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until 14.05. + 09.04. | #1048ARTatBerlin | KW Institute for Contemporary Art shows from 20th January 2017, with two exhibitions by the artists Ian Wilson and Hanne Lippard, the start of an exhibition series.
The exhibition series Ian Wilson: Hanne Lippard, Adam Pendleton, and Paul Elliman is funded by the Capital Cultural Fund, Berlin.
Ian Wilson
KW Institute for Contemporary Art is delighted to announce the solo exhibition by South-African artist Ian Wilson (born 1940 in Durban, ZA). Ian Wilson has been exploring the aesthetic potential of spoken language since the late 1960s. His ongoing body of work—beginning with “oral communication” and eventually including his signature Discussions—began in 1968 with the spoken word “time”. The artist, who began as a painter, soon transformed the act of discussion into his sole artistic medium. Over four decades, the focus of these exchanges has shifted from time to the nature of knowledge and non-knowledge, and awareness of ‘the Absolute’. His works are not recorded or photographed in any way, and exist only as long as the conversation itself. Wilson’s desire for abstraction first manifested as paintings that explored and tested the limits of perception. Although Wilson’s early paintings and sculptures are clearly physical objects, they also signal an inclination to take reduction and abstraction one-step further, to the point of ridding art of physical properties altogether.
The exhibition inaugurates the first season of director Krist Gruijthuijsen’s artistic program at KW, which examines Wilson’s work through three corresponding solo presentations by Hanne Lippard, Adam Pendleton, and Paul Elliman. Wilson’s work will be physically and conceptually embedded within each exhibition, serving as a framework for exploring roles of language and communication, and the broader significance of interaction between human beings. The exhibition is therefore in constant flux and changes gradually throughout the course of its duration.
In the spirit of Wilson’s practice, weekly commissioned performances, readings, lectures, and events titled The Weekends take place at KW, and throughout the city of Berlin.
Exhibition period: Friday, 20th January to Sunday, 14th May 2017
Image caption: Ian Wilson, Circle on the floor, 1968, Installation view Ian Wilson at the Galerie Mot & Van den Boogaard, Brussels, 1998, Courtesy the artist and Jan Mot, Brussels
Hanne Lippard
Kw Institute for Contemporary Art is pleased to present the first institutional solo exhibition by Norwegian artist Hanne Lippard (born 1984 in Milton Keynes, GB). Over the past years, Lippard has focused herself on the production of language solely through the usage of the voice. Her practice stems from design by which she utilizes the voice as a way to convey the discrepancy between content and form.
Lippard inaugurates the new program of KW with a visually reduced yet spectacular work that takes its inspiration from the so-called Circle Works and early Statements by South-African artist Ian Wilson (born 1942 in Durban, ZA), who is known for solely working with oral communication. While the Circle Works were the last physical works the artist realized, the Statements represent a purification and subtraction of the work form to an immaterial act which is only determined through spoken language and dialogue.
response to Wilson, Lippard conceived a new production titled Flesh, an immersive installation, which takes up the entire ground floor hall of the KW building and confronts the visitor with one singular element—a spiral staircase. When ascending the stairs, one enters an awkwardly shaped space that incorporates the upper windows of the ceiling as a point of view outside of the exhibition hall. The newly created space is emerged by the artist’s voice, which slowly directs the audience towards a world where the meaning of language is being shaped, structured and categorized. Like Wilson, Lippard uses her body and words to counterfeit perimeters given by established standards in art production and creates a universe where the audience is physically as well as mentally brought outside of their confinements.
Exhibition period: Friday, 20th January to Sunday, 09th April 2017
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Exhibition Ian Wilson + Hanne Lippard – KW Institute – Kunst in Berlin ART at Berlin
