A Kaldor exhibition where the sculptures go home at night

John Kaldor, the art patron/collector renowned for bringing art superstars to Australia, says his latest exhibition, 13 Rooms, will be "the most exciting exhibition of the decade." Described by Hans Ulrich Obrist as an exhibition like a sculpture gallery where all the sculptures go home at night, Kaldor Public Art Project #27 brings together 13 international artists in a group exhibition of living sculpture within 13 purpose-built rooms in Sydney's historic Pier 2/3.

However, the show won't offer the artists themselves. They are using over 100 local actors, artists and dancers, working in shifts around the clock, to stage their works. Obrist compares this approach to contemporary performance art to opera or ballet where work can live on into the future as repertoire, liberating the artist in the process. "In developing time-based art which is not necessarily dependent on [the artists] performing, it's not really a performance, it's more like time-based sculpture."
Image: Simon Fujiwara's Future/Perfect 2012 in 13 Rooms

John Kaldor presents a Thomas Demand project in Sydney

While Thomas Demand was in Sydney looking at spaces for a project initiated by John Kaldor, he spotted a spaceship-like structure that is part of the MCL Centre. Designed by the late Australian architect Harry Seidler, the building is a hotel occupied by the Commercial Travellers Association Club. "I snuck inside and saw a beautiful circular staircase and small rooms," he said. It felt like a time capsule from the 70s. They haven't changed anything."

Kaldor has rented a floor of the building to stage Demand's project. Visitors can walk around a circular corridor along which 15 rooms can be found, each subtly altered by Demand and featuring a photograph from his Dailies series. Read more...
Image: Commercial Travellers Association Club building designed by Harry Seidler and venue for a Thomas Demand exhibition presented by Kaldor Projects