Althea Thauberger, A Memory Lasts Forever, 2004

Basis voor Actuele Kunst - BAK Lange Nieuwstraat 4 3512 Utrecht Netherlands (city map) Send E-mail tel +31 (0)30 - 231 61 25 www.bak-utrecht.nl

BAK, basis voor actuele kunst presents Alone Again (In the Likeness of Life), a solo exhibition by Canadian artist Althea Thauberger, from 14 January until 25 February 2007. The opening takes place on Saturday 13 January at 20:00 hrs. BAK, basis voor actuele kunst and De Appel jointly invite you to attend. A performance program takes place in the context of the project If I Can't Dance... Part II (Feminist Legacies and Potentials in Contemporary Art Practice) at De Appel in Amsterdam between 13.00 hrs and 19.00 hrs, followed by the opening of the exhibition by Althea Thauberger at BAK in Utrecht at 20.00 hrs. For reservations and further information, see www.ificantdance.org or www.deappel.nl.

Alone Again (In the Likeness of Life) is Althea Thauberger's first solo exhibition in Europe. The exhibition presents five video and audio works by Thauberger, all of which are made up of collective performances, the result of her collaborations with various groups and communities. The works by Althea Thauberger contain social and political allegories with an almost purist and vivid visuality. Distinctive is that Thauberger's practice involves an intensive collaborative working process with a group or community that usually results in a musical or choreographic performance and its video, photographic, and/or audio presentation. The performances of specific groups-very often of youth or adolescents-shown in Thauberger's works have a dramatic, theatrical quality, accentuated by (un)natural settings. In spite of the eccentric formal charms of these performances, they nonetheless have an alienating effect. Viewers often remain puzzled about the contradictory display of vulnerability and empowerment in the performances. Being "together" in a quasi-collective form can be both liberating and constraining, and here the individual is confronted with the political possibilities of togetherness as well as by its limitations.

Althea Thauberger is a resident of the Research-in-Residence (RIR) program from January to March 2007. During her residency in Utrecht, Thauberger engages in research that develops into a collaborative performance project in connection with her solo exhibition at BAK, basis voor actuele kunst. Further information is to be announced via our website. The Research-in-Residence (RIR) program provides international artists, researchers, writers, curators, and critics with an opportunity to spend a period of time living and working in the city of Utrecht in order to further develop their artistic or theoretical work in a stimulating context of contemporary critical artistic and intellectual production. RIR has been made financially possible by the support of the City Council of Utrecht.

Althea Thauberger (born 1970 in Saskatoon, Canada, lives and works in Berlin and Vancouver) presented her work recently in Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, 2006; Kunstverein Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg, 2006; Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax, 2006; The Peninsula, Singapore History Museum, Singapore, 2006; Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Antwerp, 2005; and Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley, 2005.

A conversation between Althea Thauberger, art critic Fergal Gaynor, and art historian Victoria Scott around the issues raised in her works takes place on Tuesday 6 February 2007 at 20.00 hrs.
Language: English. Reservations are recommended.

Opening hours: Wednesday-Saturday 12.00-17.00 hrs and Sunday 13.00-17.00 hrs.

entrance: € 2,50
students, scholars, 65+, children <12 jr. : € 1,75
BOOKS@BAK members: free

For the most recent information contact Ralph Kits, t: +31 (0)30-2316125 or e: pr@bak-utrecht.nl or see www.bak-utrecht.nl.

Press Release as pdf-File 64,9 KB in Dutch language