Centre for Contemporary Culture at Palazzo Strozzi

Palazzo Strozzi

MICHAEL E. SMITH

Utitled, 2014
Clarinets, PVC pipe
cm 175 x 5 x 5
Courtesy the artist and
KOW, Berlin & Susanne Hillberry

Michael E. Smith shows elements of our society transformed and processed to attain an alienating dimension. In the exhibition, the artistpresents two videos featuring animals. The process of decontextualizationand recontextualization present in the artist’s work also affects the preparation of the works, positioned above the normal visual height. Smith’s work often suggests a relational dimension between the elements chosen, mostly found and processed objects, and new identities: this is the case of Clarinets, a bulging PVC pipe, almost a “relic” of ourdaily lives. In his work, Smith highlights the concept of fragility of the consumer society. His almost shamanic transformation of objects reveals how these can take on, through art, a new temporal dimension.

Michael E. Smith was born in 1977 in Detroit, Michigan, USA. He lives and works in New Hampshire, USA. Among his soloshows are: Michael E. Smith, SculptureCenter, New York (2015); Michael E. Smith, De AppelArts Centre, Amsterdam (2015); Michael E. Smith, Lulu, Mexico City (2014);  Michael E. Smith, CAPC museé d’art contemporain de Bordeaux, Bordeaux (2013); Michael E. Smith, Mönchehaus Museum, Goslar (2011). He participated to important group shows, such as: The Noing Uv It, Bergen Kunsthall, Bergen(2015); The Little Things Could Be Dearer, PS1 MoMA, New York (2014); The Registry of Moving Things, Centre d’art contemporain d’Ivry – le Crédac, Ivry-sur-Seine (2014); A Disagreeable Object, SculptureCenter, New York(2012); Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2012).

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