About

A rich vein of contemporary artistic practice revaluates the utopian dreams of the modern period. 'Modern Ruin' brings together artists and filmmakers who look back to modern art, architecture and design in order to visually and critically explore their historical failures. The profusion of recent images of modern ruins in art and film can be seen both as a response to particular physical and aesthetic qualities, and also as a metaphor for loss. The works in the exhibition and film program speak of living in the ruins of Modernism; some translate a mood of disappointment while others are imbued with a melancholy sense of dreams half-remembered. They examine the decay, detritus and self-effacing survivals of historical modernity.

Ruination is the shadow of progress and utopian thinking. From the Enlightenment, the idea of the modern was associated with the creation of new bodies of knowledge, with progress and the perfection of self and society. Modernity came to signify industrialisation and urbanisation from the second half of the nineteenth century. Modernism as a movement in art, literature, architecture and design, is associated with the avant-gardes of the early twentieth century, with radical innovation and the creation of new languages.

The contemporary landscape of art and film is littered with ruins, palimpsests of creation, form and disintegration. A return by artists and filmmakers to Modernism's purified forms and autonomous objects represents an attempt to imagine new meanings for them. The forms of the past emerge at particular times, sometimes as fragments or ruins. The question is how to decipher these fragments to create constellations of meaning that move between past, present and future.

The exhibition features film, video and installation works by artists and filmmakers including Chris Cornish, Stan Douglas, Manthia Diawara, Nina Fischer and Maroan El Sani, Andreas Fogarasi, Cyprien Gaillard, William Kentridge, Ann Lislegaard, David Maljkovic, Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, Ursula Mayer, Tracey Moffatt, Laurent Montaron, Deimantas Narkevičius, Susan Norrie, Anri Sala and Alain Tanner. The film program explores historical paradoxes and faultlines in the dream of progress and urban modernity and includes films by Michelangelo Antonioni, José Luis Guerín, Bill Morrison, Roberto Rossellini, Andrei Tarkovsky and Orson Welles.

LECTURE
Modern Ruin, Kathryn Weir
Curator's introduction to the exhibition and film program

List of Works

• Il Deserto Rosso (The Red Desert) 1964 | Director: Michelangelo Antonioni
• Modern Times 1936 | Director: Charles Chaplin
• Orphée (Orpheus) 1949 | Director: Jean Cocteau
• Maison Tropicale 2008 | Director: Manthia Diawara
• Vidéo 2006 | Artist: Stan Douglas
• xoo - ex ovo omnia 2006 | Artist: Nina Fischer, Maroan El Sani
• Brasilia 1998 | Artist: Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster
• En Construcción (Work in Progress) 2001 | Director: José Luis Guerín
• Zeno Writing 2002 | Artist: William Kentridge
• Tower of Shadows (Winter Solstice) 2006 | Artist: Corey Mccorkle
• Decasia 2001 | Director: Bill Morrison
• Le Mani Sulla Città (Hands Over the City) 1963 | Director: Francesco Rosi
• Germania Anno Zero (Germany Year Zero) 1948 | Director: Roberto Rossellini
• Paisà (Paisan) 1946 | Director: Roberto Rossellini
• Roma, Città Aperta (Rome, Open City) 1945 | Director: Roberto Rossellini
• Une Ville a Chandigarh (A City at Chandigarh) 1965 | Director: Alain Tanner
• Nostalghia (Nostalgia) 1983 | Director: Andrei Tarkovsky
• Солярис (Solaris) 1972 | Director: Andrei Tarkovsky
• Сталкер (Stalker) 1979 | Director: Andrei Tarkovsky
• Trafic (Traffic) 1971 | Director: Jaques Tati
• Tie Xi Qu (West of the Tracks) 2003 | Director: Wang Bing
• The Trial 1962 | Director: Orson Welles
• Morakot (Emerald) 2007 | Artist: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
• MEDIA GALLERY
• Tate Modern 2003 | Artist: Chris Cornish
• Brasilia, Contradições de Uma Cidade Nova (Brasilia, Contradictions of a New City) 1967 | Artist: Joaquim Pedro De Andrade
• Palast der Republik - Weißbereich (Palace of the Republic – White Area) 2001 | Artists: Nina Fischer, Maroan El Sani
• Fun Palace from Kultur und Freizeit (Culture and Leisure) 2007 | Artist: Andreas Fogarasi
• Ikarus from Kultur und Freizeit (Culture and Leisure) 2007 | Artist: Andreas Fogarasi
• Desniansky Raion 2007 | Artist: Cyprien Gaillard
• Black Canyon 2008 | Artists: David Haines, Joyce Hinterding
• Orpheus 1956 | Artist: Barbara Hepworth
• Villa Cavrois 2000 | Artist: Guillaume Leblon
• Crystal World (after JG Ballard) 2006 | Artist: Ann Lislegaard
• Scene for New Heritage III 2006 | Artist: David Maljkovic
• Always After (The Glass House) 2006 | Artist: Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle
• Interiors 2006 | Artist: Ursula Mayer
• Bestiare 2007 | Artist: Corey Mccorkle
• Doomed 2007 | Artist: Tracey Moffatt
• What Remains Is Future 2006 | Artist: Laurent Montaron
• Revisiting Solaris 2007 | Artist: Deimantas Narkevičius
• Enola 2004 | Artist: Susan Norrie
• Dammi i Colori (Give Me the Colours) 2003 | Artist: Anri Sala