THE HAMSTERWHEEL - PRESS RELEASE (english)

The ego of modern man has taken on its shape within the beautiful soul as

a dialectical cul-de-sac. (However, an escape from this impasse, where it deliriously repeats its iscourse, does offer itself to the subject. [Com-munication can be reliably achieved within the inter-subjective realm of science and its applications, as required within a universal civilisation.]) (Lacan)

Artists:

Jean - Marc Bustamante, Urs Fischer, Olivier Garbay, gelitin, Douglas Gordon, Rachel Harrison, Sarah Lucas, Paola Pivi, Rudolf Polanszky, Ugo Rondinone, Tamuna Sirbiladze, Una Szeemann, Piotr Uklanski, Franz West, Toby Ziegler.

The exhibition offers the luxury of the large hall and is viewed by its organisers as a comfort stop within the context of the biennial's obstacle course offering an opportunity for refreshment, relaxation and entertainment. Group exhibitions are usually held pursuant to a recognisable plan, illustrating a purpose, elucidating a theme or serving a motto. Curators select according to a scheme and if it cannot be clearly distinguished and communicated to the media they may easily find themselves subjected to accusations
of arbitrariness.

The exhibition puts the question of art's purpose and meaning to the test. Musical concerts, in contrast to group exhibitions, usually assemble works of various authors and provenances without claiming any particular context of signification. The fine arts, by contrast, are increasingly subjected to the terrorism of interpretation.

that's the way how The Hamsterwheel works:

The exhibition brings together artists whose works are connected in some cryptic way. Is it chance that brought them together? Serendipity? Old Boys' networks? Pitfalls along a career trajectory between dementia praecox and dementia senilis? Contexts, in any case, reveal themselves when concrete life situations are being looked at, bringing together artists from various directions. The works are meant to develop their aura on the basis of, precisely, a lack of thematic connections.

No selection has been made on the grounds of present criteria. Artists selecting other artists, friends, curators, according to their own lights, whims, predilections, and discretions, as they saw fit for this exhibition. Curators are a critical entity, not a determinant authority. Encounters, not constructions of signification, are the important thing.

The organisers and designers are Valentina Cancelli, Veit Loers, Christian Meyer (Gallery Meyer Kainer), Ewald Stastny, Atelier Franz West, Schlebrügge. Editor and Printemps de Septembre Team.

The exhibition is complemented by a publication, which, however, remains basically a sampler consisting of freely chosen material sent in by the artists – as well as autonomous textual contributions including Carola Annoni, Darsie Alexander, Alison Gingeras, Urs Jaeggi, Georg Gröller, Veit Loers, Achille Bonito Oliva, Agnes Kohlmeyer, David Galloway, Midori Matsui, Milovan Farronato, Rudolf Polanszky, Bruce Haines, Martin Guttmann, Gabriel Loebell, Francesco Stocchi.

The video box: offers a free choice of videos arranged by Veit Loers, based on the principle of a juke box that plays selected films including John Bock, Marcus Coates, Christian Jankowski, Erik van Lieshout, José Ruiz Gonzalez, Antonio Ortega, Peter Fischli / David Weiss, Georg Herold, Annika Ström, Thomas Zipp, Ralf Ziervogel, David Zink Yi, Tamuna Sirbiladze, Mark Leckey, Hans Weigand, Jonathan Monk, Rudolf Polanszky.

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The venue:

TESA DELLA NUOVISSIMA 105,

Arsenale di Venezia
ACTV: 41,42, 51, 52; Fermata: Bacini
Entrance: Spazio Thetis

Opening: 7th june, 4pm
Opening concert featuring Philipp Quehenberger, ddkern & Marco Eneidi

Duration: june 8th - 26th august
www.hamsterwheel.eu

The Exhibition The Hamsterwheel will be shown

more extensively at the

Festival de Printemps de Septembre in Toulouse -
From the 21st september until 14th october 2007.
Opening: 21st september, 6pm

www.printempsdeseptembre.com