oliver laric - Tanya Leighton

Transcription

Printing - Oliver Laric - Interview Magazine
http://www.interviewmagazine.com/art/berlin-oliver-laric/print/
PRINT
OLIVER LARIC
LAUNCH GALLERY »
Thirty-year-old Oliver Laric calls himself a “facilitator.” That’s a rather selfless designation to describe the poetry of someone who allows
interactions with art to happen by surprise. Commissioned by the 2011 Frieze Art Fair, Laric roved the London exhibition last October with a
video crew, capturing banal art-world moments. He shot the top of the head of a Kiki Smith sculpture with flies on it and the hermit crabs in
an installation by Pierre Huyghe. Afterward, he uploaded the videos on Frieze’s stock footage Web site in hopes they’d be useful as
atmosphere. Whether the clips, which are beautiful but not necessarily cheery, will find much use—an image of transparent liquid hitting a
concave porcelain surface, titled Urinal, seems particularly unlikely—is beside the point.
The Austria-born artist has lived in Berlin’s Kreuzberg neighborhood for the last five years, and there his art has proliferated amidst the city’s
endless space and limited market. One of Laric’s ongoing fascinations is with the idea of the original, which he’s applied to classical sculpture,
particularly marbles, and their endless reproductions. He named a 2011 show in Basel “Kopienkritik” after a 19th-century school of art history
in which the Roman sculptures’ copies were pronounced inferior to Greek originals. For the exhibition, Laric showed an archive of casts of
famous sculptures made in colored wax, arranging the artifacts alongside video projections and painted renditions. The effect was a pantheon
of heroic figures and deities with no progenitor.
1 of 2
1/16/12 1:55 PM
Interview Magazine, January 2012
Four Artists to Know at Frieze
Proportional_710_proportional_710__--macropress06
Bik Van der Pol, Are you really sure that a floor can't also be a ceiling?, 2010. Courtesy of Museum of Contemporary Art, Rome.
Pushing boundaries both conceptually and in execution, these four celebrated artists stand out at London’s
Frieze Art Fair. Taryn Simon’s show at the Tate Modern (coming to MoMA in 2012) explores the bloodlines
of feuding families in Brazil, victims of genocide in Bosnia, and the body double of Saddam Hussein’s son.
Christian Jankowski creates a yacht dealership in the middle of the fair, and Oliver Laric takes his video
camera in order to release footage into the public domain. Bik Van der Pol installs a live scoreboard, but
instead of spending $40 million on a Cowboys Stadium style digital screen, he uses people to spell out the
score.
Taryn Simon, Excerpt from A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters, 2011, Photography. Courtesy
of the artist and Tate Modern Museum.
Look for Taryn Simon in Gagosian’s booth, on Frieze’s panel about photographic representation, and in
her exhibition at the Tate Modern. Simon received a Guggenheim fellowship after graduating from Brown,
and began conducting investigative documentary projects that were shortly followed by her well-known
American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar, a catalog of inaccessible or unknown aspects of the country,
from nuclear waste to the CIA’s art collection. She produced her latest project, A Living Man Declared Dead
and Other Chapters, over a four-year period researching and recording the bloodlines of subjects including
feuding families in Brazil, victims of genocide in Bosnia, the body double of Saddam Hussein’s son Uday,
and the living dead in India. Now at the Tate Modern, the show travels to MoMA in May 2012. She is represented by Gagosian, and her works are in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the
Tate Modern, and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.
ARTLOG, October 2011
Oliver Laric, Still from Versions, 2010, Four channel video. Courtesy of artist and Frieze Art Fair.
You might run into Oliver Laric shooting footage around the fair, but not for his own videos. Laric will
publish the stock footage for free use in the public domain, open to anyone for anonymous online collaboration. The Berlin-based artist and curator is a sharp observer of the internet’s visual culture, and his video
essay Versions is a manifesto on the subject. His ultra-simple website showcases clip art, reinterpretations of
a Mariah Carey music video, and a recorded video chat between himself and Andy Warhol’s spirit channeled
through a psychic. Read about the Frieze commission here.
Bik Van der Pol. Courtesy of artist and Frieze Art Fair.
Bik Van der Pol’s Frieze commission is a massive scoreboard unlike any you have ever seen. (Jerry Jones
should take note for Cowboys Stadium.) The scoreboard is animated live by assistants who spell out idioms,
quotations, and maxims, “providing a narrative for visitors to the fair.” We hope “art market bubble” and
“we are tired of art fairs” are not some of them. In 1995 Dutch artists Liesbeth Bik and Jos Van der Pol be
gan a collaboration under the name Bik Van der Pol, and they have been critiquing public institutions and the
exclusivity of “high art” ever since. The Rotterdam-based duo initially produced guides and texts intended to
encourage art’s accessibility to the masses, and they are presently leading tours in New York City as part of
Creative Time’s Living as Form exhibition. Their work has been recognized with the ENEL Award, resulting
in a site-specific installation at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Rome, amongst numerous solo exhibitions
throughout Europe and the United States. Read about the Frieze commission here.
Christian Jankowski. Courtesy of artist and Frieze Art Fair.
Christian Jankowski is turning a Frieze booth over to a luxury yacht dealer, with the yachts for sale as
Jankowski artworks. The Berlin-based, German multimedia artist could be likened to a mad lib author – his
performance pieces and installations rely on the reactions of performers and participants to complete the
work. Jankowski shed light on what society regards as sacred with a casting call for an actor to play Jesus
at Complesso Santo Spirito hospital in Rome, judged by a Vatican-approved panel. Jankowski took aim at
reality television home improvement with The Perfect Gallery for Pump House Gallery. Whether he gets a
laugh, pushes buttons, or encourages change, Jankowski’s work definitely turns heads. Read about the Frieze
commission here.
ARTNET, December 2011
Subscribe to Magazine »
« Features
The Real Thing / Interview with Oliver
Laric
Oliver Laric, Versions, 2009, single channel
video, 6:25 min. All images are courtesy of
the artist and Seventeen Gallery, London.
In the past few months, when people have asked me to suggest something inspiring to read,
I’ve always replied: “Go to oliverlaric.com and select Versions.” True, Oliver Laric is not a writer
but an artist, and Versions is not an essay but a video-or, better, an ongoing art project involving
two videos, “a series of sculptures, airbrushed images of missiles, a talk, a PDF, a song, a
novel, a recipe, a play, a dance routine, a feature film and merchandise1 “-but if you are looking
for a brilliant statement on the visual culture of the Internet age, or an in-depth analysis of its
historical roots in Western culture, I couldn’t suggest anything better.
Oliver Laric is a young Austrian artist currently living in Berlin. In 2006 he founded, together with
a group of friends, VVORK, an art blog acting as an exhibition space and, occasionally, a
curatorial platform that organizes events in brick-and-mortar venues. While the Web site-one of
the most successful art blogs ever-features art from any time and place, using text only for
technical descriptions, elevating the status of the “mechanical reproduction”-usually a JGP or a
video-to give it the legitimacy of the real thing, and working as a collaborative flow of
consciousness where associations are never explained but simply offered to the user, the
shows concentrate on contemporary art responding to the cultural shift introduced by the
information age. And they both do it in an original way, escaping common categorizations and
frameworks.
http://artpulsemagazine.com/the-real-thing-interview-with-oliver-laric/
Artpulse, 2011
Seite 1 von 5
ARTPULSE MAGAZINE » Features » The Real Thing / Interview with Oliver Laric
17.08.11 13:39
In October, Laric will present the last iteration of Versions at Frieze Art Fair. In this interview, we
talk about this ongoing project, VVORK, and much more.
By Domenico Quaranta
Domenico Quaranta - According to my Google searches, you were born in Leipzig and
Innsbruck, you are black and Caucasian, and you have said: “I usually give fake CVs
when I am asked to give a CV. Recently I started giving real ones.” And now?
Oliver Laric - I am hiring a writer to develop multiple biographies.
D.Q. - In your work, there is an interesting balance between transparence and opacity. On
the one hand, you reveal little about yourself through your work and your Web site. On
the other hand, however, Versions is probably one of the most straightforward artist’s
statements I have ever seen. In a way, it is even too much, since it leaves little space for
interpretation. What do you think?
O.L. - I enjoy interpretations and mediated experiences: books about books, exhibition catalogs,
interpretations of films. Some of my favorite artworks and movies have only been described to
me. A description can generate new work while acting as a portrait of the person retelling the
idea, plot, etc.
There is a novel titled The Weather Fifteen Years Ago (2006) by Wolf Haas, written as an
interview between a literary critic and the author. There are two layers: the fictional interview
and the fictional novel. Over the course of the interview all details of the plot are revealed
through the subjective interpretations of both critic and author. Versions is an interpretation open
to interpretations. The first incarnation has been reinterpreted by Momus, Dani Admiss, and
Guthrie Lonergan, and I just found another reinterpretation of the last version on YouTube. They
are permanently in a beta state and affect each other.
SHIFTING CATEGORIES
D.Q. - You often act not only as an artist but also as an art critic and curator. Many artists
are working in the same way today, but I am still quite curious about how you deal with it.
How do you define yourself?
O.L. - Sometimes it is hard to distinguish between VVORK work and work. For example,
working on Versions was similar to working on an exhibition. The outcome was a selection of
works placed in the same space.
Artpulse, 2011
Seite 2 von 5
17.08.11 13:39
Oliver Laric, Touch my Body (Green
Screen Version), 2008, multiple channel
video, duration variable.
D.Q. -You have said: “I don’t see any necessity in producing images myself — everything
that I would need exists, it’s just about finding it.” Is the artist as creator a thing of the
past?
O.L. - Using an existing image creates a new image, just as with iconoclasm: the destruction of
an image creates an image. Or with translation: as Jorge Luis Borges described in the oftenquoted Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote, translations produce new works.
D.Q. - Using “found material” means, for you and many artists of your generation, using
the kind of vernacular material (for lack of a better term) you can find in places such as
YouTube, 4chan, Flickr, Google, and 3D Warehouse. Is the relationship between art and
non-art, high culture and popular culture, definitely changing?
O.L. - Some of my favorite exhibitions don’t make clear distinctions between those fields,
incorporating works by journalists, architects, musicians, etc. I think it is a more interesting
strategy to curate works, instead of being involved in a scene or a CV.
As VVORK, we were invited to curate part of the Photo Biennale in Mannheim and selected
works by photographers that we found on Flickr, Reuters, and stock photography sites, along
with the works of artists. It would have been impossible to distinguish the selection.
D.Q. - You have said: “I think it is necessary to ignore authorship, to create a space for
something that is interesting again.” How can you conceal this approach with the rules
still followed in the art world?
O.L. - I think ignorance of copyright and art market debate is beneficial to my health and
happiness.
MEDIATED AND PRIMARY EXPERIENCES
D.Q. - Contemporary art is a little niche, but artists with a strong online presence have the
possibility of addressing a broader-and very different-audience. How do you deal with it?
O.L. - One of the first works I uploaded to my site (787 Cliparts, 2006) spread to numerous
other Web sites. On some days it had more than 30,000 viewers. This was an exciting
experience and made me realize that my Web site is not a space of representation but of
primary experiences. You are viewing the real thing. And when the work travels to other sites, it
is still the real thing.
Artpulse, 2011
Seite 3 von 5
17.08.11 13:39
Oliver Laric, 787 Cliparts, 2006, single
channel video, 1:06min.
It also landed on the front page of YouTube. By now there are over 1,500 comments, a type of
feedback that I have never experienced in a gallery context.
D.Q. - “Not a space of representation but of primary experiences”-you have said the
same about VVORK. Still, I have some problems with applying this model to a sculpture
or an installation. Can you help me?
O.L. - Walking around a sculpture and viewing a single perspective in a catalog are different
experiences, but both are authentic and vivid experiences. My favorite sculpture is easy to
experience as a description. It is a Virgin with child built around 1510 out of sandstone in Basel.
Reformation iconoclasm came and the baby Jesus was replaced with a scale in 1608. She [the
Virgin] is now Justice. The first part of her life was very spiritual; the current [one] is more
pragmatic. I am curious to witness her upcoming incarnations. Out of love for this statue, I asked
a 3D modeler to reconstruct her digitally, coating her in a terminator-esque chrome texture. In
Terminator 2: Judgment Day, the antagonist T1000 was capable of assuming any shape, just
like Barbapapa 2 . I made a pilgrimage to see the statue and it was an underwhelming
experience, like seeing the movie after reading the novel.
