This year’s Kurt Schwitters Prize has been awarded by the Lower Saxony Savings Bank Foundation to Tacita Dean. Born in Canterbury in 1965, this British artist now lives and works in Berlin. The award pays tribute to an artist who is internationally renowned and whose art is “carried by a sense of history, time and place, the quality of light and the essence of film itself” (to quote the jury).
To mark the occasion, the Sprengel Museum Hannover proudly presents the German premiere of the artist’s six film installation Merce Cunningham performs STILLNESS (in three movements) to John Cage's composition 4'33" with Trevor Carlson, New York City, 28 April 2007 (six perform-ances; six films), 2008, and the European premiere of her new film, Craneway Event, 2009.
For the installation Merce Cunningham performs STILLNESS … (six performances; six films) Tacita Dean asked the legendary choreographer and dancer Merce Cunningham (1919–2009) to conceive and develop a performance to John Cage’s composition 4’33’’of 1952.
It was through his composition in three movements that John Cage realized a new concept of silence. Cage defined silence as the absence of intended sounds as opposed to conscious, deliber-ate listening. When the composition was first performed in New York in 1952, the young pianist David Tudor played not a single note for the duration of four minutes and thirty-three seconds. The beginning and end of each movement was signalled by the closing and opening of the piano lid. The silence of John Cage’s composition, the actual duration of which he had left entirely open, was broken only by the involuntary noises made by the audience during the performance.
Merce Cunningham himself chose the title STILLNESS for his performance to John Cage’s 4’33’’. Each of the six performances is filmed in a different way and shows the American dancer seated in his Manhattan dance studio. In his performance, Merce Cunningham assumes a different position for each movement, remaining in this position for its entire duration. Trevor Carlson, Director of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, times the performance with a stopwatch and signals the be-ginning of each movement with a simple movement of the hand. Merce Cunningham responds to the signals almost motionlessly, changing his sitting position only very slightly. His image is projec-ted life-size onto the six screens standing on the floor, thus simulating, as closely as possible, his actual presence in the installation. Tacita Dean’s six-part installation was first shown at Dia:Bea-con in upstate New York in 2008.
Craneway Event has sadly become the last film ever to be made with and about Merce Cunning-ham. Filmed in November 2008 in a former Ford factory in Richmond, California, Dean shows Cunningham rehearsing with his dancers in preparation for an event. The plant was designed in 1930 by Albert Kahn with continuous glazing to maximize daylight working hours, passing tank trucks, swooping pelicans and the continually shifting light conditions make a stunning backdrop for the human activity inside. The film will be shown every day except Mondays in the auditorium of the Sprengel Museum Hannover (Tues 6.00 p.m., Wed.-Sun. 2.00 p.m.).
The Lower Saxony Savings Bank Foundation has been awarding the Kurt Schwitters Prize since 1996. It is awarded to artists of international standing whose work is not only of outstanding significance but also exercises a lasting influence on the art of the present day, and especially to those artists whose works in some way relate to the artist Kurt Schwitters, who was a native of Hanover (1887-1948), or who work in entirely new fields of art or have made an essential contribution to the interaction and integration of different artistic disciplines.
“Our purpose in awarding the Kurt Schwitters Prize,” writes Tomas Mang, Chairman of the Lower Saxony Savings Bank Foundation, “is to further the high quality of art in Lower Saxony and to do justice to the status of Lower Saxony – and especially its capital Hanover – as an important centre of contemporary art.”
The decision to award the 2009 Kurt Schwitters Prize to Tacita Dean was based on the recommen-dation of an international jury comprising Prof. Dr. Ulrich Krempel (Chairman), Director of the Sprengel Museum Hannover, Prof. Dr. Beatrice von Bismarck, Vice-Chancellor of the Academy of Visual Arts, Leipzig, Hendrick Driessen, Director of the De Pont museum voor hedendaagse kunst (Tilburg, Netherlands), Dr. Fabrice Hergott, Director of the Musée d'Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, Adrian Searle, Art Critic of The Guardian, London, and Prof. Thomas Wagner, Art Critic (Frankfurt am Main).
Previous award winners include: Raymond Hains (1996), Thomas Schütte (1998), Gary Hill (2000), James Coleman (2002), Joep van Lieshout (Atelier Van Lieshout) (2004) and Rodney Graham (2006).
Tacita Dean today lives and works in Berlin. Her impressively varied oeuvre comprises films, drawings, photographs, audio recordings and installations. The works of Tacita Dean have been shown in international solo and group exhibitions since 1992. The artist’s most recent solo exhi-bitions have taken place at Fondazione Nicola Trussardi, Milan; ACCA, Melbourne (2009), the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (Hugo Boss Prize Exhibition); Schaulager, Basle (2006) and Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin (2007).
Screening of the Film
Tacita Dean, Craneway Event, 2009
Craneway Event has sadly become the last film ever to be made with and about Merce Cunning-ham. Filmed in November 2008 in a former Ford factory in Richmond, California, Dean shows Cunningham rehearsing with his dancers in preparation for an event. The plant was designed in 1930 by Albert Kahn with continuous glazing to maximize daylight working hours, passing tank trucks, swooping pelicans and the continually shifting light conditions make a stunning backdrop for the human activity inside.
Film times in the Auditorium until 28 March, 2010
Every Tuesday at 6pm; every Saturday and Sunday at 2 pm
Please note: the film will start at 2 pm instead of 6pm on the following dates:
Tuesday, 9 February 2010
Tuesday, 23 February 2010
Tuesday, 9 March 2010
Due to previous event bookings in the Auditorium, the film cannot be shown on the following Saturdays:
23 January 2010
27 March 2010
Are you planning a museum visit?
