Special installation
Swimmer by Bill Lundberg
Through December 6, 2009
Bill Lundberg
Swimmer, 1975
Film installation
Purchase as a gift by John A. Robertson in memory of Carlota Smith, 2008
The Blanton Museum of Art is pleased to announce that it will exhibit, for the first time since its acquisition, University of Texas at Austin professor and artist Bill Lundberg's film installation, Swimmer. The piece was created in 1975 and is one of the earliest examples of conceptual film works. The Blanton's presentation offers viewers a rare opportunity to experience this important work by a forefather of film and video installation. It will be on view in the museum's modern and contemporary galleries from May 2 – December 6, 2009.
Similar to Teresita Fernandez' Stacked Waters, Bill Lundberg's Swimmer creates the illusion of a water–based environment within the museum's walls. The sounds of splashing water fill the darkened gallery and the image of a man treading water is cast onto the floor. The horizontal projection brings the illusion of film into the realm of reality, confronting the vertical viewer. Placing emphasis on image rather than dialogue or explanatory text–a practice typical in Lundberg's work–he artist sets up an open space for viewers to construct narratives about the swimmer based on their own interpretations and experiences.
Art critic Guy Brett wrote of this installation, “Projected onto the floor in the vicinity of wall-hung paintings in a museum, Swimmer (1975) creates, with great wit and economy of means, a confrontation between two spaces, art gallery and swimming pool; two media, water and film; and two orientations, the vertical (the viewer) and the horizontal (the swimmer). So elemental are these confrontations that one cannot easily decide if the swimmer in his rectangle of water is a metaphor or freedom or entrapment.”
Lundberg created this seminal work while living in London in the early 1970s, filming it from scaffolding built over a residential pool. It was first exhibited at the Institute of Contemporary Art in London in a 1975 solo exhibition. Prior to Swimmer, Lundberg created performance-based works that explored social interactions and misunderstandings between people. A painter by training, Lundberg is considered a forefather of film and video installation, and is a professor here at The University of Texas at Austin and founder of the university’s Transmedia program.
