AMY FINE COLLINS ANISH KAPOOR CHARLOTTE MCKINNEY EVA DOLL JENA MALONE MARIN HOPPER MIKHAIL BARYSHNIKOV SANDRA CHOI THE STARN TWINS AND MORE

Transcription

1 AMY FINE COLLINS ANISH KAPOOR CHARLOTTE MCKINNEY EVA DOLL JENA MALONE MARIN HOPPER MIKHAIL BARYSHNIKOV SANDRA CHOI THE STARN TWINS AND MORE 2015 / ISSUE N 8

2 Max Mara in the Arts

3 La Casa dell Arte, Max Mara in the Arts Interview by Tatijana Shoan The late fashion designer and founder of clothing giant Max Mara, Achille Maramotti, had a 30-year-old dream of creating a public institution that would house his collection of modern and contemporary art. His vision was to create an exemplary public institution where people could nurture their appreciation and interest in art. His mission was to celebrate and share the works of the most advanced creative minds of his time. In 2007 his dream was finally realized and Collezione Maramotti opened their doors in the historic headquarters of the Max Mara company in the ancient Italian town of Reggio Emilia. This impressive threelevel structure was commissioned in 1957 by Achille and built by the renowned architectural team of Antonio Pastorini and Eugenio Salvarani. Collezione Maramotti, north entrance (Photo by Claudia Marini) Achille had an undeniable love affair with art. He purchased his first artwork at the ripe old age of 25 from a friend, Italian abstract expressionist Alberto Burri. His family upholds the work of their patriarch by continuing to nurture the arts and young artists. They started the Max Mara Art Prize for Women in collaboration with the Whitechapel Gallery in 2005, the year Achille passed away. The prize reflects both the family and Max Mara s close relationship with the worlds of women and of art. The biannual prize is open to all art forms and aims to encourage and support emerging women artists who live and work in the United Kingdom, one of the epicenters of the international art scene. The prize provides the distinctive opportunity for further creative development potential of the awarded artist by supporting the creation of a new artwork and presenting a platform to showcase the work. 166 AS IF / ISSUE 8 AS IF / ISSUE 8 167

4 I had the privilege of interviewing Marina Dacci, Director of Collezione Maramotti, and Iwona Blazwick, Director of Whitechapel Gallery in London. I asked them about the Max Mara Art Prize for Women, its recent award recipient Corin Sworn, the importance of Collezione Maramotti and the role of Whitechapel Gallery today. AS IF: Marina, I recently learned that the Maramotti family are the second largest collectors of contemporary art in the world. They opened Collezione Maramotti to share the work with the public. Can you tell me more about this venture? Marina Dacci: Achille Maramotti started collecting contemporary art in the 60s and began his modern art collection in the 50s. Before the Collezione Maramotti was opened to the public in 2007, the various artworks were not housed in a single location: some were displayed in private homes, some in company offices, and some were held in storage facilities, but there was always a desire and an inclination to exhibit and display the new acquisitions in order to share them with company employees Artworks by Christopher Wool (particularly designers) within the factory premises. The Maramotti family embraced this legacy and the right moment came when the Max Mara company moved to a new location and the first factory, dating to the 1950s, became vacant. This provided the opportunity to bring the assets together as a cohesive corpus of works in a venue where, from the very beginning, they had all been displayed in turn at the time of purchase. From this we can also glean what we might define as a sentimental rationale, whereby the venue acquires the significance of a space of memory, transformed from a place of production and design to a space of art. The building was restored with deep respect for the original concept and materials because it is one of the first examples in Italy of Brutalist and Organic architecture for industrial buildings, and in whose design Achille actively participated, along with two young Italian architects studying with Albini. Another important aspect to consider is this family s approach to art collecting. There has never been a close connection between collecting and the idea of making a financial investment (despite an awareness of the market value of the artworks), but it has been a kind of magnificent obsession with discovering something new and sharing it with pleasure and pride. None of the works that have been purchased have ever been given away or sold, and I think this shows a strong link between the artworks themselves and the life story of the Maramotti family as collectors. The factors at play are thus an inclination for art collecting, a sentimental rationale, a logistical reason, and the creation of a cultural system. AS IF: What was Achille s main mission when he started collecting, and how have you been able to preserve that vision? MD: Our mission consists in bringing the collection to the public, and to make the heritage of this important family of collectors known in the cultural way in which they want to convey it. In other words: transmit Collezione Maramotti s identity in an organic and coherent way. Art as a resource certainly meant as a personal and collective development, and not as an event to be consumed, but as an opportunity to grow, demanding commitment, time, intellectual awareness, and personal understanding. This is the model of functioning, fruition, and enhancement that we want to convey. Now, the art scene goes a bit against this idea. Many subjects exhibiting or presenting art are concerned today about the number of visitors, to have full attendance at their openings, to secure the participation of celebrities in their exhibitions, and to transform the approach to art into a media event. AS IF: The Collezione is dedicated to showing works from the second half of the 20th century. 