You can also imagine the parts that a mediated experience is lacking-the sound, the smell of
the space, and the tourists around you. This lack of information triggers productive speculation.
In Japanese porn, the genitals are pixelated, but a frequent consumer doesn’t see the pixels
anymore. There is a similar internal projection with small online videos; at some point you
automatically assume the Dolby surround sound and the crisp HD resolution.
We did an exhibition in 2009 at MU in Eindhoven (The Netherlands) titled “The Real Thing” after
a short story by Henry James on an artist who prefers representation over reality. We showed a
series of press releases selected by Daniel Baumann, tourist photographs of Jeff Koons’s
Balloon Dog at Versailles, a New York Times back issue with an article debating the existence
of Gelitin’s balcony mounted on the World Trade Center in 2000, a video sampler of Seth Price’s
editioned videos, a PDF version of a performative talk by Cory Arcangel, acoustic versions of
Claude Closky’s text pieces, and cam versions of the current Hollywood blockbusters, among
other works.
D.Q. - Are you interested in the way the online community reacts to your work and how
they use and abuse it?
O.L. - It is the most interesting part. It happened often with 787 Cliparts. The visual material was
modified, shortened, extended, or scored with music. An advertising agency even reconstructed
the video by producing their own clip art.
These reactions led to the Mariah Carey video Touch My Body (Green Screen Version) (2008),
in which everything but Mariah was turned green, enabling anyone with some video editing
knowledge to adapt the video and substitute backgrounds. My activity was a technical
preparation and the modification part was outsourced to Mariah Carey fans.
Artpulse, 2011
Seite 4 von 5
17.08.11 13:39
D.Q. - You started VVORK in 2006 with Christoph Priglinger, Georg Schnitzer, and
Aleksandra Domanovic. You all attended the same school (the University of Applied Arts
in Vienna). Is a common background still so important in the Internet age?
O. L. - Maybe the common background is more about interest. Google can aid in finding
counterparts and bringing the most niche fetishes together. But you still might need to relocate
to the ideal environment.
D.Q. - I read somewhere that you have about 9,000 visitors every day. Who are these
people?
O.L. - By now there are about 15,000 viewers a day. Our understanding of the visitors comes
primarily through e-mail contact and Web statistics about geographic location, duration of visits,
frequency, and so on. It so happens that most readers are from unsurprising places like New
York, London, Paris, and Berlin. The statistics confirm our expectations.
D.Q. - In October, you will take part in “Frame,” the solo shows section of Frieze Art Fair.
What are you going to show there?
O.L. - (1) A bootleg of a book titled Ancient Copies, (2) a version of Versions, (3) a reproduction
of a relief defaced by Reformation iconoclasm.
NOTES
1
Excerpt from a previous conversation with the artist.
2
Barbapapa is a character created by Annette Tison and Talus Taylor in the 1970s for their
series of cartoons and children books which were very popular in Europe.
Domenico Quaranta is an art critic and curator based in Italy. He has focused his research on
the impact of the current techno-social developments on the arts. A regular contributor to Flash
Art magazine, he has written, edited, and contributed to a number of books, including
GameScenes. Art in the Age of Videogames, Johan & Levi Editore, 2006.
Tags: ARTPULSE, Domenico Quaranta, Oliver Laric, VVORK
Related Articles
The LINK Center for the Arts of the Information Age releases “In Your Computer,”
by Domenico Quaranta.
Reality is Overrated / When Media Go Beyond Simulation
Leave a Reply
Oliver Laric, 787 Cliparts, 2006, single channel video, 1:06min.
Artpulse, 2011
Seite 5 von 5
‘based in Berlin’, 2011
ART TO-GO. Berlin Art Link takes a look at Berlin offerings a...
http://www.berlinar
http://www.berlinar
OUR SERVICES (http://www.berlinartlink.com/about/)
ON-GOING (http://www.berlinartlink.com)
ARTIST STUDIO VISITS (http://www.berlinartlink.com/category/based-in-berlin-artist-studio-visits/)
RESOURCES (http://www.berlinartlink.com/resourc
ABOUT (http://www.berlinartlink.com/about/)
ART
TO-GO.
OUR SERVICES
ON-GOING
ART TO-GO.
ARTIST STUDIO VISITS
Berlin
Art Link takes a look at Berlin offeringsRESOURCES
at
ABOUT
ARTyear’s
TO-GO.
this
Frieze and Sunday Art Fair
(http://www.berlinartlink.com/about/)
(http://www.berlinartlink.com)
(http://www.berlinartlink.com/category/based-in-berlin-artist-studio-visits/)
(http://www.berlinartlink
(http://www.berlinartlink.com/resourc
(http://www.berlinartlink.com/about/)
Berlin
Art
Link
takes a look at Berlin offerings at
Liz Feder and 11 others like this.
Like
Send
this year’s Frieze and Sunday Art Fair
Like
Send
Liz Feder and 11 others like this.
Article by Jeni Fulton in Berlin; Saturday, Nov. 12, 2011
Article by Jeni Fulton in Berlin; Saturday, Nov. 12, 2011
(http://www.berlinartlink.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Oliver_Laric.jpg)
Oliver Laric; courtesy
Tanya Leighton Galerie
“I think”, a wearied collector asserted upon exiting the tents, “that the baby has just grown too
(http://www.berlinartlink.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Oliver_Laric.jpg)
Laric; courtesy
big.” Founded in 2002, Frieze showcases, in its own words, “the world’s Oliver
most innovative
artists,
Tanya Leighton
Galerie
presented
by the
world’s most exciting galleries”, and it relentlessly underpins its blue-chip status
by its roll-call of participants: Gagosian, David Zwirner, Thaddeus Ropac and Contemporary Fine
“I think”,
a wearied
collector
upon
exiting economic
the tents, outlook,
“that theand
baby
has just grown
too
Arts
to name
but a few.
Givenasserted
the current
unstable
concomitant
reluctant
big.”
Founded
in
2002,
Frieze
showcases,
in
its
own
words,
“the
world’s
most
innovative
artists,
buyers, many galleries opted to play safe, rather than showing “art of tomorrow”. How does this
presentedto
by the
the world’s
most Well,
exciting
galleries”,
and it relentlessly
underpins
its blue-chip
status
translate
art shown?
there
were many
smaller scale
(plus one
or two larger)
by its roll-calllots
of participants:
Gagosian,
Zwirner,formats;
Thaddeus
Ropac
and Contemporary
installations;
of bright colours
and David
manageable
Many
recognisable
artists – Fine
the
Arts to name
but often
a few.represented
Given the current
unstable
economicand
outlook,
and concomitant
blue-chip
crowd
by both
their American
European
galleries; onereluctant
or two
buyers,
manyaccompanied
galleries opted
playofsafe,
rather
than
showingworks
“art of
tomorrow”.
How
does
this
larger
pieces
by to
a raft
smaller,
more
affordable
– art
“to-go”, in
other
words.
translate to the art shown? Well, there were many smaller scale (plus one or two larger)
installations;
of bright
colours
and manageable
artistsNicolai.
– the
Judy
Lübke islots
bouncing
around,
enthusiastically
holdingformats;
forth on Many
Eigen +recognisable
Art artist Carsten
blue-chip
crowd is
often
represented
both
theirformula
American
and above
European
two
While
the gallery
sticking,
more orby
less,
to the
outlined
(withgalleries;
a third ofone
theor
space
larger pieces
accompanied
by Leipzigers
a raft of smaller,
more affordable
art “to-go”,
other
words.
reserved
for the
ever-popular
Neo Rauch,
Tim Eitel,works
Martin– Eder
and c.);inthe
remaining
space is reserved for “Sound Artist” Carsten Nicolai’s beautifully minimal “Tension Loops” and
Judy Lübke is
bouncing
enthusiastically
holding
forth on boxes
Eigen +into
Art artist
“Batteries”.
The
former around,
consisting
of wall-mounted
Perspex
whichCarsten
metal Nicolai.
tape is
Berlin
Art Link
November
2011
While the gallery
is sticking,
or latter
less, of
to multi-layered
the formula outlined
abovewith
(with
a third
of the space
compressed
in elegant
arcs, more
and the
glass plates
prints
of random
dots.
reserved
the ever-popular
Rauch,sound
Tim Eitel,
Martin
Eder andthe
c.);casings,
the remaining
The
Tape for
Loops
hinge on the Leipzigers
idea of theNeo
potential
created
by opening
which
space
is reserved
forthe
“Sound
Carsten
beautifully
minimal “Tension Loops” and
will
inevitably
destroy
piece.Artist”
Not a new
idea,Nicolai’s
but beautifully
executed.
(http://www.berlinartlink
larger pieces accompanied by a raft of smaller, more affordable works – art “to-go”, in other words.
Judy Lübke is bouncing around, enthusiastically holding forth on Eigen + Art artist Carsten Nicolai.
While the gallery is sticking, more or less, to the formula outlined above (with a third of the space
reserved for the ever-popular Leipzigers Neo Rauch, Tim Eitel, Martin Eder and c.); the remaining
space is reserved for “Sound Artist” Carsten Nicolai’s beautifully minimal “Tension Loops” and
“Batteries”. The former consisting of wall-mounted Perspex boxes into which metal tape is
compressed in elegant arcs, and the latter of multi-layered glass plates with prints of random dots.
The Tape Loops hinge on the idea of the potential sound created by opening the casings, which
will inevitably destroy the piece. Not a new idea, but beautifully executed.
(http://www.berlinartlink.com/wp-content/uploads
/2011/11/CNicolai_tension-loop1.jpg) Carsten Nicolai
– “Tension loop”; courtesy Galerie Eigen + Art Berlin/
Leipzig, Photo: Uwe Walter, Berlin
Javier Peres of Peres Projects is exuberant.
“Everything’s really positive,” he beams. “Everyone’s
saying that the world is falling apart, but it hasn’t
affected certain people, unlike in 2008. In 2008, the
most expensive piece we sold cost $5000. We
decided, this year, to focus on super-strong
painting.” Apparently, then, this year is different in
1 of 12
terms of sales as well. Peres Projects is showing a
“historic” Dan Colen chewing gum collage (2008), as
well as a new find, the Basquiat-esque New Yorker
Eddie Martinez, and a wonderfully explicit Dorothy
Iannone.
/2011/11/Peres_installationview.jpg) Javier Peres at his stand at Frieze 2011; photo: Jeni Fulton
Guido W. Baudach with “no desire to show ‘mixed pickles’ at both Frieze and Paris FIAC” is
showing five of Erik van Lieshout’s large scale works on paper: Lieshout has turned scenes from
his 2006 Rotterdam – Rostock “documentary” film into large-scale reverse storyboards of scenes
from the film. The lack of an “all over and at once aspect” (as they tie into Lieshout’s larger oeuvre)
makes for compelling viewing. Baudach’s laptop perches atop a desk constructed from a Lieshout
found half-door.
http://www.berlinar
from the film. The lack of an “all over and at once aspect” (as they tie into Lieshout’s larger oeuvre)
makes for compelling viewing. Baudach’s laptop perches atop a desk constructed from a Lieshout
found half-door.
(http://www.berlinartlink.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Lieshout-1.jpg)
Erik
van
Lieshout,
installation view at Guido Baudach’s booth; photo: Jeni Fulton
Reinforcing the weighty presence of installations at this year’s Frieze, Galerie Daniel Buchholz is
showing Nairy Baghramian’s “Formage de tête” (Capot), which consists of a steel door and latex
ART TO-GO.
Berlin Art Link takes a look at Berlin offerings a...
sheeting. References to Minimal art abound here as elsewhere in London. The look of Frieze 2011,
it seems, is either large and in oil, or larger and in everyday materials – wood, steel, rubber. A
smallish Rosemarie Trockel in white wood hangs somewhat disconsolately at Sprüth Magers next
to a series of small palm tree images by her stablemate and winner of the Preis der Nationalgalerie
Cyprien Gaillard. Sprüth Magers is muscularly demonstrating its inclusion in the group of artworld
gallery heavyweights, showing Cindy Sherman – handily also up for auction at Christie’s this week
2 of 12 – and a small piece by Sterling Ruby. International art fair art here too, blue-chip artists with safe,
uncontroversial offerings, displaying nothing of the energetic hedonism of Gaillard’s beeramid in
the KunstWerke earlier this year. Contemporary Fine Arts is looking very neon with a pink
installation by Georg Herold, and is, in tandem with Gagosian, showing Anselm Reyle. They have
gone one better than Gagosian, however: Gagosian just has a painting consisting of a
Liechtensteinian oversized brushstroke. CFA has a Reyle sofa. Johann König are bucking the trend:
they have turned their stand into a black box, and are showing a single, 12-minute animated film
by Jordan Wolfson; providing a welcome respite from the crowds and the noise.
