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Chris Burden

One Ton One Kilo

March 7–April 4, 2009
Beverly Hills

Gagosian is pleased to present One Ton One Kilo, an exhibition by Chris Burden.

Burden juxtaposes a historical work with a new one in an ongoing exploration of the duality that underlies much of his art. Here duality resides in both the literal and figurative aspects of weights and measures, as well as in the layers of meaning embedded in the known hierarchy of materials.

Following his early controversial performance work, throughout the late ’70s and ’80s Burden’s interests shifted to broader themes relating to science, ecology, technology, and politics. He produced objects and installations that evoked the rationalism of scientific and technological discourse while undermining their claims to functionality. Memorable examples include Flying Steamroller (1996), where the massive heft of a steamroller was balanced by cement blocks to defy the forces of gravity; and Fist of Light (1992­–93), his “visual metaphor for nuclear fission,” hermetically sealed inside its own room-size structure.

Notice: One hundred kilograms of gold bricks bought by Gagosian for Chris Burden: One Ton One Kilo were purchased from Stanford Coins and Bullion, a subsidiary of Stanford Financial Group, which, as widely reported in the press, is now in receivership. Unfortunately, the gallery’s gold has been frozen while the SEC investigates Stanford.

Chris Burden: One Ton One Kilo cannot be mounted until the gold bullion is released. Please continue to check our website for a new opening date.

Image of American Artist, Yayoi Shionoiri, Sydney Stutterheim

In Conversation
American Artist, Yayoi Shionoiri, and Sydney Stutterheim on Poetic Practical: The Unrealized Work of Chris Burden

Join Gagosian to celebrate the publication of Poetic Practical: The Unrealized Work of Chris Burden with a conversation between American Artist, Yayoi Shionoiri, and Sydney Stutterheim presented at the Kitchen, New York. Considering the book’s sustained examination of sixty-seven projects that remained incomplete at the time of Burden’s death in 2015, the trio discuss the various ways that an artist’s work and legacy live on beyond their lifetime.

Photograph of the installation process of an unrealized performance by Chris Burden at the Newport Harbor Art Museum, California, 1974. Photo: Brian Forrest, courtesy Michael Auping

At the Edge
Chris Burden: Prelude to a Lost Performance

Michael Auping tells the Quarterly’s Alison McDonald about the preparations for a performance by Chris Burden at the Newport Harbor Art Museum in Southern California in 1974—and the event’s abrupt cancellation—providing a glimpse into the mindset of a young, aggressive, and ambitious artist in the early stages of his career.

Takashi Murakami cover and Andreas Gursky cover for Gagosian Quarterly, Summer 2022 magazine

Now available
Gagosian Quarterly Summer 2022

The Summer 2022 issue of Gagosian Quarterly is now available, with two different covers—featuring Takashi Murakami’s 108 Bonnō MURAKAMI.FLOWERS (2022) and Andreas Gursky’s V & R II (2022).

Chris Burden, model for the installation Xanadu as proposed to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2008. Photo: Joel Searles

Chris Burden: Poetic Practical

A new publication exploring the work that Chris Burden conceived but left unrealized delves into his archive to present sixty-seven visionary projects that reveal the aspirations of this formidable artist. The book’s editors, Sydney Stutterheim and Andie Trainer, discuss its development with Yayoi Shionoiri, executive director of the Chris Burden Estate.

Chris Burden: Big Wrench

Gagosian Quarterly Films
Chris Burden: Big Wrench

From January 23 to February 21, 2019, Gagosian Quarterly presented a special online screening of Chris Burden’s 1980 video Big Wrench.

Big Wrench

Big Wrench

Sydney Stutterheim looks at the brief but feverish obsession behind this 1980 video by Chris Burden.