bitforms gallery is pleased to announce “Volume”, the first solo exhibition in New York by Swiss artist Zimoun. On view will be an immersive, site-specific sound installation based on prepared dc- motors and cardboard boxes.
Part of a series that received its U.S. debut in a solo exhibition at the Ringling Museum of Art this Fall, the installation emphasizes the grid as a method of visual organization. Precariously balanced rows of cardboard boxes form an architectural space containing a rumbling din produced by mechanical motors humming in unison.
Pulsing rhythmically, each unit in the system reverberates with its own sense of purpose and timing. Temporal microstructures emerge and shift, made visible by collective behavior. With minimalist and low-tech means, Zimoun constructs a blank zone of play utilizing repetition and the physical pressure of vibration.
As an author, Zimoun uses scale and tools of amplification to transform our associations with commonplace industrial objects. Tuned into kinetic and acoustic detail, his obsessive displays of collected materials unlock emotional potential in otherwise banal and chaotic gestures. In his work static volume permeates a space, yielding reductive clocklike operas of the everyday.
For the duration of the show, the gallery’s project room on the 6th floor will also feature four mechanical works by the artist and a video.
Concurrent and upcoming events with Zimoun
Feb 4 and Nov 18 – Feb 19: Live performance and artist talk, in conjunction with the exhibition Nostalgia Machines, David Winton Bell Gallery, List Art Center, Brown Univ., Providence, RI
Oct 11 – Feb 19: Zimoun: Sculpting Sound, The Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, FL
Jan 1 – Feb 19: Transjourney: Future Media Festival, Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei, Taiwan Mar 7 – Jul 10: Nam June Paik Art Center, Seoul, Korea
Mar 8 – 18: Exit: Low Tech, Maison des Arts de Créteil, France
Mar 22 – Apr 1: VIA, Maubeuge-Mons, France
Mar 23 – Jun 11: L.E.V., Laboral Centro de Arte y Creación, Gijón, Spain
Apr 28 – Jun 2: Oboro, Biennale Elektra, Montreal, Canada
Apr 7 – May 26: ROJO, NOVA Cultura Contemporânea, Belo Horizonte and São Paulo, Brazil April 19 – 21: Live performance, Störung Festival, Barcelona, Spain
Jun 7 – Jul 19: Solo exhibition, Galerie Denise René, Paris, France
Jun: Solo exhibition Centrum Kultury Agora, Wroclaw, Poland
Spring 2013: Collaboration with architect Hannes Zweifel, Kunstverein Mannheim,Germany