/2011/11/CFA_installation_view.jpg) CFA booth,
installation view, photo: Jeni Fulton
Frieze projects is a programme of works
commissioned specifically for the fair. This year, it
includes two Berlin-based artists: Christian
Jankowski and Oliver Laric. Jankowski is literally
testing the waters. In a somewhat specious
Duchampian gesture, he’s presenting a motor boat
either as “boat only” or “boat art” options. Here, the
“art premium” is ostentatiously quantified: if you
want it as Jankowski ready-made it will set you
back an extra €125 000 (€625 000 instead of €500
000). A crowd of besuited men cast covetous
glances at the multi-horsepower machine. No word
on sales: despite Javier Peres’ cheery assertions,
fair observers are muttering that buyers are holding
back this year. Oliver Laric has chosen to
marginalise art in his online video piece: it consists
of a series of very short videos of mundane Frieze activities, such as cleaning or someone
urinating. Pierre Huyghe’s spider crabs, another Frieze project, get a brief look-in.
http://www.berlinar
glances at the multi-horsepower machine. No word
on sales: despite Javier Peres’ cheery assertions,
fair observers are muttering that buyers are holding
back this year. Oliver Laric has chosen to
marginalise art in his online video piece: it consists
of a series of very short videos of mundane Frieze activities, such as cleaning or someone
urinating. Pierre Huyghe’s spider crabs, another Frieze project, get a brief look-in.
(http://www.berlinartlink.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Jankowski_finestartonwater.jpg)
Christian
Jankowski – “Finest art on water”, installation view; photo: Jeni Fulton
ART
For edgier fare, one luckily did not have to go far. The Sunday art fair, (“Frieze’s closest competitor”
according to some) is held in a vast, empty, hangar-like machine hall just down the road from
Frieze. The main room is dominated by some rather intriguing Minimalist book-cases by the Welsh
artist Sean Edwards. In its second year, Sunday was founded by the Berlin galleries Croy Nielsen
and Tanya Leighton with Tulips and Roses (Brussels) to create a platform for younger artists.
Jankowski and Laric were again featured: the former by his Mexican gallery Proyectos Monoclova;
the latter by Tanya Leighton gallery. Jankowski here is busy silencing art criticism: having
TO-GO.
Berlin Art Link takes a look at Berlin offerings a...
commissioned the critics Roberta Smith, and Jerry Saltz, among others, to expound on Frieze, he
is stuffing their handwritten notes in empty booze bottles. The work is more tongue-in-cheek and
playful than his offering at the parallel fair. Laric’s presentation at Sunday is a large-scale serial
application of holographed gold stickers, featuring Rodin’s thinker and an Ancient Greek discus
thrower, produced in China. The shiny, bright pieces would have been at home at Frieze.
3 of 12
___________________________________________________________________________________
Jeni Fulton is a writer focussing in and on the international Berlin art scene. She is currently
working on her PhD thesis in contemporary art theory. Having taken her MA in Philosophy at the
University of Cambridge, she now lives and works in Berlin. She curated Berlin Art Link’s first
exhibition at Galerie Open: “antinomies/gegensätze” with artists Allison Fall and Madline Stillwell.
The exhibition ran from September 9th to October 22nd of this year, featuring collages, installations
and a live performance series.
Share (http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250&username=xa-4c94e6ba1549a372) |
Related Posts :
(http://www.berlinartlink.com/2011/02/07/emdash-award/)
Apply for the Frieze Art Fair EMDASH Award – deadline: March 7, 2011!
(http://www.berlinartlink.com/2011/02/07/emdash-award/)
(http://www.berlinartlink.com/2011/10/14/moire/)
MOIRÉ: Christian Schwarzwald’s installative drawings
http://www.berlinar
Re-reading the Classic « cura. magazine
http://www.curamagazine.com/en/?p=3082
cura. magazine
about staff contributors artists contacts
current issue archive subscribe advertising distribution
curating project room special events friends BOOKSHOP
cura.books store cart
3/5
itinside
| encura.magazine
Re-reading the Classic
Posted by cura. magazine June 5th, 2011
Part of inside cura.magazine
by francesca cavallo
It hardly made the news in Italy, but in London, where I live, I could not but read with a mixture of
anger and sinister amusement the story, reported by British newspapers, of an ancient Roman
statue which has undergone ‘cosmetic surgery’. According to the news item (The Guardian, BBC
News etc.), our Prime Minister has commissioned the reconstruction of the missing parts of a
sculpture of Venus and Mars (they were missing an armand a penis respectively), a sculpture
which was ‘borrowed’ from an Italian museum to decorate his headquarters in Palazzo Chigi.
“Fear not” declared the Prime Minister’s spokespeople, the artisan in charge of the operation
(which has cost Italian tax-payers thousands of euros) has supposedly used only a binding agent
made from pulverised marble that will enable the added
parts to be removed with no harm to the original art work.
Nevertheless, how not to cringe at the thought of such a desecration? To think that, only in 2005,
Marc Quinn has carved in marble his portraits of disabled people as Roman statues with missing
limbs.
An archaeological artefact is fragmented almost by definition. That is what makes it beautiful. It
forces the mind of the viewer to make that imaginative leap that reconstructs the missing parts.
The more isolated and fragmented, the harder our imagination must work and ‘travel in time’. An
archaeological artefact is ‘epic’ as it speaks of an ‘other’ age, which the chain of historical events
has brought to an end. An age which we cannot recreate other than in our mind. In this sense,
fragments of the past are like citations that, in the words of Walter Benjamin, are “armed thieves
who emerge suddenly and rob leisurely strollers of their convictions.”1. As with citations, we can
all appropriate the classics. These are almost always used out of their original context and in this
resides their greatness. The inexhaustible desire to re-appropriate ourselves of what is antique
1/16/12 2:46 PM
manifests itself even today in a variety
4 of 7
1 of 7
1/16/12 2:46 PM
cura. magazine, June 2011
of ways; in some cases it takes the shape of rigorous conservation, sometimes nostalgic
contemplation, in others, it can fuel a certain taste for rhetorical magnificence. It is not surprising,
then, that there still is someone, like our Prime Minister, who has the ambition to restore classical
beauty to its ancient splendour;
the deployment of classical antiquity by the ruler of the moment is a praxis dating back from the
times of Charlemagne. Back to the present, in this querelle between conservation-purists on the
one hand and, on the other, those who favour interventions aimed at restoring antiquity to its
former glory, art may still be able to tell us something new.
The recent work of some artists has brought new emphasis to the actuality of the past. Ancient
Rome has become, in their hands, a way to explore the present, a metaphor not yet exhausted, a
pre-figuration of the historical flux that challenges the certainties of the accepted belief systems,
whether economic, cultural or historical. In this light we can interpret the classicisms of de
Chirico, the work of Giulio Paolini, or Michelangelo Pistoletto’s Venere degli stracci. Amongst
interventions of this kind, we must mention The Aesthetics of Resistance, the neon signs that
Alfredo Jaar in 1992 installed in the Pergamonmuseum of Berlin, above the monumental stairway
of the Pergamon Altar. Here were remembered the places
where Turkish immigrants had become the victims of neo-Nazi German violence in those years.
This is all the more poignant if we consider that the Altar, originally seated within Turkish soil, is
one of the artefacts that the Turkish government has most insistently reclaimed ownership over.
In his project Jaar displayed, next to the altar’s sculptural frieze, enlarged images of the violent
scenes portrayed in the marble high-reliefs, juxtaposed with other images: violence perpetrated by
far-right skinheads. This use of classical ancient art, far from being in any way philologically
orthodox, allows for an incisive re-reading of the Pergamon Altar in the light of present-day
events.
In a way that is far less poetic or critically relevant, the operation of cosmetic enhancement
commissioned by the Prime Minister is another example of the practice of re-reading the past in a
contemporary light. Nowadays, physical beauty is appreciated so much more than cultural and
historical value. But every empire, as we know, inevitably enters a phase of decline. In this
instance, once again, a comparison with current events is not so far fetched.
When in 1847 Thomas Couture painted Les Romains de la decadence [Romans in the Decadence
of the Empire], he was expressing his criticism of French society as it emerged from the July
Monarchy; he famously quoted Juvenal in the presentation
booklet compiled for the Salon: “Crueler than war, vice fell upon Rome and avenged the
conquered world.” In more recent times, we have Francesco Vezzoli’s Caligula with its licentious
and prophetic Hollywood-style toga parties and, importantly, the work of Simon Fujiwara, Frozen,
winner of the 2010 Cartier Award at the Frieze art fair. Here, a fake archaeological excavation was
installed under the art fair’s pavilion, with open tombs protected by glass cases and accompanied
by information sheets. Amongst the ‘discovered’ sites are The House of Pleasure decorated with
oriental-style Pompeian frescoes and a Roman market renamed Macellum. In a less conspicuous
position there is also the burial site of the deceased artist, where the
corpse lies surrounded by coins. In this archaeological mise en scène Fujiwara has realised a witty
parody of today’s art market: “Frozen” echoes the English expression “frozen in time” while at the
same time playing with the name of the art fair. The irony that informs this work – a satire of the
system which the artist is part of – barely conceals a touch of anxiety: is the art market ultimately
killing artists by rewarding them beyond measure or, otherwise, ignoring their worth?
How will the art of our time be viewed by posterity? How long will the art market benefit from
such vast financial input? In a sense, Frozen can be seen as an artwork that is largely influenced by
the spectre of the current financial crisis and its enduring effects. Viewed somewhat romantically,
it could be seen as a premonition
2 of 7
1/16/12 2:46 PM
of future decline, bringing to mind Joseph Gandy’s painting Bank of England as a Ruin (1830),
commissioned by architect John Soane for the building which was at the time still under
construction.
The reiteration of an iconographic motif, an attitude, an ancient myth or a concept is a praxis that
has currency today more than ever. We live in a time in which, through the internet, images and
symbols of the past beam on our computer screens constantly reinvented. Classical antiquity, the
bearer of so many symbolic associations, keeps on living in infinite variants, infinite metaphorical
and metonymic declinations. Never before, maybe, have we so ruthlessly and easily appropriated,
from a wide range of sources, iconographic material and reused it to
create new art. The web has multiplied the availability of such iconographic resources, reflecting
our fascination with it. Austrian born artist Oliver Laric has taken the web by storm in recent years
with his video Versions (http://oliverlaric.com/ vvversions.htm), re-edited each time it is exhibited
in a new
venue. Versions 2010 comes together with a new edition of Ancient Copies, a 1977 essay by
Margaret Bieber about Roman replicas of ancient Greek statues. Versions is a video exploration of
the reuse of images and their ability to survive centuries and art forms through their constant
reinvention. The artist, who speaks off camera in one of the versions of the video, confesses “I
express unlimited thanks to all the authors that have in the past, by compiling from remarkable
instances of skills, provided us with abundant material of different kinds.” And goes on to explain:
“Multiplication of an icon, rather than diluting its cultic power, rather increases its fame and each
image, however imperfect conventionally, partakes of some portion of the property of the
precursor […] Touched with the hammer as with the tuning fork I cook every chance in my pot.
It’s the real thing.”
For good or for bad, no copyright can avoid such an irreversible process of re-appropriation
through the ages. And if time has caused ancient statues to loose their limbs or their head, an art
restorer – or even just a passing vandal – can well decide to reconstruct what is missing or destroy
what is there with a hammer,
as in the case of one of the toes of Michelangelo’s David, a few years ago. Alex Cecchetti in 2010
realised a performance-guided tour of the Louvre dedicated to the Narcisse, a III century AD
sculpture also known as Hermaphrodite Mazarin or Le Génie du repos éternel. This performance,
entitled Awakening the Spirit of Eternal Rest, remembers the complex history of the artefact from
the time of its creation, being as it were originally half funeral effigy and half contemporary roman
statue combined, to the time when it was subjected to another act of vandalism, the one performed
by the duc Mazarin in 1670.
