Hemauer & Keller's 'Portscapes' project begins: transportation of a wooden stage along the Rhine from Basel to Rotterdam

'Postpetrolistic Internationale', the project by Zurich-based artists Christina Hemauer (1973) & Roman Keller (1969), started today with the transportation of a wooden stage along the Rhine from Basel (the most upriver navigable point of the Rhine), near the artists’ home, to Rotterdam (where the Rhine joins the sea).

Keller & Hemauer's project emerges from the medium of the collective human voice, the tradition of the aspirational social anthem alongside the artists’ long standing interest in energy use. Upon arrival of the stage, a Rotterdam-based choir will perform the 'Postpetrolistic Internationale', an anthem of hope-in-action on the stage, against a backdrop of local industry, to mark man’s changing relationship with fossil fuels and energy use.

Performances:
Saturday 7 November, time TBC, Maritime Museum, Rotterdam – MAP
Sunday 8 November, 13.30h, Futureland, the Maasvlakte 2 visitor center – MAP

The 'Postpetrolism' project (2006-ongoing) was launched with a performance in Zürich in April 2006 in which a new manifesto of hope for the future reality of energy was declared and a plaque erected to mark the end of one energy era (‘peak oil’ was passed in 2005, according to Kenneth S. Deffeyes) and the beginning of another beyond oil.

Images of the journey and arrival of the stage to Rotterdam's port on 2nd November:

Keller & Hemauer's project is part of 'Portscapes', a series of art projects commissioned by the Port of Rotterdam Authority with advice and financial support from SKOR (Foundation for Art and Public Space, Amterdam) and curated by Latitudes.

Portscapes' timeline: http://www.dipity.com/latitudes/PORTSCAPES

Keller and Hemauer's participation has been made possible thanks to the support of Pro Helvetia.




[Photo: Above, (1) taken by the artists on the 30th October 2009, (2) taken by the artists en route and (3) upon arrival to Rotterdam's port]

London's Frieze Art Fair 2009 and Fia Backström's project 'Studies in Leadership - The Review'

On Sunday 18th October and as part of Frieze Projects, Max Andrews of Latitudes participated in Fia Backström's project 'Studies in Leadership - The Review' at invitation of Filipa Oliveira and Miguel Amado. Four art critics and writers – Amado, Michele Robecchi, J. J. Charlesworth and Andrews – worked with a professional voice coach to publicly read one of their recent exhibition reviews, and together consider the implications of performance and the author's 'voice'. See images above.



Above a selection of images of some of the exhibitions and events that took place during Frieze week – 'How it is' Miroslaw Balka's enormous steel chamber for Tate Modern's Turbine Hall, the Serpentine Gallery pavilion by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA pre-poetry marathon, Nils Norman and Dave Hullfish Bailey 'Surrounded by Squares' exhibition at Raven Row and of course Frieze Art Fair itself.

All images Latitudes | www.lttds.org

Ignasi Aballí's exhibition catalogue 'Nothing, or Something' available now

Ignasi Aballí's exhibition catalogue 'Nothing, or Something' is finally out and available via Suitcase Art Projects' website.

The catalogue follows his recent project at the project space run by Beijing's Today Art Museum placed at the Yintai Center, which took place between 22 May and 22 July this year. The exhibition catalogue includes an essay by exhibition curators Latitudes as well as numerous installation images of the project which spreads throughout eight window displays in three floors. Aballí's project responded to the retail context of the commercial center as well as an artistic history of absence, nothingness and invisibility.

To see images of the exhibition, see here
Description of the exhibition, read here

'Nothing, or Something'
Softcover, 88 pages, colour
Essay by Latitudes
English/Chinese publication
Published by the Today Art Museum

All images: Latitudes | www.lttds.org

Sharjah Biennial 8 (2007) part 2 publication with transcripts of the 3-day conference organised by Latitudes and the RSA, London

Above images of the recently published catalogue of the Sharjah Biennial 8, United Arab Emirates [25º 22’N, 55º 24’E] titled 'Still Life: Art, Ecology and the Politics of Change (Part II)' which includes installation shots of the exhibition as well as transcripts of the 3-day conference Latitudes organised in collaboration with the Royal Society of Art's Arts & Ecology programme (today the RSA Arts and Ecology Centre) back in April 2007 (+ info).

