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Rainer Ganahl PRESS RELEASE

Massimo De Carlo Gallery is pleased to announce our thirdone-person show of Rainer Ganahl in Milan.

The center pieces of this show are a series ofGanahl’s “E-mailerrors” - pencil drawings ofthe artist’s out-going messages to the gallery discussing the concept ofthis exhibition. They are written - with all kind of typing mistakes - in anidiosyncratic Italian, a language the artist speaks quite well since it is partof his language learning art projects.

Rainer Ganahl initially proposed a show in relationship withhis “Karl Marx Reading” seminars but he quickly pointed out,“that it is true that the reflection of Karl Marx on the retina ofcollectors diminishes the potential of a classical exchange and that (his)beautiful photographs of young people reading Karl Marx with (him would) riskto end up like other Ganahl-works: in storage”. [E vero, i rifletti di KarlMARX sulla retina dei collezionisti diminuisce la potenza dello scambio classico (e questi miei bellissimifoto dei ragazzi leggendo marx con me risconarebbono terminare come gli altrilavori-ganahl: in magazzino)] These pencil drawings not onlyconceptualize this show, reference other art works, reflect on theartist-dealer-collector relationship in a ironic way but also speak aboutelectronic communication, its influence on writing and on social relationships.

The wall painting: “scrivimiwriteme@hotmail.com” is anunspoken invitation to engage in e-mail conversations with the artist, apractice that partially dominates his personal life of traveling, reading,writing, studying, talking and loving. “www.ganahlmarx.com” and “www.ganahlmoney.com” are also wallpaintings that refer the viewer to some of his web site projects.

In spite of the content of his “email errors”Ganahl could carry out a series of Karl Marx readings also in Milan. Aphotograph of these meetings next to photographs of other stops (Frankfurt,London, New York) are presented in the gallery in addition to the 5 hours ofvideo of his Milan seminar. Rainer Ganahl has a back ground of academic studiesin philosophy and is committed to democratic politics and a more just society.He doesn’t call himself a Marxist but admires these texts. “ReadingKarl Marx” is only one reading seminar project amidst others the artisthas been holding for almost a decade as part of his artistic practices thatalso include the studying of foreign languages, teaching, writing, listeningand talking.

The video “Toni Negri, Marx e ancora Marx” is atwo and a half hour video interview Ganahl conducted in Rome in Italian withthe philosopher/prisoner Toni Negri who is a highly respected and world widepublished scholar of Karl Marx. Toni Negri was associated with radical leftwing politics and (unfortunately and falsly) with the left wing terrorism ofthe 70s for which the Italian justice system has found no other answer then imprisonment.

Rainer Ganahl is based in New York and represented Austriain the 1999 Venice Biennial. He has been wildly shown in Museums and galleriesin Europe, Asia and the United States. This year’s one person exhibitionsinclude Baumgartner Gallery, New York; Galerie Nächst St. Stephan, Vienna,Sint Lukasstichting, Brussels and others.Simultaniously to our exhibition, Rainer Ganahl also shows his works“seminars/lectures” (a representation of intellectuals and theiraudiences) at Artra Gallery, Milan.