Artists Space

Paper Exhibition
Curated by Raimundas Malasuaskas

January 16 – March 7, 2009

What does the line between reality and fiction look like? Can an exhibition be a life-sized paper model of itself? Whose name didn’t make the press release? And if it sounds good on paper, where is the paper?

These enigmatic questions locate Paper Exhibition at the periphery of the known—between paper architecture and new pages of old books. The exhibition renders the open space of the gallery as a labyrinth of folds, holes and gaps through which an exchange between the literal and the literary can happen.

The exhibition includes works and performances, in order of disappearance, by Julieta Aranda, Olivier Babin, Fia Backström, Judith Braun, Egle Budvytyte, Alex Cecchetti, Mariana Castillo Deball, Dexter Sinister, Gintaras Didziapetris, Jonah Freeman, Aurelien Froment, Dora Garcia, Mario Garcia Torres, Mark Geffriaud, Loris Gréaud, Morten Norbye Halvorsen, Will Holder, Lea Lagasse, Pierre Leguillon, Gabriel Lester, Marcos Lutyens, Benoit Maire, Nicholas Matranga, John Menick, Melvin Moti, Trong Gia Nguyen, Job Piston, Michael Portnoy & Vita Zaman, Pratchaya Phinthong, Conny Purtill, Adam Putnam, Amy Robinson, Joe Scanlan, Gareth Spor, Donelle Woolford, and Joe Zane.

A wide cyclindrical glass bottle with a lightbulb inserted at its opening.
Paper Exhibition. Installation view, Artists Space, 2009. Photo: Adam Reich. [A wide cyclindrical glass bottle with a lightbulb inserted at its opening.]

Opening Reception
Thursday, January 15, 7 - 9pm

Paper Exhibition began as a seminar conducted in San Francisco in 2008 entitled Kaleidoscope Room. Inspired by Jonah Freeman’s artwork, the series of class discussions drew on an open-ended inquiry: “Why are we so attracted by the missing, the lost, and the impossible to know?”

Paper Exhibition, like Kaleidoscope Room, focuses on artworks that position themselves as fragments of larger, non-documented narratives of the lost or vanished. For example, trailers of non-existent films, an examination of the identities of disappeared artists, secret exhibitions and footnotes, and objects extracted from time capsules are included. In translating the seminar to an exhibition, aspects of the conceptual framework of the show have been lost as well. Some ideas and references have evaporated in this transition, while others are still disappearing.

January 15, 2009

Fia Backström
Will Holder
Performance
7pm

January 23, 2009

Hypnotic Show
Performance
7pm

January 28, 2009

Slideshow/Cloakroom
Pierre Leguillon
Screening
7pm

February 25, 2009

Kaleidoscope Room
Jonah Freeman
Lecture
7pm

March 5, 2009

Spending in 2008
Michael Portnoy
Vita Zaman
Performance
7pm

A white plinth in a white room is seen through a rectagular cutout window. There is a small object on the plinth, lit from above by a square, fluorescent light.
Paper Exhibition. Installation view, Artists Space, 2009. Photo: Adam Reich. [A white plinth in a white room is seen through a rectagular cutout window. There is a small object on the plinth, lit from above by a square, fluorescent light.]
A large, empty room with three white walls. The right wall displays glossy papers folded into geometric shapes. The left wall has symmetric, geometric patterns drawn on it.
Paper Exhibition. Installation view, Artists Space, 2009. Photo: Adam Reich. [A large, empty room with three white walls. The right wall displays glossy papers folded into geometric shapes. The left wall has symmetric, geometric patterns drawn on it.]
A cylindrical lamp with cutouts in various shapes projects a shadow on white walls. The lamp sits on a white base, surrounded by three circular floor cushions. On the far wall, there is a mounted television screen showing white text.
Paper Exhibition. Installation view, Artists Space, 2009. Photo: Adam Reich. [A cylindrical lamp with cutouts in various shapes projects a shadow on white walls. The lamp sits on a white base, surrounded by three circular floor cushions. On the far wall, there is a mounted television screen showing white text.]
White glossy paper folded in geometric patterns against a white wall.
Paper Exhibition. Installation view, Artists Space, 2009. Photo: Adam Reich. [White glossy paper folded in geometric patterns against a white wall.]
The corner of a room with two white walls. On one wall, there is a white collared shirt on a hanger, a black and white abstract image, and a small white sculpture.
Paper Exhibition. Installation view, Artists Space, 2009. Photo: Adam Reich. [The corner of a room with two white walls. On one wall, there is a white collared shirt on a hanger, a black and white abstract image, and a small white sculpture.]

Gritz, Anna. "Paper Exhibition." Frieze. February 13, 2009. Online.

Grosz, David. "The Paper Exhibition." Modern Painters. May, 2009. Print. 69.

    A large white wall with symmetric, geometric patterns drawn on it.
    Paper Exhibition. Installation view, Artists Space, 2009. Photo: Adam Reich. [A large white wall with symmetric, geometric patterns drawn on it.]