Cubism, pre-Columbian Style

Posted on Sunday, 5 May, 2013 by BobR

Vase, Huari Transitional Period, AD 800-1300

This depiction of a wild-eyed, snickering warrior caught my eye the other day at the Museo de Arte Precolombino, or Museum of Pre-Columbian Art, in Cusco.

At least 600 years before Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso came this small vase created by a Huari artist that incorporated all the essential elements and style of what came to be known as cubism. Both Braque and Picasso credited pre-Columbian artists in the Americas –in this case, from a civilization that flourished about 1,000 years ago in the south-central Andes and Pacific coastal areas of modern-day Peru– with their experimentation and exploration with Cubism in the early 20th century.

Museo de Arte Precolombino, Cusco, Peru, 03-May-2013

Exhibit: Prints, Independence and Revolution – MAC Santiago

Posted on Monday, 25 March, 2013 by BobR

La Patria, Demian Flores, 2010

Here are about a dozen shots I snapped from the exhibit Estampas, Independencia y Revolucion last week, currently having a second run at the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo (MAC) in Santiago.

It includes fifty-one limited edition prints and one sculpture by renowned contemporary artists, mostly Mexican, works donated by the Mexican government to MAC as a birthday present for Chile’s bicentennial in 2010 and the 100th anniversary of it’s revolution. I really liked La Patria, by Demian Flores, above and Monica Mayer’s Yo no celebro ni conmemoro guerras, or I do not celebrate or commemorate war, below.

Yo no celebro ni conmemoro guerras, Monica Mayer, 2010

Through May 19. More from the museum’s website (Spanish only) here.

Presagios de lo que va a suceder, Alejandro Perez Cruz, 2010

Patria, Adolfo Mexiac Calderon, 2010

Patria o muerte, Mimmo Paladino, 2010

Mensajeros, Pilar Bordes, 2010

El cincuentenario de MI independencia, Boris Viskin, 2010

Alma libre, Luis Ricaurte, 2010

No la tires, Helen Escobedo, 2010

La vida y La muerte (diptych), Rene Derouin, 2010

The Real Santiago

Museum of Too Modern Art, near Litija Slovenia

35 Minutes at the Museum of Too Modern Art

Posted on Saturday, 12 January, 2013 by BobR

Museum of Too Modern Art, near Litija Slovenia

At a quick glance, Tomaž Drnovšek–Vinči’s roadside home and barn in Spodnji Hotič, a village just a few kilometers north of Litija, isn’t too different from many others you’ll typically find in smaller off-the-beaten path settlements in Slovenia: aging and modest, a bit rough around the edges, but functional.

Then you notice the quizzical look radiating from the nude life-sized burlap figure standing next to the first out building. When you catch a quick glance of a broken down van sporting a panoply of colors brighter than the clear afternoon sky, you know something quirky, and worthy of further exploration, lies just ahead.

It’s not easy to describe what is typical in present-day rural Slovenia, but this definitely isn’t it. A few steps later it all becomes less hazy. Towering over an extended tribe of those mangy burlap beings is a large barn with the words Muzej Premoderne Umetnosti, or Museum of Too Modern Art, stretched across the unfinished front. You really do come across the unlikeliest things on bike rides around here.

The roots of the museum date back to the late 1990s when some local frustrated artists were refused a show by a local gallery. Drnovšek–Vinči answered the call. In 1999 he sold his cows and turned the stables into a gallery. The space has since evolved into a contemporary art venue, a performance space for local and regional musicians and a hosting ground for numerous art workshops.

Its website has more info on some recent exhibits, but note that the English language section is woefully out of date. No worries, though – you’ll get the gist.

Muzej Premoderne Umetnosti/Museum of Too Modern Art
Spodnji Hotič 19, Litija, Slovenija
It’s located on the main Litija road that winds along the left bank of the Sava River. Look for a nude burlap gatekeeper.

Museum of Too Modern Art, near Litija Slovenia

Quickie at The Gates of Hell

Posted on Monday, 12 November, 2012 by BobR

When a google doodle reminded me this morning that Rodin would have been 172 today, I finally found a use for this rainy day snippet of a bronze of The Gates of Hell that rests in front of the Kunsthaus Zurich. Aren’t you glad? I am – another 30 MB put to good use and now banished from my hard drive.

