STURTEVANT, Pacman, 2012, HD Video, 1′15″, color, sound. Video still. Courtesy of the Estate of STURTEVANT and Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris/Salzburg/London.
WORLDBUILDING: GAMING & ART
15th anniversary exhibition of JSC Düsseldorf
Curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist
June 5, 2022–December 10, 2023, JSC Düsseldorf
Opening: Saturday, June 4, 2022, 12–6pm
JULIA STOSCHEK COLLECTION
Schanzenstraße 54
40549 Düsseldorf, Germany
press release
Computer and video games have found their way into popular culture and nearly every part of society. Curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Julia Stoschek Collection, this group exhibition examines the relationship between gaming and time-based media art. Early works from Julia Stoschek’s holdings will be shown with more recent works, some of which were commissioned especially for the exhibition. This juxtaposition will provide an archeological view of video games and art that bridges the past and the present. Recent developments in moving images as well as the potential of interfaces between computer games and art will be considered. The anniversary exhibition will constantly change over the course of its one-and-a-half-year run and will be accompanied by a varied program, both online and on-site. A comprehensive exhibition catalog will investigate various perspectives on the phenomenon of gaming.
With works by Peggy Ahwesh, Rebecca Allen, Cory Arcangel, Ed Atkins, Meriem Benanni, David Blandy & Larry Achiampong, Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, Ian Cheng, Cao Fei, Basmah Felemban, Ed Fornieles, Sarah Friend, Kim Heecheon, Institute of Queer Ecology, Rindon Johnson, Keiken, Lawrence Lek, Gabriel Massan, Lual Mayen, Sondra Perry, Jacolby Satterwhite, Frances Stark, Sturtevant, Theo Triantafyllidis, Suzanne Treister, Angela Washko, Lu Yang, among others.
The JULIA STOSCHEK COLLECTION Düsseldorf opened to the public in June 2007. On the occasion of its 15th anniversary in June 2022, Hans Ulrich Obrist is invited to curate an exhibition with works from the collection. This group exhibition will explore the relationship between gaming and time-based art and also include new works. Julia Stoschek’s collection comprises moving image works from the 60s and 70s in addition to works by younger artists active today. Obrist is fascinated with the idea of creating an archaeology of video games with these early works and building a bridge from the past to the present by uniting them with more recent pieces. Bringing together these works that—in various ways—deal with the video game aesthetic, presents both the recent trajectory of moving image art, and the potential of bridges between gaming and art.
Hans Ulrich Obrist (b. 1968, Zurich, Switzerland) is Artistic Director of the Serpentine Galleries in London, Senior Advisor at LUMA Arles, and Senior Artistic Advisor at The Shed in New York. Prior to this, he was the Curator of the Museum d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. Since his first show World Soup (The Kitchen Show) in 1991, he has curated more than 350 shows-
Cory Arcangel, The Making of Super Mario Clouds, 2004, video, 76′, color, no sound. Video still. Courtesy of the artist and Electronic Arts Intermix, New York.
Jacky Connolly, Anhedonia (full length feature), 2017, HD-video, 18′, color, sound. Courtesy of the artist and Daata, London.
Cao Fei, i.Mirror by China Tracy (AKA: Cao Fei), 2007, video, 28′, color, sound. Video still. Courtesy of the artist and Creative Vitamine Space, Guangzhou.
Hito Steyerl, Factory of the Sun, 2015, single-channel HD video installation, 23′, color, sound. Video still, © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2021. Courtesy of the artist.
Ian Cheng, BOB (Bag of Beliefs), 2018–2019, artificial lifeform, infinite duration, color, sound. Video still. Courtesy of the artist, Gladstone Gallery, Brussels/New York and Pilar Corrias, London.