The symposium (images here) considered today’s uses and abuses of the ‘eco-’, notions of artistic agency and critical practice, as well as the role of the public realm in today’s artistic and institutional practices. How has it become fashionable (or profitable) to be seen to be eco? How has what we mean by ecology been transformed and evolved through the uses of terms such as ‘environmental’, ‘green’, ‘ethical living’, and so on?; How do some artists desire palliative results, while others offer strategies of friction or resistance? How far are the sources of materials a consideration for artists, designers and architects? And how does this relate to wider questions of resources—water, energy, oil in the Emirate and beyond?

The symposium included focused presentations by keynote speakers such as Bruce Sterling (download his paper as a pdf here), critical panels with participating artists Sergio Vega or Peter Fend as well as Van Abbemuseum director Charles Esche, or Smart Museum's Curator of Contemporary Art Stephanie Smith as well as breakout seminars with participating artists Tomás Saraceno and Michael Rakowitz.

You can download the symposium programme, exhibition guide and view press-related materials in this archive.

'Sharjah Biennial 8. Still Life: Art, Ecology and the Politics of Change (Part II)'
568 pages, 233 x 165 mm, softcover 350g. Art Matt Card
Paper: 80g. offset wood free and 135 g. Art Matt
Publisher: Sharjah Biennial, www.sharjahbiennial.org
ISBN 978-9948-04-328-6 Part II

'Portscapes' news: Bus Tour around the Port of Rotterdam, Sunday 8 November 2009, 10–15h

–ENG–

Bus Tour – Portscapes public art projects on the Maasvlakte, Rotterdam

On Sunday 8 November SKOR and the Port of Rotterdam Authority are organising a tour coinciding with the 4th International Architecture Biennial Rotterdam. The tour is programmed in the context of Portscapes, a series of art projects related to the construction of the Maasvlakte 2 commissioned by the Port of Rotterdam Authority. The Maasvlakte 2 project is the ongoing extension of the port by 2,000 hectares, which will be constructed in the North Sea in the next five years.

SKOR invited the duo Latitudes from Barcelona, who has curated a series of projects reflecting on the architectural, political, social and ecological aspects of the past, present and future of the Rotterdam port with a focus on the new Maasvlakte 2. Portscapes consists of ten new commissions in and about the Maasvlakte by Dutch and international artists, including interventions, films, performances and mobile seminars.

Bus tour bookings: write to ad [at] skor.nl by 2 November 2009
Free tour. English spoken

An exhibition of the Portscapes projects will be on show at the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam from 5 February, until late March 2010.

Programme on 8 November
(please note: programme subject to changes)

09.45 am – 
Leave from NAI Rotterdam, Museumpark 25 3015 CB, Rotterdam

On the way to the port you can listen to interviews by Fucking Good Art on mp3 players in the bus. Amongst others, Hans Aarsman, an industrial ecologist, a botanist and an archaeologist, will describe his vision of the Maasvlakte on the basis of his field of expertise. The artistic duo FGA broadcast this and other conversations from a temporary web radio station in a container united placed on the Maasvlakte between 21 August and 21 September.

10.45 am – Visit to wastelands by artist Lara Almarcegui and botanist Remko Andeweg
The Spanish-born Rotterdam-based artist Lara Almarcegui has published a free newspaper research project concerning the ‘wasteland’ areas which can be encountered throughout the Port of Rotterdam. Almarcegui and botanist Remko Andeweg will describe these areas characterised by an apparent lack of human intervention.

12.00 am – Arrival at Futureland, the Maasvlakte information centre
On the way we pass the billboards by the artists Marjolijn Dijkman, Jorge Satorre, Paulien Oltheten and Hans Schabus.

Lunch in Futureland, provided by the Rotterdam Port Authority.
Introduction by Latitudes, curators of 'Portscapes'

1.00 pm – 
Tour of the artworks in and around Futureland
You can view work by Paulien Oltheten and Hans Schabus and explore the nearby area picking up Ilana Halperin’s audio tour. Halperin created a compelling narrative of fragments which draws on fact, fiction and personal fieldwork – as well as site surveys by volcanologists, geologists and the experts involved in the construction of Maasvlakte 2.

1.30 pm – Performance 'Postpetrolistic Internationale'
The project by Swiss artists Roman Keller & Christina Hemauer
 emerges from the medium of the collective human voice, the tradition of the aspirational social anthem alongside the artists’ long standing interest in energy use. The project starts with the transportation of a wooden stage along the Rhine from Basel (where the Rhine begins), near the artists’ home, to Rotterdam (where the Rhine joins the sea) – see post 30.10.09. Upon arrival a local choir will perform this anthem of hope-in-action (composed by the artists in collaboration with musician Mathias Vette) on the stage, against a backdrop of local industry, to mark man’s changing relationship with fossil fuels and energy use.

