The Contemporary Austin Unveils Four New Installations in Summer and Fall 2016 at the Betty and Edward Marcus Sculpture Park at Laguna Gloria
August 5, 2016
AUGUST 5, 2016, Austin, Texas – The Contemporary Austin announces four new outdoor installations currently on view at, or coming soon to, its fourteen-acre art-in-nature site, the Betty and Edward Marcus Sculpture Park at Laguna Gloria. Widely varied in materials, subject matter, and approach these new works by artists Teresa Hubbard / Alexander Birchler, SUPERFLEX, Terry Allen, and Danae Stratou take advantage of the unique features of Laguna Gloria with its lush forested areas, meadows, paths, lagoon, and historic villa.
All four projects at The Contemporary Austin will be celebrated during a Member-only event at the museum’s Jones Center location on December 16 and during a public program at Laguna Gloria on December 17, 2016.
TERESA HUBBARD / ALEXANDER BIRCHLER
Missing Truffaut, 2014
Currently On View
Austin-based duo Teresa Hubbard / Alexander Birchler have been working collaboratively in video, photography, and sculpture since 1990. Missing Truffaut, 2014, is a rare sculptural work by the pair, which has been added to the museum’s collection as a Gift of Jeanne and Mickey Klein in honor of The Contemporary Austin and the Waller Creek Conservancy. In the work, a functional, commonplace street lamp has been placed along a path leading toward the sculpture park’s grassy meadow above the lake. Attached to the pole is a handmade sign with a photograph of a black and white cat and an entreaty to call a local phone number. Part readymade, part assemblage, Missing Truffaut is easy to overlook due to its utilitarian facade.
In their work, Teresa Hubbard (Irish/American, born 1965) and Alexander Birchler (Swiss, born 1962) explore the construction of narrative time and space without the context of a traditional story line. Their open-ended, enigmatic narratives mine the history of film and the geography of cinematic space to elicit multiple readings.
SUPERFLEX
Lost Money, 2009
Currently On View
Lost Money, 2009, by the Danish artist group SUPERFLEX, consists of two thousand U.S. coins, which the artists scattered across the picturesque terrace of Laguna Gloria’s 1916 Italianate villa. The coins were then affixed to the ground and surfaces where they fell. Initially conceived during the financial crisis of 2008–2009, this “carpet” of currency—removed from circulation and rendered worthless—serves as a commentary on what the artists view as rampant commodity fetishism. At the same time, typical of SUPERFLEX’s witty subversiveness, Lost Money playfully resists visitors’ temptation to pick up the coins.
SUPERFLEX (Danish, formed 1993) is an artist group founded by Bjørnstjerne Christiansen, Jakob Fenger, and Rasmus Nielsen. Lost Money has been added to the museum’s permanent collection through funds provided by the Edward and Betty Marcus Foundation.
TERRY ALLEN
Road Angel, 2016
On View Fall 2016
Terry Allen’s Road Angel, 2016, was commissioned for The Contemporary Austin and will reside in an overgrown, wooded area on the lower grounds of the sculpture park. A love song to the artist’s relationship with the automobile, Allen’s cast bronze replica of a 1953 Chevrolet coupe will appear as if it has been long abandoned in the woods, far from any road, with one tire missing and its headlights on. A sound element will play songs and stories told by musicians, artists, and writers, recalling their own memories from the backseat and behind the wheel of a car.
Raised in Lubbock, Texas, the artist and musician Terry Allen (American, born 1943) has been making music, theatrical performances, sculpture, painting, drawing, video, and installations since 1966. His practice reconstructs memory through storytelling, overlaying personal idiosyncratic narratives with political and social histories.
DANAE STRATOU
Concentric, 2016
On View Fall 2016
Greek artist Danae Stratou works within the long tradition of Land art, using the earth as her canvas and subtly manipulating the landscape. In Concentric, 2016, a temporary commission for The Contemporary Austin, the water in the tranquil lagoon off the sculpture park’s shore becomes the medium in a work that consists of a simple yet poetic gesture of perpetual concentric ripples. The waves simultaneously radiate outward and dissipate, marking rhythmic time through form and movement in what the artist calls “the unifying (but politically charged) element of water.” A gentle intervention, the work activates the lagoon in an understated and playful manner.
Danae Stratou (Greek, born 1964) explores concepts of time, space, and cosmological systems through sculptures, photographs, installations, and landscape interventions.
BETTY AND EDWARD MARCUS SCULPTURE PARK AT LAGUNA GLORIA
These new additions to the Betty and Edward Sculpture Park join eleven other current installations by Tom Friedman, Liam Gillick, John Grade, Nancy Holt, Catherine Lee, Paul McCarthy, Tom Sachs, Monika Sosnowska, Marianne Vitale, and Ursula von Rydingsvard, and past works by Lise Haller Baggesen, Orly Genger, Roger Hiorns, Charles Long, Lucky Dragons, JJ PEET, and Richard T. Walker.
PR Contact:
Nicole Chism Griffin
The Contemporary Austin
[email protected]
512 458 8191 x 142 (P) / 206 947 2312 (C)