ugo rondinone: primitive at art basel

‘primitive’ by ugo rondinone at art basel 2012 image via

galerie eva presenhuber presented swiss-born, new york based artist ugo rondinone’s ‘primitive’ during art basel 2012 within art unlimited. the installation consists of a group of 59 different bronze cast bird figures and an illuminated clock mounted onto a wall made from stained glass with no hands, referring to our consciousness of time. the bird sculptures are installed sporadically across the whole of the exhibition space, positioned so they all face different directions. the bronze surfaces are covered with fingerprints, forming stylized reliefs by the artist’s hand. 

detail of fingerprint reliefs image © designboom

the birds represent an attempt to document the working process and preserve the unpreservable: duration. image © designboom

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room full of birds image © designboom