A history not dissimilar to what happened to the Roman statue in the hands of Berlusconi, but
nonetheless, a history that accounts in part for the extraordinary appeal of the Narcisse. Centuries
later, it is that same iconoclastic gesture that is retold by the artist, to awake an ancient art work
from its state of eternal repose.
1. Walter Benjamin, Einbahnstrasse, Rowohlt, Berlin 1928; Eng. transl. One-way street and
Others writings, New Left Books, London 1979.
1/5 Oliver Laric, Ancient Copies, 2010 Courtesy: the artist; seventeen, London
2/5 Oliver Laric, Ancient Copies, Plate 28, 2010 Courtesy: the artist; seventeen, London
3/5 Oliver Laric, Versions, 2010, video still Courtesy: the artist
4/5 Alfredo Jaar, The Aesthetics of Resistance, 1992, Pergamon Museum, Berlin Courtesy: the
artist
5/5 Simon Fujiwara, Frozen, 2010, The Cartier Award 2010, commissioned and produced by
Frieze Foundation for Frieze Projects, London Photo: Linda Nylind
3 of 7
1/16/12 2:46 PM
!"#$%&'()&#*+',%&-#./0)-'1.&2&)#2'%#/%-'3%&'4#*52#6-2%/'78&)2.&%/'%#/%&'/%8%/'
9/2%&/%2:78/-2';8<'=2)28-'3%-'>#"3%-'
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Monopol, 2011
!"#$%&'(!)*+&,#'*%-&..%*/01213
!"#$%&'()&#*'#+,'-#,.%/&012%&'$31'4$3&56'%#1'73&8),6'2)++'/"%#*9:%#,#/';#"2."3/6'<3&,")=<%12%'
>=++,%""=1/'=12'>&*9#$'2)&+,%"",?'()&#*'/%9@&,'2)8#,':='2%1'A#*9,#/+,%1'B=&),3&%1'%#1%&'
1%=%1'C1,%&1%,DB=1+,?'E%#1%'4#2%3)&.%#,'4%&+#31+'FGHIHJ'+,%"",'#8'E,#"%'%#1%+'K++)L<#"8+'
/&=12+M,:"#*9%'7&)/%1':=8'E,),=+'2%+';#"2%+'1)*9'2%&'K#1+#*9,'+%#1%&'=1%12"#*9%'
-)1#N="#%&.)&5%#,?'4%&.#12"#*9%'B31:%N,%'2%+'K*9,%1'=12'>=,9%1,#+*9%1'9).%1'+#*9'2)8#,'
%12/0",#/'%&"%2#/,?
4(*,#$*5$6#&-*+'(*7.&+#$*89$&:)*;#6'$#(*2<=2*&(*4((%6$>:?)*9>@;#A9:B%#(*CA&%:B#(*DE(:B#()*
F&#()*G'?H'*>(,*I&--.#$A#&.#*&(*J#$.&(*A'B(B9@-)*+#$@.#:B-#(*%&:B*CA#&*KL>$#(*C#&-;#(M%%&%:B#$)*
I#,&9.#$*N>(%-L$',>?-&'(O*,&;&-9.#*8&(#9$&-P-*+#$%>%*'$;9(&%:B#*"#$(#-C-B#&-)*"#$%:B9.->(;*+#$%>%*
"#$@&.C>(;Q*R>I*#&(#(*6#-$#&6-*#$*I&-*5.#?%9(,$9*S'I9('+&:)*TB$&%-'LB*U$&;.&(;#$*>(,*V#'$;*
K:B(&-C#$*%#&-*011W*"+'$?)*#&(*J&.,6.';)*9>@*,#I*#&(I9.*-P;.&:B*#&(#*5$6#&-*;#L'%-#-*A&$,)*,#$*96#$*
-9-%P:B.&:B*9>:B*#&(*5>%%-#..>(;%$9>I*@E$*C#&-;#(M%%&%:B#*N>(%-*&%-Q*X&(#*K9II.>(;*I&-*
&(B9.-.&:B#$*5$:B&-#?->$)*%'*9.%*BP--#*D'B'.HYZ9;H*#&(#*69$':?#*F>(,#$?9II#$*?'(C&L&#$-Q*4(*
%#&(#(*#&;#(#(*"&,#'Y*>(,*D#,&#(?>(%-9$6#&-#(*%#-C-*89$&:*%&:B*I&-*,&#%#(*7$,(>(;%L$&(C&L&#(*,#%*
J&.,#%)*,#$*R#&-.&:B?#&-*>(,*[&%-'$&C&-P-)*,#I*7$&;&(9.*>(,*,#$*7$&;&(9.&-P-*,#$*\P.%:B>(;*
9>%#&(9(,#$Q*K#&(#*]E(;%-#*5$6#&-*^"#$%&'(%^*/C>*%#B#(*9>@*'.&+#$.9$&:Q:'I3*,#I'(%-$&#$-*,9%*9(*
%:B.&:B-#(*J&.,#$(*>(,*X,&-%)*>(-#$.#;-*+'(*#&(#$*%'*(#>-$9.#(*KL$#:B#$%-&II#)*,9%%*,#$*J#-$9:B-#$*
?9>I*A#&_)*'6*#&(*G#`-Y-'YKL##:BYU$';$9II*%L$&:B-*',#$*#&(#*K-&II#)*,&#*+#$%>:B-)*A&#*#&(#%*C>*
?.&(;#(Q*
K*9,%'EN=&
4(*^"#$%&'(%^*6#-$#&6-*89$&:*#&(#*;9(C*#&;#(#*5$:BP'.';&#*,#$*%:BA&$$#(,#(*J&.,#$O*9>%*,#$*
V#%:B&:B-#*A&$,*,9%*V#%:B&:B-#-#Q*89$&:*B9-*,&#%#*%:B&:B-A#&%#*K&:B-A#&%#*?'(%#a>#(-*&(%*R#(-$>I*
,#%*"&,#'%*;#%-#..-*>(,*(&II-)*6#;.#&-#-*+'(*,#$*(E:B-#$(#()*,&,9?-&%:B*@EB$#(,#(*X$CPB.%-&II#*
?.9(,#%-&(#*J'B$>(;#(*,>$:B*,&#*N'(C#L-#*+'(*\9%%>(;#()*b6#$%#-C>(;#(*>(,*89H#$(*+'$Q*5.%*
R#&-Y*>(,*c9>I%:B&:B-*,&#(-*&BI*,96#&*#-A9*,9%*KL&#.*CA&%:B#(*c#L.&?9(-*>(,*K&;(&@&?9(-*&(*9.-#(*
S&%(#HY\&.I#()*6#&*,#(#(*'@-*E6#$*d9B$#*B&(A#;*,&#%#.6#(*5(&I9-&'(%6M;#(*+#$A#(,#-*A>$,#(O*
&II#$*;.#&:B#*J#A#;>(;%96.P>@#*&(*,#(*&II#$*;.#&:B#(*cP>I#()*'6*D'A;.&*&I*&(,&%:B#(*
S%:B>(;#.*',#$*TB$&%-'LB#$*c'6&(*&(*F&((&#*GB#*U''B%*F#.-Q*F9%*9(&I&#$-*A&$,)*A&$,*$#9(&I&#$-Q*
S&#*K-&II#*+#$@'.;-*,&#%#*KL>$*A#&-#$*,>$:B*,&#*J&.,#$%-E$I#$#&)*@$EB#*\'-'I'(-9;#(*e*.9*
D>H6$&,;#*>(,*D9$#H)*6&%*B&(*C>*UB'-'%B'LY89H#$(*>(,*,&;&-9.#(*c#.&?-#(*CA&%:B#(*&$9(&%:B#I*
c9?#-#(-#%-*>(,*FDSQ*^5.%*D',#..*;#@P..-*I&$*,&#*KL>$^)*#$CPB.-*89$&:)*^&I*TB&(#%&%:B#(*6#,#>-#-*
f'$&;&(9.g*AM$-.&:B*f#:B-#*KL>$g)*9.%'*L#$I9(#(-#$*J#-9YK-9->%*'B(#*X(,L>(?-Q*KL>$#(*
E6#$%:B(#&,#(*%&:B)*A#$,#(*.#&:B-*+#$A&%:B-*>(,*;#(#$&#$#(*%'*#&(*L$',>?-&+#%*KL&#.@#.,Q^
!"#$%&'(%!)*+&,#'*%-&..%*/01213
!"#$%&'$()%&'&)$*&+,&
"+'$4*5.%*5678*'.&+#$.5$&797':*4;((-#(*+'(*,#$*<=&#.>#.,?#%-5.-6(?*8#$*456:*%&:=.#$*%#&(9*@&#*
$8&A':5-&%78#*<-$64-6$*B*C&#*%&#*+'$*:&--.#$C#&.#*:#8$*5.%*A#8(*D58$#(*#-C5*E5$4*F$&G#%*
H#-A46(%-='$-5.*$8&A':#9'$?*+'(*@#.#6A#IJ65--5$&*KG#$('::#(*6(,*&:=.#:#(-&#$-*85--#*B*&%-*&(*,&#*
L&%%#*,#$*M#(6-A#$'G#$>.N78#*#(-C&78#(9*@&#*8#&.%+#$%=$#78#(,#(*-56%#(,*O.5-#56%)*56>*,#(#(*F$&G#*
,5:5.%*H#-A46(%-*=$',6A&#$-#)*%-5-->&(,#(*6(,*%&78*+#$(#-A#(*.&#P)*C#$,#(*+'(*#&(&?#(*
8#?#:'(&%78#(*O.5-->'$:#(*=.5--?#>'$:-9*@5%*H#-A*6(,*,&#*O$',64-&'(*,5$&(*#(-C&74#.-*%#&(#*
<=5((6(?*8#6-#*#&(#$%#&-%*,6$78*O5$-&A&=5-&'(*6(,*Q#$%-$#66(?*6(,*5(,#$#$%#&-%*,6$78*L#?6.5-&'(*
6(,*MK(,#.6(?9*R&$*G#C#?#(*6(%*>5%-*(6$*('78*#(-.5(?*J''?.#%*?#8#&:#$*O5?#SL5(4ST.?'$&-8:#()*
,&#*#&(#*(#6#*U&?#(.'?&4*AC&%78#(*<678#(*6(,*V&(,#(*8#$+'$?#G$578-*85G#(9*T6>*,#$*5(,#$#(*<#&-#*
!"#$%&'%(&"$&)%*"&%++,-./0,12%3"&%'"04%")$5"$"+&-&%6-3)5)!'7-")8"7"&)%85)5$8&%1904&)2%95:%3&)&)%
19)%:")3&$2%,4)&%85%'504&)/%;9-"0%#&,#904$&$%")%3&)%<&$8$&)%=94-&)%'&4-%-"04$"!2%39''%>39'%?)$&-)&$%
85%3&)%?)$&-)&$'%*"-32%*"&%&'%@&,-!&%A/%B5'42%*&))%9504%5)*"''&)$<"042%7,'$5<"&-$%49$/>%C9'%*9-%
DEEF%5)3%3"&%G")'04H$85)!%&-:I<<$%'"04%'&"$3&1%7-,74&$"'04%'&<#'$/
!"#$%&'()'*+,-."
