Art Metropole

17 Oct. 2009

Book launch for new publications featuring Luis Jacob

Artist

Luis Jacob

Publishers

Museum Abteiberg, Platform Seoul, Kunstverein, and Buchhandlung Walther König

Time

1 pm - 3 pm

Art Metropole is pleased to simultaneously launch three new books featuring the work of Luis Jacob: Towards a Theory of Impressionist and Expressionist Spectatorship (Kunstverein in Hamburg and Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Cologne, 2009), 7 Pictures of Nothing Repeated Four Times, In Gratitude (Städtisches Museum Abteiberg and Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Cologne, 2009), and Album VII (SAMUSO: Space for Contemporary Art, Seoul, 2008).

Please join us on Saturday October 17, from 1-3 p.m. to meet the artist.

Towards a Theory of Impressionist and Expressionist Spectatorship is a major publication documenting Luis Jacob’s works from 2002 to 2008, published on occasion of his exhibition at the Kunstverein in Hamburg in 2008. This 176-page full-colour publication features writings by Alan Antliff, Yilmaz Dziewior, John Russon, Jon Soske and Jon Davies, an artist statement, and two interviews with the artist conducted by Alan Antliff and Meike Behm. All texts are presented in English and German. This new publication is an important reference to Jacob’s oeuvre, one that highlights questions of relationality, spectatorship, performativity, repetition, and theatricality in a variety of works produced in the past seven years.

7 Pictures of Nothing Repeated Four Times, In Gratitude was published on occasion of Luis Jacob’s recent exhibition at the Städtisches Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach. This 120-page full-colour publication documents two related projects: a cycle of works that refer to a suite of paintings by Mark Rothko from the Panza Collection, uncannily repeated and reconfigured four times; and a re-hanging of works from Museum Abteiberg’s permanent collection, arranged by the artist in the manner of works from his “Album” series. Together, these projects reflect on the history of the monochrome and the impulse towards reductivism in modern art, as well as questions of artistic antecedence and originality. The publication features texts by the artist and Susanne Titz, presented in English and German.

Album VII was published on occasion of the exhibition of Album VII at Platform Seoul 2008. Published as part of a series of Album artist books, Album VII is presented as a hard-bound, full-colour oversize volume in an edition of 1000 copies. This work consists of hundreds of images culled from a variety of books, magazines, and other publications. Through processes of visual association, these images compose an extended narrative around various themes: embodiment and the capacities of our bodies; bodies becoming things, things becoming bodies; enclosure and exposure of bodies; the love and fear of holes, and our corporeal aperture to the world. Also available at Art Metropole, other titles from the Album series include: Album (Art Metropole and Latitude 53 Society of Artists, 2001); Album III (Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, 2007); and Album V (Kultustiftung des Bundes, 2007).

Luis Jacob is a Peruvian-born Toronto-based artist and curator whose work destabilizes conventions of viewing and invites a collision of meanings. He studied semiotics and philosophy at the University of Toronto. Since his participation in documenta 12, Kassel, 2007, he has achieved an international reputation with exhibitions at venues such as: Museum der Moderne Salzburg, 2019; Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart, 2019; Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, 2018; Museion Bolzano, 2017; La Biennale de Montréal, 2016; Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York City, 2015; Taipei Biennial, 2012; Generali Foundation, Vienna, 2011; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York City, 2010; Kunstverein in Hamburg, 2008; and Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, 2008.

The Museum Abteiberg is a municipal museum for contemporary art in the German city M̦nchengladbach. Since the 1970s, the museum has been known for its experimental and avant-garde exhibitions, starting with director Johannes Cladders (1967-1985), and also its museum architecture, designed by Austrian architect Hans Hollein Рa highpoint of postmodern design.

The Kunstverein in Hamburg, established in 1817, is one of the oldest of its kind. We are a member-based institution with a permanent exhibiton space and no collection. Our emphasis is on the presentation, communication and discussion of young, international contemporary art. The rotating solo and group exhibitions aim to communicate the social and political relevance of art. The programming is complemented by art educational programmes such as workshops, symposia, lectures, talks and public guided tours which provide access to the viewership to make productive use of the exhibitions.
In its long history of exhibitions artists were publicly presented for the first time such as Caspar David Friedrich and Max Beckmann or the early avant-garde, e.g. Pablo Picasso and Francis Bacon. Amongst the recent exhibition history there are solo exhibitions by Franz West (1996), Cosima von Bonin (2001), Simon Starling (2001), Carol Bove (2003), Sarah Lucas (2005), Bernadette Corporation (2006), Willie Doherty (2007), David Maljkovic (2007), Sharon Lockhart (2008), Bojan Sarcevic (2008), Tatiana Trouvé (2009), Karla Black (2009) and Nina Canell (2009). This programme is completed by group exhibitions addressing acute issues, treating and presenting them from a contemporary perspective.

Images

1: Three new titles on display .
2: Luis Jacob explaining.
3: Sources and references on display.
4: Visitors check out the new publications.
5: Luis Jacob in conversation with a group of guests.

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