Projects

Space Is The Place

 

 

 

 

PRESS RELEASE

 

DADADANDY PRESENTS

presents

SPACE IS THE PLACE

A project featuring Pierre Ardouvin, John Armleder, Piero Golia,

Goshka Macuga, Jonathan Monk, Simon Moretti, Moriceau + Mrzyk,

Mai-Thu Perret, Joe Scanlan, Vedovamazzei

 

25 NOVEMBER 2006 - 13 JANUARY 2007

OPENING RECEPTION SATURDAY 25 NOVEMBER 6.00 – 8.30 PM

Ritter/Zamet is pleased to present Space is the Place, a collaborative exhibition with Dadadandy. The brainchild of artist Simon Moretti and Paul Heber-Percy (formerly of Percy Miller Gallery), Dadadandy is loosely defined as “an artwork, an artist, a place for discussion and a curatorial agency”. Combining the irreverent spirit of Dada along with the experimental attitude of Fluxus, Dadadandy functions as an umbrella for many curatorial activities including the conception, production and presentation of new works by artists as well as providing a forum for collaboration, exchange and discussion filtered through the website www.dadadandy.com. Recent outside projects have seen a presentation at Art Basel 2006, the Dadadandy Pavilion (in a parked limousine) outside the Frieze Art Fair last month and the Guerrilla Show, a collaboration with Vedovamazzei presenting an off-side exhibition of Dadadandy memorabilia and related works within their current show at Museo Madre, Napoli. John Armleder's Dadadandy edition can also be seen in the exhibition, Amor vacui, horror vacui at MAMCO in Geneva (18 October 2006 – 21 January 2007), and at the Kunstverein Hanover (25 November 2006 – 28 January 2007).

The exhibition at Ritter/Zamet will for the first time showcase Dadadandy’s ongoing series of artist editions. In the spirit of Marcel Duchamp’s Box in a Valise, Fluxus pioneer George Maciunas’ 1960s Fluxus boxes and, more recently, Hans Ulrich Obrist’s Do It, the editions are mostly presented in the form of artists’ instructions or kits that enable an interactive engagement with the artwork. These artist directives range from the very simple to the extremely complex or even physically impossible–in some cases directing the “collaborator” to perform an action or generate an idea instead of an object. This ranges from Goshka Macuga’s homage to Francis Picabia’s iconic painting L’Oeil Cacodylate (1921) with her catalogue insert for collecting artists’ signatures, Moriceau and Mrzyk’s framed drawing with instructions to remake David Cronenberg’s film The Fly using a budgerigar and Vedovamazzei’s musical score and accompanying DVD of a blues song to be sung by the collector who has purchased the work. Other editions are simply extraordinary objects that capture the essence of Dadadandy including Simon Moretti’s wood and chrome weighted magic wand or Mai-Thu Perret’s hand-stitched leather gloves with Carlo Mollino motifs. The works are produced in small editions, exquisitely packaged in black cloth- bound archival boxes and issued with signed certificates of authenticity.

The title, Space is the Place, alludes to a film by John Coney about the life of the experimental and flamboyant American Jazz musician and philosopher, Sun Ra and the grand “cosmic structure” designed to display the ten Dadadandy editions stands as a testament to his work and beliefs. With an extensive armature and circular panel platforms radiating within the gallery space, the construction references an Orrery, a kinetic mechanical device that illustrates the relative positions and motions of the planets and moons in the solar system as a heliocentric model. The structure is also designed as a physical representation of and a tribute to the network of Dadadandy.

 

Ritter/Zamet, 2 Bear Gardens London SE1 9ED
Opening times Tuesday - Saturday 10-6
www.ritterzamet.com

 

Dadadandy Deluxe Museum Edition 2006
Dadadandy and Dadadandy artists
Painted wood and MDF display structure with Dadadandy editions

 

 

 

 

 

 

#4 The Hypnotizing Fragrance 2006
Dadadandy
Cut and glued felt banner
152 x 104 cm

 

 

#3 Le Dandy 2006
Dadadandy
Cut and glued felt banner
152 x 104 cm

 

Installation view

 

 

Action Figures, Dadadandy 2006
Vedovamazzei
Wood, acrylic, human hair, string
39 x 37 x 30 cm

 

 

Ad Campaign (Luxury Collections No. 1) 2006
Dadadandy
Collage on paper
52 x 42 cm