The Big Nothing

Opening Reception: April 30, 6pm

March 1, 2004

Philadelphia, PA - The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) is pleased to announce "The Big Nothing," a major group exhibition exploring themes of nothing and nothingness in contemporary art. Filling both main gallery spaces, the exhibition will include over sixty artists' works from the 1970s to the present. The exhibition, co-curated by ICA Senior Curator Ingrid Schaffner, Associate Curator Bennett Simpson, and Whitney-Lauder Curatorial Fellow Tanya Leighton, will be accompanied by a catalog publication.

ICA's exhibition also initiates a Philadelphia-wide constellation of music, art, film, and talks independently organized by 36 venues throughout the city. Driven by a core-group of curators and organizers over the past year-from the Philadelphia Museum of Art to the Edgar Allan Poe House to the American Philosophical Society-the various independently conceived projects will occur throughout the summer all around the city. Details on the participating projects available on line at Participating Big Nothing Venues.Information on special travel and hotel packages will be online March 15, check the ICA homepage for details.

The void, the ineffable, the sublime, refusal, nihilism, zero-all are encompassed by "nothing." ICA's first floor gallery will trace a number of distinct takes on the idea. The vacuity or reproducability of consumer image culture can be seen in works by Roe Ethridge and Andy Warhol. Metaphysical nothings-from Zen to an updated American sublime-are evident in works by Jack Goldstein, Heavy Industries and Yayoi Kusama. Yet another section, with works by Louise Lawler, Jutta Koether, and others, conceives of nothing as a kind of refusal or negation. A fourth grouping will document art projects that have sought to close or empty the gallery space. This surprisingly recurrent gesture in contemporary art-Yves Klein, Robert Barry and Michael Asher have all made signature works by removing or displacing art from its normative contexts-will be showcased in photographs, announcement cards, press releases and other ephemera.

ICA's upstairs gallery will be devoted entirely to film and video, and will include works by Bernadette Corporation, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Pierre Huyghe, John Smith, Nicolas Guagnini and Karin Schneider, and Charlemagne Palestine among others.

Artists in the exhibition at ICA: Bas Jan Ader, Ayreen Anastas, Richard Artschwager, Michael Asher, Michel Auder, Jo Baer, Robert Barry, Larry Bell, Bernadette Corporation, James Lee Byars, Maurizio Cattelan, Thomas Chimes, Bruce Conner, Day Without Art, Jessica Diamond, Roe Ethridge, Lili Fleury, Rene Gabri, Jack Goldstein, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Nicolas Guagnini, Heavy Industries, Richard Hook, Roni Horn, Pierre Huyghe, Gareth James, Ray Johnson, Yves Klein, Joachim Koester, Jutta Koether, Yayoi Kusama, Louise Lawler, Gordon Matta-Clark, Allan McCollum, Patrick McMullen, John Miller, Matt Mullican, Eileen Neff, Gabriel Orozco, Raphael Ortiz, Charlemagne Palestine, Philippe Parreno, William Pope.L, Doris Salcedo, Karin Schneider, Allan Sekula, Arlene Shechet, Santiago Sierra, John Smith, Robert Smithson, Paul Swenbeck, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Andy Warhol, James Welling, John Wesley, Steve Wolfe, and David Hammons (at The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia).

Programming at ICA
All events are free with gallery admission unless otherwise noted.

Exhibition Walkthrough
With the curators and Gary Hatfield, Seybert Professor and Graduate Chair, Department of Philosophy, University of Pennsylvania.
Friday, April 30, 5pm

A Conversation About The Big Nothing
Hosted by Kelly Writers House
A conversation on negative theology, language, law and mysticism. Featuring live and prerecorded multimedia presentations in collaboration with the Kelly Writers House. Featuring Aryeh Botwinick, Professor of Political Science at Temple University with Andrew Zitcer, Sean Purtill, Melanie Wilson and moderated by Tom Devaney.
ICA Auditorium (Free no gallery admission)
Saturday June 3, 6:30-8pm

Entr'acte
Created by Relâche
René Clair's cinematic Entr'acte with its original musical accompaniment by Erik Satie performed in abstentia by Relâche Ensemble. However, there will be literally no performance, as the eight musicans will be replaced by eight speakers 'playing' the live accompaniment to the film.
ICA Auditorium
Thursday and Friday, July 15 & 16/ Continuous Showings 10am - 6pm

Nothing Cabaret
A night of Dada celebration including a screening of Andy Warhol's Sleep, musical performances by Philadelphia bands, poetry, sleight-of-hand, and silence.
ICA Terrace
Whenever Wednesday, July 21, 7pm

Participating Venues
"The Big Nothing" is also a constellation of music, art, film, and talks independently organized by 36 venues throughout Philadelphia. The various independently conceived projects will occur throughout the summer all around the city. Please visit the ICA website after march 15th for complete details on all projects and to learn about special travel and hotel packages. Complete details on the participating venues can also be found in a seperate news release at “ICA Announces The Big Nothing Participating Venues”.

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