Showrunners at Bel Ami

Artists: Gina Folly, Peter Friel, Lina Viste Grønli, Marie Karlberg, Ann Greene Kelly, Eli Kerr, Sean MacAlister, Luzie Meyer, Adam Revington, Louise Sartor, Ben Schumacher, u

Exhibition title: Showrunners

Venue: Bel Ami, Los Angeles, US

Date: December 7, 2019 – January 11, 2020

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and Bel Ami, Los Angeles

Showrunners is organized by Sean MacAlister and Adam Revington, and features works by eleven artists and one curator, most of whom have been involved in running exhibition projects. One of the artists operates under a pseudonym, u, which was born out of a space called 67 Steps in Los Angeles. In 2019 u opened a gallery in Calgary called u’s.

For Showrunners, u will present six examples from an ongoing series of sculptural collaborations called ‘project spaces.’ The project spaces begin as small box-like forms made from clear packing tape that, when worked on by artists and curators, can act as thresholds into more expansive conversations on how identity is signaled through exhibition making. As the project spaces amass into an archive, they create a record of collaborations and conversations that unfold casually, on an intimate scale, alongside other works.

Gina Folly (b. 1983, Zurich, Switzerland) lives and works in Basel. Since 2013 Folly has been running the artist space called Taylor Macklin, Zurich, together with Selina Grüter and Michèle Graf. Selected solo exhibitions include KURA, Milan; Hard Hat, Geneva; Studioli, Rome; Ginerva Gabino, Cologne; Almanac, London; Tunnel Tunnel, Lausanne; SPREEZ, Munich; Ermes-Ermes, Rome; Space Is The Place, Basel; and S.A.L.T.S., Birsfelden. Selected group shows include Contemporary Art Centre, Riga; Swiss Institute, New York; Museion, Bolzano; Galerie Nagel Draxler, Cologne; Freedman Fitzpatrick, Paris; Sommer Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv; Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne; Galerie Bernhard, Zurich; Ginevra Gambino, Cologne; Freymond-Guth Fine Arts, Basel; Le Doc, Paris; and Art Bärtschi & Cie, Geneva.

Peter Friel (b. 1990, Chicago, Illinois) lives and works in Chicago. Friel has held recent solo exhibitions at forgo, Berlin and Bonny Poon, Paris. Recent group exhibitions include Ginerva Gambino, Cologne; Commercial Street, Los Angeles; Zwinglisalon, Berlin; Bonny Poon, Paris; and Galerie Bernhard, Zurich.

Lina Viste Grønli (b. 1976, Bergen, Norway) lives and works in Somerville. In addition to her public art work, Grønli has exhibited at several contemporary art spaces internationally during the last ten years, including Sculpture Center, New York; Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna; Wiels Contemporary Art Centre, Brussels; Henie Onstad Art Centre, Bærum; and List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge.

Marie Karlberg (b. 1985, Stockholm, Sweden) lives and works in New York. In 2013 Karlberg founded M/L Artspace with artist Lina Henke. Karlberg has recently performed at Elevation1049, Gstaad; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; and Künstlerhaus Halle für Kunst & Medien, oGraz. She has staged solo exhibitions at Bonny Poon, Paris; Plymouth Rock, Zurich; Tramps, London; Marbriers 4, Geneva and Reena Spaulings Fine Arts, New York. Karlberg has recently participated in group shows at Kunstmuseum Luzern; Etablissement d’en face, Brussels; The 9th Berlin Biennale; and Greene Naftali, New York. Karlberg performed in plays at the Schinkel Pavillion, Berlin; the Whitney Museum of Art, New York; and MoMa, New York. Her upcoming solo show at Tramps New York will open Dec 11th.