21st-century art is mainly reserved for specific exhibitions and temporary shows. As we are progressing into the 21st century will we be seeing more permanent 21st-century works on display? MD: The Collezione Maramotti operates at different levels. Our permanent collection features the highlights of Achille Maramotti s historical collection: the works have been selected based on their significance for the various stages of evolution of the Collezione. It is not organized according to standard canons of curatorship but follows the dating sequence of the works creation and of the acquisitions: to that extent it constitutes a veritable historical record of the collection s evolution. We thought that this would be the most interesting criterion for sharing these valuable assets with the public, namely, as a way of conveying an experience in art collecting. Visits require advance booking and take place in the presence of museum staff specialist who assists visitors with discretion and in a highly personalized manner. The works held in storage are also shared with the public through theme-based exhibits held regularly in the spaces allocated to temporary exhibits. Projects and commissions are also regularly assigned to young international artists and artists in mid-career. Other regular features include photography exhibits held during the city of Reggio Emilia s annual Fotografia Europea festival, and dance events with specially commissioned, site-specific performances by international dance companies such as Trisha Brown, Shen Wei Dance Company, Wayne McGregor Random Dance, and in November this year, the Hofesh Shechter Company. The Collezione Maramotti, moreover, includes a library Artworks by: Mark Manders, Tom Sachs, Barry X Ball and an archive with a wealth of bibliographical materials and documents on the featured artists, available for use by scholars and academics on request. These materials are periodically displayed in temporary exhibits, particularly the rich collection of artists books. AS IF: The Collezione continues to encourage and cultivate the development of young artists by commissioning them to add to the permanent collection. This is a unique approach for an institution. Can you tell me the importance of these commissions, and what is your artist selection process like? MD: The projects and exhibits we organize are based on commissions that end with our acquisition of the works produced, which then become part of the permanent collection. It is a different kind of format, run in parallel with the purchase of individual works through traditional channels such as artist s studios, art galleries, art fairs, and auctions. The idea of a project is to give the artist free rein: we are not buying an artwork but are investing in artistic energy, and in the search for artists who are considered interesting for the Collezione Maramotti, without knowing beforehand what the final outcome of their creation will be. It is no doubt a more organic and interesting way to boost the collection. Relations with galleries representing artists vary according to the kind of agreements that the artists have with them. We respect the arrangements whereby artists manage their relations with the market and with art galleries. The artists obviously play a key role in the development of the projects (which sometimes also involve the straightforward creation of an artwork), and all the various stages of the exhibit design are obviously shared with them (communication campaigns, installation, and production of the exhibit s accompanying catalogue or artist s book). The selection of the artists who will be assigned the commission is carried out by an informal board consisting of Achille Maramotti s three children, who have all long been art collectors in their own right, and the board then works directly with the management: from the appointment of the artist through to the realization of the exhibits and events. The choices are obviously made based on the consonance between the work of the artists and the artistic identity of the Collezione Maramotti, and clearly on the collectors interests and taste. AS IF: The Max Mara Art Prize for Women launched in Where did the idea for this award germinate and how did the three parties, Max Mara, Collezione Maramotti and Whitechapel Gallery come together to create it? MD: The biannual prize was born out of the company s desire to create opportunities for the professional and relational growth of women artists by offering prize winners a six-month residency in Italy, during which they would be able to get to know our country and conduct their own artistic project. At the time of its inception, Max Mara had to choose an institution that would guarantee artistic quality in the process of selecting the artists and awarding the prize. The Whitechapel Gallery was seen as the best choice 168 AS IF / ISSUE 8

