joel tauber - adamski gallery

JOEL TAUBER
“Pumping”, 2010
“Pumping” is an allegorical video installation. Filmed with a hand-cranked camera, Tauber
meditates about the development of Los Angeles and the important influence of the Southern
Pacific Railroad Company. Changes to the Californian landscape and the unrestrained extraction of its natural water and oil resources are an important aspect of his tale. This boom ignored
the finite nature of its resources and placed the power of its infrastructure into the hands of a
few powerful companies. The resulting problems remain unresolved 139 years later at the present time in the city.
As in his previous projects, Tauber is both the narrator and actor. In this three channel video
projection the viewer follows Tauber pumping water into a jug with an old water pump, driving
with a handcar through the desert, and using an old hand-cranked camera. One of the projections adds the image of an oil pump. Tauber’s acoustic interpretation of the automatic work of
the pumps syncs rhythms in the movements of all three projections.
In past projects Tauber embodied the archetype of the explorer, thinker and adventurer, battling
against all odds with his experiments and amorous exploits. This sometimes led to chance
encounters with realities in which people smiled at him - a comic West Coast Conceptualist.
In this latest project he continues an approach that was initiated in “Sick-Amour” (2007),
where he already struck a more serious note. However the work is full of beautiful details and
references, with costumes and gestures evoking the early and popular films of Buster Keaton.
The hand car is a detailed magnification of a 35mm film frame including the perforations
required for its transport in a camera and projector. In a very literal sense, the film becomes the
medium as well as the vehicle of its own tale. At this level of detail the city’s past and present
melt together. The film industry has been and still is the important force driving its development, but the real consequences of economic, ecological and political intrigues and dramas are
ignored for the benefit of a dream machine based on fiction.
“PUMPING”, 2010, DREIKANAL BLUE-RAY VIDEO INSTALLATION, WASSERBEHÄLTER. MASSGEFERTIGTE DRAISINE, SCHIENEN, METALL
THREE CHANNEL BLUE-RAY VIDEO INSTALLATION, CUSTOM STEEL HANDCAR, WATER JUG, RAILROAD TRACKS, FILM STRIPS/PILE OF METAL
INSTALLATION VIEW; BERLIN 2012
“PUMPING”, 2010, DREIKANAL BLUE-RAY VIDEO INSTALLATION, WASSERBEHÄLTER. MASSGEFERTIGTE DRAISINE, SCHIENEN, METALL
THREE CHANNEL BLUE-RAY VIDEO INSTALLATION, CUSTOM STEEL HANDCAR, WATER JUG, RAILROAD TRACKS, FILM STRIPS/PILE OF METAL
INSTALLATION VIEW; BERLIN 2012
“PUMPING”, 2010, DREIKANAL BLUE-RAY VIDEO INSTALLATION, WASSERBEHÄLTER. MASSGEFERTIGTE DRAISINE, SCHIENEN, METALL
THREE CHANNEL BLUE-RAY VIDEO INSTALLATION, CUSTOM STEEL HANDCAR, WATER JUG, RAILROAD TRACKS, FILM STRIPS/PILE OF METAL
INSTALLATION VIEW, LOS ANGELES 2011
“Pumping”, 2010
“Pumping” ist eine parabelartige, dreiteilige Videoinstalltion. Mit einer historischen Handkamera auf altem 16mm Material gefilmt, erzählt Tauber von der Entwicklung der Stadt Los Angeles und der Bedeutung der Southern Pacific Railroad Company, ohne deren Eisenbahnnetz
diese Entwicklung in dieser Geschwindigkeit nicht hätte stattfinden können. Dass diese Leistungen nur durch rücksichtslose Eingriffe in die ursprüngliche Landschaft Kaliforniens und die
hemmungslose Ausbeutung ihrer natürlichen Ressourcen Öl und Wasser möglich waren, ist
ein wichtiger Aspekt dieser Erzählung. Dass dieser Boom die Endlichkeit dieser Ressourcen
weitestgehend negierte und die Infrastruktur der heutigen Metropole wenigen übermächtigen
Konzernen zuspielte, erzeugte Probleme, die teilweise erst in der Jetztzeit, 160 Jahre später, zu
einem veränderten ökologischen und moralischen Bewusstsein führen.
Wie in seinen bisherigen Projekten steht Joel Tauber als Darsteller und Erzähler im Mittelpunkt
der Arbeit. In den drei Projektionen sieht man ihn jeweils beim Befüllen einer Wasserflasche
mit einer alten Pumpe, beim Befahren einer verlassenen Gleisstrecke auf einer Draisine und
beim Bedienen der Kamera. Eine der Projektionen zeigt zusätzlich eine Ölförderpumpe. Taubers akkustische Interpretation synchronisiert den Bewegungshythmus aller drei Projektionen.
In seinen vergangenen Projekten verkörperte Tauber mit seinen aberkomischen - und doch alle
explizit komischen Sprachformen meidenden - Experimenten und Eskapaden den Typus des
unerschütterlich gegen alle Widerstände ankämpfenden Forschers, Denkers und Abenteurers,
der sich hin und wieder aus der Literatur heraus auch ins wahre Leben verirrt, wo er nicht
selten belächelt und verlacht wird.
