Lucy Raven – Neue Nationalgalerie | 10.02.–21.04.2024

From 10 February 2024, the Neue Nationalgalerie will be showing Lucy Raven’s video installation “Ready Mix” (2021), which focuses on work, technology and the hidden mechanisms of power. The expansive installation in the upper hall of the museum is located within direct sight of the “berlin modern” construction pit and establishes a visual and thematic link to the monumental construction site of the new museum building. The exhibition therefore opens on the occasion of and on the day of the laying of the foundation stone of the building designed by Herzog de Meuron.

Fig. above: Lucy Raven, Ready Mix, exhibition view Neue Nationalgalerie, 10.2.-21.4.2024 © Courtesy the artist and Lisson Gallery / Dia Art Foundation / Nationalgalerie – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin / Andrea Rossetti

Born in Arizona in 1977, Lucy Raven often focuses on the development and representation of the US West and its role today in relation to global trade, communication and development. In doing so, she also engages with the artists of LandArt. Raven’s film “Ready Mix” (2021, 45 min.) demonstrates the properties of speed, pressure and materiality (both geological and synthetic) using the production of concrete as an example. Raven spent over two years filming at a concrete plant in Bellevue, Idaho. “Ready Mix” conveys different perspectives and short narratives with drone shots of the excavated ground as well as shots of movements from inside the active machinery. In one shot, for example, an avalanche of rock falls onto a conveyor belt without the camera being able to fully capture the movement. The solid minerals thus appear almost liquid in the stream of silver light. This contrasts with the shots of the concrete blocks, which are carefully assembled and stacked to form a clearly arranged wall.

On a fourteen metre long and six metre high wall running through Mies van der Rohe’s glass hall, the shots of the film are shown in a seamless sequence of images. The film is critical of the Western as a film genre and is formally, but not thematically, unique in Raven’s oeuvre. “Ready Mix” takes apart the stereotypical perception of landscapes and reflects the topography as it actually is.

The exhibition opens with a thirty-minute performance by Deantoni Parks on Friday, 9 February at 8pm on Sigismundstrasse between the Neue Nationalgalerie and the berlin modern building pit. In a career spanning over 20 years as an experimental drummer, record producer and film composer, Deantoni Parks has worked with the likes of André 3000 (“New Blue Sun”), Abbi Jacobson (“A League of Their Own” Amazon Prime), Paul Schrader (“Dog Eat Dog”), T-Bone Burnett (“True Detective” HBO) Rockstar Games (Grand Theft Auto V) and, most notably, John Cale of Velvet Underground and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez of Mars Volta. Deantoni holds a Bachelor of Arts from Berklee College of Music. Deantoni founded a tech/art fair, Technoself Immersive, in 2019. Deantoni founded an online school and curriculum, Technoself School of Philosophy in 2020.

Ready Mix was commissioned by the Dia Art Foundation and curated by Alexis Lowry together with Randy Gibson, Exhibition Technology Manager. The presentation at Neue Nationalgalerie is curated by Klaus Biesenbach and Lisa Botti in collaboration with Randy Gibson and the Dia Art Foundation. An exhibition made possible by the Freunde der Nationalgalerie and Museum&Location.

WHEN?

Opening: Friday, 9 February 2024, 7 pm
with a performance by Deantoni Parks at 8 pm

Exhibition: Saturday, 10 February – Sunday, 21 April 2024

Tue – Wed 10 am – 6 pm
Thu 10 am – 8 pm
Fri – Sun 10 am – 6 pm

WHERE?

Neue Nationalgalerie
Kulturforum
Potsdamer Straße 50
10785 Berlin-Tiergarten