MARGATE.- This autumn
Turner Contemporary presents the first major UK exhibition to explore risk and art. Featuring more than 70 works from the mid-20th century to the present day, the exhibition brings together artworks and artistic practices that engage directly with risk. From chance procedures to political risk; from dangerous experiences to the culture of risk, the exhibition features works by major international artists including Marina Abramovic, Marcel Duchamp, Eva Hesse, Carsten Höller, Yves Klein, Peter Kennard, JMW Turner, Yoko Ono, ORLAN, Gerhard Richter and Ai Weiwei.
Creating any art involves a leap of faith, and throughout the last century artists have intentionally embraced the unforeseeable and the unpredictable. They have employed chance procedures and uncontrollable external forces. They have put themselves at risk and challenged art audiences. Artists also reflect what risk means in our society and daily lives; critiquing social and political conditions and responding to the dominant culture of risk management in contemporary society.
Artists have relinquished control in the process of handling their materials, to push their visual language beyond aesthetic choice, and beyond what they could preconceive. Risk includes works by Eva Hesse and Robert Morris both of whom have allowed gravity to play a part in shaping their sculptural works. As Hesse describes, her vision came ‘through total risk, freedom, discipline.’
Many ground-breaking performance artworks from the mid-20th century and onwards involve artists taking risks with real-life consequences in their work. Artists have put themselves at the mercy of uncontrollable natural forces and other’s actions. In In Search for the Miraculous (1975) Bas Jan Ader planned to sail across the Atlantic in a 12foot sailing boat, but tragically disappeared at sea. In Rest Energy (1980) Marina Abramovic and Ulay hold a bow and arrow drawn between them with the weight of their bodies, pointed at Abramovic’s heart. The risk involved in art is also a challenge to audiences, with the works calling for active engagement by the viewer to complete them. In Cut Piece (1965), Yoko Ono puts herself at risk from the audience, inviting them cut her clothing from her. Exploring the idea of consciousness, Argentinean artist Eduardo Basualdo transports the visitor out of the familiar gallery environment and into La Isla (2009-2014) as if entering the interior of the mind. One at a time the viewer must find their way through this dark and eerie house, constructed from a burnt down Buenos Aires building.
The exhibition explores how artists’ engagement with risk also reflects the societies in which they live, the risks present within these societies and the means in place to manage those risks. Ai Weiwei has taken serious personal risks with his freedom in making art critical of censorship and human rights in China. The exhibition includes Surveillance Camera (2010), a marble replica of one of the cameras installed outside Ai Weiwei’s house by the Chinese authorities in 2009. In Simon Faithfull’s EZY1899: Re enactment for a Future Scenario (2012) a silver-suited figure repeatedly boards a burning plane, mimicking risk management strategies in a strange mix of sci-fi and safety video. Artist collective Chim↑Pom’s video 100 AI - AI ( 100 Cheers ) (2011) highlights resilience and community in the face of risk. The artists perform one hundred KI-AI – loud yells to channel fight spirit – with a group of young people still living in the destroyed and radiated Soma City after the Fukushima earthquake.
As part of Risk , Turner Contemporary showcases Pedro Reyes’ Disarm (Mechan ized) (2012) in its Sunley Gallery, an ambitious installation resulting from the artist’s international project in which illegal firearms were used to fabricate musical instruments.
Across process art, performance and socially engaged practice, and art responding to particular social and political conditions, Risk draws together artists who explore this primary dimension of art and life. The exhibition invites audiences to consider risk as a positive and creative aspect of their everyday lives.
Featured artists: Marina Abramović, Bas Jan Ader, Francis Alÿs, Eduardo Basualdo, Chris Burden, Sophie Calle, Paolo Canevari, Chim↑Pom, José Dávila, Jeremy Deller, Juan delGado, Marcel Duchamp, Tim Etchells, Harun Farocki, Peter Fischli and David Weiss, Simon Faithfull, Félix González-Torres, Eva Hesse, Jeppe Hein, Thomas Heatherwick, Carsten Höller, Peter Kennard, Yves Klein, Kris Martin, Linda Matalon, Robert Morris, Yoko Ono, ORLAN, Heather Phillipson, Ruth Proctor, Gerhard Richter, Santiago Sierra, Gregor Schneider, Lucy Wood, Ai Weiwei, Lucy Wood, Artur Żmijewski