Hier wie schon in seinem letzten großen Projekt “Sick Amour” wird der Ton ernster, trotzdem
stecken in der Arbeit liebevolle Details und Querverweise. So verweisen nicht nur Taubers
Kleidung und seine regungslose Mimik auf die frühen populären Filmproduktionen eines
Buster Keaton, sondern auch die Draisine.
Die Plattform der Draisine ist eine detailgetreue Vergrößerung eines einzelnen
Frames aus einem Zelluloidfilm mit den entsprechenden Perforationen für den Filmtransport in
der Kamera und im Projektor. Der Film ist also nicht nur Medium, sondern wird buchstäblich
auch zum Vehikel seiner Erzählung. Hier verschmelzen die Vergangenheit und Gegenwart der
Stadt, in der die Filmindustrie ein entscheidender Motor für die Entwicklung war und ist, aber
die realen Konsequenzen des wirtschaftlichen, ökologischen und politischen Handelns zugunsten einer Industrie ignoriert werden, deren grösstes Kapital die Fiktion ist.
SICK-AMOUR, 2006, 12 CHANNEL VIDEO INSTALLATION / INSTALLATION VIEW BERLIN 2008
Sick-Amour, 2007
“I have fallen in love with a tree” - dieses Bekenntnis des amerikanischen Konzeptkünstlers Joel
Tauber mag auf den ersten Blick nicht sofort die Ernsthaftigkeit erkennen lassen, mit der Tauber
diese Gefühlsregung erfüllt. Angerührt von einem Baum, der einsam und verlassen auf dem riesigen
Parkplatzgelände des Rose Bowls, dem Baseballstadion von Pasadena, Californien, steht, ist Tauber
aus seiner flüchtigen Verliebtheit eine dauerhafte Verbindung eingegangen und dokumentiert diesen
Prozess in seinem neusten Videoprojekt.
Wie sonst, als durch aufrichtige und glühende Leidenschaft, könnte man es sich erklären, dass Joel
Tauber seit zwei Jahren das Schicksal des Baumes zu seinem eigenen gemacht hat. Regelmäßig
wässert er den Baum, kämpft für dessen Rechte, schützt ihn vor unaufmerksamen Autofahren mit
illegal errichteten Barrieren und sorgt mit der Aufzucht kleiner “tree babies” für den Fortbestand des
Baumes.
Wie einst der persische König Xerxes I, der, nach Herodot, auf einem seiner Feldzüge eine Platane
bewachen ließ und sie mit goldenen Ornamenten schmückt, dekoriert
auch Tauber seinen Baum mit eigens für ihn gestalteten Schmuck und stellt ihn in den Mittelpunkt
einer von ihm entworfenen, museal anmutenden Parkanlage.
Ganz in der Tradition seines bisherigen Schaffens setzt Joel Tauber die Selbstversuche seiner Filmund Videoprojekte nun in Verbindung mit einem anderen Wesen fort. Ob er sich selbst in die Erde
eingräbt, ohne Hilfsmittel das Fliegen lernen will oder sich selbst in Musik verwandelt - stets ist er
durch die Ausweitung der eigenen körperlichen und geistigen Grenzen auf der Suche nach Spiritualität und wahrer Erkenntnis. Seine idealistischen Ideen und grenzenlose Begeisterung bei der
Umsetzung prägen auch seine aktuelle Arbeit. Joel Taubers ambitionierter Kampf für den Erhalt eines
einzelnen Baumes, der inmitten einer Asphaltwüste ‘a priori’ an der Entfaltung seiner natürlichen
Bestimmung gehindert ist, steht auch als Symbol für die Verantwortung der Menschen gegenüber
ihrer Umwelt. Dass diese manchmal eben erst als solche erkannt werden will, öffnet einer grundlegenderen philosophischen Betrachtung des ambivalenten Verhältnis von Natur und Mensch und einer
kritischen Betrachtung gesellschaftlicher Zusammenhänge die Tür.
MY LONELY TREE, 2006, C-PRINT, 142 X 182 CM
TREE BABIES, 2007, SYCAMORE SEEDLINGS
THE UNDERWATER PROJECT: TURNING MYSELF INTO MUSIC, 2005 / 3 CHANNEL VIDEO INSTALLATiON, 30 MIN, SOUND
INSTALLATION VIEW BERLIN 2008
THE UNDERWATER PROJECT: TURNING MYSELF INTO MUSIC, 2005, DETAIL
“Searching for the Impossible: The Flying Project”, 2004
Flying-soaring above the clouds with a bird’s eye view of the earth below-has been a dream for
humans for centuries. With the invention of hot-air ballooning, the airplane, the helicopter, and
hang gliding, it is possible for humans to fly, but the longing for alternative methods of flight
persists. Artist Joel Tauber mingles the physical desire of flight with metaphysical yearnings.
In his film, Searching for the Impossible: The Flying Project (2002-3), Tauber uses the lives of
various individuals (or fools as Tauber would call them) to trace the history of flying. The story
begins with Eilmer the Flying Monk, who believed that flight was dependent not on physical
properties but on the marriage between science, strong conviction, and spiritual fulfillment.
