"Outer and Inner Space: A Video Exhibition in Three Parts"
2002-01-19 until 2002-08-18
Virginia Museum of Fine Art
Richmond, VA, USA

Outer and Inner Space brings exemplary international video art to Virginia. It presents recent major works by Pipilotti Rist (born in Switzerland in 1967), Shirin Neshat (born in Iran in 1957)), and Jane and Louise Wilson (born in England in 1967), three of the most significant artists to emerge in the past decade. They make large-scale installations, creating environments of moving images and sound with multiple video projections. Their extraordinary works have been shown at major international venues, but never before in the Southeastern United States. The exhibition will take place in three eight-week installments, each exploring the relationship between interior states of mind and external reality.

Outer and Inner Space places the three recent video installations in the context of classic video art from the 1960s to early 1980s. These early works of single-channel, monitor-based video art by the pioneering generations will be shown in an adjoining gallery; a different selection of early works will be paired with each installation. Video art has traveled an immense distance from its rough-edged, hand-held origins to the present. Advances include technological sophistication, grandeur of effect, and an ability to transport viewers to an experiential space between reality and fiction. Showing classics with recent work emphasizes video arts development and helps viewers appreciate it as a discipline with its own history, underlying formal issues and broadly shared thematic concerns.

Pipilotti Rist, Sip My Ocean
Jan. 19–March 17, 2002

Sip My Ocean treats themes of love, loss, and body politics in a mesmerizing double-screen projection. It is accompanied by a selection of early works addressing related themes by Vito Acconci, Eleanor Antin, Lynda Benglis, Dara Birnbaum, Cecelia Condit, Joan Jonas, Paul McCarthy, Nam June Paik, Martha Rosler, William Wegman, and Hannah Wilke.

Shirin Neshat, Rapture
April 6-June 2, 2002

Rapture uses lush black-and-white projections on opposite walls to explore the strict division between men and women in some Islamic countries. A selection of early videos treats related themes of gender roles, cultural identity and spatial divides. Included are works by Marina Abramovic and Ulay, Vito Acconci, Klaus vom Bruch, Shirley Clarke, Juan Downey, Mona Hatoum, Gary Hill, Joan Jonas, Charlemagne Palestine, Howardena Pindell, Daniel Reeves, Edin Velez, and Bill Viola. Music composed by Sussan Deyhim, who will perform at the museums April 5 Fast/Forward.

Jane and Louise Wilson, Stasi City
June 22-Aug. 18, 2002

Using four projectors simultaneously in opposite corners of the room, Stasi City presents a dynamic and disorienting view of the abandoned headquarters of the former East German secret police. Works by Ant Farm and T. R. Uthco, James Byrne, Peter Campus, Dan Graham, Mary Lucier, Branda Miller, Bruce Nauman, Marcel Odenbach, Nam June Paik and Jud Yalkut, Charlemagne Palestine, Richard Serra, Steina, and Bill Viola explore related themes of vision, anxiety, surveillance and power.

This exhibition explores mature themes and several works contain some nudity. Under age 17 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

Related Links:

Indepth Arts Resources for the State of Virginia

Other Important Exhibitions in Richmond