Prada presents “What Was I?”, a new exhibition project conceived by artist Goshka Macuga, with the support of Fondazione Prada. On view from 23 March to 2 June 2019, it will take place in the premises of Prada Rong Zhai, a 1918 historical residence in Shanghai restored by Prada and reopened in October 2017.
October 4, 2019 – January 19, 2020
Since 1994, the Fine Arts Workshops have brought young artists from all over the world to Santander to train alongside consolidated figures from the world of art. Miroslaw Balka, Lothar Baumgarten, Tacita Dean, Carlos Garaicoa, Paul Graham, Mona Hatoum, Jannis Kounellis, Julie Mehretu, Antoni Muntadas, Gabriel Orozco, Juliâo Sarmento and Juan Uslé are some of the Workshop leaders who have shared their experience and knowledge. Over the course of two weeks, 15 artists from all over the world come to live alongside renowned international artists, sharing experiences and intense working days, as they develop their own personal project, which they can also share with members of the public at an Open Day.
Goshka Macuga is part of the group exhibition "Entangle / Physics and the Artistic Imagination" at the Bildmuseet in Umeå. The exhibition shows different contemporary positions of artists and designers, who are dealing with science. Macuga’s installation “International Institute of Intellectual Co-operation” 2015/2016, refers to the same named institute, which was found in 1920's. The Idea was to facilitate the international exchange of intellectuals. Macuga expanded this model by bringing together portraits of intellecutals who hypothetically discuss problematic matters of our time.
Sensual surfaces seduce the eye, inviting the viewer to simply enjoy. Karin Kneffel paints canvasses that exert a magical attraction. Her realist painting draws the viewer into sophisticated visual worlds in which her skillful arrangement of formal ornaments and the interplay of colors blend into an optical fireworks display. However, the works retain a secretive aloofness, as if the perfect, inviting, yet sealed-off surface is deliberately preventing a closer look.
A major figure in contemporary art, Jeff Wall has deeply transformed the way we think about photography. By aligning it with a broader pictorial tradition and appraising it in its relations to other arts – painting first, but also cinema and literature – he has redefined its essence and extended the field of its possibilities. © Jeff Wall
The academic field dealing with the inner structure of the body is directly at the interface of art and science. The precise documentation of the body for teaching purposes was formerly mostly the result of close collaboration between visual artists and anatomists. While macroscopic anatomy deals with things that are visible to the naked eye, today’s focus is on cell biology and, therefore, on the molecular level. (ERES-Stiftung) © Thomas Struth
