Orensanz 2008, The Far Reaches of Space

March 22nd, 2008

Excerpt from Press Release
Spotted around the island this upcoming Armory Show weekend will be a silver shuttle embodying the imaginative voyage of renowned Spanish/American artist Angel Orensanz. Curated and conceptualized by Greggory Bradford and Jan Van Woensel, Orensanz 2008: The Far Reaches of Space, physically and symbolically expresses Orensanz’s ideas of space and travel. The nomadic shuttle temporarily stations at strategically selected art havens in the city.
(watch the video documentation)

April 5th, 2008

A post reading of an experimental, nomadic project for New York City

New York is and has always been a powerful magnet for artists, curators, dealers and ambitious entrepreneurs of all kinds. Only a couple of days ago, Manhattan turned into an exciting pool of art and commerce: a peak moment for all those who make art and trade art. Now, in the current aftermath of the internationally attractive Armory Show and its faithful satellite art fairs, the city eagerly reestablishes its daily routine. There’s a term for these rapidly overpowering waves of hype, excitement and glamour: impulses. A city that moves forward, and only forward, on new or revitalized impulses, is unmistakably an exciting city. However, due to its elaborate rhizome structure of countless impulses that come and go, resonate or not, influence or contrast each other, or not, we often can’t see the wood for the trees. It is our duty, as inspired thinkers and artistic doers, to challenge this.

The nomadic art project titled Orensanz 2008: The Far Reaches of Space didn’t aim to be incorporated by the art fair or museum institution. Instead, its successfully completed mission was to visit Manhattan’s various epicenters of contemporary art, visualized by a four-days long physical journey. Inspired by the spatial interventions of artist Angel Orensanz, the poetry of space became an important leading factor within this project. Orensanz 2008 proposed its own, specific poetic and roaming space, only momentarily anchored to the institutional spaces of New York’s vibrant art scene in order to expose and render the contrast between their and our impulses. Our equilibrium is art, and the drive to communicate and inform. Orensanz 2008, however, ambitioned a widely accessible approach, by navigating through the streets and avenues of the city and thereby being visible not only to the art expert, but also to the tourist, the street vender, the daily commuter or the local family. As a live performance piece, our vehicle transported and delivered the art of Angel Orensanz to the people. This created an open platform for art and dialogue, immediate response and experience, curiosity, change and revelation.

Alike the intriguingly eclectic art practice of Angel Orensanz, The Far Reaches of Space physically moved on the boundary between the every day life and the art scene, the random and the exclusive. Consequently, this non-institutional impulse has many effects that aren’t collectible or archival but can be revitalized through documentation, interpretation and post readings. Now, Orensanz 2008: The Far Reaches of Space, as well as the Armory Show and any other major event we’ve attended during the art fairs’ weekend, belongs to the sensitive space of our collective memory.


Text by Jan Van Woensel
New York, April 2008