1857

AN ACCOUNT OF DISCOVERY AND WONDER

13/02 – 22/03/2015
Preview: Friday 13/02 19:00

Featuring: Francis Alÿs, Alan Bean, Elaine Cameron-Weir, Mirak Jamal, Sean Landers and J. Parker Valentine. With a collection of objects curated by Markus Li Stensrud.

Eye of sperm whale caught off South Georgia, 1938.

"The Comet" scrimshaw whale tooth resin replica, by Juratone Ltd, England. Patriotic device: USA flags, harpoon, 6 cannonballs, labeled "THE COMET," dated 1831; a spouting sperm whale, harpoons; mystic eye at point; signed "D. Hart."

Tektite (from Greek τηκτός "tēktos", molten), natural glass formed from terrestrial debris ejected during extraterrestrial impacts.

Amber penis, about 7 cm tall. When rubbed with wool amber generates static electricity, causing it to attract dry objects like small bits of tissue paper, feathers, specks of wheat chaff and hair. In the dark it also emits a pale, yellow light.
In Ancient Greece, kings and priests who were buried with a piece of amber in their right hand would get the ability to travel back in time by riding Apollo’s chariot over the sky in the opposite direction of the Sun’s normal course. The glowing piece of amber would be seen as a shooting star, and the breaking of the time barrier would be heard as a thunder.

1:50 toy Delorean time machine from the Back to the Future movies (1985 – 1990). Stuck in 1955, Marty McFly and young Emmet Brown use a lightning bolt to power their time machine with the 1.21 GW necessary to travel back to the future.

Tyre (US: tire). A rubber covering, typically inflated or surrounding an inflated inner tube, placed round a wheel to form a soft contact with the road.

About the artists:

Francis Alÿs (b. 1959, Antwerp) has had solo exhibitions at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin; The Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; Portikus, Frankfurt; among others. The survey exhibition Francis Alÿs: A Story of Deception toured Tate Modern, London; Wiels Centre d’Art Contemporain, Brussels; and The Museum of Modern Art and MoMA PS1, New York. He has participated in a number of international group exhibitions, including dOCUMENTA (13); the São Paulo Biennale (2010, 2004, and 1998); Venice Biennale (2007, 2001, and 1999); Shanghai Biennale (2002); Istanbul Biennial (2001 and 1999); and the Havana Biennial (2000 and 1994). He lives and works in Mexico City.

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Alan Bean (b. 1932, Wheeler, TX) is an American legend. Among many accomplishments during his career at NASA, he served as the lunar module pilot on Apollo 12, becoming the fourth person to walk on the Moon. In 1973 he made his second flight into space as commander of the 59-day Skylab Mission II (SL-3). Since his early days as a Navy test pilot, Bean has painted and studied art, and he left NASA in 1981 to devote himself full-time to this profession. His work has been exhibited by individuals and institutions around the world. He lives and works in Houston.

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Elaine Cameron-Weir (b. 1985, Alberta) has recently had solo shows at Galerie Rodolphe Janssen, Brussels; Ramiken Crucible, New York; and through the Bellwether project of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Her work has been shown at the GAMeC Bergamo, Croy Nielsen, Berlin; Bortolami Gallery, New York; Praz-Delavallade, Paris; Art Concept, Paris; Bed-Stuy Love Affair, New York; and the Philadelphia Museum of Art among others. She lives and works in New York City.

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Sean Landers (b. 1962, Springfield, MA, USA) has had solo exhibitions at Kunsthalle Zürich and Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis, and his work has been shown at the Museum of Modern Art/PS1, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; New Museum, New York; Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams; Walker Art Center, Milwaukee; Serpentine Gallery, London; Saatchi Gallery, London; DESTE Foundation for Contemporary Art, Athens; La Pinacoteca, Turin; Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt; Hamburger Kunsthalle; Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux; Le Magasin, Grenoble; Kunstmuseum Luzern; and the Venice Biennale, Athens Biennale and Berlin Biennial. His work will be included in the forthcoming exhibition “Picasso in Contemporary Art” at Deichtorhallen Hamburg in Spring 2015. He lives and works in New York City.

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Mirak Jamal (b. 1979, Tehran) has been part of the shows “early works” at Kinderhook & Caracas; “Fight” at Center; and “Deeeee”, all in Berlin; as well as at the Arran Gallery, Tehran; Thomas Erben Gallery, New York; the Marrakech Biennale 4; and the "2011111111111s" project, which traveled from Berlin to Tokyo. With Santiago Taccetti he is a founder of an ongoing collaborative project of outdoor exhibitions called “Stoneroses”. He has lived and worked in Minsk; Cologne; Texas; Minnesota; Toronto; and currently resides in Berlin.

