Following his exhibition at Modern Art Oxford earlier this year, Mircea Cantor's exhibition at Arnolfini will be a second stage to this project, with significant new components, including a large-scale Romanian traditional wooden gate. Coated in gold leaf, the gate has been imposed with a DNA-strand motif symbolising life, yet paradoxically certainty and control.
An image of a carved wooden form wrapped around the trunk of a tree in a Transylvanian forest, and a flying carpet woven with motifs of angels and aeroplanes will be some of the elements used by Cantor to reflect on worlds within worlds, and on freedom and its limitations.
The Need for Uncertainty is part of a series of new commissions presented as a programme over three years. The series is being produced as a partnership between Modern Art Oxford, Arnolfini and Camden Art Centre, with support from the Romanian Cultural Institute, London.
A free tour of the exhibition, led by Suzanne Cotter, Acting Director and Senior Curator at Modern Art Oxford, will take place at 5.30pm on Fri 12 Sep, followed by the exhibition preview. Booking recommended.
Mircea Cantor lives and works in Paris and Cluj, Romania.
Recent solo exhibitions include: Ciel Variable, Frac Champagne-Ardennes, Reims, France (2007), The Title Is the Last Thing, Philadelphia Museum of Art (2006) and Burn to be Burnt, GAMEC, Bergamo, Italy (2006).
Group exhibitions include the 4th Berlin Biennial for contemporary art, Berlin (2006), Power Play, Artpace, San Antonio, Texas (2007), Brave New Worlds, The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota and Airs de Paris, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France (2007).
In 2004 Cantor was awarded the Prix Paul Ricard S.A. He was nominated for the 2008 Artes Mundi Prize. Cantor is co-founder and co-editor of the cultural review Version founded in 2001 at Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Mircea Cantor's exhibition is supported by the Romanian Cultural Institute, Arts Council England, The Ratiu Family Charitable Foundation, Romanian Cultural Centre and Bristol City Council.
When: 13 September - 9 November 2008
Where: Arnolfini, 16 Narrow Quay, Bristol BS1 4QA
Admission: free.
