Bruce Nauman: Contrapposto Studies at Punta della Dogana

Walking a Line , 2019 4K 120fps 3D projection (color, stereo, sound), continuous play 515,6 x 289,5 cm, 15 min. 46 sec. Courtesy of the artist and Sperone Westwater, New York © Bruce Nauman by SIAE 2021, courtesy Sperone Westwater, New York

American contemporary artist Bruce Nauman is back to Venice, with a major exhibition at Pinault Collection’s Punta della Dogana. This is his first big show in Veniice since winning the Golden Lion at 2009’s Biennale.

ART

Named “Bruce Nauman: Contrapposto Studies”, the exhibition has opened in May 2021 and will be on see until 27 November 2022. It is curated by Carlos Basualdo, the Keith L. and Katherine Sachs Senior Curator of Contemporary Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and Caroline Bourgeois, curator at Pinault Collection.

Walks In Walks Out , 2015 HD video installation (color, stereo sound, continuous play) 3 min Jointly owned by Pinault Collection and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Funding for the Philadelphia Museum of Art is made possible through the generosity of many donors. © Bruce Nauman by SIAE 2021, courtesy Sperone Westwater, New York

Violins+Silence=Violence , 1981 Pencil, charcoal and pastel on paper 134 x 154.30 cm Pinault Collection © Bruce Nauman by SIAE 2021

An homage to one of the major figures of the contemporary art scene, the exhibition focuses on three fundamental aspects of artist’s work – the artist studio as a space where creation takes place, the body through performances and the exploration of sound.

Nature Morte , 2020 Three 4K video projections and three servers controlled by three iPad Pro 11’’, 3D scans of studio Dimensions variable (in consultation with the Bruce Nauman studio) Courtesy of the artist and Sperone Westwater, New York © Bruce Nauman by SIAE 2021, courtesy Sperone Westwater, New York

The exhibition at Punta della Dogana brings together older works and the most recent ones, some of which are new or have never been exhibited in Europe before, as well as the one created specifically on the occasion of the exhibition at Punta della Dogana

Bruce Nauman, Diagonal Sound Wall (Acoustic Wall), 1970, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Panza Collection, Gift, 1992. Installation View, Bruce Nauman: Contrapposto Studiesat Punta della Dogana, 2021. Ph. Marco Cappelletti © Palazzo Grassi© Bruce Nauman by SIAE 2021

Combining the sound, the performance, the artist’s studio and the relationship between body and the physical, psychological and cultural spaces it occupies, Namuman’s work

Bruce Nauman, (from left to right), Stamping in the Studio, 1968, Bouncing in the Corner, No.2: Upside Down, 1969, Electronic Arts Intermix, Bouncing in the Corner, No. 1, 1968, Pinault Collection
Courtesy of the artist and Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI), New YorkInstallation View, Bruce Nauman: Contrapposto Studiesat Punta della Dogana, 2021. Ph. Marco Cappelletti © Palazzo Grassi© Bruce Nauman by SIAE 2021

The exhibition focuses on a series of recent video installations that artist has developed over the last years and their relation to the video work from 1968, Walk with Contrapposto, that sees the artist walk in a narrow wooden corridor built inside his studio while trying to maintain the contrapposto pose.

Bruce Nauman, Contrapposto Studies, I through VII, 2015-2016,Jointly owned by Pinault Collection and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Installation View, Bruce Nauman: Contrapposto Studiesat Punta della Dogana, 2021. Ph. Marco Cappelletti © Palazzo Grassi© Bruce Nauman by SIAE 2021

The exhibition invites the visitors to live an immersive experience through their sensory perception, body and mind, a fundamental process to fully understand Nauman’s artistic research.