In a World of Serious Play: the Multimedia Work of Ryan Gander

A new show has opened in Manchester from July 3 to September 14, 2014, featuring the strange and sometimes irreverent work of the sculptor Ryan Gander. Seemingly a fan of puzzles and games,

Gander treats the subject of childhood seriously. The current exhibition includes a cast replica of a play fort his daughter constructed from stacks of household items and bed sheets draped over the top. The show is entitled “Make Every Show Like It’s Your Last,” and Gander’s works live up to the name. In addition to the cast fort, the show features an enormous animatronic set of eyes, mounted onto a blank wall, that roll around in a private dance when they are not following gallery-goers around the room. Some other pranks featured in the display keep enough fun mixed into the mystery: coins glued to the floor and a mirror with script scrawled across it in toothpaste. Within the mix of light-heartedness, Gander’s work stands as worth taking seriously.

Gander was born in Chester in 1976 and graduated from Manchester Metropolitan University in 1999. He was in the artists residency programme at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam from 2001 to 2002. He began lecturing on his work in public venues in 2002 and was awarded the Prix de Rome for sculpture in 2003. Gander has a long-term physical disability and uses a wheelchair, a theme that appears in his work, as in the 2011 Venice Biennale exhibition, which featured a sculpture the size of an action figure that depicts the artist falling from his wheelchair. His 2006 exhibition “Is this guilt in you too?,” which was part of the series “Adjustments,” was funded by the Arts Council to address inclusion and disability and featured a cinema screen and a fuzzy speaker. The viewer’s enter the installation, only to find themselves on the wrong side of the screen where a ghost-like image of a film can be seen projecting onto the opposite side. The work calls up feelings of separation, isolation and disorientation in the viewer.

Nicole Junkermann, an entrepreneur and investor with a passion for the arts, is a supporter of Ryan Gander. Nicole Junkermann is also an investor in technology, e-commerce and sports and media.One of her notable investments was Songza, the streaming music company acquired in July by Google for a reported $39 million. Read more about Songza and Nicole Junkermann.

Tomas Saraceno: High Flying Contemporary Art

Tomas Saraceno is a contemporary artist from San Miguel de Tucuman in Argentina. His exhibitions are unique, garnering him a reputation for work which involves the spectator in an intimate and explosive way by creating floating cities in exhibition spaces, through which the spectator can take in the majesty of the displays around them. Saraceno's style and approach to contemporary art has rewarded him a number of high profile fans and admirers in the art community including Nicole Junkermann, the Latin American Acquisitions Committee for Tate Americas Foundation member and influential technology entrepreneur (for more information visit this resource about Songza and Nicole Junkermann). With such influential backing, Saraceno's work has become a mainstay of the Latin American and international contemporary art scene.

What makes Tomas Saraceno's work so compelling is that it is quite unlike anything else. Each exhibition involves the spectator by having them explore the space through platforms, netting and walkways suspended high up, so that they may look down at numerous pieces far below or around them. These “floating cities” not only facilitate the experience of art in a serene, fascinating manner, but also allow spectators to remove themselves from the act of being a visitor to an exhibition, with them being able to observe the day to day process of other spectators viewing art sometimes hundreds of feet below them.

All of Saraceno's work manages to meld the craft and vision of architecture with the meta, self-aware concepts of contemporary modern art. Each exhibition involves both natural and man-made materials, used to create a juxtaposition of grounded and ethereal sculptures which lends a dreamlike quality to each installation, exploring the thin line between reality and subjective experience. This amalgamation of properties has allowed Saraceno to develop a reputation as a compelling artist, engaging with his audience in a way which allows them to analyse and contemplate the objective world and all of the possibilities which it might hold.

Due to his exploration of fantastical and surreal worldly images suspended high above the usual spaces in which an artistic work would be displayed, he was selected by NASA to be their resident artist in 2009, showcasing his talents to the International Space Studies Programme. He then went on to win the prestigious Calder Prize. Following this, in 2012, he developed his seminal work “Cloud City”, in New York.

The philanthropic work of Nicole Junkermann

As an entrepreneur, Nicole Junkermann spends much of her time focused on her investments and business ventures. For close to two years now, Nicole Junkermann has been an investor in a company called Ziggurat, which offers student accommodation to those residing in Ireland and the UK. Through Ziggurat, Nicole Junkermann currently has property interests in Edinburgh, Newcastle and Dublin.

During 2012, Nicole Junkermann also became an Advisory Committee member for Trilantic. Trilantic is a private equity firm which works primarily with family-run businesses that operate within the energy, financial services, consumer and healthcare sectors. Currently, the company is managing five private equity funds and has capital commitments worth somewhere in the region of $3.8billion. This firm invests in both secure and fledgling market niches, and uses careful debt financing to ensure that their selected portfolio companies can weather economic storms.

