Sharon Lockhart 'Movements and Variations' at Fondazione Fotografia Modena

Fondazione #fotografia #modena is pleased to present a solo exhibition by internationally acclaimed Los Angeles-based artist #sharonlockhart (b. Massachusetts, United States, 1964). Hosted in Fondazione Fotografia’s temporary exhibition venue MATA, a former tobacco factory located in Modena’s city centre, the show introduces three new, interconnected series of photographic and sculptural works, conceived especially for this venue and inspired by its workers’ social activism.

Throughout her career, Lockhart has immersed herself in communities to make works – including photographs, films and installations – that uniquely capture groups and individuals through studied, choreographed compositions. The points of departure for Lockhart’s new works stem from her ongoing interest in portraiture, representation, movement, labour and the power of women. Comprising casts of manzanita, buckeye, and black walnut sticks that Lockhart gathered in California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains, A Bundle and Five Variations (2018) is the artist’s first engagement with bronze sculpture. Lockhart previously featured similar sticks in her film Little Review (2017). In collaboration with Ravi GuneWardena from the Sogetsu School of Ikebana, these sculptures have been grouped into six distinct arrangements, five of which are derived from the larger bundle on view. Balancing form and weight, the sculptural iterations reflect both the natural and constructed relationships of the sticks. With a similar focus on structure and variation, for the photographs in Nine Sticks in Nine Movements (2018), Lockhart and the protagonist of the shots, Sichong Xie, worked together to generate a movement for each of the bronzes. Each position is devised with reference to a myriad of poses from social and art historical sources. Like a dance, the photographs – alongside the sculptural arrangements – capture the interplay between choreography and the physicality of the bronze sticks. 

Drawing from exchanges between the artist, the curators and #fondazionefotografiamodena, the exhibition also engages with the politically charged history of the site, a former tobacco factory that was, at times, staffed by an entirely female workforce. The show includes a selection of images from the archives of the well-known photo studio Botti e Pincelli, owned by the City of #modena and now managed by FONDAZIONE #modena ARTI VISIVE. Shot in 1963 and in 1968 but never published, these black-and-white photos depict demonstrations of farmers distributing potatoes to workers of both the tobacco factory and the nearby Corni Foundries, as well as dumping milk on the road, in an act of protest against the economic policies introduced by the Italian government to regulate agricultural tariffs. They parallel another form of self-determination and economic autonomy that Lockhart captured in her ‘independent business’ photographs – Dirty Don’s Delicious Dogs, Moody Mart, and Handley’s Snack Shop (all 2008) – which will also be featured in the exhibition. Part of Lockhart’s larger Lunch Break project, these photographs depict makeshift stands used by the workers of a major American shipbuilding company. Although specifically prohibited by the factory’s management, the stands line the corridors of the workshops and provide food and beverages to other workers in an act of defiance against the mass-produced goods sold by the management at inflated prices.

Biography

Among the most important exhibitions by #sharonlockhart are her solo shows in the Polish Pavilion at the 57^th Venice Biennale (2017); Kunstmuseum Luzern (2015); Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm, (2014); Ujazdowski Castle Center for #contemporaryart, Warsaw (2013); EACC Espai d'Art Contemporani de Castelló, Castellón de la Plana, Spain (2012); LACMA, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles (2012); Kunstverein Hamburg, Germany (2008); Museum of #contemporaryart, Chicago (2001); and MAK – Österreichisches Museum für angewandte Kunst, Vienna (2000). Her works have been presented in many biennials, including the Shanghai Biennale (2014); the Liverpool Biennial (2014); and the Whitney Biennial (1997, 2000, 2004). They are to be found in major museum collections, such as that of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York), Hammer Museum (Los Angeles), Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen (Rotterdam), Tate Modern (London), and Sammlung Goetz (Munich).

On the Institution

Fondazione #fotografia #modena is a #contemporaryart centre and a higher-learning institution dedicated to photography. It offers an array of activities, from temporary exhibitions to highly specialized courses, holding a place of importance on the national and international culture scene, thanks to the safeguarding and enhancing a vast and significant collection of contemporary photography and to its scientific expertise in cataloguing, preserving, and restoring archival photographs. The Foundation aims to constitute a privileged resource from which to gather and interpret the rapid processes underway in the contemporary world, considering today’s mass production, exponential proliferation and diffusion of images. Ranging from traditional photography genres to new and experimental art practices, #fondazionefotografiamodena boasts a vast audience. It engages its diversified public in exploring the multiple languages of imagery and following their development to reflect the social and cultural changes of the societies that created them. The solo exhibitions it has staged include: Santu Mofokeng (2016); Tom Sandberg; Hiroshi Sugimoto (both in 2015); Axel Hütte; Mimmo Jodice (both in 2014); Walter Chappell (2013); Edward Weston (2012); Walter Niedermayr; Ansel Adams (both in 2011); Daido Moriyama (2010). Its best-known group shows include: Three True Stories – Zanele Muholi, Ahlam Shibli, Mitra Tabrizian (2013); Flags of America. I grandi autori americani dagli anni ’40 agli anni ’70; The Collector’s Choice. Opere dalla collezione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo (both in 2012).

Together with Galleria Civica di #modena and #museo della Figurina, #fondazionefotografiamodena is part of FONDAZIONE #modena ARTI VISIVE, an institution directed by Diana Baldon and founded by the City of #modena and the private philanthropic foundation Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di #modena. FONDAZIONE #modena ARTI VISIVE presents #contemporaryart and visual culture within the framework of the heritage and the driving forces behind its three cultural institutions, namely Galleria Civica di #modena, #fondazionefotografiamodena and #museo della Figurina. While reflecting the individual paths of these public and private cultural institutions with a view to strengthening their individual identities, the aims of the new foundation include the showcasing of the most innovative international artistic practices of the 21^st century, the promotion of forms of activation and contamination between various disciplines and contexts, and the valorisation of the collections with which it is entrusted. Furthermore, through academic and pedagogical research activities, it also critically investigates the radical transformation that art and imagery have undergone over recent decades in the wake of the impact of new technologies as well as the new contexts and platforms available for sharing information and services. 

Special thanks to

Patrizia Cremonini (Archivio di Stato di Modena), Ravi GuneWardena, Alex Slade, Vidhi Todi, Tanita Enderes, Andrew Goeser (Lockhart Studio, Los Angeles), Caroline Luce (Gladstone Gallery, New York and Brussels),Dylan Lustrin (neugerriemschneider, Berlin), Giò Marconi, Tiziano Rossano Maineri, Esther Quiroga (Giò Marconi, Milan), MAST Collection, Bologna, Gunia Nowik and Sichong Xie.

Information

Sharon Lockhart

Movements and Variations 

Fondazione #fotografia Modena

Exhibition venue: MATA – ex Manifattura Tabacchi

Via Manifattura Tabacchi, 83 | Modena

Exhibition Dates: 7 April – 3 June 2018

Opening hours
Wednesdays – Fridays, 3 pm – 7 pm
Saturdays and Sundays, 11 am – 7 pm
Mondays and Tuesdays closed

Special opening days
1 May 2018, 3 pm – 7 pm
19 May 2018, 11 am – midnight

Press Office
Irene Guzman – mob: +39 349 1250956 – email: i.guzman@fmav.org

Fondazione #fotografia Modena
via Giardini 160, Modena
t. +39 059 224418
www.fondazionefotografia.org