Presentation new work by Chris Evans and mini-symposium on 4 February

Presentation new work by Chris Evans and mini-symposium on 4 February


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Sculpture International Rotterdam cordially invites you to the presentation and  the mini symposium of

PORTRAIT OF A RECIPIENT AS A DOOR HANDLE, AFTER A DRAWING BY AN ANONYMOUS PHILANTHROPISTby Chris Evans

16.00 Doors open Rabobank Rotterdam, Blaak 333
16.30 Welcome by the Direction of Rabobank Rotterdam, Ella van Zanten (Head of Art Department Rabobank Netherlands), Dees Linders (Head SIR) and presentation Chris Evans

17.00 Presentation of ‘Portrait of a Recipient as a Door Handle,…’

17.30 Walk to Witte de With
18.00 Start mini-symposium
Location: Witte de With, Center for Contemporary Art, Witte de Withstraat 50, Rotterdam
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Mini-symposium around the new work of Chris Evans. Introduction by Lisette Smits (curator and advisor SIR) and talks about Chris Evans’ work by Tirdad Zolghadr (writer and curator) and Marina Vishmidt (writer and researcher).
Followed by a (public) discussion with Tirdad Zolghadr, Marina Vishmidt, Lisette Smits and Chris Evans.
Moderator: Mai Abu ElDahab.

“My methods are simple: conversations that are bombastic in their connotations of power and influence dissolve into mute objects, leftovers from these hidden negotiations.” -Chris Evans

‘Portrait of a Recipient…’ is a sculpture consequential to a conversation with an anonymous philanthropist who drew a portrait symbolising a person who receives his/her benevolence, having overcome the fear of exploitation. The drawing was in turn modelled by the artist and reproduced in the form of a door handle, looking both inwards and outwards. Affixed to the entrance of Rabobank in Rotterdam, it sets a standard for the future instalment of identical door handles at the entrances of a multitude of high-street banks in the city.

The doors of banks could be said to mark a line between public and private interests, and embody the normally invisible flow of the capital through the city. The figure of the philanthropist has a double relation to this flow – at once accumulating capital, and redirecting it back into the public sphere.

‘Portrait of a Recipient…’ is part of a series of works by Chris Evans that have evolved through conversations with people from diverse walks of life. People are selected in relation to their public life or symbolic role, for example: the directors of a leading champagne house, a former member of the British Constructivists, the CEO of a Texas pharmaceutical company, a Maastricht police officer, and, in the case of the commissioned work by SIR, a philanthropist. These conversations result in sculptures, letters, drawings and film scripts. Evans intentionally misuses the conditions under which a work is produced in order to undermine some of the traditional foundations of artistic expression such as authorship, intentionality and originality.

Chris Evans (Eastrington, UK, 1967) lives and works in London


Thanks to: Rabobank Rotterdam


Tirdad Zolghadr will also participate in an event at Witte de With on Monday 3rd February to present his forthcoming series of contributions for WdW Review’s Jerusalem Desk. During his talk, Zolghadr questions what is considered “international” within the arts field specifically, what is “correspondence” potentially, and what can a “cultural field” embody as a working premise.

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