SAF Announces Pilot Micro Multiplex | Mall

Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (UAE)

Sharjah Art Foundation will present PILOT MICRO MULTIPLEX | MALL, an exhibition of works by Heman Chong, Dirk Fleischmann and Jun Yang that transforms Bait Al Shamsi into a small shopping centre or micro mall. Combining the cultural and commercial - two apparently conflicting perspectives on value - this exhibition addresses aspects of production and distribution, and how they are reflected within an artistic context.

Pilot Micro Multiplex│Mall comprises three projects that include two fully functioning shops and an open-air gathering and screening space. Together, these interventions will juxtapose an exhibition with a commercial space as a means of encouraging new understandings of public space, cultural engagement and commerce.

Pilot Micro Multiplex | Mall proposes an exhibition in the form of a micro mall in an attempt to challenge presumptions about exhibitions. It questions the way in which we interact with objects placed on display and made available for purchase. By inviting visitors to browse and familiarise themselves with second-hand books and products from foreign places, and by encouraging them to attend and even contribute to a programme of events, Pilot Micro Multiplex | Mall implicates its audience in the construction of the overall situation.

The Sharjah instalment of Heman Chong’s LEM 1 bookshop offers visitors a space for browsing and purchasing second-hand science fiction and fantasy books. This fully functioning bookshop sets up the conditions for an array of possible experiences that themselves constitute the artwork. This approach stands in contrast to the more conventional method of creating an artwork and placing it on display as an object distinct and separate from the viewer. By making second-hand science fiction and fantasy books available at an affordable price of AED 5,Chong invites buyers to interact with one another and the available commodities.

Dirk Fleischmann’s myconceptstore is a shop that displays a variety of products accumulated during the artist’s past decade of developing economic projects. In Sharjah, Fleischmann’s myconceptstore showcases a new product – a chandelier created by artist Sunju Park. This chandelier is both a light source and a structure within which the other products are displayed. At this fully functioning store, visitors may purchase any of the commodities on display, and in keeping with Fleischmann’s business plan, all profits are reinvested in his existing economic projects or are directed at new ventures. This practice draws attention to the criteria we employ to define our experiences as exhibition viewers or even as consumers.

Jun Yang’s Micro M and a proposal for a public space - a cinema consist of a series of new interventions specific to the fabric of Bait Al Shamsi, which propose a repurposing of how it functions as an area for public gathering. Yang draws attention to the entrance adjacent to the Corniche by appropriating the advertising language found in the surrounding environment. This releases the building from the abstract temporality imposed by its heritage status and re-integrates it into the ‘lived present’ of the area in which it is situated.Yang’s other intervention, the reconfiguration of the courtyard into an open air screening or gathering arena, further enables the building to act as an active territory. This installation, comprising a temporary projection wall and multipurpose tile blocks, proposes the actualisation of Bait Al Shamsi’s potential as a place for open programming. Presented as a proposal, the temporary cinema space and programme are intended as devices to be appropriated and reconfigured by eventual participants.

Curated by Sharjah Art Foundation’s Research and Experimentation Projects Curator Claudia Pestana, the opening of this exhibition on October 3 will feature a screening of Jun Yang’s short film Paris Syndrome with an introduction by the artist and Stop Show: Open to everyone! Dirk Fleischmann’s game show where contestants compete to be the best at timing 10 seconds.

Information:
PILOT MICRO MULTIPLEX | MALL
October 3 – December 22 , 2012
Bait Al Shamsi
Arts Areas, Sharjah, UAE
+971 6 544 4113
Opening Hours: 4pm-9pm (Saturday-Friday)

This exhibition is free and open to the public

About the Artists

Heman Chong (born 1977, Malaysia) received a Master of Art in Communication Art and Design from the Royal College of Art in London. Chong’s recent solo exhibitions include Lem 1, Rossi & Rossi, London, UK (2012), Calendars 2020-2096, NUS Museum, Singapore (2012), I’m On Your Side, Kunstverein (Milano), Italy (2010), and The Sole Proprietor and Other Stories, Vitamin Creative Space, Guangzhou, China (2006). The artist has participated in group exhibitions including, Trickster Makes This World, Nam June Paik Art Center, South Korea (2010), The Malady of Writing. A project on text and speculative imagination, Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA), Spain (2009), The Demon of Comparisons, Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2009), and Like an Attali Report, but Different, Kadist Art Foundation, Paris, France (2008). Chong has participated in numerous international biennials including, Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Queensland, Australia (2012), Performa , New York, USA (2011), Momentum , Moss, Norway (2011), Manifesta , Murcia, Spain (2010), Singapore Biennale (2008), SCAPE Christchurch Biennial of Art in Public Space, New Zealand (2006), Busan Biennale, Korea (2004), Triennale-India, New Delhi (2001). Chong represented Singapore at the Venice Biennale, Italy (2003).

