Emma Carboni introduces Alfredo Jaar’s Garden of Good and Evil, at Yorkshire Sculpture Park.
Yorkshire Sculpture Park are presenting a major solo exhibition by pioneering Chilean artist, Alfredo Jaar. Widely regarded as one of the world’s most politically engaging yet poetic artists, Jaar addresses humanitarian trauma and the politics of image-making, creating visually and emotionally stunning works that have an exceptional aesthetic. Trained as a magician and subsequently as an architect, Jaar often uses constructed spaces and light to navigate what is seen and what is not. At YSP seminal installations transform the Underground Gallery and open air.
The exhibition includes a major new commission, The Garden of Good and Evil (2017), presented in the open air and visible through the glass façade of the gallery. On entering what appears to be a beautiful grove of trees, visitors experience elegantly fabricated steel cells, which reference ‘black sites’, the secret detention facilities operated by the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) around the world. A work that Jaar has wanted to realise for some years and that YSP is uniquely placed to create, The Garden of Good and Evil is a significant commission for YSP and for the UK. Thanks to a donation by the artist it will have a home in YSP’s permanent collection after the exhibition closes.
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