Billy Gruner, Punk Painting – Sound Installation, 2010

October 15 – November 7, 2010

Curated by Billy Gruner of SNO in Sydney, Jan van der Ploeg of PS in Amsterdam and Tilman of CCNOA in Brussels.

UND 6 – INTERCONTINENTAL is a group show of international artists exhibiting at Schwartz Gallery working within what could broadly be described as non-objective contemporary art. Organised by artists-curators Tilman, Jan Van der Ploeg and Billy Gruner, it is an annual event that at its root remains an experimental developmental project; a yearly opportunity for convergence for related artists to present and view new work out of a greater array of activity. That activity may fall under the banner of Presentational Art (US), Super Formalism or Minimal Pop (EU) or, as it is defined in Australia, Post Formalism. The UND 6 INTERCONTINENTAL show has been coordinated by Tilman, Jan van der Ploeg and Billy Gruner working from the artist-run spaces they have established within a broad network. These include CCNOA in Brussels, PS in Amsterdam and SNO in Sydney respectively. Artists will have participated by presenting new work that they have themselves selected. This artist-driven approach taking place across a diverse and multiple network of artists engages traction with other interested artists, gallerists and collectors, outside of conventional systems.

Participating Artists:
Billy Gruner, Adrian Macdonald, Kyle Jenkins, Sarah Keighery, Andrew Leslie, Rachel Park, John Adair, Judith Duquemin, Justin Andrews, Ruark Lewis, Giles Ryder, Suzie Idiens, Lynne Eastaway, Sophia Egarchos, Jan van der Ploeg, Frank Ammerlaan, Marita Fraser, Michelle Grabner, Terry Haggerty, Alex Lawler , Geoff Lucas, Paul Morrison, Sean Shanahan,DJ Simpson, Tilman, Sebastian Wickeroth, Clemens Hollerer, Greet Billet, Ward Denys, Colombe Marcasiano, Ingrid Maria Sinibaldi,Tom Benson, Michael Duffy, Alma Tischler-Wood

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Jan van der Ploeg: BIG CALM, 2010
Installation view with painting & wall painting

September 18 – October 16, 2010

MINUS SPACE is very excited to announce the solo exhibition Jan van der Ploeg: BIG CALM.  This is the Amsterdam-based artist’s second exhibition with the gallery and it will feature a site-specific painting installation.

For his exhibition, Jan will present two new acrylic on linen paintings featuring intricate black and white patterns.  The patterns are informed by a number of diverse sources, including Maori weavings, Islamic ceramic tiles, Portuguese azulejos, and Italian architectural marble designs, among others.  The paintings will be installed directly on top of an ambitious floor-to-ceiling wall painting covering all four walls of the gallery.  The wall painting will consist of narrow vertical red, green, and blue stripes that repeat at regular intervals throughout the space.  We will also have available a new limited-edition print by the artist (Untitled, 2010, silkscreen on paper, 50 x 40 cm, edition of 25) as part of his exhibition.

About Jan’s work, artist, curator and writer Michelle Grabner states, “…his paintings expand the best of contemporary non-objective work in their shear boldness and fearless scope, the entirety of the painting’s dynamics are always greater than the architecture that supports them…The impact of van der Ploeg’s paintings is located at the intersection of sensation and thought, between the work’s graphic visual impact and its conceptual underpinnings. His paintings are welcomingly antagonistic to narrative. Signifying instead a powerful commitment to the commingling of the familiar, new and strange potentials of color and form.”

Over the past two decades, Jan van der Ploeg (b. 1959) has exhibited his work extensively in both solo and group exhibitions in Europe, North America, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand, including at venues such as The Suburban (Chicago), Smart Museum (Chicago), Gallery Sonja Roesch (Houston), Hammer Museum (Los Angeles), Gemeentemuseum (The Hague), Van Abbemuseum (Eindhoven), Galerie Asim Chugthai (Berlin), Konsortium (Dusseldorf), Centre d’Art Neuchatel (France), Center for Contemporary Non-Objective Art (Brussels), Sarah Cottier Gallery (Sydney), Goddard de Fiddes Gallery (Perth), and Hamish McKay Gallery (Wellington).

Jan’s first solo exhibition at MINUS SPACE in 2006 was the gallery’s inaugural exhibition.  His work was also included in our recent group exhibition MINUS SPACE, curated by Phong Bui, at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center in New York in 2008-2009.

In addition to his artistic work, Jan founded and directs PS, a highly-regarded exhibition space and program based in Amsterdam.  Committed to new abstract and conceptual art, PS aims to provide a platform for the work of upcoming international artists in an environment that exists between the conventions of an artist-run space and a commercial gallery.

SUPPORT
Jan van der Ploeg: BIG CALM is generously supported by the Mondriaan Foundation, Amsterdam. MINUS SPACE’s programming is made possible by the support of The Golden Rule Foundation, as well as individual donors. We thank you!

Installation view

July 11 – September 12, 2010

Non-Objectif Sud (NOS) is pleased to present its fifth exhibition and residency program with le beau le bien le vrai, an exhibition curated and organized by Tilman and Petra Bungert of CCNOA (Center for Contemporary Non-Objective Art, Brussels, Belgium).

Participating Artists:
Massimiliano Baldassarri (IT/CH)
Francisco da Mata (PT/CH)
Camila Oliveira Fairclough (BR/UK)
Sacha Goerg (CH/BE)
Alexandra Guillot (FR)
Colombe Marcasiano (FR)
Guillaume Millet (FR)
Roland Orépük (CH)
Benjamin Rivière (FR)
Ingrid Maria Sinibaldi (FR)
Damien Sorrentino (FR)
Cédric Teisseire (FR)
Wilson Trouvé (FR)
Emmanuel Van der Meulen (FR)

The exhibition project le beau le bien le vrai (named after a work of the same title by Damien Sorrentino) presented by NOS aims to survey artistic production focusing on the realm of reductive and conceptual art within the perimeters of a more regional context. For this exhibition CCNOA has invited 14 artists working in the francophone -and neighboring francophone countries- cultural landscapes. The participating artists live and work in Paris, Marseille and Nice (France) as well as Grenoble, Geneva and Neuchâtel (Switzerland) and have studied at renowned art schools including the Villa Arson, Nice.