To celebrate further, below are a few more shots of Rodin’s works taken either at the Rodin Garden and Museum in Paris or at the Kunsthaus Zurich. Unfortunately I don’t have a scan handy of my first Rodin, his Thinker that sits in front of the Cleveland Museum of Art, which has always been among my favorite spots in my old northeast Ohio stomping grounds.

Jardin Rodin

Rodin's Gates of Hell, Zurich

There’s a Rodin baker’s dozen on my Flickr stream here.

From 'The Cube', a sound installation by Jun-Seub Sim

120 Seconds in Sim Jun-Seub’s Cube

Posted on Tuesday, 16 October, 2012 by BobR

From ‘The Cube’, a sound installation by Jun-Seub Sim

Here’s your two minutes of Zen for today which reminded me of the 1980s band The Art of Noise. Not their music so much, but just the name. That’s all.

This is from The Cube, a sound installation by Jun-Seub Sim which I experienced at the Bongsan Cultural Center in Daegu, South Korea in August of 2011. In the midst of a very busy stretch of work, I found it quite soothing. I forgot that I clandestinely shot this clip until I came across it earlier today sitting somewhat sad and neglected in the depths of my video notebook archive on Vimeo. Perhaps it will better serve here.

I found a little bit more on Jun-Sueb and this particular process on the website for the Seoul art space, The Brain Factory, here. And a little more from my visit to Daegu is here.

How Fire was Discovered

Posted on Tuesday, 18 September, 2012 by BobR

Here’s one theory.

This is an 18-second look at Matter into Light: The Discovery of Fire, a 2011 installation by Marc Quinn at the Musée Océanographique de Monaco through October 15. It’s part of a larger exhibit of Quinn’s work entitled The Littoral Zone, a fun dialogue between science and art that fits quite nicely into the interior and exterior setting provided by the impressive 102-year-old cliff top museum.

I’ve visited Monaco numerous times over the past nine years, and returned here on at least half a dozen of those visits. There are two large exhibit halls on the second floor where the ornate wood and glass cabinets filled with large specimen jars that line the walls are illuminated by the ample Mediterranean sunlight. It reminds me of the scene where James Mason is working in his Edinburgh laboratory in Journey to the Center of the Earth.

Here’s another piece by Quinn, Coral Nervous Breakdown. Thoughts?

Coral nervous break down

Pics and video shot on July 21, 2012.

Marc Quinn Rights

45 Second Piran City Gallery Advisor

Posted on Tuesday, 5 June, 2012 by BobR

In case you were looking, here’s another reason for you to visit Piran.

As I mentioned in this post a couple weeks ago, the main reason I visited was to check out the town’s freshly renovated Mestna Galerija, or Municipal Gallery, which after several delays and a price tag of about €1.8 million, official re-opened its doors on Friday, May 18. I was very pleased. And I approve.

The space, redesigned by postmodernist pioneer architect Boris Podrecca, is spread over three levels, giving the building, which has been used as the city gallery since the 1960s, a sparkling new identity. The pic above is the top story of the exhibit space, below is from the first story. (An aside for the photo-curious: both of these were snapped with a GoPro2 which accounts for the wildly different colors and hues from the rest, which were taken with a DSLR. In my experience there’s been nothing consistent or predictable about using a GoPro indoors.)

The first exhibit, IZ OČI V OČI_VIS À VIS_FACE TO FACE, is a group exhibit featuring artists who live, work or are originally from Slovenia’s coast. Below are a couple: La Lumiere de la nature-matutinus, 2012, by Gani Llalloshi, and Regata, 1984, by Mira Licen Krmpotic.

Gani Llalloshi – La Lumiere de la nature-matutinus, 2012

Mira Licen Krmpotic – Regata, 1984

On display through September. At the moment, NO charge. Website is here, but for now is almost entirely in Slovenian. The Gallery, which originally served as the city’s Loggia, sits serenely in the top right corner of the main Tartini Square, flanked by the City Hall to the right and the 15th Century Venetian House to the left. A few more shots below.

