The Leonard and Bina Ellen Art Gallery presents the work of Martin Beck, the first exhibition to bring together and examine projects produced over the last 10 years. This exhibition, titled the particular way in which a thing exists, revisits a set of projects realized over the past 12 years by Martin Beck, whose interests lie at the intersection of art, design, architecture, and historical inquiry.
Beck is concerned with shifts and changes of perspective that occurred in the period of late modernism; how their material, formal, and social structure impacts contemporary culture.
The works assembled stem from a number of projects developed over time and include investigations into the history of communal living, notably the famous American commune of Drop City; the emerging discourse on ecology and politics at the 1970 International Design Conference in Aspen, Colorado; student protest and history writing in the case of the brutalist Art and Architecture Building by Paul Rudolph at Yale University; and the impact of modularity on the exhibition, exemplified by designer George Nelson’s Struc-Tube display system. Beck distills from these references a paradoxical coexistence of emancipatory promises and logics of control that run through and between them.
When: From November 16, 2012, to January 26, 2013
Where: Leonard and Bina Ellen Art Gallery, Room LB-165, J.W. McConnell Library Building (1400 De Maisonneuve Blvd. W.), Sir George Williams Campus
Beck lives in New York and Vienna where he holds a professorship at the Academy of Fine Arts. In conjunction with his artistic practice, Beck also writes about art, design, and architecture. He also occasionally works as an exhibition designer.
SPECIAL EVENTS
What: Exhibition Opening Reception
When: Thursday, November 15, 2012, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Where: Leonard and Bina Ellen Art Gallery
What: Conversation with Martin Beck, Vincent Bonin and Michèle Thériault (in English)
When: Saturday, November 17, 2012, at 3 p.m.
Where: Leonard and Bina Ellen Art Gallery
Admission to all events is free of charge and open to the public.
Related link:
• Leonard and Bina Ellen Art Gallery
