PHILIPPE PERRENO | HANGAR BICOCCA

Philippe Parreno,The Crowd (still), 2015. Video. Courtesy Pilar Corrias, Barbara Gladstone, and Esther Schipper. © Philippe Parreno.

Philippe Parreno
Hypothesis
22 October 2015–14 February 2016

Opening: 21 October, 7pm

HangarBicocca
Via Chiese 2
Milan
Hours: Thursday–Sunday 11am–11pm
Free admission

T +39 02 6611 1573
info@hangarbicocca.org

www.hangarbicocca.org
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Curated by Andrea Lissoni



From 22 October 2015 to 14 February 2016, HangarBicocca, the contemporary art space wholly supported by Pirelli, presents Hypothesis, the first survey exhibition in Italy of French artist Philippe Parreno. The show, curated by Andrea Lissoni, will be inhabited by a series of key pieces together with recent works and music according to a mise en scène devised by Parreno.

Over the last 20 years, Parreno has redefined the experience of the exhibition exploring the possibilities beyond the presentation of single artworks. He conceives his exhibitions as choreographed spaces that follow a script where a series of events unfold. Parreno also questions the concept of authorship and has worked in collaboration with many highly influential artists, architects or musicians.

Upon entering the "Navate" exhibition space at HangarBicocca, visitors are immediately confronted with the iconic Jasper Johns piece set elements for Walkaround Time, which was created as part of the set for Merce Cunningham's dance of the same name in 1968.

A central element of the show is Another Day with Another Sun (2014) (in collaboration with Liam Gillick and produced by the LUMA Foundation): a spotlight resembling a luminous planet, slowly navigating across the ceiling, crossing the monumental columns of HangarBicocca's space while the flickering street of the Marquees, made between 2006 and 2015, projects long shadows that seem to outgrow the surrounding space. The Marquees and pianos are sequenced to musical compositions by Agoria, Thomas Bartlett, Nicolas Becker, Ranjana Leyendecker, Robert AA Lowe and Mirwais. The Marquees will be elements of the soundtrack for the films screened in the exhibition: The Boy From Mars (2003); Invisible Boy (2010);Marilyn (2012); and the most recent film, The Crowd (2015); and on a LED screen: Anywhere Out of the World (2000); Alien Seasons (2002); and With a Rhythmic Instinction to be Able to Travel Beyond Existing Forces of Life (2014).

The "Cubo" space houses the projection of Le Mont Analogue (2001), an intermittent sequence of light that translates the novel of the same name by Renè Daumal into Morse code.

As Andrea Lissoni, curator of the exhibition, said: "Hypothesis can be considered an experimental model for a solo show, in which different existing works are recombined for just the duration of the exhibition, becoming a temporary installation, and then getting back their individual lives and status after the show itself has ended.Hypothesis is a hypothesis for a time-based exhibition in which beginning and end are no longer located in the space but dispersed in time, enabling a never ending iridescent experience of the artworks as well as of the venue."

Hypothesis is part of the programme of exhibitions curated by artistic director Vicente Todolí together with curator Andrea Lissoni. The 2015 calendar of HangarBicocca will continue with the exhibition by Petrit Halilaj (3 December 2015–13 March 2016).


Technical sponsor: Kvadrat

APICHATPONG WEERASETHAKUL | HANGAR BICOCCA

PRIMITIVE / Curated by Andrea Lissoni

08.03.2013 — 28.04.2013

The Thai artist and filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul presentsPrimitive, a project he started in 2009 and which is being shown in its entirety in a display specially designed for the spaces of HangarBicocca. In the almost total darkness of the Shed, the viewer is plunged into a magical, mysterious atmosphere conjured up by images that alternate light and dark, video clips and documentaries, narrative and absolute silence, reality and fiction, past and future.

The director's story starts out from Nabua, a village in the north of Thailand which was the target of tragic repression and attacks by the Thai army from the 1960s to the 1980s. Here its history is re-examined and re-imagined, involving the young people of the place – descendants of the erstwhile dissidents – with whom the artist lived and worked for some months in the summer of 2008. The climax of this shared experience is the creation of a spaceship – a jointly made work of art in which the exuberance of the kids is combined with the artist's visionary ideas. The term Primitive thus has a twofold meaning: on the one hand the primeval desire of humans to return to their origins and, on the other, with greater political overtones, the primitive state in which peoples are forced to live by governments and the establishment.

Apichatpong Weerasethakul's works have no linear narrative structure but rather appear as documentaries that constantly slip into dream-world stories, shifting from long, detailed shots of a place or character to situations in a world of the surreal, like the abrupt manifestation of a ghost. These bizarre interactions partly reflect the lifestyle of rural Thailand, which is still based on ancient animistic beliefs, legends and superstitions, and on the lack of any clear-cut demarcation between the real and the spiritual world.