MACBA – Barcelona, in Brief

Posted on Thursday, 17 May, 2012 by BobR

I hosted Maria and Victor, a couch-surfing couple from Barcelona last weekend, and while we were enjoying an afternoon in Ljubljana’s Museum of Contemporary Art, I decided that I hadn’t really done justice here to MACBA, the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, with a quick post soon after my visit there in early August 2010. So here’s a slightly expanded version, inspired by and dedicated to, my new friends.

Designed by American architect Richard Meier and opened in 1995, it’s a beautiful building, inside and out, elegantly understated and relaxing. (And as it turned out, a great place to try and come down from an attempted robbery if that’s what your body and mind are looking for.) Much of the south side is glass, allowing ample natural light to bathe the interior. The action in the square outside primarily involves skateboarding – lots of it.

The website, along with exhibit schedule, is here, nearest metro stations are Catalunya and Universitat. A few more shots are below, all Creative Commons licensed for non-commercial use. Feel free to use them with credits as indicated here.

Twelve Photo Tour of Ljubljana’s Museum of Contemporary Art

Posted on Tuesday, 15 May, 2012 by BobR

Here’s a dozen shots of the Museum of Contemporary Art taken over the rainy weekend when I decided that Ljubljana’s newest museum would become the chief beneficiary in my will.

I don’t remember the exact moment that I reached that decision, only that I felt perfectly at peace after I did. I don’t plan to die anytime soon, nor do I plan to have much to leave when I do. But it’s still good to know where whatever is left will be going. Why here?

I like the space. I enjoy its feel and the attitude it conveys. Its setting, in Ljubljana’s newish museum quarter bordering on the Metelkova City alternative space, is energizing, albeit in a subdued, measured way. And I like its presentation – an understated confidence which suggests that what is on exhibit and housed there is worthy of your time and attention, further exploration, and yes, even a financial investment.

by Romanian artist Dan Perjovschi

MSUM (Muzej sodobne umetnosti Metelkova) finally opened its doors last November, an opening that attracted the attention of even the New York Times. That a new home for Eastern European avante-garde art is housed in a former Yugoslav army barracks that was (at least in part) saved from the wrecking ball by squatters shortly after independence, adds to its lore.

It’s major claim to fame is that it’s the home base for Arteast 2000+, the world’s oldest collection of Eastern European avante-garde art from the 1960s to the present. Slovenia’s Museum of Modern Art (Moderna Galerija) began amassing the works in the 1990s but quickly ran out of room. The Ministry of Culture gave the Moderna another building which eventually became MSUM.

Now Showing

But having a building allotted by the ministry –one that no longer exists by the way– didn’t come with a blank check. Or any check. Which is forcing MSUM to improvise. And recycle. Currently showing is The Present and Presence – Repetition 1 (through 28-October), an expansion exhibit of the first installation that opened the museum last fall. A five-point list of reasons behind Repetition 1 is also part of the exhibit:

- A little more here on a previous Piran Cafe post
- The Museum’s website is here
- And here’s a longer and extremely fascinating read – The Metelkova Case: From Army Barracks to Museum of Contemporary Art, from Manitesta Journal: Around curatorial practices

MSUM – Maistrova 3 (Map)
Open Tuesday through Sunday 10 am till 6 pm.
Closed on Mondays, + 1 January, 27 April, 1 May, 15 August, 1 November and 25 December.

adults: 5.00 eur
students, pensioners: 2.50 eur
groups (adults): 3.50 eur
groups (students, pensioners): 2.00 eur
families: 6.00 eur

Orozco’s Citroen and a Creative Commons Update

Posted on Tuesday, 8 May, 2012 by BobR

I’ve never been much of a car guy. I have one but the last time I put gas in the tank was in April. Of 2011. I didn’t have my first set of wheels until I was 23, an enormous town car that I drove into the ground on the dirt back roads of southeast Ohio. I later drove a Yugo around those same Appalachian foothills for five years. That remains the only new car I ever bought. And this remains the only car I even remotely covet.

