Posts Categorized: Exhibitions
‘Sex and Friends’, Tobias Rehberger
HS Projects presented an exhibition of recent works by Tobias Rehberger. Rehberger draws inspiration from modernist art history, fashion, architecture, 1960’s and 1970’s design to create quirky and interactive objects, sculptures and environments, principally revolving around the concept of transformation. Rehberger is well known for his provocative ideas such as his proposal to refashion a Donald Judd sculpture into a bar and his questioning of authorship such as in sending basic sketches of luxury cars to a Thai car manufacturer who created inevitably imperfect versions of the vehicles based on the drawings. Working with industrial processes and technological innovations, and drawing on a repertoire of quotidian objects appropriated from everyday mass-culture, Rehberger translates, alters and expands ordinary situations and objects with which we are familiar.
‘Untitled (Sex)’, 2012 is a brightly coloured, abstract, quasi-anthropomorphic sculpture with retro, kitsch, Op like qualities. Depending on the ambient light, the work casts an eloquent word shadow on the floor, which reads ‘SEX’, accentuated by the sculptural configuration of its fleshy crests. The shadow word and its disappearance in space plays a kind of visual trickery on the beholder and acts as a good metaphor for transportation, for shifting from one place to another. As with all of Rehberger’s works, the viewer plays a vital role in the interpretation and meaning of the work and is invited to enter into a dialogue on perception, authorship and temporality.
‘Untitled (Anne Frank)’, 2011, which comprises of two works, is a brightly coloured, fluorescent sculpture and neon-environment machine, where the slick, glossy perfection of the manufactured is paired with the intentional imperfection of the crafted and the hand made. One work, Frank, composed of yellow, orange and transparent eclipses speckled with dots, creates an enjoyably kitsch, colourful, modulating abstraction, while the other work, Anne, is an upright of cubist wooden geometry which casts a shadow spelling the word ‘Anne’.
As with ‘Anne’, ‘Untitled (Never)’, 2011 is an upright of cubist wooden geometry which casts a shadow spelling the word ‘Never’. At first glance the sculptures seem abstract; they seem to question the functionality of an art object. Then, at regular but very brief times of the day, the amorphous shadows suddenly come together to form a previously hidden message.
‘Sex and Friends’ was at 5 Howick Place from May 2013 to March 2014.
‘I Miss You’, Zatorski + Zatorski
We commissioned Zatorski + Zatorski for a temporary site specific installation, part of the annual exhibition programme at Marks & Spencer Head Office in Baker Street. Zatorski + Zatorski produced a wall-based text installation to examine themes of transitoriness and transience during a period of change that connected with the re-structuring of Marks & Spencer’s business.
Both graduates of Scottish art schools, Zatorski + Zatorski are collaborative artists working in the areas of video/ film, installation, sculpture, performance, photography and drawing. They have exhibited widely, abroad and in the UK, including Tate Britain, Royal Academy, Whitechapel Gallery and the National Gallery of Scotland.
‘I Miss You’ was exhibited in 2001 and was part of the Marks & Spencer Head Office Cultural Programme, 1993-2004.
Cable & Wireless Exhibition Programme
Over a period of 14 years, HS Projects curated a bi-annual programme of exhibitions, as part of the Cable & Wireless Head Office Exhibition Programme, 1992 – 2006, showcasing work by established and emerging artists as well as recent graduates. A diverse range of media including painting, photography, print making, installation, drawing and new media, with many of the works especially commissioned for the Cable & Wireless space making a connection to the business of Cable & Wireless, a telecommunications company.
Exhibition themes ranged from decision-making theories, impact of past technologies, challenges of new technologies, the process of change, communication and messaging as well as corporate identity and perception. Many of the themes rose from discussion with Cable & Wireless as part of an initiative to engage with employees and drive debate and discussion within the office context.
Some of the 155 artists exhibited include Alan Brooks, Brad Lochore, Carey Young, Chris Wainwright, Cullinan Richards, Dominic Lewis, Emily Watson, Jenny Chong, John Stathatos, Magali Fowler and Nicolai Skylum Bendix Larsen.