Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis CAM Building, Missouri Gallery Building, Exhibition USA
Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (CAM) Exhibition
Place is the Space, St. Louis, Missouri, USA – building design by Allied Works Architecture
Jul 15, 2013
‘Beauty Mark’ at Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (CAM)
Design: Brad Cloepfil + Allied Works Architecture
CAM LAUNCHES TENTH ANNIVERSARY SEASON WITH SPECIAL EXHIBITION
Place is the Space is Unprecedented Collaboration with Museum Architect Brad Cloepfil
On View Sep 6 – Dec 29, 2013
July 2013 (St. Louis, MO) – This fall the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (CAM) celebrates the tenth anniversary of its critically acclaimed building. The exhibition Place is the Space—on view September 6 through December 29, 2013—marks the beginning of a year-long celebration that will include special programming and exhibitions in honor of the Museum.
Featuring new site-specific commissions by six major contemporary artists, Place is the Space is an unprecedented curatorial collaboration between the buildingʼs architect, Brad Cloepfil, founding principal of Allied Works Architecture, and Dominic Molon, CAMʼs chief curator.
Photo of Jill Dowen’s piece entitled Be
auty Mark:
photograph : Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (CAM)
The opening of CAMʼs building in September 2003 heralded not only the introduction of a new space for contemporary art in St. Louis but also a new identity for an institution that had begun as the First Street Forum in 1980. The two-story, 27,000-square-foot museum was designed with open, flexible spaces that allow for variation and emphasis on the artwork while highlighting transparency and natural light.
After his work with CAM—Cloepfilʼs first museum—the award-winning architect went on to design the Museum of Arts and Design, New York (2008), the University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, Michigan (2009), and the Clyfford Still Museum, Denver, Colorado (2011), among many other celebrated projects.
Each of the five works in Place is the Space will respond to different aspects of the structure, including surface, scale, transparency, and boundaries. While demonstrating the buildingʼs unique ability shape the presentation and experience of contemporary art, the exhibition also examines the larger idea of how various artists address museum spaces as a key element in the development of their work.
In addition to Place is the Space, this fall CAM will present work by Anthony McCall and Thomas Bayrle and will introduce two new exhibition series that incorporate the building itself into the artwork: a sound art series titled Audible Interruptions as well as a series of video works that will be projected onto the Museumʼs façade titled Street Views.
PLACE IS THE SPACE ARTISTS AND WORKS
Arocha-Schraenen (Carla Arocha, b. 1961, Caracas, Venezuela; Stephane Schraenen, b. 1971, Antwerp, Belgium. Both live and work in Antwerp, Belgium) Founded in 2006, the Arocha-Schraenen collective is known for their installation-based and sculptural work that explores the relationship between material, space, and Jill Downen, The Posture of Place, 2004. Plaster, polystyrene, concrete, variable dimensions.
Installation detail, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis. Courtesy the artist and Bruno David Gallery. Photo: Richard Sprengeler perception. Arocha and Schraenen will extend this exploration at CAM with the installation of an overlapping abstract graphic pattern on the windows of the museumʼs café and performance space.
Jill Downen (b. 1967, Belleville, Illinois; lives and works in Kansas City and St. Louis) Downenʼs work incorporates surfaces, flaws, and other elements of a space to create organic forms. Her project for Place is the Space, titled Beauty Mark, will feature the seaming of a long fissure in CAMʼs concrete floor with gold leaf as well as the reconstruction of a wall sculpture that she created at the Museum nearly a decade ago.
Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle (b. 1961, Madrid; lives and works in Chicago) Manglano-Ovalleʼs sophisticated sculptures and video installations often use natural forms such as clouds, icebergs, and DNA. The artist will present a new sculpture comprising a massive cube constructed of charred cedar planks and a grid of white maple beehive structures to address issues of scale, proportion, and surface within the building.
