Paperwork
Lewis & Taggart
Curator: Markéta Stará Condeixa
Central to the practice of the Canadian, Norway-based artist duo Andrew Taggart and Chloe Lewis is the object. Object in the material sense of the term; object as the subject of limitless interpretation and meaning, the capacity of which frequently evades the knowing grasp. The object can be perceived under two definitions. The first is the object as something that defines us, something that fills our needs as consumers and collectors, and which influences our movement by way of its physical properties. The second is the object as something that comes before us, commands our attention, and exists also without us. The practice of Lewis & Taggart can be understood as a merging of the two, and as an exploration of the tensions that result from such a merging.
Lewis & Taggart’s interest in the politics of the object is rooted namely in its relation...to human behaviour, action, culture and routine. Nuance and potential associations embodied by an object become crucial factors in selecting specific material for accumulation and re-contextualisation. The object in a work by Lewis & Taggart is stripped of its functional properties, yet retains many, if not all, of its formal features. These become the points of departure for a rethinking of the object as such, but also for the surfacing, thematization and questioning of the initial context from which such an object emerged.
Paperwork is the first exhibition of Lewis & Taggart in Portugal. The show presents a selection of works from recent years alongside a new series of collages entitled Economic Abstractions (2015) that has been produced specifically for the Lisbon show. Like with many of their works, the object at the core of these new pieces is drawn from the periphery of a centralized economy, where it operates as by-product, as excess, or as residue of human action. In the case of the Abstractions, the material has been extracted from the flow of ephemera that circulates as an indirect result of human labour. Suggested in the exhibition’s title is the concept of waste, whether that of paper or that of time. The gesture of recycling at play in the artworks can thus be understood as a productive means towards the production of new subjects.
Andrew Taggart and Chloe Lewis have worked within the collaborative framework of Lewis & Taggart since 2006. Their work has most recently been exhibited at ISCP, New York (US); Kunstverein Leipzig (DE); Volt, Bergen (NO); Platform Stockholm (SE); Performa 13, New York (US); NoPlace, Oslo (NO); and the Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw (PL). In parallel to their studio practice, Lewis & Taggart operate The Museum of Longing and Failure, a small, experimental museum with an emphasis on sculptural practices.
Entrada actualizada el el 10 may de 2015
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