2 pm – Return to NAI Rotterdam with a number of stops at various art projects along the way: wastelands by Lara Almarcegui and works by Paulien Oltheten

3 pm – 
Arrival in NAI Rotterdam. End of the journey.

Portscapes is commissioned by the Port of Rotterdam Authority with advice from SKOR (Foundation for Art and Public Space, Amterdam) and is curated by Latitudes.


–CAST–

Bus tour entorno al puerto de Rotterdam, Domingo 8 Noviembre 2009, 10–15h, organizado por SKOR y la Autoridad Portuaria de Rotterdam coincidiendo con la 4th International Architecture Biennial Rotterdam. Tour organizado en ocasión de Portscapes, la serie acumulativa de proyectos públicos que en el Puerto de Rotterdam

Presentación de dos nuevos proyectos: performance de los suizos Roman Keller y Christina Hemauer (7–8 Noviembre) y publicación de la guía 'Wastelands of the Port of Rotterdam' realizada por Lara Almarcegui. Durante el tour se podrán ver y escuchar los proyectos realizados por Marjolijn Dijkman, Fucking Good Art, Ilana Halperin, Jorge Satorre, Hans Schabus y Paulien Oltheten.

Para reservar tu lugar, escribe a ad@skor.nl antes del 2 November 2009.
Accesso gratuito, tour será en inglés.

Exposición de los proyectos de Portscapes tendrá lugar en el Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, a partir del 5 de Febrero y hasta finales de Marzo 2010.

–
PROGRAMA 8 NOVIEMBRE, 9.45-15hs (Nota: programa sujeto a cambios de última hora)

09.45 am – Salida desde NAI Rotterdam, Museumpark 25 3015 CB, Rotterdam
Durante el recorrido se podrá escuchar mediante auriculares una entrevista al ecologista, botanista, y arqueólogo Hans Aarsman realizada por el duo FGA durante su residencia en un container emplazado en el Maasvlakte, desde donde recogieron conversaciones temáticas y exploraciones de campo. + info...


10.45 am – 
Visita de terrenos baldíos por Lara Almarcegui y el botanista Remko Andeweg.

La artista española afincada en Rotterdam Lara Almarcegui ha publicado una guía en formato periódico en la que se recoge su investigación entorno a los actuales terrenos baldíos que pueden encontrarse a lo largo de puerto de Rotterdam. En contraste con la gran planificación que circunda el futuro Maasvlakte 2, Almarcegui se interesa por los espacios definidos por la aparente falta de diseño y desarrollo. El público navegará el puerto como un territorio interconectado con la ayuda de esta guía que, como ha manifestado la artista, "actuará como una herramienta para conocerlo mejor (...) para ver cómo el territorio está cambiando. En el futuro, cuando la mayoría de estos terrenos se vean modificados, la guía actuará como un documento histórico que describirá cómo fue el puerto en el 2009".

12.00 am – Visita del centro de visitantes Futureland y almuerzo
Durante el viaje se podrán ver las vallas publicitarias de los artistas Marjolijn Dijkman, Jorge Satorre, Paulien Oltheten y Hans Schabus. A la llegada Latitudes, comisarios de 'Portscapes', introducirán los proyectos.

1.00 pm – Visita de las obras presentadas en Futureland y alrededores
Visita de las obras de Paulien Oltheten y Hans Schabus así como la audioguía 'A Brief History of Mobile Landmass' realizada por Ilana Halperin. La audioguía narra fragmentos reales y ficticios recogidos a partir de la investigación de la artista y expertos entorno a volcanes y estudios de campo relacionados con la presente construcción del Maasvlakte 2 – escuchar capítulos o descargar archivos aquí

1.30 pm – '
Postpetrolistic Internationale', performance de Roman Keller & Christina Hemauer

El proyecto de los suizos Roman Keller & Christina Hemauer
 comienza con el transporte de un escenario a lo largo del Rin, desde Basilea (donde el Rin abandona Suiza) y cerca de donde viven los artistas, hasta Rotterdam (donde el Rin desemboca en el mar) - léase post 30.10.09. A su llegada un coro cantará la 'The Postpetrolistic Internationale', un himno social compuesto por los artistas en colaboración con el músico y compositor Mathias Vetter, que proclama el comienzo de una nueva era donde el petróleo pertenece al pasado. Los días 7 y 8 de noviembre un coro local interpretará este himno de esperanza sobre el escenario en pleno paisaje industrial, para poner en perspectiva la historia evolución de hombre y su relación con los combustibles fósiles y el uso de la energía. Ésta será la primera vez que se cantará en inglés.

