—a counterweight decoupled from its troubled empirical rival: the seething mess of American corporate interests swallowing the country’s GDP. This was not simply a metaphorical swallowing: the revolutionary government of Jacobo Árbenz recently had begun a programme for agrarian reform, upending the dominance of the United Fruit Company, the world’s largest banana producer. For some 15-months the MONIAC witnessed this geopolitical standoff before in 1954, a CIA-led coup toppled Árbenz. Soon after the machine disappeared, its fate today remains unknown. As a promissory note betokening a different future, the MONIAC turned into a kind of sunk cost fallacy of the past.

     IN EXHIBITION:

     2023 »Chosen Memories, Contemporary Latin American Art from the
     Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Gift and Beyond« Museum of Modern Art, New York

     2017 »Primordial Saber Tararear Proverbiales Sílabas Tonificantes Para Sublevar

     Tecnocracias Pero Seguir Tenazmente Produciendo Sociedades Tántricas –

     Pedro Salazar Torres (Partido Socialista Trabajador)« Regen Projects, Los Angeles

     2012 »Magic Love Trade Objects« Artgenève, Geneva

     2011 »The Global Contemporary, Kunstwelten nach 1989«

     ZKM, Museum für Neue Kunst, Karlsruhe

     2011 »Michael Stevenson« Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney

     2008 »History Acts« Göteborgs Konsthall, Göteborg

     2008 »Not Quite How I Remember It« The Power Plant, Toronto

     2007 »The Irresistible Force« Tate Modern, London 

     2007 »Answers to Some Questions about Bananas« Vilma Gold, London

     2006 »c/o The Central Bank of Guatemala« CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts,

     San Francisco

© 2024. Digital image, The Museum of Modern Art, New York/Scala, Florence

      —a counterweight decoupled from its troubled empirical rival: the seething mess of American corporate interests swallowing the country’s GDP. This was not simply a metaphorical swallowing: the revolutionary government of Jacobo Árbenz recently had begun a programme for agrarian reform, upending the dominance of the United Fruit Company, the world’s largest banana producer. For some 15-months the MONIAC witnessed this geopolitical standoff before in 1954, a CIA-led coup toppled Árbenz. Soon after the machine disappeared, its fate today remains unknown. As a promissory note betokening a different future, the MONIAC turned into a kind of sunk cost fallacy of the past.

     IN EXHIBITION:

     2023 »Chosen Memories, Contemporary Latin American Art from the
     Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Gift and Beyond« Museum of Modern Art, New York

     2017 »Primordial Saber Tararear Proverbiales Sílabas Tonificantes Para Sublevar

     Tecnocracias Pero Seguir Tenazmente Produciendo Sociedades Tántricas –

     Pedro Salazar Torres (Partido Socialista Trabajador)« Regen Projects, Los Angeles

     2012 »Magic Love Trade Objects« Artgenève, Geneva

     2011 »The Global Contemporary, Kunstwelten nach 1989«

     ZKM, Museum für Neue Kunst, Karlsruhe

     2011 »Michael Stevenson« Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney

     2008 »History Acts« Göteborgs Konsthall, Göteborg

     2008 »Not Quite How I Remember It« The Power Plant, Toronto

     2007 »The Irresistible Force« Tate Modern, London 

     2007 »Answers to Some Questions about Bananas« Vilma Gold, London

     2006 »c/o The Central Bank of Guatemala« CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts,

     San Francisco

© 2024. Digital image, The Museum of Modern Art, New York/Scala, Florence

     Think of it as Gaming the System in a transcendental sense: lots of rules, mercy as a liability, zero sum. To counter these spatial possessions, the rules of common property law are applied. Curiously, the demonic hierarchies comply. 

     The ramshackle assemblage that composes this instruction appears to be little more than an aircraft tyre, an electric piano stand, and an in-flight blanket. But those who have knowledge can see more. It may well pass as a wishing well, but wishes run in multiple directions. It is a well that foments its own rules, order, and worldview.

     IN EXHIBITION:

     2023 »Humans & Demons« steirischerherbst'23, Graz

     2021 »Disproof Does Not Equal Disbelief« KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin

     2019 »Serene Velocity in Practice: MC510/CS183« MUMA, Melbourne

     2018 »SUPERPOSITION: Equilibrium & Engagement« 21st Biennale of Sydney, Sydney

     2017 »Serene Velocity in Practice: MC510/CS183« Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland

     Think of it as Gaming the System in a transcendental sense: lots of rules, mercy as a liability, zero sum. To counter these spatial possessions, the rules of common property law are applied. Curiously, the demonic hierarchies comply. 

