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memory & contemporary
art
How does memory function? What is history? How do contemporary
artists frame the past in their work? The Art:21 documentary
“Memory” explores these questions through
the work of the artists Susan
Rothenberg, Mike Kelley, Hiroshi
Sugimoto, and Josiah
McElheny, and concludes with an original video artwork by Teresa
Hubbard / Alexander Birchler.
special features
See a slideshow of artworks showcased in the “Memory” episode, watch
a video preview of the show, or explore a slideshow of artists from
multiple seasons of Art:21 discussing the theme of memory in their
work.
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program
10: memory
Whether critical, irreverent, or introspective, the artists in “Memory”
delve into personal memory and the past, transforming them in their
work. The artists wrestle with complex topics such as the veracity
of history, the nature of interpretation, subjective versus objective
truth, and the ways in which objects and images from the past embody
cultural memory. Introduced by actor Isabella
Rossellini, “Memory” is shot on location in Galisteo,
New Mexico; Los Angeles, California; Paris, France; New York, New
York; Chicago, Illinois; and Austin, Texas. |
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VIDEO:
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Introduction by Isabella
Rossellini |
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| A transplant from New
York, Susan Rothenberg produces paintings that reflect her move
to an isolated home studio in New Mexico and her evolving interest
in the memory of observed and experienced events. In her early
career, she became noted for her series of large paintings of horses.
Now, however, she does not find herself creating series. “The
paintings are more of a battle to satisfy myself now and I don’t
have a sense of series,” she says. Drawing on material from
her daily life, she confesses that in her current work “the
second painting seems to complete the series.” Sitting in
her studio, Rothenberg speaks candidly about her working process
and her occasional battles with artistic block. |
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| In a body of work that
includes sculptures, performance, and installations, Mike
Kelley explores contemporary culture's obsession with repressed
trauma. Many of Kelley’s projects draw on his own memory.
"Educational Complex," he says, “is a model of every
school I ever went to plus the home I grew up in, with all the parts
I can’t remember left blank.” That project has led Kelly
to create of a performance/video called "Day is Done,"
which will eventually consist of 365 tapes, one for every day of
the year. In scenes that he writes, directs and scores, Kelley has
drawn on yearbooks to re-stage high school rituals with surreal
elements, such as donkeys, devils, and eerie music in a student-body
assembly. |
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“To me photography
functions as a fossilization of time,” says Tokyo-born
Hiroshi Sugimoto, who uses traditional
photographic techniques to produce images that preserve memory
and time. “I
start feeling that this is the creation of the universe and I am
witnessing it,” he says of his black-and-white seascapes.
Sugimoto recalls
the influence of Marcel Duchamp
on his art, and especially on his own exhibition where he has
mounted giant white plinths with photographs of 19th-century machines.
These are juxtaposed with images of three-dimensional
models that illustrate mathematical theories. “It’s
not just a photography show,” he says, “It’s
like a space sculpture.” |
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| “All of my work
is essentially derived from some previous source,” says Josiah
McElheny. “A lot of times what I’m doing is
re-imaging something or transforming it slightly, but it’s
always very much in connection to its source.” In his exhibition
"Total Reflective Abstraction," he uses a silvered glass technique
to
build on the
theories of Isamu Noguchi and Buckminster Fuller proposing a completely
reflective “utopia." McElheny's
mirrored objects relate to one another in an infinite matrix of
reflections. “The
definition of being a modern person is to examine yourself, to
reflect on yourself and to be a self-knowledgeable person,” he
explains, as he himself reflects on the meaning of his work. |
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| Each episode for Season
Three concludes with an original work of video art by the artists
Teresa Hubbard / Alexander Birchler.
Known for their haunting video projections, Hubbard and Birchler’s
work alters temporal, cinematic and architectural expectations of
the viewer through the use of looping narratives. For Art:21, their
first commission for television, they have created a series of beautiful
and enigmatic short films. Each film uses the same setting—the
interior of a police car at night—and begins when one officer
brings a cup of coffee for another. Using recurring and non-recurring
characters, interrelated dialogue, and ambient sound, the suite
of films evoke not only the Seaon Three themes of Power, Memory,
Structures and Play, but also sleep, dreams and longing. |
| VIDEO:
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"Night Shift: Gone" (Commissioned
for: “Memory”) |
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