mike kelley at hangar bicocca eternity is a long time

mike kelley: eternity is a long time
24 may – 8 september 2013
curated by emi fontana and andrea lissoni
installation view of ‘john glenn memorial detroit river reclamation project’ at hangarbicocca, milan
photo by agostino osio
courtesy fondazione hangarbicocca, milan
all mike kelley works © estate of mike kelley. all rights reserved.

mike kelley: eternity is a long time
hangar bicocca, milan
may 24th – september 8th, 2013

the work of mike kelley (1954-2012) takes over the entire 15,000 square meter (42, 000 square foot) hangar bicocca venue in milan,
offering visitors a spectacular, but intimate, look of the late american artist’s work with particular focus on the installations, sculptures and videos
he produced from 2000-2006, a period of creative maturity in his career.

conceived as a way of coming to grips with kelley’s complex and highly diverse body of work, the exhibition creates the opportunity for one to
examine the web of cultural aspects and autobiographical memories which are very eminent in his art, as well as expressing the eclecticism of the genres
he delved into with his creative practice as well as communicating his relationship with education, associations with modernist architecture,
views on the tradition of painting and american literature, as well as his approach to the vernacular, popular culture, youthful initiatory rites
and styles of musical subcultures.

mike kelley: eternity is a long time
24 may – 8 september 2013
curated by emi fontana and andrea lissoni
installation view at hangarbicocca, milan
photo by agostino osio
courtesy fondazione hangarbicocca, milan
all mike kelley works © estate of mike kelley. all rights reserved.

one of the main features of ‘eternity is a long time’ is ‘john glenn memorial detroit river reclamation project (including the local culture pictorial guide, 1968-1972,
wayne/westland eagle) which depicts a monument of john glenn–the high school kelley attended was named after the american astronaut.
pieces of coloured ceramic and glass cover the larger-than-life sculpture, collected by the artist from the detroit river. the work explores
artistic techniques in relation to typically vernacular processes, monuments of tradition and anti-monumentality, personal and collective memory,
in which the media-based world of imagination and pop culture come together.

mike kelley: eternity is a long time
24 may – 8 september 2013
curated by emi fontana and andrea lissoni
installation view of ‘runway for interactive DJ event’ (on loan from collezione la gaia) at hangarbicocca, milan
photo by agostino osio
courtesy fondazione hangarbicocca, milan
all mike kelley works © estate of mike kelley. all rights reserved.

upon arrival, visitors are introduced to ‘runway for interactive DJ event’. at the end of a wooden platform doll-sized pieces of clothing
are carefully laid out, the scenography for the performance by kelley in which he acted as an MC, the work responding to the
art world’s embrace of DJ and rave culture which happened at the end of the 1990s, early noughties.

throughout his work, kelley explores continuously returns to forms and figures which are associated to an adolescent world of imagination,
and examines how popular culture produces myths and rituals which he carries out through his various performances. he does so by
using commonplace objects, subverting their meaning and emphasizing the power of communication.
‘eternity is a long time’ is made possible by the support of pirelli.

mike kelley: eternity is a long time
24 may – 8 september 2013
curated by emi fontana and andrea lissoni
installation view at hangarbicocca, milan
photo by agostino osio
courtesy fondazione hangarbicocca, milan
all mike kelley works © estate of mike kelley. all rights reserved.

mike kelley: eternity is a long time
24 may – 8 september 2013
curated by emi fontana and andrea lissoni
installation view of ‘extracurricular activity projective reconstruction #1’ (a domestic scene), 2000 on loan from  françois pinault foundation at hangarbicocca, milan
photo by agostino osio
courtesy fondazione hangarbicocca, milan
all mike kelley works © estate of mike kelley. all rights reserved.

in ‘extracurricular activity projective reconstruction #1’ (a domestic scene), one of the two protaganists whispers ‘eternity is a long time’ to his partner,
before both of them take their own lives, the phrase giving name to the exhibition itself. together with ‘runway for interactive DJ event’,
these opening works of the show both represent fundamental turning points in the artist’s work, each having been created at the start of his most prolific period.

mike kelley: eternity is a long time
24 may – 8 september 2013
curated by emi fontana and andrea lissoni
installation view at hangarbicocca, milan
photo by agostino osio
courtesy fondazione hangarbicocca, milan
all mike kelley works © estate of mike kelley. all rights reserved.

mike kelley: eternity is a long time
24 may – 8 september 2013
curated by emi fontana and andrea lissoni
installation view at hangarbicocca, milan
photo by agostino osio
courtesy fondazione hangarbicocca, milan
all mike kelley works © estate of mike kelley. all rights reserved.

mike kelley: eternity is a long time
24 may – 8 september 2013
curated by emi fontana and andrea lissoni
installation view at hangarbicocca, milan
photo by agostino osio
courtesy fondazione hangarbicocca, milan
all mike kelley works © estate of mike kelley. all rights reserved.

mike kelley: eternity is a long time
24 may – 8 september 2013
curated by emi fontana and andrea lissoni
installation view at hangarbicocca, milan
photo by agostino osio
courtesy fondazione hangarbicocca, milan
all mike kelley works © estate of mike kelley. all rights reserved.