Despite his belief, Eilmer’s short flight, using wings modeled after those of Icarus, ended in
a crash that left him paralyzed. In 1912, nine years after the Wright brothers built their first
airplane, Austrian Franz Reichelt designed and sewed a bat costume for himself in the hopes
that he could fly from the top of the Eiffel Tower. His flight lasted five seconds and ended in a
fatal crash.
Tauber has taken up the legacy of both Eilmer and Reichelt and repeatedly attempted to fly
without a mechanical device, relying only on mental preparation and his own physical exertion.
Unlike his predecessors, Tauber used a crash mat or a pond to break his fall. None of his attempts was successful.
The foolish aspect of Tauber’s work relates to Chris Burden’s early performance pieces in
which the young Burden completed often dangerous and outlandish acts, such as having a
friend shoot him in the arm or throwing a paper airplane packed with two marijuana joints
to Mexico. Both Burden’s and Tauber’s actions expose the limitations of normal activity,
but Tauber’s project expands beyond the physical to expose a concept central to the human
condition-the quixotic quest for the impossible. It is the obvious ridiculousness of his repeated
attempts to fly that touches us.
In addition to the tales of Eilmer and Reichelt, Tauber was inspired by a drawing by Pierre
Blanchard from the eighteenth century. The drawing details a mechanical flight machine mystically powered by music and guided by angels. From this, Tauber knew that his next attempt had
to include music. Therefore, when he decided to explore cluster-balloon flying, he also chose
the bagpipe to be his mystical balloon. Early one morning in the desert, Tauber and several
friends inflated thirty-five latex weather balloons with helium. Clothed in a harness he had
designed himself, Tauber attached himself to the cluster of helium balloons and floated while
making music with bagpipes. His breath metaphorically raised the balloons, and he achieved
corporeal and spiritual elevation.
Jane Simon
SEARCHING FOR THE IMPOSSIBLE: THE FLYING PROJECT, 2004, VIDEO, 32 MIN, SOUND
SEVEN ATTEMPTS TO MAKE A RITUAL, 2002, VIDEO, 12 MIN, SOUND
INTO THE SHOCK OF HIS LIFE
Joel Tauber tries to jolt himself into seeing his place on Earth. In his art he flies, dives, dares.
By Hugh Hart
Special to The LA Times, December 25, 2004
Picture Woody Allen in a wetsuit swimming with sharks and you begin to grasp the contradictions
embodied by Los Angeles’ resident highbrow argonaut, Joel Tauber. The 32-year-old Conceptual artist
can’t brew a decent cup of coffee, and he uses the wrong remote control to bring down the volume on
his TV because he’s been, for some time now, preoccupied with weightier concerns.
“I have these pantheistic leanings,” he explains, standing in the kitchen of his cave-walled mountaintop apartment in Eagle Rock. “If there is a divine, I think it probably lies in everything around us,
so I’ve been trying to figure out ways to have these profound experiences for myself, and I’ve also
struggled to figure out ways to chronicle it.”
The quest for transcendence began four years ago when Tauber began studying film and video at
Pasadena’s Art Center College of Design. First came the “Holes Project.” Tauber dug himself into the
ground in a variety of positions, at one point burying himself naked, neck deep in the dirt. He failed
to find God but did contract a case of poison oak rash. Later he distilled his endeavors into a video
installation, “Seven Attempts to Make a Ritual.”
Next, inspired by Don Quixote and the noble failures of medieval monk Eilmer, Tauber tried to fly
using only his arms. He plummeted 150 times from a desert cliff onto a mattress. “I was trying to
mentally prepare myself to think that I actually could do this, like a 2-year-old, without any pre-assumptions,” Tauber says. “I wouldn’t jump until I was convinced I could fly. Each time, when I hit the
crash mat, it was a shock. I ended up pretty bruised.”
It’s all documented in his video, “Searching for the Impossible: The Flying Project” (2002-03), which
can be seen at Orange County Museum of Art’s 2004 “California Biennial” through Jan. 9.
Tauber eventually attached himself to a platoon of helium balloons that allowed him to sail across the
desert while blowing into a set of bagpipes.
For his latest piece, “The Underwater Project: Turning Myself Into Music” (2004), on view at Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, Tauber learned to scuba dive. Accompanied by a video-camera-toting companion, Tauber made 40 dives off the Southern California coastline and later translated
the depth data into dance music. Drones and bleeps provide a soundtrack to a portrait of the artist as a
frequently flummoxed diver, costarring an assortment of fish, crustaceans and seaweed.
“The problem with going underwater is having to breathe through these tubes, like a cyborg, carrying
this tank of air,” Tauber says. “In the earlier pieces, the earth or the sky weren’t trying to eat you alive,
whereas here, sometimes you’d get red tide ... that makes you sick. So if this tube breaks or that shark
gets angry, you’re screwed. It was a really hostile environment yet also really beautiful.”
‘Beauty and craziness’
Elizabeth Armstrong, who co-curated the Orange County exhibition, says Tauber’s work is emblematic of a change she has observed among younger California-based artists: “I’ve noted a return to
sincerity. It is such a relief to leave irony behind. The flight project seems very amusing and droll at
first, but as you watch the story unfold, you can’t help but get swept up in both the beauty and craziness of his venture. That spirit, to me, seems indicative of this particular generation of artist, which is
very positive, even sort of utopian, and very much in the moment.”
