Exhibition Guide
Yorgos Sapountzis
The Protagonists
20 July – 15 September 2013
GALLERY PLAN
INTRODUCTION
2nd Floor
Statues or monuments that are placed in urban landscapes as
statements of civic identity, pride, and power, are the starting
point for Yorgos Sapountzis’ work. Besides the historical or
cultural information these sculptures convey, he is interested
in the way in which they accrue a range of different meanings,
‘lives of their own’, as they are interpreted – appreciated,
denounced, or ignored – by the many different communities
who congregate around them over time.
Reading
Room
1st Floor
For The Protagonists, Sapountzis has created an imaginary
park of public sculpture that blurs the boundaries of Arnolfini’s
indoor gallery spaces with the outdoor sites of the monuments
he has appropriated with performances, photos, and films.
Sapountzis works with public space in a way that emphasises
it as shared and communal, a place in which different opinions
and lifestyles are negotiated. These areas are shaped through
daily, more or less conscious rituals, habits that we share, or
rules and beliefs that we follow as individuals or communities.
The artist is interested in how bodies – both human and
sculptural - appear in this public space.
Gallery 2
Gallery 3
Gallery 4
Ground Floor
Café Bar
Bookshop
Sapountzis uses public monuments, and the way in which
they relate to rituals and myths, as protagonists for his work,
which he activates with riotous yet elegant films, and vivid,
large-scale structures. The exhibition presents videos, fabricand-frame structures, and casts from public sculptures in
Bristol, in an installation that unfolds throughout the galleries
and involves visitors in a scenario of bright colours, images,
and sound.
A sense of openness in Sapountzis’ practice gives his work
an anarchic quality, exemplified by his commitment to
immediacy, improvisation, and collaborative working with
non-professionals – including Arnolfini’s resident group,
Young Arnolfini, with whom he worked on a series of nighttime interventions around Bristol city centre. Besides the new
works made at Arnolfini, the exhibition also presents previous
sculptures and installations, which give an insight into
Sapountzis’ ongoing concerns.
GALLERY TWO
Sapountzis’ work often takes the form of ‘parasitic’ interventions. These
include performances choreographed around a public sculpture, or add-hoc
temporary structures made from ephemeral, easily transportable materials –
such as brightly coloured fabric, aluminium rods, and adhesive tape – which
are constructed and placed in public space. In Sapountzis’ exhibitions,
elements of these interventions are often transferred back to the galleries
through video and photographic documentation, or casts made from the
original sculptures. The tent-like structure that dominates Gallery 2 was
originally hung over a statue of Friedrich Schiller in Mannheim, Germany,
for a performance that Sapountzis realised as part of a theatre festival.
The colourful fabric was used for a ceremonial re-veiling of the classic
monument, staged together with a group of young people. Situated in a
gallery space, it acts as a stand-in for the physical presence of bodies in
space, and although very light, it shapes the space dramatically, alluding to
the artist’s imagining of public art works as being works-in-progress – silent,
evolutionary protagonists in many different people’s lives. Photographs of
the project, titled Shells of Time / Is the Now Time? (2009), are included
in a series of collages, which Sapountzis fabricated with the teenagers
participating in the show. These collages are reminders of the collaborative
nature of the work, recalling handmade posters and event boards in schools
and churches. They can be also seen as traces of Sapountzis’ attempt to
reintroduce a sense of myth into contemporary life: in the era of Wikipedia,
it is exceptional to have no access to knowledge and to speculate, or even
recreate and appropriate, through misunderstandings.
Contemporary artists playing provisional materials and corporeal fragility
against the sculptural purity and architectural solidity of classicism and
modernism are not unique. Yet Sapountzis manages to set himself apart from
the historicizing pack. His poetic reliance on those strange coloured fabrics—
freak flags of some other order—and silvery scaffolding, turn these materials
into archetypes that might replace the older archetypes (marble monuments),
while evoking myths and histories both ancient and modern. His use of colour
and sound to stain his films of public sculpture, meanwhile, invest the iconic
monuments with new feeling and meaning—a kind of playfully ironic allegiance
and grandeur—which in turn references the old feeling and meaning they were
originally meant to conjure. (Quinn Latimer)
A series of works on aluminium sheets are described as advertisements
(Reklame) and represent different professional roles – a cook, a doctor, a
worker – who are almost stereotypical figures, in opposition to the open
and not-yet defined roles of the young people that he collaborated with.
Sapountzis’ dedication to an open aesthetics is further elaborated in Empty
Shelves Black News (2012), which is literally empty – a shelf without goods,
subtly nodding to the commercialised public spaces in Western inner cities.
