Exhibition: Canceled: Alternative Manifestations and Productive Failures

David Horvitz, Rarely Seen Bas Jan Ader Film, film still, 2007. Courtesy of the artist and 2nd Cannons Publications.

April 18 – June 30, 2012
Opening: Wednesday, April 18th, 7:00-9:00pm

Center for Book Arts
28 West 27th Street, 3rd Floor
New York, NY 10001

Curated by Lauren van Haaften-Schick

This exhibition will present canceled or otherwise prohibited exhibitions that now exist as publications or in other formats. These publications document the process and politics of cancellation, exist as an alternative manifestation of the exhibit, act as a critique of the forces that called for its cancellation, or may be an admission and exposition of an ultimately productive failure. In the context of the Center for Book Arts, ‘Canceled’ highlights the book form as a crucial means of disseminating documentation and information on a wide and accessible scale, potentially in ways that are more historically stable, and more effective, than the original exhibition would have been. Through utilizing printed matter, these artists and curators have found alternative routes through which the politics surrounding the presentation and creation of art become at least as relevant as the work itself.

A full color catalogue will be produced in conjunction with the exhibition, with essays by Lauren van Haaften-Schick, and contributions by Guerrilla Girls and Sérgio Muñoz Sarmiento.

Canceled Exhibitions and Artist’s Projects:
–Manifesta 6, Nicosia, 2006
–Wallace Berman, Ferus Gallery, Los Angeles, 1957
–Hans Haacke, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1971
-Guerrilla Girls, Billboard for the Public Art Fund, New York, 1989
-Jill Magid, Becoming Tarden, redacted manuscript, 2004 – 2008, confiscated from Authority to Remove, Tate Modern, London, 2009 – 2010
-David Wojnarowicz, A Fire in My Belly, censored from Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, 2010 – 2011
–It’s Me, Beijing, 1998
–Imaginary Coordinates, The Spertus Museum, Chicago, 2008
-Christoph Büchel, Training Ground for Democracy, Mass MoCA, North Adams,
Massachusetts, 2006
-Patrick Cariou, Yes Rasta, Celle Gallery, New York
-Richard Prince, Canal Zone, Gagosian Gallery, New York, 2008
-anonymous, exhibition unknown, 2001
–Jo Baer, Whitney Museum of American Art, 1972
-Brendan Fowler, BARR tour, 2008
-Bas Jan Ader, In Search of the Miraculous, 1975

Publications, Works, and Documentation:
Bas Jan Ader, Greg Allen, Jo Baer, Wallace Berman, Cameron, Patrick Cariou v. Richard Prince, Dexter Sinister, Mai Abu ElDahab, Exit Art, Brendan Fowler, Guerrilla Girls, Hans Haacke, David Horvitz, Douglas Huebler, Wu Hung, Jonathan Katz, Leng Lin, Jill Magid, Mass MoCA v. Christoph Büchel, P.P.O.W., Rhoda Rosen, Seth Siegelaub, Temporary Services, Lawrence Weiner, Werkplaats Typografie, Anton Vidokle, Florian Waldvogel, Marion van Wijk and Koos Dalstra, Amy Wilson, David Wojnarowicz, and others.

Screening: May 23, 6:30PM: Amy Harrison, David Horvitz, David Wojnarowicz and others

Discussion: June 13, 6:30PM: When Cancellations Become Form: Sérgio Muñoz Sarmiento Esq. on the Visual Artists Rights Act and Mass MoCA v. Christoph Büchel

For additional information contact Lauren van Haaften-Schick: Lauren@LaurenVHS.com

Tags: agreements, art, censorship, commissioning, curating, law, promises, sergio munoz sarmiento