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Almine Rech

Oliver Beer Recompositions: Night Revels

May 12 — Jun 24, 2023 | Shanghai

Opening on Friday, May 12th, 2023, from 5 pm to 7 pm.

Almine Rech Shanghai is pleased to announce Oliver Beer's first solo exhibition with the gallery, on view from May 12 to June 24, 2023.

To hear what you see.

Blue-and-white porcelain vessels hang from the ceiling, with microphones amplifying each receptacle’s unique sound – this interactive sound installation is the central piece of Oliver Beer’s exhibition Recompositions: Night Revels at Almine Rech Shanghai. Visitor movements activate the motion sensors, creating an immersive and ever-changing orchestra. Every unbroken vessel keeps the same note at which it resonates. Although the sound evolves every second, the harmony never changes. By manifesting the constant, Beer in turn invites us to observe what changes in the passage of time. It is as if the vessels are speaking to us, as witnesses of history, narrating the stories of their own destinies...

Surrounding the installation are new works from the Recomposition series, all containing the same blue-and-white ceramics, but scattered into pieces. Beer’s presentation at Almine Rech Shanghai is a dramatic and ritualistic one. The contrast between “resurrection” in the middle and the environs’ “falling-apart” retells the potholed journey of these porcelains, and really, the shared fate of any cultural artifact. Ceramic detritus further overlapped with books, scores, and musical instruments in a seemingly haphazard way. To quote Marguerite Yourcenar: “Books are not life, only its ashes.” The same applies to artworks we see. The blending of the historical with damaged remnants of personal possessions, of the archaic with street finds, testifies to the multiplicitous world the artist, and we, inhabit today.

— Damien Zhang, Director of Aranya Art Center

Press release

  • read or download in English
  • 中文阅读下载

Selected artworks

  • Oliver Beer,                                      Recomposition (In a Landscape, after John Cage), 2023

    Oliver Beer Recomposition (In a Landscape, after John Cage), 2023

    Musical score, book (I-Ching), yarrow sticks, ceramic, pencils, map, laughing gas canister, violin bow, mother of pearl, artificial pearls; resin, black pigment.
    130 x 130 x 3.3 cm
    51 x 51 x 1 1/2 in

  • Oliver Beer,                                      Recomposition (The Feast of the Gods, after Giovanni Bellini), 2023

    Oliver Beer Recomposition (The Feast of the Gods, after Giovanni Bellini), 2023

    Ceramic, book, dried plants, laughing gas canister, painting palette, pieces of musical instruments, mother of pearl, artificial pearls; resin, black pigment.
    130 x 130 x 3.3 cm
    51 x 51 x 1 1/2 in

  • Oliver Beer,                                      Recomposition (Portrait of a Woman with a Flute, after Lang Shining), 2023

    Oliver Beer Recomposition (Portrait of a Woman with a Flute, after Lang Shining), 2023

    Ceramic, flute, fabric, bracelets, children’s shoes, dried flowers, pearls, pencil, musical score, mother of pearl, artificial pearls guitar plectrums, coloured pencils, jaw's harp; resin, black pigment.
    90 x 70 x 4.2 cm
    35 1/2 x 27 1/2 x 1 1/2 in

  • Oliver Beer,                                      Recomposition (Still Life with a Ginger Jar, after Willem Kalf), 2023

    Oliver Beer Recomposition (Still Life with a Ginger Jar, after Willem Kalf), 2023

    Ceramic, dried orange, orange leaves, seashell, gilded glass, fabric, artificial pearls, mother of pearl; resin, black pigment.
    74 x 47 x 3.3 cm
    29 x 18 1/2 x 1 1/2 in

  • Oliver Beer,                                      Resonance Vessels (Music of Changes), 2023

    Oliver Beer Resonance Vessels (Music of Changes), 2023

    Four vessels, lighting and sound system
    Variable dimensions

  • Oliver Beer,                                      Recomposition (Flying Apsaras, after the Dunhuang Murals), 2023

    Oliver Beer Recomposition (Flying Apsaras, after the Dunhuang Murals), 2023

    Ceramic, artificial lotus flowers, fragments of violin, fragments of flutes, violin bow, fabric, mother of pearl, artificial pearls, laughing gas canister, buddhist prayer beads, lute strings; resin, black pigment.
    130 x 130 x 3.3 cm
    51 x 51 x 1 1/2 in

  • Oliver Beer,                                      Recomposition (Clair de Lune, after Debussy), 2023

    Oliver Beer Recomposition (Clair de Lune, after Debussy), 2023

    Paper plane made from musical score, ceramic, laughing gas canister, mother of pearl, artificial pearls; resin, black pigment.
    40 x 30 x 4.2 cm
    16 x 12 x 1 1/2 in

  • Oliver Beer,                                      Recomposition (Night Banquet, after Chen Yifei), 2023

    Oliver Beer Recomposition (Night Banquet, after Chen Yifei), 2023

    Ceramic, fabric, flutes, violin bow, artificial flowers, artificial pearls, mother of pearl, jewellery; resin, black pigment
    90 x 70 x 4.2 cm
    35 1/2 x 27 1/2 x 1 1/2 in

More

More on Oliver Beer