Aside from her business interests, Nicole Junkermann supports a number of philanthropic initiatives. Coming from a multicultural background, Nicole Junkermann has always been passionate about building a fair and more peaceful society and has supported several altruistic projects.. One example would be her involvement with 'Codes of Tolerance', an organisation which encourages people to be more accepting of those of differing beliefs or ethnicities.

Nicole Junkermann has been working on a project with this organisation called 'The Human Codes of Tolerance and Respect'. The goal of this project is to convince those in positions of power - politicians, parents, religious leaders and teachers - to promote and follow a universal set of 'rules' which encourage peace-making.

In addition,Nicole Junkermann is passionate about the promotion of Latin American art. She recently lent a newly-acquired piece of art by Villar Rojas to Jimena Abascal, the NMAC Foundation's vice president, in order to popularise this artist's work.

This year, Nicole Junkermann will also be collaborating with Fundacion NMAC, in order to launch the JJ Collection, an organisation which will provide support to budding artists from Latin American countries. In addition to offering a sponsored prize to one artist, the foundation will also be commissioning another artist for a project. Those who wish to learn more about its launch can do so by visiting the JJ Collection blog.

Jose Dávila – Neue Perspektiven für Künstlerische Traditionen

Fast gespenstisch in ihrer Erscheinung, nutzt Jose Dávilas in seinen Fotografien von Cowboys aus dem 21. Jh. seine charakteristische Cut-Out-Technik, um herkömmlicher Fotografie einen neuen Dreh zu geben. Die Cowboys werden aus ihrer farbenfrohen Umgebung gelöst, was einen ätherischen Effekt erzeugt und es dem Betrachter erlaubt, seine eigenen Vorstellungen über das Aussehen eines Cowboys einzufügen. Dies versetzt den Betrachter mitten in den kreativen Prozess und macht den Moment zu einem externen und gleichzeitig internen Erlebnis.

Dieses kraftvolle Einsatz des negativen Raumes ist es, der die Skulpturen, Fotografien und Mixed-Media Stücke des Künstlers aus Guadalajara, Jose Dávila, so ansprechend macht. Geboren im Jahr 1974 in Guadalajara, Mexiko, besuchte Jose Dávila für fünf Jahre von 1993 bis 1998 die Architecture School der ITESCO University, nachdem er 1993 Plastik und Bildhauerei an der Fine Arts Academy von San Miguel de Allende studierte. Diese Kombination aus architektonischem Detail und Training in den schönen Künsten hat die Ästhetik seiner Arbeiten beeinflusst, was man in seinen Werken für Innenräume und den in bestehende Außenumgebungen integrierte Skulpturen betrachten kann.

Dávila nutzt für seine Arbeiten oft gängige und alltägliche Materialien, um den minimalistischen Stil zu erforschen sowie das Nutzen von und die Beschäftigung mit dem Raum zu erkunden. Es sind allerdings seine Fotografien, die ihm in letzter Zeit die meiste Aufmerksamkeit bescherten. Ausgeschnittene Bereiche in Fotos, die eine einzelne, zentrale Person oder ein Objekt enthalten, schaffen durch die leere Silhouette einen faszinierenden Effekt. Betrachter erkennen, was die Silhouette darstellen soll ohne es zu sehen und können die Lücke so mit ihrem eigenen Wissen füllen, wodurch sie aktiv an der Erschaffung des Kunstwerkes beteiligt sind.

Für die Kunst- und Lifestyleseite NEWNESS.com ist Dávila mit dieser Technik noch einen Schritt weitergegangen. Er nutzte dafür die ikonische Szene mit der finalen Schießerei im Film „Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo“ („Zwei glorreiche Halunken“). Er schnitt in der Szene Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef und Eli Wallach aus und ließ nur ihre weißen, von Technicolor umgebenen Silhouetten und die klassische Filmmusik übrig. Trotz dem fehlen der Gesichtsausdrücke behält die Szene ihre emotionale Intensität.

Jose Dávilas Arbeiten können in vielen angesehenen Museen und Galerien auf der ganzen Welt betrachtet werden, darunter die OMR Gallery in Mexiko-Stadt, die Max Wigram Gallery in London und bei Figge Von Rosen in Berlin. Dávila hat viele Unterstützer, darunter Nicole Junkermann, eine selbstständigen Geschäftsfrau, die als aktives Mitglied des Tate Advisory Committee of Latin American Art tätig ist. Nicole Junkermann ist eine internationale Private Equity Investorin mit einem ausgeprägten Interesse an den Künsten. Mehr Informationen über die von Nicole Junkermann unterstützten Künstler können auf dem Nicole Junkermann Blog gefunden werden.

