Romanian artist works with high security prisoners

27 October 2009
Daniel Knorr, BLOCK
Exhibition Dates: 31 October ¬ 28 November
Opening reception: 30 October
Romanian artist works with high security prisoners

Internationally renowned conceptual artist Daniel Knorr has taken on an ambitious project collaborating with a Paremoremo art class for his upcoming exhibition. He has created an entirely new work in this unprecedented exhibition at ARTSPACE.

A key element in the exhibition is a stunning video of the prisoners playing classical instruments, such as the harp, timpani, double bass and flute. Their artwork will also be exhibited at ARTSPACE

Daniel Knorr presents us with institutions in a way that encourages us to question how we behave and the systems we operate in within society, in this powerful project at ARTSPACE he has made visible what is normally invisible those of our community who are behind bars.² Says Emma Bugden, ARTSPACE Director

Daniel Knorr has also worked with a local publisher Clouds, to create the latest book in a series Carte de Artist especially for New Zealand, it has a text in Maori, rubbish collected from the streets of Auckland is interleaved into it and the books are then pressed by a two hundred ton press which embosses the objects into the paper.

Daniel Knorr¹s diverse art practice includes works such as Powder (1994) where he exhibited 500grams of confiscated cocaine in a Munich subway to Stolen History (2008) when he covered the heads of public monuments in Copenhagen with balaclavas for one day. Awake/Asleep (2008) is an ongoing work where Daniel Knorr controls the exterior lighting of a building according to his sleeping patterns, he represented Romania at the Venice Biennale (2005) by leaving the pavilion empty revealing the traces of the building¹s usage over time.

Daniel Knorr¹s work has been included in many exhibitions including The promises of the past, Centre Pompidou, Paris (2010); 5th Berlin Biennale, Berlin (2008); Manifesta 7, European Biennial (2008); U-Turn, Quadriennale, Copenhagen (2008) and Beneath the Underdog, Gagosian Gallery, New York (2007). Solo exhibitions held by Daniel include at the Kunsthalle Fridericianum (2008); Fei Art Center, Shanghai (2008) and European Influenza, The 51st Venice Biennale, Venice (2005). Led R. Nanirok, Kunsthalle Basel (2009).

ENDS

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