RUINS IN REVERSE
curated by Flavia Frigeri and Sharon Lerner
Tate Modern
Project Space - Level 1
Millbank - London
1 March–24 June 2013
Ruins in Reverse is the result of a curatorial collaboration between Tate Modern in London and the Museo de Arte de Lima – MALI in Peru. The exhibition questions the distinction between historical monuments and abandoned urban ruins. Presented in Tate Modern’s Project Space, it brings together works by six international artists: Rä di Martino, Pablo Hare, José Carlos Martinat, Haroon Mirza, Eliana Otta and Amalia Pica.
Borrowing its title from an idea found in Robert Smithson’s 1967 essay A Tour of the Monuments of Passaic, Ruins in Reverse draws attention to a subtly nuanced contemporary archaeology in which the tenuous line between reality and fiction is blurred. Tangible historical monuments are overwhelmed by the fictions they promote, while ordinary objects and signs gain a significance that makes them monumental.
Jose Carlos Martinat will create two special commissions for Ruins in Reverse, which will explore the idea of the discarded urban ruin and the signs and graffiti of London and Lima. The first commission will be on display at Tate Modern, consisting of assembled resin skins peeled from Lima’s city walls, while the second commission will take place in Lima with new material drawing on his London experience.
In her series of photographs No More Stars (Star Wars) 2010, Rä di Martino’s plays the part of an archaeologist uncovering the contemporary detritus of the cinematic industry. She photographs the abandoned Star Wars movie sets in the deserts of North Africa, which now appear like a strange archaeological site or an unofficial monument to Hollywood’s glorious past. Capturing these once emblematic backdrops, her images reveal how they have become part of the landscape after years of being buffeted by sand and the elements.
The works on display include Pablo Hare’s Monuments series 2005–2012, a sequence of photographs documenting the proliferation of new public statuary in Peru. Intended to embody the spirit of a place, these statues often fail to relate to their surroundings, such as a giant dinosaur on a remote hillside. Amalia Pica’s video work On Education 2008 also addresses public monuments in her work, by confronting the ubiquity of equestrian statuary through the lens of Jean Jacques Rousseau’s treatise An Education.
Eliana Otta’s Archaeology as Fiction 2010 presents a survey of the decline of the Peruvian record industry since its 1960s and 70s heyday, and the concurrent construction boom taking place in Lima. Her work uses photographs, vinyl records, cassettes and CDs to explore this urban transformation. Haroon Mirza addresses similar issues through his sound installation Cross section of a revolution 2011. This work combines tangible fragments of technological waste, such as record turntables and computer keyboards, with intangible fragments of the fast-paced, ever-changing Internet era.
Image: Rä di Martino, No More Stars (Star Wars) 33°59’39 N 7°50’34 E Chot El-Gharsa, Tunisia 03 September 2010, © the artist and Monitor, Rome
curated by Flavia Frigeri and Sharon Lerner
Tate Modern
Project Space - Level 1
Millbank - London
1 March–24 June 2013
Ruins in Reverse is the result of a curatorial collaboration between Tate Modern in London and the Museo de Arte de Lima – MALI in Peru. The exhibition questions the distinction between historical monuments and abandoned urban ruins. Presented in Tate Modern’s Project Space, it brings together works by six international artists: Rä di Martino, Pablo Hare, José Carlos Martinat, Haroon Mirza, Eliana Otta and Amalia Pica.
Borrowing its title from an idea found in Robert Smithson’s 1967 essay A Tour of the Monuments of Passaic, Ruins in Reverse draws attention to a subtly nuanced contemporary archaeology in which the tenuous line between reality and fiction is blurred. Tangible historical monuments are overwhelmed by the fictions they promote, while ordinary objects and signs gain a significance that makes them monumental.
Jose Carlos Martinat will create two special commissions for Ruins in Reverse, which will explore the idea of the discarded urban ruin and the signs and graffiti of London and Lima. The first commission will be on display at Tate Modern, consisting of assembled resin skins peeled from Lima’s city walls, while the second commission will take place in Lima with new material drawing on his London experience.
In her series of photographs No More Stars (Star Wars) 2010, Rä di Martino’s plays the part of an archaeologist uncovering the contemporary detritus of the cinematic industry. She photographs the abandoned Star Wars movie sets in the deserts of North Africa, which now appear like a strange archaeological site or an unofficial monument to Hollywood’s glorious past. Capturing these once emblematic backdrops, her images reveal how they have become part of the landscape after years of being buffeted by sand and the elements.
The works on display include Pablo Hare’s Monuments series 2005–2012, a sequence of photographs documenting the proliferation of new public statuary in Peru. Intended to embody the spirit of a place, these statues often fail to relate to their surroundings, such as a giant dinosaur on a remote hillside. Amalia Pica’s video work On Education 2008 also addresses public monuments in her work, by confronting the ubiquity of equestrian statuary through the lens of Jean Jacques Rousseau’s treatise An Education.
Eliana Otta’s Archaeology as Fiction 2010 presents a survey of the decline of the Peruvian record industry since its 1960s and 70s heyday, and the concurrent construction boom taking place in Lima. Her work uses photographs, vinyl records, cassettes and CDs to explore this urban transformation. Haroon Mirza addresses similar issues through his sound installation Cross section of a revolution 2011. This work combines tangible fragments of technological waste, such as record turntables and computer keyboards, with intangible fragments of the fast-paced, ever-changing Internet era.
Image: Rä di Martino, No More Stars (Star Wars) 33°59’39 N 7°50’34 E Chot El-Gharsa, Tunisia 03 September 2010, © the artist and Monitor, Rome