“Look at the artists Joel shares the gallery with,” Armstrong adds. “Mindy Shapero has created these
really zany dream images that seem very uninhibited. And video artist Marco Brambilla is very ambitious. In order to really enter this world of violent-action video games, he went to work for one of the
manufacturers. I think that’s something we didn’t see in earlier generations so much, this willingness
to not just be an artist working in this very prescribed world. For many of these artists, their art and
their life [are] indistinguishable. Joel’s work doesn’t get mired down in technology.... He communicates the experience so that anybody can understand it.”
That some of his efforts are rife with danger is precisely the point, Tauber says.
“I have a fascination with this mix of dread and ecstasy,” Tauber says. Citing 18th century philosopher Immanuel Kant’s “notion of the sublime,” Tauber adds: “Kant describes how the terror of
the majesty of a mountain can lead to the sublime. Shelley, Byron and Coleridge, and the German
Romantics, also write about this relationship between dread and the sublime. These ideas have influenced me, but I’ve tried to determine for myself what exactly would work for me on a metaphysical
level. I guess I’m probably the victim of the American ideal that values originality and individuality
because I like to do things my own way.”
JOEL TAUBER /
Born: 1972, Boston, MA, USA, lives and works in Winston-Salem, NC
EDUCATION
2002
MFA, Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA
1997
MA, Lesley University, Cambridge, MA
1995
BA, Art History & Sculpture, Yale University, New Haven, CT
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2012
“Pumping”, Adamski Gallery, Berlin, Germany. In progress. March 3- April 28.
2011
“Pumping”, The Charlotte and Philip Hanes Art Gallery at Wake Forest University’s Scales Fine Arts
Center, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
2010
“Pumping”, Susanne Vielmetter LA Projects, Los Angeles, CA. December 18, 2010 – January 29, 2011
2008
“Joel Tauber: Digging, Diving, Flying, & Loving”, Adamski Gallery Berlin, Germany
“Sick-Amour”, Ruth B. Shannon Center for the Performing Arts, Whittier College, Whittier, CA
2007
“Sick-Amour”, Susanne Vielmettter LA Projects, Los Angeles, CA
“Sick-Amour”, Adamski Gallery, Aachen, Germany
2006
“Searching For The Impossible: Digging, Flying, and Diving”, Gallery Saintonge, Rocky Mountain
School of Photography, Missoula, Montana
2005
“The Underwater Project: Turning Myself Into Music”, Adamski Gallery, Aachen, Germany
“The Underwater Project: Turning Myself Into Music”, Helen Lindhurst Fine Arts
Gallery, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
“Seven Attempts to Make a Ritual”, Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, Los Angeles, CA
2004
“The Underwater Project: Turning Myself Into Music”, Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, Los
Angeles, CA
“Searching For The Impossible: The Flying Project”, Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, Los
Angeles, CA
2003
“Searching For The Impossible”, Adamski Gallery, Aachen, Germany
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2012
“My LA”, Haubrok Foundation, Berlin, Germany. Curated by Axel Haubrok.
“Nurturing Nature”, Albright College, Reading, PA. Curated by Amy Lipton and Patricia Miranda
“Prime Time”, Asheville Art Museum, Asheville, North Carolina.
“Strictly Academic, Part 2: Works By Faculty At Wake Forest University”, Milton Rhodes Center For
The Arts, Winston-Salem, NC. Curated by David Brown.
10 Years L.A. @ Kaus Australis”, Pacific Design Center, West Hollywood, CA. Curated by Carl Berg.
2011
“In the Presence of Trees”, Ucross Foundation Art Gallery, Clearmont, WY. Curated by Sharon Dynak.
Catalog.
“Nurturing Nature: Artists Engage the Environment”, OSilas Gallery, Concordia College, Bronxville,
NY. Curated by Amy Lipton and Patricia Miranda.
“Plains of Id”, California State University Long Beach University Art Museum, Long Beach, CA.
2010
“Cluster Balloons: From Lawn Chairs to Cosmic Rays”, Anderson-Abruzzo Albuquerque International
Balloon Museum, Albuquerque NM. Curated by Marilee Schmit Nason.
“Ucross: Twenty-Seven Years of Visual Arts Residencies”, Nicolaysen Art Museum, Casper, WY. Curated by Lisa Hatchadoorian. Catalog.
“No Matter. Failure and Art”, Kunstverein Hildesheim, Germany. Curated by Florina Limberg and Jens
Papenkort. Catalog.
2009
“ecoLOGIC”, Cypress College Art Gallery, Cypress, CA. Curated by Patrica Watts.
“LA 2019: Cults, Collectives, & Cocooning”, 18th Street Projects, Santa Monica, CA. Curated by Ciara
Ennis.
2008
“The California Biennial”, Orange County Museum of Art and other institutions in California. Curated
by Lauri Firstenberg. Catalog.
“Flight Dreams”, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Nova Scotia, Canada.