;9-"0'%@&'04"04$&%3&-%B"<3&-%9<'%J&3"&)%#&!"))$%")%>K&-'",)'>%&-'$%1"$%3&-%L&977-,7-"9$",)%3&-%
B"<3&-%)904%3&1%-&:,-19$,-"'04&)%B"<3&-'$5-1%5)3%+,-%3&-%B"<3&-:<5$2%3"&%5)'%'7H$&'$&)'%'&"$%3&-%
G-:")35)!%3&-%M,$,!-9:"&%I#&-'04*&11$/%;9-"0'%$4&,-&$"'04&%N#&-<&!5)!&)%")%>K&-'",)'>%
&)$*"0.&<)%&")&%(79))5)!%8*"'04&)%$&04)"'04&1%B"<3%9<'%O-$&:9.$%5)3%',!&)9))$&)%O04&"-,7,"&$92%
>)"04$%+,)%J&)'04&)49)3%!&1904$&)%B"<3&-)>2%*"&%3&1%@-9#$504%+,)%P5-")%,3&-%3&-%:-I4&)%
M,$,!-9:"&2%#&"%3&-2%*"&%19)%!<95#$&2%3&-%>Q&)0"<%,:%R9$5-&>%3"&%R9$5-%!9)8%+,)%'&<#'$%")'%B"<3%
&")'04-"&#S%>O04&"-,7,"&$9%'")3%1&")&%;"&#<")!'#"<3&->2%1&")$%6<"+&-%;9-"02%>39%'"&%'"04%T&!<"04&-%
U-"$".%&)$8"&4&)/%("&%'")3%3"&%&")8"!&)%B"<3&-%#&"%3&)&)%'"04%B"<3&-'$I-1&-%)"04$%#&'04*&-&)%3I-:&)/%
VW4&-&%A&'&)%)&41&)%3"&%K&-9)$*,-$5)!%95:%'"04%5)3%,7:&-)%'"04%85%5)'&-&)%@5)'$&)/%K"&<<&"04$%
<H''$%'"04%3"&%.,<<&.$"+&%B"<37-,35.$",)%9504%")%3"&'&%U9$&!,-"&%'$&0.&)/%G'%!&4$%1&4-%51%3"&%
5)9)$9'$#9-&%?3&&%9<'%51%39'%(5#T&.$%X0<,53%0,175$")!Y/%B&"%N#&-'&$85)!&)%!"#$%&'%&")&)%H4)<"04&)%
P-9)':&-%3&-%K&-9)$*,-$5)!/%C"&%N#&-'&$85)!%"!),-"&-$%7&-'W)<"04&%L&'$-".$",)&)2%39%9)%?3&&)%3&-%
O)3&-&)%!&9-#&"$&$%*"-3/>%
!"#$%&'(%!)*+&,#'*%-&..%*/01213
!"#$%&'()*+),"$-),./)"$
4#5&(,#(*6&$*7(%*8.%'*&99#$*(':;*&9*<#&-8.-#$*,#$*=#>$?%#(-8-&'(*7(,*6#((*@8)*A7*6#.:;#9*
B7%98CD*E,#$*;8F#(*6&$*,#(*GH:'(&:*I7$(G*;&(-#$*7(%)*%#&-*6&$*&(*,&#*8.J'$&-;9&%:;#*<#&-*
-#:;(&%:;#$*4&.,#$*#&(J#-$#-#(*%&(,)*&(*,#$*4&.,#$*&(*.#-A-#$*K'(%#L7#(A*&99#$*(7$*I#M-*%&(,D*H(*
G"#$%&'(%G*NF#$.8J#$(*%&:;*4&.,*7(,*I#M-)*6#$,#(*5N$#&(8(,#$*O8.&9>%#%-)*,#9*6&$*7(%*(7$*(':;*
NF#$*/=#P3H(-#$>$#-8-&'(*(?;#$(*QR((#()*6'F#&*6&$*9RJ.&:;#$6#&%#*&(%*S:;.#7,#$(*J#$8-#(T*
U8$&:V*GW8%*,8%*S:;$&5-P4&.,P"#$;?.-(&%*8(J#;-)*F&(*&:;*9&$*%&:;#$T*X8$-&*Y#8$%-*>$'>;#A#&-*#&(#*
Z(-6&:Q.7(J*,#$*S:;$&5-*A7*#&(#9*Y'FF[*',#$*\8:;%[%-#9*5N$*S>#A&8.&%-#()*6&#*#-68*]'-8$#T*^#$*
$#J7.?$#*"#$F$87:;#$*&(5'$9&#$-*%&:;*,7$:;*I'(*7(,*4&.,T*^#$*O$'A#%%*F#J&((-*.8(J%89*,7$:;*
$#,7A&#$-#%*S:;$#&F#()*8FJ#.R%-*,7$:;*8Q7%-&%:;#*H(5'$98-&'(%#&(J8F#T*"&,#'%*QR((#(*F#$#&-%*&9*
S:;(#..,7$:;.875*';(#*J$'F#*"#$A#$$7(J*',#$*"#$?(,#$7(J*$#A&>&#$-*6#$,#(T*B.%'*(':;*%:;(#..#$*
7(,*#55&A&#(-#$T*U87-*Y#8$%-*6#$,#(*98(:;#*U?(,#$*9&-*J#$&(J#$*U#%#P*7(,*S:;$#&F5?;&JQ#&-*,&#*
+#$F$#&-#-#*"#$6#(,7(J*+'(*S:;$&5-*#&(58:;*NF#$%>$&(J#()*6&#*&(*98(:;#(*U?(,#$(*\#%-(#-A*',#$*
"YS*NF#$%>$7(J#(*67$,#T*W#((*,8%*%'*',#$*?;(.&:;*>8%%&#$-)*6&$,*_F#$%#-A7(J*6';.*(':;*
>$?%#(-#$TG*
B75*J#(87*,&#%#*B$-*&%-*U8$&:*%#.F%-*_F#$%#-A#$*7(,*%#-A-*8.%*Q[F#$(#-&%:;#$*S-#7#$98((*NF#$*,#(*
H(5'$98-&'(%Q8(8.)*,#$*,8%*=;&A'9*7(-#$%>N.-*;8-V*
G^&#*\&J7$*,#%*=;&A'9%*QR((-#*,7$:;*_F#$.8J#$7(J*9&-*,#(*+#$68(,-#(*4#J$&55#(*`:.'7,*
:'9>7-&(Ja*7(,*`>##$*-'*>##$a*#$(#7#$-*6#$,#(T*^&#%#*I$&(&-?-*6N$,#*#+#(-7#..*A7*#&(#9*+#$5$N;-#(*
Z&(-$#55#(*,#$*S&(J7.8$&-?-*5N;$#()*6';.*87:;*A7*#&(#$*;[%-#$&%:;#(*B(J%-*+'$*,#$*^#J$8,&#$7(J*,#%*
H(,&+&,779%*A79*W#$QA#7J*#&(#$*$;&A'98-&%:;#(*W'.Q#T*B.%*X8%Q'--:;#(*5N$*,&#%#%*X',#..*
%:;.8J#*&:;*#&(#*K'9F&(8-&'(*87%*"'.-$'()*I2111*7(,*48$F8>8>8*+'$TG*
Wo fängt die Skulptur
an und wo hört sie auf?
Seit Rodin ist diese Frage
umstritten. Heute finden Künstler
sehr unterschiedliche Antworten
auf die ewige Frage nach
dem Sockel
Where does a sculpture start
and where does it end? Since
Rodin the answer has
been unclear. Today, artists are
finding very different solutions
to the persistent problem of
the pedestal
Im Frühjahr 2011 war in
der Secession in Wien eine
monumentale Druck- und Kopiermaschine aufgestellt, die einer
kleinen tischähnlichen Skulptur als
Sockel diente. Darüber hinaus
produzierte die Maschine eine
Broschüre mit dem Titel „Book of
Plinths/Buch der Sockel“, die
Besucherinnen und Besucher an sich
nehmen konnten. Neben einem
Aufsatz des Kunstkritikers Francesco
Stocchi fanden sich in dem Heft
Abbildungen von Sockelskulpturen,
die zum Teil auch in der Ausstellung zu
sehen waren. Diese Skulpturen
wiederum waren nach Bildvorlagen
von Arbeiten von Künstlern wie
Constantin Brâncuşi und
Robert Rauschenberg angefertigt
worden, in denen der Sockel eine
wesentliche Rolle spielt. Da die
Repliken auf einfache Grundformen
reduziert und den Originalen nur
angenähert waren, gab es keinen
expliziten Verweis auf die
historischen Vorbilder.
Das Sockelproblem
The Pedestal
Problem
Manuela Ammer
Die Kopien hingegen waren
gleich doppelt präsent
– als Objekte und druckgrafische
Reproduktionen –, wobei die „Sockelkopien“ wiederum als Originale der
Fotokopien gelten konnten. An dieser
Ambiguität hatte auch die XeroxMaschine ihren Anteil, die nicht nur
Trägerin, sondern auch Produzentin
eines Werkes war. Im Unterschied
zur gedruckten Broschüre tauchte
die Maschine jedoch nicht in
der Werkliste auf, war folglich
Teil des Ausstellungsdisplays und
mithin austauschbar.
===========
Dessen ungeachtet trat sie
mit einer Massivität auf,
die die eigentlichen Werke in den
Hintergrund drängte. Mit welcher
Legitimation aber beansprucht
ein Sockel diesen Status?
Diese Zusammenstellung des
österreichischen Künstlers Christoph
Meier wirft die Frage auf, ob ein
Sockel, der Werke nicht nur
präsentiert, sondern sie
buchstäblich hervorbringt,
eigentlich noch ein Sockel ist.
Und wie lässt sich eine Reproduktion
fassen, die kein Original mehr
kennt? Was hat das Verhältnis von
Sockel und Werk überhaupt mit
der Differenz von Original und Kopie
zu tun? Und warum beschäftigen
diese Themen gerade eine Generation
von Künstlerinnen und Künstlern,
deren Bildverständnis wesentlich
durch digitale Verfahren der
Erzeugung und Multiplikation
von Bildern geprägt ist?
===========
Während der Rahmen über
eine Geschichte der theoretischen
Auseinandersetzung verfügt, die von
Immanuel Kant über Georg Simmel bis
zu Jacques Derrida reicht, bleiben
Philosophie und Ästhetik zur
verwandten Figur des Sockels auffällig
stumm. Anders als der Rahmen, der
in Gestalt der „Rahmenbedingungen“
eine postmoderne Wiedergeburt
erleben durfte, der Künstlerinnen
und Künstler sich
===========
Christoph Meier
Ohne Titel
Untitled
2011
Ausstellungsansicht
Installation view
Courtesy: Secession, Wien 2011 & der Künstler / the artist; Fotografie / Photograph: Gregor Titze
===========
60 | frieze d/e | Herbst Autumn 2011
Herbst Autumn 2011 | frieze d/e | 61
Frieze d/e, Fall 2011
===========
Nina Beier
Shelving for Unlocked Matter
and Open Problems
Regale für offengelegte Angelegenheiten
und offene Probleme
Detail, 2010
Modifizierte Skulpturen, Glas
Modified sculptures, glass
Maße variabel / Dimensions variable
===========
sondern macht ihn auch
aus der Perspektive aktueller
Diskussionen rund um die Politiken
des Displays zu einer beachtenswerten
Bezugsgröße. Nicht zuletzt ist
der Sockel eng mit dem Begriff der
Geschichte verbunden (man
denke etwa an den sprichwörtlichen
„Sockel der Geschichte“). Als faktischem Träger ist ihm das Potential,
auch im übertragenen Sinne die „Basis“
eines Objektes zu verdeutlichen,
gleichsam eingeschrieben. So dienten
Sockel immer wieder auch als Medien,
die historische Bezüge herstellten,
Genealogien oder Traditionslinien
suggerierten und Hierarchien zum
Ausdruck brachten.
===========
Die wenige Literatur, die
sich mit der jüngeren Geschichte des
Sockels befasst, sieht seine
Bedeutung in erster Linie in seinem
Verschwinden.1 Nach einer Hochzeit in
der Denkmalkunst des späten
19. Jahrhunderts, in der Sockel von teils
enormen Ausmaßen zum Einsatz
kamen, setzte um 1900 ein Wandel der
ästhetischen Anforderungen und
Problemstellungen ein. Die
akademische Auffassung, dass der
Skulptur ein eigener Bereich
geschaffen werden müsse, sie also der
Inszenierung bedürfe, wurde mit
dem Autonomieanspruch des Werks
in der Moderne fragwürdig.
Der Sockel entwickelte
sich von einer gestalterischen
zu einer strukturellen Herausforderung. Bekanntermaßen waren es
Auguste Rodin und Constantin
Brâncuşi, die zu dieser Zeit grundlegende Neuerungen in der
Bildhauerei initiierten und im Zuge
dessen auch den Gebrauch des Sockels
einer Revision unterzogen.
Rodin befasste sich intensiv mit der
Wirkung seiner Figuren auf
unterschiedlichen Höhen und schlug
bereits 1893 für Le Monument aux
Bourgeois de Calais (Das Monument für
die Bürger von Calais, 1895) eine
Aufstellung ohne Sockel vor.
