A More Perfect Day: Collection of Mudam Luxembourg
April 13 – June 23, 2013
Art Sonje Center
A More Perfect Day: Collection of Mudam Luxembourg
Art Sonje Center is pleased to present A More Perfect Day: Collection of Mudam Luxembourg, an exhibition of the collection from Mudam Luxembourg, Musée d’Art Modern Grand-Duc Jean—a contemporary art museum of Europe—from April 13th to June 23rd in 2013. While we encounter moments of hope and optimism as well as doubt and despair in our daily lives, we keep on living, expecting a better tomorrow. Under the theme of utopia, the exhibition consists of thirty works by nineteen artists and two collectives from Mudam collection in various media including intallation, painting, photography, and video. Through the exhibition, we will explore the complexity of life and draw the ideal tomorrow that we dream of.
The title of the exhibition is taken from Sylvie Blocher’s video, A More Perfect Day, which features Barack Obama’s famous autobiographical speech from his first presidentional election campaign performed as a song by the musician, David Bichindaritz. It casts the question of individual identity VS. a more perfect community, or ideal solidarity. The exhibition also presents a neon installation and video projection by Su-Mei Tse, who represented Luxembourg and received the Golden Lion Award at the Venice Biennale in 2003. Other works include: Christoph Büchel’s video projection originally created for Sydney Biennalle 2008, showing rehearsals of a punk song perfomed by senior ladies; African-American artist Kara Walker’s installation Darkytown Rebellion, a theater of silhouette and colours dealing with race, gender, and identity; the 2000 Turner Prize winner, Wolfgang Tillmans’ Rachel Auburn & son and the Bulgarian artist Nedko Solakov’s large-scale installation The Truth (The Earth is Plane, The World is Flat).
On the lounge, Tobias Putrih recreates an installation work, consisting of convertible mobile structures that invite the audience’s participation. As a hybrid of sculpture and furniture, the elements can be assembled to form shelves, chairs and other furniture or configured to suit the available space. Pierre Bismuth screens The Jungle Book Project, an adaptation of the 1967 Disney’s animated classic, in which the characters speak in 19 different languages taken from the different language versions of the original film. Also on view are video works by Antoine Prum and Jean-Louis Schuller.
Mudam Luxembourg is the contemporary art museum whose building is designed by famous architect Ieoh Ming Pei and stands against the vestiges of Fort Thüngen, a historic fortification in Southern Luxembourg City. Since its opening in 2006, Mudam has showcased various contemporary art projects that reflect today’s dynamic art world, and has grown into one of the most important art institutions in Europe. It is dedicated to establishing a collection of contemporary art as well as commissioning, presenting exhibitions, and publishing. Its collection is constantly introduced and explored all around the globe through temporary exhibitions under various themes.