Modern Ruin
Modern Ruin
12 July– 12 October 2008, Australian Cinémathèque and Media Gallery, GoMA
Exhibition and film program
A rich vein of contemporary artistic practice revaluates the utopian dreams of the modern period. ‘Modern Ruin’ brings together artists and filmmakers who look back to modern art, architecture and design in order to visually and critically explore their historical failures. The profusion of recent images of modern ruins in art and film can be seen both as a response to particular physical and aesthetic qualities, and also as a metaphor for loss. The works in the exhibition and film program speak of living in the ruins of Modernism; some translate a mood of disappointment while others are imbued with a melancholy sense of dreams half-remembered. They examine the decay, detritus and self-effacing survivals of historical modernity.
Ruination is the shadow of progress and utopian thinking. From the Enlightenment, the idea of the modern was associated with the creation of new bodies of knowledge, with progress and the perfection of self and society. Modernity came to signify industrialisation and urbanisation from the second half of the nineteenth century. Modernism as a movement in art, literature, architecture and design, is associated with the avant-gardes of the early twentieth century, with radical innovation and the creation of new languages.
The contemporary landscape of art and film is littered with ruins, palimpsests of creation, form and disintegration. A return by artists and filmmakers to Modernism’s purified forms and autonomous objects represents an attempt to imagine new meanings for them. The forms of the past emerge at particular times, sometimes as fragments or ruins. The question is how to decipher these fragments to create constellations of meaning that move between past, present and future.
The exhibition features film, video and installation works by artists and filmmakers including Chris Cornish, Stan Douglas, Manthia Diawara, Nina Fischer and Maroan El Sani, Andreas Fogarasi, Cyprien Gaillard, William Kentridge, Ann Lislegaard, David Maljkovic, Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, Ursula Mayer, Tracey Moffatt, Laurent Montaron, Deimantas Narkevičius, Susan Norrie, Anri Sala and Alain Tanner. The film program explores historical paradoxes and faultlines in the dream of progress and urban modernity and includes films by Michelangelo Antonioni, José Luis Guerín, Bill Morrison, Roberto Rossellini, Andrei Tarkovsky and Orson Welles.
Entry to exhibition and film program is free.
Please note that the ‘Modern Ruin’ weekly screenings will not be presented during the St George Bank Brisbane International Film Festival, Friday 1 – Sunday 10 August.
The catalogue accompanying ‘Modern Ruin’ is available at the Gallery Store, RRP $9.95 (incl. GST) or purchase online at www.australianartbooks.com.
Modern Ruin Kathryn Weir
Curator's introduction to the exhibition and film program
Friday 12 Sept 5.30pm / Cinema A
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Il Deserto Rosso (The Red Desert) 1964 Wed 30 July 6.00pm and Thu 31 July 12 noon / Cinema A |
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CHARLES CHAPLIN |
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Modern Times 1936 Thu 17 July 1.00pm and Sat 19 July 1.00pm / Cinema A |
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JEAN COCTEAU |
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Orphée (Orpheus) 1949 Sat 12 July 3:00pm and Sun 13 July 3:30pm / Cinema B |
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CHRIS CORNISH |
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Tate Modern 2003 Media Gallery |
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JOAQUIM PEDRO DE ANDRADE |
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Brasilia, Contradições de Uma Cidade Nova (Brasilia, Contradictions of a New City) 1967 Every Fri 2.00pm (with Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster Brasilia) / Cinema A |
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MANTHIA DIAWARA |
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Maison Tropicale 2008 Every Fri 3.00pm (with Guillaume Leblon Villa Cavrois) / Cinema A |
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STAN DOUGLAS |
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Vidéo 2006 Every Wed, Fri and Sun 12 noon / Cinema A |
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NINA FISCHER and MAROAN EL SANI |
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Palast der Republik - Weißbereich (Palace of the Republic – White Area) 2001 Media Gallery |
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xoo - ex ovo omnia 2006 Every Wed 2.00pm / Cinema A |
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ANDREAS FOGARASI |
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Fun Palace from Kultur und Freizeit (Culture and Leisure) 2007 Media Gallery |
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Ikarus from Kultur und Freizeit (Culture and Leisure) 2007 Media Gallery |
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CYPRIEN GAILLARD |
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Desniansky Raion 2007 Media Gallery |
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DOMINIQUE GONZALEZ-FOERSTER |
