Duende

BRAK cordially invites you to the opening of BRAK 2.5 ‘The Which, The Where, The When, The How’, an exhibition by the artist David Stamp.

Opening
Friday March 11, 2011 at 7pm

Exhibition opening hours
March 11-20, 2011
12/03-13/03 open from 1pm till 6pm
14/03-20/03 on appointment by telephone +31(0)624542086

David Stamp’s practice is concerned with how cultural products such as movies, art and social customs are imperfect vessels for our projected ideologies. He is influenced by Giorgio Agamben’s notion of profanation –the reinstating of untouchable ideological objects into everyday use– and Mikhail Bakhtin’s analysis of carnival humor as something that mutually promotes and derides an ideological construct.  Taking onboard these influences his practice has become the creation of works that seek to challenge ideologies that they also embrace.  Sometimes this questioning happens within a singular work but Stamp is also interested in stretching it across many pieces.  In doing so, he establishes an initial understanding of a work and then unsettles it by encouraging subsequent, often disquieting, perceptions.

Stamp works are often created intuitively, at times he use common desires or impulses as a basis, at others a particular film, game or social custom could be an impetus.  He is particularly interested in geometric sculpture as they are an ideal means in which to create the dynamic he seeks.  Fundamentally, he’s interested in the relationship between the viewer and these objects–in that they are both aesthetic objects in their own right but also sites for imaginary and perceptual leaps on the part of the viewer.  On a simple level, his works asks “where should you (the viewer) place significance?”

About David Stamp’s installation
There is a structure, a ring-like archway, placed over a road on the south bank of the Oude Maas, just south of Rotterdam.  It is positioned on its own in a flat agricultural landscape.  It is made from curved prefabricated concrete panels and is lit by two TLs attached to its internal apex.  It is situated far enough from anything to make it a rare object. With further investigation of the area the purpose of this ring is obvious.  It ensures vehicles wanting to travel through the tunnel that goes beneath the Oude Maas are small enough to do so.  Even with this knowledge in hand it distracts little from the ambiguousness caused by its positioning and construction.  This unique object begs to be categorised, it’s a particular combination of modernist public art and gateway to somewhere/nowhere. It is an object worthy of aesthetic consideration but also a technologically primitive precursor to the Stargate (a device that creates wormholes to allow instantaneous interstellar travel).

BRAK is made possible with the generous support of Gemeente Rotterdam, dienst Kunst en Cultuur.

Read more about BRAK

David Stamp, Father (2010) 30x45 cm.

Research image

David Stamp, The Hum (2010)

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