do it (adelaide)

About

The Samstag Museum is delighted to announce its first exhibition for 2015, do it (adelaide). Opening 13 February 2015 and continuing until 25 April , do it (adelaide) will be the latest incarnation of the ongoing global art project  do it, conceived by European curator Hans Ulrich Obrist and managed by theIndependent Curators International (ICI), New York.

do it began in Paris in 1993 as a result of a discussion with Obrist and artists Christian Boltanski and Bertrand Lavier about how to make exhibitions more flexible and open-ended. The conversation developed into the question of whether a show could be made from ‘scores’ or written instructions by artists, which could then be openly interpreted every time they were presented. How would an artist’s work be transformed if others made the artwork?  

From this starting point, 12 artists supplied instructions which were then published and distributed internationally. Soon afterwards do it exhibitions were being realised all over the world. New instructions were added for each incarnation, so that today nearly 400 artists have contributed instructions to the ever-evolving project, offering infinite creative possibilities for the participants who enact them. This archive includes instructions from artists such as Yoko Ono, Louise Bourgeois, Sol Le Witt, Liam Gillick, Tino Sehgal and Tracy Emin. Twenty years after its inception, do it has become a perpetual ‘exhibition in progress’, continually evolving and expanding to become the longest running exhibition ever.

do it (adelaide) is an opportunity for the Museum to reach out to the Adelaide community.  Museum visitors, students, musicians, emerging and established South Australian artists, designers, and Museum staff will collaborate on this ambitious project, making the most of the height of our city’s vibrant Festival period. A new publication, featuring the do it (adelaide) instructions, and a set of newly commissioned instructions by some of Australia’s leading contemporary artists and creatives will also be produced.

The Samstag Museum is proud to bring this contemporary art phenomenon to Adelaide, and is excited to be working with media partners City Mag to ensure that do it (adelaide) is a standout event in the history of Obrist’s daring proposition.

For more information, please visit the ICI's official do it website(opens in a new window)

View a video from one of the most recent do it exhibitions, do it Moscow, produced by the New York Times (opens in a new window)

Or email Samstag Museum with any queries.