Hong Kong. BMW Art Journey winner, Zac Langdon-Pole
(represented by Michael Lett, Auckland), has completed the first leg
of his journey and is now on the second leg with the aim of tracing
the gaps and relations between the culturally-constructed star
systems. Entitled ‘Sutures of the Sky: A Journey Tracing
Obscured Histories of the Heavens’, the journey takes
Langdon-Pole across a world which humans and birds have been
navigating for millennia. Langdon-Pole has thus far completed his
journey in Europe and is currently travelling through the Pacific
Islands of Hawaii, Samoa and finally New Zealand where he will
consolidate his artwork.
Inspired by ancient celestial tracing methodology,
Langdon-Pole’s journey questions the position of humans as the center
of the world. Weaving through Europe, and the Pacific islands of Samoa
and Hawaii, his Art Journey seeks to understand how culture intersects
with the science of celestial mapping, and consequently how it
transcends into larger existential inquiries about our identities and
our location in this increasingly globalized world. In the latter half
of this journey, he will follow the flight paths of birds that travel
along the earth’s axis where the Northern and Southern Hemispheres’
summers intersect. Transcending traditional art practices,
Langdon-Pole will incorporate unlikely combinations of images, objects
and histories from specific origins to trace the gaps, relations and
interpolations between cultures, generations and epochs in his Art Journey.
Taking place in European cities of London, Amsterdam, Rotterdam,
Dordrecht, Paris, Montignac, and Marseille the first leg of
Langdon-Pole’s journey provided a site for preliminary research on
early printed star charts and representations of celestial mapping
between different regions. In London, the artist visited the Royal
Academy’s ‘Oceania’ exhibition, including works by indigenous artists
and craftsmen spanning 500 years that demonstrate the astounding
mobility of people in the Pacific Islands throughout history. In
France, as part of the last stop of the artist’s journey in Europe,
Langdon-Pole viewed a prehistoric map of the night sky situated within
the Lascaux caves near Montignac. It dates back at least 16,500 years,
depicting star constellations that were believed to keep track of
astronomical events. The research and travel during this leg of the
BMW Art Journey examined how the star systems of the Southern
Hemisphere were imagined from a European perspective across various
historical periods.
The second leg of the artist’s journey kicked off in Hawai’i,
where the artist visited Mauna Kea and Honolulu. The Mauna Kea
Observatories, located at the summit of Mauna Kea on the Big Island of
Hawai’i, offered Langdon-Pole the opportunity to explore the presence
and mediated dominance of Western astronomy as a starting point in the
Pacific Ocean. While these observatories represent the pinnacle of
scientific and technological engagement with the stars, the artist
explored how their presence is entwined with fraught opposition by
indigenous Hawaiians.
Furthermore, Langdon-Pole will travel to the Marshall Islands to
meet with Alson Kelen of the organization Waan Aelõñ in Majel (Canoes
of the Marshall Islands) (WAM) on the atoll of Majuro. In doing so the
artist aims to learn how connections to these past traditions can tie
to the future of these islands in the context of rising sea levels.
Amongst delving into star navigation methods of the region, the artist
will also research the Mattang, Meddo and Rebbelib ‘stick charts’ that
map the wave currents and ocean swells throughout the 34 islands and
atolls of the Marshall Islands archipelago.
Before heading back to New Zealand to conduct further research
and consolidate his work, Langdon-Pole will also visit Apia and
Savai’i in Samoa. He will be working together with Samoan-New Zealand
artist/composer Michael Lee to trace traditions of celestial
navigation songs. The ways in which Polynesian wayfinders passed down
their knowledge and expertise of navigation through generations was
often in the form of song, which prompted the artist to trace the
historical lineage and remains of these songs throughout the Pacific Islands.
The artist will be on the ground in Hong Kong for the
documentation of his BMW Art Journey project “Sutures of the
Sky” at this year’s Art Basel show.
