 2015, 6.30pm at collectorspace
collectorspace is pleased to organize a conversation between Irina Zucca Alessandrelli, curator of Collezione Ramo in Milan and Istanbul-based curator Nazl覺 G羹rlek. The talk is held in conjunction with the exhibitionCollezione Ramo with Untitled: A work by Jannis Kounellis.
What is the impulse of a collection to be medium-specific?How does a private collection explore the versatility in the medium of drawingand make it visible in the public domain? Taking their cues from these questions, Zucca Alessandrelli and G羹rlek will discuss about Collezione Ramo that focuses on works on paper as a primary form of expression.
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Irina Zucca Alessandrelli is the curator of Collezione Ramo in Milan. She holds an MA in Curatorial Studies from Columbia University in New York.Focusing on the medium of drawing, Collezione Ramoseeks to documentthe diverse stylistic approaches of the 20th century.
Nazl覺 G羹rlek is an independent curator and writer based in Istanbul. She holds an MFA in Curating from Goldsmiths College in London. She currently works as the Guest Curator of the Collection at Borusan Contemporary in Istanbul.
Collezione Ramo with Untitled
A work on paper by Jannis Kounellis
June 10August 8, 2015
Collezione Ramo, Milan from collectorspace on Vimeo.
Jannis Kounelliss Untitled (1976) consists of a burn mark on paper. Using firea metaphor for both punishment and purification, the artist produces a hole on the surface, allowing the viewer to peek through the sheet of papermaterial for the artwork. Untitled stands out as an early work by Kounellis, who is a protagonist of Arte povera, the avant-garde movement that emerged in Italy in the late 1960s. Using naturally derived materials such as earth, stone, fire, and gold, as well as found objects such as bedframes, windows, and doorways, Kounellis has left a permanent mark on contemporary art by pushing the medium of painting into a new territory.
collectorspace brings Untitled from Collezione Ramo, based in Milan, Italy. The collection focuses on works on paperbe it preparatory drawings or autonomous artworksas a primary form of expression. The collector and his team take their starting point as the historical avant-gardes of their home country, and set out to document the diverse stylistic approaches of the 20th century. The collection also acts as a depository of exhibition catalogues and artists publications, which ground the works in art history, exhibition history, as well as social history of the artists it brings together. Taking on the responsibility of preserving and exhibiting works on paper, Collezione Ramo seeks to raise awareness of the remarkable achievements in this often overlooked medium.
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Jannis Kounellis (b. 1936, Piraeus, Greece) has been living in Rome, Italy since 1956. He exhibited for the first time in 1960, and is among the artists who have been associated with Arte povera movement since 1967. With a career spanning more than 40 years, Kounelliss works are included in many public collections, such as Tate Modern, London; The Centre Pompidou, Paris; the Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim Museum, New York. Recent solo exhibitions took place at Mus矇e dArt Moderne, Saint-Etienne (2014) and the Fondazione Volume, Rome (2013).
Based in Milano, Collezione Ramo is a collection of works on paper. Initiated by Giuseppe Rabolini, the collection consists of more than 600 works from the early 1900s onwards, focusing on artists who have been part of historical avant-gardes in Italy. The collection currently hosts works by more than 110 artists, such as Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carr, Lucio Fontana, Mario Sironi, and Fausto Melotti, among many others. For the first time, Collezione Ramo was opened to the public through Milanesi si diventa, an exhibition curated by Irina Zucca Alessandrelli at the collections office space in Milan in April 2015, which displayed 28 works that trace historical itineraries of artistic production in the city between 1900s and 1970s.
Image courtesy of Collezione Ramo, Milan.