Ann Greene Kelly (b. 1988, New York, New York) lives and works in Los Angeles. She received her BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art, MD in 2010. Kelly has held solo and two-person exhibitions at Chapter NY, New York; Michael Benevento, Los Angeles; AND NOW, Dallas; Station Gallery, Marfa; and White Columns, New York. Recent group exhibitions include Galleria Zero, Milan; Baba Yaga, Hudson; Lubov, New York; Michael Benevento, Los Angeles; Stems Gallery, Brussels; Maisterravalbeuna, Madrid; Kerry Schuss Gallery, New York; AND NOW, Dallas; The Pit, Los Angeles; Derek Eller Gallery, New York; Jack Hanley Gallery, New York; White Flag Projects, St. Louis; and David Zwirner, New York.

Eli Kerr (b. 1988, Regina, Canada) is a curator and writer based in Montreal and Toronto. Since 2014 Kerr has been invested in notions of ‘the alternative’ for its practical affordances as a mode to explore exhibition practices and intimately engage in artists’ ideas. Between 2014-2019 Kerr organized over 20 exhibitions in Montreal through various alternative contexts. In 2016 with Daphné Boxer he co-founded VIE D’ANGE, an experimental exhibition space. His writing has decidedly existed as contributions to artists’ exhibitions and projects. Kerr completed curatorial residencies at International Studio and Curatorial Program (ISCP) New York in 2017, as well as Rupert in Vilnius Lithuania (2018). He was awarded the 2019 Hnatyshyn Foundation-Fogo Island Arts Young Curator Residency for Canadian curators under 30, and is currently completing his graduate studies in Curatorial Studies at the University of Toronto.

Sean MacAlister (b. 1987, Calgary, Canada) lives and works in Calgary. MacAlister ran the exhibition space 67 Steps in Los Angeles (2017-18) and is the showrunner at u’s in Calgary (2019 – current). Solo exhibitions include The Loon, Toronto; Art Metropole, Toronto. Group exhibitions include Carl Louie, Toronto; Balice Hertling, Paris; and Soon.tw, Montreal.

Luzie Meyer (b. 1990, Tübingen, Germany) lives and works in Berlin. Recent film screenings and solo exhibitions include Sweetwater, Berlin; Kunstverein Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany; Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne; Éclair, Berlin; and Nassauischer Kunstverein Wiesbaden, Wiesbaden. Her poetry, films, and readings have also been exhibited or performed at CACBM Paris; Artist Moving Image Festival, Tramway Glasgow; KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin; Portikus, Frankfurt; and the 2016 Montreal Biennial of Contemporary Art. Meyer studied at the Städelschule, Frankfurt and was a resident at Cité International des Arts, Paris in 2018.

Adam Revington (b. 1990, London, Canada) lives and works in Toronto. Revington co-directs the exhibition space, Carl Louie, To-ronto. Recent solo exhibitions include The Loon, Toronto; Main Street, Toronto; Support, London, Ontario. Group exhibitions include: u’s, Calgary; Vie D’ange, Montreal; Macfarlane, Los Angeles; Green River Project, New York.

Louise Sartor (b. 1988, Paris, France) lives and works in Rome. Between 2013 and 2015 Sartor co-directed the project space Shanay-nay, Paris. She also runs Cocotte, a nomadic curatorial project. Recent solo and two-person exhibitions include Crèvecoeur, Marseille; Bel Ami, Los Angeles; Galerie der Stadt Schwaz, Schwaz; Crèvecoeur, Paris; and Tonus, Paris. Recent group exhibitions include WallRiss, Fribourg; Freedman Fitzpatrick, Paris; Gwangju Biennale, Palais de Tokyo Pavillon, Gwangju; Le Plateau, FRAC Île de France, Paris; MAMCO, Geneva; Château de Versailles, Palais de Tokyo off-site; François Ghebaly Gallery, Los Angeles; Bel Ami, Los Angeles; Palais de Tokyo off-site, Château de Villeneuve-Lembron; Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dole; Fondation d’entreprise Ri-card, Paris; Treignac Projet, Treignac; and Crèvecoeur, Paris.