In addition to painting, sculpture and video works, le beau le bien le vrai will also present site-specific works – both indoors and outdoors. Turning NOS into their temporary studio, the artists will expand and reflect on NOS’s magnificent setting and the environment.

Since its inception in 1998, CCNOA, a multidisciplinary non-for-profit art organization currently based in Brussels, has established a platform to review and introduce contemporary artistic positions, strategies and developments in the field of reductive art on an international level. Focusing for the past 12 years on the dialogue between artists, art-professionals and art-lovers from around the globe, CCNOA has helped to renew the discourse surrounding the subject of contemporary reductive art and has inspired many others to set up similar organizations.

To broaden communication and exchange between artists and the public, CCNOA has also organized a series of traveling group exhibitions in the USA, Australia and Europe in addition to its ongoing exhibition program in Brussels. Visit www.ccnoa.org for further information.

NOS was founded by co-directors Andrew Huston and Karole Vail in 2005 as a non-for-profit alternative to the institutional space of the commercial art gallery. NOS is located at La Barralière, a farmhouse with an adjoining exhibition space in the Rhône Valley 50 kilometers north of Avignon. Each summer, artists are invited in residence to collaborate, create and exhibit site-specific artworks within this Kunsthalle platform.

Work by Emmanuel Van der Meulen

June 26 – July 31, 2010

MINUS SPACE is delighted to present the first installment of the Brussels, Belgium-based Center for Contemporary Non-Objective Art’s (CCNOA) most recent initiative 30/30 – Image Archive Project (IAP).

Conceived by artist and CCNOA Chief Curator/Artistic Director Tilman, the exhibition will feature a diverse group of small works by 9 international artists, including Delphine Deguislage (Belgium), Clemens Hollerer (Austria), Atsuo Hukuda (Japan), Andrew Huston (USA), Camila Oliveira-Fairclough (Brazil/United Kingdom), Ingrid Maria Sinibaldi (France), Emmanuel Van der Meulen (France), Jan Maarten Voskuil (The Netherlands), and Lars Wolter (Germany).

With 30/30-IAP, CCNOA seeks to establish a collective collection that will showcase the mesmerizing breadth and depth of approaches reductive artists are currently pursuing on the international level.  The project’s title refers to the size restriction for all works to be included in CCNOA’s emerging registry, which is set at 30 x 30 cm with a maximum depth of 5 cm.  This will enable CCNOA to easily travel the project worldwide (museum in a suitcase).

30/30-IAP is administered by CCNOA in a joint effort with artists CCNOA has collaborated with over  the past 12 years, as well as newly invited artists from around the globe.  CCNOA is currently planning forthcoming 30/30-IAP exhibitions at artist-run venues in Australia, Europe, Japan, New Zealand,  and the United States.

SUPPORT
MINUS SPACE’s programming is made possible by the generous support of The Golden Rule Foundation, as well as individual donors. We thank you!

May 1 – June 5, 2010

Terry Haggerty has in recent years become known to a wide audience, due to numerous exhibitions and his spectacular wall installations, most recently at the Dallas Cowboys’ new stadium, CCNOA in Brussels, or Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. In what is now his third individual show at Kuttner Siebert Galerie, Terry Hagerty shows his newest works, which represent the logical development of what has always characterized his painting.
The dictum of abstraction in Terry Haggerty is not only shown in the reduced structure of what is represented but also in the display of materiality. Nowhere is the work of the artist hand visible, and in so doing the concept of artistic uniqueness that accompanies gesture can be understood. But the painting is unique precisely because the absence of the artistic hand, at the same time the most superficial character of minimal art, can underscore the works’ object character.

Terry Haggerty’s works are marked by their extraordinary perfection, whereby several layers of varnish seal the surface of the image, thus keeping the visitor at a distance. But he does not succeed in refusing the visual impact. And it is even more heightened in his new works by way of the deformation of the support, through the sculptural accentuation of the painted sculptures. Distortions of the right angle such as buckling, stretching, or constriction underscore the forces immanent to the image in perception. Finally, what is painted condenses more tightly to an object, the support becomes the body of the image so that it is no longer possible to decide whether what is painted follows the support or if the body follows the painterly structure.

Dan Walsh, Days and Nights – Nights, 2010
Acrylic on canvas

February 19 – March 27, 2010

“Days and Nights,” an exhibition of new paintings by Dan Walsh, will open at the Paula Cooper Gallery (521 West 21st Street) on Friday, February 19, and remain on view through March 27, 2010.

Walsh is known for paintings that employ linear geometry while at the same time subverting it with irregularly drawn shapes, inconstant lines and a pervasive wit. Over time, Walsh’s formal (yet purposefully casual) vocabulary has tended to concentrate around the repetition of simple strokes forming intricate, visually striking patterns, such as punctuated lines, cross-hatched grids, concentric squares and collapsed diamonds. Despite their layered complexity, Walsh’s paintings make no mystery of their process. They are “proposals” presenting various options, or ways in which programmatic ideas are realized. They suggest the shifting balance between the amount of control exerted over an image and the freedom or flexibility to let the image veer off in its own direction.

The exhibition includes six to eight new paintings, as well as a multipanel project titled Days and Nights, which will function as an experimental, self-reflective chart of Walsh’s own tangling with his painting process.

Dan Walsh was born in 1960. His work has been exhibited in national and international venues, including the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center in Long Island City, the Centre national d’art contemporain in Nice, la Synagogue de Delme, France, CCNOA (Art + Architecture) in Brussels, Belgium and the Kunstverein Medienturm, Graz. His prints and limited-edition books were the subject of a one-person exhibition at the Cabinet des Estampes du Musée d’Art et d’histoire, in Geneva, Switzerland. He was also included in the Ljubljiana Biennial, Slovenia, and the Lyon Biennial of Contemporary Art, France.

