Richard’s Picks A Behind-the-Scenes Tour of the 2004-5 Carnegie International with Carnegie Museum of Art Director Richard Armstrong By Lorrie Flom

Photo: Ric Evans

The 2004-5 Carnegie International brings the world of contemporary art to Pittsburgh, albeit through the discriminating eyes of Curator Laura Hoptman. “Laura has a taste for highly charged and contemplative work,” says Richard Armstrong, the Henry J. Heinz II Director of Carnegie Museum of Art. “She’s interested in a close textual read.” In comparing the current exhibition to the last International, Armstrong says, “The 1999 International was physical and kinetic, and was dealing with public concerns. This show is more internal and calls for close inspection.” He adds, “Frankly, many of the works in this International are grappling with things you might think of as private concerns.”

Although some works are whimsical and others purely abstract, a number of works explore or comment on the entire range of human emotions—from falling in love (Carsten Höller’s Solandra Greenhouse) to desire (Philip-Lorca diCorcia’s stark photographs) and ecstasy (Katarzyna Kozyra’s Rite of Spring video installation) to religious fervor (Rachel Harrison’s Perth Amboy photographs) to the struggles of societal outcasts (Kutlug Ataman’s Kuba). Throughout the exhibition, the media vary as well, ranging from small, intricate, ceramic works to massive, wall-sized murals.
In December, the Museum of Art’s Collections Committee will meet and may consider purchasing a few pieces from the exhibition. Following is a close look at some of the works that Armstrong says, “are not to be missed.”

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Photo: Ric Evans

Kutlug Ataman
The first stop on Armstrong’s tour is Kutlug Ataman’s 40-channel video installation, Kuba, winner of the prestigious Carnegie Prize. The gallery is filled with 40 televisions on stands; they simultaneously play interviews with 40 residents of a shantytown outside of Istanbul. While vsitors initially hear the interviews as a cacophonous jumble of humanity, they are invited to sit and watch the individual works. Armstrong says that one of Andrew Carnegie’s original goals with the Carnegie International was to improve international goodwill, and Kuba continues that tradition. “This work is powerful and timely,” he says. “It personalizes Islamic people at a time when they are sometimes being demonized here in the United States.”

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Photo: Ric Evans

Julie Mehretu
Another stop on Armstrong’s gallery tour is a look at Ethiopian-born, American artist Julie Mehretu’s large canvases in acrylic and ink. “These works include spatial explosions,” says Armstrong, of the energetic canvases that combine the precision of black-and-white architectural drawings and the freedom of brilliant fireworks. “Overall, these works are about the complexities of everyday living,” he says, gesturing toward the piece titled Congress.

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Photo: Tom Altany

Katarzyna Kozyra
Stravinsky’s ballet The Rite of Spring was scandalous at its 1913 premiere. It’s no surprise that video artist Katarzyna Kozyra chose that work, with its primitive eroticism, to set the stage for her video installation of the same name. Armstrong believes this work, featuring older adults “au natural” and moving to a stylized choreography, will be popular among older viewers because it shows a rare glimpse of seniors in the context of ecstasy.

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Lee Bontecou
Sculptures and drawings spanning Lee Bontecou’s career (from the 1960s through the present) are beautifully juxtaposed in a retrospective show, one of three small monographic exhibitions in this year’s International. Armstrong says that the evolution of Bontecou’s work can be seen in her continuing creation of metal and wire structures covered in fabric, even though the earlier works are weighty and forbidding, while the more recent sculptures have a delicate airiness.

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Photo: Tom Altany

Chiho Aoshima
The computer-generated, animé-inspired mural by Japanese artist Chiho Aoshima creates a fantasy world informed by the traditional Japanese themes of tidal waves and fire engulfing the world, according to Armstrong, who calls the mural “apocalyptic and cathartic.” Magma Spirit Explodes. Tsunami Is Dreadful is 40-feet of brilliant color and masterful illustration, all created in Adobe Illustrator.

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Carsten Höller
Biologist/artist Carsten Höller explores the nature of love with his Solandra Greenhouse (shown on page 8), filled with the flowering Solandra maxima vines, which emit pheromones purported to cause people to fall in love. Armstrong says the plants were grown during the past year at Phipps Conservatory especially for this installation. Flashing lights add to the sense of disorientation often felt by individuals as they fall in love. Visitors are welcome to test Höller’s theories of amore by taking a stroll through the greenhouse as they enter the museum.

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