“The Whole World Is Still Watching”, Glendale Community College Art Gallery, Glendale, CA. Curated
by Irene Tsatsos.
“Systems Theory”, Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA. Curated by Kristina Newhouse.
“Gravity Art”, Telic Arts Exchange”, LA, CA. Curated by Rene Daalder.
“Tree Service”, Jeanne Patterson’s Domestic Setting, LA, CA. Curated by Michael Gold and Jeanne
Patterson.
2007
“The New Authentics: Contemporary Artists of the Post-Jewish Generation”, Spertus Museum, Chicago
and The Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA. Curated by Staci Boris. Catalog.
”Love is Like Oxygen”, W139, Amsterdam, Netherlands. Curated by Theo Tegelaers. Small catalog.
“Sick-Amour” in a group show at the Guggenheim Gallery, Chapman University, Orange, California.
Curated by Maggi Owens.
2006
“Eco-Lux: Art in Light of Ecology 1953-2006”, Lightbox, Los Angeles, CA. Curated by Kim Light and
Emma Gray.
2005
“The Gravity in Art”, De Appel Centre For Contemporary Art, Amsterdam, Netherlands. Curated by
Rene Daalder and Theo Tegelaers.
“Still, Things Fall from the Sky”, UCR/ California Museum of Photography, Riverside, CA. Curated by
Ciara Ennis. Catalog.
2004
“The California Biennial”, Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CA. Curated by Liz Armstrong and Irene Hoffman. Catalog.
“Art Video Lounge”, Art Basel Miami Beach, Miami, Florida. Curated by Sandra Antelo-Suarez and
Guillermo Santamarina.
2003
“Light and Spaced Out: 11 Artists From Los Angeles”, Herve Loevenbruck Gallery, Paris, France and the
Centre d’Art Passerelle, Brest, France, Curated by Carlos Cardenas.
“Works on Paper by Gallery Artists”, Adamski Gallery, Aachen, Germany.
“Enter Intercessor”, RAID Projects, Los Angeles, California. Curated by Carrie Patterson.
2002
“Stuff From L.A. and Other Places”, Christine Konig Gallery, Vienna, Austria. Curated by Skip Arnold.
“To Believe Much More Than That”, Wight Gallery, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA.
1999
“Convergence: A National Juried Contemporary Art Exhibition”, Memorial Hall Center for the Arts,
Wilmington, VT. Juried by Rachel Rosenfield Lafo.
1998
“National Juried Exhibition”, Bristol Art Museum, Bristol, RI. Juried by John Udvardy.
“New Art ’98: National Juried Exhibition”, Kingston Gallery, Boston, MA. Juried by Helaine Posner.
“Art in the Yard: Outdoor Sculpture Show ‘98”, Hole in the Wall Studio Works, Raymond, ME
1996
“Cybermama”, The Artscape Gallery, Boston, MA
1995
Outdoor Sculpture Installation, Yale Summer School of Music and Art, Norfolk, CT
FILM FESTIVALS AND OTHER SELECTED FILM SCREENINGS
2012
“Pumping”, Atlanta Film Festival, March 28 (in progress)
2011
“Sick-Amour”, Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, October 21
“Pumping”, Louisville’s International Festival of Film, October 7
“Sick-Amour”, Sedona International Film Festival, February 24 & 26.
“Sick-Amour”, San Francisco Frozen Film Festival, July 8.
“Sick-Amour”, SURGE Film Festival (Portland, Oregon) May 19.
“Searching For The Impossible: The Flying Project”, Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at
Austin, Austin, Texas. Curated by Aimee Chang. August 18.
A 4 minute preview of “Seven Attempts to Make A Ritual” screened in the video program, “Band of
Outsiders” at ARTspace Media Lounge, College Art Association Conference, NY, NY (Feb 10-12) and at
The Center For Book Arts, NY, NY (Feb 1-April 2).
2010
“Sick-Amour”, Hartford International Film Festival. November 7.
“Sick-Amour”, San Francisco Documentary Festival, October 17 & 20.
“Sick-Amour”, Blue Planet Film Fest. Los Angeles, October 8, 9, & 10.
“Sick-Amour”, Downtown Film Festival - Los Angeles, September 11.
2007
“Searching For The Impossible: The Flying Project” screened in the film event, “Finding A Home In The
World While Moving Across It”, Fresno Metropolitan Museum, Fresno, CA. An outdoor film screening
event curated by Susanneh Bieber. Six page brochure.
“Searching For The Impossible: The Flying Project” screened in the Mannheim Film Festival,
Mannheim, Germany
Short films from the video installation “Sick-Amour”, Echo Park Film Center, Los Angeles.
2006
“Searching For The Impossible: The Flying Project” screened in “Happy Believers”, 7th Werkleitz Biennial, Volkspark, Halle, Germany. Curated by Anke Hoffmann, Solvej Ovesen, Angelika Richter and Jan
Schuijren. Catalog.
“Searching For The Impossible: The Flying Project” screened in “Good Bye Festival”, CPH Kunsthal,
Copenhagen, Denmark. Catalog.
“Searching For The Impossible: The Flying Project” screened in “Artini Shorts 2006: roughly a 42 minute feast of moving pictures”, Missoula Art Museum, May 18. Curated by Toni Matlock.