It’s Voiture Citroen DS 19 which sculptor Gabriel Orozco famously trisected and reassembled in 1970. An old friend used to say that I was one of the select few who could actually look good driving a Yugo. She’d no doubt be weak in the knees if she saw me driving around in this.

This was shot at the Airs de Paris exhibit at the Centre Pompidou in Paris in the summer of 2007, one of just under 1,600 photos on my flickr stream that I’ve made available under a Creative Commons license. I only ask that credit is given exactly as specified with each photo. Strictly non-commercial, please. Follow the links if you’re not sure.

There are now just over 3,000 photos on my flickr stream, and they are for the most part grouped in sets geographically, with 20+ countries and nearly 40 bigger cities currently listed. That’s one place to start looking. I’m also fairly anal about tagging, so if your mind works in a way remotely similar to mine (my heartfelt sympathies go out to you), you can also hunt around on the tags page.

For previous updates, check the creative commons tag here on Piran Café.

Anyone have any CC experiences they’d like to share? Good or bad? I’d love to hear ‘em!

LJ Pic of the Day Hits 40, International Museum Day Reminder

Posted on Tuesday, 1 May, 2012 by BobR

Considering it took me more than five years to manage a period of 40 (!) straight LJ Pic of Day postings, it’s no wonder that this otherwise subdued dude, permanently stationed in front of the Museum of Modern Art, is shouting the news to anyone who’ll listen.

Which reminds me: Friday 18 May is International Museum Day, and all museums and galleries in Ljubljana will be participating as well, offering free admission, special workshops, lectures, and more. Here’s a good starting point for a museum directory. Ljubljana in Your Pocket has a very good, continually update culture and events listing with plenty of museum, gallery and exhibit links.

LJ Pic of the Day

Posted on Monday, 16 April, 2012 by BobR

I selected this fairly mundane shot of the National Gallery of Slovenia as the 25th straight Ljubljana Pic of the Day because like several museums I hoped to visit today here in Paris today, it too is closed on Mondays. C’est la vie. (Operating hours and fees are here. Free admission the first Sunday of each month.)

Cheers,
Bob

Ljubljana’s new Museum of Contemporary Art to open in November

Posted on Tuesday, 2 August, 2011 by BobR

On 26 November at 8 p.m. to be precise. Excellent news indeed.

From a press release:

Starting in the end of this November, Moderna galerija will operate at two separate locations: the Museum of Modern Art will carry on in the existing building in the city center of Ljubljana and the Museum of Contemporary Art in the renovated army barracks building in the new cultural quarter in Metelkova Street.

The new Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova will house the pioneering collection of Eastern European art Arteast 2000+, devoted to postwar avant gardes from the 1960s to the present, and a selection of works from Moderna galerija’s national collection.

The Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova derives its specificity not only from its geopolitical and cultural position, but also from its orientation which questions hegemonic history through a multiplicity of narratives, heterogeneous approaches to historicizing, resonance between the urgencies of different localities, and reciprocal methods of learning.

In addition to the new permanent display of works from the Arteast 2000+ and national collections, the Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova will open with the exhibition Museum of Affects, which is part of a long-term research project of the network L’Internationale*. This exhibition attempts to rethink formal methodologies of academic art history and proposes instead to interpret a selection of artworks from the period between 1956 and 1986 from the collections of Ljubljana’s Moderna galerija, Antwerp’s M HKA, Barcelona’s MACBA, and the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven as intensities or affects, emphasizing their performative rather than representational character.

The first L’Internationale exhibition, Museum of Parallel Narratives, is on view until 2 October 2011 in MACBA Barcelona; the third one, Spirits of Internationalism, in M HKA Antwerp and Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, will be staged in January 2012.

*The founding partners of L’Internationale are the Moderna galerija, Ljubljana, the Július Koller Society, Bratislava, the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA), Barcelona, the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, and the Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst (M HKA), Antwerp.

The Metelkova area, Ljubljana’s lively contemporary art and music haven, is also home to the well-known (and somewhat pricey) Celica hostel, where guests can sleep in reconstructed prison cells, and is less than a 10-minute walk from the central train station.