New Sculptural Installation by Marko Remec Dots MASS MoCA Campus

Williams Grad and Former Financier Returns to First Love

marko remec totem(NORTH ADAMS, Mass.) – In conjunction with this summer’s Solid Sound Festival at MASS MoCA, New York-based conceptual sculptor Marko Remec has created five outdoor installations on the grounds of MASS MoCA for his show, Totally Totem, which will be on view June 15-October 31, 2013.

Referencing the social functions of indigenous totem poles of the Pacific Northwest, Remec attaches ready-made objects such as mops, brooms, and mirrors to utility poles, transforming them into contemporary totems. The works speak to facets of the urban and suburban condition – surveillance and paranoia, narcissism and indifference, and the complex relationship between the built and natural worlds.

At MASS MoCA, Remec expands this concept with a large site-specific sculptural intervention, Can’t Hear You (Fat Totem), which features over 500 convex mirrors wrapped around a massive (and no longer used) water tower. The mirrors’ traditional use for safety and security is abandoned as the tower becomes a dizzying, world-absorbing spectacle.

“Marco Remec’s vast installation will re-articulate MASS MoCA’s outdoor spaces,” notes MASS MoCA director Joe Thompson. “Some of the works forced the viewer to look radically inward, drawing attention to one’s self, others capture huge, outward-oriented optical fields, and all of them have great wit, humor, and formal presence.”

Remec studied studio art and chemistry as an undergraduate at Williams College, and then went on to earn his MBA through Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. The artist had a 25-year career on Wall Street before returning to his roots in the arts. He now lives and works as a conceptual artist in New York City with his wife and two children.

“I go to my sculpture studio every day keeping even longer hours than I did as a banker,” Remec says. “I want to connect with as many people as possible, which is what drew me to public art.”

MASS MoCA is one of the world’s liveliest (and largest) centers for making and enjoying the best new art of our time, across all media: music, art, dance, theater, film, and video. Hundreds of works of visual and performing art have been created on our factory campus during fabrication and rehearsal residencies, making MASS MoCA perhaps the most fertile site in the country for new art. MASS MoCA is an open platform, and we thrive on presenting our audiences with art and shared learning opportunities that are fresh, engaging, and transformative.

 

MASS MoCA’s galleries are open from 11am to 5pm every day except Tuesdays. In July and August, MASS MoCA’s galleries will be open from 10am to 6pm every day. Gallery hours are often extended on evenings featuring performing arts events.  Gallery admission is $15 for adults, $10 for students, $5 for children 6-16, and free for children 5 and under. Members are admitted free year-round. For additional information, call 413-662-2111 or visit MASS MoCA.

 

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