Still Points of the Turning World
Intensity, experimentation, and visceral presence were the hallmarks of 13 significant one-person installations – some of them newly commissioned, all of them never-before seen in the U.S. – that constituted SITE SANTA FE’s Sixth International Biennial. Ottmann’s exhibition both concentrated and amplified these singular works, empowering them to speak for themselves without the common filter of a prescriptive curatorial theme. As Ottmann explained, “I want this Biennial to be about the artists, not about the curator.” Ottmann envisioned a bold concept for this timely, groundbreaking Biennial. Eager to steer away from the now ubiquitous mega-biennials, he dramatically reduced the quantity of artists to 13 and the exhibition to approximately 40 works. Each artist had separate rooms, designed to encourage as well as seduce their audiences with a purer, unmediated experience. The exhibition covered the full spectrum of contemporary art media and comprised photography, installation, painting, performance art, soundscapes, sculpture, and video. All the work was new, and four artists were commissioned to create works expressly for the Biennial
Exhibited Artists:
Mirosław Bałka
Jennifer Bartlett
Patty Chang
Stephen Dean
Peter Doig
Robert Grosvenor
Cristina Iglesias
Wolfgang Laib
Jonathan Meese
Wangechi Mutu
Carsten Nicolai
Catherine Opie
Thorns Ltd.
Curator:
Klaus Ottmann
Mirosław Bałka
Mirosław Bałka is a sculptor also active in the field of experimental video and drawing. In 1985 he graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw,...LEARN MOREJennifer Bartlett
Jennifer Bartlett was known for her room-sized installations ranging in medium, that explored her immediate environments including houses, mountains, ...LEARN MOREPatty Chang
Patty Chang has cited the work of the seminal performance artist Marina Abramovic and the films of Jean Cocteau as inspiration. Chang is a performance...LEARN MOREStephen Dean
Stephen Dean is a French American artist based in New York City. His time-based works, installations and watercolors summon physiological and anthropo...LEARN MOREPeter Doig
One of the most accomplished artists of the last decade, Peter Doig has introduced a new spirit into the genre of narrative painting. His work emanate...LEARN MORERobert Grosvenor
Robert Grosvenor’s formative years coincided with those of the leading Minimalist sculptors Carl Andre, Donald Judd, Sol LeWitt, and Robert Morris. In...LEARN MORECristina Iglesias
Cristina Iglesias’s work evolved in the context of European and American sculpture during the 1980s and 1990s, whereby the object of sculpture was exp...LEARN MOREWolfgang Laib
Wolfgang Laib creates sculptures and installations that seem to connect past and present, the ephemeral and the eternal. He employs simple, yet highly...LEARN MOREJonathan Meese
Jonathan Meese is known for his liturgical performances and his Dionysian installations of paintings and sculptures that create complex worlds of clos...LEARN MOREWangechi Mutu
A native of Kenya, Mutu mixes her cultural heritage with Western sources that range from high fashion and pornography to the past and present history ...LEARN MORECarsten Nicolai
Carsten Nicolai is a German artist and musician based in Berlin. He is part of an artist generation who works intensively in the transitional area bet...LEARN MORECatherine Opie
Catherine Opie is known for her powerfully dynamic photography that examines the ideals and norms surrounding the culturally constructed American drea...LEARN MOREThorns Ltd.
Thorns Ltd. was founded in 2003 by the experimental musicians Snorre Ruch, Finn Olav Holthe, and Jon Wesseltoft. Its name is derived from Thorns, a Bl...LEARN MOREKlaus Ottmann
Klaus Ottmann is an independent curator, writer, and translator based in New York City. He is the Adjunct Curator of the Collection at the Parrish Art...LEARN MORE