Allan Sekula. Collective Sisyphus
Allan Sekula. Collective Sisyphus
The artist’s first individual exhibition in Spain. The Fundació will show the work in which Sekula observes and analyses the impact of maritime economy on the incipient globalisation of the 1990s, as well as the new moral premises imposed by neoliberalism.
Opening & conference: Tuesday June 13, 2017, at 7 p.m. Free entrance.
Conference: Back to the Drawing Board. Maritime themes and discursive crosscurrents in the notebooks of Allan Sekula, by Sally Stein.
Co-curators: Hilde van Gelder, Anja Isabel Schneider and Carles Guerra.
Allan Sekula (Erie, 1951 – Los Angeles, 2013) is one of the most important figures in modern photography of the second half of the twentieth century. His work focuses on a critique of the links that photography has always maintained with the economy, work and the politics of representation. From his beginnings in the seventies, Sekula became a reference by incorporating textuality into photography in a way that had been previously denied by modern art. His book Photography Against the Grain: Essays and Photo Works, 1973–1983 (1984), a key work of the new photographic discourse of the late twentieth century, enshrined him as one of the least orthodox historians of the medium.
Allan Sekula. Collective Sisyphus will be this artist’s first individual exhibition in Spain. The Fundació Antoni Tàpies will show two main areas of his work in which Sekula observes and analyses the impact of maritime economy on the incipient globalisation of the 1990s, as well as the new moral premises imposed by neoliberalism at the beginning of the twenty-first century. And all within a geographical span of extraordinary dimensions. Fish Story (1989–95), a classic among works initiating a critique of global capitalism, and Ship of Fools / The Dockers' Museum (2010–13), the work to which he devoted himself in the last years of his life, put forward a new way of understanding photographic practice. Activism, literature, the economies of access to images and the precarious status of artists led to a new photographic genre that could be described as visual essays, halfway between photography, a museum of trivia and social literature.
The exhibition pays tribute to an artist closely linked to post-Olympic Barcelona, a city that fascinated him as a case study for examining the new forms of injustice imposed by neoliberalism. Influenced by Barcelona’s maritime location, Sekula incorporated it in a tale of globalisation together with other cities such as Los Angeles, Athens, Bilbao, Rotterdam, Tokyo and others with a relation to the sea.
This is an exhibition jointly produced between Fundació Antoni Tàpies, M HKA Antwerp and KuLeuven, the University of Leuven, with the generous support of the Allan Sekula Studio, TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary Collection and sensitive lenders to Allan Sekula’s legacy, like Musée des Beaux-Arts de Calais, Frac Bretagne Rennes and Galerie Michel Rein Paris .
Items
Antique Perry Safe Document Holder
Antique Perry Safe Document Holder
1930’s Krazy Kat Mickey Mouse Wood-jointed Figure
Captain Ahab Royal Doulton Toby Jug
Koch Industries Poly ¼” (8) Hollow Braided Poly Rope
ILWU Longshoreman Bloody Thursday
5 TWO Pound ZINC Bullion Ingot Bars 99.9%
Aluminium Ingot Bullion Bar Scrap or Not? Casting
Costa Lines Cruise Ship Liner Souvenir Model
Costa Cruise Line Linea Genova Ashtray
Subbuteo Team Santos Ref. 165 Heavyweight Mint & Boxed
Nautilus Jules Verne Ron Miller Submarine Model
Unusual Handmade Basket
Germany DDR Communist Badge Miner’s Day 20 years 1950-
BAIRSTOW MANOR 'MARGARET THATCHER' CHARACTER JUG – NEW
Container ship/vessel/model/ZIM/Virginia/shipping
Wolf Original Soapstone Inuit Eskimo Sculpture Kayak
BABYLON IRAQ
IPR. Hertel & Reuss Binoculars 15x 60
Vintage Coal Miners Bird Cage Pottery/Clay Waterer
Vintage Cast Lead US Navy Figure Sailor Holding Signal Flags
Unfinished Wood - 6” Coffin Box w/Hinged Lid
Antique Boat Ship Maritime Block & Tackle Pulley
Reagan 6 Inch Bust White
STEVEDORE
Lot of 8 ca 1950 Enciclopedia Pulga titles SPAIN miniature books
BABYLON IRAQ (THE ANCIENT RUINED WALLS OF BABYLON. BABYLON. ANCIENT CITY OF ASIA, ON THE EUPHRATES, CAPITAL OF THE BABYLONIAN EMPIRE)
50’s/60’s Florida Snake at Reptile Farm Sarasota #2
Vintage Sifo Kinder City Wooden Building Block Set
DDR Communist Badge of Miner Coal & Energetics Ind.