WITH YOUR EYES ONLY is an experimental project, which analyses the elements of perception in a collage of artistic interventions and objects. Within the frame of reductive art, levels of perception and the mechanisms of observation are questioned in a multidisciplinary, playful approach. Starting point are the phenomenological conditions of the artistic production like color, light, material and time which influence the structure and content of the reductive works and wherein exemplary questions related to perception open up. Visual structure is given to the artistic interventions by an architectonic display which refers directly to a changing spatial experience through its staging qualities and, at the same time, is a platform for the presentation of different perceptual levels.

Reductive art is a relational „language of art“, which aims at a specification of perception and develops abstracting image strategies via an analytical and emotional approach. Reductive works, thus, not only question their conditions, but also refer as translating media to further reaching contents and contexts which cannot be experienced straightly. In the foreground of the analysis of these strategies of reductive art and its communicating “physicalness” is the relation of the audience and the object, which contribute to an attempted clarification of the understanding of an artwork by linking up physically directed associative reactions, intellectual consciousness and the interpretation of meaningful content.

The topic also refers to notions of a participatory perception of an artwork following an open concept of the artwork, as it was postulated, amongst others, by the American artist Robert Morris in the 1960s. The approach to expose the artwork to a phenomenological experience was critically opposed by Michael Fried arguing that this understanding of art devotes itself to a dramatics which neglects the audience and negates the auratic right of the artwork (Art and Objecthood, 1967). In contemporary art and in particular in the reductive realm, these, also by Morris proposed options of creation, are consciously employed and discussed anew with respect to changing conditions.

The exhibition project analyses the encounter with strategies of a reductive image language in the context of a relational, perceptual behavior which depends on movement. With the approach of presenting the artistic objects and interventions in a relatively unconventional way, the exhibition consciously refers to the translating, transforming qualities of the respectively addressed levels of perception, which concentrate towards a contentwise expanded discourse. The artistic strategies are developed via various procedures and aim at the development of a dialogical process of perception including also methods which consider site-specific conditions that integrate the artwork in the present or generated space. In this process, the evolving objects serve as information carrier, which point at the content as such via a sensorial mode of perception. The transporting function of the object points at different approaches of recognition, it invites physical participation and notional debate. At first place, it is often drawn on familiar and established perceptive patterns which yet have to be examined with respect to their up-to-dateness and the definite object.

The site-specific extensive intervention of the Belgian artist Ward Denys will set the parameters of the visual-artistic basic orientation of the overall project. Denys deals with the intersections of visual art and architecture, analyzing the borders of functionality and dysfunctionality, of surface and space. Often a physical reversion of the present situation and the object, resembling a mirror effect, is crucial. By this “suspension” of physical constants, he involves the audience and their perceptual reception into the work. Denys realizes this approach when “shifting” the exhibition space by turning the floor plan through 35 degrees, and thus requests, through the changed spatial orientation, also a shift and translation of the perception. This “new” floor plan is the construction plan for his site-specific structure, which, at the same time, serves as a platform for further artistic works.

This intervention lets evolve a new spatial situation, which the New York-based artist Dan Walsh takes up to interpret his notions on light as a phenomenological condition of artistic production. Walsh understands the medium of painting as a tool to bring into play the contemplation of perceptual mechanisms. The analytical experimental projects which he has pursued since years focus on the questioning of the perceptual process. Walsh will construct some site-specific objects of similar texture and form and subject them to different light conditions and -qualities, in order to analyse the changes of perception.

With interventions which are driven by painting, into present, often for this purpose conceived spatial situations, the Brussels-based artist Pieter Vermeersch creates site-specific environments. By means of painting, Vermeersch describes spatial conditions and their interaction with color. With these created color spaces, he lets the audience directly participate and addresses their sensorial levels of perception. Vermeerschs’ contribution will be developed in tight cooperation with Ward Denys integrating his architectonic intervention regarding color and space.

In the specially conceived video installation “Minimal Reality”, the Russian artist Alexandra Dementieva pointedly goes into the process of visual perception. We see a movement, an additive and substractive time lapse which appears through a process of contrasting. In the course of a minutely detailed procedure and starting from a white “void” image, a complementary form evolves up to its anew emptying. We do not know and will not really know what it is that we perceive. But what we see is a process which refers back to the act of seeing; this process is enhanced to an expanded sensorial level of perception by the cooperation with the Belgian sound artist Aernoudt Jacobs.

The contributions of the other participating artists will be presented in such a way that a tight context between the different perceptual levels evolves and a dialogue of the sensorial qualities is triggered. The totality of the exhibited objects shall concentrate, in a wider sense, to an image which is directed by a link of various overlapping, complementary or distinguishing perceptual patterns and contents. The works start a dialogue in the sense of perceiving and using visual levels of perception, and this shall be understood as a proposed physical, mental and sensorial expedition.

The exhibition project finally offers the opportunity to question critically and if necessary re-evaluate possible traditional expectations with respect to the own perception of reductive art. WITH YOUR EYES ONLY hints at a continuous recheck of the own position considering the interaction with present objects and situations.

Participating Artists:
Greet Billet, Kjell Bjørgeengen, Alexandra Dementieva, Ward Denys, Clemens Hollerer, Simon Ingram, Aernoudt Jacobs, Leopoldine Roux, Esther Stocker, Tilman, Pieter Vermeersch, Dan Walsh, Carrie Yamaoka

Daniel Göttin, Transformer 2, 2008

After 2step, minimalpop, Painted Objects, Double Exposure, A Bit O’ White, My Eyes Keep Me In Trouble, Yo, Mo’ Modernism, With Your Eyes Only, COMPOSITE VISIONS is the ninth touring group exhibition organized by CCNOA, Brussels, Belgium.

Since its last theoretical stance as a sublime yet powerful art form, creating a new -ism and ironically also stating the end not only of painting but possibly also of visual art in general, and of its intellectual process, the idea of the ‘reductive’ itself has made an impressive return. Traces of the idea of the ‘reductive’ and similar approaches to art-making can be found in many artistic oeuvres which have come into the limelight since the overpowering postmodern related statements by artists and critics in the late 80’s, and the aesthetics of the ‘reductive’, nonobjective and concrete are now a subject of reflection in contemporary art practices, re-emerging from an imposed quasi non-existence.