5 in terms of its track record of nurturing women s creativity since the 70s, and as a highly accredited institution in the contemporary art scene. The focus was on the UK because it is looked upon as having one of Europe s most vi-brant and interesting artistic landscapes as well as the ability to combine areas of excellence from various spheres within the cultural scene. The Whitechapel Gallery is responsible for managing the awarding process, selecting the prize winner, and on completion of the winning project it stages the exhibit. The members of the jury panel are women from different professional spheres within the art world such as collectors, critics, journalists, gallery directors, and artists, and the panel changes with every edition of the prize. The awarding procedure is not based on applications but involves the jury members putting forward a shortlist of artists whom they feel are particularly interesting and whose work they are very familiar with. The artists are in mid-career, so they already have a significant artistic background behind them, but are not yet established artists. They have to be residents in the UK, but can be of any nationality. The Collezione Maramotti plays a specific role in the subsequent stages Artworks by Julian Schnabel, Alex Katz Artwork by Anselm Kiefer of the process by proposing places for the residency connected with the winning artist s project, supporting the artist during her six months in Italy, helping to introduce her into Italian culture, providing tutorship in the system of relations, facilitating the necessary research for the project, and collaborating in the production of the project itself. The project comes to a close with a double exhibit held by the Whitechapel Gallery and the Collezione Maramotti, which acquires the work. AS IF: What was the experience like working with Corin Sworn, your 2015 Art Prize winner? MD: Every new edition of the Max Mara Art Prize brings with it new visions and new experiences that enrich this prize in its now decades-old experience. This year, for instance, there has been a new approach to the way in which the residency was organized. This was the first time that an artist moved to Italy for the six month period with her family (her partner and very young child) and this led us to review past practices and find new organizational solutions, which for the artist herself have certainly made the residency not just a professional experience but also a personal one. Corin s project is very complex: it concerns commedia dell arte, a theater genre that originated in Italy and developed throughout Europe; it examines its various different linguistic and social interpretations, and looks at how by extrapolating its specific features it is possible to project it into a contemporary dimension. One thing I really liked about Corin Sworn s approach to her work was her ability to call into question her own ideas: the original concept of her project underwent many changes over the months as her research progressed, and after she studied the materials, documents, and various sources on this subject during her residency. Corin even started learning Italian to get a better grasp of the materials she was working with. Another wonderful experience was the production of the costumes, which was a crucial part of her work, now on show at the Whitechapel Gallery. They were made in collaboration with Max Mara designers here in Reggio Emilia, for which she made the sketches and then followed all the stages of production. AS IF: The Max Mara Art Prize for Women has been exploring other forms of art besides painting, like performance and video. Now with the prize in its fifth edition, what is the importance of nurturing other forms of fine art? MD: A characteristic feature of the prize is that it is awarded for an idea and a project regardless of the media that the artist wishes to employ. It is now a well-established fact that artists today work across the different media and use different techniques and materials according to what the work requires. Corin Sworn s work is emblematic of this trend. In this exhibit she has used videos, performances, objects, costumes, and texts, in a large-scale installation disseminated throughout the exhibition spaces open to visitors. AS IF: Iwona, what were the deciding factors that inspired you and the panel of judges to choose artist Corin Sworn for the 2015 Max Mara Art Prize for Women? Iwona Blazwick: Corin Sworn is a vivid storyteller who weaves together history, fact, and fiction to great effect in her work. When we invited her to present her ideas for a new project for the fifth edition of the Max Mara Art Prize for Women in collaboration with the Whitechapel Gallery, she told us she would use the residency opportunity to immerse herself in research on the Italian commedia dell arte traveling theater troupes in order to develop a film script and installation. The idea of an investigation into this theme alongside the artist s interests in identity and migration was irresistible to us, and we knew the experience of winning the prize would greatly benefit this ambitious work. AS IF: Of Corin s work you have said, For the fifth edition of the prize we are presenting the culmination of Corin Sworn s research from her residency, which gave her an opportunity to sample the culture Artworks by: Malcolm Morley, Eric Fischl and fascinating history of theater in Italy. Sworn s thorough exploration of la commedia and its complex impact on contemporary culture is original and fascinating. What did you learn about commedia dell arte and Italy during that time period as a result of Corin s work? IB: The very nature of the street theater in the 16th century means that there are few remaining records on the commedia dell arte. Plays were an oral tradition and as such were not documented, and the lack of copyright meant playwrights carefully guarded their scripts and notes instead of publishing them. It has been perhaps most fascinating to see how Sworn reinterpreted for her work Silent Sticks a rare list of props she discovered during the residency. The list belonged to an unnamed actor in an anonymous commedia dell arte troupe. From face-wigs, codpieces, jewelry, weapons, food, and animals, these props give a very particular insight into popular entertainment in the late Renaissance. AS IF: The Whitechapel Gallery was first founded in 1901, is known as an educational charity, and has premiered world-class artists such as Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and Frida Kahlo. It nurtures a space where people can experience art and have a dialogue with artists and other creatives. With a clear mission of making art accessible to all people, how does the Max Mara Art Prize for Women fulfill this mission? IB: The Whitechapel Gallery champions women artists not only because of their gender, but because their importance cannot be ignored. In the last five years, 40% of our solo exhibitions have been by women artists. Founded in 1901, we are one of Britain s foremost public museums of modern and contemporary art and alongside artists such as Pablo Picasso, Mark Rothko, and Jackson Pollock we ve also given Barbara Hepworth, Eva Hesse, Nan Goldin, Cindy Sherman, and Sarah Lucas their first major solo shows. Women are still under-represented in the art world and one of the aims of the Max Mara Art Prize in collaboration with the Whitechapel Gallery is to readdress the gender imbalance. The prize is special in that it gives an outstanding artist, at a critical point in her career, the time and space to create a major new body of work. With the expert guidance of our partners at the Collezione Maramotti in Reggio Emilia, the artist s six-month residency is tailored to her individual needs to help facilitate the making of a major new artistic project; from finding childcare and accessing research materials, to introductions to peers, institutions, and industry experts. AS IF: What has been the most rewarding aspect of the prize since its inception in 2005? IB: I am very proud that our winners over the past five editions of the prize have gone on to do great things. They have been exhibited internationally to great acclaim and our winner, Laure Prouvost, went on to win the prestigious 2013 Turner Prize for her stunning installation Farfromwords 170 AS IF / ISSUE 8

6 Max Mara Art Prize for Women in Collaboration with Whitechapel Gallery The Max Mara Fashion Group was founded in 1951 by Achille Maramotti and is now run by the next generation. It is one of the largest women s ready-to-wear companies in the world, with 2,369 stores in more than 100 different countries. On September 29, 2007, the Collezione Maramotti opened to the public in Reggio Emilia, Italy. Collezione Maramotti is a private contemporary gallery exhibiting a permanent collection of more than 220 works, as well as new commissions and projects by international emerging and mid-career artists. For further information, please visit For more than a century the Whitechapel Gallery has premiered world-class artists from modern masters to contemporaries. The Gallery is renowned for showcasing emerging and established female artists and has presented major solo exhibitions of Barbara Hepworth (1955), Eva Hesse (1979), Frida Kahlo (1982), Nan Goldin (2002), Sophie Calle (2009), Gillian Wearing (2012), and Sarah Lucas (2013). The Gallery is a touchstone for modern and contemporary art internationally, plays a central role in London s cultural landscape, and is pivotal to the continued growth of the world s most vibrant contemporary art quarter Margaret Salmon American artist who lives in the UK; started as a video artist at the age of 20; expressive style is inspired by various moments in the history of cinema (Neorealism to New Wave to Cinema Verité). Ninna Nanna is a carefully crafted video triptych, shot in 16 mm in color and black and white, showing three young mothers filmed in their homes singing a never-ending lullaby, a ninna nanna to their babies. The work celebrates the tenacity and the grace of mothers as they go about their daily routines, emphasizing the contradictions between the iconography of motherhood and its reality Margaret Salmon, Ninna Nanna Max Mara Art Prize for Women Installation at Whitechapel Gallery, London, 2007 Photo: Patrick Lears Whitechapel Gallery Margaret Salmon, Ninna Nanna, 2006 Still, Film 16 mm, DVD Margaret Salmon Courtesy Collezione Maramotti Hannah Rickards British artist based