ANOTHER VACANT SPACE PRESENTS: A STICH IN TIME – DAVID MEDALLA – BERLIN

another vacant space presents A Stich in Time
Artists in this exhibition: David Medalla 

25 Apr 2013 to 11 May 2013
Friday-Sunday 2pm/14h to 8pm/20h or by appointment
Opening: 25 April 2013

another vacant space
Biesentalerstrasse 16 – 13359 Berlin – Germany
T: +49 (0)1521135293 -M: +49 (0)1521135293
W: www.anothervacantspace.blogspot.com

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‘A Stich in Time’
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Filipino artist David Medalla created his cosmic propulsion entitled ‘A Stich in Time’ in London, in 1968, during the ‘Summer of Love’. He gave two of his ex-lovers a handkerchief each, a packet of needles and several spools of cotton thread when he met them at Heathrow airport. He told them they could stich anything they like – poems, names, messages, drawings, etc. – on the handkerchiefs. Many years later, at another airport, Schiphol in Amsterdam, David met a handsome young backpacker who carried on his back a totem-like pole of pieces of multi-coloured clothes stitched together, into which were attached various objects like old chinese coins, keys, empty cigarette packets, and dried flower leaves, barks and roots of tropical trees. When David asked the backpacker where he got the cloth totem-pole the latter replied someone gave it to him in Bali. The backpacker handed the cloth totem-pole to David to examine. When David lifted the cloth totem-pole he saw to his amazement that the bottom piece of cloth was one of the original handkerchiefs he gave to one of his lovers. David handed back the cloth totem-pole to the backpacker without telling him the fact that the handkerchief which David gave one of his lovers was the start of the cosmic propulsion and participatory artwork entitled ‘A Stich in Time’.
D.M Berlin April 2013

During the late 1960’s and early 1970’s Medalla made a series of ‘participation works’ where the audience was encouraged to be involved in the production of playful and experiential pieces which challenged the notions of creative heirarchy. ‘A Stitch in Time’ is about travel, time and chance, but it’s also about production. Medalla described the piece as “participation-production-propulsion”. It involves the audience sewing small objects of significance onto a large cloth in a public space, which requires a creative concentration and an engagement with the artwork. The pieces now exist as large, beautifully textured cloths but they are also a testament to all those who contributed to them, as well as the collaborative process through which they were created.

Since 1968, David Medalla created different versions of his participatory artwork entitled ‘A Stich in Time’, they were installed in many places, including:
1. Art Meeting Place, Covent Garde, London
2. Architectural Association, Bedford Square, London
3. Royal College of Art, London
4. University of Utrecht, the Netherlands, during the ‘Toeval’ exhibition 1971
5. DOCUMENTA 5, Kassel, Germany, curated by Harald Szeemann 1972
6. Gallery House, London, during the exhibition ‘A Survey of the Avant-Garde in Britain’, curated by Sigi Krauss and Rosetta Brooks
7. University of Edinburgh School of Art, events curated by Lynn MacRitchie
8. Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, England, curated by Jonathan Watkins
9. The Clocktower Gallery, Manhattan, New York, exhibition ‘The Big Apple’, curated by Ken Chu
10. Mexic-arte Museum, ‘Voices and Visions’, curated by Sylvia Orozco, featuring art works by Regina Vater and David Medalla, Austin, Texas, USA
11. Studio Museum, Harlem, New York City
12. DAAD Galerie above the old Café Einstein on Kurfürstenstraße, solo show by David Medalla, curated by Frederick Messchede
13. Live/Life exhibition, curated by Hans-Ulrich Obrist, at the Musee d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
14. Centro Cultural de Belem, ‘A Stich in Time’ installation organized by Adam Nankervis, Lisbon, Portugal
15. MOCA, Los Angeles, California, ‘Out of Actions’ curated by Paul Schimmel. The same show travelled to MAK (Vienna), MACBA (Barcelona), an the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo Japan
16. Johannesburg Biennale 2, directed by Okwui Enwezor, show in the Johannesburg Art Gallery curated by Gerardo Mosquera
17. Arsenal, Kiev, Ukraine, ‘A Spires Ember’, curated by Adam Nankervis
18. Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
19. Gallery BARO, São Paolo, Brasil 2010
20. Liverpool Biennial 2013
21. another vacant space., Berlin 2013, curated by Adam Nankervis

www.anothervacantspace.blogspot.com