Nasher Museum of Art Presents ‘Memorials of Identity’

Sunday, 17 September 2006 20:05

DURHAM, N.C. -- The Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University will present “Memorials of Identity,” an exhibition of nine new media works from the Miami-based Rubell Family Collection by seven international artists.  The exhibition will be on view through Oct. 1.

The Nasher Museum of Art is a major new arts center on Duke’s campus that serves the university, Research Triangle area and surrounding region with exhibitions and educational programs.  The works, all DVD video projections, examine the impact of historical change on individual, cultural and national identity, and embody personal responses to national trauma and the effects of globalization.

The seven video artists are William Kentridge of South Africa; Sigalit Landau, who lives and works in Israel; Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba, who was born in Tokyo and lives in Vietnam; Norwegian artist Sven Pahlsson; Albania-born Anri Sala, who lives in Paris; Fiona Tan of Indonesia; and Artur Zmijewski, who lives in Warsaw, Poland.

“We are honored to present groundbreaking works of video art from The Rubell Family Collection,” said Kimerly Rorschach, the Mary D.B.T. and James H. Semans Director of the Nasher Museum.  “It is important to our mission to bring to the region work that represents the highest caliber, leading-edge media and the global diversity of the contemporary art world.”

“Memorials of Identity” was co-curated by Luisa Lagos and Mark Coetzee, director of The Rubell Family Collection.  After the Nasher Museum, the exhibition travels to the Haifa Museum of Art in Israel.  Each video, less than 30 minutes long, will be on view as a continuous loop in separate screening spaces in one of the museum’s main galleries.

The Rubell Family Collection is one of the leading collections of contemporary art in the world and includes a research library with more than 30,000 volumes.  The Rubells’ extensive collection of work dating from the 1960s to the present is exhibited in a converted 45,000-square-foot warehouse in Miami.  The collection began soon after Don and Mera Rubell were married in 1964.  Their son, Jason, a 1991 Duke graduate, and their daughter, Jennifer, have joined their parents in expanding the collection.

The works that will be on view at the Nasher Museum of Art are:

-- “Sprawlville” (Sven Pahlsson, 2002, 13 minutes, color, sound, DVD projection)

-- “Facing Forward” (Fiona Tan, 1999, 11 minutes, color, sound, DVD projection)

-- “Intervista” (Anri Sala, 1998, 26 minutes, color, mono sound, DVD video projection)

-- “Ubu Tells the Truth” (William Kentridge, 1997, 8 minutes, color, sound, DVD projection)

-- “History of the Main Complaint” (William Kentridge, 1996, 5 minutes, color, sound, DVD projection)

-- “Felix in Exile” (William Kentridge, 1994, 8 minutes, color, sound, DVD projection)

-- “Memorial Project Nha Trang, Vietnam: Towards the Complex – For the Courageous, the Curious, and the Cowards” (Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba, 2001, 13-minute, color, sound, DVD video projection)

-- “Our Songbook” (Artur Zmijewski, 2003, 13 minutes, color, sound, DVD projection)

-- and “Barbed Hula” (Sigalit Landau, 2001, 1 minute and 48 seconds, color, sound, DVD projection.)

The Nasher Museum of Art, designed by Rafael Viñoly, is located at 2001 Campus Drive at Anderson Street.  The museum, which opened in October 2005, also includes a café and gift store.

Visit The Nasher Museum of Art at : www.nasher.duke.edu/