VAGINA DENTATA ORGAN LONDON MARCH 13 2015

Albert Serra: Singularity
Tate Modern, Starr Auditorium
Friday 13 March 2015, 18.30 - 21.00
£5, concessions available

Part of the series Albert Serra: Divine Visionaries and Holy Fools

This special evening devised by Albert Serra will preview his in-development project Singularity.

Commissioned by the Institut Ramon Llull as the Catalan participation at the Venice Biennale as a Collateral Event, curated by Chus Martínez. Featuring a performance by the legendary Jordi Valls / Vagina Dentata Organ designed with Serra to cleanse the auditorium prior to the presentation of his films.

Albert Serra will discuss his work and collaborations with curator Chus Martínez exploring their various projects developed at MACBA, Documenta 13 to their upcoming project together Singularity.

The evening will also feature elements from Serra's monumental project Three Little Pigs built around an imagined interaction of Goethe, Hitler and Fassbinder.

Biographies

Chus Martínez has a background in philosophy and art history. Currently she is the Head of the Institute of Art of the FHNW Academy of Arts and Design in Basel, Switzerland. Before she was the Chief Curator at El Museo Del Barrio, New York. At dOCUMENTA (13) she was Head of Department, and Member of Core Agent Group. Previously she was Chief Curator at MACBA, Barcelona (2008-11), Director of the Frankfurter Kunstverein (2005-08) and Artistic Director of Sala Rekalde, Bilbao (2002-05). For the 51st Biennale di Venezia (2005), Martínez curated the National Pavilion of Cyprus, and served as a Curatorial Advisor for the Carnegie International (2008) and for the 29th Bienal de Sao Paulo (2010). During her tenure as Director of the Frankfurter Kunstverein she curated solo exhibitions of Wilhelm Sasnal among others; and a series of group exhibitions including Pensée Sauvage and The Great Game To Come. While at MACBA Martínez curated the Thomas Bayrle retrospective, an Otolith Group monographic show, and an exhibition devoted to television, Are you ready for TV? In 2008 Martínez curated the Deimantas Narkevicius retrospective exhibition, The Unanimous Life at the Museo de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, which travelled to major European museums. Martínez lectures and writes regularly including numerous catalogue texts and critical essays, and is a regular contributor to Artforum among other international journals.

Catalan-born Jordi Valls / Vagina Dentata Organ is one of the most unpredictable artists of our generation. Combining the surrealism of André Breton, Salvador Dalí and Luis Buñuel with some grotesque humor of Hieronymus Bosch, Valls strives to document our imperfect society in all its beauty and ugliness. Under the moniker Vagina Dentata Organ, Valls has produced a series of vital audio and visual documents. In the early 1980s Valls was the communicator behind legendary industrial music bands such as Throbbing Gristle and Whitehouse. He collaborated with Derek Jarman on Catalan, a filmic reconstruction of a car accident Valls had been involved in. Performances by Valls are very rare. His legendary debut performance on Spanish television, involving snarling dogs and the destruction of two valuable paintings, led to discussions in the Spanish parliament and the closing down of the television show.

Performers

Matt Atkinson, Andy Bolus, Steve Cammack, Eliseu Huertas Cos, Sonia Dietrich, Alice Eldridge, Pep Espelt, Keira Fox, Ellen Freed, Primo Gabbiano, Michael Gillham, Tim Goldie, Alan D. Jones, Thomas LaRoche, Rob Lewis, Chris Low, Nausicàa, Chérie Martino, Joaquim Montessuis, Cécile Quiltu, Kirsten Reynolds, Cristabel Riley, James Sherry, Gareth Turner, Zoë Valls, Jesse Webb, Mark Willetts, Nick Wheeldon, Wajid Yaseen.

Albert Serra: Divine Visionaries and Holy Fools is presented in collaboration with the Institut Ramon Llull, organiser of the Catalan participation at the Venice Biennale.

Tate Film is supported by LUMA Foundation.