Lucy Raven.
Duration February 10, 2024 - April 21, 2024
Location New National Gallery
Photo credits exhibition view “Lucy Raven, Ready Mix”, Neue Nationalgalerie, February 10th - April 21st, 2024 © Courtesy the artist and Lisson Gallery / Dia Art Foundation / Nationalgalerie – Staatlichemuseums zu Berlin / Photo © David von Becker
The Neue Nationalgalerie shows Lucy Raven's video installation “Ready Mix” (2021), which addresses work, technology and hidden mechanisms of power. The expansive installation in the upper hall of the museum is located in direct view of the “berlin modern” construction pit and creates a visual and thematic reference to the monumental construction site of the new museum building. The exhibition opening takes place parallel to the laying of the foundation stone of the building designed by Herzog de Meuron.
Lucy Raven shot the immersive film installation “ Ready Mix ” (2021) in a concrete and gravel factory in Bellevue, Idaho, USA. The work explores the properties of force, pressure, and materiality (both geological and synthetic) in the context of the Western United States. The artist, born in Arizona in 1977, often deals with the region's complex history of creation and representation as well as its current role in global trade, communication and development.
The Neue Nationalgalerie invited Lucy Raven “ Ready Mix ” on the occasion of the laying of the foundation stone of the berlin modern, which is under construction next door. The film can be seen in the upper hall of the Mies van der Rohe building. It shows the complicated legacies of modernism with its developed urban spaces and homage to built forms that used raw materials such as concrete. Furthermore, it raises questions about durability, sustainability and the autonomy of architecture as a modern form of visual culture and function.
Curatorial team
“ Ready Mix ” was commissioned by the Dia Art Foundation and curated by Alexis Lowry along with exhibition technology manager Randy Gibson. The presentation in the Neue Nationalgalerie is curated by Klaus Biesenbach and Lisa Botti in collaboration with Randy Gibson and the Dia Art Foundation.
The exhibition is made possible by the Friends of the National Gallery and Museum&Location.
A special exhibition at the Nationalgalerie – Berlin State Museums