Ugo Rondinone, 2003
25 June - 31 August, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney. OUR MAGIC HOUR was followed by CLOCKWORK FOR ORACLE, 28 January 2004 - 7 March 2004, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne.
OUR MAGIC HOUR: the time is now, our moment together, when we step out of the ordinariness of every day existence and take centre stage… Announced from the roof of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Ugo Rondinone’s poetic, circular phrase beams across the waters of Circular Quay toward that most magical of buildings, the Sydney Opera House. This site-specific work, the latest in a series of rainbow sculptures created around the world, also heralds the title of the exhibition inside the MCA. Consisting of a series of discrete yet interconnected installations, OUR MAGIC HOUR forms a fluent articulation of the artist’s concerns over the last decade. This exhibition, as in all of Rondinone’s projects, draws upon his wide vocabulary of forms and motifs, reassembling them to create new aggregations of meaning and experience. From shimmering, circular ‘target’ paintings to stylish photographic series, dream-like video installations to somnolent clown sculptures, Rondinone’s works together form a piece, albeit one in endless transformation. More than most artists, his medium could be said to be that of the exhibition itself, with the gallery spaces also transformed by sculptural elements, architectural inventions and the evocative use of light and sound. We are invited to enter the artist’s universe, a carefully constructed, autonomous environment that is nevertheless replete with a wide array of cultural references.