PUBLIC ART PROJECTS
2007-11
“Sick-Amour”, a series of shrines in public sites throughout California celebrating the offspring from a
lonely and neglected sycamore tree stuck in the middle of Rose Bowl Parking Lot K. In progress. Tree
babies are being placed in prominent locations with a series of plaques and – at schools – with sculptural
necklaces.
Sites include the USC Roski School of Art, LA, CA; LAXART, LA, CA; the Theodore Payne Foundation, Sun Valley, CA; a sycamore grove in the restored Arroyo Seco Valley near the parent tree, Pasadena,
CA; multiple elementary schools in southern California; Neuer Aachener Kunstverein, Aachen, Germany; W139, Amsterdam, Netherlands; and the Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA.
PUBLIC ART EVENTS
2011
Tree baby planting ceremony at the Cal State University of Long Beach Art Museum, Long Beach, CA.
Kids painted rocks to adorn the UCLA tree baby during the Hammer Museum’s “Kids’ Art Museum Project”, LA, CA.
2010
Tree baby planting ceremony at Crescent Bay Park, Santa Monica, CA in conjunction with Blue Planet
Film Fest
2009
Tree Baby planting ceremony at Pitzer College, Claremont, CA
Tree Baby planting ceremony at Washington Park, Pasadena, CA
Sick-Amour plaque dedication for the Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA
2008
”Sick-Amour: the USC Tree Baby Project”, USC Roski School of Fine Arts, LA, CA. Tree baby planting ceremony and commemoration of the permanent tree baby sculptural necklace installation in front of
the USC Roski School of Fine Arts.
“Sick-Amour: the Torrance Museum Tree Baby”, Torrance Museum of Art, Torrance, CA. Tree baby
planting and ceremony in front of the Torrance Museum.
“Sick-Amour: the Audubon Middle School Tree Baby Project”, LA, CA. Tree baby planting and ceremony commemorating the sculptural necklace installation in front of the school.
“Sick-Amour: the Walden School Tree Baby Project”, Pasadena, CA. Tree baby planting and ceremony
commemorating the sculptural necklace installation at Walden.
“Sick-Amour: the Walteria School Tree Baby Project”, Torrance, CA. Tree baby planting and ceremony
commemorating the sculptural necklace installation at the Walteria School.
2007”
Sick-Amour”, Smart House, Venice, CA. LAXART, Smart Car, Million Trees LA, and Good Magazine
threw a party in celebration of Sick-Amour and as a fundraiser for the public art component of SickAmour. Video Installation.
2006
“Sick-Amour”, Michael and Sirje Gold Residence, Los Angeles, CA, under the auspices of
LAXART. Fundraising event for Sick-Amour’s public art project. Video screenings.
BIBLIOGRAPHY /
Film, Television, Radio /
2009
“Brilliant Green”, Ovation Network. Joel Tauber and Sick-Amour were featured for a seven-minute
segment in the television documentary “Briliant Green.” The show first aired nation-wide on the Ovation
Network in January.
2007
The biggest German culture radio broadcast company, Deutsche Welle / Deutschlandfunk, presented a
six-minute story about “Sick-Amour” on March 18 in conjunction with its presentation at Art Cologne.
Mayer, Daniela, “Akustisches Tagebuch / Highlights Art Cologne”, Art Radio Podcast, Germany. A fourminute radio story about Sick-Amour and its presentation at Art Cologne.
The TV station ZDF in Dusseldorf, Germany featured two photos from “The Flying Project” while talking about the Dusseldorf art fair, April.
2006
Ross Becker, “The Local Story: Man Adopts Tree at Rose Bowl in Pasadena”, NBC News, local edition.
“Sick-Amour” discussed for 5 minutes and broadcast in Los Angeles on October 11 on digital television
channel 4.4 as well as www.nbc4.tv The story is archived at: http://www.nbc4.tv/video/10062081/index.
html?taf=la
Bill Drummond, “Cities of the Plain”, Soundprint for National Public Radio. “Sick-Amour” discussed
for 5 minutes and broadcast on more than 180 stations nationwide, beginning on June 2.
2005
Louise Storm, “FORMAT. Los Angeles 2005: Valdes, Ruben Ochoa, Lori Shindler, Joel Tauber, Kaz
Oshiro, Adria Julia”, Swedish Television, October 18. Clips from “The Flying Project” and “The Underwater Project” as well as an interview in the cave broadcast on Swedish television and aired in Sweden,
Norway, Denmark, and Iceland.
2002
Live Coverage of Tauber’s helium balloon and bagpipe powered flight by Z107.7 radio in Joshua Tree,
California, June 22
1994/95
The sculpture “Shelter”, with ensuing conversations about loneliness, is a
primary subject of the film “Generation X” by Boaz Halaban, broadcast on New Haven public television.
1999
Work discussed on the “Gary Jones Show”, Brookline Cable Access Television
BIBLIOGRAPHY
2012
Patterson, Tom, “’Part 2’ Show Features Wake Forest Instructors”, Winston-Salem Journal, February 12.
2011
Klanten, R. and Schulze, F., Erratic: Visual Impact in Current Design, Gestalten. “Searching For The
Impossible: The Flying Project” is featured in this book.
