 Stéphane Sautour: Aibo Fight, 2002 Domestic robot dogs trained to fight EXTRA How Many Extra Layers Can We Graft Onto Reality Before It Collapses? with Virginie Barré, Olivier Blanckart, Stéphane Dafflon, Wim Delvoye, Daniel Firman, Fischli/Weiss, Sylvie Fleury, Gianni Motti, Bruno Peinado, Stéphane Satour and Roman Signer Is there something "outside" reality? Is reality like elastic? To what extent can we pull and stretch it, and will it break? How many extra layers can we graft onto reality before it may collapse? These questions define the core ideas of the EXTRA exhibition. EXTRA does not attempt to suggest answers to these questions, but rather, it proposes a project of stratifying reality, working with artists who continually question the limits of the real. EXTRA attempts to probe the nature of art today in relation to reality. No longer is the extraterrestrial portrayed as an hysterical little green man. He now takes human form, slipping from unremarkably normal to ever-so-slightly suspicious. Gliding between the spaces of the real, his next frontier is a territory without location. Away from the notion of the interstice: a common way to define contemporary art. A notion, (not far from the point sublime of the surrealists, an in between, or an offshore platform), that has the benefit of grounding the idea of the indefinable in a domain that was reassuringly definable: a geographic point. In this new realm of gliding over, in and between the surfaces of reality, the world no longer seems like a series of points forming lines. Rather, it is manifested in a series of tangent planes, all at once forming and traversing reality's layers. Art takes on the diverse forms of reality in order to reveal its extreme elasticity. It glides over the visible and exposes the limitless number of layers and strata. Here, with EXTRA, we will see how art and artists contribute to the densification of the real, to complexify reality. Art does not attempt to develop new worlds or new platforms outside of reality. It constitutes a movement, an energy, a constant oscillation which serves to shake up our interpretive system. It is the pump, which dilates and contracts reality. Curated by Marc-Olivier Wahler. EXTRA is supported by the swisspeaks FESTIVAL citywide celebration of contemporary Swiss art, lifestyle, business and education, during spring, 2003. www.swisspeaks.org. EXTRA is supported by Presence Switzerland, Pro Helvetia Arts Council of Switzerland, Fonds Etant Donnés, SWISS International Airlines the Cultural Services of the French Embassy. Very special thanks to Transcontainer Transport, Inc., Cliff Diver and Stanley Johnson Foundation. March 5 - May 10, 2003 The gallery is open between the hours of 11 am and 6 pm, Tuesday through Saturday, when there is a current exhibition. Swiss Institute Contemporary Art 495 Broadway, 3rd Floor USA-New York NY 10012 Telefon +212 925 20 35 Fax +212 925 20 40 E-Mail info@swissinstitute.net www.swissinstitute.net www.swisspeaks.org |
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