GALLERY THREE
Sapountzis is from Athens, a city where the monumental presence of the past
impacts very strongly on the present day. The Protagonists (2013), on display
in Gallery 3, was produced specifically for the exhibition at Arnolfini. The
installation includes reference to the collection of local public sculptures in
the city centre of Bristol, and consists of leg casts of some of these sculptures,
works with fabrics, sheets of aluminium and large structures made from
metal tubes. Stacks of dining tables and chairs serve as architectural bases
for the works. The installation occupies all possible areas of the space and
encompasses viewers upon entering, involving all senses in a dense and
colourful scenario. The artist merges sculpture and theatre with a reflection of
the human figure, both as image and our own body, in shared social space.
Some of the metal plates, with pieces of fabric attached like a drawing,
contain images of the casts, which Sapountzis has used to create the plaster
elements of the installation. Flattened for the photographs, the casts go from
three dimensions to two-dimensional forms, in a similar way to developable
geometric surfaces, such the globe of the earth as a flat map. This literal
investigation of figurative sculptures points to the layers of the representation
of human bodies: the forms of the body parts, the artistic treatment of the
figure, and the specific story of the person which is represented. Jars with
vegetables, used as bases for some of the plaster elements, point to this
aspect of the human figure: when we’re alive, we need to eat.
The video, which is part of the installation, consists of footage the artist
created from performances made in collaboration with Arnolfini’s resident
group Young Arnolfini, who are aged 16 to 25. On a series of night-time
wanderings around Bristol, the group developed partly improvised theatrical
tableaux which activated the sculptures with interventions, adding fabric
or imitating details of the figure’s gestures, extending or confronting the
sculptures in the public spaces. The video highlights these actions, combining
them into a flow of images that develops between the sculptures and the
performers. The soundtrack to the video was composed by Øyvind Torvund,
a long-time collaborator with Sapountzis.
The large, circular dining tables and chairs, which are part of the installation,
are not modified, but are included as elements of the world as we know
it. They allude to their function of hosting social events. In the exhibition,
they create the setting of a dining situation, to which the visitors arrive,
symbolically, as guests. During the opening night, the exhibition will be
activated by a performance and concert with Øyvind Torvund, Sapountzis, and
a group of musicians and performers. The title of the work, The Protagonists,
does not only refer to the sculptures as actors in public space, but also the
audience in the exhibition space. In Greek tragedy, the protagonist is the first
person to enter the stage, and he is the centre of the conflict of the play.
GALLERY FOUR
The work presented in Gallery 4, Fast Cast Past (2011), unlike the collaborative
projects, is a dialogue between the artist and two sculptures in Berlin. The
focus of the installation is a pair of statues by the German sculptor Richard
Scheibe (1879-1964). Both are male nudes, and are created in a nearidentical style, but made under very different political regimes. Schreitender
(Genesender), translated as ‘the walker’, was produced in 1935 – during the
period that Scheibe was producing public sculptures for the Third Reich. The
second piece Ehrenmal für die Opfer des 20. Juli 1944, made after the war in
1952, memorialises a failed attempt by the German Resistance to assassinate
Hitler. Both sculptures are located close to Isabella Bortolozzi gallery,
where the work was initially presented. The elaborate back stories to these
figurative sculptures are a good example of how similar images might take
on ambiguous significance and be co-opted for conflicting intentions. In the
video, Sapountzis performs with the older sculpture, building a relationship
to the problematic work and taking a cast of its head, which can also be seen
included in a sculpture in the gallery. Symbolically, the figure is involved in a
new narrative. The second sculpture appears at the very end of the video.
Yorgos Sapountzis, Mirror Cast, 2012. Installation view, Overgarden Institut for Samtidskunst, Copenhagen.
Photo: Anders Sune Berg. Courtesy the artist, Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi, Berlin
Yorgos Sapountzis, Reklame - Zimmermann, rot ,2012. Courtesy the artist, Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi, Berlin
(Image top) Yorgos Sapountzis, Die Welt in Teilen (Office), 2011. Installation View, Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi,
Berlin. Photo: Nick Ash. Courtesy the artist, Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi, Berlin. (Image bottom) Yorgos
Sapountzis, Fast Cast Past, 2011. Video Installation, dimensions variable. Photo: Nick Ash. Courtesy the artist,
Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi, Berlin
Yorgos Sapountzis, Shells of time / Is the Now time, 2009. 5. Internationale Schillertage, Mannheim. Courtesy
the artist, Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi, Berlin
1 In front of Arnolfini
TRE
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Edmund Burke. The statue is a replica from a marble sculpture in St Stephen’s
Hall, Westminster. Edmund Burke represented the city of Bristol in Parliament
1774 – 1780.
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Queen Victoria, 1888. The sculpture from Carrara marble commemorated the
fiftieth year of Queen Victoria’s reign.
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Rajah Rammohun Roy, Niranjan Pradhan, 1997. Roy (1772 – 1833) was an Indian
social reformer and died in Bristol in September 1833 while visiting England.
