Outset Scotland was delighted to have supported 'We are more-dimensional' - an ambitious solo exhibition by Glasgow-based artist Michael Stumpf, presented by The Common Guild at Viborg Kunsthal for 'The Sleepover: Rethinking Art Institutions', which was part of Aarhus 2017, European Capital of Culture.
Stumpf's sculptural installation was a complex collection of cast, carved, sewn and found objects. Each with their own resonance - from Viborg's specific geology, to the poems of Ursula K. Le Guin, and the zeros and ones of binary coding - Stumpf's works use sculpture to pose questions about the material and technological reality of the world we currently inhabit.
For this exhibition, Stumpf has worked with The Animation Workshop in Viborg to develop an augmented reality that animates a hand-blown glass vessel - an otherwise static object. Through digital means, he both seriously and humorously suggested that the object itself embodies stories that are otherwise invisible to us. Here, as in much of his previous work, Stumpf combined suggestive narrative fragments to create newly constructed myths for our time.
The Common Guild was invited to participate in 'The Sleepover' as part of Viborg Kunsthal’s research into new ways of thinking about art institutions and their resources. The starting point was a stay in the Kunsthal's artist residency in 2016, where a number of artists and curators have developed new ideas and concepts for exhibitions. The outcome in 2017 comprised exhibitions by Swedish/Danish artist Andreas Emenius, the European network In Situ and The Common Guild.
ON VIEW: 15th September - 26th November 2017
Michael Stumpf (b. Mannheim, Germany) studied Sculpture at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe (1996-2001) and received an MFA from the Glasgow School of Art (2004). Stumpf was a co-founder and curator of the independent exhibition space Kaiserpassage 21a in Karlsruhe. He served as a committee member of Transmission Gallery, Glasgow, co-founded and runs (with Lutz Fezer and Skafte Kuhn) the ongoing exhibition project the tower and is a member of Poster Club. He has been Artist in Residence at The Banff Centre, Canada; the Scottish Sculpture Workshop; Cove Park, Scotland; and the Alte Feuerwache, Mannheim, Germany. Selected exhibitions include: Art Across The City, Amphitheatre, Swansea; This Song Belongs To Those Who Sing It, Mackintosh Museum, Glasgow School of Art; In other Words, Lewis Glucksman Gallery, Cork, Ireland; Poster Club, Eastside Projects, Birmingham; Neue Alchemie, Landesmuseum, Münster; Die Show im Oktober, Transmission Gallery, Glasgow; Fearful Objects, Kavi Gupta Gallery, Chicago; Samsa, Berlin; EASTinternational, Norwich; Like it Matters, CCA, Glasgow.
The Common Guild is a visual arts organisation based in Glasgow. It presents a dynamic, international programme of contemporary visual art projects, exhibitions, and events. These include gallery-based exhibitions as well as non-gallery, projects, talks and collaborations, in 2016 At Twilight: A play for two actors, three musicians, one dancer, eight masks (and a donkey costume) by Simon Starling in collaboration with Graham Eatough (2016), The Persistence of Objects with Lismore Castle Arts (2015), and Tomorrow is Always Too Long, a major project with artist Phil Collins in Queen’s Park for Festival 2014. The Common Guild is committed to presenting artists’ work in interesting and engaging ways and aims to offer access to world-class contemporary art experiences and discussions. It is a not-for-profit visual arts organisation, receiving funding from Creative Scotland.
Viborg Kunsthal has been presenting temporary exhibitions with established Danish and international artists since 1994. The Kunsthal runs a number of parallel events relating to the exhibitions including artist talks, lectures, concerts and workshops for children and adults. It is also an art school with classrooms, artist residence and two studios, where artists can live and work.
