Jill Magid: Faust 24 at Galerí­a Labor, Mexico City

The exhibition Faust 24 at Galerí­a Labor is American artist Jill Magid’s first solo exhibition in Mexico. Faust 24 deals with the gun violence and public shootings in the US, specifically with the school shooting at the University of Texas in Austin in 2010, where a student, Colton Tooley, walked through the campus firing shots into the air and ground with an AK47 assault rifle, and finally committed suicide.

Jill Magid’s exhibition at Galerí­a Labor presents Police footage of the event and related 911 calls. In addition, Magid wrote a dramatic text, based on her transcription of the material. This book, titled Tooley, A Tragedy, is shown alongside Goethe’s drama, Faust. Both texts are open to page 24, where suicide is either confirmed or imminent.

Jill Magid was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut in 1973. She lives and works in New York. Magid received her Master of Science in Visual Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge. The artist has exhibited in various institutions including Stedelijk, Amsterdam (2005), Gagosian Gallery, New York (2007), Tate Modern, London (2009), and Yvon Lambert, Paris (2012).

Jill Magid: Faust 24 at Galerí­a Labor, Mexico City. November 17, 2012. Video by Diego Garcí­a Sotomoro.

> Right-click (Mac: ctrl-click) this link to download Quicktime video file.

Press release (English):

Faust 24 evokes an atmosphere of a distressed search, delimited by the dash-cam surveillance recordings of five patrol cars that responded to an emergency call of a school shooter at the University of Texas in late 2010. The perpetrator, a math major named Colton Tooley, wearing a ski mask and armed with an AK47, walked through campus firing shots into the air and ground. Harming no one other than himself, Tooley, ended his route by taking his own life in the Comparative Literature and Poetry section of the Perry-Castaí±eda Library.

The motives behind the spectacle Tooley created and his suicide are unknown. The enigma opens up the intuitive possibilities of the dramatic text that Magid wrote, based directly on her transcriptions of the police footage and related 911 calls, which the artist obtained with an Open Records Request to the UT Police Department. The book, Tooley, A Tragedy, is shown alongside an abridged facsimile of Goethe’s drama, Faust. Both texts are open to page 24, the moment within each narrative where suicide is either confirmed or seemingly imminent. The monologue in which Faust, alone in his library, prepares to drink a phial of poison can be heard on the headphones hanging over the desk.

It is possible to look through the book Tooley, A Tragedy, as well as its Spanish translation, with the help of Labor’s staff.

Faust is one of the universal ciphers for doubt and death, a poetic work that Magid has adopted in recent projects as a way of gaining insight into recent public shootings in the US.

Jill Magid lives and works in New York. Her work “is incisive in its poetic questioning of the ethics of human behavior and the hidden political structures of society. Her intelligent conceptual strategies engage the viewer in an absorbing aesthetic and intellectual experience that turns conventional assumptions of power, secrecy, control and social space inside out.” (Chrissie Isles, 2010).

Among others, her recent exhibitions include The Status of the Shooter, Yvon Lambert, Paris 2012. Failed States, Arthouse, Austin TX, 2012. Closet Drama, Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley CA, 2011. A Reasonable Man in a Box, Whitney Museum, NY, 2010. Author- ity To Remove, Tate Modern, London 2009. With Full Consent, Gagosian Gallery, NY, 2007.

LABOR, Mexico City, 2012

Press release (Spanish):

Faust 24 sugiere una atmósfera de angustia, delimitada por las grabaciones de las video cámaras integradas a las cinco patrullas que atendí­an el llamado de amenaza de una masacre colectiva en la Universidad de Texas a finales del aí±o 2010. El perpetrador, Colton Tooley, usando un pasamontaí±as y armado con una AK-47, caminó por el campus disparando hacia el aire y la tierra. Sin lastimar a nadie más que a sí­ mismo, Tooley terminó quitándose la vida en la sección de Literatura Comparada y Poesí­a de la biblioteca Perry-Castaí±eda.

Las razones detrás del espectáculo montado por Tooley y su posterior suicidio son inciertas. Este enigma abre las posibilidades intuitivas del libro escrito por Magid a partir de la transcripción de grabaciones de la policí­a y de las llamadas registradas en el 911. La información fue obtenida por la artista tras solicitar al Departamento de Policí­a de la Universidad de Texas que abriera sus registros. El libro, que lleva por tí­tulo Tooley, A Tragedy, se muestra sobre un escritorio de madera, junto a un facsí­mil abreviado del Fausto de Goethe. Los dos libros están abiertos en la página 24, momento en el que el suicidio se presenta o es inminente en ambos textos. El monólogo en el que Fausto, a solas en su biblioteca, se prepara para beber una ampolla de veneno puede escucharse en los audí­fonos que cuelgan sobre el escritorio.

Tanto el libro Tooley, A Tragedy, como una traducción al Espaí±ol de la narración que se escucha en los audí­fonos, pueden consultarse con el personal de LABOR.

Fausto, de Goethe, es uno de los códigos universales sobre la duda y la muerte, un eje poético que Magid ha retomado en sus proyectos más recientes para indagar en las razones detrás de los recientes tiroteos píºblicos en los Estados Unidos.

Jill Magid vive y trabaja en Nueva York. Su obra “es incisiva en su cuestionamiento poético de la ética del comportamiento humano y las clandestinas estructuras polí­ticas de la sociedad. Sus astutas estrategias conceptuales involucran al espectador en una fascinante experiencia intelectual y estética que invierte las convenciones del poder, el ocultamiento, el control y el espacio social.” (Chrissie Isles, 2010).

Entre otras, su exhibiciones recientes incluyen The Status of the Shooter, Yvon Lambert, Paris 2012. Failed States, Arthouse, Austin TX, 2012. Closet Drama, Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley CA, 2011. A Reasonable Man in a Box, Whitney Museum, NY, 2010. Authority To Remove, Tate Modern, London 2009. With Full Consent, Gagosian Gallery, NY, 2007.

LABOR, Ciudad de México, 2012

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