Jens Hoffmann

Jens Hoffmann

Biography

Jens Hoffmann is the director of the Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts in San Francisco. From 2004 to 2007 Hoffmann was Director of Exhibitions at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, where he curated group exhibitions such as Artists’ Favorites (2004); 100 Artists See God (2004-2005); London in Six Easy Steps (2005); Around the World in Eighty Days (2006), Surprise, Surprise (2006), Alien Nation (2006) as well as solo exhibitions of works by artists such as John Bock (2004), Tino Sehgal (2005 & 2006 & 2007), Martha Rosler (2005), Jonathan Monk (2005) and Cerith Wyn Evans (2006). Since the late 1990s Hoffmann as curated over three dozen exhibitions internationally including: The Show Must Go On, New York (1999); Tropical Modernity (co-curated with Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster), Barcelona (1999); Blown Away – 6th Caribbean Biennial (co-curated with Maurizio Cattelan) St. Kitts (1999); Indiscipline (co-curated with Barbara Vanderlinden), Brussels (2000); exhibition squared, Stockholm (2001); A Little Bit of History Repeated, Berlin (2001); A Show That Will Show That A Show Is Not Only A Show, Los Angeles (2002); The Exhibition As A Work Of Art, Rio de Janeiro (2003); Institution Squared, Helsinki (2003); An Exhibition in Words, Caracas (2003-2004); Exhibition of an Exhibition, New York (2003); Deutschland Sucht, Cologne (2004); A Walk To Remember, Los Angeles (2005); Me, Myself and I, Vancouver (2006); WRONG, Berlin (2006); Home of the Free, Chicago (2006); The Studio, Dublin (2006) among others.

Biographie

Jens Hoffmann est directeur du Wattis Institute for Contemporary arts de San Francisco. De 2004 à 2007 il a été directeur des expositions à l’Institute of Contemporary Arts, Londres, oùen tant que curator il a organise des expositions collectives comme Artists’ Favorites (2004); 100 Artists See God (2004-2005); London in Six Easy Steps (2005); Around the World in Eighty Days (2006), Surprise, Surprise (2006), Alien Nation (2006) et des expositions personnelles sur des artistes comme John Bock (2004), Tino Sehgal (2005 & 2006 & 2007), Martha Rosler (2005), Jonathan Monk (2005) and Cerith Wyn Evans (2006). Depuis la fin des Années 90 Jens Hossmann a été curator d’expositions internationales comme The Show Must Go On, New York (1999); Tropical Modernity (co-curated with Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster), Barcelona (1999); Blown Away – 6th Caribbean Biennial (co-curated with Maurizio Cattelan) St. Kitts (1999); Indiscipline (co-curated with Barbara Vanderlinden), Brussels (2000); exhibition squared, Stockholm (2001); A Little Bit of History Repeated, Berlin (2001); A Show That Will Show That A Show Is Not Only A Show, Los Angeles (2002); The Exhibition As A Work Of Art, Rio de Janeiro (2003); Institution Squared, Helsinki (2003); An Exhibition in Words, Caracas (2003-2004); Exhibition of an Exhibition, New York (2003); Deutschland Sucht, Cologne (2004); A Walk To Remember, Los Angeles (2005); Me, Myself and I, Vancouver (2006); WRONG, Berlin (2006); Home of the Free, Chicago (2006); The Studio, Dublin (2006) among others. the heat is on 2003 asia's devastation 2004 bringing the war home 2001 the shaming of america 2005 the war on terror 2005

Tino Sehgal

selected by Jens Hoffmann

 When I was first asked by the curators of the Lyon Biennale to select either an artist whose work summarized the significance of the art of the last decade, or an artist whom I had recently met and who would signal what the future of art might look like, many artists came to my mind but Tino Sehgal was not one of them.  I had already worked with Sehgal on numerous occasions: from his first presentation in the context of visual art as part of “A Little Bit of History Repeated” which I curated for the Kunst-Werke in Berlin in 2001; his presentation in Manifesta 4 in 2002, where I invited him to participate as part of a small program; various other group exhibitions as well as the three solo exhibitions I organized by Sehgal at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London (2005, 2006 & 2007). In the specific context of the Lyon Biennale I felt it might be more interesting to look at another artist who is lesser known and with whom I would not necessarily already have a relationship.

But honesty prevailed. (...)

Tino Sehgal

Choisi par Jens Hoffmann

Lorsque les commissaires de la Biennale de Lyon m’ont demandé pour la première fois de choisir soit un artiste dont l’œuvre résumerait le sens de l’art dans la dernière décennie, soit un que j’aurais rencontré récemment et qui laisserait deviner ce à quoi l’avenir de l’art pourrait ressembler, j’ai pensé à de nombreux artistes, mais Tino Sehgal n’en faisait pas partie. J’avais déjà travaillé avec Sehgal à de nombreuses reprises : lors de sa première présentation dans le contexte de l’art visuel faisant partie de « A Little Bit of History Repeated » que j’avais organisée pour le Kunst-Werke à Berlin en 2001 ; lors de sa présentation dans Manifesta 4 en 2002, où je l’avais invité à prendre part à un petit programme ; lors de nombreuses autres expositions collectives et de trois expositions en solo organisées par Sehgal à l’Institut d’Arts Contemporains de Londres (en 2005, 2006 et 2007). Dans le contexte particulier de la Biennale de Lyon j’ai pensé qu’il serait plus intéressant de me pencher sur un autre artiste, moins connu et avec lequel je n’aurais pas forcément de relation.

Mais l’honnêteté l’a emporté.(...)