Guest Curated by Femke Lutgerink, with the work of artist Leonard Van Munster, in collaboration with artists and scientists from Boston and Amsterdam.
Opening Reception: Saturday February 3, 2007, 8 to 10 pm.
Round Table Discussion about show creation with curator and artists February 3rd, 6:30 -7:45 pm.
Second Gallery is pleased to present Great Apes, guest curated by Dutch curator Femke Lutgerink. Femke Lutgerink has invited Dutch artist Leonard Van Munster to develop an exhibition in the Second Gallery space in collaboration with artists and scientists from Boston and Amsterdam, including: Sarah Banach (artist), Aisha Graham (artist), Jon Horvitz (Boston College), Marisa Jahn (artist), Geert Jan Mulder (artist), Peter Schmitt (MIT Media Lab, artist), Eric Weber (MIT Media Lab), Tom Würdinger (MGH/Harvard Medical School).
Great Apes is the result of an alternative curatorial approach in which artist and curator collaborate amid an emergent network of other artists, scientists, and intellectuals. Second Gallery is closed for a month before the opening of Great Apes allowing the process for creating the show to unfold. Great Apes explores the human fascination with gaining and wielding the ability to control and alter life on the most basic levels. This exhibition approaches the theme of the malleability of life-forms through the interaction of artistic and scientific practices, resulting in a unique exploration of phenomena such as genetics, cloning, the creation and diffusion of information, the relationship between science and politics, and the shifting of our understanding of truth over time.
As much as Great Apes explores a theme, it is also an experiment in a redefinition of the roles of the curator and the artist. Femke Lutgerink is a curator who is deeply involved in the development and creation of the show. Leonard Van Munster is the primary artist in the show, developing the theme with Femke Lutgerink, but additionally curating contributions from other artists and scientists as well as collaborating with them toward the creation of new works. When the show is completed the visitor will see the visual result of this collaborative curatorial and artistic approach.
Femke Lutgerink is an art historian and independent curator from The Netherlands. In 2002 she started FEMME art projects and has been based in Boston since the summer of 2006. In the creation of her exhibitions she incorporates the history and culture of the exhibition location. She has worked in Boston with Space Other and has a show forthcoming at the Boston Center for the Arts Mills Gallery. More information on Femke Lutgerink is at.femkelutgerink.nl. Leonard Van Munster is an artist living and working in Amsterdam. He studied visual art at the Gerrit Rietveld Art Academy in Amsterdam. Van Munster's latest projects are site specific installations in public places and exhibition spaces. He explores in his work the mechanisms of estrangement - how can (small) interventions change our experience of space? How can a space be altered through an artist's interaction with the audience? More information on Leonard Van Munster is at www.donleo.org.
Before the opening of Great Apes there will be a public roundtable discussion with Femke Lutgerink, Leonard Van Munster, Rebecca Gordon of Second Gallery, and the rest of the show contributors about the show's creation, theme, and curatorial approach.
Great Apes, Guest Curated by Femke Lutgerink with the work of artist Leonard Van Munster. February 3rd - March 3rd, 2007. Opening Reception Saturday February 3rd, 8 to 10 pm, Roundtable Discussion 6:30 - 7:45 pm.
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