An Imprecise Science

Overview

Woolloomooloo institution Artspace has unveiled their secretive summer-long revamp, the first in 20 years. And straight off the bat, you can expect 'a lot of sorrow'.

Artspace is now home to a bigger, more beautiful exhibition space, as well as a suite of lush, contemporary studios where 42 Sydney-based artists will take on residencies over the next six years. To celebrate the opening, Artspace is hosting an epic exhibition, An Imprecise Science, comprised of works from 13 international artists and curated by Alexie Glass-Kantor with Talia Linz. The biggest drawcard is a divisive video piece by Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson, somewhat literally titled 'A Lot of Sorrow'. It captures The National playing 'Sorrow' from High Violet for six hours in a row, while wrapped in swirls of ice machine smoke. The performance was recorded in May 2013 at New York's MOMA PS.1 Gallery, in front of a live crowd. The song is three-and-a-half minutes long, so yep, you can settle in and watch it 105 times in a row.

Here's the setlist from the day:

Here's a teaser.

Artspace isn't stopping at six hours of National sorrow. One of the most important new additions to the space is the 'Ideas Platform', a collaborative spot for the combining of exhibitions, performances and lectures. Its inaugural show will feature the works of Los Angeles-based artist Eve Fowler, who has exhibited at MOMA in New York and San Francisco, and ACMI in Los Angeles. Her bold, colourful pieces look like enormous band posters but feature quotations from Gertrude Stein poems. Recently, they filled a series of billboards along the Interstate 10, which runs between Florida and California.

The other artists included in the exhibition are Walead Beshty (UK/USA), Nina Canell (Sweden/Germany), Natalya Hughes (Australia), Biljana Jancic (Australia), Alicja Kwade (Poland/Germany), Bridie Lunney (Australia), Rob McLeish (Australia/USA), Kate Newby (New Zealand/USA), Isabel Nolan (Ireland), Shinro Ohtake (Japan) and Daniel von Sturmer (New Zealand/Australia).