The Unicorn at Transformer Station

Opening Day: Saturday, Sep 7, 12-5pm
Sep 7 – Nov 30, 2013

The Cleveland Museum of Art presents The Unicorn, its debut exhibition at Transformer Station. The Unicorn refers to the book of the same title by Martin Walser, an author whose work often questions how humans continually reshape the past. The works in this group exhibition of five internationally-renowned contemporary artists share the processes and practices involved in the construction and reconstruction of the past.
The Unicorn’s featured artists are Neïl Beloufa, Martin Soto Climent, Shana Lutker, Haris Epaminonda and Daniel Gustav Cramer. The works, some of which were created specifically for this exhibition, explore how memory is constructed by individuals looking backwards from a constantly shifting point. The unicorn as a mythical creature also serves as a metaphor for the creative vitality of memory and points to artists exploring the line between documentation and art, truth and myth, fact and fiction.

“For the Cleveland Museum of Art‟s first exhibition at Transformer Station, we brought together international artists that have been producing compelling work for some time,” said Reto Thüring, associate curator of contemporary art. “The Unicorn is clearly conceptually-driven, touching on a fundamental idea: that the past can only be a reconstruction and we encounter recollection as fragmentation, patchwork, kaleidoscope or dissonance. Memory is merely an impression conceived from the present.”

Visit the Transformer Station to see The Unicorn and experience a live performance art piece by Shana Lutker specially developed for the exhibition’s opening. As part of her ongoing research into the fistfights of the Surrealists, Lutker will present a theatrical reading of a new scripted work, with related musical selections preceding the reading throughout the afternoon. Free.

Opening Day Events:
Music, 1– 4:00 p.m.

Transformer Station lawn: Pianists Emily Grabinski and Fangfei Chen perform works by Stravinsky, Auric, Milhaud and Satie that were played during the original performances of the Surrealist fistfights in the 1920s.

Reading, 4:00 p.m.

Transformer Station exhibition galleries: Actors will read excerpts of a play narrating the first fistfight of the Surrealists, in which André Breton jumped onto a Paris stage and broke Pierre de Massot’s arm with a strike of his cane. Characters include The Nose, The Arm, Sonia Delaunay and The Color Green.

Tags: André Breton, art, Auric, Cleveland, Cleveland Museum of Art, contemporary, Daniel Gustav Cramer, Emily Grabinski, exhibition, Fangfei Chen, Haris Epaminonda, Martin Soto Climent, Milhaud, Neïl Beloufa, ohio, Satie, Shana Lutker, Stravinsky, The Unicorn, Transformer Station