지미 더햄
ג’ימי דורהאם
吉米·达勒姆
جيمي دورهام

source: muhkabe

Jimmie Durham is born in 1940 in the U.S.
He takes his first artistic steps in the field of theatre, literature and performance in the progressive African-American circles in Texas in the 60’s. He works with the Afro-American poet Vivian Ayers and does a performance with Mohamed Ali.
In 1968 he moves to the then very international Geneva, where he enrols at L’Ecole des Beaux-Arts. During that period he makes performative, sometimes sculptural work. Together with three other sculptors, he forms the Draga group which explores how art can become more integrated into public life.
In 1973, he returns to the U.S. to become involved in the American Indian Movement, and remains politically active until 1980. He co-establishes the International Indian Treaty Council, is involved in the occupation of Wounded Knee in 1973, and is ultimately made the representative of the Indians to the United Nations – the first official representative of a minority within the organisation.
In 1980 he returns to art. As an essayist, he remains concerned with the image of Native Americans and his art work from this period both reflects and thematises this attitude, although it displays both a broader reflective quality and a stronger visual expression. Typical examples are the works with animal skulls.
Durham gains notoriety within the New York art scene, but finds that his work is seen as “Indian art” and fails to encourage fundamental – political or artistic – discussions. In 1987, he leaves the U.S. and goes to live in Cuernavaca, Mexico – where he stays until he moves back to Europe in 1994.
It is a period with many international exhibitions. In 1988 he creates Pocahontas and the Little Carpenter for Matt’s Gallery in London; he has an exhibition at Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery in New York in 1992, and the work Original Re-Runs a.k.a. A Certain Lack of Coherence travels in 1993 from the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London to the Douglas Hyde Gallery in Dublin, the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels and the Kunstverein Hamburg. In 1992, Jan Hoet invites him as one of the key artists in the Documenta IX exhibition in Kassel. He creates a large ensemble entitled Approach in Love and Fear, consisting of several sculptures and texts. A number of these works are now part of the M HKA collection and will be on view again during the exhibition.
The essays that Jimmie Durham continues to write and publish in magazines such as Artforum, Art Journal, and Third Text, as well as in various books are collected in the 1993 publication A Certain Lack of Coherence, a collection of his essays published by Kala Press.
Since turning away from the Americas in 1994 and permanently moving to Europe, Jimmie Durham has opposed two foundations of the European tradition: religion and architecture. Another theme that since has emerged in many of his works is his vision of Europe, which he calls Eurasia – Jimmie Durham sees himself as a ‘homeless Eurasian orphan’. In Europe, he has successively lived in Brussels, Marseille, Rome and now in Berlin. His work can be seen in several international key locations: the Biennials of Venice in 1999, 2001, 2003 and 2005; in Marseille, The Hague and Gateshead (England) (in the retrospective film From the West Pacific to the East Atlantic), at the Sidney Biennial in 2004, the Musee d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (in the retrospective Pierres rejetées … [Stones Rejected …]) …
Presently, in 2012, M HKA hosts a comprehensive retrospective of Jimmie Durham’s oeuvre in which approximately 120 of his works will be shown. Durham’s major installation Building a Nation (2006) was on view this year in Kasper König’s last exhibition Before the Law at the Museum Ludwig in Cologne which ends on April 22, and the artist will also take part in dOCUMENTA (13) later this year.
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source: 9511019857

Jimmie Durham (nato nel 1940 a Washington, Arkansas, da una famiglia di origini e tradizione cherokee) è un artista, ma anche poeta e saggista nordamericano; attualmente vive a Roma. La sua prima personale è del 1965 a Austin (Texas); successivamente (1968) si sposta in Svizzera a Ginevra, dove studia alla École des Beaux-Arts per poi ritornare nel 1973 negli Stati Uniti; partecipa tra l’altro allo scontro tra indiani nativi americani e forze governative a Wounded Knee. E’ molto attivo nell’American Indian Movement (AIM), dove lavora come organizzatore politico fino a diventare membre del Consiglio Centrale del movimento. Quando alla fine degli anno ’70 l’AIM si frammenta, Durham, che in quel momento vive a New York, ritorna all’arte e alla scultura, scrivendo anche poesie. Nel 1987 si trasferisce in Messico, per poi ritornare in Europa nel 1994. Attualmente vive a Roma. Tutto il suo lavoro tende, con forte carica ironica, ma grande precisione, a criticare l’attuale stile di vita occidentale, diciamo “coloniale” per un indiano che trova il suo territorio invaso da stranieri, contrapponendo una diversa teoria e un diverso modo di guardare il mondo. Jimmie Durham nel suo lavoro usa modalità espressive diverse spaziando dal disegno alla scrittura, dalla scultura all’ installazione. Quest’ultima spesso entra in un rapporto critico con l’architettura occidentale codificata. Il riferimento contenuto nel titolo dell’installazione, Detour over Rome, creata per l’occasione nel giardino dell’Acquario Romano, fa riferimento all’ultima città dove Jimmie ha scelto di risiedere. “Detour over Rome” è un intervento pensato e realizzato appositamente per l’Acquario Romano, un progetto artistico che si integra al luogo interessando sia l’interno che l’esterno dell’edificio della Casa dell’Architettura. Rispetto al “Gran Tour” del Settecento-Ottocento, che aveva una sua regolarità con una andata e un ritorno, “Detour over Rome” destrutturizza questo concetto di viaggio circolare ordinato. . E’ come un viaggio su Roma, ma anche sull’arte, imprevedibile e caotico. Una tubatura in pvc parte dal terreno percorrendo la cima di una pietra di basalto, a superficie irregolare, dalle dimensioni di 1,5 metri x 1,5 circa, e proseguendo continua in direzione dell’edificio. Il suo diametro si riduce progressivamente in prossimità del davanzale e della finestra del primo piano da cui entra per dirigersi verso la biblioteca e continuare all’interno dell’edificio con un passo non-direzionale, concludendosi in filamenti di rame.