In this state of relative non-recognition within the discourse and debate around art and culture in general, the subject of the ‘reductive’ as a possible antithesis to the overpowering reintroduction of representational painting and at the same time to the emergence of the focus on new media, technology and photography, has regained considerable strength over the last decade within an international frame of cultural production and commerce, as well as through the firmly held lone positions of artists like Mosset, Charlton, Armleder, Morellet, Palermo and others throughout the 80’s and 90’s.

Having seemingly recovered from the harsh critical overtones after almost being eliminated from contemporary discourse, in which a retroactive and purely commercial tone took over, the ideas and strategies of the ‘reductive’ and ‘essential’ have slowly found their way back into artistic language and practice. Yet, due to the visual superimpositions of present times, artists have started to shy away from the rigid limitations of -isms related to the ‘non-objective’ or ‘reductive’ and have embedded existing ideas, confluence of styles and approaches into the contemporary world, the here and now, mingling with popular culture as well as branching out of the studio practice inherent in painting as we know it and as the majority still likes to understand it.

Crossovers with other forms of art, like pop art, installation, and new media, play a major role in this new understanding of art-making in the realm of the ‘reductive’ and in its breaking out of its claimed territory with excursions into new planes of understanding, confronting the remarkable stakes which are on offer within the perimeter of ‘reductive’ art production today.

COMPOSITE VISIONS is triggered by the multitude of influences entering the thinking, thought process and practices of an array of like-minded contemporary artists from around the globe working within the fascinating and resilient discourse surrounding the historical, formal and contemporary explorations within the field of the ‘reductive’ in general and ‘reductive’ painting in particular.

Organized by the Brussels-based CCNOA COMPOSITE VISIONS comprises the work of 16 international artists and aims to give a modest inside overview of the possibilities within this broad approach. This type of exhibition is never able to display the entire palette of diversity; CCNOA’s objective is simply to document some of the thinking around this subject.

Participating Artists:
Kjell Bjorgeengen, Julian Dashper, Delphine Deguislage, Edith Dekyndt, Daniel Gottin, Clemens Hollerer, Camila Oliveira-Fairclough, Ingrid Maria Sinibaldi, Michael Skoda, Tilman, Alan Uglow, Jan van der Ploeg, Dan Walsh, Lars Wolter, Carrie Yamaoka, Beat Zoderer

September 20 – October 25, 2009

The exhibition project `SUBSTANCE (for Julian)`, at The Suburban, Chicago aims to inform the viewer about two issues addressed as parallel realities of perception – on one hand the notion of a profound play with the qualities of the existing space and simulteanous, the memory of fellow artist Julian Dashper who passed away about six weeks ago and who also exhibited at The Suburban in 2008.

Julian Dashper’s work is speaking to us on a highly conceptual level about abstraction within the perimeters of reductive art-making , yet not to forget the wit and humor underlying his oeuvre. As his passing away coincided with me making plans for the upcoming exhibition at The Suburban, the idea formed to commemorate his influence and strength as an friend, artist and collaborator and to some degree integrate my understanding of his work into this site-specific installation, which at bthe same time reflects on thoughts occurring in my very own work-process; a dialogue, visual and in thought.

This site-specific installation does not intend to comment on Julian Dashper`s achievements, but rather tries to merge with mutual thoughts and shared discussions surrounding the subject of abstract art on various levels, I enjoyed with Julian Dashper and last not least our various points of departure.

The work produced and conceived for The Suburban aims to reflect on the substance of given space . By means of materiality and colour this intervention proposes an interaction of volume and proportion addressing the characteristics of given space.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a sound piece Julian Dashper conceived for the exhibition “2-step,” organized by CCNOA in Brussels in 2003 and an artist book which I will publish on this occasion.

Tilman is an artist and the artistic Director of Center for Contemporary Non-Objective Art (CCNOA) in Brussels.

Installation view with works by Tilman, John Nixon &
Julian Dashper (left to right)

August 23 – September 27, 2009

HICA, The Highland Institute for Contemporary Art, is to host an exhibition of artists’ work from PS gallery, Amsterdam, opening on Sunday 23rd August, 2009.

Concrete Now! Introducing PS will present work from artists who have exhibited with PS, including Julian Dashper, Michelle Grabner, Gerold Miller, John Nixon, Jan van der Ploeg, and Tilman. A truly international show, bringing together artists from Europe, USA, Australia and New Zealand it will also stand as the second of a series of annual group exhibitions held by the HICA art-space which seek each year to extend the discussion around the space and its concerns with ideas of ’concrete’ as opposed to ‘abstract’ artworks.

Based in Melbourne, Australia, John Nixon is one on the country’s leading minimalist practitioners with works in collections worldwide, including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. “The materiality of my work is part of the materiality of experience. I work from the premise that the work of art exists in a ‘real’, physical, rather than illusory world.” – John Nixon, from Thesis: Selected Works from 1968-1993, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne, 1994

Julian Dashper was born in Auckland, New Zealand in 1960. As well as being held in all the major public collections in New Zealand his work can also be found at MCA in Sydney, the Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Aachen, Germany and Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. He has recently been the subject of a major touring retrospective in America.

Tilman lives and works in Brussels and New York. As well as his own international art practice he is Artistic Director and Chief Curator of CCNOA, Centre for Contemporary Non-Objective Art, Brussels.

Michelle Grabner is a Professor in the Painting and Drawing Department at The Art Institute of Chicago, and co-founder of The Suburban, an artist project space in Illinois. “Painting is not Painting when it props up the self or attempts to tell stories. That activity is called picture making. Painting is larger than pictures but not larger than its limitations which are severe and singular and sweet.” – Michelle Grabner

Gerold Miller lives and works in Berlin. He has held solo exhibitions in London, Paris, Vienna, Brisbane, Berlin, Zürich, Salzburg and Japan. “Miller’s wall floor, and room objects in public and private space are space-scape pictures in the best sense, because they dare to grasp for the whole – of the world, of space, of the truth, and of the chaos, ramified like rhizomes – that we call life.” Stephan Maier in: ’Gerold Miller, Reforming the Future’, Kehrer Verlag Heidelberg 2001.