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Brasilia 1998 Every Fri 2.00pm (with Joaquim Pedro De Andrade Brasilia, Contradictions of a New City) / Cinema A |
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JOSE LUIS GUERÍN |
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En Construcción (Work in Progress) 2001 Fri 3 Oct 8.00pm and Wed 8 Oct 3.30pm / Cinema A |
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HAINES/HINTERDING |
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Black Canyon 2008 Media Gallery |
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BARBARA HEPWORTH Orpheus 1956 Media Gallery |
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WILLIAM KENTRIDGE |
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Zeno Writing 2002 Every Thu 2.30pm and Sat 12.30pm (with Morakot (Emerald)) / Cinema B |
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GUILLAUME LEBLON |
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Villa Cavrois 2000 Every Fri 3.00pm (with Manthia Diawara Maison Tropicale) / Cinema A |
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ANN LISLEGAARD |
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Crystal World (after JG Ballard) 2006 Media Gallery |
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DAVID MALJKOVIC |
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Scene for New Heritage III 2006 Media Gallery |
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ÑIGO MANGLANO-OVALLE |
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Always After (The Glass House) 2006 Media Gallery |
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URSULA MAYER |
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Interiors 2006 Media Gallery |
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COREY MCCORKLE |
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Bestiare 2007 Media Gallery |
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Tower of Shadows (Winter Solstice) 2006 Every Thu 3.30pm (wtith Alain Tanner A City at Chandigarh) / Cinema B |
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TRACEY MOFFATT (collaboration with GARY HILLBERG) |
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Doomed 2007 Media Gallery |
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LAURENT MONTARON |
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What Remains Is Future 2006 Media Gallery |
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BILL MORRISON |
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Decasia 2001 Sat 12 July 5.30pm / Cinema A and Sun 13 July 2.00pm / Cinema B |
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DEIMANTAS NARKEVIČIUS |
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Revisiting Solaris 2007 Media Gallery |
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SUSAN NORRIE |
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Enola 2004 Level 3 Images Viewing Gallery, GoMA (opposite Library) |
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FRANCESCO ROSI |
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Le Mani Sulla Città (Hands Over the City) 1963 Fri 3 Oct 6.00pm and Sat 4 Oct 1.00pm / Cinema A |
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ROBERTO ROSSELLINI |
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Germania Anno Zero (Germany Year Zero) 1948 Fri 26 Sept 6.00pm and Wed 1 Oct 3.30pm / Cinema A |
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Paisà (Paisan) 1946 Wed 24 Sept 3.00pm and Fri 26 Sept 8.00pm / Cinema A |
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Roma, Città Aperta (Rome, Open City) 1945 Fri 19 Sept 6.00pm and Sun 21 Sept 1.00pm / Cinema A |
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ANRI SALA |
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Dammi i Colori (Give Me the Colours) 2003 Media Gallery |
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ALAIN TANNER |
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Une Ville a Chandigarh (A City at Chandigarh) 1965 Every Thu 3.30pm (with Corey McCorkle Tower of Shadows [Winter Solstice]) / Cinema B |
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ANDREI TARKOVSKY |
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Nostalghia (Nostalgia) 1983 Fri 19 Sept 8.00pm and Sun 14 Sept 1.00pm / Cinema A |
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Солярис (Solaris) 1972 Fri 5 Sept 7.00pm and Sat 6 Sept 1.00pm / Cinema A |
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Сталкер (Stalker) 1979 Fri 12 Sept 7.00pm and Sat 13 Sept 1.00pm / Cinema A |
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JACQUES TATI |
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Trafic (Traffic) 1971 Sun 27 July 1.00pm and Wed 30 July 4.00pm / Cinema A |
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WANG BING |
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Tie Xi Qu (West of the Tracks) 2003 Sat 11 Oct 11.00am (Part 1) + 2.00pm (Part 2) and Sun 12 Oct 11.00am (Part 3) + 2.30pm (Part 4) / Cinema A |
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ORSON WELLES |
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The Trial 1962 Thu 9 Oct 2.00pm and Fri 10 Oct 6.00pm / Cinema A |
| APICHATPONG WEERASETHAKUL Bangkok/Thailand b.1970 |
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Morakot (Emerald) 2007 Every Thu 2.30pm and Sat 12.30pm (with William Kentridge Zeno Writing) / Cinema B |