Virginia Overton (b. 1971, Nashville, Tennessee; lives and works in Brooklyn, New York) Known for graceful sculptures that use raw materials such as drywall, mud, and wood beams, Overton will create an elegant arrangement of long metal pipes across architectural voids between the Museumʼs main galleries and performance space and between the performance space and lobby.
Dominique Petitgand (b. 1965, Laxou, France; lives and works in Paris) Petitgand, one of the most prominent French artists working in sound, creates works that address the relationship between the spoken word, silence, music, and space. His project will juxtapose abstract sounds emanating from speakers placed in the main galleries and performance space, with a French vocal narrative and video translation, prompting visitors to consider their physical and public presence in the space.
Place is the Space is organized for the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis by Dominic Molon, Chief Curator, and Brad Cloepfil, Founding Principal, Allied Works Architecture. The exhibition will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalog that focuses on the artists and their respective projects; an annotated visual history of CAM; and a scholarly appreciation of the building by Bruce Lindsey, Dean of the School of Architecture at Washington University, St. Louis.
RELATED PROGRAMS
Press & Patron Preview: Fall Exhibitions
Friday, September 6, 10:00 AM
Join exhibiting artists and CAM curators for a walk-through of the exhibitions. RSVP to Ida McCall at 314.535.0770 x311 or imccall@camstl.org.
Opening Night: Fall Exhibitions
Friday, September 6
Member Preview: 6:00 PM
Public Reception: 7:00–9:00 PM
Artist Roundtable
Saturday, September 7, 10:00 AM
Free and open to the public.
Co-curators of Place is the Space, Brad Cloepfil and Dominic Molon, will engage in a discussion with participating artists Carla Arocha and Stephane Schraenen, Jill Downen, Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, and Virginia Overton about their respective projects and general concerns of presenting work in contemporary art museums.
Dominique Petitgand Sound Performance
Saturday, September 7, 7:00 PM
Free and open to the public.
Sound artist Dominique Petitgand will present a live performance to complement his installation in Place is the Space.
Museum Practice: Architectural Design for Contemporary Art
Monday, September 23, 6:00–9:00 PM
Free and open to the public. Cash bar. Food trucks on site.
As the kick-off to St. Louis Design Week, CAM partners with the Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design in the Sam Fox School at Washington University in St. Louis to present a panel of distinguished architects who have designed museums of contemporary art.
The panel will feature Brad Cloepfil of Allied Works Architecture, who designed CAM in 2003, Farshid Mousavi, who designed the Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland, in 2012, and Kyu Sung Wu Architects, who designed the Nerman Museum for Contemporary Art in Overland Park, Kansas, in 2007.
About the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis
The Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (CAM) presents, supports, and celebrates the art of our time. It is the premier museum in St. Louis dedicated to contemporary art. Focused on a dynamic array of changing exhibitions, CAM provides a thought-provoking program that reflects and contributes to the global cultural landscape.
Through the diverse perspectives offered in its exhibitions, public programs, and educational initiatives, CAM actively engages a range of audiences to challenge their perceptions. It is a site for discovery, a gathering place in which to experience and enjoy contemporary visual culture.
3750 Washington Blvd / St. Louis, MO 63108 / 314.535.4660 / camstl.org
Facebook: /contemporaryartmuseumstl
Twitter: @ContemporarySTL
Hours: 11-6 Wed / 11-9 Thu & Fri / 10-5 Sat & Sun
About Allied Works Architecture
Allied Works Architecture is an interdisciplinary architecture and design practice founded in 1994 by Brad Cloepfil, with offices in Portland, Oregon, and New York City. The practice has completed a number of critically acclaimed arts, educational and cultural projects, including the Clyfford Still Museum in Denver; the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis; the re-design of 2 Columbus Circle for the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City; the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in the Dallas Arts District; and the University of Michigan Museum of Art in Ann Arbor, MI.
Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis image / information from Allied Works Architecture
Allied Works Architecture + Brad Cloepfil
Location: 3750 Washington Blvd / St. Louis, MO 63108, USA
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