Jan van der Ploeg is co-founder of PS gallery in Amsterdam. His “grip” paintings first showed up on the streets of Amsterdam in 1996 and he has worked extensively and internationally with galleries such as Florence Lynch New York, Raid Projects Los Angeles, the Stedelijk Amsterdam, CCSC Barcelona and South London Gallery.

Both HICA and PS are artist-run galleries with a concern for developing international dialogue while also facilitating local discussion. While the exhibition space of PS is situated in a canal house in the centre of Amsterdam, HICA occupies what might in contrast seem a remote space in the Highlands of Scotland. Concrete Now! Introducing PS will be an opportunity to demonstrate a shared positive approach to exhibiting contemporary artworks, where the presenting of works and considering of ideas becomes a moment for examining existing understandings and a testing-ground; suggesting and offering new possibilities.

Installation view

June 27 – September 26, 2009

Freestyle or The art of surfing the abstract wave

Tilman’s latest monochromes, whether one-off or in series, have an askew look to them; they would appear to have broken with geometric abstraction, with the purism of primary colours and with self-reference. While there is a hint of the shaped canvases of Ellsworth Kelly, in fact the syncopated silhouettes and acid tones of these Freeforms spontaneously evoke the dynamic lines and pure colours of the distorted American cartoon images of the mid-fifties.

In other recent works Tilman appears to have distanced himself from the tradition of constructivism and minimalism with which he is often associated. In 13.08 (Pink Champagne) (2008), although the rectangular structure is maintained, the bottom right-hand module of this light pink quadriptych sinks inwards towards the wall, creating a discontinuity reminiscent of the virtual circuit of a video game. The superposed elements of 14.08 (Urban Structure I) (2008) are reminiscent of a composition from the early days of neo-plasticism but the chromatic impurity of the white dispels any doubt. The irony peaks in Splice (2008): two hybrid monochromes precariously propped up one against the other have no wall support and no front view as such, as they are painted both front and back, one of them looking rather like a sandwich filled with slices of paint. Worth noting ‘en passant’ is the title, which is derived from the film editing term ‘to splice’. And what about the series Stacks that uses the same principle as Donald Judd in his works with the same title but inflicts on them sugary tones and a pleasurable sense of accumulation verging on disorder?

So yes, Tilman glides coolly over the shadow cast by modernism, drawing free forms, supposedly abstract but always reinvented. If he avoids the traps of formalism, it is because part of his work process, albeit fundamentally influenced by the non-objective avant-garde starting with De Stjil then Bauhaus, is anchored in real life. The artist stresses that his work is intuitive and that there is no mathematics involved; also that he uses images registered during city walks. The strong visual impact of ‘a huge pink shape consisting of isolation panels mounted on the outside brick wall of a building under construction’ (1) was a motive force in the execution of this relaxed abstraction, which unashamedly runs through a whole range of pastel colours, including some sublime pinks…

This freestyle surfing of the non-objective also enables Tilman to introduce the experience of space into his painting by using structures that oscillate between sculpture and architecture, as in The House of Colors. Stemming from a reflection on floor objects, this unidentified modular object may be three-dimensional and have the feel of a hypothetical utopian construction but it is none the less a work of painting. Its size rules it out as a maquette but nor does it have the physical dimensions or indeed the functional purpose of architecture. Composed of multicoloured rectangular sections interlocked like a giant set of lego the work acts as a sort of observatory with multiple peepholes. The public is invited to experiment and look through this multi-angle viewfinder, not unlike the optical devices invented by painters down through the centuries, from the camera lucida to the camera obscura.

Tilman’s work is primarily about exploring the effect of light on forms and colours — visually, physically and psychologically. We should not forget that, quite apart from the fact that the artist comes from Munich and was influenced by the subtle half-tones of baroque painting, he started out in photography. In one of his catalogues entitled Look Awry (Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo, 12 May – 25 June 2006), Tilman urged the public to look at his constructions ‘awry’. Playing on the word’s double meaning this could also be understood as an injunction to look at the work ‘askew’. The ‘defects’ or lopsidedness in Tilman’s painting, with its slight dissonance of forms and colours tinged with humour but ultimately extremely elegant, clearly confer a human dimension on the work, transforming what is an art to look at into a space of experience.

–Catherine Macchi de Vilhena

(1) Tilman, Interview Tilman and Chris Ashley, May – June 2006.

June 19 – July 12, 2009

CCNOA presents a solo exhibition by Belgian artist Greet Billet, which will take place in all 3 exhibition rooms of CCNOA. Billet’s exhibition is based on her on-going research project The development of the monochrome in its digital and analogue/graphical form of apparition and will present a large site-specific installation, a new video work as well as a printed edition. The fact that Terence Haggerty’s large site-specific wall paintings in the main space will remain on view during Greet Billet’s exhibition, will provide the public with an excellent opportunity to reflect on the state of digital-based research and its application in the field of non-objective art today.

Clip from Simon Ingram, Random Walk in Brussels, 2009

May 29 – June 14, 2009

June 4 – July 4, 2009

Green On Red Gallery presents a solo exhibition of new work by Fergus Martin. Fergus Martin makes use of the world around him as a source for his paintings, sculpture and photographs. His work reflects things seen or even fleeting moments from the everyday. The geometric forms that consistently appear in his work give shape to his preoccupation with space, form and materials. This is also present in his new wall sculpture, Hoops, a continuation of his thinking in his other work, Steel, a permanent sculpture commissioned by The Office of Public Works for the entrance to The Irish Museum of Modern Art.

Steel takes the form of three stainless steel barrel-like structures, which are installed on the pediments of the double gateway. The work has a timeless quality, uniting IMMA’s historic setting with its present-day function as the country’s leading centre for modern and contemporary art. They have been likened to everything from 18th century thunder machines to vanilla ice-cream containers.