in London; sound installations often involve the translation of a sound occurring in nature, and then interpreting it back into language or music. Rickards two-screen film No, there was no red. will be based on spoken accounts of a displaced image of a city seen over Lake Michigan as the result of rare temperature inversion mirages. The subjective divergences, consistencies, echoes, and counterpoints of these accounts will form the core of the piece, offering an exploration about how this natural phenomenon is experienced and translated. An integral part of Rickards work is the presence of text, reflecting the influence of early Conceptual artists such as Douglas Huebler, Robert Barry, and Lawrence Weiner Hannah Rickards, No, there was no red. Annotated Transcripts, 2009 Courtesy the Artist and Whitechapel Gallery Andrea Büttner Works with a variety of mixed materials and media (i.e., woodcuts and press flowers) and is especially interested in the area where art and religion overlap; also investigates the potential dilemmas facing the artist in the expectant space of the gallery. The Poverty of Riches explores the area between religion, art, and the position of the artist in the art world. She engages with Catholicism in a complex multilayered way to think about art. The artworks she produced have been inspired by the Italian religious communities she lived with for a while, by Giotto s frescoes, and byworks from the Maramotti Collection. In her exhibition she transforms the exhibition space into a contemplative space, in which works depicting objects of religious iconography, made in the traditional technique of woodcuts, are on exhibit. Alongside this traditional imagery, everyday textiles from the uniforms of park wardens, policemen, and refuse collectors create colorful paintings when stretched like canvases. These paintings form part of her exploration of the symbolic use of fabric in Italian religious art. 11.1, 11.3 Andrea Büttner, The Poverty of Riches, 2011, Exhibition view Courtesy Collezione Maramotti, 11.2 Andrea Büttner, Bredpebble, 2010, Paint on glass, cm Andrea Büttner, Courtesy Collezione Maramotti

7 b a Laura Prouvost Corin Sworn British artist based in London; work includes film, The latest winner of the Max Mara Art Prize for Wom- performance and installation. Laure Prouvost s work en is the artist Corin Sworn. Her new, large-scale Farfromwords: car mirrors eat raspberries when installation Silent Sticks (2015), was unveiled in May swimming through the sun, to swallow sweet smells 2015 at the Whitechapel Gallery, London, and in Oc- is an environment that the viewer is cordially invited tober will travel to the Collezione Maramotti in Reggio to enter: a large circular room in which a variety of Emilia, Italy. The work follows the artist s six-month media (photographs, collage, video clips, graffiti) Italian residency in Rome, Naples, and Venice and enter into dialog with one another. The entirety of marks the culmination of the fifth edition of the Prize. the iconography that populates the room finds its During the residency the artist studied rare manu- inspiration in the aesthetic co-ordinates and sensual scripts of traditional plays, visited theater productions pleasures to be met while visiting Italy, on terms of a and buildings such as Renaissance architect Andrea highly personal inter-pretation of the notion of an Italian Palladio s Teatro Olympico in Vicenza, whose grand Grand Tour in which objects and persons are the trompe-l œil stage set is the oldest in the world. vehicles of encounters and experiences in which the Silent Sticks focuses on the rich history of the Italian artist lived during the course of her residency in Italy. commedia dell arte, the improvised theatrical comedies from the 16th century onwards performed by touring troupes of actors. Combining architecture, sculpture, and textiles, the installation will set the 13.1 Laure Prouvost, Farfromwords, 2013 Installation view at the Whitechapel Gallery Photo: Stephen White, Laure Prouvost 13.2 Laure Prouvost, Swallow, 2013, film still, digital video Courtesy of Laure Prouvost, Collezione Maramotti, MOT International 13.3 Laure Prouvost, Farfromwords, 2013 car mirrors eat raspberries when swimming through the sun, to swallow sweet smells Installation view at the Whitechapel Gallery Photo: Stephen White, Laure Prouvost 174 AS IF / ISSUE stage for a live performance. Sworn was particularly interested in the evolution of la commedia through history, and the instances of mistaken identity that often appear in its storylines. The role of clothing in 16th- and 17th-century Italian society, and the ability of the newly professionalized role of the actor to destabilize relationships and hierarchies is also explored. The installation features a dramatic stage set with props, costumes, sound, and film: performance and theatrical devices, which retell an infamous story of deception and imposture a, 15.2b Corin Sworn, Silent Sticks Max Mara Art Prize for Women Installation view at Whitechapel Gallery, London, May 2015 Photo: Stephen White 15.3 Corin Sworn costume sketches at the headquarters of Max Mara, Reggio Emilia, December 2015 Courtesy Collezione Maramotti 15.4 Corin Sworn Costume for commedia dell arte, 2015 Courtesy of Collezione Maramotti Corin Sworn costumes Courtesy Collezione Maramotti 15.4