NUMBER THIRTEEN
MISSED CONNECTIONS
MOREHSHIN ALLAHYARI, HAMISHI FARAH, DEVIN KENNY, LAWRENCE LEK, SANDRA MUJINGA, SONDRA PERRY
A GROUP SHOW CURATED BY JENNIFER CHAN
OPENING NIGHT: THURSDAY, 13 OCTOBER 2016, 7 P.M.
DURATION: 15 OCTOBER 2016 – 26 FEBRUARY 2017
OPENING HOURS: EVERY SATURDAY & SUNDAY, 11 A.M. - 6 P.M.
JULIA STOSCHEK COLLECTION, Schanzenstrasse 54, 40549 Düsseldorf
Under the title NUMBER THIRTEEN two exhibition concepts will be presented together at the JULIA STOSCHEK COLLECTION in Düsseldorf starting 15 October 2016.
At the centre of the presentation will be the large-format video installation FACTORY OF THE SUN by Hito Steyerl, which was shown for the first time in the German Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2015 with the support of the JULIA STOSCHEK COLLECTION, and which now takes centre stage on the second floor of the exhibition. The filmmaker and author is considered a critical observer of our globalised world in the digital age. Her artistic practice precisely describes the fluidity and mutability of images – starting with their production and translation through to their interpretation and circulation.
In FACTORY OF THE SUN Hito Steyerl links the symbolically charged power of the sun with the enormous power of our current digitalised reality. In the installation, Steyerl uses the motif of sunlight allegorically to represent a complex exploration of everyday and surveillance technologies in order to tackle the dialectic of freedom and incarceration.
Parallel to this, but separated from it spatially, the artist Jennifer Chan curated the group exhibition MISSED CONNECTIONS on the first floor at the invitation of Hito Steyerl and in cooperation with the JULIA STOSCHEK COLLECTION.
MISSED CONNECTIONS takes a critical look at the indulgences and excesses of our technocratic society. The exhibition takes its name after the “Missed Connections” forum on Craigslist, where people who have fallen in love with strangers can leave messages. Chan assumes that in the areas of technology and culture there are many missed opportunities for critical analysis of power and identity.
The exhibition comprises eleven works by six artists who, in their own visual vocabulary,
attempt to detach themselves from the traditional narratives of our digital reality and pop culture. Chan’s approach deliberately calls into question the supposed conveniences that digitalisation brings with it. Thus the individual positions point to a subtle, postcolonial discourse on the intersections of ethnicity, gender and contemporary work conditions.
OPENING NIGHT: THURSDAY, 13 OCTOBER 2016, 7 p.m.
OPENING PROGRAMME
7.15 p.m., second floor
A SMALL BIRD WILL DROP FROZEN (THE ARC BENDS TOWARDS JUSTICE)
Performance by Devin Kenny
8 p.m., second floor
Talk between artists Devin Kenny, Lawrence Lek, Hito Steyerl and curator Jennifer Chan, moderated by lecturer and writer Melissa Gronlund (in English)
GUIDED TOURS
English-language guided tours and special tours outside the regular opening hours upon request. Please send any enquiries to the following e-mail address visit@julia-stoschek-collection.net.
SOCIAL MEDIA
FACEBOOK /juliastoschekcollection
INSTAGRAM @juliastoschekcollection
#juliastoschekcollection #NUMBERTHIRTEEN #FACTORYOFTHESUN #MISSEDCONNECTIONS
