WOLFGANG TILLMANS: ON THE VERGE OF VISIBILITY
from 30 JAN 2016 to 25 APR 2016
For his first exhibition in Portugal, Wolfgang Tillmans (1968, Remscheid, Germany) continues to expand the possibilities for the reception of his oeuvre through a radical repositioning of its multiple dimensions. At Serralves, he pays particular attention to what he describes as his ‘Vertical Landscapes’, photographs of the natural phenomena of light when day meets night, sky meets earth, cloud meets sky. Dating from 1995 until the present, and printed in scales ranging from the standard size of photographic printing paper, to the panoramic expanse of four metres in size, the photographs encapsulate the expressive potential of Tillmans' highly developed visual formalism, and his engagement with photography as inherently physical as it is immaterial. In their unnerving beauty, produced partially by the camera makers technical advances and partly by the photographer's insistence on allowing those advances to show, they create a challenge to the canon of visual cool preeminent in today's visual culture.
The exhibition will be site specific, in its response to the particular architectural context of its presentation in the museum and through the inclusion of new photographic material. It will also allude to ideas of the ‘universal’ through the everywhere-ness of sky and water, in which glimpses of the human body and particular social, natural and architectural situations and places from around the world emerge. Presented as a visual and architectural intervention across 1000 sq metres of the Serralves Museum’s galleries, together with a suite of installations of newly produced video works, the exhibition promises to be an immersive environment of threshold states.
Since establishing his reputation in the youth and club culture of 1990s London, Tillmans has become one of the most influential artists of our time. His continued exploration of photography as a means to communicate reality is one that inspires and moves in its wonder and its intelligence. For Tillmans, reality is not only visual, social, economic and political, it is organic, bodily, and phenomenal, from the bodies of friends and family to the constellations of cities and plants, the celestial galaxies of night skies and the exquisite abstractions created from the impact of light in photographic process itself. If the medium of photography and its processes provide the foundation to Tillmans' work, his engagement with place, and his choreographic use of space and scale constitute a world, in which images of people and places and object-like registrations of light are part of an interconnected, physical and cosmic whole.
‘Wolfgang Tillmans: On the Verge of Visibility’ is organized by the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, Porto and curated by Suzanne Cotter, Director, assisted by exhibition curator Paula Fernandes. Related Activities OPENING: 29 JAN (FRI) FAMILY WORKSHOP
31 JAN (SUN, 10H00-13H00, Educational Service Room (Museum)LIQUID IMAGESWith so many colours dancing around us, we’re inclined to ask: is it a painting, a photograph or a film? On the basis of the work of Wolfgang Tillmans we will travel, to the taste of constantly changing colours and shapes.Coordination: Joana Nascimento, Sofia SantosAccess: continuous operation; free entry and participation
10 APR (SUN), 11h00FAMILY WORKSHOP-TOUR: "How Big is the Rainbow?"By Joana Nascimento and Sofia Santos, Museum EducatorsMore information here GUIDED TOURS
7 FEB (SUN), 12h00By Andreia Coutinho, Museum Educator
20 FEB (SAT), 15h30Guided visit in Portuguese Sign LanguageBy Laredo, Associação Cultural
25 FEB (THU), 18h30By António Guerreiro, chronicler and journalist
05 MAR (SAT), 17h00By Sérgio Mah and Luísa Especial, Curators
12 MAR (SAT), 17h00By Paula Fernandes, Serralves Museum curator
20 MAR (DOM), 12h00By Rita Roque, Museum Educator
30 MAR (WED), 18h30By Tom McDonough, Associate Professor, Binghamton University, NYNotice: Due to unforeseen circumstances, this event was cancelled. We apologyse for any inconvenience and appreciate your understanding.
02 APR (SAT), 17h00By Patrícia Almeida, Artist
17 APR (SUN), 12h00By Andreia Coutinho, Museum Educator
14 APR (Thu), 19h30EXCLUSIVE TOUR FOR AMIGOS DE SERRALVESBy Suzanne Cotter, Museum Director and curator of the exhibition
CINEMA
14 FEB AND 17 APR (SUN), 18h00, Serralves AuditoriumSound on Camera. Video works from 1987 to 2015 by Wolfgang TillmansRetrospective programme of video works by the artist Wolfgang Tillmans, directed between 1987 and 2015 and exhibited for the first time. Sound on Camera, a survey of video works by Wolfgang Tillmans, was initially presented at The Kitchen in New York in September 2015. The videos highlight Tillmans’ love of music — particularly techno and club culture — which is a recurring theme in his life as well as in his artistic practice.More information here
21 FEB (SUN), 18h00, Serralves Auditorium"Counting" (2015) by Jem CohenIn fifteen linked chapters shot in locations ranging from Moscow to New York to Istanbul, "Counting” merges city symphony, diary film, and personal/political essay to create a vivid portrait of contemporary life.More information here
Wolfgang Tillmans Wolfgang Tillmans completed his Fine Art studies at the Bournemouth and Poole College of Art and Design in Bournemouth, UK. Exhibitions of his work have been shown at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2015), the Beyeler Foundation (2014), Kunsthalle Zürich (2012), MoMA PS1, New York (2006). Retrospectives of his work have been organized by the Moderna Museet, Stockholm (2012), the Museum of Contemporary Art of Chicago (2006) and Tate Britain, London (2003). In 2014, Tillmans participated in the Venice Architecture Biennial, curated by Rem Koolhaas, with his work Book for Architects. Since 2006 Tillmans organises the non-profit space Between Bridges first in London and since 2013 in Berlin. Tillmans was awarded the Ars Viva Prize, Germany (1995). In 2000 he was the first photographer and non-British artist to be awarded the Turner Prize. In 2015 he received the Hasselblad Foundation International Award in Photography, Göteborg Museum of Art, Sweden (2015). He lives and works in Berlin and London, where he is simultaneously a member of the Akademie der Künste and the Royal Academy of Arts. Exclusive Sponsor of The Museum Support
The exhibition will be site specific, in its response to the particular architectural context of its presentation in the museum and through the inclusion of new photographic material. It will also allude to ideas of the ‘universal’ through the everywhere-ness of sky and water, in which glimpses of the human body and particular social, natural and architectural situations and places from around the world emerge. Presented as a visual and architectural intervention across 1000 sq metres of the Serralves Museum’s galleries, together with a suite of installations of newly produced video works, the exhibition promises to be an immersive environment of threshold states.