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3 College Green
Bristol
Old Vic
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Neptune, 1723. The statue was re-sited from the harbourside in 1999.
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4 Queen Square
Temple Meads
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William III., John Michael Rysbrack, 1736. One
of the most impressive sculptures
of his time shows King William in a heroic Roman style uniform.
5 Millenium Square
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John Cabot, Stephen Joyce, 1986. Cabot came to Bristol from Venice in 1495
and left to discover Newfoundland.
2 City Centre
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BRISTOL SCULPTURE MAP
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
EVENTS
Yorgos Sapountzis (born 1976 in Athens, Greece), lives and works in Berlin and
Athens. Recent solo exhibitions include Overgaden in Copenhagen, the Ursula
Blickle Foundation in Kraichtal near Stuttgart, Freymond-Guth Fine Arts in
Zurich, Isabella Bortolozzi Gallery, Berlin, and Simone Subal Gallery, New York.
He has participated in group shows at the Centre Pompidou, Paris, at Lismore
Castle Arts in Lismore, Ireland (curated by Mark Sladen), and Kunsthaus
Bregenz (curated by Yilmaz Dziewior, all 2013). Additionally, he has worked as
a set designer and director for theatre projects.
Performance
He has forthcoming solo exhibitions at Kunsthaus Glarus in Switzerland and
Kunsthalle Lingen, Germany.
Saturday 20 July, 2pm, free
YOUNG ARNOLFINI
Young Arnolfini is a collective of local art enthusiasts aged from 16 to 25
working, learning and living in Bristol. The group aims to provide a cultural
forum through workshops, blogging and live events to bridge the gap between
young people and Bristol’s thriving art scene.
You can read an interview with Yorgos Sapountzis conducted by Young
Arnolfini on their blog youngarnolfini.wordpress.com.
The participants in the collaboration for this exhibition were: Tom Beale,
Aimee Bowden, Grace Cohen, Charlie Crosley-Thorne, Miriam Gilkes, Katie
Ibbott, Mia Moore, Katie Morgan, Emma Morsi, Maz Shar, Alice Titshall.
Friday 19 July, 7.30pm – 8pm, free
The Servants, concert by Øyvind Torvund, with Harry Cameron-Penny
(Clarinet), Sarah Mason (Percussion), Mark Knoop (Piano), Alice Purton (Cello),
Yorgos Sapountzis and members of Young Arnolfini
Exhibition Talk
Artist talk with Yorgos Sapountzis, Kathy Noble (curator, London) and Axel
Wieder (Curator of Exhibitions, Arnolfini)
The Protagonists, Performance with Yorgos Sapountzis
Sunday 15 September, 8pm, free
The Protagonists will be presented as part of the performance festival 4 Days
at Arnolfini, Thursday 12 – Sunday 15 September 2013
Exhibition tours
Every Saturday, 2pm, free
The free tours of our galleries are led by a member of staff, or an invited
guest – an artist, writer, or curator – and are a chance to hear the personal
interpretations and insights of the tour leader, learn more about the work on
show, and task any questions you may have about the exhibition. All welcome.
Arnolfini presents an extensive programme with performances, talks, films,
music and educational activities for all ages. Please visit our website for
further information.
Photography Policy
Please feel free to take photographs of
the exhibition for your own private use.
Reproduction is not permitted.
Please share your impressions of the
exhibition via Facebook or Twitter:
#TheProtagonsists
Reading Room
If you would like to learn more about the
exhibition, there are further resources
and exhibition guides available in the
Reading Room on the 2nd floor.
Bookshop
In the bookshop you find a selection of
publications for sale that relate to the
current exhibitions.
Large print versions of
this guide are available
at Box Office
Portable seating is available on request
Exhibition spaces open: Tuesday to
Sunday and Bank Holidays, 11am – 6pm
Admission to exhibition spaces is free.
Arnolfini
16 Narrow Quay
Bristol BS1 4QA
arnolfini.org.uk
@arnolfiniarts
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Access
We aim to make all visitors welcome.
There are parking spaces for people
with disabilities outside our main
entrance, access via Farr’s Lane. Our
galleries are wheelchair accessible.
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Arnolfini is a registered charity no. 311504.
With kind support of The Bristol Hotel
Arnolfini would like to thank Isabella Bortolozzi and
Andrew Cannon, Jean-Claude Freymond-Guth, ITYS
Collection, Øyvind Torvund, Edward Tucker, Thomas
Keller, Young Arnolfini, Elinor John, Aldo Rinaldi and
Francis Fry.
Cover image: Yorgos Sapountzis, The Protagonists,
2013, produced in collaboration with Young Arnolfini.
Photo: Edward Tucker. Courtesy the artist, Isabella
Bortolozzi Gallery, Berlin, Simone Subal Gallery, New
York, Freymond-Guth Fine Arts, Zurich.