Knight, Christopher, “Art review: Joel Tauber at Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects”, Los Angeles Times, January 20.
Doktorczyk-Donohue, Marlena, “Joel Tauber: ‘Pumping’ at Susanne Vielmetter”, art ltd magazine,
March.
Plocek, Keith, “Joel Tauber at Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects”, Art Lies: A contemporary art
quarterly, Spring.
Patterson, Tom, “Variety of style highlights show by three artists”, Winston-Salem Journal
Nguyen, Catherine, “Artist brings beauty of trees back to the Urban Landscape”, Daily 49er: Student
Publication of California State University Long Beach, April 7.
Jennifer Gardiner, May Ketpongsuda, Joan Mace, and Marielos Zeka, The Plains of Id: Mapping Urban
Intervention in Los Angeles. Exhibition catalog / essay.
Annie Philbin, Kids’ Art Museum Project. Catalog / Zine for the event at the Hammer Museum.
Lisa Hatchadoorian and Sharon Dynak, Ucross Foundation: Twenty-Seven Years of Visual Arts Residencies. Catalog / Book in conjunction with the exhibition at the Nicolaysen Art Museum.
Sharon Dynak, In The Presence of Trees. Catalog in conjunction with the exhibition at the Ucross Foundation Art Gallery.
2010
Garchik, Leah, “Look For The Kids With The Big Eyes”, San Francisco Chronicle, October 25.
Williams, Janette and Charles, Brian, “Citybeats: A Rose Bowl love story stars in film”, Pasadena StarNews, September 5.
Tauber, Joel, “What was your favorite movie of 2009”, Los Angles Times, March 4. 58 celebrities (Giorgio Armani, Michael Kors, Mike Scioscia, Antonio Villaraigosa, Joel Tauber…) discuss their favorite
movies of 2009
2009
Krickl, Tony, “Spreading a set of values, one tree at a time”, Claremont Courier,
Ennis, Ciara, “Joel Tauber, Sick-Amour (California, 2006 – ongoing)”, Kunstwerken voor de publieke ruimete / Artworks for Public Space (Karin Christof, editor).
Immediato, Linda, “Gallery of Earthly Delights: A collection of eco-obsessed artists makes L.A. their
biosphere of influence”, Angeleno Magazine, January
Cover image of Zeek: A Jewish Journal of Thought and Culture, Summer
2008
Tauber, Joel, “A Life Redeemed”, NY Arts Magazine, November / December
“Joel Tauber in Conversation With Susan Bell Yank”, 2008 California Biennial Catalog, pg 198-199.
Kelley Jr., Bill, “Observations on ‘Sick-Amour’”, Log: Observations on architecture and the contemporary city, Spring / Summer, pg 80.
Geagea, Nadia, “’Sick-Amour:’ One Californian’s Love Affair with Trees”, International Society of
Arboriculture: Arborist•News magazine, February
Biemiller, Lawrence, “At USC, a Sycamore With a Story to Tell”, The Chronicle of Higher Education
“Tree Planting Ceremony Held”, La Canada / La Crescenta Valley Sun, September 18.
“ Walden School’s ‘Tree Baby’ Project”, Pasadena Outlook, September 25.
“Tree Project Branches off Across SoCal”, USC Chronicle, February 4
Villamagna, Holly, “Sculptures honor urban plant life: Sculptures surrounding a newly planted tre aim to
inspire respect for nature”, USC Daily Trojan, January 25.
Tauber, Joel, “Growing”, USC Gayle Garner Roski School of Fine Arts BFA / BA Catalogue, essay about
the USC tree baby installation and teaching.
Weisberg, Ruth, “Message From the Dean”, USC Gayle Garner Roski School of Fine Arts BFA / BA
Catalogue, introductory essay that talks about the fine arts program and Tauber’s USC tree baby installation.
Sheppard, Dale, “Flight Dreams”, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia Journal, Fall/Winter 2008/2009. Cover
image of the journal.
“Trees of Green: Special Tree Planting on Campus”, Walden School publication Connections, Fall. Pg
16-18.
Farber, Jim, “One exhibit is cyborg friendly; the other is a real snore”, Daily Breeze, February 1
2007
Gray, Emma, “Future Greats: Twenty-five artists to look out for in 2007… Joel Tauber”, ArtReview
Magazine, March. One page story with photo as part of a 25 page story about 25 artists.
Myers, Holly, “Joel Tauber’s Rose Bowl sycamore project rooted in obsession. Joel Tauber’s latest combines conceptual rigor, humor, social critique and ecological preservation.” Los Angeles Times, March
30.
Mizota, Sharon, “Crawling into the woodwork: Pasadena artist goes out on a limb. A tree in the Rose
Bowl parking lot has become the project and passion of artist Joel Tauber”, Los Angeles Times, March
10.
Martin, Victoria, “Joel Tauber at Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects”, Artweek, June.
Zellen, Jody, “Joel Tauber: Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, CA”, artUS, Summer 2007.
Calder, Diane, “Joel Tauber: March 17- April 14 at Susanne Vielmetter, Los Angeles Projects, Culver
City”, ARTSCENE Magazine, March.