Zur Umsetzung dieses Entwurfs kam
es wegen der Widerstände der
Auftraggeber allerdings erst nach
seinem Tod. Brâncuşi wiederum
behandelte den Sockel als integralen
Bestandteil seines skulpturalen
Programms und ließ damit die
Grenze zwischen Sockel und Werk
porös werden. Modular angelegt und
somit unterschiedlichen Präsentationssituationen anpassbar, schichtete
er seine Sockel aus elementaren
Körpern auf, setzte sie auch als Möbel
ein und verlieh ihnen in einigen
Fällen sogar Werkstatus.
===========
Die Absorption des
Sockels in das Werk sowie der
direkte Bezug der Skulptur zum
Boden, salonfähig gemacht von
Brâncuşi und Rodin – aber auch für die
Arbeiten Marcel Duchamps und
Alberto Giacomettis von entscheidender Bedeutung –, wurden in
der Skulptur der 1960er und 70er Jahre
zum zentralen Topos. Insbesondere
die Minimal Art radikalisierte –
und standardisierte – die Errungenschaften der Moderne, indem sie
entweder Objekt und Sockel
gleichsam in eins fallen ließ
Courtesy: Croy Nielsen, Berlin; Laura Bartlett, London; Fotografie / Photograph: Jiri Thyn
seit dem Aufkommen der
Institutionskritik widmen, ist dem
Sockel eine vergleichbare
Aktualisierung versagt geblieben.
Dabei fungiert er in vielerlei Hinsicht
als plastisches Pendant zum
Rahmen: Während letzterer das Bild
an der Wand be- und von ihr abgrenzt,
isoliert ersterer das Objekt vom
umliegenden Raum. Der Sockel bereitet
seinem Gegenstand eine Basis,
trennt ihn vom Boden und setzt ihn
sowohl zur Architektur wie zum
Betrachter in Relation. Wie der
Rahmen, der an die Vorstellung des
Bildes als Fenster gekoppelt ist,
vermittelt der Sockel zwischen
dem Raum der Repräsentation und
dem Realraum. Rahmen wie Sockel
sind demnach „Gestelle“ oder
Vorrichtungen, die Distanz schaffen,
eine Präsentationssituation
anzeigen und die ästhetische
Rezeption des zur Schau
Gestellten anstoßen.
===========
Rhetorisch jedoch tritt der
Sockel in mehrerlei Hinsicht
wirkmächtiger auf als der Rahmen: Zum
einen geht mit der faktischen
Erhöhung des Gegenstandes stets
auch eine ideelle einher, was sich
insbesondere an der Geschichte
der Skulptur im öffentlichen Raum zeigt
– an jenen Figuren, die über die
Jahrhunderte auf Sockel gehoben und
wieder von Sockeln gestürzt
wurden. Zum anderen unterhält der
Sockel im Vergleich zum Rahmen ein
komplexeres Verhältnis zum Umraum,
aus dem er seinen Gegenstand
herausheben soll, in den er aber
zugleich selbst eingebunden ist. Dies
verortet ihn nicht nur im Spannungsfeld von Fragestellungen
zu Sichtbarkeit und Repräsentation
in urbanen Settings,
===========
Ist ein Sockel, der
Werke nicht nur
präsentiert, sondern
sie buchstäblich
hervorbringt, noch
ein Sockel?
===========
die Kunstwerke und
(Kunst-)Orte markieren und
produzieren, trat nicht nur der Sockel,
sondern das materielle Objekt
überhaupt in den Hintergrund. Man
könnte sagen, dass die Minimal Art
dem Sockel ex negativo seinen
bislang letzten großen Auftritt
bereitete – groß deshalb, weil er aufs
Engste an die Frage nach dem
Selbstverständnis der Kunst gekoppelt
war und den Verlust einer Autonomie
bedeutete, die sie gerade erst erworben
zu haben schien. Sobald das
Gespenst der „Theatralität“ aber seinen
Schrecken verloren hatte und unter
umgekehrten Vorzeichen zu einem
Hauptuntersuchungsfeld
===========
Nairy Baghramian
„Formage de tête“
Formung des Kopfs
Shaping the head
2011
Ausstellungsansicht
Installation view
===========
der Kunst avancierte, war
auch die Präsenz oder Absenz des
Sockels kein Politikum mehr. Denn
selbstredend ist das Motiv des Sockels
mit der Minimal Art nicht aus der
Kunstproduktion verschwunden, wie
Arbeiten von beispielsweise
Isa Genzken, Rachel Harrison, Franz
Erhard Walther, Franz West und
Heimo Zobernig belegen. Einzig
seine Funktion hat sich verändert:
Er ist nicht länger primär Träger
(in materieller wie – im Hinblick auf
den Autonomieanspruch –
ideologischer Hinsicht), sondern eher
eine rhetorische Figur. Er dient als
Zeichen, das imstande ist, ebenjenen
Diskurs um die „Verhältnismäßigkeit“
von Kunst, um ihre historische,
institutionelle und rezeptive Verortung,
wachzurufen. „Dieser ‚white cube‘
ist ein invertierter Sockel“,
wie Franz West es in einem
Interview formulierte.3
===========
Wie und warum beschäftigt
sich nun aber eine jüngere
Generation von Künstlerinnen und
Künstlern mit dem Sockel?
Denn Christoph Meier ist nicht der
einzige, der ihm gegenwärtig verstärkte
Aufmerksamkeit schenkt.
In Oliver Larics Ausstellung
„Kopienkritik“ in der Skulpturhalle
Basel im Sommer 2011 war der
Sockel ebenfalls Teil einer
Auseinandersetzung, die sich dem
Verhältnis von Original und Kopie
widmete. Laric nutzte die umfassende
Sammlung von Gipsabgüssen
Courtesy: Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Berlin/Köln
(man denke an die Kuben von
Robert Morris) oder mit dem Sockel
die vertikale Ausrichtung überhaupt
verabschiedete (ein anschauliches
Beispiel dafür wären Carl Andres
„floor pieces“). Diese Neuorientierung
des Verhältnisses von Objekt
und Umraum bedeutete zwangsläufig
auch einen grundlegenden Wandel des
Verhältnisses von Objekt und
Betrachter. Eine Kunst, die sich
systematisch des Sockels als vertikalem
Distanzhalter entledigt, die
mit dem Betrachter Grund und Boden
teilt und darüber hinaus das
ästhetische Ereignis zwischen Objekt
und Betrachter verortet, hat ihre
Autonomie eingebüßt. Sie liefert sich,
so die einschlägige Kritik
Michael Frieds an der Minimal Art,
den Kontingenzen von Präsentation
und Rezeption aus: Der geteilte Boden
wird zur Bühne und das Werk
„theatralisch“.2 Frieds Beobachtung
sollte Folgen zeitigen, aber nicht
unbedingt im Sinne des Kritikers.
Ortsspezifik, Institutionskritik und
später relationale Ästhetik – diese
und andere auf die Minimal Art
rekurrierende Tendenzen arbeiten
gewissermaßen mit der von
Fried konstatierten „Theatralität“.
Sie legen den Fokus auf jene
Kategorien, die die Theatralität
impliziert: Kontextualität, Performanz
und Relationalität.
===========
Mit der Verlagerung des
Interesses auf die sozialen und
kommunikativen Strukturen,
Bereich markiert, an dem
sich in konventionellen Präsentationssituationen der Sockel befinden würde.
Noch unmittelbarer führt dies
Baghramians Arbeit Metzger (2009) vor,
wenn auf einer Tischkonstruktion
eine Schinkenform liegt, während von
der Unterseite diverse Wurstformen
baumeln. In beiden Fällen manifestiert
sich der Sockel gewissermaßen
als Aussparung oder Fehlstelle,
als eine Absenz, die den Blick
von der Schauseite weg hin zu den
inneren Abläufen formbildender
Prozesse lenkt.
===========
Gesteigerte Sichtbarkeit
charakterisiert im Gegenzug Shahryar
Nashats Auseinandersetzung mit
dem Prinzip des Sockels. Im Mittelpunkt seiner Videoarbeit Factor Green
(Grünfaktor, 2011) steht ein
quaderförmiges giftgrünes Objekt,
das in der Accademia von Venedig
===========
Der Sockel ist
nicht länger primär
Träger, sondern eher
eine rhetorische
Figur.
===========
unter anderem als Sitzgelegenheit
und Sockel genutzt wird, bevor es sich
schließlich wie ein Schwamm
an einem Tintoretto-Gemälde
„festsaugt“. Auf der Biennale von
Venedig hatte Nashat vor der Projektion eine Reihe von Skulpturen
platziert, die Museumsbänken gleichen
und aus Travertin oder auffällig
gemustertem Marmorimitat gefertigt
sind: Sitzgelegenheiten, aber
auch Sockel für Kleinskulpturen,
die selbst wiederum aus in
Faux-Marmor gegossenen Sockelformen bestehen. Wie das giftgrüne
Objekt in Factor Green verweigern sich
die Bank- und Sockelskulpturen einer
eindeutigen Zuschreibung.
Sie appropriieren zwar die Form und
Funktion von Gebrauchsgegenständen,
wollen zugleich aber als Objekte
ästhetischer Anschauung überzeugen
und bedienen sich dazu sogar
Strategien der Mimikry. Auch in
Nashats Videoarbeit Plaque (Slab)
(Plaque, Grundplatte, 2007), die die
aufwendige Produktion einer
über vier Meter hohen Betonstele
dokumentiert, wird die Sockelform
zum Angelpunkt formaler Übersetzungen und Bedeutungstransfers.
Auslöser der Arbeit war ein 1964 für
das Fernsehen aufgezeichnetes
Konzert von Glenn Gould, dessen
Bühnenausstattung aus einer
Reihe gigantischer Faux-MarmorStelen bestand. Nashat durchsetzt die
Aufnahmen des Produktionsprozesses
der Betonstele mit Stills aus
dieser Konzertaufzeichnung und
kreiert so einen eigenwilligen
Dialog nicht nur der
miteinander korrespondierenden
Stelenformen, sondern auch
ihrer unterschiedlichen Funktionen
und Kontexte. Nashats Sockelobjekte
weisen Orte künstlerischer
Präsentation und Rezeption als
Umschlagplätze von Bedeutungen und
Begehrlichkeiten aus, zu deren
Erfüllung Appropriation und Imitation
legitime Mittel darstellen. Im selben
Moment signalisieren diese Rhetoriken
der Verführung jedoch auch eine Art
temporäre Vakanz, die die Sockelobjekte – selbst als Objekte der Begierde
inszeniert – umgehend zu besetzen
suchen. Überdeterminierte Materialien
einerseits und perfekte fotografischfilmische Inszenierung andererseits
verleihen ihnen den Charakter von
Fetischen, die auf Begehrensstrukturen
nicht nur verweisen, sondern
diese selbst aktualisieren.
===========
Auch im Werk Nina Beiers
ist die Thematisierung von Skulptur
oftmals an die Vorstellung ihres
Verlusts gekoppelt. Die Figur des
Sockels übernimmt in diesem
Zusammenhang weniger die Funktion,
diese Vakanz zu kompensieren
als vielmehr die, die Skulptur das
Szenario ihres eigenen Verschwindens
durchspielen zu lassen. In
Shelving for Unlocked Matter and
Open Problems (Regale für offengelegte
Angelegenheiten und offene
Probleme, 2010) beispielsweise
verlässt die Skulptur ihren Sockel, um
ihrer eigenen Abwesenheit Platz
zu machen und sich selbst einer neuen
Bestimmung zuzuführen. Die
Arbeit besteht aus einer Sammlung
vorgefundener Kleinskulpturen,
die gläsernen Regalböden als Stützen
dienen und zu diesem Zweck
auf die jeweils erforderliche Höhe
zugeschnitten wurden,
was je nach Skulptur den Effekt einer
Köpfung oder Amputation hat.
Im Ganzen ergibt dies eine Art
Regalsystem, das sich entlang der
Wand und in den Raum erstreckt und
ein zurechtgestutztes Panoptikum
bildhauerischer Formensprachen
des 20. Jahrhunderts vorführt.
