New York, Aug. 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Switzerland Tourism is pleased to present Julianknxx: In A Dream We Are At Once Beautiful, the artist’s first presentation of this newly commissioned film to be exhibited at Foley Gallery on the Lower East Side in New York City from September 9-11.
The poet, visual artist and filmmaker was invited earlier this year by Switzerland Tourism to conduct research and make work in four separate Swiss cities - Zurich, Geneva, Basel and Lausanne. Shot in Switzerland, Julianknxx’s latest film, In A Dream We Are At Once Beautiful, examines the lines between reality and fantasy, and our ability to dream on our own terms - asking, whose dreams are we attempting to live?
Presented as a two-channel film, shot in 2.39:1 widescreen, In A Dream We Are At Once Beautiful offers a series of rich vignettes that play with the integration of nature and urbanity within the four Swiss cities. The work is punctuated with stanzas from Julianknxx’s poem, As Long As The Sun Lasts, and an original score born from a collaboration between the artist and musician anaiis. The camera slowly flows toward and through spaces as though it has been seduced by the setting – leaving the viewer to question whether the film’s cast are subjects or protagonists as they float, stand, and move through the landscape.
Julianknxx’s work merges his poetic practice with films and performance; he engages in a form of existential inquiry that at once seeks to find ways of expressing the ineffable realities of human experiences while examining the structures through which we live.
“Swiss boutique cities like Zurich, Geneva, Lausanne, and Basel provide a wide range of art, culture, and architecture,” says Claudio Zemp, Director Americas of Switzerland Tourism. “Cultural offerings are found alongside proximity to nature. Through the lens of the extraordinarily perceptive and talented artist Julianknxx, Switzerland Tourism intends to cast new light on Swiss cities.” Land adorned with readily accessible lakes, rivers, natural spaces, and a low level of air pollution – nature that Julian and guests can not only find in the Swiss Alps but also in Swiss cities.
Meeting with Julianknxx and opening event for media
Meet the artist: Wednesday, September 7, 2022, 3pm – 8pm, book your 1:1 appointment here
Opening event: Thursday, September 8, 2022, 5pm – 9pm, please RSVP here
Location: Foley Gallery, 59 Orchard St, New York, NY 10002
Public exhibition with free entry “In A Dream We Are At Once Beautiful”
Date: September 9 until September 11, 2022
Time: daily 10am – 8pm
Location: Foley Gallery, 59 Orchard St, New York, NY 10002
Download high-res images here, cities, and locations according to the file name.
Image credit: Julianknxx, In A Dream We Are At Once Beautiful (still), 2022, 4k film, 20 min approx, Courtesy of the artist, © Studioknxx
Find further information about the Swiss boutique cities here.
About the artist
In casting his own practice as a ‘living archive’ or an ‘history from below’, Julianknxx draws on West African traditions of oral history to reframe how we construct both local and global perspectives. He does this through a body of work that challenges fixed ideas of identity and unravels linear Western historical and socio-political narratives, attempting to reconcile how it feels to exist primarily in liminal spaces. Julianknxx is currently showing in the exhibition Air at Utah Museum of Fine Arts, USA (2022), as well as in The London Open at Whitechapel Gallery, UK (2022). Other recent exhibitions include The View From There, Sadie Coles HQ, UK (2021); Lux: New Wave Of Contemporary Art, 180 The Strand, UK (2021); Contra La Raza [Against Race], Matadero, Spain (2021). Performances include Stedelijk Museum, Netherlands (2021); Fact Magazine (Online Residency) (2021); OT301 Amsterdam, Netherlands (2020); ICA London, UK (2019); Southbank Centre, UK (2019). Born in 1987 in Sierra Leone, Julianknxx now lives and works in London, UK.
About Switzerland Tourism
Switzerland Tourism is the official National Tourist Office of Switzerland and operates in 33 offices in 22 markets around the world with the goal of promoting Switzerland as a travel, vacation, and convention destination. In North America, Switzerland Tourism operates offices in New York, San Francisco and Toronto.
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