     The ramshackle assemblage that composes this instruction appears to be little more than an aircraft tyre, an electric piano stand, and an in-flight blanket. But those who have knowledge can see more. It may well pass as a wishing well, but wishes run in multiple directions. It is a well that foments its own rules, order, and worldview.

     IN EXHIBITION:

     2023 »Humans & Demons« steirischerherbst'23, Graz

     2021 »Disproof Does Not Equal Disbelief« KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin

     2019 »Serene Velocity in Practice: MC510/CS183« MUMA, Melbourne

     2018 »SUPERPOSITION: Equilibrium & Engagement« 21st Biennale of Sydney, Sydney

     2017 »Serene Velocity in Practice: MC510/CS183« Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland

     Volume II provides another path and the navigation for the broader Disproof Does Not Equal Disbelief exhibition; from the Volume’s contents page the full project can be reviewed and then traversed accordingly.

     CONTENTS:

     Michael Stevenson

     Profiles in Serine Velocity

     Book II: Kayfabe Logic

     (Disproof Does Not Equal Disbelief)

        »Preface«       
        »Serene Velocity in Practice: MC510/CS183, Michael Stevenson (photo documentation)«       
        »Disproof Does Not Equal Disbelief, Michael Stevenson«       
        »Kayfabe Logic, Anna Parlane (essay)«      
        »Appendix, Michael Stevenson (ephemera material)«       
        »Schund, Heike Geißler (fiction)«      

     DESCRIPTION:

     248mm x 319mm, 144 pages, 32-page colour section

     DESIGN: Will Holder

     Published jointly by KW Institute for Contemporary Art and Sternberg Press, Berlin, 2021

     ISBN: 978-3-95679-615-9

     Volume II provides another path and the navigation for the broader Disproof Does Not Equal Disbelief exhibition; from the Volume’s contents page the full project can be reviewed and then traversed accordingly.

     CONTENTS:

     Michael Stevenson

     Profiles in Serine Velocity

     Book II: Kayfabe Logic

     (Disproof Does Not Equal Disbelief)

        »Preface«       
        »Serene Velocity in Practice: MC510/CS183, Michael Stevenson (photo documentation)«       
        »Disproof Does Not Equal Disbelief, Michael Stevenson«       
        »Kayfabe Logic, Anna Parlane (essay)«      
        »Appendix, Michael Stevenson (ephemera material)«       
        »Schund, Heike Geißler (fiction)«      

     DESCRIPTION:

     248mm x 319mm, 144 pages, 32-page colour section

     DESIGN: Will Holder

     Published jointly by KW Institute for Contemporary Art and Sternberg Press, Berlin, 2021

     ISBN: 978-3-95679-615-9

     Outbound and inbound legs share the same time coordinates and flight paths. At some point mid-flight they pass through each other seamlessly. Predestined, uncanny, and foreboding, yet entirely without material consequence, each departure continues on to become the next successful arrival ...

     IN EXHIBITION:

     2016 »Signs & Wonders« Carl Freedman Gallery, London 

     2016 »Signs & Wonders« Midway Contemporary Art, Minneapolis 

     2015 »Signs & Wonders« Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen 

     Outbound and inbound legs share the same time coordinates and flight paths. At some point mid-flight they pass through each other seamlessly. Predestined, uncanny, and foreboding, yet entirely without material consequence, each departure continues on to become the next successful arrival ...

     IN EXHIBITION:

     2016 »Signs & Wonders« Carl Freedman Gallery, London 

     2016 »Signs & Wonders« Midway Contemporary Art, Minneapolis 

     2015 »Signs & Wonders« Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen 

     At Portikus the equivalent inaccessible space is the attic, which becomes projectionist’s booth-cum-cockpit, and locus of perceptual protraction. Here a single-engine aircraft, the Aleph-1, is assembled, and positioned. The plane is a replica of one once owned by the avaitor, mathematician, playwright, and professional bodyguard José de Jésus Martínez. His fascination for the mathematician Georg Cantor's Aleph series (ℵ)—a ground-breaking formula to define an infinite hierarchy of infinities—lead to a perculiar naming system for his flying machines: Aleph(0), Aleph(1)... Aleph(∞).

     In the attic shooting and projecting, take-off and landing, are simultaneous. A dynamic cinematic continuum is composed; a single yet multidirectional event occurs, and, in this way, processes and temporalities are stretched and diffracted. End and Beginning have no fixed location; filmic notions of time, including duration, pacing, and frame count, are recalibrated towards the infinite. Aleph-1 ... a tiny speck in an uncountable blue.

