Performa

Nov 01 - Nov 07 2007

Daily from 12PM – 12 AM
Opening: Thursday, November 1, 6PM

Guest curator Mathieu Copeland presents a spoken word exhibition at the Swiss Institute. The one-week exhibition consists of artworks repeated by the Institute‘s staff. By leaving the gallery space empty and making works available only on demand, Copeland initiates an exchange between spectators and gallery staff.

The Performa exhibition features artworks by artists who question the possibilities of the spoken word in regard to art, memory, and exhibition making. Vito Acconci offers a description of an unrealized building for Antarctica; Lawrence Weiner’s piece AS LONG AS IT LASTS, verbalizes its title; and Douglas Coupland offers hundreds of spams as modern truisms. Copeland provides sonic artifacts that engage the listening capabilities of viewers and question their memory. Day and night after day and night, sound stacks upon sound, spectators mentally accumulate lines, inevitably remembering and forgetting these ephemeral sentences.

During the exhibition the Swiss Institute opens from noon to midnight. The opening kicks off with a live performance, Nov 1 at 6pm with Karl Holmqvist. Several artists are invited to realize a live series of spoken word events, including: Robert Barry, David Medalla, and Michael Portnoy, who will realize Seminar in Sublingual Carnage. Events will take place every evening at 6pm. Please check the Event section of the SI website for more information.

Artists contributing to A Spoken Words Exhibition include Vito Acconci, Robert Barry, James Lee Byars, Nick Currie (aka Momus), Douglas Coupland, Karl Holmqvist, Maurizio Nannucci, Yoko Ono, Mai-Thu Perret, Emilio Prini, Tomas Vanek, Lawrence Weiner, and Ian Wilson. Artists contributing to A Series of Spoken Words Retrospectives include David Medalla and Gustav Metzger.