Blodgett, Erica, “A Sycamour Affair… The love story of Joel Tauber and his lonely sycamore”, The
Design Magazine, February
Brooks, Amra, “Must See Art: Paul McCarthy lecture at the UCLA Hammer Museum and ‘Sick-Amour’
by Joel Tauber at Susanne Vielmetter”, LAWeekly, April 14.
Villamagna, Holly, “Planting ‘amour’ seeds in L.A. After saving a sycamore at the Rose Bowl, a professor looks to spread saplings.” USC Daily Trojan, October 2. Front page.
Giller Nelson, Sarah, “Joel Tauber”, The New Authentics: Artists of the Post-Jewish Generation catalogue.
Boris, Staci, introductory essay for The New Authentics: Artists of the Post-Jewish Generation catalogue.
Nauta, Hans, “Liefde in de stad”, Trouw, August 31
Braat, Manon, “De beste geengageerde kunst is persoonlijk”
Gunn, Dan, “Authentically Yours”, NewCity Chicago, December 4.
2006
Williams, Janette, “His Tree of Life: Artist Tends to Lone Sycamore in Rose Bowl Parking Lot”, Pasadena Star News, October 4. Front page, lead story.
Harvey, Doug, “Street Signism: The new, weird counterculture”, LAWeekly, November 15.
Tsui, Loire, “Protector of a Lone Sycamore: Teacher is creating an art exhibit about the future of a tree
in Rose Bowl parking lot”, USC Daily Trojan, November 3. Front page.
2005
Frank, Peter, “’Still, Things Fall from the Sky’ at the UCR/CMP”, Artweek, January
De Vries, Marina, “Indrukwekkende ‘poging tot vliegen’”, De Volkskrant, December 21
Tumlir, Jan, “On the 2004 California Biennial”, Art Forum, February
Newhouse, Kristina, “Experiencing the California Biennial”, X-TRA: Contemporary Art Quarterly,
Spring
Sachs, Mark, “My favorite weekend: Joel Tauber. This caveman digs nature and the Sox.” Los Angeles
Times, August 25
Villasenor, Michael, “Water world of music: USC professor Joel Tauber showcases his explorations with a new exhibition”, USC Daily Trojan August 24
Krieger, Diane, “On Stage: Taking a Dive For Art’s Sake at Lindhurst Gallery”, USC
Chronicle, August 29
2004
Hart, Hugh, “Into It for the Shock of His Life. Joel Tauber tries to jolt himself into
seeing his place on Earth. In his art he flies, dives, dares.” Los Angeles Times, December 25
Knight, Christopher, “Staking a claim for an idiom of Los Angeles”, Los Angeles Times, November 26
Knight, Christopher, “Biennial arrives, and so does a museum”, Los Angeles Times, October 13
Pincus, Robert. “Tuning in to the O.C.: ‘Biennial’ belly laughs”, San Diego Union Tribune, November 7
Chang, Richard, “The art of the new”, Orange County Register, October 10
Simon, Jane, “Joel Tauber”, 2004 California Biennial catalogue, pg 112 – 115
Kraus, Chris, “Cast Away”, Video Green: Los Angeles Art and the Triumph of Nothingness, pg 149-150.
Los Angeles: Semiotext(e)
Walsh, Daniella, “Orange Blossoms”, Riviera, September Issue
2003
Cote Ouest, “Des Anges De 30 Ans”, Nova Magazine June.
“Light and Spaced Out”, Vogue: Paris May.
“From L.A.” (“Light and Spaced Out” preview), Mouvement May – June.
“Redonner a Saint Germain son aura d’antan” (“Light and Spaced Out” preview), L’OEIL May.
2001
Chris Kraus, “Cast Away”, Art/Text May – July.
2000
Molly Ball, “From York Street to Broome, Yale Artists Grow Up”, The Yale Herald, January 21.
1999
Alicia Faxon, “Joel Tauber: Spiritual Anxiety, 31 Rats and 15 Doves”, Art New England June / July.
Cate McQuaid, “The Stuff of Dreams”, The Boston Globe, February 18.
1998/99
Cover image of arts MEDIA Magazine Winter Issue.
1998
Alicia Faxon, “Bristol Art Museum / Bristol: 1998 National Juried Exhibition”, Art New England October / November.
Dawn Nieter, “National Art Show Opens at Memorial Hall”, The Deerfield Valley News, December 2431.
1995
Alexis Soloski, “The Undergraduate Art Show: Our Lives on Display”, The Yale Herald, October 6.
Cheryl Lana, “Sculpture Show Harmonizes Forces”, The Yale Herald, March 31.
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS /
Neuer Aachener Kunstverein, Aachen, Germany
USC Roski School of Fine Arts, Los Angeles
Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA
Theodore Payne Foundation, Sun Valley, CA
Walteria Elementary, Torrance, CA
Shoes or No Shoes Museum, Kruishoutem, Belgium
Cal State Long Beach Art Museum, Long Beach, CA
Pitzer College, Claremont, CA
Walden School, Pasadena, CA
Audubon Middle School, LA, CA
LAXART, LA, CA
W139, Amsterdam, Netherlands