TAMPA, FL - In celebration of the 2012 centenary of experimental composer John Cage’s birth, Tempus Projects is proud to present “Things Not Seen Before: A Tribute to John Cage” a visual art exhibition organized by Independent Curator Jade Dellinger. Inspired by a line from a letter the curator (as a student – in the late 1980’s) received from the late, great composer concerning the work of Marcel Duchamp, Cage noted: “I am not interested in the names of movements but rather in seeing and making things not seen before.”
Presented in conjunction with “John Cage’s 33-1/3 – Performed by Audience” at the Tampa Museum of Art (also curated by Dellinger), “Things Not Seen Before” at Tempus Projects will premiere several vintage original artworks by John Cage – including a “Strings” series monotype, unique trial proof lithographs from his “Mushroom Book” (like those in the Permanent Collection of MoMA/New York), and mesostic manuscript pages for “Empty Words” that have never been previously exhibited.
Site-specific artworks by prominent local artists Joe Griffith and painter Theo Wujcik (who had the opportunity to photograph John Cage on a rare visit to Tampa) will be included with John Cage-related or –inspired video, sculptural objects, drawings and scores by Fluxus pioneers like Nam June Paik, Philip Corner, Giuseppe Chiari and Milan Knizak. Numerous other Cage collaborators, friends and acquaintances including Performance artist Laurie Anderson, ex-Talking Heads frontman David Byrne, The Art Guys, Christina Kubisch, Stephen Vitiello, Andrew Deutsch, Keith Edmier, Emil Schult of Kraftwerk-fame, filmmaker Roberta Friedman, Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo and winner of the Golden Lion for Best Artist in the 2011 Venice Biennale, Christian Marclay will be featured and/or contributing “things not seen before” for the show at Tempus Projects.
According to Jade Dellinger, “The artworks will be positioned on the gallery walls by utilizing John Cage’s own (rather unorthodox) chance operations-based installation method, and, as several of the works on paper serve a dual-function as ‘graphic scores’, there remains the potential for musical interpretation of the artworks on exhibit. ” As the curator continues, “As his own practice made abundantly clear, I believe John Cage would have appreciated our modest tribute and this potential for 'things not heard before' too.”
Additionally, we are very grateful to Laura Kuhn, Executive Director of The John Cage Trust at Bard College, for her enthusiasm and support of both “Things Not Seen Before: A Tribute to John Cage” at Tempus Projects and “John Cage’s 33-1/3 – Performed by Audience” at the Tampa Museum of Art.
Additional special programing including musical preformances and works from Robbie Land at TEMPUS PROJECTS: TBA
For more information about the exhibition, please contact Jade Dellinger at Artsites@aol.com . For hours, directions or inquiries about Tempus Projects call or email Tracy Midulla Reller at 813.340.9056 or tempusprojects.art@gmail.com .
For more about the 2012 John Cage Centennial celebrations worldwide, please visit the official website of The John Cage Trust at JohnCage.org.
About the CURATOR:
Jade Dellinger is an Independent Curator collaborating regularly with the Contemporary Art Museum at the University of South Florida and the Tampa Museum of Art. In 1994, he invited artist Doug Aitken to present his first site-specific video installation "I'd Die for You" at the Pasco Art Center in Holiday, Florida. He curated Maurizio Cattelan’s U.S. museum debut "Choose Your Destination: How to Get a Museum-Paid Vacation" in 1995, and organized the collaborative "Keith Edmier & Evel Knievel" project in 1997 at the USF CAM. With USF CAM Director Margaret Miller, Dellinger co-curated "[re]mediation: The Digital in Contemporary American Printmaking" (the official U.S. participation in the 22nd International Biennal of Graphic Art in Ljubljana, Slovenia). In the interim, Dellinger has curated major solo museum shows for Allan McCollum, Lucy Orta, Atelier Van Lieshout, Carlos Amorales, Janaina Tschäpe, Keith Haring, Ann Hamilton & Andrew Deutsch, The Art Guys and others. He has contributed to numerous exhibition catalogues and publications including Flash Art International, Art Papers, Art Lies, Guitar Aficionado and Maurizio Cattelan’s Permanent Food, and co-authored the book, Are We Not Men? We Are DEVO! (SAF Publishing Ltd./UK, 2003/2008), which traces the history of the seminal 1980s New Wave band.
So goes the press release. This exhibition represents a small step for Jade Dellinger, who has been thoughtfully collecting/researching objects and art that blur the boundaries between sonic and visual art for years, and one giant leap for Tempus Projects. Here are a few images from the opening of the exhibition with a bit of commentary.
Installation view with Andrew Duetch's video array in the foreground and Christian Marclay's Wind Up Guitar in the background mounted to the wall.
The videos shown here are the same but being played out of sinc. The image is of John Cage reading some of his mesostic scripts with strange drawings/manipulations happening throughout the video. This work was a collaboration between Andrew Duetch and Cage that was first shown in the exhibition "Polyvectral Extentions" at the Florida Gulf Coast University Art Galleries in 2011.
The Wind Up Guitar by Christian Marclay. This is the same instrument (1 of 5 in existence) that was performed with during Marclay's incredible exhibition at The Witney Museum in NY,NY. You can see a youtube clip of Thurston Moore performing on this instrument at - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgBzmXC8wnc