Ben Schumacher (b. 1985, Kitchener, Canada) lives and works in Berlin. He graduated from New York University in 2011, and has held museum and gallery exhibitions at Sculpture Center, New York; Musée d‘art contemporain de Lyon; Johan Berggren, Malmö; Croy Nielsen, Vienna; Kunstverein Braunschweig, Braunschweig; XYZcollective, Tokyo; and Bortolami, New York.

u is the letter “u” in the word “current” on the website of a now defunct Los Angeles based exhibition space called 67 Steps. In 2019, u opened an exhibition space in Calgary called u’s and in 2020 u will focus on a series of diary entries. Recent collaborative two-person and group exhibitions have been held at The Lily, Calgary; Carl Louie, London; and Utopian Visions Art Fair, Portland.

Showrunners, 2019-2020, exhibition view, Bel Ami, Los Angeles

Luzie Meyer, The Trout, 2018, HD Video, 2 minutes, 11 seconds

Showrunners, 2019-2020, exhibition view, Bel Ami, Los Angeles

Marie Karlberg and u, project space 17 (Untitled and u), 2019, Watercolor on paper, packing tape, 6 x 9 x 6 in (15.2 x 22.9 x 15.2 cm)

Louise Sartor, Rue Léon Champsaix, 2018, Gouache on cardboard, 9 1/2 x 6 1/2 in (24.1 x 16.5 cm)

Adam Revington and u, project space 19 (07.12.19), 2019, Inkjet on paper, packing tape, 6 x 9 x 6 in (15.2 x 22.9 x 15.2 cm)

Ben Schumacher, Franco Polish Black Jeans Pavement Club, 2019, Oil and UV print on canvas, 67 x 79 in (170.2 x 200.7 cm)

Luzie Meyer, Nothing contributes so much to tranquillize the mind as a steady purpose– a point on which the soul can focus its intellectual eye, 2019, C-print in artist’s frame, 12.8 x 14.8 x 1.8 in (32.5 x 37.5 x 4.5 cm)

Sean MacAlister, what have i become?, 2019, erased New Yorker cover, 10 1/2 x 15 1/2 (26.7 x 39.4 cm)

Peter Friel, Ze Cassette, 2019, Spraypaint on canvas, 16 x 20 in (40.6 x 50.8 cm)

Marie Karlberg, Kill Your Canonical Darlings, 2019, Inkjet, tempera on canvas, 34 x 48 in (86.4 x 121.9 cm)

Gina Folly, Porta VII, 2019, Ceramic, painted, 16 1/2 x 10 1/4 in (42 x 26 cm)

Gina Folly, Porta I, 2019, Ceramic, painted, 18 1/2 x 14 1/4 in (47 x 36 cm)

Eli Kerr and u, project space 18 (Maquette for Title II. Dena Yago, Jason Matthew Lee, Nina Canell, Aude Pariset, Catherine Telford-Keogh Goldin+Senneby, DIS, Simon Denny. Organized by VIE D’ANGE & Christopher Kulendran Thomas at Galerie Antoine Ertaskiran in Montréal. April 4th – May 5th 2018.), 2018, Cardboard, cigarette package, Metro pass, file divider, double sided tape, packing tape, 7 1/2 x 13 1/2 x 9 3/4 in (19.1 x 34.3 x 24.8 cm)

Lina Viste Grønli, Time Piece (Sock), 2019, Sock, clock movement, battery, Dimensions variable

Lina Viste Grønli, Time Piece, 2019, shoe, clock movement, battery, Dimensions variable

Lina Viste Grønli and u, project space 16, 2019, Book, fresh mozzarella, tape, 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 in (14 x 21.6 x 14 cm)

Peter Friel and u, project space 15 (akadamie Pietro), 2019, Tape, glue, pencil on paper, 5 x 10 x 7 in (12.7 x 25.4 x 17.8 cm)

Adam Revington, Am in transit, 2019, Metal table legs, Dimensions variable

Ann Greene Kelly and u, project space 20, 2019, Plaster, wire, paper, car tire, cans, fabric, steel, resin, cigarette butt, packing tape, 13 1/4 x 16 x 9 1/2 (33.7 x 40.6 x 24.1 cm)

Showrunners, 2019-2020, exhibition view, Bel Ami, Los Angeles