The Nasher Sculpture Center is pleased to reveal the plans for a newly commissioned public artwork by artist Ugo Rondinone that will be placed on the shores of West Dallas’ Fish Trap Lake, a site owned by the Dallas Housing Authority. The work is one of ten commissions created for the Nasher’s 10th anniversary, city-wide exhibition Nasher XChange. It will be on view during Nasher XChange from October 19, 2013 through February 16, 2014, and will remain a transformative fixture on the lake into the future.
Ugo Rondinone is a New York-based mixed-media artist from Switzerland who has built an international reputation for a body of work that is endlessly inventive and poetic. He is equally comfortable creating large-scale sculptures as he is working with drawing, painting, video, and sound.
With permission from the Dallas Housing Authority, Rondinone is designing a simple wooden pier for the lake that will be painted in vibrant colors and visible from Singleton road. His aim is to foster a transcendent experience through an ordinary act: being on a pier. On the pier, visitors stand above the water surrounding them, immersed in the intense colors of the structure, the Texas sky, and the Dallas skyline in the distance.
Fish Trap Lake is a small body of water on a 30-acre site owned by the Dallas Housing Authority in West Dallas, and located just minutes from downtown Dallas. It is surrounded by several schools, a YMCA, a Girls Inc. of Metropolitan Dallas location, a Dallas Public Library branch, and a senior living community. The site was part of La Reunion, a utopian community of French, Belgian and Swiss settlers founded in the 1850s. The lake and adjacent cemetery are named for the fishing technique used by the colony in the Trinity River. In the early 1900s, the site was a sand and gravel pit and was later used for drainage control of storm water. The lake, as it is seen today, was filled in with water redirected from the Trinity.
Rondinone, who grew up near a lake in Switzerland, is interested in experiences unique to a pier. He describes how the artwork can encourage poetic, romantic and contemplative moments simply by offering a chance for visitors to transition from land to water by walking the length of the structure. Known for drawing the viewer in and eliciting emotional and psychological responses that can be both optimistic and melancholic, Rondinone’s greatest strength is his ability to foster contemplation and introspection. Whether a single object, a series of related objects or an installation of disparate parts, his art is often engages the senses, evokes the passage of time, and encourages the viewer’s imagination in the search for meaning.
The Nasher has also commissioned Ruben Ochoa, Liz Larner, Rick Lowe, Alfredo Jaar, Vicki Meek, Charles Long, Good/Bad Art Collective, Lara Almarcegui, and Rachel Harrison to create works for Nasher XChange. Details about their works, including the locations of the installations, will be announced throughout the summer.
About the Nasher Sculpture Center:
Open since 2003 and located in the heart of the Dallas Arts District, the Nasher Sculpture Center is home to one of the finest collections of modern and contemporary sculptures in the world, the Raymond and Patsy Nasher Collection, featuring more than 300 masterpieces by Calder, Giacometti, Matisse, Picasso, Rodin, and more. The longtime dream of the late Raymond and Patsy Nasher, the museum was designed by world-renowned architect Renzo Piano in collaboration with landscape architect Peter Walker.
Hailed by the "USA Today" as one of the great sculpture gardens where art enhances nature, the roofless museum seamlessly integrates the indoor galleries with the outdoor spaces creating a museum experience unlike any other in the world. On view in the light-filled galleries and amid the landscaped grounds are rotating works from the Collection, as well as blockbuster exhibitions and one-of-a-kind installations by the most celebrated artists of our times. In addition to the indoor and outdoor gallery spaces, the Center contains an auditorium, education and research facilities, a cafe, and a store.
The Nasher brings the best of contemporary culture to Dallas through special programs designed to engage visitors, including artist talks, lecture programs, contemporary music concerts, educational classes and exclusive member events.
The Nasher Sculpture Center is open Tuesday through Sunday from 11 am to 5 pm and until 11 pm for special events, and from 10 am to 5 pm on the first Saturday of each month. Admission is $10 for adults, $7 for seniors, $5 for students, and free for members and children 12 and under, and includes access to special exhibitions. For more information, visit www.NasherSculptureCenter.org.
About Nasher XChange:
To celebrate its 10th anniversary, the Nasher Sculpture Center will present Nasher XChange, a dynamic art exhibition consisting of 10 newly-commissioned public sculptures by contemporary artists at 10 sites throughout the city of Dallas from October 19, 2013 to February 16, 2014. Covering a diverse range of neighborhoods and approaches to sculpture, Nasher XChange represents the first citywide, museum-organized public art exhibition in the United States.
About the Dallas Housing Authority:
The Housing Authority of the City of Dallas, Texas (DHA) provides quality, affordable housing to low-income families and individuals through the effective and efficient administration of housing assistance programs; and by creating and cultivating opportunities for program participants to achieve self-sufficiency and economic independence.
The Dallas Housing Authority (DHA) provides affordable housing for more than 22,000 low-income families in the Dallas metropolitan area. In addition to affordable housing, DHA provides a variety of supportive services to assist tenants and their families to improve their quality of life through education and job training classes for younger residents and social activities and opportunities for health screening on site for older residents and persons with disabilities.
DHA owns and operates approximately 4,000 rental units. These units are located throughout the City of Dallas and include multifamily sites with approximately 300 units, smaller multifamily sites with approximately 20 units, and duplexes as well as single-family homes.
DHA also provides rental assistance for more than 18,000 families throughout the Dallas metropolitan area. Through the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program, families select housing in the private market.
DHA continues to meet its clients' needs in the most fair, effective and efficient ways possible. With DHA assistance, residents will continue becoming self sufficient, contributing citizens.
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Kristen Mills Gibbins
Associate Director of Media Relations
972.514.2099
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Megan Radke
Social Media and PR Coordinator
214.242.5162
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