     IN EXHIBITION:

     2012 »A Life of Crudity, Vulgarity, and Blindness« Portikus, Frankfurt 

     At Portikus the equivalent inaccessible space is the attic, which becomes projectionist’s booth-cum-cockpit, and locus of perceptual protraction. Here a single-engine aircraft, the Aleph-1, is assembled, and positioned. The plane is a replica of one once owned by the avaitor, mathematician, playwright, and professional bodyguard José de Jésus Martínez. His fascination for the mathematician Georg Cantor's Aleph series (ℵ)—a ground-breaking formula to define an infinite hierarchy of infinities—lead to a perculiar naming system for his flying machines: Aleph(0), Aleph(1)... Aleph(∞).

     In the attic shooting and projecting, take-off and landing, are simultaneous. A dynamic cinematic continuum is composed; a single yet multidirectional event occurs, and, in this way, processes and temporalities are stretched and diffracted. End and Beginning have no fixed location; filmic notions of time, including duration, pacing, and frame count, are recalibrated towards the infinite. Aleph-1 ... a tiny speck in an uncountable blue.

     IN EXHIBITION:

     2012 »A Life of Crudity, Vulgarity, and Blindness« Portikus, Frankfurt 

     A lot has changed, since 1973 oil has peaked in price, increasing ten-fold and, with it a new client-class awash in petrodollars. The effects are everywhere: inflation and stagnation (both at the same time in the US) amidst fortunes and bribes and flattery and, palace invitations to New York’s art world. New wealth creates illusions, excess, and contemporary art collections – in the oddest of places. A purpose-built art palace is erected in Tehran and Tony Shafrazi enters the fray as it’s consultant. Western facing, European, it epitomises the Shah’s vision for a modern state.

     Beyond the looted gallery, above the city, the palace lights still burn. It will take a further 78 days until they finally burn out.

     IN EXHIBITION:

     2011 »Michael Stevenson« Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney

     2005 »Art of the Eighties and Seventies« Städtisches Museum Abteiberg,

     Mönchengladbach 

     2005 »The Smiles are not Smiles« Vilma Gold, London 

     A lot has changed, since 1973 oil has peaked in price, increasing ten-fold and, with it a new client-class awash in petrodollars. The effects are everywhere: inflation and stagnation (both at the same time in the US) amidst fortunes and bribes and flattery and, palace invitations to New York’s art world. New wealth creates illusions, excess, and contemporary art collections – in the oddest of places. A purpose-built art palace is erected in Tehran and Tony Shafrazi enters the fray as it’s consultant. Western facing, European, it epitomises the Shah’s vision for a modern state.

     Beyond the looted gallery, above the city, the palace lights still burn. It will take a further 78 days until they finally burn out.

     IN EXHIBITION:

     2011 »Michael Stevenson« Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney

     2005 »Art of the Eighties and Seventies« Städtisches Museum Abteiberg,

     Mönchengladbach 

     2005 »The Smiles are not Smiles« Vilma Gold, London 

     Presented as next-generation, augmented, re-engineered, and without appendages, it is a chair no longer constrained by the limitations of human physiology. Full morphological freedom for the executive subject. No seat nor arm rest, all attention is directed toward the expansive back, a security shield for ideation, reinforced protection for the head, and, therefore, the mind of a singular entity. There may be many seats, but there is one only throne, no more. Onward.

     IN EXHIBITION:

     2021 »Disproof Does Not Equal Disbelief« KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin

     2019 »Serene Velocity in Practice: MC510/CS183« MUMA, Melbourne

     2018 »SUPERPOSITION: Equilibrium & Engagement« 21st Biennale of Sydney, Sydney

     2017 »Serene Velocity in Practice: MC510/CS183« Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland

     Presented as next-generation, augmented, re-engineered, and without appendages, it is a chair no longer constrained by the limitations of human physiology. Full morphological freedom for the executive subject. No seat nor arm rest, all attention is directed toward the expansive back, a security shield for ideation, reinforced protection for the head, and, therefore, the mind of a singular entity. There may be many seats, but there is one only throne, no more. Onward.

     IN EXHIBITION:

     2021 »Disproof Does Not Equal Disbelief« KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin

     2019 »Serene Velocity in Practice: MC510/CS183« MUMA, Melbourne

     2018 »SUPERPOSITION: Equilibrium & Engagement« 21st Biennale of Sydney, Sydney

     2017 »Serene Velocity in Practice: MC510/CS183« Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland