Lili Dujourie and Ion Grigorescu at Ludlow 38


For the first time in the US, Ludlow 38 presents, with the support of the Romanian Cultural Institute in New York, an exhibition of selected works by Ion Grigorescu, as part of a joint presentation, with Lili Dujourie, of two highly accomplished and versatile European artists, little known in the US. They both emerged as artists in the late 1960s, and were both presented at Documenta 12 in 2007.

Ion Grigorescu will participate to the exhibition opening on August 28 (6-8 pm), and will be in dialogue with the exhibition's curator Anders Kreuger, at Goethe-Institut's Wyoming Building, on August 29 (7 pm).

Born in 1945 and based in Bucharest, Ion Grigorescu has worked with topics ranging from political commentary to spirituality and religion. He has worked in many formats and techniques, but has lately gained particular recognition for his films from the 1970s, shot on Super8 and often documenting his own performances, and for his various photographic projects from the 1970s and 1980s. This exhibition will show three films, “In My Beloved Bucharest” and “Boxing” from 1977 and “The Truth about the Capitalist World” from 1978, along with a small selection of photographs and sketches from that period.

Lili Dujourie (Belgium, born 1941) is known for her video works from the 1970s and early 1980s, but also for her works on paper from the same period and her three-dimensional work in various techniques from the 1980s onwards. Her oeuvre is concerned with contemporary interpretations of themes, forms and gestures from many centuries of art history. At Ludlow 38 she shows American Imperialism, a variable installation comprising sheets of steel and a painted wall that was first realised in 1972, and selected collages from the series Roman from 1978.

The exhibition is curated by Anders Kreuger and marks the start of the new programming collaboration of Ludlow 38, the Goethe Institut's Lower East Side gallery for contemporary art (Tobi Maier), with the European Kunsthalle in Cologne, Germany (Rike Frank, Anders Kreuger and Astrid Wege). Ludlow 38 is sponsored by MINI and Friends of Goethe.


Image gallery: From the 29-part photo series, Electoral Meeting, March 6, 1975. Images courtesy of Kontakt. The Arts and Civil Society Program of Erste Bank Group.

"The 29-part photo series, Electoral Meeting, March 6, 1975 is a relevant example for Ion Grigorescu’s approaches, both to the outer world and to his artistic mission. The photos were clandestinely taken, during a masquerade electoral meeting organized by the Communist Party and strictly supervised by the infiltrated members of the secret police. In spite of being taken under pressure, the photos are not mere illustrations of an episode from the history of Romanian oppression, but rather selective observations of the inner mechanisms of evil. The subjects (the confused, alienated and docile masses) as well as the instruments (the individuals enforcing control, depicted in a manner shifting from realist photography to demoniacal representation in orthodox iconography) are all part of an absurd unfolding (the organized gathering, the directed spontaneity, the pointless demonstration and the ending), in a desolate circularity of mechanical development of actions that lead nowhere and have no consistent meaning other than filling the roles set by an outer structure, the discreet but tormenting evil." (Kontakt)