News Release
Cadences: Works from
the Museum Boijmans
Van Beuningen,
Rotterdam and film
by Catherine Yass
27 June – 7 September 2014
Admission free
Preview: 26 June / 6pm – 10pm
All welcome
MK Gallery’s summer exhibition, Cadences (27 June – 7 September 2014), brings together a selection
of 40 historical and modern works on loan from one of Holland’s most illustrious collections - the
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam - alongside a contemporary film, Flight by Catherine
Yass, a British artist who was shortlisted for the Turner Prize in 2002.
The paintings, prints and ceramics from the museum range from Old Master artists Neri di Bicci,
Adriaen Collaert, Hendrick Goltzius, Frans Huys, Willem van Mieris and Crispijn de Passe to Modern
artists Constant, M.C. Escher, Lucio Fontana, Bruce Nauman and Bridget Riley.
Many of the works share themes of flight, falling, destruction and gravity.The earliest work in the
exhibition, by the Italian Old Master Neri di Bicci, is The fall of the rebel angels with St Michael fighting
the dragon, (c.1480). Originally part of a larger alterpiece, it shows angels falling awkwardly from the
sky whilst the Archangel Michael vanquishes Satan in the guise of a dragon. The exhibition also
includes various representations of the Greek myth of Icarus, whose wax and feather wings melted
when he flew too close to the sun, such as Frans Huys’s Armed Three-master with Daedalus and
Icarus in the Sky c.1561-62 and Icarus ,1588 by Hendrick Goltzius (1558–1617). Related contemporary
works include, Fall 1, Los Angeles (1970) showing the Dutch conceptual artist Bas Jan Ader falling off
the roof of a house or Tulips (1965), a film from Wim van der Linden’s acclaimed series Sad Movies
where a petal falls off a tulip as the soundtrack reaches a climax. Other works in the exhibition revolve
around flight such as Day and Night, 1938, by Dutch graphic artist, M.C. Escher (1898–1972), an
optical illusion showing a flock of birds flying in opposite directions: black birds semi-silhouetted by day
to the left and white birds by night to the right. Other examples include Bird, 1949, and Wounded
Pigeon, 1951 both expressive, naive paintings by Constant A. Nieuwenhuys (1920-2005) and Wassily
Kandinsky’s 1930 painting, Launisch of an ambiguous aquatic or air-bound vessel.
Catherine Yass (b.1963) is a leading contemporary photographer and filmmaker, known for her
films and light boxes of architectural space and its psychological impact. Her film Flight (2002),
created as part of the ‘Artists on Site’ BBC Public Art Programme, was captured in just one take.
Attaching a camera to a model remote-control helicopter, it swoops over roof tops, providing a
dizzying and disorienting bird’s-eye view of London.
Cadences will be accompanied by a diverse public events programme, including a solo-voice
theatre performance by Melanie Pappenheim featuring three songs about hitting the ground. This
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musical and visual ensemble is co-commissioned by Milton Keynes’ biennial international festival –
MKIF 2014 – and MK Gallery.
Notes to Editors
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam
Established in 1849 the museum’s Dutch and European masterpieces provide a comprehensive
survey of art from the early Middle Ages to the 21st century, from Bosch, Rembrandt and Van
Gogh to Dalí and Dutch Design, alongside exhibits tracing the changing history of everyday objects
over the last 800 years. www.boijmans.nl
Catherine Yass
Catherine Yass (b.1963) trained at the Slade School of Art, London; the Hochschüle der Künst,
Berlin; and Goldsmiths College, London. Shortlisted for the Turner Prize in 2002, key solo
exhibitions include a mid-career retrospective at De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea (2011); The
China Series, Stedelijk-Hertogenbosch Museum, The Netherlands (2009); Descent, St Louis Art
Museum, St Louis, MO (2009). Selected group shows include the 13th Montreal Photo Biennale
(2013),Desire Lines, Australian Centre of Contemporary Art, Melbourne (2012); Skyscraper: Art
and Architecture Against Gravity, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (2012); and High Wire,
Tate Britain, London (2012). She has had major commissions from The Jewish Community Centre,
London (2013); Rambert Dance Company, London (2013); and Merce Cunningham, Brooklyn
Academy of Music, New York (2003). Her work is held in collections worldwide including Tate,
London; Arts Council of England, The British Council and the Government Art Collection, London;
The Jewish Museum, New York; Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh; and the
National Museum of Women in the Arts Collection, Washington DC. The artist lives and works in
London.
Event - Melanie Pappenheim: Falling
Saturday 26 July, 3pm & 7pm + Sunday 27 July, 3pm & 5pm
Free but places limited so pre-booking essential via www.ifmiltonkeynes.org
In this solo voice-theatre performance delivered within the Cadences exhibition, acclaimed
performer Melanie Pappenheim will respond to the exhibition themes of falling, destruction and
gravity with three uplifting songs about hitting the ground. Staging by Emma Bernard and costume
by Deborah Thomas. Featured composers – Paul Clark: Coloro, Orlando Gough: Falling and
Errollyn Wallen: Daedelus. Falling devised by performer Melanie Pappenheim and director Emma
Bernard, is an MK Gallery and MK IF: 2014 co-commission,.
Exhibition Supporters
With thanks to Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Alison Jacques Gallery, London,
and Gallerie LeLong, New York
MK Gallery
MK Gallery, 900 Midsummer Boulevard, Central Milton Keynes, MK9 3QA.
Admission is free. Details at www.mkgallery.org
MK Gallery Supporters
MK Gallery is supported using public funding by Arts Council England and by Milton Keynes Council.
Press Information
Image overleaf: Icarus , 1588 by Hendrick Goltzius (1558–1617)
For further information or images please contact: Katharine Sorensen, Communications Director,
MK Gallery.T: +44 (0)1908 558318 / E: ksorensen@mkgallery.org
Ends / Updated 6 June 2014
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