Lucy Orta, Hortirecycling Enterprise Act II, 1999. Photo: Pez Hejduk

 
The British artist Lucy Orta who lives in Paris leaves the static space of art and transcends the boundaries of the visual arts by merging areas such as fashion design, social engagement, poetry and action art.



Lucy Orta, Hortirecycling Enterprise Act II, 1999. Photo: Pez Hejduk
 

Responding to the drastic pictures of Kurdish refugees taken during the US-invasion of Iraq, the trained fashion designer created her first "Refuge Wear" in 1991. The multiple functions of this wear were to provide war victims both shelter and survival chances. The artist herself describes her work as "Immediate Assistance for Urgent Situations/Natural/Social and Political Catastrophes - Shelter/Protection for People Living in Precarious Situations". In the following years Lucy Orta continued her work in the streets and metro stations of Paris. She has designed clothes for homeless persons in Paris; they had hoods and sleeve openings so that they could be used by more than one person at once. The collective use of "Refuge Wear" created a heating dynamic that prompted the art critic Kodwo Eshun to draw analogies with Joseph Beuys' idea of "Social Sculpture". It could be transformed in a multifunctional way to create modal "tents" and thus a prototypical "roof over one's head". Workshops with homeless people, inmates, persons in care homes, universities and other institutions accompanied Lucy Orta's interventions. "But I am not trying to provide solutions. The prototypes are a starting point to underline the need for a sense of community." (Lucy Orta)
 
In her recent work the artist deals with alternative systems for a just distribution of food, public surveys and lobbying. The fact that farmers in EU-countries still have to destroy millions of tons of fresh agricultural products each year in spite of worldwide hunger inspired the artist to create a project in connection with the exhibition at the Le Forum Saint-Eustache Gallery. Home-made dishes made from fruits and vegetables that had been discarded at the Les Halles market were served at a buffet. This project with the title "Hortirecycling Enterprise" is continued in the exhibition at the Secession. The artist collected discarded and unsellable fruits and vegetables from the Naschmarkt located right across from the Secession. She transported them to the Secession on trolleys, movable "processing units" equipped with sinks, cutting surfaces and hot plates. A crane is used to lift the fruits into the exhibition room on the first floor where they are then cooked, preserved and filled in glasses by the artist. The action "Hortirecycling Enterprise Act II" takes place over a period of two days. The results of this project can be viewed in the Grafisches Kabinett throughout the whole duration of the exhibition. The subtle way in which the artist has arranged them gives them a poetic presence.



PUBLICATION

LUCY ORTA 10 pages, 28 colored illustrations authors: Jen Budney, Matthias Herrmann bilingual. Secession 1999 ___________________ available in the shop

 
LUCY ORTA was born in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham in 1966. She lives and works in Paris. Selected exhibitions: "Refuge Wear", Louvre & the Pont des Arts, Paris (1994), "Nexus Architecture Collective Wear - 16 persons", Biennale Venice (1995), "Identity + Refuge", Salvation Army, Paris (1995), "Refuge Wear", Soho Metro, New York (1996), "All in One Basket", Gallery Forum St. Eustache, Paris (1997), "PS1 Open", PS1 Contemporary Arts Center, New York (1997), "Trade Routes, History & Geography, Nexus Architecture, Johannesburg Biennale (1997), "Personal Effects - The Collective Conscious, Musuem of Contemporary Art, Sydney Australia (1998), "Urban Armour", Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth (1998), "Addressing the Century", The Hayward Gallery, London (1998), "Nexus Architecture Intervention", Haus der Kulturen, Berlin (1999). Selected bibliography: "Process of Transformation", monograph. Edition Jean-Michael Place. Text: Pierre Restany, Mark Sanders, Christina Morozzi, Jen Budney, Paris (1999); "Refuge Wear, Lucy Orta", monograph, Edition Jean-Michel Place, text: Paul Virilio, Jerome Sans, Jean-Michel Ribettes, Paris (1996)

GREG LYNN / FABIAN MARCACCIO   GITTE VILLESEN

EXHIBITION PROGRAM 1999

For further information and photographic material please contact:
 
Pia Leydolt
Secession, Association of Visual Artists Vienna Secession
Friedrichstraße 12, 1010 Vienna
Tel: +43-1-5875307-21, Fax: +43-1-5875307-34
presse@secession.at