Lawrence Weiner @ Art 021

Opening hours: Nov.28th – Dec.1st 2013, 12am – 9pm
Venue: VIP lounge, National Industry Building
Address: 1/F, 14 Huqiu Road, Shanghai, China
For more information, please go to art021.org

At the inaugural opening of Art 021, MABSOCIETY is honored to present the site-specifc work AS LONG AS IT LASTS from one of the founding fathers of conceptual art, Lawrence Weiner. This interventional installation, exclusively produced for a public space in Shanghai, is one of his rare Chinese language creations.

Lawrence Weiner (b.1942) is one of the central figures in the formation of conceptual art in the 1960s. The wall installations that have been a primary medium for Weiner consist solely of words in a non-descript lettering painted on walls. Though Weiner's work is almost exclusively language-based, he regards his practice as sculpture, citing the elements described in the texts as his materials. Weiner himself need not do the lettering, as long as the sign painter complies with the instructions dictated by the artist. Although this body of work focuses on the potential for language to serve as an art form, the subjects of his epigrammatic statements are often materials, or a physical action or process. Self-taught as an artist, Weiner maintains that “Art is the empirical fact of the relationships of objects to objects in relation to human beings and not dependent upon historical precedent for either use or legitimacy.”

A comprehensive retrospective of Weiner's nearly 50-year career was organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York in (2007/08). Major solo exhibitions of the artist’s work have been mounted at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C. (1990), Institute of Contemporary Arts, London (1991), Dia Center for the Arts, New York (1991), Musée d’Art Contemporain, Bordeaux (1991/92), San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (1992), Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (1994), Philadelphia Museum of Art (1994), Museum Ludwig, Cologne (1995), Deutsche Guggenheim in Berlin (2000), Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporáneo in Mexico City (2004), and Tate Gallery in London (2006) and Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam (1988/89). He participated in documenta 5, 6, 7, and 13 (1972, 1977, 1982, 2012), the 36th, 41st, 50th and 55th Venice Biennales (1972, 1984, 2003, 2013) and the 27th Biennale de Sao Paulo (2006). In addition to publishing numerous books, Weiner has produced various films and videos, including Beached (1970), Do You Believe in Water? (1976), and Plowman’s Lunch (1982).

Weiner lives and works now in New York and Amsterdam.

Lawrence Weiner @ 021 艺博会

开放时间：2013年11月28日至12月1日，早12点至晚9点
地点：上海洛克·外滩源中实大楼VIP休息室
地址：上海市黄浦区虎丘路14号1楼
更多信息，详见art021.org

在首届ART021艺博会开幕之际，MABSOCIETY非常荣幸地代表美国观念艺术先驱Lawrence Weiner展出其为中国上海公共空间特别创作的装置作品《只要可持续》，这也是Weiner为数不多的汉字文字作品。

Lawrence Weiner（生于1942年2月10日）被公认为上世纪六十年代当代观念艺术的关键创始人物之一。自七十年代以来，墙面装置成为Weiner的主要创作媒介，它们仅仅由其独创的平凡而难以言喻的字体所构成。虽然Weiner的作品几乎都基于文字，他仍将自己的实践看作“雕塑”，将文字中提及的元素当作材料。他的作品并不需其本人制作，而是由招贴油漆工按照艺术家的作品说明来完成。尽管Weiner致力于发掘作为艺术形式的语言的潜在可能性，其警世醒语的主题往往又是物质的，或描述某种身体行为或过程。自学而成艺术家的Weiner始终维护以下理念：艺术是经验事实，显示了对象和涉及人类的对象之间的关系，与使用性或正统性的历史范例无关。

2007至08年，洛杉矶MOCA和纽约惠特尼美术馆为Lawrence Weiner近五十年的创作历程举办了大型综合回顾展。此外他还在以下机构举办过重要个展：华盛顿Hirshhorn美术馆和雕塑花园（1990），伦敦当代艺术学院（1991），纽约Dia艺术中心（1991），波尔多当代美术馆（1991/92），旧金山现代美术馆（1992）， 明尼阿波利斯Walker艺术中心（1994），费城美术馆（1994），科隆Ludwig美术馆（1995），柏林德国Guggenheim 美术馆（2000），墨西哥当代美术馆（2004），伦敦泰特美术馆（2006）以及阿姆斯特丹Stedelijk美术馆（1988/89）。他参加了第5、6、7和13届卡塞尔文献展（1972, 1977, 1982, 2012），第36、41、50和55届威尼斯双年展（1972, 1984, 2003, 2013），第27届圣保罗双年展 （2006）。除出版了众多影响巨大的印刷物外，Weiner还制作了多样的电影和影像作品，包括《搁浅》（1970），《你相信水吗？》（1976），和《农夫的午餐》 （1982）。

Lawrence Weiner现生活工作于纽约和阿姆斯特丹。