Candice Breitz
From A to B and Back Again
Date 10/19/09
Affiliation Artist, University of Fine Arts in Braunschweig
Abstract
Should an art audience be suspicious of works of art that open themselves up to popular cultural content? Do explorations of screen life affirm or undermine the commodity structure of mainstream entertainment? Are copyleft strategies legitimate or objectionable? How is the artist's relationship with the subjects that she kidnaps as found footage or those she films herself in studio settings mediated by the technological display formats?
Candice Breitz will field such questions and speak about recent works, including 'Working Class Hero (A Portrait of John Lennon)' and 'Mother,' two multi-channel video installations that are currently on view in a monographic exhibition of her work at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. The artist will have video footage on hand from most of the installations that she has made over the last decade. The open format will allow participants to steer Breitz towards talking about particular works that they would like to discuss.
www.candicebreitz.net
Bio
Candice Breitz was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1972 and is currently based in Berlin. She holds degrees from the University of the Witwatersrand (Johannesburg), the University of Chicago and Columbia University (NYC). She has participated in the Whitney Museum's Independent Studio Programme and ran the Palais de Tokyo's Le Pavillon residency as a visiting artist during the year 2005-2006. She has been a tenured Professor of Fine Art at the University of Fine Arts in Braunschweig since 2007.
In recent years solo exhibitions of her work have been hosted by the Kunsthalle Berlin, the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Newcastle, the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, De Appel in Amsterdam, the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, the Castello di Rivoli in Turin, the Collection Lambert in Avignon, the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk, White Cube in London, Yvon Lambert in New York and the Bawag Foundation in Vienna.
A museum-scale survey of her work is currently running at The Power Plant in Toronto until late 2009. The catalogue published parallel to the exhibition contains an essay by Berkeley scholar Anne Wagner. An exhibition of her work showcasing multi-channel installations 'Working Class Hero (A Portrait of John Lennon' and 'Mother' can currently be seen at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Breitz will participate in the Performa Biennale in New York in November 2009. Additionally her work can currently be experienced on group exhibitions including the Gothenburg Biennial in Sweden and at the Tate Liverpool in the United Kingdom.
-- As of 10/19/09