IMAG presents Scottish artist Ro
ss Birrell’s 2017 documenta 14 projects, Criollo and The Athens-Kassel Ride: The Transit of Hermes, including new film and installation works conceived specifically for this exhibition.
The projects were inspired by Tschiffely’s Ride, a 10,000 mile journey from Buenos Aires to New York (1925-1928) by Swiss-Argentine Aimé Félix Tschiffely on two Argentine criollo horses, Mancha and Gato. The criollo horse is a mixture of Arab and Barbary breeds, the name stemming from ‘creole’ with associations of social and cultural mixing.
In Birrell’s film, Criollo (2017), we encounter a solitary horse at the threshold to Central Park at the end of 6th Avenue – Avenue of the Americas. Photographs document the animal’s journey via air and road transportation as it appears at three identical equestrian statues to the Argentine leader, José de San Martín, in Buenos Aires, Washington D.C., and New York.
Linking the two cities of documenta 14, The Athens-Kassel Ride was undertaken by experienced long riders and their equine companions. The ride traced a 3000km trail through Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Austria and Germany. Image: Ross Birrell, Criollo (2017) film still. Image credit: John Engstrom.
21 July – 15 September
Art Galleries
*** Please note that the artist’s talk with Ross Birrell planned for the Saturday 8th September has been cancelled.
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