TEL AVIV.- CCA – Center for Contemporary Art Tel Aviv and the Bauhaus Foundation, Tel Aviv, are presenting a solo exhibition by German-born Italian artist Irma Blank. It is her first solo presentation in Israel.
The work of Irma Blank (*1934, Celle, Germany; lives and works in Milan) associates writing and drawing in a unique manner, positioning her practice in a place that seems independent from any movement in art history. While the work maintains this distinctive position, it nonetheless does share elements with the history of asemantic writing, Conceptual Art and visual poetry. Blank’s body of work formulates a profound reflection about existence through the paradox of a text without words and a language that is truly personal. Indeed, while one might consider Blank’s art as visual poetry, a closer examination unravels it as a solitary quest, giving rise to a node where she posits art as life, writing as breathing, doing as pausing.
This project is conceived as an unprecedented collaboration with six other institutions abroad and is encapsulated by a comprehensive catalogue. The presentation in Tel Aviv is showcased in three locations: CCA Tel Aviv, the Bauhaus Foundation, Tel Aviv and in the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo. The exhibition generates a format unlike that of the “traveling exhibition”; in fact, the reformulation of such notion implies the adaptation of Blank’s oeuvres to different contexts. Furthermore, the ambitious goal behind such a tentacular project is to unfold the artist’s cohesive practice, which is conceived through series across several years with media such as drawing, painting, bookmaking, installation, sound, and actions.
The presentation in Tel Aviv-Yafo focuses on the role played by immateriality, ephemerality and site-specificity in Blank’s modus operandi. Guided by conceptual and aesthetic choices, the exhibition features a selection of works from different series. It includes works on paper, an installation, several artist books, the reenactment of a historical action, a live performance and a sound piece. While at CCA spectators will be able to experience works conceived through different media in a neutral space, at the Bauhaus Foundation visitors will have the unique opportunity to engage with Blank’s works on paper and books in juxtaposition with the Foundation’s permanent display of Bauhaus design prototypes and artifacts.
Irma Blank: Blank is curated by Johana Carrier and Joana P. R. Neves and is presented at CCA Tel Aviv, the Bauhaus Foundation, Tel Aviv and in the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo. The exhibition is accompanied by a comprehensive catalogue in English, edited by the curators, published by Koenig Books on the occasion of Blank’s seven exhibitions at Culturgest, Lisboa; MAMCO, Genève; CAPC, Bordeaux; CCA and the Bauhaus Foundation, Tel Aviv; Museo Villa Dei Cedri, Bellinzona; ICA Milano; and Bombas Gens Centre d’Art, Valencia.
