Sound & Language
The human voice is the most specific expression of an individual. With its infinite potential for sound effects and imitation along with its prime role in communication, it is clearly the most versatile and valuable instrument.
In 1939, Marian Anderson captivated an audience of 75,000 and millions of radio listeners during her Lincoln Memorial recital. Her response to weeks of debate fueled by the refusal of the Daughters of American Revolution to grant her a permit to perform at Constitution Hall was, “Music to me means so much, such beautiful things, and it seemed impossible that you could find people who would curb you, stop you, from doing a thing which is beautiful. I wasn’t trying to sway anybody into any movements… I just wanted to sing and share.”
Four years earlier in 1935, Melvin Tolson an English professor and poet inspired his students to organize Wiley College’s first debate team that moved on to face off Harvard University’s national champions. The Great Debaters is a dramatic depiction of the true story of Tolson, his life at Wiley, the people of Marshall and the four brilliant aspiring team members. The debate scenes are a testament to their consuming passion for language, education, and freedom.
The acclaimed writer, painter, and educator N. Scott Momaday said, “If I do not speak with care, my words are wasted. If I do not listen with care, words are lost.” Care for language, its look, meaning and sound is what we experience in the work of Jenny Holzer (Season 4). Also Laurie Anderson (Season 1) gives a multimedia spin to the use of language in her spectacular storytelling performances. In Writing on the Wall: Word and Image in Modern Art, Simon Morley has compiled the first comprehensive survey of the use of word in art from the past 140 years.
A completely different approach to sound is encountered in the sculptures of Martin Puryear (Season 2). We imagine and hear silent sound, especially in his Ladder for Booker T. Washington as it reaches the sky. On the other hand as Barack Obama is reaching closer to becoming the next president, we look forward to hearing his upcoming debates.
Chess Pieces. Photo by Alan Light
Beyond the Reel
On Thursday, June 19, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden opens the second installment of The Cinema Effect: Illusion, Reality, and the Moving Image, titled Part II: Realisms. While Part I: Dreams addressed film’s ability to transport viewers out of their everyday lives and into the darker recesses of the imagination, Realisms explores the irony that in an age where documenting “real life” is made ever easier, the line between fact and fiction becomes increasingly complicated.
Pierre Huyghe (Season 4) is one of nineteen artists in Realisms. In his work, “The Third Memory” (1999), Huyghe gives John Wojtowicz, the bank robber portrayed by Al Pacino in Sidney Lumet’s 1975 film Dog Day Afternoon, a chance to recount his version of the events that inspired the film. Huyghe’s work reveals that, as time goes on, Wojtowicz’s memory of the actual robbery has become intertwined with the story as portrayed in Lumet’s film. Part I: Dreams also included Art21 artists Teresa Hubbard/Alexander Birchler (Season 3). Recently they spoke about their process, artwork, and part one of the exhibition in the museum’s public program series, Meet the Artists, which exists as a podcast.
Part II: Realisms, on view through September 7, also includes works by Candice Breitz, Matthew Buckingham, Paul Chan, Ian Charlesworth, Phil Collins, Jeremy Deller, Kota Ezawa, Omer Fast, Runa Islam, Christian Jankowski, Isaac Julien, Michèle Magema, Julian Rosefeldt, Corinna Schnitt, Mungo Thomson, Kerry Tribe, Francesco Vezzoli and Artur Zmijewski.
Image: Pierre Huyghe “The Third Memory,” video still 1999 © Pierre Huyghe, courtesy Marian Goodman Gallery, Paris/New York.
Walker, Puryear, and Marshall featured in Corcoran show
Those in the Washington D.C. area should take a moment to check out The American Evolution, an expansive show at the Corcoran Gallery of Art on view through July 27. Works by three Art21 artists: Kara Walker, Martin Puryear (both Season 2), and Kerry James Marshall (Season 1) have all have been included in the Corcoran’s reexamination of the history of American art. The exhibition focuses on the evolution of five frequent themes in American art: money, land, politics, cultural exchange, and the modern world. The Corcoran has dug into their large collection of American artwork to illustrate how the definition of these concepts has shifted throughout the history of our country. Other artists in this show include Andy Warhol, Richard Diebenkorn, and Gilbert Stuart.
You can find more information about this show and a full list of the artists involved here.
Art21 Access ‘07 Starts Today at the Corcoran in DC!
Corcoran Gallery of Art
500 Seventeenth Street NW
Washington, DC 20006
(202) 639-1700
Sneak Preview: Art in the Twenty-First Century, Season 4
Monday, October 01, 2007 @ Noon and 7:00 PM
This Art in the Twenty-First Century screening is presented by Art21 in collaboration with Americans for the Arts as part of Art21 Access ‘07, a nationwide celebration of contemporary art and creativity.
Join the FRIENDS of the Corcoran to experience two episodes of the fourth season of the award-winning, biennial series on contemporary art, Art in the Twenty-First Century. The Corcoran will present advanced screenings of Protest (artists: Nancy Spero, An-My Le, and Alfredo Jaar, and Jenny Holzer) at 12 p.m. and Ecology (artists: Ursula von Rydingsvard, Inigo Manglano-Ovalle, Robert Adams, and Mark Dion) at 7 p.m. Migs Wright, Associate Producer of the series, will introduce the Ecology screening tonight.
Jenny Holzer: Projections in Washington D.C.
Season 4 artist Jenny Holzer presents her second Washington D.C. xenon projection project (the first was in October 2004) starting September 13, when she projects quotes from President John F. Kennedy and President Theodore Roosevelt from the Kennedy Center outdoor terrace onto the Potomac River and Roosevelt Island, creating a virtual mirror.
The words of the late President, etched onto the east facade of the Kennedy Center state, “I see little more importance to the future of our country and of civilization than full recognition of the place of the artist. If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him.” Organized by the independent curatorial project Street Scenes: Projects for DC, this event coincides with the Kennedy Center’s pre-season Prelude celebration.
Since the late 1970s, Jenny Holzer has consistently used language as her material and presented texts in a variety of formats. In 1996, she began using xenon projectors to cast text onto architectural and natural sites around the world. The flow of light and text over the shapes of buildings, land, and water transforms the night. Spaces appear to be enveloped, and what re-emphasizes the lines of architecture, or dictates a path in the reflection of a river, is the scrolling language.
Projections will be on view to the public from 6p.m. till 1a.m. from September 13-16. Read more about this project at http://www.streetscenesdc.com/Projections.html.