2 pm – Regreso al NAI Rotterdam con varias paradas durante el recorrido a los terrenos valdíos seleccionados por Lara Almarcegui y obras de Paulien Oltheten

3 pm – Llegada a 
NAI Rotterdam. Fin de trayecto.

Portscapes es un encargo de la Autoridad Portuaria de Rotterdam con el consejo de SKOR (Foundation for Art and Public Space, Amsterdam) y comisariado por Latitudes.

The Bruce High Quality Foundation y Latitudes en MOUSSE magazine (#20 Septiembre 2009)

En el número 20 de la revista italiana MOUSSE la crítica y comisaria Cecilia Alemani entrevista al grupo de artistas neoyorkinos The Bruce High Quality Foundation, quienes hacen referencia a dos proyectos en los que Latitudes colaboró con el grupo: la oficina temporal que crearon para nuestra participación el festival 'NO SOUL FOR SALE' que tuvo lugar el pasado Junio en X Initiative en Nueva York y la obra exposición colectiva 'Greenwashing. Environment: Perils, Promises and Perplexities' en la Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo en Febrero–Mayo 2008.

Fotos de la oficina temporal durante el festival 'NO SOUL FOR SALE' aquí
Fotos de la exposición colectiva 'Greenwashing...' aquí

Lawrence Weiner, 'Under the Sun', Espai d'Art Contemporani de Castelló

All photos: Latitudes | www.lttds.org

A year after 'THE CREST OF A WAVE' at Fundació Suñol in Barcelona, New York artist Lawrence Weiner opened on Friday 23rd a new exhibition in Spain at the Espai d'Art Contemporani de Castelló (www.eacc.es). 'Under the Sun' includes an exhibition in EACC (on view until 28 March 2010) as well as a public piece in a city centre park which will open in a second phase, in early February 2010. Below Weiner's text from the exhibition invitation:

THE MARKING OF A SPACE WITHIN A PUBLIC PARK THAT IS DEPENDENT UPON MEANING NOT MEANS
THE PLACING OF A CLUSTER OF STRUCTURES THAT AFFORD A PLACE DEMARKED AT THAT MOMENT
BY THE RESULT OF A FLICK OF A WRIST
A FORM THAT CAN FLY A KITE OR KILL A BULL WITH GRACE
THAT SETS ASIDE A PLACE FOR THE MOMENT THAT IS YOURS
BEING ONLY ONE METER HIGH THEY AFFORD NOT PROTECTION BUT A DEMARCATION OF SOVEREIGN
TERRITORY WHEN OCCUPIED
TWISTED & TURNED UNDER THE SUN

Update February 2010:

Completing the first part of his 'Under the Sun' exhibition for Castelló, the artist recently inaugurated a permanent public work at 'El Pinar', Castellón. As written in the press release the project brings to mind 'the bullfighting but also the lightness and the elegance of a wave that takes shape in the space as its own territory.' More images here.

Images courtesy of EACC. Photos: Ángel Sánchez

Reduce Art Flights leafleting campaign by Gustav Metzger at the Serpentine Gallery, London

The Reduce Art Flights (28.02.08, Turin) leafleting campaign has been included in the exhibition 'Gustav Metzger, Decades 1959–2009' at the Serpentine Gallery in London (on view until 8 November). The leaflet was produced in occasion of the Latitudes-curated exhibition 'Greenwashing. Environment: Perils, Promises and Perplexities' that took place between February and May 2008 at the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo in Turin, Italy. For the occasion the invitation mailing was accompanied by the pamphlet encouraging visitors to arrange alternative travel to the exhibition.

For further info check http://www.reduceartflights.lttds.org

Latitudes in Kult Magazine (#10, October 2009)

Milan-based Kult Magazine has published an article on art and ecology in their October issue written by art critic and curator Daniele Perra. In the section, Perra interviews curator Francesco Manacorda (curator of the exhibition 'Radical Nature: Art and Architecture for a Changing Planet 1969-2009' on view at the Barbican Art Gallery, London, until 18 October), as well as English artist Simon Starling and selects a few ongoing exhibitions and events that analyse the relationship between art and nature.

