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Slought Foundation, a non-profit organization rethinking contemporary art, in conjunction with the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority Public Art Program, is pleased to announce "Wave Forms: Oppenheim Proposal for 3401 Chestnut St., Philadelphia," a vault installation in the galleries on display from April 1-June 1, 2006. The public reception will take place on Saturday, April 1st, 2006 from 6:30-8:30pm, with artist Dennis Oppenheim in attendance. This exhibition has been curated by Aaron Levy, Executive Director at the Slought Foundation, with curatorial assitance from Susan Davis, Director, Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority Public Art Program, and Osvaldo Romberg, a Senior Curator at Slought Foundation.
“Wave Forms" is the title of a monumental public artwork by Dennis Oppenheim commissioned by The Hanover Company for a new retail and residential development on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania at 3401 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia. The project is currently scheduled for completion in 2007. The vault installation at Slought Foundation features site plans, scale models, and video projections that reflect the development of Oppenheim’s proposal over the course of a series of presentations before the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority Percent for Art Program. Representatives from The Hanover Company, Facilities & Real Estate Services at the University of Pennsylvania, and the Philadelphia cultural community attended and participated in these presentations.
The underlying structure of Oppenheim’s “Wave Forms” is derived from the superposition of sound waves that result from vibrating bells. “Wave Forms” dynamically responds to the challenges facing public art today, and comments on the Liberty Bell and its role in Philadelphia marketing and tourism. “Wave Forms” can also be understood in relation to Oppenheim’s previous conceptual and sound work, notably “Attempt to raise hell (1974),” in which a bronze mannequin periodically hits his head against a bronze bell (Permanent collection, Musée national d'Art moderne - Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris).
Please note that this vault installation has been organized in conjunction with "Tactics: Early Video Works by Dennis Oppenheim, 1970-1974," a retrospective exhibition concurrently on display in the main galleries (here for more information).
Dennis Oppenheim has received international attention for a body of conceptual artwork that includes performance, sculpture, and photographs. In the early 1970s, Oppenheim was in the vangard of artists using film and video as a means to investigate themes relating to Body Art, Conceptual Art, and performance. In a series of works produced between 1970 and 1974, Oppenheim used his own body as a site to challenge the self: he explored the boundaries of personal risk, transformation, and communication through ritualistic performance actions and interactions. Dennis Oppenheim was born in 1938 in Electric City, Washington. He received his B.F.A. from the School of Arts and Crafts, and an M.F.A. from Stanford University. He has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. Oppenheim has exhibited his works internationally in galleries and museums including the Tate Gallery, London; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Whitney Museum of American Art and The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Musee d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris; Galerie Pro Arte, Germany; and the Joseph Helman Gallery, New York. He has been commissioned by many venues including Ballerup Kommune, Copenhagen; Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin; The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, and Olympic Park, South Korea. Oppenheim lives in New York.
This program is made possible in part through the generous sponsorship or support of Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority Public Art Program and Facilities & Real Estate Services at the University of Pennsylvania
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