"Notations - Bruce Nauman: Days and Giorni"
2009-11-21 until 2010-04-04
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Philadelphia, PA, USA

From November 21, 2009 through April 4, 2010, the Philadelphia Museum of Art will host the U.S. premiere of two sound installations, Days and Giorni (both 2009), by the celebrated American artist Bruce Nauman. Days will be presented in the main Museum building‚s Gisela and Dennis Alter Gallery (176) and Giorni in the Perelman Building‚s Exhibition Gallery, filling these large spaces. This exhibition marks the first time in seven years that Nauman is showing new major installations in the United States.

The two works are currently on view in Bruce Nauman: Topological Gardens, the exhibition organized by the Museum to represent the United States in the 53rd Venice Biennale. They are the artist’s most recent works in the thematic survey comprising four decades of Nauman’s provocative art. In June, the exhibition garnered the prestigious Golden Lion for the Best National Participation, the first time since 1990 that the United States has received the much-coveted award.

“We are delighted to bring these remarkable works by Bruce Nauman to Philadelphia,” said Timothy Rub, the Museum’s George D. Widener Director and Chief Executive Officer. “They reflect the depth of Nauman’s vision in its most mesmerizing aspect and they are wonderful highlights of the Venice Biennale, where the United States and Philadelphia in particular have drawn tremendous attention. We are thrilled to share these exceptional works with audiences here in Philadelphia and across the U.S.”

In both Days and Giorni, the days of the week are recited by a range of participants from a script of subtly varying combinations written by Nauman. The voices differ in language—English in Days and Italian in Giorni—and also in rhythm and progression. The voices that comprise Days were recorded and edited over time in the United States. Nauman recorded Giorni during a single day in Venice where he worked with students and faculty of the Universitá Iuav di Venezia.

The installation of each work consists of seven pairs of square, flat panel speakers clipped to floor-to-ceiling metal cables and configured in succession along the length of the galleries. The voices that emanate from these directional speakers that comprise Days and Giorni can be experienced collectively or in isolation, creating an orchestration of sound that is moving, forceful and unrelenting. As Nauman’s text both repeats and deftly rearranges the days of the week, it likewise alters and undermines the sequence that normally measures the passage of time.

“The presentation of Days and Giorni in the context of the Museum’s ‘Notations’ series, which is exclusively devoted to contemporary art, will allow our visitors to draw parallels between these works and those of the Museum’s collection, including other works by Nauman,” said Carlos Basualdo, the Keith L. and Katherine Sachs Curator of Contemporary Art, who organized the presentation in Philadelphia with Project Curatorial Assistant Erica Battle. “Bruce Nauman is one of the most influential artists of our time, and it will be thrilling to see his new works in the context of those by Marcel Duchamp and Jasper Johns, which are also essential components of the Museum’s collection.”

During the run of Bruce Nauman: Days and Giorni, the Museum will also present an installation of three recently acquired early films and videos by the artist, in Galleries 178 and 179. This selection—including Dance or Exercise on the Perimeter of a Square (Square Dance) of 1967-68, Slow Angle Walk (Beckett Walk) of 1968, and Wall-Floor Positions of 1968—features Nauman using his own body to investigate the space of his studio through systematic and repetitious movements. Nauman filmed these works shortly after creating his iconic Window or Wall Sign of 1967 which was recently acquired by the Museum for its permanent collection and is on view in Gallery 170.

To mark the opening of Notations/Bruce Nauman: Days and Giorni, the Museum is publishing a book of photographs illustrating Nauman’s works in situ in Topological Gardens that were taken by Michele Lamanna, a former student of Università Iuav. The 60-page book, titled Bruce Nauman: Topological Gardens/Installation Views represents a rare opportunity to publish installation photographs that document the exhibition of Nauman’s work in Venice and will now serve as a complement to the exhibition’s 240-page catalogue featuring four scholarly essays on Nauman’s work and the Venice project. The forthcoming publication Bruce Nauman: Topological Gardens/Installation Views is supported by a professional development grant from The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage through the Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative.

In Topological Gardens at the Biennale, Giorni is presented at the Exhibition Spaces at Universitá Ca’Foscari while Days is on view at Università Iuav. In collaboration with the Università Iuav and the Università Ca’ Foscari, the Museum organized the U.S. participation to spread across Venice with installations at the U.S. Pavilion and the two universities. The installations at the universities continue through October 18, while the installation at the U.S. Pavilion is on view through November 22. Carlos Basualdo, the Keith L. and Katherine Sachs Curator of Contemporary Art, and Michael R. Taylor, Muriel and Philip Berman Curator of Modern Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, served as the U.S. Commissioners.

Notations/Bruce Nauman: Days and Giorni is made possible by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the Henry Luce Foundation, and The Pew Charitable Trusts, with additional funding from Agnes Gund, Maja Oeri and Hans Bodenmann, Sperone Westwater Gallery, and many other Friends of Bruce Nauman. The related catalogue was made possible by Isabel and Agustín Coppel, and was published on the occasion of the premiere of these works in Bruce Nauman: Topological Gardens, the official U.S. representation at the 53rd International Art Exhibition—La Biennale di Venezia, which was organized by the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

IMAGE
Bruce Nauman, Days, 2009 installed at the Università Iuav di Venezia at Tolentini as part of Bruce Nauman: Topological Gardens, the official U.S. entry to the 53rd International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. Photo by Michele Lamanna © 2009 Bruce Nauman / Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York

Related Links:

Indepth Arts Resources for the State of Pennsylvania

Other Important Exhibitions in Philadelphia