About the exhibition
A paradigm shift away from subject-object relations towards the consideration of humans as no more or less important than any other object is taking place. So posits “And Another Thing,” the James Gallery exhibition that takes its inspiration from the philosophy of speculative realism and object-oriented ontology. Here objects are given their own place. As opposed to deriving their meaning from a proximity to humans, this exhibition presents them as specific, self-contained and non-reducible. Minimalism’s engagement with the specificity of materials as in Carl Andre’s Base 5 Aluminum Stack (2008) as well as the feminist interrogation of subject/object relations in Valie Export’s video A Perfect Pair (1986) and Regina José Galindo’s photograph No perdemos nada con nacer (We don't lose anything by being born) (2000) are present in the show. In guest curators Katherine Behar’s and Emmy Mikelson’s selection and installation of the art inside the open space of the gallery, the visitor and the object become equivalent occupant bodies.
Some of the photographs, sculptures, videos, and installations on view create a distributed subject as in Mary Lucking’s Pas de Deux (2000), while others like Nauman’s Wall-Floor Positions (1968) render the human as a thing amongst things. Ruslan Trusewych’s installation this is the way the world is (2005-11) and Zimoun’s video 25 woodworms, wood, microphone, sound system (2010) describe the relationships between things themselves, cutting humans out of the equation completely. In this interdisciplinary moment, each field—art, philosophy, neuroscience, ecology, architecture, political science—has the opportunity to see itself anew, as a thing among others, just like each artwork in the exhibition. What if our perception was no longer determined by anthropocentrism? What does equality look like when every object matters? “And Another Thing raises questions about the nature of being that are indispensable in this contemporary time.
Artists included: Carl Andre, Laura Carton, VALIE EXPORT, Regina José Galindo, Tom Kotik, Mary Lucking, Bruce Nauman, Grit Ruhland, Anthony Titus, Ruslan Trusewych, and Zimoun.
"And Another Thing" is made possible, in part, by Paula Cooper Gallery, Video Data Bank, Prometeo Gallery, and bitforms.