While Steel is very concrete and definite, Hoops is more like a transparent funnel of air, very light and floating. An echo, in another form perhaps, of Martin’s long green painting, In The Air.

In 2008/2009 Dublin City Gallery – The Hugh Lane hosted a solo exhibition of new paintings and sculpture by Martin. Barbara Dawson, director Dublin City Gallery – The Hugh Lane, wrote in her essay in the monograph Fergus Martin, published on occasion of that exhibition: “Fergus Martin’s work presents us with an elevated and distilled expression. His geometric forms are austere and simple; the horizontals of single colour would cover the entire surface of the painting but for the insistent and recurrent introduction of a white square. The regular planes of colour create a visual ensemble reminiscent of a musical variation. As they physically interact with their architectural surroundings, they initiate a separate space and time within their location.”

Gerry McCarthy (Sunday Times) wrote of this exhibition : “art that does not insist upon overt meanings can serve as a powerful vehicle for the public or artistic mood. With no need to project concrete meanings, (Martin’s) art is like a sponge and a mirror: it soaks up what is in the air and reflects it back.” He draws our eyes to differences rather than trying to swamp them with mindless repetition.

Also in 2008/2009, Fergus Martin took part in Yo’ Mo’ Modernism at CCNOA ( Centre for Contemporary Non-Objective Art) Brussels, and Discussions in Contemporary Sculpture at The Dock , Carrick-on-Shannon.

It is with deep sadness that we post the following letter from our friends at CCNOA in Brussels, Belgium:

Esther Stocker, Abstract thought is a warm puppy, 2008
Installation view at CCNOA, Photo: Sacha Georg

Dear All,

We were informed on 29 April of the final decision taken on 24 April by the Flemish Minister for Culture Bert Anciaux following an opinion from the BBK advisory committee to terminate structural funding for CCNOA as from January 2010.

We remain unconvinced by the reasoning underlying this decision, which will have serious repercussions for our organization, including closure of our facilities, termination of our lease and termination of staff contracts, and we intend to investigate the options open to us.

Over the past ten years CCNOA has become a showcase for discovery, exploration, experimentation, participation and learning, in short an organization that opens eyes, ears and minds. We are proud that our extensive activities in Belgium and elsewhere have provided some 50,000 visitors worldwide with the opportunity to follow new developments in contemporary abstract art and have generated the inspiration for organizations in other countries to open spaces similar to ours. This would not have been possible without the tremendous support of our artists and partners, a large number of art professionals, and of course the general public, over the past decade – very special thanks to you all.

Our current plan is to open an office in Brussels early in 2010 and to continue to work on the international projects (amongst others: With Your Eyes Only @ Medienturm Graz, My Eyes Keep Me in Trouble @ Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts (UICA), Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Centro Cultural Recoleta, Buenos Aires, CAN-Centre D’Art, Neuchatel ) scheduled up to the year 2011. We would appreciate any leads and/or thoughts which might help us secure funding for these and other projects.

We will of course keep you informed of developments on all fronts.

For additional information about our past and current activities, please visit www.ccnoa.org. To post a comment, please visit www.ccnoa.org/forum.

With kind regards,

Petra Bungert & Team CCNOA
Executive Director

CCNOA presents a large site-specific wall painting by British artist Terry Haggerty in the main space. Their program in the multimedia space will present a video work/animation by Piki & Liesbet Vershueren (BE) and their program in the project space will feature site-specific installations by Eric Tillinghast (US/until 24/05) and New Zealand artist Simon Ingram (28/05 – 14/06).

Installation view

Terry Haggerty
Haggerty has become known in recent years for paintings that express the formalist vocabulary of abstraction in a new way. The principle of serial composition can be discerned in Haggerty’s work: light-colored stripes alternate with darker ones to form regular, often horizontal arrangements, which also have a pattern-like quality due to their dense structure. This would not seem particularly remarkable were it not for the fact that Haggerty breaks this linear formation at the edges of the painting — and occasionally also at the symmetrical center of the composition—by bending the lines in a different direction as they approach the boundaries of the painting support. This has a crucial effect on the overall pictorial appearance, in that it immediately transforms the planimetric structure of the painted motif into an illusory perception of three-dimensionality within the image. (Friedrich Meschede) The surface seems to continue beyond the boundaries of the picture support, with the result that the two-dimensional paintings suddenly resemble painted volumes or reflect the illusory perception of a third dimension back onto the pictorial motif. Haggerty’s vibrant wall paintings conjure nostalgic associations from the mustard yellow and avocado décor of the 1960s and 1970s, to optical art, to the precise lines of sugar icing on pastries. He combines humorous and historical references to form abstract compositions that electrify and manipulate the space around them. Biography: Terry Haggerty was born in London in 1970 and lives in New York. He studied at the Southend School of Art, Essex, England, and the Cheltenham School of Art, Cheltenham, England. His work has been featured in solo exhibitions at Kuttner Siebert, Berlin; Grimm Rosenfeld, Munich; Konsortium, Düsseldorf; Aschenbach & Hofland, Amsterdam; and Riva Gallery, New York. He has participated in group exhibitions at Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin; Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York; the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, Connecticut; and Artists Space, New York. Haggerty’s work was also included in the Prague Biennale (2003) and the Venice Biennale (1994). This is Haggerty’s first solo exhibition in Belgium.

Installation view

Eric Tillinghast 
After attending art school in Sweden, Eric Tillinghast began his art career in California creating charcoal line drawings that became increasingly geometric as he developed and matured. The precision and carefully developed detail of these early works has carried through in his present work, however, in the form of meticulous execution and careful attention to every aspect of design. Finding that he could explore his ideas about line and space more succinctly with metal, he began making box-like constructions of varying sizes and finishes and engraving them with geometrically ordered lines and patterns. Once engaged with this new material, he felt that he had found his form. These works first appeared as singular objects, but soon he began to create pieces with multiple components, often arranged in a grid. As Tillinghast’s work with steel began to evolve, cylindrical shapes appeared and he began to incorporate water into his pieces. His interest was no longer just with space and line, but also with light and liquid. “Empires” is the latest group of works in color by Eric Tillinghast. All of these paintings are made on small, unfolded cardboard boxes and packaging material. As different as each is from the next, they are all a means to the same end: a man-made container, and yet the shapes and varieties employed to make even the simplest rectangular box are apparently infinite. This series explores these forms and the simple geometry they possess.

