Thomas Hirschhorn
Thomas Hirschhorn calls his artworks for public space “precarious sculptures” and names the prerequisites for their emergence: presence + creation, non-programming, and public space.
"Art as something which encompasses inclusion - the inclusion of each human being. And Art as something which generates dialogue - a dialogue beyond all borders and all disparities. I believe Art always stands FOR something because Art constructs, is active, is productive. Nevertheless Art is also against something and as well, "ART=SHELTER" is the form for: Art - in all its expressions - against Hate, Violence, Resentment, Passivity, Anger, Negativity. This is what I want to assert and manifest through this new ‘Presence-and-Production'-Work in Latvia,” says the artist Thomas Hirschhorn. In 2022, the Art Station Dubulti hosted the Thomas Hirschhorn project “ART=SHELTER”. For fifteen days from April 21 to May 5, Thomas Hirschhorn worked at the Art Station Dubulti from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The created work “ART=SHELTER” is both a work of art and a space, a sculpture and a present reality. The artist led critical workshops entitled Energy=Yes! Quality=No!. Lectures, readings, discussions and performances took place every day in an improvised studio with participants: Inga Žolude (and her prose workshop participants Santa Igaune, Ivonna Zīle, Maija Priedīte, Baiba Baikovska), DJ Plastix (and DJ school students), Dace Vīgante, Māris Salējs, Māra Poļakova, Sandra Lode, Madara Iverta, Dainis Deigelis, Marija Luīze Meļķe, Inga Gaile, Māris Bērziņš, Ilmārs Šlāpins, team of Žanis Lipke Memorial, Jānis Taurens, Jurmala Youth Initiative Center, Normunds Kozlovs, Ilva Skulte, Aija Monika Vainiņa, Madara Linna Ēvalde, Kristiāns Iesalnieks, Experimental theater, Amanda Kraģe, Roberta Atraste, Uģis Vītiņš&Toms Vītiņš, music group Lyricombo - Sergejs Timofejevs, Vladimirs Svetlovs, Staņislavs Judins, there are objects in the augmented reality application SAN in the space (artist Gints Gabrāns) (readings and events continued until September 25). The ART=SHELTER at the Art Station Dubulti was built in its unique form by Thomas Hirshhorn from April 21 to May 5, 2022, together with young artists from Latvia: Artūrs Bogdānovs, Liene Lintere, ENVIJA, Kintija Avena, Sāra Nudiņa, Andris Ratnieks (DJ Plastic), Kristiāns Iesalnieks, Jānis Krauklis, Līga Spunde, Iveta Laure, Zoe Harodi from Izrael (while living in Rucka Artist residency in Latvia), and Riga Art and Media School students Amanda Vītola, Linda Strihora, Elizabete Dombrovska, Sandra Kalnrācene, Anastasija Krugļanska, Anabella Stāmere, Renārs Frīdenbergs, Laura Romaščenko under the guidance of Armands Sidorovičs.
Thomas Hirschhorn was born in 1957 in Bern, Switzerland. After studying at the Kunstgewerbeschule Zürich, he moved to Paris in 1983 where he has been living and working since. His work has been presented in many international exhibitions such as Skulptur Projekte Münster (1997), the Venice Biennale (1999 and 2015) where he represented Switzerland in 2011, Documenta11 (2002), 27th Sao Paolo Biennale (2006), 55th Carnegie International, Pittsburg (2008), La Triennale at Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2012), 9th Shanghai Biennale (2012), Manifesta 10 at Saint-Petersburg (2014), Atopolis Mons (2015), Kochi-Muziris Biennale (2018), Steirischer Herbst, Graz (2021). Other venues have hosted solo exhibitions, among which the Art Institute of Chicago (1998), Museum Ludwig, Cologne (1998), Bonnefanten Museum, Maastricht (2005), Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston (2005), Museum Tinguely, Basel (2013), South London Gallery (2015), Kunsthal Aarhus, (2017), Museum Villa Stuck, Munich (2018), GL Strand, Copenhagen (2021). In 2015 Thomas Hirschhorn‘s installation “Eye to Eye Subjecter” was a part of the Art Station Dubulti opening exhibition “My Heart is A Tiger”.
