This February, the New Museum will present a major exhibition of the work of Anri Sala, one of the most acclaimed artists to emerge in recent decades. Though Sala has exhibited internationally since the late 1990s, "Anri Sala: Answer Me" will mark the most comprehensive survey of his work in the United States to date. Highlighting Sala's continuing interest in how sound and music can engage architecture and history, the exhibition will feature extensive multichannel audio and video installations that will unfold across the Second, Third, and Fourth Floor galleries, composing a symphonic experience specific to the New Museum.
The exhibition will be on view from February 3 through April 10, 2016, and is curated by Massimiliano Gioni, Artistic Director; Margot Norton, Associate Curator; and Natalie Bell, Assistant Curator. In his early video works from the late 1990s, Sala used documentary strategies to examine life after communism in his native Albania, observing the role of language and memory in narrating social and political histories. Since the early 2000s, his video works have probed the psychological effects of acoustic experiences, embracing both music and sound as languages capable of conjuring up images, rousing nostalgia, and communicating emotions. In subtle visual narratives, Sala often depicts what appear to be fragments of everyday life, and his intimate observations experiment with fiction to double as enigmatic portraits of society. Since the mid-2000s, Sala's works have featured musicians in both films and live performances: In films such as Long Sorrow (2005) and Answer Me (2008), musicians intone requiems for the failed histories dormant in the architecture surrounding them. In Le Clash (2010) and Tlatelolco Clash (2011), organ-grinders stroll deserted streets, amplifying a sense of alienation and uncertainty with their unexpected interpretations of a familiar song. The exhibition will also include a recurring live performance entitled 3-2-1 (2011/16), in which saxophonist André Vida will improvise alongside musician Jemeel Moondoc's recorded lamentation in Long Sorrow, expanding on the dynamics of free-jazz in a duet that will change with each recital. Throughout these works, music resounds as both a cathartic release and an incantation that evokes historical chapters that are neither distant nor closed.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue, copublished by the New Museum and Phaidon, including contributions by Natalie Bell, Tacita Dean, Massimiliano Gioni, Mark Godfrey, Boris Groys, and Christine Macel.
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