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ALLAN SEKULA - PERFORMANCE UNDER WORKING CONDITIONS

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May 16 trough August 17, 2003

Image: Allan Sekula, Volunteer watching, volunteer smiling (Isla de Ons, 12/19//02), aus der Serie Black Tide/marea negra, 2002-03

Allan Sekula’s works are at present among the most discussed in the field of contemporary art. “Performance under Working Conditions”, curated by the Generali Foundation’s Director Sabine Breitwieser, is the first retrospective of this US-American artist to be shown in Austria. At the same time, it is the first exhibition to relate Sekula’s recent projects to his early works.

The exhibition particularly highlights an aspect of Sekula’s work that is often underestimated: his interest in the theatrical, which acts as a counterbalance to the documentary side of his work, and introduces other elements of humor and irony. This is reflected not only in the early performances and actions carried out in the context of the anti-Vietnam War movement, which this exhibition presents in a comprehensive form for the first time ever, but also in his recent works.

In installations consisting of sometimes extensive sequences of photographs, Sekula focuses on the changes in the working world brought about by a global economy. In this context, the examination and analysis of seafaring activities is a recurrent theme; it is also the central element in his photographic cycle Fish Story, which has attracted considerable attention since Documenta 11. Sekula continues his artistic engagement with the sea and international shipping in his new project, Black Tide/marea negra, which he created around the oil catastrophe in Galicia in Spain.

By combining image and text, Sekula brings together two important areas of his work at a formal level: the documentary and the critical aspect, the work of the photographer and that of the author. This distinctive combination is to be seen here in many forms. The presentation of the various media – booklet and poster, wall text and audio tape – that Sekula employs alongside his photography makes manifest the wide spectrum of his political, philosophical, and literary points of reference.

A publication in German and English will accompany the exhibition. It will contain a foreword by Dietrich Karner, an introduction by Sabine Breitwieser, a conversation with the artist conducted by Benjamin Buchloh and numerous texts by Allan Sekula.

For further information please go to:
http://foundation.generali.at/index_e.htm
Press office: Susanne Buder (+43 1) 504 98 80 ext. 24,
Artistic and Managing Director: Sabine Breitwieser

Reprinted here with permission from e-flux.

Posted by emily chang on 05.13.03 at 05:36 PM
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