Visitor Information Entrance fees
Send as an e-mail 
print
To mark the occasion, the Sprengel Museum Hannover proudly presents the German premiere of the artist’s six film installation Merce Cunningham performs STILLNESS (in three movements) to John Cage's composition 4'33" with Trevor Carlson, New York City, 28 April 2007 (six perform-ances; six films), 2008, and the European premiere of her new film, Craneway Event, 2009.
For the installation Merce Cunningham performs STILLNESS … (six performances; six films) Tacita Dean asked the legendary choreographer and dancer Merce Cunningham (1919–2009) to conceive and develop a performance to John Cage’s composition 4’33’’of 1952.
It was through his composition in three movements that John Cage realized a new concept of silence. Cage defined silence as the absence of intended sounds as opposed to conscious, deliber-ate listening. When the composition was first performed in New York in 1952, the young pianist David Tudor played not a single note for the duration of four minutes and thirty-three seconds. The beginning and end of each movement was signalled by the closing and opening of the piano lid. The silence of John Cage’s composition, the actual duration of which he had left entirely open, was broken only by the involuntary noises made by the audience during the performance.
Merce Cunningham himself chose the title STILLNESS for his performance to John Cage’s 4’33’’. Each of the six performances is filmed in a different way and shows the American dancer seated in his Manhattan dance studio. In his performance, Merce Cunningham assumes a different position for each movement, remaining in this position for its entire duration. Trevor Carlson, Director of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, times the performance with a stopwatch and signals the be-ginning of each movement with a simple movement of the hand. Merce Cunningham responds to the signals almost motionlessly, changing his sitting position only very slightly. His image is projec-ted life-size onto the six screens standing on the floor, thus simulating, as closely as possible, his actual presence in the installation. Tacita Dean’s six-part installation was first shown at Dia:Bea-con in upstate New York in 2008.
Craneway Event has sadly become the last film ever to be made with and about Merce Cunning-ham. Filmed in November 2008 in a former Ford factory in Richmond, California, Dean shows Cunningham rehearsing with his dancers in preparation for an event. The plant was designed in 1930 by Albert Kahn with continuous glazing to maximize daylight working hours, passing tank trucks, swooping pelicans and the continually shifting light conditions make a stunning backdrop for the human activity inside. The film will be shown every day except Mondays in the auditorium of the Sprengel Museum Hannover (Tues 6.00 p.m., Wed.-Sun. 2.00 p.m.).
The Lower Saxony Savings Bank Foundation has been awarding the Kurt Schwitters Prize since 1996. It is awarded to artists of international standing whose work is not only of outstanding significance but also exercises a lasting influence on the art of the present day, and especially to those artists whose works in some way relate to the artist Kurt Schwitters, who was a native of Hanover (1887-1948), or who work in entirely new fields of art or have made an essential contribution to the interaction and integration of different artistic disciplines.
“Our purpose in awarding the Kurt Schwitters Prize,” writes Tomas Mang, Chairman of the Lower Saxony Savings Bank Foundation, “is to further the high quality of art in Lower Saxony and to do justice to the status of Lower Saxony – and especially its capital Hanover – as an important centre of contemporary art.”
The decision to award the 2009 Kurt Schwitters Prize to Tacita Dean was based on the recommen-dation of an international jury comprising Prof. Dr. Ulrich Krempel (Chairman), Director of the Sprengel Museum Hannover, Prof. Dr. Beatrice von Bismarck, Vice-Chancellor of the Academy of Visual Arts, Leipzig, Hendrick Driessen, Director of the De Pont museum voor hedendaagse kunst (Tilburg, Netherlands), Dr. Fabrice Hergott, Director of the Musée d'Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, Adrian Searle, Art Critic of The Guardian, London, and Prof. Thomas Wagner, Art Critic (Frankfurt am Main).
Previous award winners include: Raymond Hains (1996), Thomas Schütte (1998), Gary Hill (2000), James Coleman (2002), Joep van Lieshout (Atelier Van Lieshout) (2004) and Rodney Graham (2006).
Tacita Dean today lives and works in Berlin. Her impressively varied oeuvre comprises films, drawings, photographs, audio recordings and installations. The works of Tacita Dean have been shown in international solo and group exhibitions since 1992. The artist’s most recent solo exhi-bitions have taken place at Fondazione Nicola Trussardi, Milan; ACCA, Melbourne (2009), the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (Hugo Boss Prize Exhibition); Schaulager, Basle (2006) and Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin (2007).
Screening of the Film
Tacita Dean, Craneway Event, 2009
Craneway Event has sadly become the last film ever to be made with and about Merce Cunning-ham. Filmed in November 2008 in a former Ford factory in Richmond, California, Dean shows Cunningham rehearsing with his dancers in preparation for an event. The plant was designed in 1930 by Albert Kahn with continuous glazing to maximize daylight working hours, passing tank trucks, swooping pelicans and the continually shifting light conditions make a stunning backdrop for the human activity inside.
Film times in the Auditorium until 28 March, 2010
Every Tuesday at 6pm; every Saturday and Sunday at 2 pm
Please note: the film will start at 2 pm instead of 6pm on the following dates:
Tuesday, 9 February 2010
Tuesday, 23 February 2010
Tuesday, 9 March 2010
Due to previous event bookings in the Auditorium, the film cannot be shown on the following Saturdays:
23 January 2010
27 March 2010
Are you planning a museum visit?
Visitor Information Entrance fees
Send as an e-mail print
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