GREAT APES
February 3 - March 4, 2007

Second Gallery is pleased to present Great Apes, guest curated by Dutch curator Femke Lutgerink. Lutgerink has invited Dutch artist Leonard Van Munster to develop an exhibition in the Second Gallery space in collaboration and dialogue with artists and scientists from Boston and Amsterdam, including: Sarah Banach (artist), Aisha Graham (artist), Marisa Jahn (artist), Geert Jan Mulder (artist), Tom Würdinger (MGH/Harvard Medical School), Eric Webber (MIT Media Lab), Jon Horvitz (Boston College).









Great Apes is the result of an alternative curatorial approach in which artist and curator collaborate amid an emergent network of other artists, scientists, and intellectuals. Second Gallery is closed for a month before the opening of Great Apes allowing the process for creating the show to unfold.
Great Apes explores the human fascination with gaining and wielding the ability to control and alter life on the most basic levels. This exhibition approaches the theme of the malleability of life-forms through the interaction of artistic and scientific practices, resulting in a unique exploration of phenomena such as genetics, cloning, the creation and diffusion of information, the relationship between science and politics, and the shifting of our understanding of truth over time.
As much as Great Apes explores a theme, it is also an experiment in a redefinition of the roles of the curator and the artist. Femke Lutgerink is a curator who is deeply involved in the development and creation of the show. Leonard Van Munster is the primary artist in the show, developing the theme with Femke Lutgerink, but additionally curating contributions from other artists and scientists as well as collaborating with them toward the creation of new works. The completed show confronts the visitor with the visual result of this collaborative curatorial and artistic approach.

For more information: http://www.secondgallery.org/ & http://www.donleo.org/

Articles on Great Apes
Nature, from mysterious fantasy to stark reality, by Kate McQuaid / Boston Globe, February 15
http://www.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/articles/2007/02/15/nature_from_mysterious_fantasy_to_stark_reality/
A conversation with Femke Lutgerink, by Maria LaCreta / Big, Red & Shiny, Issue #61
http://www.bigredandshiny.com/cgi-bin/retrieve.pl?issue=issue61&section=article&article=A_CONVERSATION_WITH_4141540

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16 September 2006 Second Gallery, opening "PEACE KING MOTHER NATURE", part 1, 2006

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