Since establishing his reputation in the youth and club culture of 1990s London, Tillmans has become one of the most influential artists of our time. His continued exploration of photography as a means to communicate reality is one that inspires and moves in its wonder and its intelligence. For Tillmans, reality is not only visual, social, economic and political, it is organic, bodily, and phenomenal, from the bodies of friends and family to the constellations of cities and plants, the celestial galaxies of night skies and the exquisite abstractions created from the impact of light in photographic process itself. If the medium of photography and its processes provide the foundation to Tillmans' work, his engagement with place, and his choreographic use of space and scale constitute a world, in which images of people and places and object-like registrations of light are part of an interconnected, physical and cosmic whole.
‘Wolfgang Tillmans: On the Verge of Visibility’ is organized by the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, Porto and curated by Suzanne Cotter, Director, assisted by exhibition curator Paula Fernandes. Related Activities OPENING: 29 JAN (FRI) FAMILY WORKSHOP
31 JAN (SUN, 10H00-13H00, Educational Service Room (Museum)LIQUID IMAGESWith so many colours dancing around us, we’re inclined to ask: is it a painting, a photograph or a film? On the basis of the work of Wolfgang Tillmans we will travel, to the taste of constantly changing colours and shapes.Coordination: Joana Nascimento, Sofia SantosAccess: continuous operation; free entry and participation
10 APR (SUN), 11h00FAMILY WORKSHOP-TOUR: "How Big is the Rainbow?"By Joana Nascimento and Sofia Santos, Museum EducatorsMore information here GUIDED TOURS
7 FEB (SUN), 12h00By Andreia Coutinho, Museum Educator
20 FEB (SAT), 15h30Guided visit in Portuguese Sign LanguageBy Laredo, Associação Cultural
25 FEB (THU), 18h30By António Guerreiro, chronicler and journalist
05 MAR (SAT), 17h00By Sérgio Mah and Luísa Especial, Curators
12 MAR (SAT), 17h00By Paula Fernandes, Serralves Museum curator
20 MAR (DOM), 12h00By Rita Roque, Museum Educator
30 MAR (WED), 18h30By Tom McDonough, Associate Professor, Binghamton University, NYNotice: Due to unforeseen circumstances, this event was cancelled. We apologyse for any inconvenience and appreciate your understanding.
02 APR (SAT), 17h00By Patrícia Almeida, Artist
17 APR (SUN), 12h00By Andreia Coutinho, Museum Educator
14 APR (Thu), 19h30EXCLUSIVE TOUR FOR AMIGOS DE SERRALVESBy Suzanne Cotter, Museum Director and curator of the exhibition
CINEMA
14 FEB AND 17 APR (SUN), 18h00, Serralves AuditoriumSound on Camera. Video works from 1987 to 2015 by Wolfgang TillmansRetrospective programme of video works by the artist Wolfgang Tillmans, directed between 1987 and 2015 and exhibited for the first time. Sound on Camera, a survey of video works by Wolfgang Tillmans, was initially presented at The Kitchen in New York in September 2015. The videos highlight Tillmans’ love of music — particularly techno and club culture — which is a recurring theme in his life as well as in his artistic practice.More information here
21 FEB (SUN), 18h00, Serralves Auditorium"Counting" (2015) by Jem CohenIn fifteen linked chapters shot in locations ranging from Moscow to New York to Istanbul, "Counting” merges city symphony, diary film, and personal/political essay to create a vivid portrait of contemporary life.More information here
Wolfgang Tillmans Wolfgang Tillmans completed his Fine Art studies at the Bournemouth and Poole College of Art and Design in Bournemouth, UK. Exhibitions of his work have been shown at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2015), the Beyeler Foundation (2014), Kunsthalle Zürich (2012), MoMA PS1, New York (2006). Retrospectives of his work have been organized by the Moderna Museet, Stockholm (2012), the Museum of Contemporary Art of Chicago (2006) and Tate Britain, London (2003). In 2014, Tillmans participated in the Venice Architecture Biennial, curated by Rem Koolhaas, with his work Book for Architects. Since 2006 Tillmans organises the non-profit space Between Bridges first in London and since 2013 in Berlin. Tillmans was awarded the Ars Viva Prize, Germany (1995). In 2000 he was the first photographer and non-British artist to be awarded the Turner Prize. In 2015 he received the Hasselblad Foundation International Award in Photography, Göteborg Museum of Art, Sweden (2015). He lives and works in Berlin and London, where he is simultaneously a member of the Akademie der Künste and the Royal Academy of Arts. Exclusive Sponsor of The Museum Support