In page 88 (see detail above) Perra mentioned Latitudes' ecology-related projects such as the 'Greenwashing. Environment: Perils, Promises and Perplexities...' exhibition at the Fondazione Sandretto in Turin in 2008, the guest-edition of UOVO #14 in 2007 and the publication 'Land, Art: A Cultural Ecology Handbook' in 2006, to introduce our participation in the forthcoming The Wånas Foundation seminar on Art and Ecology taking place on the 21 October in Knislinge, Sweden and in the symposium organised by Hinterland Projects on 26th November titled 'The evolving relationships between artists, the changing climate and new responsibilities'.

[Above: Detail of page 88 of the magazine. With thanks to Daniele Perra]

Newsletter #16, October 2009

We have just circulated the October 2009 Newsletter #16, you may read the English version or the versión española.

Update on the Portscapes commission series: exhibition of Paulien Oltheten at Futureland and vicinity (until 30 October) and billboard-prologue to Jorge Satorre's project (see images on the 02.10.09 post) + info...

On the 21 October Latitudes will be participating in the International seminar on Art and Ecology, organised by The Wanås Foundation, Knislinge, Sweden. + info...

If you would like to subscribe to our mailing list please fill your data on this contact form (see left), choose ONE language and confirm your subscription by clicking a link on the confirmation email we will send you. If you would like to read previous newsletters, click here.

Check also our Latitudes' at www.lttds.org/blog for further news.
Facebook fan page here
Flickr photosets here

Portscapes news: Jorge Satorre's billboard on the A15 and Paulien Oltheten small exhibition at the visitor centre Futureland and surroundings

Placed along the A15 highway on the Maasvlakte, Jorge Satorre's billboard is the third installed as part of 'Portscapes' – joining those by Hans Schabus and Paulien Oltheten.

During the summer of 2009, Jorge Satorre was searching for, and eventually located, a large boulder – specifically one of the giant rocks carried by glaciers into The Netherlands from Scandinavia during the last Ice Age. Following the artist’s fascination with the environmental compensation projects being instigated alongside the construction of Maasvlakte 2, his project seeks to identify this rock’s precise place of origin and then return it to where it came from – an act of synthetic restitution and transnational sculptural offsetting. Satorre’s reverse geological gesture furthermore mirrors the monumental construction of the Maasvlakte 2 as a sculpting of land-form which, like the action of ice but in a far shorter time, is fundamentally altering the morphology of The Netherlands. The action is also reflected in the fact that much of the existing and future sea defense in the port area will be made from rock brought from Scandinavia. The artist’s accompanying pencil drawings offer an account of the process which incorporate both actual and imagined details, like a storyboard. A single drawing which depicts an imagined protest at the beginning of the boulder’s journey is realised as a billboard near the Futureland visitor’s centre.

A second part of his research will be presented at the Portscapes exhibition at the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen from 5 February 2010.

Paulien Oltheten's videos and photographs can also be seen until mid-November 2009 in and around Futureland, the Maasvlakte visitors’ centre [MAP HERE]. From there, visitors can set off with a route description to the locations on the Maasvlakte where other work can be seen.

Locations and some images of Oltheten's mini-billboards:

The public domain and human behaviour is the starting point for the work of Paulien Oltheten (1982), though she has described her approach as closer to that of an anthropologist rather than artist. With her still and video cameras, she generally searches with apparent casualness for moments when there is contact between people, objects and public space. On the Maasvlakte, Oltheten was faced with the fact that the familiar frame of reference of natural elements, such as trees, bushes and people, was almost completely lacking. Oltheten decided to make use of this alienation by arranging meetings with people. This resulted in a series of photographs and two short video pieces. These stagings mostly take place in locations on the Maasvlakte that will disappear or be displaced during the coming years. The photographs and videos are sometimes variations on the theme of ‘one becomes two’, referring to the Maasvlakte, of which there will later be two.

Futureland is on Europaweg 909, 3199 LC Maasvlakte, Rotterdam (Havennummer 8213). It is across the road from the E.ON power plant. Open Tuesday-Friday 10am-5pm and on Sunday 11am-5pm. Entry is free. Map here

Portscapes is a series of public art commissions initiated by the Port of Rotterdam Authority with advice and support from SKOR (Foundation for Art and Public Space, Amterdam) and curated by Latitudes. www.portscapes.nl

[Photos of Jorge Satorre's board by Ben Wind; Photos of Paulien Oltheten's by the artist and Ben Wind]