'Live your questions now'
Sam Ainsley (UK), Helena Almeida (Portugal), Alasdair Gray (UK), Joan Jonas (USA), Ana Jotta (Portugal), Michael Kidner (UK), Běla Kolářová (Czech Republic), Lygia Pape (Brazil)
15 July - 1 October 2011
Mackintosh Museum
The Glasgow School of Art
167 Renfrew Street
Glasgow G3 6RQ
Opening hours: Mon-Fri 10.30am-4.30pm, Saturday 10am-2pm, Sunday closed
www.gsaevents.com www.gsa.ac.uk/exhibitions
Free admission to gallery
Preview: Thursday 14 July, 6-8pm
The survey show is recognised as a way to frame the works of a wide range of artists in terms of age or geography. Increasingly, many survey shows predominantly focus on emergent artists in their 20s and 30s. What can we learn from a later generation of contemporary visual artists? 'Live Your Questions Now' is a unique survey exhibition of Scottish, UK and international contemporary artists over 60 years old. This exhibition co-incides with Glasgow's hosting of the 7th British Art Show, 'In the days of the Comet' (until 21 August 2011).
Sam Ainsley (b. 1950) is an artist and teacher and was Head of the MFA Programme at The Glasgow School of Art. Helena Almeida (b.1934) has represented Portugal twice at the Venice Biennial, in 1982 and 2005. Her first major UK exhibition of work from the last 40 years took place in 2009 in Kettle's Yard, Cambridge. Alasdair Gray (b. 1934) has had much impact on an emerging Scottish art scene with his work currently on show in the British Art Show. Běla Kolářová (b. 1923, d. 2010) was a Czech artist and photographer who made assemblages and two dimensional works from found objects. Joan Jonas (b.1936) is a pioneer of video performance art. Her work was shown in the Venice Biennial in 2009. Ana Jotta (b.1946) lives and works in Lisbon and has had much impact on a younger generation of artists in Portugal. Michael Kidner (b.1917 d.2009) was a pioneer of Optical Art. We show five works from the last year of his life. Lygia Pape (b.1927 d.2004) was active in both the Concrete and Neo-Concretist movements in Brazil, exhibited in Venice Biennale 2003 and 2009.
The exhibition title comes from a quote from a letter Rainer Maria Rilke wrote to a young poet who had asked him for criticism on his poems and advice:
'Live your questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer'. ('Letters to a young poet', 1903)
Notes to Editor
Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation is a charitable foundation established in Portugal in 1956 with cultural, educational, social and scientific interests. Its founder, Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian, was an Armenian born near Istanbul. Multicultural and multilingual he spent his career bringing people from different cultures and nationalities together. The purpose of the UK Branch, based in London, is to help enrich and connect the experiences of people in the UK and Ireland and secure lasting, beneficial change. One of our core aims is to improve cultural, understanding between cultures and through culture. For further information please see: www.gulbenkian.org.uk.
In our current age the general focus of survey shows can be on artists who are predominantly in their 20s and 30s. Examples include: 'Young London', V22, London (2011), an exhibition of 35 young London artists; 'Nought to Sixty' (2008), the ICA survey show celebrating ICA's 60th anniversary, presented work of emerging artists over Great Britain and Ireland; 'The Generational: Younger than Jesus' (2009), the New Museum in New York, exhibiting work of 145 artists who were under 33 years old.
The exhibition provides an opportunity to further develop an understanding of contemporary art for an audience of 60+, and introduce the younger part of our audience to new work being made by contemporary artists over 60. A programme of workshops and talks accompanies the exhibition, including a writing workshop with Louise Welsh.
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