Alexandra Dementieva at CCNOA on Vimeo

February 13 – March 8, 2009

Alexandra Dementieva (b. 1960 in Moscow; lives and works in Brussels) studied journalism and fine arts in Moscow and Brussels. Her main interests focus on social psychology and perception and their application in multimedia interactive installations. Her videowork integrates different elements including behavioral psychology, developing narrative using a ’subjective camera’. Her interactive installation projects attempt to widen the mind’s potential for perception using different production materials: computers, video projections, soundtracks, slides, photography, etc. By making certain historical, cultural and political allusions, her exhibition locations create the frame within which the idea develops. The projects explore the spectator’s depths of perceptual experience and the interaction of the individual spectator with the exhibition as well as with other visitors. The subject of an installation or its production method becomes less important to her than the mind of the user. Thus the latter becomes the center of the project or the main actor in the performance.

Alien Space
The installation consists of 800 transparent, pearl-colored latex balloons forming two corridors (each around 3 m long) leading to a central circular space. The balloons are reminiscent of living cells, futuristic buildings, laboratories, children’s rooms at Halloween… The installation generates mixed feelings of curiosity, attraction and repulsion at one and the same time. The shining metallic surface is threatening and the fragility of the thin balloon disturbing. When the visitor moves through the narrow corridor, from time to time he accidentally touches the balloon wall, triggering mumbling noises and an occasional weak light shining from inside. When he reaches the central space, his movements effect changes in the audio and video environment. The closer he approaches the opposite wall, the more it is populated by blurry images and creatures. A few steps further on and he can clearly recognize the creatures – television newsreaders interspersed with images of robots and blurry androids. When the visitor is in the middle of the space all the images and faces are clear and bright (as much as they can be on such a surface) but the sounds become loud and irregular, creating noises that are difficult to bear. If the spectator moves close to the wall, the cacophony of voices decreases, creating a place for one or two images. They stay visible; it is possible to understand what they are talking about and recognize what they are. This piece uses images from news bulletins broadcast by various international television stations. They will be recorded over a period of 2 to 3 weeks. The short films (which were first processed journalistically) will be collected and some of them will be reworked and a new soundtrack created. The sequences are regrouped and combined in a 40-cell navigation system. The installation exposes the visitor to staged virtual life while at the same time placing him physically and emotionally face-to-face with a worrying reality filled with accidents, potential destruction, dramas and love stories…

http://www.alexdementieva.org

Yo Mo’Modernism 2 from ccnoa on Vimeo.

An Important Note from CCNOA, Brussels, Belgium:

Dear All,

We have just received preliminary notification (pre-advies) of the intention of the Vlaamse Gemeenschap to discontinue structural funding for CCNOA as of 31 December 2009. Without this subsidy it will be impossible for us to continue operating. After more than 10 years of commitment and a continuously expanding program CCNOA will be obliged to close its doors. We have ten (10) working days in which to appeal.

Please react, send us a short note of support on http://ccnoa.org/spip.php?page=support or on http://www.facebook.com/people/Ccnoa-Needs-You/1400682303, spread the word and support us in continuing our operations.

Thank you for your support.

With kind regards,
Petra Bungert & Team CCNOA
Executive Director

CCNOA
Center for contemporary non-objective art
Boulevard Barthelemylaan 5
B-1000 Brussels
T & F +32 (0)2 502 6912
info@ccnoa.org
www.ccnoa.org

ABOUT CCNOA
Since its inception in 1998, CCNOA, a multidisciplinary non-for-profit art center located in central Brussels, has specialized in the international presentation of all forms of contemporary non-objective art, notably painting, sculpture, photography, site-specific installation, video, sound art as well as architecture.

Abstract art is one of the most progressive and contemporary concepts of the many artistic visions alive today. It initially aimed to embrace all artistic forms of expression and to integrate them into all aspects of daily life. We expand on this farsighted concept. It revolves around the artists and the public, their questions, needs and aims.

CCNOA is the brainchild of Petra Bungert, former Head of Administration at New York’s P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center and Director of New York-based Petra Bungert Projects (1995-1997) and German artist and curator Tilman. Originating as a concept with humble beginnings, CCNOA has with its partners developed into an influential art center over the past decade.

CCNOA attracts European and international artists and art professionals to Brussels and actively assists them to communicate their art and practices to interested curators, art institutions, galleries and collectors worldwide. In the process CCNOA has become a platform for younger as well as more established artists, an innovating and experimental art center, and a cultural meeting point for visitors of all age groups and nationalities.

To date, over 200 artists from more than 27 countries including Australia, Japan, New Zealand and the United States have been featured in our exhibitions and many have facilitated cultural and educational exchanges with their respective countries. Artists who have exhibited at CCNOA have subsequently presented their work in leading national and international art museums and participated in Biennials in Sydney and Venice as well as the Documenta. They are represented by critically acclaimed private galleries and are present in many private, corporate and public collections.

Over the past 10 years, we have organized and produced over 250 solo and (touring) group exhibitions in Brussels and abroad, promoting international exchange. The emphasis of our programs is laid on information, analysis and sharing in order to participate in the promotion and the understanding of contemporary art and to stimulate dialogue and connections between local and international actors. Our co-operations and co-productions with cultural organizations, and especially our touring group exhibitions, automatically generate an international dimension. In these co-operations, we function as initiator as well as recipient, as host as well as guest. Thanks to our combined efforts, CCNOA and its associates are today not only integrated into the Belgian cultural landscape but continue to increase their visibility and relevance in relation to the European and international cultural circuit.

