DIA CHELSEA - RICHARD SERRA: ‘A FILM AND VIDEO EXHIBITION’
This excellent exhibit showcases a selection of Richard Serra’s films and moving image.
Containing a decade’s worth of work, the presentation includes his titillating ‘Television Delivers People’ (1973) along with some amazing multimedia snippets, shreds and text.
For eleven+ productive years, the provocative sculptor, aesthetic tinkerer, and cultural visionary Richard Serra (1938–2024) immersed himself in the phenomenological whirlpool of media, film, sculpture and interactive art. Always pushing parameters with his austere and confrontational work, he produced a kind of psycho-philosophical thunderbolt across the art world.
Richard Serra, Railroad Turnbridge (still), 1976. © Richard Serra/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Image courtesy Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI), New York
From 1968–79, he created 17 films, a selection of which are now on view at Dia Chelsea’s talk space from August 21 through September 14, 2024. Serra’s interest in moving image and his deep dive into the medium came after seeing Canadian artist/filmmaker Michael Snow’s avant-garde masterpiece, Wavelength (1967), which he energetically absorbed and channeled in his subsequent work.
His films are surreal, deeply investigative, and explore obscure physical spaces and places such as lofts, bridges, and factories, revealing intriguing stories/structures of the cryptic and unseen. Serra’s awesome oeuvre includes classic video experiments, ‘task-based films’ commissioned for Leo Castelli’s gallery, and a cool range of complex pieces and collaborations with artists Joan Jonas (Anxious Automation, 1971) and Babette Mangolte (‘Surprise Attack’, 1973) , etc.
Hands Scraping, 1968 16 mm film, black-and-white, silent, 4:02 min. Camera: Robert Fiore; feat. Philip Glass and Richard Serra
Serra’s moving image reflects the various ways to experience perspective, perception and emotion. He interrogates reality wholesale and examines reason without meaning and meaning without reason. His art can be mundane but with a metaphysical heft. Still, for all his optical monotony, there is an allegorical impulse and emotional reflex in the way he captures and transforms reality, whether through the imposition of a border/scale in ‘Frame’, or the capturing of contrast in ‘Color Aid.’
Surprise Attack, 1973 Video, black-and-white, with sound, 1:53 min. Camera: Babette Mangolte; production: Carlota Schoolman; sound: Kurt Munkacsi
His vivid and visceral videos, such as ‘Television Delivers People’ and ‘Boomerang’, are particularly relevant today, as they critique commercial TV and consumer culture, and use feedback mechanisms to interrogate and inform the way media can impact the viewer.
“It is the consumer who is consumed.
You are the product of TV.
You are delivered to the advertiser who is the customer.
He consumes you.”
Reflexive and bold, Serra’s work is super analytical and more relevant than ever, especially in our media-saturated, task-occupied reality that envelops and defines modernity. At Dia Chelsea, we can witness and contemplate the brilliant points of view of the late artist and explore his versatile career and inspirations. Serra propagates conceptual and visual tsunami waves, transmitting intense energy and eye-opening truths:
“The NEW MEDIA STATE
is dependent on
television for its existence.
The NEW MEDIA STATE
is dependent on
propaganda for its
existence.”
Artist Richard Serra
Richard Serra, Philip Glass, and Robert Fiore installing Splash Piece, 1969, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 1969. From “Op Losse Schroeven: Situaties en Cryptostructuren.” Photo: Ad Petersen. © Richard Serra/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Richard Serra in front of his art piece - Moma Sculpture Garden 2007 - photo David Corio - Redferns
This work will hit you hard! It tingles your spirit and allows you to reflect on the deeply personal. It allows you to tune in and toggle your emotions as well. Go check out Dia Chelsea after work or over the weekend and try to process these imagistic dynamos and subtle messages.
Special thanks to Chrissie Iles for a wonderful curation. We are looking forward to her lecture this Saturday, September 14th.
Co-organized with Electronic Arts Intermix
Wednesday–Saturday, August 21–September 14, 2024, 12–6 pm, Dia Chelsea
