Santa Lucia

The Amsterdam-based American artist Jonathan Bragdon was an associate of the Arts Laboratory, Drury Lane, London, from October 1967 to May 1969. Among his activities was the “Info Lab”, a bi-weekly series of one-hour events. For each event, one person was invited to explain his or her work, and the story of how they had come to be doing it. Persons were included from diverse pursuits, such as computer science, film, poetry, politics, and “revolutionary” activism. The audience was instructed to interrupt with skeptical questions and brief comments at any time, creating a situation in which a person was putting themselves together, while they were being taken apart. His later “Single Art Work” project, from 1987 to 2006, was similar, with an artist being invited to bring one of his or her works to an evening with 10 people. In these SAW events, though, conversation was to serve as a shared antenna to the artwork, not an analytical machine.

However, from 1961 to the present day, drawing has been Bragdon’s single fanatical pursuit, in an attempt to save his soul. In 2016, a retrospective of his work was held at the Kunstmuseum, Appenzell, and accompanying it, the book “DASEIN/BEING HERE” was published by Gerhard Steidl, Göttingen.

On March 1, 7 pm, Jonathan Bragdon will revisit his own past in conversation with Max Dax at Santa Lucia Galerie der Gespräche in Berlin. In addition, they will talk about two of Jonathan Bragdon’s current drawings and his exhibition “The Path” at Galerie Aurel Scheibler (January 1 – March 18, 2017), Schöneberger Ufer 71, 10785 Berlin.