Untitled (Changing Port Cultures, nr. 2), 1910
Mammoth wharf, 4700 ft., Port Los Angeles, California no. 580
Untitled (Changing Port Technologies & Labor, nr. 19), 1955
1955 Chicago Longshoremen Gather for Work Wire
Untitled (Changing Port Technologies & Labor, nr. 1), 1971
Malaise chez les dockers du Port du Havre
Untitled (Changing Port Technologies & Labor, nr. 6), 1965
An artist's concept of the proposed "walking machine", bearing the designation Ambulating Quadruped Transporter (Truck)
Untitled (Changing Port Technology & Labor, nr. 20), 1959
1959 Calumet Harbor Longshoremen Wire Photo
Untitled (Changing Port Technology & Labor, nr. 8), 1944
Apr. 26, 1944. Deadload, close up
Untitled (Figures of Dissent & Revolt Authority, nr. 10)
Playbill Bertolt Brecht Langston Hughes 1965
Untitled (Figures of Dissent & Revolt Authority, nr. 11), 1962
Man being whipped VINTAGE Photo Mutiny on the Bounty
Untitled (Figures of Dissent & Revolt Authority, nr. 12), 1962
MARLON BRANDO vintage '62 MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY portrait
Untitled (Figures of Dissent & Revolt Authority, nr. 13), 1952
Barechested Pirate VINTAGE Photo Mutiny
Untitled (Figures of Dissent & Revolt Authority, nr. 7)
STEVEDORE, DOCKWORKER STARKWEATHER NEW MARKET, VA
Untitled (Figures of Dissent & Revolt Authority, nr. 8)
Comics nach polonischer art
NEW SHADE ["Costa Brava"] FOR STOCKINGS, [Barcelona]
Untitled (Glam Girls, nr. 5), 1971
MARY QUANT SPRING '72 COLLECTION 1971 (LORRAINE wears 'Lollipop' a deckchair striped halter top and trousers)
Playamar – the projected vacation-center on the Spanish Costa del Sol Keystone Zurich
Untitled (Glam Girls, nr. 55), 1969
1969, Playamar - The projected vacation-center on the Spanish Costa del Sol
STATE OF FLORIDA, DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION, FLORIDA NEWS BUREAU, TALLAHASSE, FLORIDA (A "swinging" miss shows that Florida is the place to go --winter, spring, summer or fall)
Lahore, Pakistan: Hotel Intercontinental Swimming Pool
Untitled (Maritime Strikes & Demonstrations, nr. 12), 1958
BS PHOTO aaz076 Maryland Drydock Company Strike
Untitled (Maritime Strikes & Demonstrations, nr. 5), 1937
Vintage ’37 SS California Maritime Labor Strikers Photo
Untitled (Miscellaneous Archive, nr. 22), 1966
FOX. AUG. 21ST. 33., HEADACHE ON MONTGOMERY STREET
Untitled (Miscellaneous Archive, nr. 66)
Saudi Arabia – Mecca (Pilgrims kiss the Black Stone)
Untitled (Miscellaneous Archive, nr. 67)
Saudi Arabia – Mecca (During the Hajj Pilgrimage, Muslims from all over the world pray facing the Ka'bah)
Submarinos americanos clase “C” en las esclusas de Gatún, Canal de Panamá
Untitled (Panama, nr. 12), 1938
Barco escuela “Iwate” de la escuadra Japonesa, pasando el Corte Gaillard
East Chamber looking north Gatun locks, Panama Canal
Looking through gates, Gatun locks, Panama Canal
El "Richmond", Crucero Ligero de 7,500 toneladas de la escuadra de EE. UU., pasando el Corte Gaillard, Canal de Panama. (U.S.S. "Richmond", 7,500 ton light cruiser, passing Gaillard Cut, Panama Canal)
El "Pensacola" nuevo crucero ligero de 10,000 toneladas de la escuadra de EE.UU., en la exclusas de Miraflores, Canal de Panama.
Untitled (Play & Work of global Cruise Culture, nr. 3)
Vintage 8 x 10 Photo Matson Line S.S. Mariposa/Palm Trees
Untitled (Poland Archive, nr. 36), 1980
September 30th 1980. POLES CALL STRIKE FOR FRIDAY (Lech Walesa, the Polish Union leader, has called on his members to hold a one hour strike this Friday, to protest at what is described as a government failure to honour its pledges)
Untitled (Poland Archive, nr. 44), 1980
August 22nd 1980 A Woman Address, Striking shipyard Workers in Gdansk
Untitled (Poland Archive, nr. 45), 1980
August 22nd 1980. THE STRIKING WORKERS OF GDAŃSK
Untitled (Poland Archive, nr. 46), 1981
STRIKE DAY IN POLAND
Untitled (Poland Archive, nr. 50), 1981
Lech Walesa said Hello to Geneva Worker
Untitled (Poland Archive, nr. 60), 1980
Poland "Ferrum" Foundry at Katowice
Untitled (Porters Archive, nr. 19)
TWENTY POUNDS OF BANANAS ON HER HEAD
Untitled (Ronald Reagan, nr. 1)
Ronald & Nancy Reagan at “Moby Dick” premier party
Untitled (Seafarers Archive, nr. 42)
P6338 Belgium postcard Anvers Les Dockers Antwerp Docks
Untitled (Seafarers Archive, nr. 51)
Stereoview Workers Loading Docks Valparaiso CHILE So Am
Untitled (Seafarers Archive, nr. 52), 1946
1946 Swabbing the Deck of the SS Freighter 1 Ship Wire Photo
Untitled (Ships Archive, nr. 27)
SPANISH BOAT [the 5,000-ton freighter Navemar] HELD IN NEW YORK AFTER OWNERS [Compania Espanola de Navegación Maritima of South America] CHARGE CREW SEIZED HER
Untitled (Ships Archive, nr. 8), 1977
Seamen aboard the Cabo Pilar snare a small leader line
Untitled (Strikes & Demonstrations, nr. 1), 1949
1949 Italy Genoa Harbor Seamen's Strike Press Photo
Untitled (The Catch of the Sea Archive, nr. 11)
Michael P. Ramirez, cartoon
Untitled (The Catch of the Sea Archive, nr. 2), 1967
Fishing in Nazaré, Portugal
Untitled (The Dockers' Museum, object nr. 5), 1998
P.A. McHugh, Miner Head Figurine
Untitled (The Port of Santos, nr. 1)
Santos. Caregadores de Café com 302 kilos
Untitled (Verticality of the Human Spine)
Architectural Model Antique Replica - Lighthouse Steps