Kapital
October 19, 2006- December 22, 2006
Reception: October 19, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
541 W 25th St
| | Emily PrinceAll of the American Servicemen and Women...(detail) (2004) |
Kent Gallery is pleased to present Kapital, a curated project that explores the concept
of means of exchange. Spanning from 1864 to the present, the exhibition brings
together an international group of 26 emerging and established artists working in a
variety of media. As quoted from
Joseph Beuys, the very structure of politics and
economics could be altered for the better through the language of art. It is our hope
that the projects presented here will offer an expanded interpretation of what can be
called capital and how it is used in society.
Duchamp's Monte Carlo Bond (1938) along with
Dan Graham's Income (Outflow) Piece
(1969) examine the possibility of an artist having economic standing. Duchamp chose
to create and issue bonds on himself, and
Dan Graham sold shares in
Dan Graham,
Inc., causing the artist to become a limited company for all to share ownership. In
Priceless (2004)
Hank Willis Thomas comments upon the tasteless marketing
employed by credit card companies, specifically Mastercard, which equate the
ownership of a credit card (borrowed capital) with experiencing a priceless moment in
one’s life. In an earlier work entitled The Chase Advantage (1976),
Hans Haacke
comments on the connections between financial institutions and art related
public relations.
Means of exchange is also extended here to include slaves and soldiers as spendable or
expendable capital used to achieve specific economic agendas. The Emancipation Proclamation,
(exhibited here), deprived the Confederacy of essential labor by granting freedom to individuals
who were once considered assets bartered to sustain the economy. In her ongoing project begun
in 2004, All of the American Servicemen and Women Who Have Died in Iraq, But Not Including
the Wounded, Nor the Iraqis,
Emily Prince seeks to directly address the human cost of war.
Prince draws the faces of soldiers killed on a daily basis which can be found posted on the
website militarycity.com. Thus far, there are over 2,800 entries in her archive of drawings
organized by birthplace. The project serves as a memorial, containing individual, hand drawn
portraits of the United States soldiers killed trying to fulfill the agenda of the current Bush
administration.
We would like to thank the following artists for their collaboration on this project:
Dennis ADAMS, John HEARTFIELD, Martha ROSLER,
Ray BELDNER, Alfredo JAAR, Hank Willis THOMAS,
Joseph BEUYS, Neil JENNEY, Amikam TOREN,
Marcel BROODTHAERS, Peter KENNARD, Joe ZANE,
Chris BURDEN, Jeff KOONS,
Jonathan CALM, Abraham LINCOLN,
Marcel DUCHAMP, Mark LOMBARDI,
Simon EVANS, Antoni MUNTADAS,
Llyn FOULKES, Shirin NESHAT,
Dan GRAHAM, Yoko ONO,
Hans HAACKE, and Emily PRINCE.
Books and DVDs related to artists in this show| Location | map | | Gallery | Kent Gallery | | Address | 541 W 25th St, 2nd Fl New York (Chelsea) NY, 10001 United States | | Phone | 212-627-3680 | | Hours | Tue-Sat 10-6 | |
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