Quadrennial Casino 2001in Gent

[Claudia Westermann]

http://www.quadriennale.be

OPENING OF 'CASINO 2001'

SATURDAY 27th OCTOBER 2001

The Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst (S.M.A.K.) presents Casino 2001 , a 
major exhibition of international emerging artists. This exhibition 
inaugurates Gent's 1st Quadrennial of Contemporary Art and spans two 
venues, the ground floor of S.M.A.K. in Gent's Citadel Park and the Bijloke 
Museum, a historical archaeological Museum in Gent. Casino 2001  is under 
the artistic direction of Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn, an independent curator 
and art consultant from New York. Concentrating on themes inspired by a new 
generation of artists, this exhibition features some 60 artists.

The title of this exhibition plays upon the original function of the museum's
building as a gambling casino. The shadow of this lineage has left its trace
upon the selected artists. Casino 2001 relies upon the mythology of American
popular and entertainment culture, exemplified by the gambling casino. As
with all spectacles, its glittering surface reality has a darker underbelly 
-- addictive, seedy, corrupt and violent. The casino bundles together 
themed environments of living spaces, shopping, live acts and culture. The 
participating artists simultaneously thrive within such arenas and approach 
them with a subversive eye.

There is a full color catalogue published to accompany the exhibition. 
Scott Hug, a New York based graphic designer, has been commissioned for its 
design. The artists pages include a myriad of contemporary and historical 
images culled from art history, popular culture and movie stills. As if 
lifted from the artist's studio walls, these images together function as a 
visual essay. Included are several commissioned and illustrated essays by 
emerging writers and scholars on the topics of art and entertainment.

Since the opening of S.M.A.K. in 1999, Jan Hoet has always intended to 
provide a forum for young artists alongside the programme of regular 
exhibitions. The first quadrennial will now be making this wish a more 
concrete reality. The intention is to appoint a different curator every 
four years, someone with views of their own which do not necessarily 
correspond to those of the museum and which thereby prompt a review of 
fundamentals. The Quadrennial is a sort of turntable, an event that ensures 
that the museum continually questions its own function. Each Quadrennial 
will examine a new and ever thriving contemporary art scene throughout the 
world and will take a new direction.

[27.10.2001 - 13.01.2002 :: SMAK - Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst und 
Bijloke Museum, Ghent, B]