Beau Monde
Toward a Redeemed Cosmopolitanism
In selecting Dave Hickey to curate its fourth biennial, SITE SANTA FE made a bold and canny choice because Hickey had vociferously criticized both the concept and execution of biennials as “trade shows for curators in search of internationally certified installations to fill out their exhibition schedules.” While the earlier curators all scoured the globe in search of artists to weave installations around a loose theme, Hickey opted for the pragmatic, the democratic, and the historical in Beau Monde: Toward a Redeemed Cosmopolitanism. Instead of trying to make an ideological point, he organized “an exhibition that I want to see,” whose fundamental criterion was simply “Does the space look better and more interesting with or without it?” Hickey selected 27 international artists, including Jo Baer, Ed Ruscha, Jesús Rafael Soto, and Jessica Stockholder, who wove diverse cultural milieux into a “beau monde.”
Exhibited Artists:
Kenneth Anger
Jo Baer
Jeff Burton
James Lee Byars
Pia Fries
Gajin Fugita
Graft Design
Frederick Hammersley
Marine Hugonnier
Jim Isermann
Ellsworth Kelly
Josiah McElheny
Darryl Montana
Sarah Morris
Takashi Murakami
Nic Nicosia
Kermit Oliver
Jorge Pardo
Ken Price
Stephen Prina
Bridget Riley
Ed Ruscha
Alexis Smith
Jesús Rafael Soto
Jennifer Steinkamp
Jessica Stockholder
Jane & Louise Wilson
Curator:
Dave Hickey
Kenneth Anger
Kenneth Anger was a pioneer of avant-garde film and video art. His iconic short films are characterized by a mystical-symbolic visual language and phantasmagorical-sensual opulence that underscores the medium’s transgressive potential. Anger’s work fundamentally shaped the aesthetics of 1960s and 1970s subcultures, the visual lexicon of pop and music videos and queer iconography. The artist considered his life an artwork in its own right and frequently wove elements of myth, fact and fiction into his biography. His works can be understood as an integrative part of this life-as-artwork.VIEW ARTISTDavid Hickey
Dave Hickey, a MacArthur Foundation "genius," was one of the preeminent arts writers of modern times. In the 1960s, he founded the formative art gallery A Clean Well-Lighted Place in Austin. In the 1970s, he was Executive Editor of Art in America in New York. He was Booker for the Dripping Springs Reunion and Staff Songwriter for Glaser Publications in Nashville. He wrote music under the moniker Dave’s Everyday Songs, including “Cooky and Lila,” performed by Dr. Cook, and “Calgary Snow,” performed by Bobby Bare. Hickey was instrumental in defining Outlaw country music, and he is said to have coined the terminology.VIEW CURATOR