Tacita Dean | Quarantania | Niels Borch Jensen | 27.04.-28.07.2018

until 28.07. | #1963ARTatBerlin | Niels Borch Jensen shows from 27th April 2018 the exhibition Quarantania by the artist Tacita Dean.

BORCH Editions are proud to present Tacita Dean’s Quarantania, the print studio’s most ambitious print project to date, in Berlin. The large-scale colour photogravure is created specifically for Tacita Dean’s 2018 London exhibition Tacita Dean: LANDSCAPE, PORTRAIT, STILL LIFE.

In an unprecedented collaboration, the National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery and Royal Academy of Arts are presenting three simultaneous solo exhibitions with Tacita Dean acting as both artist and curator. The exhibitions will explore genres traditionally associated with painting – landscape at the Royal Academy of Arts, portraiture at the National Portrait Gallery and still life at the National Gallery. Quarantania will be on display at the Royal Academy of Arts.

The desert landscape depicted in Quarantania shows The Mount of Temptation, the historic site where, according to the Bible, Jesus was tempted by the devil after forty days of fasting. The Mount of Temptation is also known as Mount Quarantania and Jebel Quarantul. Both names arise from a mispronunciation of the Latin word Quarentena, meaning forty, the number of days in Christ’s fast.

In spite of its historic context, Dean’s work is firmly rooted in the present. She adds a fictional layer to the composition through fragments of handwritten text, like diary entries or stage directions. Some of the words are overwritten or blurred as if they had been wiped out, resisting any attempt to decipher them. They blend with the underlying photography and create a link not only between the layers of the print, but also between the biblical past and present day political realities.

Tacita Dean, born 1965 in Canterbury, England, lives and works in Berlin, London, and Los Angeles. Among her many solo exhibitions are Museo Tamayo (Mexico City, 2016), Hammer Museum (Los Angeles, 2013), Tate Modern (London, 2011/12), Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia (Madrid, 2010), Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York, 2007), Schaulager Basel (2006), and Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (2003). A solo exhibition of her print projects with Niels Borch Jensen was organized by The National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen in 2014. Her work was part of the Biennales of Berlin, Venice, São Paulo and Sydney. Among her awards are the Hugo Boss Prize (2006) and Kurt Schwitters Prize (2009). She was nominated for the Turner Prize in 1998 and the Preis der Nationalgalerie in 2002. Tacita Dean has been collaborating with BORCH Editions since 2001.

Vernissage: Friday, 27th April 2018, 6:00-9:00 p.m.

Exhibition period: Friday, 27th April to Saturday, 28th July 2018

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Image caption: Detail from: Tacita Dean, Quarantania, 2017, photogravure, 250 x 750 cm, edition of 12. Printed & published by BORCH Editions Copyright für die Abbildung: Tacita Dean & BORCH Editions

Exhibition Quarantania – Niels Borch Jensen | Contemporary Art – Kunst in Berlin | ART@Berlin