GROUND LEVEL, GALLERY 3
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, BORN 1990
LIVES AND WORKS IN NEW YORK
PROJECT
Diamond Stingily’s large scale installation In the middle but in the corner of 176th place 2019 consists of over 700 athletic trophies and occupies an entire gallery space. Most of the trophies are standardised cups awarded to the participants of conventional competitions; some are larger and recall official awards ceremonies. Their gilded labels, which normally attest to the respective sport and position achieved, are replaced by short text passages such as THROUGH ALL THE MADNESS THIS IS ALL YOU GONE GET, I DID THE BEST I COULD WITH WHAT I HAD, or I DID IT FOR THE GLORY. These trophies do not explore what winning looks or feels like. Instead, they tell a story about our society’s collective obsession with triumph, competition and failure.
The inscriptions are fragments of conversations Stingily had with her grandmother and her older brother, who is a retired NFL player, in addition to her own quotes and those of other artists and poets. Stingily herself grew up playing many sports and has compared her experience as an artist with that of an athlete.
ABOUT
Diamond Stingily addresses the materiality and mythology of identity and social class. Her artistic practice encompasses video, sculpture, and writing, and draws relations between the intimacy of one’s own biography and perceptions of history. Instead of working on representation of black communities in general, she examines childhood memories, which, fragmentarily, speak of the systemic racism and violence inscribed into US-American culture.
Stingily has presented solo exhibitions at institutions including CCA Wattis, San Francisco; ICA Miami; and Kunstverein München, Munich. She also participated in the 2018 New Museum Triennial. Stingily’s work is represented in private and public collections including the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Museum Ludwig, Cologne; ICA Miami; and the Rubell Family Collection, Miami.
The NGV warmly thanks Triennial Lead Supporter Neilson Foundation for their support.