Beiers Arbeit konfrontiert
uns mit einer Reihe von
Umkehrungen und Verschiebungen:
Nicht nur tauschen Regal und
dekoratives Objekt die Rollen von
Träger und Getragenem;
Kunsthandwerk, das Ästhetiken
der Hochkunst appropriiert,
wird auch zum Bestandteil einer
skulpturalen Anordnung, die selbst
wiederum die Form eines
Möbels annimmt. Die Figur
des Sockels fungiert hier als eine Art
Scharnier, das verschiedene
Erzählstränge aneinanderknüpft,
ohne sie dauerhaft zu fixieren.
Die Geschichte der Skulptur bleibt,
wie der Titel suggeriert, ein „offenes
Problem“, das an der Schnittstelle
von bildender Kunst, Kunsthandwerk
und Design seiner jeweils
vorläufigen Lösung harrt.
Courtesy: Skulpturhalle Basel & der Künstler / the artist; Fotografie / Photograph: Oliver Laric
griechischer und römischer
Skulpturen der Skulpturhalle als
Ausgangspunkt, um zeitgenössische
Formen des Kopierens mit historischen
Techniken in Beziehung zu setzen.
Er unterteilte die Sammlungsbestände
in Gruppen, die jeweils Skulpturen
mit ähnlicher Pose zusammenfassten
und so Differenzen im Ähnlichen
sichtbar werden ließen.
In dieses Neuarrangement integrierte
er eigene Arbeiten: So fanden sich
auf dem Boden in farbigen Schichten
gegossene antike Häupter, die Laric mit
Hilfe von Gussformen aus der
Sammlung angefertigt hatte.
Zusätzlich war eine Auswahl seiner
Videoarbeiten zu sehen, die jeweils
bereits existierendes Bildmaterial aus
diversen Medien kompilieren.
Versions (Versionen, 2010) veranschaulicht Larics Vision einer alternativen
Erzählung kultureller Produktion
besonders eindrücklich: Aus
unzähligen Quellen zusammengestellt,
zeichnet der Film einen Bogen
von der antiken Skulptur bis zum
Walt-Disney-Film, der die Techniken
der Appropriation und Multiplikation
als wesentlich produktive
Verfahren ausstellt. Das Einzelbild ist
dabei nur insofern von Interesse,
als sich seine Spur in anderen Bildern,
Formaten und Medien verfolgen lässt.
Was seine Gestalt nicht wechselt,
nicht übersetzt und adaptiert werden
kann, schreibt keine Geschichte.
Gezeigt wurde Versions hier als
Projektion auf zwei Gipsabgüssen, die
der Arbeit gleichsam als „Sockel“
dienten. Weitere Videoarbeiten Larics
liefen auf Monitoren, die wiederum
Gipsfiguren trugen. Die einzelnen
Elemente der Ausstellung hatten
also jeweils mehrere Rollen zu erfüllen
– jedes Bildnis ist einem anderen
potentiell Sockel, jedes Bezeichnete
zugleich Bezeichnendes.
===========
Mit der Technik des Abgusses
als formgebendem Verfahren
beschäftigen sich auch die Arbeiten
Nairy Baghramians. Der Werkkomplex
Formage de tête (Formung des Kopfs,
2011) beispielweise besteht unter
anderem aus rechteckigen Silikonstücken, die wie erschlaffte Tischplatten
auf einfachen Metallgestellen
liegen. Die Aufsicht zeigt,
dass die Silikonkörper so etwas wie
Matrizen sind, also umgekehrte
Abgüsse, die durch das Ausgießen der
formbaren Masse über eine Ansammlung von Gegenständen entstanden
sind. Diese Objekte haben sich
in Form von Schnitten, flachen und
tiefen Höhlungen dem erstarrten
Silikon eingeprägt und könnten
aus ihm – und in potentiell
unendlicher Auflage – auch wieder
Gestalt gewinnen. Von unten betrachtet
erscheinen die Einschnitte und
Vertiefungen ob fehlender Trageflächen
wie Materialfetzen und -ausstülpungen, die in das Innere der
Gestelle hineinhängen. Damit ist auf
eigentümliche Weise ebenjener
So unterschiedlich die
Arbeiten von Meier, Laric,
Baghramian, Nashat und Beier auch
sind, scheint ihr Interesse am
Sockel doch ähnlich motiviert zu sein.
Dabei strebt keiner der Künstlerinnen
und Künstler nach der Autonomie,
die die modernistische Kritik einforderte. Auch ist ihnen nicht an einer
Bewegung gelegen, die sich
in der fortlaufenden In-Bezug-Setzung
von Werk und Beiwerk, Text
und Kontext, Original und Reproduktion erschöpft. Angesichts eines
ubiquitären Netzwerkdenkens, frei
zirkulierender Bilder und
postmoderner Raumkonzepte ist der
stete Sinntransfer zur Routine
geworden, die keiner Vermittlungsinstanzen mehr bedarf. Wenn aber der
Sockel nicht mehr vermittelt, was kann
er dann leisten? Er kann, wie die
diskutierten Arbeiten
demonstrieren, eine Stelle
markieren, einen physischen Ort,
an dem die Sinnfluktuation einen
punktuellen Fokus erhält und
zeitgenössische Formen kultureller
Produktion und Rezeption auf
überlieferte Techniken treffen. Der
Sockel fungiert als Angelpunkt, der die
Verfahren der Multiplikation, der
Übersetzung und der Reformatierung
perspektiviert und als solche erst
ästhetisch verhandelbar macht. Seine
archetypische Form, seine wechselvolle
Geschichte als Distanzhalter,
Grenzgänger und Indikator von
„Verhältnismäßigkeiten“ machen ihn
zu einem privilegierten Objekt der
Verortung künstlerischer Entwicklungen. Gerade weil sich die Geschichte
der Skulptur ohne den Sockel nach wie
vor nicht denken lässt, kann er
Kontinuität zugleich gewährleisten
und in Frage stellen.
===========
1. Vgl. beispielsweise das
Eröffnungskapitel „Sculpture’s
Vanishing Base“ in Jack Burnhams Beyond
Modern Sculpture: The Effects
of Science and Technology on the Sculpture
of This Century (Nach der Modernen
Plastik: Die Auswirkungen von Wissenschaft und
Technologie auf die Skulptur dieses
Jahrhunderts), New York, 1968 und das Kapitel
„The Passing of the Pedestal“ in Albert
E. Elsens Pioneers of Modern Sculpture
(Pioniere der Modernen Plastik),
Ausst.-Kat. London, 1973
===========
2. Vgl. Michael Fried, „Art
and Objecthood“, Artforum, Vol. 5,
Nr. 10, Juni 1967, S. 12–23 (auf Deutsch
erschienen als „Kunst und Objekthaftigkeit“
in: Gregor Stemmrich, Hrsg., Minimal Art.
Eine kritische Retrospektive,
Dresden, 1995
===========
3. Eva Badura-Triska, „Gespräch
mit Franz West“, Wien, März 1994,
http://www.mip.at/attachments/171,
abgerufen am 23.07.2011
===========
===========
Oliver Laric
„Kopienkritik“
Copy-critique
2011
Videoinstallation zwischen
Skulpturen und Abgüssen in
der Skulpturhalle Basel
Video installation amidst
sculptures and casts in the
Skulpturhalle
Basel
===========
In the spring of 2011 at Vienna
Secession, a monumental printing
and copying machine was set up
and served as the base for
a small sculpture resembling a table.
The machine produced a brochure
entitled ‘Book of Plinths/Buch
der Sockel’, which visitors
were invited to take.
Besides an essay by the art critic
Francesco Stocchi, the booklet
contained pictures of pedestal sculptures,
some of which were also on display
in the exhibition. These sculptures had
in turn been manufactured based
on photographs of works by artists
such as Constantin Brâncuşi and
Robert Rauschenberg – works in which
the pedestal plays a crucial role. The
replicas were no more than approximations of the originals and reduced them
to basic forms, so there was
no explicit reference to the historic
models. By contrast, the copies were
doubly present, as objects and
printed reproductions; the ‘copied
pedestals’ could in this instance
be considered the originals on which
the photocopies were based.
The Xeroxing machine contributed to
this ambiguity: it was not just the
support structure but also the producer
of a work. Yet unlike the printed
brochure, the machine did not show up
in the list of works on exhibit; in other
words, the machine was part of the
exhibition display and exchangeable.
Still, the machine presented itself
as a massive object, upstaging the
works of art properly speaking. But
with what legitimacy can a pedestal
lay claim to this status?
===========
The configuration, assembled
by the Austrian artist Christoph Meier,
raises the question of whether a
pedestal that literally produces
works, rather than merely presenting
them, is still a pedestal. And how
are we to understand a reproduction
that no longer knows an original?
What, for that matter, does
the relation between base and work
have to do with the difference
between original and copy? And
why is it that these issues are currently
engaging a generation of artists
whose conception of the image has
been informed by the Internet and
digital imaging processes?
===========
The history of theoretical
engagements with the frame ranges
from Immanuel Kant to Georg
Simmel and Jacques Derrida; the
related figure of the pedestal, by
contrast, has met with conspicuous
silence from philosophy and aesthetics.
The frame – generalized
as ‘framework’ – has been reborn in
Postmodernism as a theme artists have
addressed since the beginnings
of institutional critique. Unlike the
frame, the base has not attracted
comparable attempts to bring it into the
present, even though it functions
in many respects
===========
Shahryar Nashat
Downscaled and Overthrown 4
Verkleinert und umgeworfen 4
2008
Mamor / Marble
28×25×25 cm
===========
===========
Shahryar Nashat
Downscaled and Overthrown 3
Verkleinert und umgeworfen 3
2008
Mamor / Marble
24×22×19 cm
===========
as the sculptural equivalent
of the frame: whereas the frame
delimits the picture on the wall and
separates it from the wall, the pedestal
isolates the object from the space
around it. The pedestal creates a base
for its object, removes it from
the floor and sets it in relation both to
the architecture and to the beholder.
Like the frame, which is associated
with the idea of the picture
as a window, the pedestal mediates
between the space of representation
and the real space. Both frame and
pedestal, then, are ‘enframings’ or
devices that create distance, indicate
a situation of presentation and initiate
aesthetic engagement with
what is on display.
===========
In rhetorical terms, however,
the pedestal makes an appearance
that is more powerful than that
of the frame in several regards. On the
one hand, by raising the object
physically, the pedestal always elevates
the object’s symbolic status.
Witness the history of sculpture in
public space: for centuries, statues have
been raised on pedestals as others
have been toppled. On the other
hand, the pedestal maintains a more
complex relationship with the
space surrounding it than the frame
– a space out of which the pedestal is
supposed to lift its object while
being embedded in it. This relationship
not only situates the work amid
tensions generated by questions of
visibility and representation in urban
settings; it also makes the
pedestal a parameter that merits
attention in the perspective of current
debates over the politics of the display.
Moreover, the pedestal is
closely associated with the concept of
history (think of the proverbial
‘pedestal of history’). As a physical
support structure, the pedestal
has acquired the implicit ability to
illustrate the symbolic ‘basis’ of an
object. Accordingly pedestals
have often served as media that
established historical references,
suggested genealogies or traditional
affiliations and articulated
hierarchies.
===========
What little literature there is
about the more recent history of the
pedestal discerns its significance
primarily in its disappearance.1
After its heyday in the monumental art
of the late 19th century, which employed
bases of sometimes enormous
dimensions, aesthetic requirements and
issues began to shift around 1900.
The academic view that a dedicated
space needed to be created for sculpture
– that it needed to be staged –
became questionable when the
Modernist work claimed its autonomy.
What used to be a problem of design
became a structural challenge. At the
time, Auguste Rodin and Brâncuşi
initiated fundamental innovations in
sculpture, and part of this
===========
An art work that
systematically
eschews the pedestal
has forfeited its
autonomy.
===========
though no less crucially in the
œuvres of Marcel Duchamp and
Alberto Giacometti – became a central
topic in 1960s and 1970s sculpture.
Minimal art in particular radicalized
and standardized the achievements of
Modernism, either by letting the object
virtually coincide with the pedestal
(see Robert Morris’ cubes) or by
altogether abolishing the vertical
orientation along with the pedestal
===========
Shahryar Nashat
Photoscaled 3 (Yellow)
2011
Typ C-Druck auf Papier, gerahmt
C-type print on paper, framed
50×44 cm
===========
(see Carl Andre’s ‘floor pieces’).