Dirk Fleischmann (born 1974, Germany) completed his studies at the Städelschule art academy in 2002. His recent solo shows include Limuranin, Kaesong, und Rosario, Bielefelder Kunstverein, Bielefeld, Germany (2010), The Invisible of the Visible, Front Row and Charles Lim Studio, Singapore (2008), Real Estate, Alternative Space Pool, Seoul (2007), and The Black Cat, rraum, Frankfurt (2005). His work has been presented in numerous group exhibitions including The Real DMZ Project, SAMUSO (Space for Contemporary Art), South Korea (2012), On the Metaphor of Growth, Kunstverein Hannover, Germany (2011), Memories of the Future, Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul (2010), The Second Order, Space Hamilton, Seoul (2010), It takes something to make something, Portikus, Frankfurt (2007), and Lapdogs of the Bourgeoisie, Gasworks Gallery, London, UK (2006). Fleischmann has also participated in international biennials and festivals including, Gwangju Design Biennale - Design is Design is not Design (2011), and Manifesta, Frankfurt (2002).

Jun Yang (b. 1975, China) Jun Yang (b. 1975, China) completed his studies at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Vienna, Austria after having studied in The Netherlands at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie’s free media department in Amsterdam. He currently lives and works between Vienna, Tokyo, Japan and Taipei, Taiwan. Solo exhibitions of Yang’s work include Taishin Project: Seoul Fiction or an Installation for a Public Space, Taishin Bank Foundation for Arts and Culture, Taipei (2011), A ShortStory On Forgetting And Remembering, ShugoArts, Tokyo (2010), and Paris Syndrome, Vitamin Creative Space, Guangzhou, China (2008). Recent group shows include City Within the City, Artsonje Center, Seoul, South Korea (2011), 2010 Cinema, Vitamin Creative Space, Guangzhou (2010), Projected Image, Platform Seoul 2010, Seoul (2010), and Taipei Contemporary Art Center Tokyo Branch, 3331 Arts Chiyoda, Tokyo (2010). Yang has participated in numerous biennials, including Roundtable,Gwangju Biennale, South Korea (2012), Taipei Biennial (2008), International 06, Liverpool Biennial, UK (2006), and The Experience of Art, Venice Biennale, Italy (2005).

PILOT MICRO MULTIPLEX | MALL OPENING EVENTS SCHEDULE

This exhibition opens at Bait Al Shamsi, Arts Area, Heart of Sharjah at 8pm, and is open for the public to attend.

Paris Syndrome: screening of Jun Yang’s short film with an introduction by the artist

Stop Show: Open to everyone! Sign up on arrival to participate in Dirk Fleischmann’s game show where contestants compete to be the best at timing 10 seconds

SCHEDULE OF UPCOMING SAF EXHIBITIONS AND EVENTS:
November 3, 2012 Opening of In Spite of it All
Group exhibition
Collections Building, Arts Area, Heart of Sharjah
December 15, 2012 Opening of Just Knocked Out
Lara Favaretto
Bait Al Serkal, Arts Area, Heart of Sharjah
March 13 – May 13, 2013 Sharjah Biennial 11
Heart of Sharjah

For further information about Sharjah Art Foundation, please visit www.sharjahart.org

About Sharjah Art Foundation (SAF)

Sharjah Art Foundation brings a broad range of contemporary art and cultural programmes to the communities of Sharjah, the UAE and the region. Since 2009 SAF has built on the history of cultural collaboration and exchange that began with the first Sharjah Biennial in 1993. Working with local and international partners, we create opportunities for artists and artistic production through our core initiatives that include the Sharjah Biennial, the annual March Meeting, residencies, production grants, commissions, exhibitions, research, publications and a growing collection. Our
education and public programmes focus on building recognition of the central role art can play in the life of a community by promoting public learning and a participatory 5 approach to art. Sharjah Art Foundation is funded by the Department of Culture and Information, Government of Sharjah.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Sharjah Art Foundation
Alyazeyah Al Reyaysa
Public & Media Relations Officer
Tel: +971-6-544-4113, ext. 17
E: alyazeyah@sharjahart.org

FITZ & CO, New York
Meg Blackburn
Tel: +1 212-627-1455 x 225
E: meg@fitzandco

t +971 6 544 4113 | f +971 6 544 7797 | PO Box 19989 Sharjah, UAE
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