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Markus Li Stensrud (b. 1983, Hamar) recently had solo shows at Kunstnerforbundet, Oslo; and KUNSTrePUBLIK, Berlin. His work has been shown in a number of exhibitions, including at Vestfossen Kunstlaboratorium; Oslo Kunstforening; and Kunstbanken, Hamar. He was part of the W17 residency program in Oslo 2013 – 14. He lives and works in Oslo.

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J. Parker Valentine (b. 1980, Austin, TX) has had solo shows at Taka Ishii, Kyoto; Supportico Lopez, Berlin; Peep Hole, Milan; Max Mayer, Dusseldorf; Lisa Cooley, New York; and most recently at Langen Foundation in Neuss, Germany; and Misako and Rosen in Tokyo. She has been part of group shows at the Front Room at the Contemporary Arts Museum in St. Louis, Missouri; The Contemporary, Austin, Texas; the MAN Museum, Nuoro, Sardinia; and Museo Marino Marini in Florence. Valentine was artist in residence at Artpace, San Antonio, Texas in 2013 and published a monograph with Sternberg Press titled Fiction, in 2014. Upcoming shows include Thomas Duncan, Los Angeles and Max Mayer, Dusseldorf. She lives and works in Los Angeles.

1857 is supported by Arts Council Norway

AN ACCOUNT OF DISCOVERY AND WONDER; Detailing intrepid exploration, inevitable peril and infallible resolve, as evidenced by relics, replicas, artifacts, counterfeits, documents, samples, souvenirs, ephemera, scraps and residue
(Mirak Jamal, Elaine Cameron-Weir, Sean Landers, J. Parker Valentine)
Installation view, main space, 1857

AN ACCOUNT OF DISCOVERY AND WONDER; Detailing intrepid exploration, inevitable peril and infallible resolve, as evidenced by relics, replicas, artifacts, counterfeits, documents, samples, souvenirs, ephemera, scraps and residue
(Alan Bean, Cameron-Weir, Mirak Jamal, Sean Landers, J. Parker Valentine)
Installation view, main space, 1857

AN ACCOUNT OF DISCOVERY AND WONDER; Detailing intrepid exploration, inevitable peril and infallible resolve, as evidenced by relics, replicas, artifacts, counterfeits, documents, samples, souvenirs, ephemera, scraps and residue
(Sean Landers, J. Parker Valentine)
Installation view, main space, 1857

Mirak Jamal, Alex – proposition to a Detroit highway [2015]
Vinyl, automotive paint, polyester fiberglass, steel, concrete, dimensions variable

Mirak Jamal, Alex – proposition to a Detroit highway [2015]
 Vinyl, automotive paint, steel, 30 × 215 × 9 cm

Mirak Jamal, Alex – proposition to a Detroit highway [2015]
 Vinyl, automotive paint, steel, 30 × 215 × 9 cm

Mirak Jamal, Alex – proposition to a Detroit highway [2015]
Vinyl, automotive paint, polyester fiberglass, steel, concrete, dimensions variable

Mirak Jamal, Alex – proposition to a Detroit highway [2015]
Vinyl, automotive paint, polyester fiberglass, steel, concrete, dimensions variable

Mirak Jamal, Alex – proposition to a Detroit highway [2015]
Vinyl, automotive paint, polyester fiberglass, steel, concrete, dimensions variable

AN ACCOUNT OF DISCOVERY AND WONDER; Detailing intrepid exploration, inevitable peril and infallible resolve, as evidenced by relics, replicas, artifacts, counterfeits, documents, samples, souvenirs, ephemera, scraps and residue
(Elaine Cameron-Weir, Sean Landers)
Installation view, main space, 1857

Elaine Cameron-Weir, A terrestrial sediment melted by hypervelocity impacts from outer- space, most fell on bohemia, molten, forming strange shapes and solidifying bottle green like the eyes of a gorgon [2014]
Stainless steel, sterling silver, laboratory clamps, carved moldovite, variable dimensions

Alan Bean, The Source of Intelligent life, [2006 – 2014]  
Giclée print on canvas, Edition of 145, 61 × 46 cm

AN ACCOUNT OF DISCOVERY AND WONDER; Detailing intrepid exploration, inevitable peril and infallible resolve, as evidenced by relics, replicas, artifacts, counterfeits, documents, samples, souvenirs, ephemera, scraps and residue
(Alan Bean, J. Parker Valentine)
Installation view, main space, 1857