PRESS RELEASE July 2006, Rotterdam Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art BRIAN JUNGEN 2 Dec 2006 – 11 Feb 2007 Opening: 1 Dec 2006, 6 p.m. Witte de With is delighted to present Brian Jungen’s solo exhibition this winter, his first on such a large scale in Europe. Building upon his major survey exhibition organized by the Vancouver Art Gallery, Witte de With will invigorate the exhibition with new commissions and a new publication. Brian Jungen (b. British Columbia, Canada, 1970) is part of a generation of Vancouverbased artists currently bursting onto the international stage. Born to a Swiss-Canadian father and First Nations mother and raised in the Dane-zaa nation, his drawings, sculptures and installations explore elements of his own hybrid cultural identity. Yet, his approach transcends questions of ethnicity to explore the complex exchanges of goods and ideas in our globalized world. Jungen first came to public attention with his Prototypes for New Understanding (1998-2005), a selection of Nike Air Jordan trainers that he dissected and reassembled to resemble Northwest Coast Indian masks. Conflating the transformative power of ceremonial masks with Nike consumers’ desire to emulate or become sport stars by wearing a particular brand of trainers, Jungen plays with economic and cultural values, revealing the power of contemporary ‘idols’ and linking colonial history with today’s Third World sweatshop labor. Works such as Talking Sticks (2005) – baseball bats carved with the words ‘collective unconscious’ and ‘First Nation Second Nature’ that formally resemble totem poles – embody the way in which First Nations’ myths have been co-opted by contemporary North American sport culture: think of teams such as the Chicago Blackhawks or the Atlanta Braves. Jungen’s reputation was secured by his magnificent whale ‘skeletons’ (such as Cetology, 2002), large suspended sculptures made from cheap plastic deckchairs. His rendering of rare and endangered whale species in non-biodegradable mass-produced objects also refers to current debates about whaling practices in Canada. Representing the postmodern, postcolonial world with a wry sense of humor, Jungen collapses stereotypes and embraces change, flux and instability. Offering new ways of thinking about multiculturalism at a time when the famous model of Dutch ‘tolerance’ is under close scrutiny, his practice approaches cultural difference as an unstable, reciprocal notion, using it as a starting point for creativity and critical reflection. Brian Jungen at Witte de With is curated by Daina Augaitis, Nicolaus Schafhausen and Zoë Gray. The original show was organized by the Vancouver Art Gallery with the support of the Audain Foundation and the Andy Warhol Foundation. The publication Brian Jungen produced by WdW Publishers features essays by critic Clint Burnham, Tate curator Jessica Morgan, and artist/writer Edgar Schmitz, plus an introduction by Nicolaus Schafhausen and an interview with professor Homi K. Bhabha by Solange de Boer and Zoë Gray (ISBN: 978-90-73362-69-7, 10 euro). For more information, please contact Zoë Gray at press@wdw.nl or call +31 (0)10 411 0144.
EVENTS TO ACCOMPANY EXHIBITION
1 Dec 2006
3 p.m. Press preview of exhibition in the presence of the artist. 5 p.m. FIRST NATION SECOND NATURE Brian Jungen in conversation with London-based artist and writer Edgar Schmitz, contributor to Witte de With's publication. 6 p.m. Opening night.
2 Dec 2006
5 p.m. WEST COAST SUCCESS STORY Gallerist Catriona Jeffries in conversation with Nicholas Schafhausen about the Vancouver art scene, past and present.
7 Dec 2006
7 p.m. ARTISTS AS CURATORS Curator James Putnam, founder of the British Museum's Contemporary Arts and Cultures Program and author of Art and Artefact: The Museum as Medium, in conversation with Zoë Gray about artists who explore museology.
14 Dec 2006
7 p.m. CROSS CULTURAL FILM PROGRAM Artist Melvin Moti presents a program of artists’ films, bringing together his own interests with those suggested by Jungen’s work.
11 Jan 2007
7 p.m. IS CANADIAN ART INTELLECTUAL? Art critic Clint Burnham, lecturer at Vancouver's Emily Carr Institute and contributor to Witte de With's publication, places Jungen's work within a broader picture of contemporary Canadian art.
18 Jan 2007
7 p.m. CRITICAL ETHNOLOGY Professor Irit Rogoff, director of the AHRB research program Translating the Image: Cross-cultural Contemporary Arts at Goldsmiths College London, gives a lecture on the idea of fieldwork.
11 Dec – 25 Jan
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Education project with SKVR (Rotterdam Foundation for Culture) ART NOW: BRIAN JUNGEN During a whole month of the exhibition, the Cultuurtraject project Art now will take place, in collaboration with the Rotterdam Foundation for Culture (SKVR). Over 500 adolescents from the second year of secondary school (aged 14-15) will share an intensive, interactive visit to the exhibition, where their reactions will form the basis for discussions on Jungen’s work. Following the gallery visit, the adolescents will participate in a workshop in Witte de With’s auditorium, which will take the form of a practical and artistic assignment, inspired by the exhibition. During the project, the adolescents are made aware of the artistic translations carried out by Brian Jungen and of the process of creating art in general. For more information, please see www.cultuurtraject.nl or our educational site educatie.wdw.nl (both only in Dutch).
For more information, please contact Zoë Gray at press@wdw.nl or call +31 (0)10 411 0144.