Last Year at Marienbad, redux

A group exhibition examining how fictional narratives develop to form accepted knowledge and understanding of people, places, events and things.

Curated by James Voorhies

EFA Project Space, New York, NY
September 12–October 26, 2013

Keren Cytter, Tacita Dean, Jessamyn Fiore, Dan Fox, Jens Hoffmann, Iman Issa, David Maljković, Ján Mančuška, Gordon Matta-Clark, Josh Tonsfeldt, Allan Sekula & Noël Burch, and Maya Schweizer

Made possible with support from the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts. Publication made possible with a grant from the Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation. Additional support generously provided by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States; realized while I was working as an independent curator

Last Year at Marienbad, redux was inspired by the unconventional cinematic techniques such as nonlinear narrative and repetitive language used in the 1961 film Last Year at Marienbad directed by Alain Resnais. The exhibition featured works that deployed these devices and others—editing, character development, plot, mise-en-scène and montage—conflating what the interpretation of fact and fiction.

The Marienbad Sessions was a series of public programs held in the exhibition. Conceived as an essential component, this program of readings and performances with Jessamyn Fiore, Dan Fox, Jens Hoffmann, and Maya Schweizer transformed the space into a kind of learning site among the works presented.

The Marienbad Papers was produced as part of Last Year at Marienbad, redux. It is a hybrid publication uniting the characteristics of an art journal, catalogue essay, screenplay and art criticism into a singular printed book. The book has commissioned texts by Jennifer Allen, Jessamyn Fiore, Dan Fox, and Jens Hoffmann.

redux
The “redux” series explored the influences cinema has on shaping perspectives of reality by re-positioning historical films within the framework of contemporary exhibition, research and collaboration. The series referred to landmark cinematic projects for presentation of existing work and new commissions in performance, video, sound, and writing.

Guide, Book 1, Book 2, Documentation

Keren Cytter, Video Art Manual, 2011. HD video, 14;43 min. Courtesy of the artist and Zach Feuer Gallery, New York

Last Year at Marienbad redux with work by Tacita Dean in the background and photographs by David Maljković reflected in The Marienbad Sessions panels

David Maljković, Recalling Frames, 2010. Black & white photograph, 42 × 55 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Metro Pictures, New York

Last Year at Marienbad redux with work by Tacita Dean, Maya Schweizer, David Maljković, and Josh Tonsfeldt

Maya Schweizer, A Memorial, a Synagogue, a Bridge and a Church, 2012. HD video, 12 min. Courtesy of the artist

Last Year at Marienbad redux with work by Tacita Dean in the foreground, a video by Keren Cytter in the left background, and arrangements by Josh Tonsfeldt and work by Iman Issa on the right

Tacita Dean, Washington Cathedral, 2002. 130 found postcards, each 5.5 × 3.5 in. Courtesy of the artist and Marian Goodman Gallery, New York

Josh Tonsfeldt, Marian, 2013. Mixed media. Courtesy of the artist and Simon Preston Gallery, New York

Iman Issa, Triptych #4, 2009. Photographs, text, notebooks, dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist

Last Year at Marienbad redux with work by Josh Tonsfeldt and Gordon Matta-Clark’s Fake Estates and Blast from the Past

Gordon Matta-Clark, Blast from the Past, 1970–72. Chromogenic print, 12 in. steel ruler, pencil on paper and floor sweepings, dimensions vary with installation. Courtesty of the Estate of Gordon Matta-Clark and David Zwirner, New York

Last Year at Mariendbad redux, The Marienbad Sessions. In this view a video by Allan Sekula & Noël Burch and a sculpture by Ján Mančuška

Allan Sekula & Noël Burch, Reagan Tape, 1981. Single-channel video, color, sound, 10:39 min. Courtesy of the artists and Christopher Grimes Gallery, Santa Monica

Ján Mančuška, Against Science, 2011. Mixed media (inverse film, Perspex box, light-box, metal construction) (detail). Courtesy of Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York

Blast from the Past, 2013. 80 pages, 11 × 6 in.

Last Year at Marienbad redux, 2013. 80 pages, 11 × 6 in.