The artists who will be featured in the 1999 Carnegie International were
announced today by Madeleine Grynsztejn, curator of contemporary art at Carnegie Museum of Art
and curator of the exhibition. The show, on view from November 6, 1999, through March 26, 2000,
will include works by forty-one emerging and established artists from twenty-two countries. As the
pre-eminent international survey of contemporary art in North America, the 53rd exhibition in the
103-years-old series will continue the historic legacy set forth by previous Carnegie Internationals
in presenting new and compelling works by artists from around the world.
For more than one hundred years, Carnegie Museum of Art has played an important role among
American museums with its presentation of the International, said Richard Armstrong, the Henry
J. Heinz II director of the museum. With Madeleine Grynsztejn's intelligent and focused direction,
we can be assured that the 1999 Carnegie International will extend this exhibition's distinguished
history.
1999 Carnegie International Artists
Franz Ackermann
Germany
(b. 1963)
Matthew Barney
USA
(b. 1967)
Janet Cardiff
Canada
(b. 1957)
John Currin
USA
(b. 1962)
Hanne Darboven
Germany
(b. 1941)
Thomas Demand
Germany
(b. 1964)
Mark Dion
USA
(b. 1961)
Willie Doherty
Northern Ireland
(b. 1959)
Olafur Eliasson
Germany
(b. 1967, Denmark)
Kendell Geers
South Africa
(b. 1968)
Felix Gonzalez-Torres
USA
(b. 1957-1996, Cuba)
Ann Hamilton
USA
(b. 1956)
José Antonio Hernández-Diez
Venezuela
(b. 1964)
Pierre Huyghe
France
(b. 1962)
Alex Katz
USA
(b. 1927)
William Kentridge
South Africa
(b. 1955)
Bodys Isek Kingelez
Democratic Republic of Congo
(b. 1948)
Suchan Kinoshita
Netherlands
(b. 1960, Japan)
Martin Kippenberger
Germany
(b. 1953-1997)
Takashi Murakami
Japan
(b. 1962)
Shirin Neshat
USA
(b. 1957, Iran)
Ernesto Neto
Brazil
(b. 1964)
Chris Ofili
England
(b. 1968)
Gabriel Orozco
USA
(b. 1962, Mexico)
Markéta Othová
Czech Republic
(b. 1968)
Laura Owens
USA
(b. 1970)
Edward Ruscha
USA
(b. 1937)
Gregor Schneider
Germany
(b. 1969)
Ann-Sofi Sidén
Sweden
(b. 1962)
Roman Signer
Switzerland
(b. 1938)
Sarah Sze
USA
(b. 1969)
Sam Taylor-Wood
England
(b. 1967)
Nahum Tevet
Israel
(b. 1946)
Diana Thater
USA
(b. 1962)
Luc Tuymans
Belgium
(b. 1958)
Kara Walker
USA
(b. 1969)
Jeff Wall
Canada
(b. 1946)
Jane and Louise Wilson
England
(b. 1967)
Chen Zhen
France
(b. 1955, China)
Among the artists selected to participate in the exhibition are a number whose work is relatively
unknown to audiences outside their home countries, including Kendell Geers, Suchan Kinoshita,
Bodys Isek Kingelez, and Markéta Othová. Other artists, such as Jeff Wall and Ann Hamilton, have
been featured in past Carnegie Internationals and are included in this year's show with powerful
new work.
Artists participating in the 1999 Carnegie International are invited first and foremost on the
strength of their work, said Grynsztejn. After an intensive research period during which I viewed a
significant amount of art and spoke with artists, it became clear that the most compelling work being
created today centers on a conceptually-oriented realism; that is, on a preoccupation with what
constitutes the real.
This common pattern or preoccupation with the real comprises the primary thematic premise of the
exhibition. In this day and age when physical and digital/global and local realms co-exist, we are
located at the very crossroads of multiple realities.
The diverse approaches to realism in this exhibition include works that emphasize
phenomenological experiences - not only sight, but sound, action, and touch - that engage the
viewer on an immediate level, often inviting interaction with the artwork itself. Other artworks evince
a labor-intensive approach that emphasizes materiality and obsessive fabrication. These works
intensify everyday experience and viscerally involve the spectator. Further, a number of artworks in
the exhibition manifest a deliberate slippage between reality and fiction. These works, situated at a
deliberate remove from their 'original' source, question reality with the intention of returning to it with
greater awareness. Each of the works in the Carnegie International reground the viewer in a vivid
and concentrated realm that tests the real and its conventions, not for the purpose of reconnecting
the viewer to some original vision or root condition, but to present reality in all its impurity,
multiplicity, and intense present-ness.
The exhibition will occupy 42,000 square feet of space in Carnegie Museum of Art, Carnegie
Museum of Natural History, and Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. Work included in the International
will encompass a wide range of media including painting, sculpture, photography, mixed media, film
and video, as well as works created specifically for this exhibition.
Ms. Grynsztejn was counseled by an advisory committee comprised of Okwui Enwezor, poet, critic,
and artistic director of Documenta; Susanne Ghez, director of the Renaissance Society at the
University of Chicago; and Lars Nittve, director of the Tate Gallery of Modern Art.
The Carnegie International has consistently been among the most challenging and important
exhibitions in the world, said Milton Fine, chairman of the board of Carnegie Museum of Art. We
are grateful for the generous support of all of our funders, particularly Mellon Bank, sponsor of the
1999 Carnegie International.
Martin McGuinn, chairman and CEO of Mellon Bank, said, Mellon Bank is pleased and honored to
serve as the corporate sponsor of the 53rd Carnegie International. We know that our investments
in arts and culture help make our communities vital and more attractive and interesting places in
which to live and work.
The 1999 Carnegie International is sponsored by Mellon Bank.
Major support is provided by income from the A. W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust
Endowment Fund and by The Grable Foundation; The Heinz Endowments; the National
Endowment for the Arts; the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts; US Airways; The Andy Warhol
Foundation for the Visual Arts; The Bohen Foundation; and The Peter Norton Family Foundation.
Additional support has been received from ArtPace, A Foundation for Contemporary Art / San
Antonio; The British Council; the Danish Contemporary Art Foundation; the Government of
Canada/Gouvernement du Canada; Susan and Lewis Manilow; the Mondriaan Foundation; and
the Trust for Mutual Understanding.
Additional in-kind contributions have been provided by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Promotional partners for the 1999 Carnegie International include the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre,
Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, Pittsburgh Public Theater, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh
Tribune-Review, Westin William Penn, WQED Pittsburgh/Pittsburgh Magazine, and WYEP-FM.
The premier art museum in the region, Carnegie Museum of Art boasts a distinguished collection of
American art from the mid-nineteenth century to the present, French Impressionist and
Post-Impressionist paintings, and late-twentieth-century works, including film and video. Other
collections of note include European and American decorative arts, and prints and drawings from
the late-sixteenth century to the present. The Heinz Architectural Center, opened in 1993, is
dedicated to the collection, study, and exhibition of architectural drawings and models.
Carnegie Museum of Art offers many lectures, tours, and programs as well as art history and studio
art classes for adults and children. Call 412/622-3288 to receive a guide to programs and classes.
Carnegie Museum of Art and Carnegie Museum of Natural History hours are Tuesday through
Saturday 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sunday 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. The museums are closed on
Mondays. Admission prices are $6 for adults, $5 for senior citizens, $4 for children and students,
and free for Carnegie members.
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