Our touring exhibitions include in chronological order: minimalpop (19 – 22 artists / Florence Lynch Gallery, New York City, United States / 2004; Galerie Les filles du calvaire, Paris, France & Brussels, Belgium / 2005; Arti et Amicitiae / Amsterdam, The Netherlands / 2007); 2step (55 artists / Kunstnernes Hus / Oslo, Norway / 2006; Margaret Harvey University Galleries, Hertfordshire, England / 2006); Painted Objects (10 – 22 artists / PS, Amsterdam, The Netherlands / 2005; CCNOA, Brussels, Belgium / 2006), Double Exposure : A Dialogue Between Painting and Photography (10 artists / CCNOA, Brussels, Belgium / 2006), A Bit O’ White (21 artists / CCNOA, Brussels, Belgium / 2007), My Eyes Keep Me In Trouble (15 – 22 artists / Nieuwe Vide, Haarlem, The Netherlands / 2007; SCA Galleries, Sydney, Australia / 2008; The Physics Room, Christchurch, New Zealand / 2008); Yo, Mo’ Modernism (26 artists / CCNOA, Brussels, Belgium / 2008).

Since our extensive operations abroad have over the past years generated an increased interest from international organizations and art professionals in Belgian’s cultural landscape and in its artistic production, we recently started to develop our new international exchange program INVESTGATE_BE which caters to this demand. The aim of this research residency program is to provide annually two foreign art administrators, curators, or cultural producers with the opportunity to investigate contemporary art production taking place within Belgium and the modus operandi of Belgian art organizations and funding entities, to network professionally within the international arts community, to work with individual artists, art groups and professionals and to convey the critical initiatives underlying their production. In exchange, we will facilitate, in cooperation with our partners, up to two annual research opportunities for Belgian art professionals abroad.

In addition, CCNOA regularly produces and publishes exhibition catalogues, artists’ editions, audio CDs and DVDs and actively aims to inspire the next generation via our education program, showing them different artistic choices in both a European and international context.

Lastly, our CCNOA Friends program enables members and the general public to gain closer access to the aesthetic innovations that we facilitate. And we take pride in providing a welcoming, international meeting point to enable like-minded people to locate others in their international tribe.

Installation view

December 5, 2008 – January 31, 2009

Curated by Tilman & Jan Maarten Voskuil

Participating Artists: Justin Andrews (AU), Karina Bisch (FR), Krysten Cunningham (US), Ward Denys (BE), Terence Haggerty (UK/US), Clemens Hollerer (AT), Simon Ingram (NZ), Fabian Luyten (BE), Camila Oliveira Fairclough (BR/UK), Jeena Shin (NZ), Morgane Tschiember (FR), Lars Wolter (DE), Carrie Yamaoka (US)

On the occasion of the first Brussels Biennial, CCNOA, in cooperation with Brussels-based artist & curator Tilman and Dutch artist & curator Jan Maarten Voskuil, is pleased to present the exhibition YO, MO’ MODERNISM… as part of the Brussels Biennial Off-Program. The exhibitions will feature the work of 25 artists from Belgium, elsewhere in Europe and abroad who investigate the premises of modernism and question and/or highlight aspects and principles of modernism within contemporary art practice.

The terms ‘modernism’ and ‘modern art’ are generally used to describe the succession of art movements that critics and historians have identified since the realism of Courbet, culminating in abstract art and its developments up to the 1960s. The term modernism is used to describe the style and theory of art from the 1880s on lasting into the mid-20th century. It commonly applies to those forward-looking artists, architects and designers who self-consciously rejected the past as a model for the art of the present, advocated a return to the basic fundamentals of art and subsequently created a new and diverse vocabulary. With the invention of photography, the realistic approach to painting and sculpture became unnecessary, and artists began searching for new ways of visualizing and thinking about the nature, materials, and function of art. Freedom of expression, experimentation, and radicalism became constituent parts of their artistic practice. They believed that art should stem from colour and form and not from depiction of the natural world. But modern art has often also been driven by various social and political agendas. These were often utopian, and modernism was in general associated with ideal visions of human life and society and a belief in progress.

Due to the complexity of the subject as well as the size of our exhibition space, YO, MO’ MODERNISM… will be presented in two parts. While part 1 will focus on contemporary artists whose works explicitly expand on and refer to concepts, conceptions and ideals within the modernist movement, part 2 will present works by artists whose artistic practice is no longer driven by the social or metaphysical utopias of the pioneers of modernism, but have taken a rather extroverted stance towards modernist ideas, exploring and expanding on the subtleties of our daily environment as well as on popular culture and its constituents. Dogmatic and pragmatic statements of the heroes of past decades have been replaced by a playful approach towards art-making and its implications today, and have subsequently led to the exploration of other areas of contemporary culture, like sound, architecture, music, generic materials, video, etc. This has broadened the comprehension and perception of abstract art, its forms, functions and validity, and the perspective on the reciprocal transfer between the material realities of art and life.

October 17 – November 31, 2008

On the occasion of the first Brussels Biennial, CCNOA, in cooperation with Brussels-based artist & curator Tilman and Dutch artist & curator Jan Maarten Voskuil, is pleased to present the exhibition YO, MO’ MODERNISM… as part of the Brussels Biennial Off-Program. The exhibitions will feature the work of 34 artists from Belgium, elsewhere in Europe and abroad who investigate the premises of modernism and question and/or highlight aspects and principles of modernism within contemporary art practice.

Participating artists: John Armleder (CH), Krijn de Koning (NL), Fergus Martin (IR), Gerold Miller (DE), John Nixon (AU), Perry Roberts (UK/BE), Michal Skoda (CZ), Esther Stocker (IT/AT), Gerold Tagwerker (AT), Simon Ungers (DE), Beat Zoderer (CH)

In the Project Space: Ingrid Maria Sinibaldi (FR), Julian Dashper (NZ)

In the Multimedia Space, AUSTRIAN ABSTRACTS: dextro (AT), Tina Frank (AT), Karoe Goldt (DE), LIA (AT), Andres Ramirez Gaviria (CO), Michaela Schwentner (AT), Curator / Commissaire Norbert Pfaffenbichler (AT)