Opening today (Thursday 21st July) a special exhibition by Turner Prize winning artist Mark Wallinger will mark the Freud Museum London’s 30th anniversary and the 160th anniversary of the birth of Sigmund Freud. The project consists of a new work created for Freud’s study and a permanent sculpture to be situated in the Museum garden.
For Self Reflection Wallinger will install a mirror across the entire ceiling of the iconic study offering visitors a dramatic new perspective effectively doubling the space. In the artist’s words: ‘The relative posture of the sitting analyst and the recumbent analysand are latent in Freud’s chair and the couch. We can easily imagine his patient’s self-reflection.’
The sculpture Self takes the form of the most basic expression of what it means to exist as an individual: the letter “I,” as a free-standing figure.
It will be placed in the garden in clear view from Sigmund Freud’s desk. In the context of the Freud Museum the sculpture has obvious intensity of meaning; the formation of the id, ego, and superego is predicated on our knowledge of the self and how it is constituted.
These new works provide a stimulating and thoughtful encounter with the Museum’s collections and the work of Freud himself. The exhibition will further contribute to the Museum’s reputation as a vibrant space commissioning contemporary art exhibitions with lasting intellectual value.
22nd July 2016 – 25th September 2016 Self-Reflection, Mark Wallinger, Freud Museum London
About The Artist
Mark Wallinger is one of the UK’s leading contemporary artists. Having previously been nominated for the Turner Prize in 1995, he won in 2007 for his installation ‘State Britain’. His work ‘Ecce Homo’ (1999) was the first piece to occupy the empty plinth in Trafalgar Square. Later it was exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 2001 where Wallinger was Britain’s representative. Most recently, ‘Labyrinth’ (2013) a major and permanent commission for Art on the Underground, was created to celebrate 150 years of the London Underground.
Wallinger has held solo exhibitions at the Serpentine Galleries, London, England (1995); Museum for Gegenwartskunst, Basel, Switzerland (1999); Palais Des Beaux Arts, Brussels, Belgium (1999); Tate Liverpool, Liverpool, England (2000); Vienna Secession, Vienna, Austria (2000); Neu Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany (2004); Museo de Arte Carillo Gill, Mexico City, Mexico (2005); Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau, Switzerland (2008); Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo, Norway (2010), Museum de Pont, Tilburg, Netherlands (2011); and BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, England (2012). His latest solo exhibition, ‘MARK WALLINGER MARK’, is currently taking place at Serlachius Museum, Mänttä, Finland and will then travel to The Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland and Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee, Scotland in early 2017. His work is also displayed in the collections of many leading international museums including Tate, London, England; MoMA, New York; and Centre Pompidou Paris, France.
His exhibition, ‘ID’ at Hauser and Wirth in London this year and his curated H&W stand, “A Study in Red and Green’ at Frieze 2014 drew on his engagement with Freud.
About The Curator
The exhibition is curated by Natasha Hoare. Natasha is a curator and writer, currently living between London and Rotterdam. She holds an MA in Curating from Chelsea College of Art and Design, London, and a BA in English Literature from Edinburgh University.
In 2014 she was appointed Curator at Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam. Previously she worked as Assistant Curator for the Visual Arts Section of the Marrakech Biennale 5 (2014) and for On Geometry and Speculation, a parallel project for the Marrakech Biennale 4 (2012). She was also Studio Manager for artist Mark Wallinger and Special Projects Manager for artist Shezad Dawood.
