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Item: A Staff to Mark The Center of the World, Gwangju Biennale

2004

Sculpture, 3 pieces, each ca 250 x 10 cm.
Materials: Wood, ink and paint on paper, plastic

Collection: Courtesy of Christine König Galerie, Vienna.

Jimmie Durham has made a series titled Staffs for The Center of the World. The first staff was made in Brussels in 1995, and others in Yakutsk, Rheims, Pläsy, Antwerp, Jølster, Prague, Berlin, Vancouver, Winnipeg, and this one in Gwangju, South Korea, in the occasion of the Gwangju Biennale in 2004. These poles always have a mirror attached to them, which according to the artist reflect the bad thoughts and bad spirits onto themselves. “Be warned, therefore, that a moveable pole cannot support the center of the world. Only trees can.” - writes Durham in a text belonging to the installation The Center of the World or How to Get to Chalma - “There are seven continents. Each has seven sacred trees. (maybe more, and I’m not sure what happens on all the smaller islands.) Find one that you like and place your own umbilical cord or its equivalent among the tree’s branches. Do not salute.”

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Jimmie Durham – A Matter ...
25 May 2012 - 18 November 2012.
In the spring of 2012, the M HKA brought a major retrospective of the work of Jimmie Durham. The US-born artist settled permanently in Europe

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Jimmie Durham
Jimmie Durham was born in 1940 in (or, as he himself says, ‘under’) the state of Arkansas in the US, into a Cherokee family. After working di

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The M HKA is a museum for contemporary art, film and visual culture in its widest sense. It is an open place of encounter for art, artists and the public. The M HKA aspires to play a leading role in Flanders and to extend its international profile by building upon Antwerp's avant-garde tradition. The M HKA bridges the relationship between artistic questions and wider societal issues, between the international and the regional, artists and public, tradition and innovation, reflection and presentation. Central here is the museum's collection with its ongoing acquisitions, as well as related areas of management and research.

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