CUBITT Gallery June 2006 – Sept 2007

Cubitt Gallery Program of events (From press release)

THE FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE
A programme of exhibitions and events curated by Tom MortonJune 2006 to September 2007

The world’s loneliest museum does not exist — or rather it exists only in fiction. In a 1949 issue of Superman, the comic book introduced its readers to The Fortress of Solitude, a place where its eponymous hero could go to be alone.
Opened by a mile-long golden key only Superman was able to lift, this arctic retreat featured laboratories, a bowling alley with pins as tall as buildings, an interplanetary zoo, and even a painting studio. It also featured an exhibition space, where Superman displayed various trophies of his adventures, including art from this and other worlds, and waxwork dioramas in memory of his friends, foes and his vanished-home world of Krypton.

The Fortress of Solitude is a place of both experiment and contemplation, of work and well-spent leisure. In nearly all respects its ambitions are those of the most forward-looking contemporary art institutions, except of course for the fact that it is an exhibition space intended for an audience of precisely one. Perhaps it could be no other way. Superman, after all, is the last remaining member of an otherwise extinct alien race, and it is among the Fortress’ exhibits that he reflects on his own apartness, and then attempts to overcome it. In his snow-flecked museum, this perfect creature learns how to become human.

But perhaps, though, all exhibition spaces are like Superman’s: places where we try to bridge the gap between self and not-self. Cubitt’s 2006 / 2007 programme imagines the gallery as a Fortress of Solitude, but one whose walls have begun to crack and crumble, allowing the viewer a glimpse of a hermetic space. What this glimpse produces — what is gained, and what is lost, and by whom — is the programme’s thematic concern.

FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE EXHIBITIONS AND EVENTS WILL INCLUDE:

• TAMY BEN-TOR: EXPLORATION IN THE DOMAIN OF IDIOCYSolo Exhibition of Israeli Artist. 07.06.06 to 16.07.06

• RADIO GALLERY: ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSIONEvent in collaboration with Resonance 104.4 FM, guest-curated by Anna Colin. Speakers: Alex Farquharson, Raimundas Malasauskas, Olivia Plender, Loris Gréaud (via telepathy). 22.07.06

• ONE AND ONE AND ONE IS THREESeries of three group exhibitions, guest-curated by Alex Farquharson, Tirdad Zolghar and Le Consortium, Dijon. 26.07.06 to 24.09.06

• CHARLES AVERY: THE PLANE OF THE GODSSolo exhibition of British Artist. Oct / Nov ‘06

• MATTHEW DAY JACKSONSolo exhibition of American Artist. Nov ‘06 to Jan ‘07

• MUM AND DAD SHOWTwo-person exhibition. Jan / Feb ‘07

• PLUS: Events by DAN FOX and CAREY YOUNG. Dates TBC.

Further exhibitions and events to be announced.
For more information / images please contact Bettina Brunner or Tom Morton via email info@cubittartists.org.uk