Frame and Mobius Fellowship Program have a pleasure of hosting a lecture with Mike Egan, an artist, writer, and the managing member of Ramiken Crucible, a limited liability company registered in the state of New York in 2009. During his lecture, Egan will share his thoughts about recent contemporary art, commercial gallery structures, group dynamics of the international art industry, and the relationship of aesthetic theory to climate controlled storage. The discussion takes place at Frame’s office (Ratakatu 1 b A 9, Helsinki) on Tuesday 25 October at 5 pm. A warm welcome to everyone!
What is the most radical recent art? What exhibitions are captivating the public eye? What are people talking about now? Why is art made? What happens to art as time passes? What is garbage, and what is not? These questions begin this inquiry into contemporary art.
Recent critical formations hang like crystals in a cave, dripping with meaning and purpose. But what is art outside of the artist’s intentions? What are Transitive Objects? How does Zombie Formalism reproduce itself? What are the implicit fantasies of Poser Tech? What is the strategy of Humblebrag Aesthetics? Is a Paranoid Style inevitable? A compilation of images will be shown, words will spill, after which answers to these questions might seem irrelevant. The endgame: a landfill? Quite unsettling. Art has always promised value, but delivered doubt. Contemporary art thrives on the confirmation of value, but does quality exist? If not, it is quite possible that art may not exist, even when physical objects seem undeniable.
Out of this black hole of insecurity, a gallerist from New York comes to Helsinki. What does this person do, and how does he work? Coming up with things to do, and then doing them. Avoiding the endless cocktail party of the art world. Planning exhibitions. Installing the work, writing about the work, talking about the work, photographing the work, placing work with collectors, paying artists, wrapping the work, storing the work, paying taxes all the time, always trying to save money, to live on nothing, yet do everything. Why do any of it? Living free is hard to do, maybe impossible. But if everything is garbage, then we are truly free; we just might not know it. So how do we spend our time? These are the questions of art.
–Mike Egan
Ramiken Crucible produces exhibitions in two leased gallery spaces, 389 Grand Street and 465 Grand Street, NY, NY 10002. The gallery provides services to artists, private collectors, and museums, as well as providing content for many publications, both online and in print. A complete archive of the gallery’s program is available at www.ramikencrucible.com
The event is organized by Frame Contemporary Art Finland in collaboration with Sinne and made possible by the Finnish Cultural Institute in New York‘s Mobius Fellowship Program.
Photo: Diamond Stingily, Entryways, 2016