Jac Leirner Art Basel 1991/2014, 2023

Jac Leirner's new work draws on her deep archive of art world-related ephemera. The long metal rod has been covered with miscellaneous stickers from past iterations of the art fair Art Basel and several personalized labels.

The dates and their distinct logos are evidence of changing designs and corporate partnerships, as well as telling a story of past visits and hinting at a personal story: why 1991, 1992, 1998, 1999 and 2000 and then Miami Beach 2001, 2003 and more recently 2014? Were these dates the artist herself exhibited--her breakthrough came at the 1989 São Paulo Biennial after all and the early 1990s found her traveling widely for exhibitions in Europe. Some of these references are reinforced by the more personalized stickers on the sides that carry her name, sometimes a past addresses or generic messages such as "contraste," "proof of purchase" or "urgente." At the same time, in the context of other works Leirner has sometimes questioned a strictly biographical reading of here use of found and collected materials.