Why is it that a politician might say “look” to emphasize a point, when they really mean “listen”? And why would we confirm “I see” to instructions given over the telephone, when we really mean “I hear”? For more than two decades, artist/experimental musician Christian Marclay, has been creating artworks that explore and exploit such quirks.
Shake Rattle and Roll: Christian Marclay
, a new exhibition of Marclay’s works, will be on view June 26–August 14 at Franklin Art Works, 1021 East Franklin Avenue, Minneapolis. Anchoring the exhibition is the multimonitor installation
Shake Rattle and Roll (fluxmix)
, commissioned by the Walker Art Center as part of Marclay’s residency. The installation emerged from the artist’s curiosity about the Walker’s important collection of objects related to the international Fluxus movement–some 500 works by artists including George Maciunas, Nam June Paik, Ben Vautier, and Yoko Ono–and its significant holdings of multiples by the German artist Joseph Beuys.
The three-gallery exhibition, presented in collaboration with Franklin Art Works, will also feature Marclay’s Mixed Reviews, 2001, a 30-minute silent video projection of an expressive actor reciting a collage of music reviews in American Sign Language, and Graffiti Composition, 1996–2002, a print project resulting from the flyposting of 5,000 blank music scores around the streets of Berlin. The variously graffiti-ed sheets become scores for a range of extraordinary improvisational concerts. An Opening Reception takes place from 6–9 pm Saturday, June 26, and Marclay gives an Artist’s Talk, at 2 pm, Sunday, June 27. Shake Rattle and Roll: Christian Marclay is on view Wednesday–Saturday, 12 noon–5pm, and by appointment. Admission is free. A complete listing of Marclay’s residency activities follows.
Marclay’s visual art practice, which combines video installations, sculpture, photography, and collage, addresses the overlapping of aural and visual realms, reflecting on how sound and image are related. He is also a prolific musician. His work is full of nods to popular culture, but he also plays on the tradition of an expanded idea of music inherited from avant-garde composers like John Cage. He has performed throughout Europe, Japan, the United States and in New
York City, where he lives and works, with collaborators as diverse as John Zorn, the Kronos Quartet, and Sonic Youth. As a pioneer of “turntablism,” he was sampling before the term was invented.
Much of the Fluxus and Beuys materials that Marclay researched for his video installation exist as mail ephemera, instructions, posters, and newspapers, and also as boxes that include a medley of objects by many different artists: wooden toys and games, puzzles, and nonsensical items. Marclay wanted to bring these eccentric, historic objects back to life by capturing his playful investigation of their sonic possibilities. Shake Rattle and Roll (fluxmix) presents them in a surprising new light as he frees them from storage to create a clamorous symphony of images, a portfolio of sounds. The philosophy of Fluxus referred to the fluidity between media, and by extension, between art and life. Beuys’ work similarly engaged with multiplying the definitions of art.
Christian Marclay (b. 1955, San Rafael, California) grew up in Geneva, Switzerland, where he studied at the Ecole Supérieure d’Art Visuel. In 1977, he moved to Boston and attended the Massachusetts College of Art, where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. Marclay’s work has been shown at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C; the Venice Biennial; the Musée d’Art et d’histoire, Geneva; the Kunsthaus in Zurich; and the Whitney Museum of American Art at Phillip Morris in New York. His retrospective exhibition organized by the UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, is currently on an international tour.
Artist-In-Residence Christian Marclay
Shake Rattle and Roll: Christian Marclay
An exhibition presented by the Walker Art Center in collaboration with Franklin Art Works.
June 26–August 14
Wednesday–Saturday, 12 noon–5 pm, and by appointment
Free
Franklin Art Works, 1021 East Franklin Avenue, Minneapolis
Two Turntables and A Saxophone:
Christian Marclay, Andrew Broder, and George Cartwright in Concert
Saturday, August 21, 9 pm, $8 ($4 Walker members)
Must be age 21+
Triple Rock Social Club
629 Cedar Avenue, West Bank, Minneapolis
An evening of avant-turntablism and improvisation that blends and jars the worlds of rock, hip-hop, and jazz. Christian Marclay joins local phenoms Andrew Broder (Fog, Hymie’s Basement) and George Cartwright (Curlew) in what is sure to be one of the most talked-about gigs of the summer. Opening will be Huntley Miller (laptop projection synthesis). Copresented with Triple Rock Social Club.
Summer Music and Movies: Six the Hard Way
Music: djTRIO (Christian Marclay/DJ Olive/Toshio Kajiwara)
Monday, August 23, 7pm, Loring Park
In case of rain, event is canceled.
In this rare free performance Marclay and his trio of forward-thinking sound artists take turntablism beyond scratch beats in a haunting found-sound experiment rooted in the context of free-improvisation. djTRIO, featuring the deejay as an instrumentalist working collectively in a group, has performed at festivals and museums around the world. Followed by a screening of The Magnificent Seven.
Walker information/box office: 612.375.7622.
