Ramp Project: Irene Fortuyn

September 9 - December 17, 2006

Exhibition Walkthrough with artist Irene Fortuyn and Jenelle Porter, Associate Curator:
Friday, September 8, 5-6pm, ICA Members Only, join on-site

Opening Reception:
Friday, September 8, 6-8pm

Irene Fortuyn (born 1959, Geldrop, The Netherlands) is the tenth artist to create a temporary site-specific installation for the ICA Ramp that links the first and second floor galleries.Because every ramp project is a commission, created specifically for the space, it is impossible to know what exactly will be on view, until the work is completed. Based on a site visit, Fortuyn's preliminary plan responds to the tree visible through the ramp's picture windows. The installation will involve tree branches, cut during the spring and cast in bronze. Natural branching in the tree limbs will create an abstract pattern on the walls of the ramp, which will also be colored and patterned with fireplace ashes. Handmade colored streamers will change daily according to the day of the week. Fortuyn makes work about the disposition of place. Cool and intelligent, Fortuyn's installations, sculptures, books, public artworks, and drawings create spaces where psychological and emotional effects can be loosened, more freely associated, or contrasted.

This exhibition will be documented by a brochure publication with an essay by Jenelle Porter, Associate Curator.

ICA acknowledges primary sponsorship of the William Penn Foundation for this project. We are also grateful for funding from the Mondriaan Foundation and the Consulate General of the Netherlands in New York. Additional funding has been provided by The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, The Dietrich Foundation, Inc., the Overseers Board for the Institute of Contemporary Art, friends and members of ICA, and the University of Pennsylvania. ICA is also grateful for in-kind support from Loews Philadelphia Hotel. (Information complete as of 7/12/06.)

Images: Top: Fortuyn working in her studio in Amsterdam... Bottom: Fortuyn/O'Brien, Violettes, 1998. L'Aquarium, École des Beaux-Arts, Valenciennes, France.

Installation views at ICA. Photos by Aaron Igler. > click to enlarge








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