JULIE MCKIM PROJECTS

YOU ARE FREE

CURATED BY JULIE MCKIM and DANIEL KINGERY
Tape Club, Berlin, Germany, February, 2010;
Kunsthalle Exnergasse, Vienna, Austria, October, 2011

BERLIN: MARC BIJL / PIOT BREHMER / ERIK BÜNGER / JAN CHRISTENSEN / KATE GILMORE / DELIA GONZALEZ / ANDY GRAYDON / GREGOR HILDEBRANDT / CHRISTIAN JANKOWSKI / AARON JOHNSON / DANIEL KINGERY / ANNIKA LARSSON / TIM LEE / DAVID LEVINE / ALEJANDRO ALMANZA PEREDA / VIKTOR TIMOFEEV / STEPHEN NEIDICH / KIRSTINE ROEPSTORFF / JEREMY SHAW / BRYAN ZANISNIK
PERFORMANCES BY: TOBIAS BERNSTRUP / nihiti (NYC) / HEATSICK FM / NIFFMF$ / VIKTOR TIMOFEEV

AUSTRIA:

YOU ARE FREE, TAPE CLUB, BERLIN, 2010

In many ways, this exhibition can be situated in the intertwined relationship between the first utterance of the word teenager and the advent of rock and roll, as the mass production of sound, for the first time, was far-reaching and became the platform for constructing identity, social commentary, and rebellion for western youth. Ultimately, it is an intangible, elusive, esoteric, often idealized, and highly individual concept of freedom, but one that is unmistakably recognizable when it occurs. For many of us, it is a disruption, a sound that changes everything, a song that makes you less innocent, while simultaneously making you feel immortal. A place situated outside conventions, societal constraints, and where changing the world or starting a revolution is not unrealistic. A sense of freedom that is most often made manifest through the visceral experience of music.

YOU ARE FREE has assembled a group of 20 international artists and 9 performers, bands, and DJs whose work is fueled by the intangible notions of freedom as expressed through music. Whether they are musicians themselves, incorporate music into their practice, use musical tropes and codes as ready-mades, or seek to comment on the larger society, their work stretches the definitions of music in an attempt to represent this elusive and indefinable concept of freedom through art. Working across disciplines and employing various mediums, these artists aim to mirror that initial impulse, that utopian and teenage dream of freedom, coupled with a critical reckoning with the world around them.

To accompany the exhibition, we have brought together a group of musicians, performers, and DJs, who produce music within the same conceptual vein of the show. Performances start at 10pm and will run until the early Berlin morning.

“This is possibly the ultimate rock ‘n’ roll story, because rock is mainly about beginnings, about youth and uncertainty and growing through and out of them. And asserting yourself way before you know what the fuck you’re doing.” -Lester Bangs

YOU ARE FREE, VIENNA, 2011