OK/OKAY
The exhibition’s curatorial point of departure is the disputed etymology of the terms OK and okay. Employed universally, both signify approval and assent or, when describing a quality, acceptability. The question of their origin, however, has sparked endless debates and inspired book-length treatises. Suggesting that issues of translation can challenge standard assumptions, the artists in OK/OKAY make artworks that stand out in a pragmatic world that tends to value clarity and brevity. Curated by Marc-Olivier Wahler, Artistic Director at S I, the shows explore the myriad ways in which art is no longer defined by position or place―instead gliding over the visible and exposing the limitless strata comprising its structure. Wahler proposes that this interplay triggers a slippage in interpretations as well as constant oscillations between different languages. It is in this unstable field, he suggests, that contemporary art finds its meaning: not as a cultural domain in search of aesthetic definitions, but rather a true dynamic.
Christian Anderson
(born 1973 in Stockholm; lives and works in Stockholm)
Valentin Carron
(born 1976 in Fully, Switzerland; lives and works in Fully)
Gabriele Di Matteo
(born 1957 in Torre del Greco, Italy; lives and works in Milan)

History Stripped Bare, 1999–2005, Oil on canvas, Fonds Régional d’Art Contemporain Languedoc-Roussillon, Montpellier
Lara Favaretto
(born 1973 in Treviso, Italy; lives and works in Milan)

Twistle, 2003 Air tank, pressure regulator, distributor, timer, electrovalve, plastic cables, and whistle Courtesy Galleria Franco Noero, Turin
Laurent Grasso
(born 1972 in Mulhouse, France; lives and works in Paris and Rome)

Radio Ghost, 2004
DVD projection with sound, 30 minutes Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Chez Valentin, Paris, with the support of agnès b.
Graham Gussin
(born 1960 in London; lives and works in London)

Beginning and Ending at the Same Time (Horizontal Movie), 2001
DVD projections, 10 minutes 30 seconds
Courtesy of the artist and Lisson Gallery, London
Leopold Kessler
(born 1976 in Munich; lives and works in Vienna)
Werner Reiterer
(born 1964 in Graz, Austria; lives and works in Vienna)

Untitled, 2005, Mixed media
Courtesy Ursula Krinzinger Gallery, Vienna,
and Eugen Lendl Gallery, Graz, Switzerland
Nedko Solakov
(born 1957 in Cherven Briag, Bulgaria; lives and works in Sofia)

The Collector of Art (Somewhere in Africa there is a great
black man collecting art from Europe and America, buying
his Picasso for 23 coconuts…), 1992–2005
Concept of an African hut; sand, zebra skin, coconuts,
crates; handwritten texts on cardboard; original artworks
Courtesy of the artist and the Grey Art Gallery, New York University
Wood posts courtesy Titus Mill Farm, Pennington, New Jersey
Ben Woodeson
(born 1965 in London; lives and works in London)

Variable North, 2003–05
Electromagnets and compasses
Courtesy of the artist with support
from the Scottish Arts Council
Jean-Luc Verna
(born 1966 in Nice, France; lives and works in Nice)