8/2/2019 Thomas Hirschhorn Exhibition Poster

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Thomas Hirschhorn

 World Airport

January16– February 23, 2000

The Renaissance Society

at the University of Chicago

5811 South Ellis Avenue

Chicago, IL 60637

773.702.8670

http://www.renaissancesociety.org

Museum Hours:

Tuesday-Friday:10am-5pm

Saturday, Sunday:12- 5pmClosed Mondays

RELATED EVENTS

Opening reception

Saturday, January 22

3:00to6:00pm

featuring an interview and discussion with t he

artist from 4:00to 5:00pm.

This event is free and will take place in Cobb

Hall Room 307 (directly below the gallery).

Poetry Reading

Sunday,February6

3:00pm

Bob Perelman

Perleman’s work is alternately lyrical, polemical,

funny, self-critical, didactic, socially

engaged and consistently engaging. Perelman

is Associate Professor of English at the

University of Pennsylvania. He has published five

volumes of poetry, The Historyof Memory 

(1998), Virtual Reality (1993), Face Value (1988),

The First World (1986), Primer (1981) and

most recently a volume of selected workTen

to One (1999). This event is free and will

take place in Cobb Hall Room 402.(Down

the hall from the gallery.)

Concert

NewMusicfor OldAirportsSunday, January16

2:00pm

Jason Kao Hwang, violin

Fred Lonberg-Holm, cello

This bill features an afternoon of improvised music

by two extraordinary talents. Violinist/ 

composer Jason Kao Hwang has made numerous

recordings as both a leader with the Far

East Side Band and a much sought after collab-

orator. He has performed extensively with

such talents as Reggie Workman, Henry Threadgill,

Borah Bergman and Butch Morris. Cellist

Fred Lonberg-Holm defies categorization.

In addition to several ongoing projects, this self-

proclaimed anti-cellist has performed and

recorded with some of free jazz and improvised

music’smost outstanding talents including

the Peter Brotzmann Tentet, John Zorn, Anthony

Braxton, and Georg Graewe. This concert

is produced with Lampo, a non-profit presenter

of new and experimental music. This event i s free

and will take place at The Society.

WORLDAIRPORThas been madepos-siblethrough generoussupport fromÉtant Donnés;Lewisand SusanManilow;ThePeter Norton Foundation;ProHelvetia,the ArtsCouncil ofSwitzerland;HowardandDonna Stone;TheSwissBenevolent Society ofChicago,Illinois;and Swissôtel Chicago.

 Additional support hasbeen receivedfromtheCityArts ProgramofTheChicagoDepartment ofCultural Affairs,amunicipal agency;The IllinoisArtsCouncil,astate agency;The John D.andCatherineT. MacArthur Foundation;ThePritzker Foundation;The SaraLeeFoundation;TheSiragusa Foundation;RegentsParkby The Clinton Company;WPWR-TV Channel 50 Foundation and

our membership.

isthe official airlineof TheRenaissanceSociety’s1999-2000 season.

WORLDAIRPORThas been madepos-siblethrough generoussupport fromÉtant Donnés;Lewisand SusanManilow;ThePeter Norton Foundation;ProHelvetia,the ArtsCouncil ofSwitzerland;HowardandDonna Stone;TheSwissBenevolent Society ofChicago,Illinois;and Swissôtel Chicago.

 Additional support hasbeen receivedfromthe CityArtsProgramofTheChicagoDepartment ofCultural Affairs,amunicipal agency;The IllinoisArtsCouncil,a stateagency; TheJohn D.andCatherine T.MacArthur Foundation;ThePritzker Foundation;TheSara LeeFoundation;The SiragusaFoundation;RegentsParkby The Clinton Company;WPWR-TV Channel 50 Foundation and

our membership.

isthe official airlineofThe RenaissanceSociety’s1999-2000 season.

