P.S.1
Contemporary Art Center is proud to present new Special
Projects on October 12, 2003, including works by Yael Bartana,
Sofia Hultén, Misaki Kawai, and Isca Greenfield-Sanders.
Special Projects are selected individually, without attention
to a theme in order to reflect the extraordinary energy
and variety of practices among young artists working in
New York City and abroad.
Yael Bartana: Kings of the Hill
(2003)
Floor 2, Gallery S202. Selected by P.S 1 Curator Jimena
Blazquez.
Yael Bartana’s latest video Kings of the Hill (2003)
paints a portrait of Israeli society, which sees itself
in a permanent state of war. In the coastal hills near Tel
Aviv, a group of men drive around in circles or motor up
steep slopes, often losing traction and sliding back down
again. For example, in one scene, a vehicle plows into another
and forces it backward. It is difficult to determine whether
they are engaged in harmless automotive horseplay or in
something closer to a demolition derby. The video addresses
themes of power and control in a highly political manner.
Yael Bartana was born in Afula, Israel, and currently lives
in Israel and the Netherlands. She first studied at the
Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design (Jerusalem) and subsequently
graduated from the School of Visual Arts of New York where
she received her Master’s in Computer art in 1999.
She has had solo exhibitions at Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam
(2003), Beelden aan Zee Museum, Scheveningen, NL (2002).
Group exhibitions include Armour, Fort Asperen, Acquoy,
NL (2003), Wonderyears. New reflections on Shoah and Nazism
in Israel, Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst, Berlin
(2003), Rendez-Vous, Musée d’Art Contemporain
de Lyon, (2002), Nuits Cinematexas International Short Film
Festival, Austin, Texas (2002), In the Mean Time, De Appel,
Amsterdam (2001) as well as Greater New York, P.S.1 Contemporary
Art Center (2000).
Isca Greenfield-Sanders: Rose Point (2003)
Floor 3, corner gallery. Selected by P.S.1 Exhibitions Coordinator
Jeffrey Uslip. This exhibition is made possible with support
from Dietl International.
Rose Point is an exhibition of three new hybrid paintings
that illustrate the complex and often ambiguous way in which
we remember. Six years ago, Greenfield-Sanders discovered
approximately 600 family photographs at a tag sale in Putnam
Valley, NY. This archive of photographs became the point
of departure for a unique body of work that addresses the
fragmentation and limitations of memory. Each painting is
a composite of elements from several snapshots. Greenfield-Sanders
digitally engineers impossible realities that summon a collective
memory.
Isca Greenfield-Sanders was born in 1978 in New York City,
where she currently lives and works. She studied at Brown
University in Providence, R.I., and was a visiting artist
at the American Academy in Rome in 2001. She has had solo
exhibitions at Galerie Klüser 2, Munich, Germany (2003)
and Lombard Freid Fine Arts, New York, NY (2002). Selected
group exhibitions include the Prague Biennale: Peripheries
Become the Center in Veletrzni Palac, Prague (2003) and
Painting as Paradox at Artist’s Space, New York, NY
(2002).
Sofia Hultén: Grey Area
(2001)
Floor 2, Gallery S203. Selected by P.S.1 Chief Curator Klaus
Biesenbach and P.S.1 Project Manager Cornelia Tischmacher.
In Grey Area (2001), Sofia Hultén documents her numerous
attempts to conceal herself within the confines of a sterile
office environment. Dressed in business attire as impersonal
as the office she inhabits, Hultén manages to remove
herself from the austere corporate landscape by finding
unlikely hiding places in file cabinets, discarded cardboard
boxes, carpeting and window blinds. Hultén assumes
difficult and often constraining positions in an attempt
to "vanish" from the dull routine of the corporate
office that surrounds her. Although the removal of her physical
presence initially grants her some freedom, these seemingly
futile actions indicate a child-like naiveté that
ultimately leaves her exposed and vulnerable. Hultén’s
desperate actions echo the desire to escape, and provides
a humorous comment on the repetition and banality of daily
office jobs.
Sofia Hultén was born in 1972 in Sweden and spent
the years 1975-1997 in England. She lives and works in Berlin,
Germany. Selected recent group exhibitions include Not at
Home (2001), Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart; Leergut Abholen
(2001), Rampe003, Berlin, We're not here to give you pleasure
(2001), rraum 02, Frankfurt; Art works: consulting (2001),
Haus am Lützowplatz, Berlin; Videoidyll (2002), Staatsbank,
Berlin; The Berlin Files (2002), De Chiara Gallery, New
York; Here and Now (2002), Büro Friedrich, Berlin;
Koch und Kesslau, Berlin; Losing It (2003), Fenton Gallery,
Ireland; Capri, Berlin; Out to Grass (2003), Koch und Kesslau,
Berlin; Überlebensstrategien fur Untrainierte (2003),
Kunst- und Medienzentrum Adlershof, Berlin; Office (2003),
The Photographer's Gallery, London.
Misaki Kawai: Octopus Pier (2003)
Floor 2, Gallery S204. Selected by P.S.1 Assistant Curator
Amy Smith Stewart.
Misaki Kawai’s Octopus Pier (2003) is a site-specific
installation of a miniature pier carefully crafted from
a variety of everyday materials, such as cardboard, fabric
and even pieces of her own clothing. Handmade dolls whose
faces are from photos of Kawai's friends, icons of popular
culture like John Lennon and R2D2 or Kawai herself, make
up the population of this constructed world. Kawai’s
work invokes the innocence and fun of a childhood dollhouse,
but one that is made to appeal to an adult’s cultural
sensitivity and insight.
Misaki Kawai was born in 1978 in Kagawa, Japan, and currently
lives and works in New York. Solo exhibitions include Misaki
Kawai Summer Show, Kenny Schachter ConTEMPorary, NYC (2003);
Air Show, Kenny Schachter ConTEMPorary, NYC (2002); and
Garbage Room, New Image Art, West Hollywood (2002). Her
work has been featured in group exhibitions at the Inman
Gallery, Houston (2003); New Image Art, West Hollywood (2003);
The Front Room, Brooklyn (2002); Transformer, Washington
D.C. (2002); Plus Ultra, Brooklyn (2001); and One Pixel,
Philadelphia (2000).
For more information, please
contact Rachael Dorsey, P.S.1 Press Office, at press@ps1.org
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