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MOCAD will be closed for installation July 26, 2010 - September 9, 2010
UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS: OPENING SEPTEMBER 10, 2010
Spatial City: An Architecture of Idealism
Yona Friedman, Ville spatiale, 1959-1960. Photography: François Lauginie. Collection Frac Centre.
Spatial City, the first exhibition in the United States of artwork drawn from the French Regional Contemporary Art Funds (Frac), brings together an international, multi-generational array of contemporary artists whose work contends with utopian thinking and the idealism and cynicism it inspires.
The exhibition Spatial City originated with the theoretical architecture of the same name by Yona Friedman (b.1923). In his first manifesto, Mobile Architecture (1958), Friedman defined the structures in this ideal city as being transformable, transportable and occupying as little ground area as possible, pushing structures to hover over the earth rather than occupy its surface directly. Friedman’s ideas, disseminated in the aftermath of World War II, have influenced subsequent generations both indirectly and directly. While Friedman’s concepts informed the framework of the show, the selection of artwork reflects the cycling and recycling of optimism and cynicism in postwar and contemporary culture. Artists in the exhibition are responding to society’s complex problems: the failed utopian social experiments that resulted in the dehumanizing conditions of Brutalist architecture, the rise and fall of totalitarian states, the tensions resulting from post-colonial immigration, and the destruction of the environment in the name of progress.
Artists in the exhibition include: Lida Abdul, Élisabeth Ballet, Yves Bélorgey, Berdaguer & Péjus, Katinka Bock, Monica Bonvicini, Jeff Carter, Maurizio Cattelan/Philippe Parreno, Jordi Colomer, François Dallegret, Peter Downsbrough, Philippe Durand, Jimmie Durham, Simon Faithfull, Didier Fuiza Faustino, Cao Fei, Robert Filliou, Elise Florenty, Yona Friedman, Dora Garcia, Séverine Hubard, Stefan Kern, Bertrand Lamarche, Vincent Lamouroux, Mark Leckey, Didier Marcel, François Morellet, Sarah Morris, Juan Muñoz, Stéphanie Nava, Philippe Ramette, Sara Schnadt, Kristina Solomoukha, Tatiana Trouvé, Marie Voignier, herman de vries, Clemens von Wedemeyer, Stephen Wetzel, Raphaël Zarka and others. The presentation in Detroit includes the work of Detroit-based artist Ben Hall in his first museum exhibition and Paris-based artist Katinka Bock (b. 1976), who will be in residence at MOCAD during the summer to produce site-specific artworks for the exhibition. MOCAD is thrilled to announce a special installation by architect Yona Friedman (b. 1923) that encapsulates the progressive ideas that informed the exhibition.
Curator Nicholas Frank (Inova, Peck School of the Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee) originated the concept and exhibition. Participating curators are Allison Peters Quinn (Hyde Park Art Center), Luis Croquer (Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit - MOCAD), Eva González-Sancho (Frac Bourgogne), Yannick Miloux (Frac Limousin) and Marie-Cécile Burnichon (Platform-Regroupement des Fonds régionaux d'art contemporain – the association of the Frac). The project and tour were developed in partnership with Platform and Polly Morris (formerly of Inova) and the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States. Spatial City has visited two other architecturally rich Midwestern cities, originating at the Institute of Visual Arts (Inova) (http://www3.uwm.edu/arts/about/inova.html) at the Peck School of the Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (February 5-April 18, 2010) and Chicago’s Hyde Park Art Center (http://www.hydeparkart.org/) (May 23-August 8, 2010), and will be at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit from September 10-December 30, 2010.
There will be a catalog to accompany the exhibition, edited by Polly Morris with Marie-Cécile Burnichon. The catalog will feature photos from each institution’s installation, along with critical essays, artist biographies and checklists of the work in the exhibition.
The project Spatial City: An Architecture of Idealism was supported in part by Culturesfrance-French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, the French Ministry of Culture and Communication (Délégation Générale de la Création Artistique-service des arts plastiques), the Cultural Services of the French Embassy. Katinka Bock’s residency is made possible with the support of Étant donnés, the French American Cultural Exchange (FACE). Additional support is generously provided by Jane and Edward Schulak.
