Francis Alÿs; Trisha Baga; Yael Bartana; Walead Beshty; Ethan Breckenridge; Gregory Crewdson; Shi Jin; Helene Kazan; Avi Mograbi; Miri Segal; Caragh Thuring; Haegue Yang
The Zabludowicz Collection has announced ‘Troubling Space’: The Summer Sessions. The exhibition is curated by Helga Just Christoffersen and Natasha Marie Llorens, joint winners of the 2012 Zabludowicz Collection Curatorial Open.
The show takes as its theme the notion of space. It looks at how space is constructed
in social ways, through our fantasies about them, through our occupation of them, as a result
of how we move through them, and the violence we use to try to control them. It includes works by eleven artists from the Zabludowicz Collection plus a new site-specific commission by Helene Kazan.
Troubling Space: The Summer Sessions looks at space as a social field; each of these works points to how even spaces we assume are physical are also social in very significant ways. The works in the exhibition will be the subject of intense analysis over the course of the first three weekends in July, when the Summer Sessions will take place. These will consist of talks by artists, academic lectures and social events related to three specific areas: Spaces of Distribution and Production; The Body in Space; Spaces of Utopia and Dystopia. This programme is integral to the project: it responds to recent events in the public realm, taking them as an imperative to put all spaces to use; in particular, it seeks to convert the gallery space into a pedagogical space and a space of resistance.
Troubling Space: The Summer Sessions emphasises the expanded nature of contemporary curating, which includes exhibitions as well as time-based events and the production of discourse, and of meaning. It uses the idea of troubling space to trouble the space of the contemporary art
collection itself, asking artists and members of the general public to spend more time than usual with particular works of art. The project brings the collection into direct dialogue with current social and aesthetic debates. The talks and discussions which take place during the first three weekends of the show will be recorded, and listening posts will be installed in the galleries, so that visitors can engage with the debates after the fact.
Christoffersen and Llorens have mined the Zabludowicz Collection to put together an exhibition which includes works by artists from several generations, including established figures such as Francis Alÿs and Gregory Crewdson, and relative newcomers such as Trisha Baga and Ethan Breckenridge. The project will feature furniture to be used during the sessions designed by Emil Krøyer, who specialises in structures intended to serve the dual purpose of presenting art and facilitating social engagement.
Troubling Space: The Summer Sessions was selected from over 100 entries to the Zabludowicz Collection Curatorial Open by a panel comprised of Chris Dercon, Martin Herbert, Maria Lind and Anita Zabludowicz. Christoffersen and Llorens have been granted unlimited access to the Zabludowicz Collection and a budget of £40,000 to realise the exhibition, its accompanying publication and public programme.
Chris Dercon, Director of Tate Modern, said: “In my entire career I have never before had the opportunity to see such a wide selection of curatorial proposals. We have chosen a proposal that really engages with the Zabludowicz Collection and also, crucially, aims to trouble the space of contemporary curating itself.”
The exhibition will be accompanied by a workbook, designed by Mark Holt and Malcolm Southward, which will introduce the project and artists, and provide a theoretical context for thinking about notions of space.
The Zabludowicz Collection is dedicated to bringing emerging art to new audiences and actively supporting arts organisations and artists. It was founded in 1994, and contains over 2000 works by over 500 artists, spanning 40 years of art production. Its focus is on emerging art from the late 20th century to the present day.
Since 2007 the Zabludowicz Collection has run an exhibition space in a former Methodist Chapel at 176 Prince of Wales Road in north London. The programme is focused on working with artists and curators to produce exhibitions of works from the Zabludowicz Collection which examine contemporary art practice and the Collection in a public forum and respond to the unusual exhibition space. The Collection also exhibits in permanent venues in the USA and Finland.