For Immediate Release and Listing:
Adel Abidin: I'M SORRY
Curated by Claudia Calirman
PROJECT ROOM: "Specific Gravity": Lyra Abueg Garcellano and Kwan Sheung Chi (through June 12)
Adel Abidin I'M SORRY (2008)
OPENING RECEPTION: Thursday, 20 May 2010, 6–8 PM
DATES: 21 May – 31 July 2010
HOURS: Tuesday - Saturday 12–6 PM
Location One is proud to present Adel Abidin: I’m Sorry, the artist’s second solo
exhibition in New York City. Born in Baghdad in 1973 and living in Helsinki since 2001,
Abidin touches upon timely subjects such as fundamentalism, nationalism and religion.
The artist engages in a variety of media, working primarily with video installations and
short films. He assumes an ironic attitude in his deconstruction of prejudices and
stereotypes. How can an Iraqi-born artist face the war with a sense of humor? That is
exactly what his task entails.
The piece that gives the exhibition its title--a light box including a sound installation--
comes from his experience as an Iraqi traveling in the U.S. In one of his trips, Abidin
encountered people from diverse social backgrounds. Yet, surprisingly, every time he
mentioned his nationality, the answer was invariably the same: I’m Sorry. Of course, this
reply comes as a double entendre: Are people sorry for themselves, for feeling guilty for
the infringements imposed by the U.S. on Iraq during the war, or are they sorry for the
artist’s fate of being born in such place? The shift of position between audience and self
is constantly present in his work.
Abidin’s witt
y criticism targets not only the U.S. invasion of Iraq but also Iraqi
fundamentalists’ actions which serve as a pretext to justify the foreign hate against the
country. In the video Jihad (2006), the artist explores a familiar scene shown in news
coverage: a videotape of an Islamist terrorist with his covered face holding a
Kalashnikov in his hands, reciting from the Koran a message of hate and death. Abidin
appropriates the image subverting it. He places the fundamentalist against a painted
background of a U.S. flag with its Stars and Stripes, reciting a verse from the Koran.
Unexpectedly, he picks up an acoustic guitar and sings “This Land is Your Land.” The
impact of the piece is immediate. What is the difference between beheading a Western
man in front of the cameras and singing a nationalistic American anthem? Ultimately
they can both function as U.S. propaganda pieces.
In the three-channel animation and video installation Memorial (2009) notions of fiction
and reality are blurred. The piece is based on a real event witnessed by the artist when
he was 17 years old, on the third day of the bombardments of Baghdad in 1991, when
one of his favorite bridges was bombed. Next to the fallen bridge lay a dead cow. After
almost 20 years, that scene still echoes in the artist’s mind as a reminder of the horrors
of a city destroyed by the war.
In Location One's Project Room, "Specific Gravity", new paintings by Lyra Abueg Garcellano, and video work by
Kwan Sheung Chi
About Adel Abidin: Abidin studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Baghdad and at the Academy
of Fine Arts in Helsinki receiving a MFA in new media in 2005. He represented Finland in the
2007 Venice Biennale Nordic Pavilion with the internationally acclaimed piece Abidin Travels:
Welcome to Baghdad. In 2010 he had a major solo exhibition at Kiasma, Helsinki’s Museum of
Contemporary Art. His work is represented in major museum collections in Finland and has
be
en featured in numerous exhibitions including On the Margins (2009, Kemper Art Museum, St.
Louis); and the 2008 Cairo Biennale. He has held many solo exhibitions throughout Europe,
Scandinavia and the Middle East.
About Lyra Abueg Garcellano: Lyra Abueg Garcellano was born in 1972 in Manila, Philippines, and graduated from the Ateneo de Manila University with a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies (1994) and from the University of the Philippines with a BFA (2000). She has held numerous solo exhibitions and was an artist in residence for the Cemeti Art Foundation in Jogjakarta, Indonesia, which was made possible through the UNESCO-ASCHBERG Bursaries for Artists in 2002. She has also participated in countless international group exhibitions, including Post-Tsunami Art, Emerging Artists from Southeast Asia (2009, Milan, Italy), Jakarta Biennale XIII (2009, Jakarta), Trauma Interrupted (2007, Cultural Center of the Philippines); Balancing Act (2006, Future Prospects, Quezon City); Flippin’ Out: From Manila to Williamsburgh (2005, Goliath Visual Space, NY); and the 2002 Gwangju Biennale. Garcellano is also an accomplished illustrator of children’s books and is the author of a comic strip in a national daily newspaper in the Philippines.Garcellano’s residency at Location One is supported by the Asian Cultural Council.
About Kwan Sheung Chi: Kwan Sheung Chi was born in 1980, Hong Kong. He obtained a third honor B.A. degree in Fine Art from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2003. In 2000 he was named the “King of Hong Kong New Artist”. In 2002 “Kwan Sheung Chi Touring Series Exhibitions, Hong Kong” was toured in 10 major exhibition venues in Hong Kong. Within the same year, the Hong Kong Art Centre presented “A Retrospective of Kwan Sheung Chi”. In 2003, he set up a studio in Fotan, and since then became an active member of the “Fotanian” artist studios complex. From 2004 he became a nine-to-fiver in Central. He has never participated in any major exhibitions held internationally. I
n addition to his studio practice, he has created a web-based channel, entitled HKADC (Hong Kong Arts Discovery Channel) which aims to promote critical discourse through interviews with artists, curators, critics and the audiences. He is also a founding member of local art groups, hkPARTg (Political Art Group) and Woofer Ten, both of which focus on experimental practicing of art in relation to local politics, social issues and communities. In 2009, He has been awarded the Starr Foundation Fellowship from the Asian Cultural Council to take part in an international residency program in New York, USA
Location One is extremely grateful to FRAME: Finnish Fund for Art Exchange, The Asian Cultural Council and The
New York State Council on the Arts for making this exhibition and the artists' residencies
possible.
ABOUT LOCATION ONE
Based in the Soho arts district of New York, Location One is an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to fostering new forms of creative expression and cultural exchange through exhibitions, residencies, performances, public lectures and workshops. Traditionally focused on technological experimentation and new media, Location One's residencies and programs have favored social and political discourse and dialogue, and acted as a catalyst for collaborations. With a unique environment providing individualized training, support, and guidance to each artist, as well as exposure for their creations and collaborations, Location One continues to nurture the spirit of experimentation that it considers th
e cornerstone of its mission.
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