NEW YORK, NY.- Peter Blum Gallery presents the exhibition 4 Films. The group exhibition highlights recent films by Adrian Paci, Luisa Rabbia, SUPERFLEX and Su-Mei Tse.
Adrian Paci explores the intricacies of non-verbal communication and the fragility of life in his most recent film, Inside the Circle, developed in 2011 during an artist residency in Trivignano in the north of Italy. Shot in black and white and set inside a training ring, the film investigates the complex dynamics between man, animal and nature through an interaction between a horse rescued from a slaughterhouse and his young trainer.
Originally created in 2008 during a residency at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Luisa Rabbia’s Travels with Isabella. Travel Scrapbooks 1883-2008, is a visual narrative inspired by the archives of the museum. Merging her own drawings and videos with photographs collected by Isabella Stewart Gardner during a trip to China in 1883, Rabbia creates a dialogue between the personal scrapbooks of the artist and socialite/philanthropist, spanning generations and cultures. The score for the film was composed by Fa Ventilato using a collage of sounds influenced by the music of the Gardner Museum.
Existing power structures, ownership of public space and the perceived immortality of Modernist icons are challenged in SUPERFLEX’s Modern Times Forever, a 240 hour-long film depicting the decay over 5,000 years of the Stora Enso Headquarters in Helsinki, Finland. Commissioned by IHME Contemporary Arts Festival for their annual IHME Public Project, the film debuted in March 2011, where it was projected outside for 10 days adjacent to the original building in Helsinki Market Square.
Created in 2011, the video installation Vertigen de la vida (Dizziness of Life) is a continuation of recent works by Su-Mei Tse exploring nostalgia and the recollection of blurred memories. Inspired by one of the first Dada movies Man Ray’s 1923, silent film “Le retour à la raison,” Su-Mei Tse interprets these impressions through images and sounds of a moving carousel at night. Tse collaborated with the New York based musician and composer Gian Carlo Vulcano on the score to further emphasize the idea of blurred and intangible memories with the texture of an ongoing circular flow.
Adrian Paci was born in 1969 in Shkoder, Albania and lives and works in Milan, Italy. His numerous solo-exhibition include shows at the Seattle Art Museum, Seattle (2011), the Kunsthaus Zürich, Switzerland (2010), Center for Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv, Israel (2008), the Kunstverein Hannover, Germany (2008), the Bonnier Konsthall, Sweden (2008), the Museum am Ostwall, Dortmund, Germany (2007), Milton Keynes Gallery, England (2007), Galleria Civica di Modena, Italy (2006), P.S.1, New York (2005), Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston (2005), Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden (2005), Baltic Art Center (2003), and the Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, GAMeC, Bergamo, Italy (2003). Paci represented Albania in the first Albanian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 1999 and participated in the Venice Biennale in 2005. He is currently working on upcoming exhibitions at the Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume in Paris and the Musée d'Art Contemporain de Montréal.
Luisa Rabbia was born in 1970 in Pinerolo (Torino, Italy) and lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. Her work has been exhibited internationally including solo exhibitions at Fundación PROA, Buenos Aires, Argentina, curated by Beatrice Merz (2010); Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Venezia, Italy (2009); The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, curated by Pieranna Cavalchini, (2008). Group exhibitions include shows at the MAGA, Museo Arte Gallarate, curated by Francesca Pasini and Angela Vettese (2010), MAXXI Museo Nazionale delle Arti del XXI secolo, Roma, Italy, curated by Paolo Colombo (2007); and the Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai, China, curated by Achille Bonito Oliva (2006). Her first solo exhibition at Peter Blum Gallery will take place in September 2012.
SUPERFLEX was founded in 1993 by the Danish artists Bjørnstjerne Christiansen, Jakob Fenger, and Rasmus Nielsen. The group has gained worldwide recognition for their projects that deal with issues such as financial and economic markets, democratic production conditions, self-organization, and environmentalism. Their work has been exhibited nationally and internationally including solo exhibitions at The London Science Museum, England (2011) and The Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC (2010). Group exhibitions include shows at the Museum of Modern Art, New York (2012); The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2011); The Malmö Art Museum, Sweden (2011); Louisiana Museum, Denmark (2009); MOCA Miami (2009); Taipei Biennial, Taiwan (2008); Van Abbemuseum, The Netherlands (2007); Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Russia (2007); Sao Paulo Biennale, Brazil (2006); and the CCA Wattis Institute of Contemporary Arts, San Francisco (2006).
Su-Mei Tse was born in Luxembourg in 1973. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally including solo exhibitions at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston (2009); Art Tower Mito, Japan (2009); the Seattle Asian Art Museum (2008); P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York (2006); the Casino, Forum d’Art Contemporain, Luxembourg (2006); the Renaissance Society, Chicago (2005); and the Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden (2004). Furthermore, Su-Mei Tse participated at the 26th São Paulo Biennial in 2004. At the Venice Biennale in 2003 she represented Luxembourg and was awarded the Golden Lion for Best National Participation. In 2009 Tse was awarded the prestigious Fondation Prince Pierre de Monaco Prize. Su-Mei Tse lives and works in Berlin and Luxembourg.
