Tino Sehgal

l Opening September 5, 2007

San Francisco, Calif., June 22, 2007 The CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts presents Tino Sehgal, Sehgal’s first solo exhibition in the United States. Organized by Wattis Institute director Jens Hoffmann, the presentation will be on view indefinitely starting September 5, 2007, in the Logan Galleries on the San Francisco campus of California College of the Arts. This permanent exhibition will feature all of Sehgal’s existing works to date as well as new works configured specifically for the Logan Galleries; the pieces will be presented one at a time and will appear concurrently with the Wattis Institute’s other exhibitions and programs. The exhibition is free and open to the public.

Taking the framework of a traditional retrospective but removing its time constraints, this continuous, gradual presentation of a single artist’s oeuvre will allow audiences to follow and engage with Sehgal’s practice in new ways. The project will also investigate how an art institution can commit to the development and understanding of one artist’s career in a manner that extends beyond the confines of conventional exhibition practice. “Tino Sehgal is one of the most exciting artists working today. His work reflects the ambition of the Wattis Institute to be on the forefront of contemporary art,” says Hoffmann.

Sehgal does not produce material objects. Rather, he engages his audiences through transformative actions without producing anything tangible or object-based that would leave a physical trace. Coming from a background in dance and economics, both of which continue to influence him, he stages situations that are enacted in a gallery space by one or several people over the duration of an exhibition. His past works have involved a person rolling on the floor (Instead of allowing some thing to rise up to your face dancing bruce and dan and other things, 2000), a couple engaged in a kiss (Kiss, 2002), and four generations discussing the relative merits of progress (This Progress, 2006). Sehgal has worked with a diverse range of interpreters, including academics, children, school classes, the socially disadvantaged, and museum guards, using the human voice, language, movement, and social interaction to create ephemeral works of art that are intended to challenge, and enchant, the viewer.

Founding support for CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts programs has been provided by Phyllis C. Wattis and Judy and Bill Timken. Generous support provided by the Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation, Grants for the Arts / San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund, Ann Hatch and Paul Discoe, and the CCA Curator's Forum.

About the Artist Tino Sehgal was born in London in 1976 and currently lives and works in Berlin. He has had solo exhibitions at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London (2007, 2006, 2005); Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2006); Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria (2006); the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto (2006); Hamburger Kunstverein, Germany (2006); Fundação de Serralves, Porto, Portugal (2004); Musée des Beaux-arts de Nantes, France (2004), and Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, the Netherlands (2004). He has participated in the Lyon Biennial, France (2007); the Tate Triennial, Tate Britain, London (2006); the Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art (2005); the Venice Biennale, Italy (2003); and Manifesta, Frankfurt, Germany (2002). Sehgal represented Germany at the Venice Biennale, Italy, in 2005. In 2006 he was nominated for the Hugo Boss Prize at the Guggenheim Museum, New York. He received the Baloise Art Prize at Art Basel, Switzerland, in 2004 and the Kunstpreis der Böttcherstrasse in Bremen, Germany, in 2003.

About the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts The Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts was established in 1998 in San Francisco at California College of the Arts. It serves as a forum for the presentation and discussion of international contemporary art and curatorial practice. Through groundbreaking exhibitions, the Capp Street Project residency program, lectures, symposia, and publications, the Wattis Institute has become one of the leading art institutions in the United States and provides an active site for contemporary culture in the Bay Area.

About California College of the Arts Founded in 1907, California College of the Arts is the largest regionally accredited, independent school of art and design in the western United States. Noted for the interdisciplinary nature and breadth of its programs, CCA offers studies in 20 undergraduate and six graduate majors in the areas of fine arts, architecture, design, and writing. The college offers bachelor of architecture, bachelor of arts, bachelor of fine arts, master of architecture, master of arts, and master of fine arts degrees. With campuses in Oakland and San Francisco, CCA currently enrolls 1,600 full-time students.

Tino Sehgal
Kurator: Jens Hoffmann
Ort: Logan Galleries
Eröffnung: 5.9.2007