8/2/2019 Thomas Hirschhorn Exhibition Poster

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HowmuchshouldAZTcostin Swaziland?If onlythiswerea

trick question.For all of its seeming simplicity,it reflects

apainfully complex reality involving negotiations between two

governments and a multinational pharmaceutical corporation

asthousands await much needed treatment. This episode is one

of athousand facets of globalization,a phenomenathat minus

examples,masks difficultquestions regardingthe relationship

between industrialized and developingnations. Forbetter and,

orworse, this relationship is beingmediated on aregular

basis not so much through political channels as it is through an

expanding free market economy. Whether it is the multi-year

agendaof theWorld TradeOrganization orthelending policies

of the International Monetary Fund, globalization in an active

sense has to do with the mobilization of capital. The Gross

National Productof an industrialized nation is notsimply a

reflection of acountry’s ability toproduceand consumewithin

its own geographicborders, butalso its ability tobarter in

the global market place. In addition to being political entities led

by heads of state,industrialized nations areproducingand

consumingentities commandeered by thecaptains of industry

and commerce. Thebody politicdoubles as awork force

and its citizens as consumers.T heprosperity or stagnation of

theeconomy and the availabilityof goods and services are

linked to a larger network of global resources. If one is then

willingtoput asideMarxistalienation and growingclassdivision,

thecommodity can certainly begiven creditfor bringingtheworld closertogether, even if theterms arefar from ideal.

 Althoughhisworkis executedinthe spiritof play,Swissborn,

Paris-based artist Thomas Hirschhorn has a healthy distaste

forthetermglobalization.Twoofhiswellknown,earlyworks

feature enlarged recreations of a Swiss Army knife and Rolex

wristwatches, objects thatcontribute substantially tothe Swiss

GNP.Clad,however,in aluminumfoil andexecutedat a

scalereminiscento f thework of Claes Oldenberg,these works

arenotpartof aGross National Productbutare instead

grosslynational products whose kindergarten appeal playfully

mockstheir commodity status.Although Hirschhorn is

usually referred to as a sculptor, his works do not revolve around

discreet pieces as much as elaborate installations featuring

dozens of components,notably makeshiftwalls featuringone

of themost importantcommodities of all,information. This

is in the form of hundreds of press and magazine clippings. The

central sculptural components of theseinstallations are

linked tothese walls through an elaboratesystem of aluminum

foil tentacles thatliterally connecthis objects––often fabricated

with recycled materials––to the rhetoric of globalization.

By this logic, globalization ceases to be an abstract phenomena

andcan instead betraced through the production of things

that surround us no matter how large or trivial. Steel, plastic,

clothes, labor––behind each of these is a narrative of social,

political and environmental relations that extend well beyond the

immediatecontext.

Born in Bern, Switzerland in1957, Hirschhorn later attended the

Schüle fur Gestaltung in Zurich where he was trained in

graphic design. After completing his studies in 1984, Hirschhorn

moved to France wherehe joined Grapus, a Parisian collective

of communist graphic designers. Despite, the power of graphic

design togalvanize an audiencefor eithercommercial or

political ends, Hirschhornfelt neither advertising nor propaganda

allowed much room forcreativity.By 1986,the yearof his

first solo exhibition at Bar-Floréal in Paris, he had altogether

abandonedgraphicdesigninfavorof thevisual arts.Among

theinfluences on his work,Hirschhorn cites theRussian

Constuctivists and Kurt Schwitters. Needless t o say, Hirschhorn,

retained his political convictions,translating his leftistideals

intoworksthatin additiontoculminatinginmuseumand

gallery installations took theform of publicalters and souvenir

stands on thesidewalks of several majorEuropean cities.

Thesculptural components,which consisted of cheap,tourist

sidewalk wares––hats, scarves, banners, and plates

featuringthe names of awide array of 20th century personages

––were displayed in stands f abricated with cardboard,

sheetplastic and plywood.Although Hirschhorn initially viewed

the transition from graphic design to the visual arts as

beingmotivated by frustration,in arecent interview,he cited

Warhol as asignificant precursorfor allowingsuch amove

tobeseenas continuous.“Warholremainedfaithfultohimself.

Ilook at these art ists and try to do the same thing; I aspire

tocontinuity.” Underthese circumstances,Hirschhorn is some-

whatskeptical of beinglabeled asculptor and even more

soasan installationartist.Accordingtohim,hisworkremains

two-dimensional.“My work remains two-dimensional,a

veryimportantpointforme.Of coursemy workhastakenon

threedimensional aspects at times, I makeobjects that

have volume but they aren ot thought in three dimensions.”

