Jimmie Durham
'The Usual Song and Dance Routine With a Few Minor Interruptions'
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Jimmie Durham is a sculptor, essayist and poet who has been
making and exhibiting work since 1963. His first solo exhibition
was at the public gallery of the University of Texas at Austin in
1965; a period when the cultural and political uses of material,
objects and space were central to his practice. Since that time his
substantial career has deftly bridged the space between art and
activism.
During February - April 2010 Durham will undertake a three-month
Production Residency at Glasgow Sculpture Studios (GSS) to create
new work for Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art: a
series of intimate performance events conducted by the artist,
leading to a large-scale sculptural installation presented in the
GSS's galleries. This lecture will allow insight into the
extensive knowledge and experience that Jimmie Durham will bring
both to the Residency and the production of this new work for
Glasgow International 2010.
Jimmie Durham (born USA, 1940) moved to Europe in 1969 and studied
at L'École des Beaux-Arts in Geneva. Along with three other
sculptors he formed a group, Draga, which researched ways to allow
the plastic arts more access to public life. At the same
time, along with a Mapuche Indian from Chile and a Quechua Indian
from Bolivia, he formed an organization, Incomindios, which
attempted to co-ordinate and encourage support for the struggle of
Indians of the Americas.
In 1973 he returned to the USA to become a full-time organizer in
the American Indian Movement (AIM). During this time he served as
Director of the International Indian Treaty Council and
representative to the United Nations.
In the early 1980s Durham returned his attention to art in New
York City, working with a loose group of artists who were Puerto
Rican, Afro-American, Asian-American and American Indian, following
the instigation of his partner, the artist, Maria Thereza Alves.
This group exhibited together frequently in Manhattan's Lower East
Side, Harlem, the Bronx and Brooklyn.
In 1983 West End Press published Columbus Day, a book of his poems
and in 1988 his poetry was also included in Harper's Anthology of
20th Century Native American Poetry.
In 1987 Durham moved to Cuernavaca, Mexico, where he was based
until moving to Europe in 1994. During his time in Mexico, Durham
began to exhibit internationally, including at the Whitney
Biennial, Documenta IX, ICA London, Exit Art, New York, the Museum
of Contemporary Art, Antwerp and the Palais des Beaux-Arts,
Brussels. He also published a number of essays in books and
periodicals, including Art Forum, Art Journal and Third Text. In
1995, A Certain Lack of Coherence, a collection of his essays was
published by Kala Press. Since moving to Europe, Durham's work has
focused primarily on the relationship between architecture,
monumentality and national narratives. Publications on
anti-architecture include: Der Verfuhrer und der Steinerne Gast,
Springer, Vienna, 1996; Between the Furniture and the Building:
Between a Rock and a Hard Place, Walter Konig, Cologne, 1998;
Stoneheart, CCA, Kitakyushyu, 2001; Jimmie Durham, Edizione Charta,
Milano, 2004 and The Second Particle Wave Theory, University of
Sunderland and the Banff Centre, 2005.
His solo exhibitions in Europe have included venues such as the
Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Musée d'Art Contemporain
in Marseilles, Museum Voor Actuele Kunst in den Hague, Hamburg
Kunstverein, FRAC in Reims, SMAK Museum in Ghent, Wittgenstein Haus
in Vienna, Kunstverein Munich, and the Venice Biennale (1999, 2001,
2003 and 2005), Whitney Biennale (1993 and 2006) among many
others.
In 1995 Phaidon published Jimmie Durham, a comprehensive survey of
his art and in 2009, on the occasion of Durham's retrospective at
the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Pierres rejetées, a
catalogue of Durham's work in Europe was published.
Obsidiana, a major solo project by Durham, which was developed
over the past two years, is currently showing at Kurimanzutto in
Mexico City.
In collaboration with Glasgow Sculpture Studios and the Goethe
Institute, Glasgow
Hosted by The School of Fine Art, The Friday Event Lecture
Series is The Glasgow School of Art's flagship public lecture
series, and brings major international speakers (including artists,
architects, designers, historians and cultural theorists) to the
city of Glasgow.