Jose Dávila – New Perspectives on Artistic Traditions

Almost ghost-like in their appearance, Jose Dávila’s photographs of 21^st century cowboys use his signature cut-out technique to add a new twist to traditional photography. The cowboys are excised from their colourful environment for an ethereal effect and to allow the viewer’s own image of what a cowboy should look like to intervene. This places the viewer in the midst of the creative process, making the moment both an external and internal experience. 

This powerful use of negative space is part of what makes the sculptures, photographs and mixed-media pieces created by the Guadalajara artist, Jose Dávila, so appealing. Born in 1974 in Guadalajara, Mexico, Jose Dávila spent five years in the Architecture School of ITESO University (1993-1998), after studying sculpture at the Fine Arts Academy of San Miguel de Allende (1993). This combination of architectural detail and fine arts training has influenced the aesthetics of his work, which can be seen in his interior works and exterior in situ sculptures. 

Dávila often uses common, everyday materials in his work to explore the minimalistic style and help define the use and engagement of space. But, it is his photography which has garnered him much attention of late. Cutouts within photographs, which include a single and central person or object, create a voided silhouette for an engaging effect. Viewers recognise the subject, without actually seeing it, and can instantaneously fill the gap from their own knowledge base, becoming an active participant in the creation of the piece. 

Taking this technique one step further, Dávila has produced a film clip for the arts and lifestyle site, NEWNESS.com. Dávila used the classic final shoot-out scene of the movie, “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.” In the scene he has cut out Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef and Eli Wallach, leaving their white silhouettes surrounded by Technicolor and the film’s original music score. Despite the absence of facial details, the scene maintains its emotional intensity. 

Jose Dávila’s work is in many prestigious museums and galleries around the world, including the OMR Gallery in Mexico City, Max Wigram Gallery in London, and Figge Von Rosen in Berlin. Dávila has many supporters including Nicole Junkermann, an independent businesswoman, who is on the Tate Advisory Committee of Latin American Art. Nicole Junkermann is an international private equity investor with an interest in the arts. More information on the artists Nicole Junkermann supports can be found on the Nicole Junkermann Blog.

Die Serpentine Summer Party 2014: Brendan Mullane und Nicole Junkermann unter den Gästen

Einer der Höhepunkte des gesellschaftlichen Kalenders in London ist die Serpentine Summer Party, die A-Promis und Kunstenthusiasten aus aller Welt begrüßt. Paparazzis strömen zum Event, um ein Foto der vielfältigen Modelabels samt ihrer Träger zu schießen, während sich die berühmten Partygäste amüsieren und von verschiedenen Rednern und Künstlern unterhalten werden.

Während der Glanz und Zauber die Aufmerksamkeit der Welt auf sich zieht, dient er doch dem Ziel, Londons wichtigste kulturelle Ressource, die Serpentine Galleries, im Bewusstsein der Menschen hervorzuheben und finanziell zu unterstützen. Entlang des Serpentine Lake in den Kensington Gardens eingebettet, bieten die Galerien seit langem sowohl Anwohnern als auch Besuchern kostenlosen Zugang zu unschätzbarer Kunst. Seit 1970 unterstützen die Galerien Kunstprojekte der Gemeinde und bringen Schulkindern die Wichtigkeit künstlerischen Ausdrucks bei. Nichts davon wäre möglich ohne die großzügigen Spenden von Menschen und verschiedenen Stiftungen, verbunden mit der finanziellen Unterstützung, die durch die jährliche Summer Party entsteht.

Im Jahr 2014 wurde die Party von wohl bekannten Persönlichkeiten aus der ganzen Welt besucht, darunter Bradley Cooper, Lilly Allen, Naomi Campbell, Noel Gallagher, Mark Ruffalo und Cara Delevingne. Anwesend waren auch einflussreiche und erfolgreiche Geschäftsleute aus aller Welt, wie Brionis Creative Director Brendan Mullane, Unternehmerin Nicole Junkermann und der französische Milliardär François-Henri Pinault.

Die große Überraschung in diesem Jahr war das halbstündige Konzert von Musiker und Designer Pharrell Williams, das die anwesenden Gäste unterhielt und dabei durch seinen eloquenten Monolog die Bedeutung von Kunst und den Serpentine Galleries in den Blickpunkt rückte.

Gäste wie Prinzessin Beatrice, Kiera Knightley und Nicole Junkermann unterstützen weiterhin die Arbeit der Serpentine Galleries, auf dass sie auch in Zukunft Generationen von Kunstliebhabern inspirieren.