Hirschhorn’s solo museum debut will be held in two venues. For

TheArt Instituteof Chicago,Hirschhorn has created anew

work which takes its title JumboSpoonsand BigCake from its

main components. At The Renaissance Society, he will

exhibit World Airport,the piecehe created forthe1999 VeniceBiennale.In scaleand garishness, both installations have

somethingofa parade’svulgarcharms.ButHirschhorn’sflare

forspectacle is offsetby an itinerantaestheticfeaturing

his signaturematerials, cardboard,blueplastic and aluminum

foil.Most of Hirschhorn’swork has critiqued globalization

from thevantagepoint of thecosmopolitan center.Hirschhorn,

however,usually chooses to make work with discarded

materials from sections of thecity with alarge immigrantpopu-

lation.The Fifty/Fifty sculptures,an earlierseries of small

works consistingof half-found materials and half-new materials

suggest that centralization and marginalization are

alternating pistons in the engine of globalization as metropolises

simultaneously conglomeratecapital and an immigrant

workforce.In World Airport and JumboSpoonsand BigCake ,

Hirschhorn has broadened his critiqueto includecultural

tourism. Jumbo Spoons rendersa wideassortmentoffigures,

places,events and phenomena,from Rosa Luxembourg

tothe ChicagoBulls, from Nietzscheto fashion,from Malevich

totheMoon,in theform of thecollectiblespoon,a gesture

that eliminates any hierarchy in their importance. They are equally

glamorousand equallytragic,abletoofferbutin noway

fulfillthe promiseofa betterlife,promisesmadeandbrokenas

much by the shiny commodity as the cruel glints of hope put

forth by many of modernity’s utopian visionaries. World Airport,

ahomemade Fisher-Price like airport and lounge area,

repletewith arunway comeparade of nation-states,will fill The

Society’s gallery.The airplanes sitprepared fortake-off

and areemblazoned with logos in national colors suggesting

the airline’s complicity in thebrand managementof the

corporate nation-state. Business or pleasure; first class, third

world––between theweb of flight patterns spun by TWA

and theWTO wehave becomestarlings in theslipstream. This

is not to say that Hirschhorn’s critique is cynical. Far from the

case,for his work is tooelaboratetobe of a singularsentiment.

If anything, Hirschhorn’s work is a state of t he world equation

whosefactsand variablesadd up totheglobalportraitaspainted

inthenextday’snewspaper;a semblance,no doubt,to be

savored overa cup of Seattle’s Best.

FOCUS: THOMAS HIRSCHHORN has been made possible through generous sup-portfrom Lewis and Susan Manilow, Swissôtel Chicago, Howard and Donna Stone,ProHelvetia, The Arts Council of Switzerland, and Janice and Mickey Cartin.

TheRenaissanceSociety

Non-ProfitOrganizationUSPostage

PAIDChicago,IL

PermitNo.2336

TheRenaissanceSocietyatThe UniversityofChicago

5811South Ellis AvenueChicago,Illinois 60637

Phone:(773) 702-8670

http://www.renaissancesociety.org

Museum Hours:Tuesday-Friday:10am-5pm

Saturday,Sunday:12-5pm

Closed Mondays

Gross National Product

    t   e   x    t    b   y    H   a   m   z   a

    W   a    l    k   e   r

    /    l   a   y   o   u

    t    b   y

    J   a   s   o   n

    P    i   c    k    l   e   m   a   n

    f   o   r    t    h   e    J    N    L    G   r   a   p    h

    i   c    D   e   s    i   g   n

    /   c    h    i   c   a   g   o

ThomasHirschhorn

JumboSpoonsand BigCake

January23–April 9,2000

TheArt Institut e of Chicago

111South MichiganAvenue

Chicago,IL 60603

RELATED EVENTS

Gallery Talk 

James Rondeau,

Exhibition Co-curator

Sunday, January23at 3:00pm

and

Tuesday, February1at 6:00pm

TheArt Institut e of Chicago

Gallery 262

GalleryTalk 

Hamza Walker,

Director of Education,

The Renaissance Society

Friday,February18at 12:15pm

The Art Institute of Chicago,

Gallery 262