© Photo: Chai Siri

Apichatpong Weerasethakul was born in Bangkok (Thailand) in 1970. He grew up in Khon Kaen, where he studied Architecture, and later specialised in filmmaking at the School of Art Institute of Chicago. Now considered a cult director, Apichatpong Weerasethakul is the artist who has had the greatest influence on the youngest generation of independent filmmakers and visual artists. This is mainly due to his highly original style, which is based around tracking shots within the scene and on his visionary imagination, which takes him back to the ancestral legends of his land in order to reflect on the personal, political and social issues of modern-day Thailand.

Apichatpong Weerasethakul has been awarded many international honours, including the Jury Prize at the Cannes Festival in 2004 for Tropical Malady and the Palme d'Or for Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall his Past Lives in 2010. That year his Syndromes and a Century was voted Best Film of the Decade at the famous The Best of the Decade: An Alternative Viewevent organised by the Cinemathèque of the Toronto International Film Festival, which each year involves top film-archive directors, critics, scholars and curators from around the world. Apichatpong Weerasethakul became the first artist to win the Fine Prize from the 55th Carnegie International and in 2012 he took part in dOCUMENTA(13) in Kassel. His works have been shown in leading museums around the world, including the Haus der Kunst in Munich, the New Museum in New York and the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. 

www.kickthemachine.com
www.animateprojects.

Primitive, 2009, by Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Commissioned by Haus der Kunst, Munich with FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology), Liverpool and Animate Projects, London. Produced by Illuminations Films, London and Kick the Machine Films, Bangkok

THOMAS SARACENO | HANGAR BICOCCA

Tomás Saraceno, On Space Time Foam, 2012. Installation view, HangarBicocca, Milan. Photo: Alessandro Coco. Courtesy Fondazione HangarBicocca, Milan.

Tomás Saraceno
On Space Time Foam

26 October, 2012–3 February, 2013

HangarBicoccaVia Chiese 2, 20126 Milan
Hours: Thursday–Sunday 11am–11pm
Free admission

T +39 02 6611 1573
info@hangarbicocca.org

www.hangarbicocca.org

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Curated by Andrea Lissoni

From 25 October, 2012 to 3 February, 2013 HangarBicocca is presenting On Space Time Foam, a major exhibition project by Tomás Saraceno. Conceived for the “Cubo” of HangarBicocca, On Space Time Foam is a monumental installation, a multi-layer transparent surface accessible to visitors, suspended at a height of 20 metres and covering 1,200 square metres on three levels. This art work that combines artistic and scientific research was made possible through the interaction of skills and experiences in a broad array of fields of knowledge, and thanks to Pirelli’s support.

Saraceno engages with the concept of boundaries, challenging it and conceiving a pioneering installation activated by the visitors’ participation. On Space Time Foam transforms architecture into a living organism, one that breathes thanks to the movements of those who cross it, visualizing the infinite relationships that tie us to space. As the artist explains: “The films constituting the living core of HangarBicocca are constantly altered by climate and the simple movement of people. Each step, each breath, modifies the entire space: it is a metaphor for how our interrelations affect the Earth and other universes.”

On Space Time Foam represents an important moment of the study and experimentation process of Saraceno’s work, ever poised between the quest for the impossible and the scientific rigour. This project will be further developed during his residency at the Center for Art, Science & Technology (CAST)—part of Boston’s prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology—where Saraceno has been invited as the Inaugural Visiting Artist. The installation created for HangarBicocca, will become a floating biosphere to be positioned over the Maldives, made habitable thanks to solar panels and a system to desalinate seawater.

HB Public: a program of events and activitiesFor On Space Time Foam, HangarBicocca has again planned the HB Public program, a calendar of events offered free of charge for all age groups. Thursday evenings are devoted to cinema with Auteur Overview–The films chosen by Tomás Saraceno. The program includes guided tours every Sunday at 5pm in order to discover the permanent installations and current exhibitions, as well as guided tours with the curator Andrea Lissoni.

HB Kids: creative paths and films for childrenHangarBicocca continues its program of activities to introduce children to contemporary art and its languages. The activities are offered on weekends for families and during the week for schools through HB School, HangarBicocca’s new program specifically designed for all grades.

HangarBicocca FoundationHangarBicocca is a foundation chaired by Marco Tronchetti Provera. Pirelli is a charter member and promoter of the Foundation, and is flanked by the Region of Lombardy and the Milan Chamber of Commerce as charter members. The three partners share the vision of culture and contemporary art as a driving force for development. For Pirelli, in particular, HangarBicocca is the natural continuance of a corporate culture that has always made research and innovation a key principle. By sponsoring exhibitions, Pirelli guarantees the international quality of HangarBicocca’s programming, making it possible to produce site-specific installations planned and executed internally, a contribution that makes this art centre a true design laboratory.

Press Office
Angiola Maria Gili – angiola.gili.ex@hangarbicocca.org / T +39 335 6413100
Stefano Zicchieri – stefano.zicchieri.ex@hangarbicocca.org / T +39 334 6160366

 

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