Pioneer Works presents the largest-scale exhibition of work by Atelier Van Lieshout/Joep Van Lieshout/AVL (CRF 2007) in the United States. The centerpiece of The CryptoFuturist and The New Tribal Labyrinth is Blast Furnace(2013), a 40-foot-tall industrial structure resembling a steel maze of pipes, conveyor elevators, staircases and mezzanines. At the center of the work is a fictional narrative wherein a “New Tribe” of metal workers, inspired by a desire to the return to industry, take residence in the structure. This sets the stage for the synthesis of man and machine and refers to the replacement of heavy industry by an immaterial, information-led economy.
Sculptor, painter and visionary Joep Van Lieshout (b. 1963 in Ravenstein, Germany) was accepted to the Rotterdam Academy of the Arts at sixteen years of age, and has been working solely under the name Atelier Van Lieshout (AVL) since the studio’s founding in 1995. AVL has established a multidisciplinary practice that produces works on the borders between art, design, and architecture. Notable projects have included AVL-Ville (2001), an independent state in Rotterdam with its own constitution and currency; A-Portable (2001), a floating, reproductive health clinic offering abortions in international waters; Insect Farm (2012), an insect farm which addresses future food needs; and Domestikator(2015), a lodging-sculpture depicting a man and animal procreating, which was censored by the Louvre and subsequently displayed at the Centre Pompidou. Work by AVL has been exhibited at museums and galleries worldwide, and is in the collections of MoMA, New York; FNAC, Paris; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Prada Foundation, Milan; and Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zürich.
Runs March 1 – April 14, opening reception March 1st, 7-9pm. Read more information on Pioneer Works’ website.