Exhibition “Lee Ranaldo. The road, like the river, is ever changing and ever the same”

15/11/2022 h 08/01/2023 F Add to the calendar 2022-11-15 2023-01-08 Europe/London Exhibition “Lee Ranaldo. The road, like the river, is ever changing and ever the same” Lee Ranaldo (b. 1956) is an all-round artist who moves freely between genres. Although he is best known as a co-founder and member of the alternative rock band Sonic Youth and considered one of the best guitarists in the world, he is also active as a sound, performance and visual artist. Ranaldo publishes travel, poetry and artist books and his art has been shown in numerous galleries and museums, including Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Sydney Museum of Contemporary Art and Hayward Gallery in London. Lee Ranaldo and the concurrently exhibiting artist Johan Tahon have known and appreciated each other for many years, and now have the opportunity to exhibit their art together for the first time at IKOB. At IKOB, Ranaldo will show the latest works from his ongoing “Lost Highways” series, drawings he creates while traveling. They are quick sketches made in the front seat of his tour bus while driving through various landscapes, speaking both to his life as a rock musician constantly on the road and to his artistic sensitivity. Since the late 2000s, Ranaldo has increasingly focused on sound art performances, such as the well-known installation "Suspended Guitar": a guitar suspended from the ceiling that he wields with a violin bow or his bare hand. For the opening of his exhibition at IKOB on November 13th, 2022, the artist will present the performance HURRICANE TRANSCRIPTIONS, performed solo for the first time in Europe. On a concert keyboard, Ranaldo composes his interpretation of Hurricane Sandy, which hit the Northeast coast of the United States in October 2012 and took the lives of 233 people. © Lee Ranaldo, to ocean grove, 2022 Practical information IKOB – Museum of Contemporary Art, Rotenberg 12b 4700 Eupen IKOB – Museum of Contemporary Art

Lee Ranaldo (b. 1956) is an all-round artist who moves freely between genres. Although he is best known as a co-founder and member of the alternative rock band Sonic Youth and considered one of the best guitarists in the world, he is also active as a sound, performance and visual artist. Ranaldo publishes travel, poetry and artist books and his art has been shown in numerous galleries and museums, including Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Sydney Museum of Contemporary Art and Hayward Gallery in London. Lee Ranaldo and the concurrently exhibiting artist Johan Tahon have known and appreciated each other for many years, and now have the opportunity to exhibit their art together for the first time at IKOB.

At IKOB, Ranaldo will show the latest works from his ongoing “Lost Highways” series, drawings he creates while traveling. They are quick sketches made in the front seat of his tour bus while driving through various landscapes, speaking both to his life as a rock musician constantly on the road and to his artistic sensitivity.

Since the late 2000s, Ranaldo has increasingly focused on sound art performances, such as the well-known installation “Suspended Guitar”: a guitar suspended from the ceiling that he wields with a violin bow or his bare hand. For the opening of his exhibition at IKOB on November 13th, 2022, the artist will present the performance HURRICANE TRANSCRIPTIONS, performed solo for the first time in Europe. On a concert keyboard, Ranaldo composes his interpretation of Hurricane Sandy, which hit the Northeast coast of the United States in October 2012 and took the lives of 233 people.

Practical information

IKOB – Museum of Contemporary Art

Our museum is located in the city of Eupen in the German-speaking community of Belgium, close to the German and Dutch border. Its programme focuses on emerging and leading contemporary art through the constitution of a significant collection – in progress – and temporary exhibitions – in dialogue. Thus, functioning as a discursive platform for contemporary art with its multidisciplinary and thematic exhibition programme and highlighting critical and socio-political issues, the IKOB attempts to reflect upon the matter of the frontier.

HISTORY AND FURTHER SELF-PRESENTATION OF THE MUSEUM

The IKOB – Museum of Contemporary Art began as an idea of the artist, art teacher and subsequent museum director Francis Feidler. The institution was conceived as a center for border-transcending exhibitions out of which a later museum collection could be successively built up – augmented by purchases and loans, as well as by donations especially from exhibiting artists. The first milestones for the Eastern Belgian art center were the sculpture exhibition Kontakt 93 at the park facilities in Eupen as well as the project Volle Scheunen (with 12 installations respectively in the Ardennes and the Eifel), which was realized in collaboration with the former head of the Documenta Manfred Schneckenburger.
The IKOB established itself quite early on as an internationally oriented exhibition platform as well as a promoter of the regional art scene. Already back then, the special characteristic of how the museum would like to be perceived and how it operates lay in its active approach toward artists in the region. They were often featured in pioneering exhibitions shortly before they achieved an international breakthrough. These presentations gave rise to the collection of the institution, which meanwhile comprises more than 400 works. In 1999, the IKOB acquired a fixed domicile in a commercially used building near the old Schlachthof. In 2005, the collection received official recognition, and the International Art Center of Eastern Belgium was renamed the IKOB – Museum of Contemporary Art.
The museum considers its proximity to international borders as a point of departure for serving as a cultural mediator between the various regions of Belgium and engaging in a fertile exchange with the artistic scenes in Germany and the Netherlands. Inasmuch as it invites visitors to investigate political, social and cultural developments in an informal atmosphere, it strives to make an active contribution to society – also in the framework of its exhibitions. In three to four large shows per year, the museum displays contemporary art in the best sense of the term, with the main exhibitions being accompanied by individual presentations of works from the permanent collection.
The IKOB, however, does not intend simply to organize and document contemporary art but instead, through the choice of themes and artists for its exhibitions, to discover and convey new artistic tendencies. Through a constant shifting of focus onto current themes that are handled by diverse artistic media, the museum moves in close contact with both the established and the up-and-coming art scenes. In 2018, the IKOB has celebrated the 25th anniversary of its founding; over the years, it has become a well-known name in the Euregio Maas-Rhine region.

OGuided tour by the director

On the last Sunday of each successive exhibition, our director Frank-Thorsten Moll conducts a guided tour that offers a final assessment of the closing show and a preview of the coming program.

OGuided tours for groups

Whether for young or old, birthday party or company excursion – we offer guided tours for all current exhibitions and collection presentations.

3 B

Practical information

IKOB – Museum of Contemporary Art

Rotenberg 12b
4700 Eupen

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Exhibition “Lee Ranaldo. The road, like the river, is ever changing and ever the same”

IKOB – Museum of Contemporary Art