Launched in 2015, the BMW Art Journey is a collaboration between
Art Basel and BMW, created to recognize and support emerging artists
worldwide. The unique award is open to artists who are exhibiting in
the Discoveries sector during Art Basel in Hong Kong. A judging panel
comprised of internationally renowned experts meet first to select a
shortlist of three artists from the sector, who are then invited to
submit proposals for a journey aimed to further develop their ideas
and artistic work. The jury reconvenes to choose a winner from the
three proposals.
Art Basel and BMW will collaborate with the artists to document
the journey and share it with a broader public through print
publications, online and social media.
For further information about the artists and the project,
please visit:
www.bmw-art-journey.com
An international jury of experts will gather again at the
upcoming Art Basel show in Hong Kong to select a shortlist of
three artists from the Discoveries sector for the next BMW
Art Journey. Members of the jury are Claire Hsu,
Executive Director Asia Art Archive, Hong Kong; Matthias
Mühling, Director Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich;
Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Founder and
President of Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Phil
Tinari, Director Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA),
Beijing; and Samson Young, artist and winner of the
first BMW Art Journey.
The shortlisted artists who will be invited to submit their
proposals for a journey will be announced at the BMW Lounge on
March 28, 2018, at 5.30 PM. That evening, BMW will host an
exclusive VIP cocktail reception to celebrate the announcement of the
BMW Art Journey shortlist.
For further questions please contact:
Prof. Dr Thomas Girst
BMW Group Corporate and
Intergovernmental Affairs
Head of Cultural
Engagement
Telephone: +49-89-382-24753
www.press.bmwgroup.com
E-mail: presse@bmw.de
Dorothee Dines
Art Basel Global
Head of Media
Relations
Telephone: + 41 58 206 27 06
Email: dorothee.dines@artbasel.com
About Zac Langdon-Pole
Zac Langdon-Pole (b. 1988) lives and works in Berlin, Germany.
He studied at Elam School of Fine Arts, Auckland and at the
Städelschule, Frankfurt. His work is often underpinned by questions of
belonging, translation and identification. In 2017, he was awarded the
Ars Viva Prize for young artists living in Germany. Recent exhibitions
include Kunsthalle Darmstadt, Darmstadt; Between Bridges, Berlin; Ars
Viva 2018, Berlin; S.M.A.K. Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Ghent
and Kunstverein München, Munich.
About Art Basel
Founded in 1970 by gallerists
from Basel, Art Basel today stages the world’s premier art shows for
Modern and contemporary art, sited in Basel, Miami Beach and Hong
Kong. Defined by its host city and region, each show is unique, which
is reflected in its participating galleries, artworks presented and
the content of parallel programming produced in collaboration with
local institutions for each edition. Art Basel’s engagement has
expanded beyond art fairs through a number of new initiatives such as
Art Basel Cities, working with partner cities on bespoke cultural
programs. For further information, please visit artbasel.com.
About BMW Group Cultural Engagement
For almost
50 years now, the BMW Group has initiated and engaged in over 100
cultural cooperations worldwide. The company places the main focus of
its long-term commitment on contemporary and modern art, classical
music and jazz as well as architecture and design. In 1972, three
large-scale paintings were created by the artist Gerhard Richter
specifically for the foyer of the BMW Group’s Munich headquarters.
Since then, artists such as Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons, Daniel Barenboim,
Jonas Kaufmann and architect Zaha Hadid have co-operated with BMW. In
2016 and 2017, female artist Cao Fei from China and American John
Baldessari created the next two vehicles for the BMW Art Car
Collection. Besides co-initiatives, such as BMW Tate Live, the BMW Art
Journey and the “Opera for All” concerts in Berlin, Munich, Moscow and
London, the company also partners with
leading museums and art fairs as well as orchestras and opera houses
around the world. The BMW Group takes absolute creative freedom in all
its cultural activities – as this initiative is as essential for
producing groundbreaking artistic work as it is for major innovations
in a successful business.
Further information: www.bmwgroup.com/culture
and www.bmwgroup.com/culture/overview
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