Martha Friedman: Rub

Courtesy of Wallspace, New York and the artist
Artist Martha Friedman’s (b. 1975) sculptures are inspired by common things including food, office supplies and body parts. By enlarging the scale and focusing on details of their shape and surface, her work engages the viewer with the sculptural aspects of these everyday forms. Friedman explores the textural qualities of the materials that she uses and sets them up to create unexpected dialogs between viewer and object. The exhibition Rub will consist of two major new works commissioned by MOCAD. Tongue Flap is a giant rubber tongue that reveals the negative space underneath a large black rubber flap, while Rubbers is a matrix of 108 oversized, hand cast rubber bands stretching to bridge the twenty-foot span between the Museum’s floor and ceiling. Whereas Tongue Flap is a contained—albeit monumental—sculptural work, Rubbers occupies nearly the entire space of the gallery where it is installed, creating a unique environment where these re-imagined and enlarged objects confront and interact with the viewer.
Martha Friedman: Rub is organized by The Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit and curated by Luis Croquer, Director and Chief Curator.
UPCOMING PROGRAMS
MUSIC Friday September 10, 2010 at 8PM
Hallogallo 2010: Michael Rother and friends play the music of Neu! & Harmonia (featuring Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth on drums + Aaron Mullan of Tall Firs on bass).
Admission: $10, Tickets available through the MOCAD website, Stormy records in Dearborn and Peoples records in Detroit.
Purchase tickets through the MOCAD website:
If buying tickets through the website please note tickets will not be mailed, your name will be added to a list at the door.
The legendary German group NEU! released only 3 albums between 1972 and 1975, but these albums had an influence wildly disproportionate to their modest commercial success; praised by and influential to David Bowie, Hawkwind, Iggy Pop, DEVO, Sonic Youth, Stereolab, Autechre, Radiohead, U2, Wilco, Primal Scream, and beyond. In May 2010 Gronland Records will release a box including these three LP’s and an incredible batch of bonus material. Also this year will be the first live presentation of this music in more than 35 years as ‘Hallogallo 2010.’
Michael Rother and Klaus Dinger first came to the public’s attention shredding Hendrix-toned riffs and pounding monotonous, tom-heavy beats in a particularly psychedelic 1971 version of Kraftwerk. The pair left after 6 months to form NEU! and took with them their tandem musical language that would go on to have a far-reaching influence. Dinger’s propulsive beat is often cited as the quintessential motorik drumming, while Rother’s guitar playing made something new from a variety of influences: The timbres were of rock music, but the melodic sense was something else- the scales were bittersweet and very European, accompanied by a Middle-Eastern style open-string drone. The trio of Rother, Dinger, and producer Conny Plank created a cohesive universe where straightforward tones and melodies intermarried with heavily processed elements, where reality could turn itself inside-out or stretch out seemingly forever.
Rother and Dinger parted ways after the third NEU! album. Rother concentrated on his collaboration with Cluster (Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius) as Harmonia, and starting in 1977, released a series of solo records. Dinger began a new project called La Dusseldorf. The pair regrouped in 1985/86 but were never able to complete another album to their mutual satisfaction. In 2008 Klaus Dinger passed away. Regarding the NEU! box set, Rother says: It was my aim to present Klaus Dinger´s musical strengths and visions just as much as my own ideas. All during the emotional process of reworking our album Klaus was on my mind and I contemplated what he would think about my decisions. I was very relieved and moved to hear from his heir Miki Yui that she was pleased with the result presented with the album NEU!´86."
Inspired by revisiting these recordings, Rother has invited a group of musicians to visit the NEU! universe with him for a series of live performances: ‘Hallogallo 2010’ consists of Michael Rother with Steve Shelley and Aaron Mullan. They will perform a limited number of concerts this year. This group will perform NEU! music and selections from Rother’s work with Harmonia and his solo albums.
Steve Shelley is best known for drumming in Sonic Youth since 1985. He has also recorded or performed with The Fugs, Allen Ginsberg, Arto Lindsay, Loren Mazacane Connors, The High Confessions, Christina Rosenvinge, Richard Hell, Giant Sand, the Matt Zivich Trio, Ron Asheton, Tom Verlaine, Mike Watt, Townes Van Zandt, Cat Power, The Raincoats, Brigitte Fontaine, Robert Quine, Enrique Morente and many others.
Museum
Tours
Wednesdays at 1pm
Saturdays at 1pm & 4pm
Tours are free and open to the public
For group reservations please contact Zeb Smith at zsmith@mocadetroit.org.
Museum Hours
Wednesday, Saturday, & Sunday: 11 - 5 pm
Thursday & Friday: 11 - 8 pm
closed Monday & Tuesday

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