With this video we cover the opening of the exhibition Capitol Complex of the young British artist Tris Vonna-Michell at Galerie Jan Mot in Mexico City. It’s the artist’s first solo exhibition in the Belgian gallery’s space in Mexico. Tris Vonna-Michell is known for his performances and multimedia installations. Tris Vonna-Michell’s exhibition Capitol Complex runs until February 23, 2013.
Tris Vonna-Michell was born in 1982 in Southend-on-Sea (UK). He studied at the Glasgow School of Art and Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main (Germany). He lives and works in Stockholm. His works are included in the collections of Tate Modern (London), Hamburger Kunsthalle (Hamburg), San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Centre National des Arts Plastiques (Paris), and FRAC Champagne-Ardenne. Current and upcoming exhibitions with works by Tris Vonna-Michell include 9th Shanghai Biennale, Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany in Bonn, Mudam Luxembourg, and Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin.
Jan Mot is a gallery with spaces in Brussels (Belgium), and Mexico City. The gallery represents artists such as Rineke Dijkstra, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Douglas Gordon, David Lamelas, and Tino Sehgal.
Tris Vonna-Michell: Capitol Complex at Galerie Jan Mot, Mexico City. Opening reception, December 8, 2012.
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“Capitol Complex is set in Chandigarh, India, once the future city and the architect Le Corbusier’s most momentous assignment, today the government headquarters for two states, Punjab and Haryana. Le Corbusier envisaged Capitol Complex as a sacred place to match the Acropolis, where citizens could meditate on the inter-connected spiritual meanings embedded in his architecture. But as the complex was separated from the rest of the city it became a prohibited zone.
The story is lead by the protagonist, Traveller, who sees himself as a modern-day flaneur and extends his leisurely strolls to also experiencing the city by night in order to induce a greater intensity and anxiety of urban architecture. After his nocturnal explorations in the single-zone sectors of Chandigarh he starts to grow weary and changes his course from architectural appreciation to searching for crevices and enclosures to rest, reflect and observe. Urban fixtures of obstruction, surveillance and derailment direct his passages of exploration and rest, until an alteration occurs and Traveller loses his belongings. He finds himself bartering with law officers as he attempts to conjure up authorisation documents to gain access into the prohibited Capitol Complex. Once inside the government headquarters he returns to his habitual strolling and loses himself within the vast expanses of Le Corbusier’s master plan, which is surrounded by a makeshift colony of waste- merchants.”
Tris Vonna-Michell, Stockholm 28 November 2012
