With contributions by LISA COUSINS, SHEPHERD NDUDZO & WALTER ROIL
From 26th November 2011 to 22nd January 2012
Opening: Saturday 26th November 2011 at 8 pm
Closed: 24th, 25th and 31st December 2011 and 1st January 2012
THE DISAPPEARANCE OF MEDIA*/A MANIFESTATION OF ELEPHANTS*
* - and their 2nd and 3rd vanishing stage in the presence of the Holy Ghost and other international guests, as a tribute to the amazing Harry Houdini and the disappearance act with Jenny the Elephant (and an anonymous animal trainer) at the world famous Hippodrome of New York on January 1918 **
** “You can plainly see, the animal is completely gone.” (H.H. 1918)
SHEPHERD NDUDZO is born 1978 in Rusape, Zimbabwe, lives and works as a sculptor in Gaborone, Botswana. He exhibited his work in Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, China, Taiwan, Germany and Finland. Introduced to the arts by his father, the Zimbabwean sculptor Barnabas Ndudzo, he developed his very own techniques, using stone as well as wood or mixes of both. The sculptures mainly deal with abstractions of human form based on personal encounters, experience and detailed observations of daily life.
WALTER ROIL was born 1904 in Freiburg in Schlesien, Germany (now Swiebodzice, Poland), learnt photography as an apprentice in various camera shops in the Black Forest area of Germany. In 1926 he decided to take on a job as photographer in Comodoro Rivadavia and moved to Argentina. In 1934 he started his own business in Rio Gallegos, Southern Patagonia, Argentina, where he continued to work until his death in 1989. Walter Roil experimented and worked with the media of his time. The material he left behind includes a huge array of pictures, film footage and audio recordings. He and his family always took great care of the negatives, which were filed according to a well-organized system, thereby putting together one of the major private photographic archives of Argentina.
LISA COUSINS is a magician and magic historian born in 1962. She lived in various “coast to coast” American cities including New York and Los Angeles. The years she spent in Albuquerque, New Mexico, were her most stimulating years, with the Southwest Desert being her main source of inspiration. This is also where she brought up her two sons. Her involvement in magic began in 1995 with a fascination for escapologist artist Harry Houdini, which led to an in-depth study of the art and its prolific background. As performing magician and perpetual student of the magic of yesteryear, she resides near the Magic Castle in Hollywood, a unique clubhouse dedicated to perpetrating the art of magic, celebrating its past, and nurturing its future. Her many magic-related travels throughout the years, and her friendship with other magicians around the world, led to the creation of “Not Pictured: Bill Goodwin”.
DISAPPEARING MEDIA:
Jens Brand’s installation re-stages Harry Houdini’s famous performance “The Vanishing Elephant” from 1918. The magician was one of the first super stars of the early days of media communication. Despite his reputation as a very poor if not a clumsy performer, Houdini managed to capture worldwide attention, thanks to his understanding of mass media and the resulting public relations strategies. Beyond his performances as an illusionist, he was also known for his manic interest in revealing the mechanisms of other conjurors’ tricks. He chaired the “Scientific American Committee”, dedicated to detecting any fraud behind the scenes with “real” ghosts and magicians who claimed not to be performing tricks but to be dealing with the real thing. His method of revealing was - as a matter of fact - part of his routine on stage.
The installation at Voorkamer can be understood as a tribute to that remarkable king of magic but also - as a will to meet the audience’s level of expectation. - It can be read at as a tribute to reality.