This reconfiguration of the
relationship between the object and
the space around it inevitably
implied a fundamental change in how
the beholder related to the
object. An art that systematically
eschews the pedestal as a device of
vertical distancing – an art that
shares the ground on which the
beholder stands and moreover locates
the aesthetic event between the
object and the beholder – has forfeited
its autonomy. This art abandons
itself – thus Michael Fried’s pertinent
criticism of Minimal art – to the
contingencies that beset its
presentation and perception:
the shared floor becomes a stage, the
work, ‘theatrical’.2 Fried’s observation
would bear consequences but not
necessarily as the critic intended.
Site specificity, institutional critique
and, later on, relational aesthetics
– these tendencies and others
in the wake of Minimal art effectively
work with the ‘theatricality’ Fried had
discerned by putting the focus on
categories implicit in it: contextuality,
performance and relationality.
Courtesy: Silberkuppe, Berlin & der Künstler / the artist
process was a revision of
the use of pedestals. Rodin closely
studied the way setting his figures at
different heights changed their
effect; as early as 1893, he
proposed installing his Monument aux
Bourgeois de Calais (Monument to
the Burghers of Calais, 1895)
without a base. However, due to
opposition on the part of the officials
who commissioned the work,
this proposal was not implemented
until after his death. Brâncuşi, by
contrast, treated the base as an integral
component of his sculptural
programme and allowed the boundary
between base and work to become
permeable. Modular in design and thus
adaptable to different situations
of presentation, his bases are stacks of
elementary bodies that he also used as
furniture; in a few instances,
he even declared them to be works
in their own right.
===========
The absorption of the pedestal
into the work – as well as the direct
relation between the sculpture and the
floor, which was established as
acceptable by Brâncuşi and Rodin,
movies in order to exhibit
techniques of appropriation and
multiplication as central productive
procedures. The individual image is of
interest only to the extent that its traces
can be pursued through other images,
formats and media. What does not
change its form, what cannot be
translated and adapted, does not write
history. In the exhibition, Versions was
projected onto two plaster casts that
served the work as a ‘base’ of sorts.
Additional video works by Laric played
on monitors that in turn bore plaster
statues. In other words, each element
of the exhibition had multiple
roles to play – any image is another’s
potential base, any signified is
at once a signifier.
===========
The works of Nairy Baghramian
also study the cast as a
technique of the creation of form.
Formage de tête (Shaping the head, 2011)
includes rectangular pieces of silicone
resting, like tabletops,
on simple metal trestles. Looking at
them from above, we realize that the
silicone moulds are matrices of sorts,
inverted casts created by pouring
the malleable mass over a collection of
objects that have imprinted
their shapes upon the congealed
silicone in the form of cuts and shallow
and deep indentations; conversely,
their shapes might be recreated
from the cast in a potentially
===========
The figure of the
base allows sculpture
to play with the
scenario of its own
disappearance.
===========
infinite number of copies.
In the absence of a supporting tabletop,
the same cuts and indentations,
when seen from below, look like
shredded and distended material
hanging into the space between the
trestles. In a peculiar fashion, this
feature marks the area where a base
would be located in conventional
situations of presentation.
Baghramian’s work Metzger (Butcher,
2009) demonstrates the same effect
even more directly: a ham-like shape
rests on a table construction while
various sausage shapes dangle
underneath. In both instances,
the base becomes manifest as an
omission or lacuna of sorts, an absence
that directs our gaze away from the
work’s face and to the internal
processes that make up the
generation of form.
===========
By contrast, Shahryar Nashat
engages the principle of the base
through a heightening of visibility. At
the centre of his video work
Factor Green (2011) stands a box-like
object painted a garish green; this
object is shown being used
for various purposes, including as
a seat and a base, at the Accademia in
Venice, before ‘attaching’ itself like
a sticky sponge to a painting by
Tintoretto. When Nashat presented the
work at the Venice Biennale, he placed
in front of the projection a series of
sculptures resembling museum
benches: seating made of travertine or a
flashy patterned imitation marble
and bases for small sculptures that
were themselves nothing other
than pedestal-like shapes cast in faux
marble. Like the garish green object
of Factor Green, these bench and
pedestal sculptures defy clear
classification by appropriating the form
and function of useful objects while
seeking to charm the beholder
as objects of aesthetic contemplation.
In Nashat’s video work Plaque (Slab)
(2007), which documents the timeconsuming production of a concrete
stele rising to a height of more than
four metres, the shape of the base
similarly becomes the pivotal point for
formal translations and transfers
of meaning. The work responds
to a concert by Glenn Gould recorded
for television in 1964; the stage
decoration consisted of a row of giant
faux-marble steles. Nashat interweaves
the footage documenting the
production of the concrete stele with
stills from the concert recording,
creating an unconventional dialogue
not only between the corresponding
shapes of the steles but also
between their different functions and
contexts. Nashat’s base-objects identify
sites of the presentation and perception
of art as hubs of significations and
desires; appropriation and imitation
are legitimate means to fulfill
these desires. At the same moment,
however, these rhetorics of seduction
also signal a sort of temporary vacancy,
which the base-objects – staged as
objects of desire in their own right
– promptly seek to occupy.
Overdetermined materials on the
one hand, the perfect staging in
photography or film on the other hand:
both lend these objects a fetish-like
quality that, rather than merely
referring to structures of desire,
calls them to life.
===========
The work of Nina Beier
often connects the issue of sculpture
to the notion of its loss.
In this context, the figure of the base
serves not so much to compensate
for this vacancy but rather
to allow sculpture to play through the
scenario of its own disappearance.
In Shelving for Unlocked Matter and
Open Problems (2010), sculpture steps
down from its pedestal in order
to make room for its own absence
and to apply itself to a new
purpose. The work consists of a
collection of small found
sculptures that serve as supports for
glass shelves; the sculptures have
been cut to the height required
Courtesy: Silberkuppe, Berlin & der Künstler / the artist
As interest shifted to the
social and communicative structures
that mark and produce works
and sites of art, the pedestal and
even the material object as a whole
receded into the background.
We might say that Minimal art staged
the last grand appearance, ex negativo,
of the pedestal to date – grand
because it was most closely tied to the
question of the self-conception
of art and amounted to the loss of
an autonomy art seemed to
have gained only moments before.
Yet once the spectre of ‘theatricality’
no longer frightened anyone – once it
became, in an inversion of perspective,
a central field of artistic examination
– the presence or absence of the
pedestal likewise ceased to be
a contested issue. For it goes without
saying that Minimal art did not
permanently exclude the motif of
the pedestal from artistic production,
as works by artists such as
Isa Genzken, Rachel Harrison,
Franz Erhard Walther, Franz West and
Heimo Zobernig demonstrate.
Only its function has changed: the
pedestal is no longer primarily a
supporting structure (in physical as
well as ideological terms with regard to
art’s claim to autonomy) but is now
more of a rhetorical figure.
The pedestal serves as a sign that can
invoke this discourse around the
‘relationality’ of art, around its
historical, institutional and receptive
situation. ‘This “white cube” is an
inverted pedestal’, as Franz West
put it in an interview.3
===========
But how and why do artists
of a younger generation engage the
pedestal? Christoph Meier is
not the only one devoting more
attention to the issue. In Oliver Laric’s
exhibition ‘Kopienkritik’ (Critique
of Copies) at Skulpturhalle Basel during
summer 2011, the base was likewise
part of a project that turned a critical
eye to the relationship between original
and copy. Using the extensive collection
of plaster casts of Greek and Roman
sculptures held by the Skulpturhalle
as his point of departure, Laric
related contemporary forms of
copying to historic techniques.
He grouped statues from the collection
that strike similar poses together in
order to reveal differences amid
similarity. He also integrated works of
his own into this rearrangement:
scattered across the floor were antique
heads cast in colourful layers Laric
had created using casting moulds from
the collection. In addition,
selected video works by the artist were
on display, each of them a compilation
of existing visual material from
different media. Versions (2010)
is a particularly imposing illustration
of Laric’s vision of an alternative
narrative of cultural production: using
an immense number of sources,
the film drew a line from ancient
sculpture to Walt Disney’s
in each instance. Taken as
a whole, they form a sort of shelving
system that extends along the wall
and into the room, presenting
a trimmed-to-size panopticon of the
formal vocabularies of 20th-century
sculpture. Due to the cuts,
various sculptures look as though they
had been beheaded or amputated.
Beier’s work confronts us with a series
of inversions and displacements: not
only do the shelving and the decorative
objects exchange the roles of supporting
and supported element; craftsmanship
appropriates the aesthetics of high art
and becomes a component
of a sculptural arrangement that takes
the form of furniture. In this context, the
figure of the pedestal functions as a sort
of hinge that connects different narrative
strands without permanently fixing
them in place. The history of sculpture,
the title suggests, remains an ‘open
problem’, awaiting each new temporary
solution at the intersection between
visual art, craft and design.
===========
Although the works of Meier,
Laric, Baghramian, Nashat and Beier
are highly diverse, their interest
in the base seems to spring from
a similar motivation. These artists do not
strive to achieve the autonomy
Modernist art criticism demanded.
Nor are they interested in
staging a movement that amounts
to no more than a perpetual interplay
between work and supplement,
between text and context, between
original and reproduction. In light
of the ubiquitous thinking in networks,
freely circulating imagery and
Postmodern concepts of space, the
continual transfer of meaning
has become a routine that no longer
requires dedicated instruments of
mediation. But if the pedestal has ceased
to mediate, what functions can it serve?
As the works discussed above demonstrate, it can mark a place, a physical site
where the fluctuation of meaning
is brought into selective focus, where
contemporary forms of cultural
production and perception encounter
traditional techniques. The pedestal
serves as a pivot, generating perspectives
on the practices of multiplication,
translation and reformatting while
making these practices amenable
to aesthetic negotiation. Its archetypal
form and its varied history – as guardian
of distance, vehicle
of transmigration and indicator
of ‘relationalities’ – render the pedestal a
privileged object for situating artistic
developments. It is precisely because the
history of sculpture continues to be
inconceivable without the pedestal that
the latter can ensure continuity and call
it into question at the same time.
===========
Translated by Gerrit Jackson
===========
Manuela Ammer arbeitet
als Kunsthistorikerin am
Sonderforschungsbereich „Ästhetische
Erfahrung im Zeichen der
Entgrenzung der Künste“ an der
Freien Universität Berlin.
Manuela Ammer is an art historian
working at the Collaborative Research
Centre ‘Aesthetic Experience and the
Dissolution of Artistic Limits’ at the
Freie Universität in Berlin.
===========
1. See Jack Burnham,
‘Sculpture’s Vanishing Base’,
Beyond Modern Sculpture: The Effects
of Science and Technology on the Sculpture
of This Century, Lane, New York, 1968,
as well as Albert E. Elsen
‘The Passing of the Pedestal’,
Pioneers of Modern Sculpture,
exh. cat., Hayward Gallery / Arts Council
of Great Britain, London, 1973
===========
2. See Michael Fried,
‘Art and Objecthood’, Artforum 5,
no. 10 (June 1967), pp. 12–23
===========
3. Eva Badura-Triska,
‘Gespräch mit Franz West’,
Vienna, March 1994,
http://www.mip.at/attachments/171
(accessed 23 July 2011)
===========
===========
Shahryar Nashat
Park it or Place it
Stelle es ab oder platziere es
2009
Granit, Marmor
Granite, marble
72×156×35 cm
===========
Kaleidoscope, ISSUE 9 Winter 2010-2011
Diesen Artikel drucken
Oliver Laric über Netzkunst
"Meine Website ist ein Ort der primären Erfahrung"
Im Februarheft berichtet Monopol von neuen Schauplätzen der Netzkunst. Begleitend
stellen wir online Künstler vor, die mit dem Internet arbeiten. Im dritten Teil spricht der
Österreicher Oliver Laric über produktive Missverständnisse, die das Netz produziert,
über die wirtschaftliche Seite der Net-Art und die Vorläufer von Web 2.0
von Nora Malles
07.02.2011
Oliver Laric "Versions (Missile Variations)", 2010, Courtesy Oliver Laric & Seventeen Gallery
Herr Laric, was bedeutet Netzkunst für Sie?
Netzkunst interessiert mich nicht sehr, wenn es um eine technologische Definition geht. Das
Netz als Model der Bildproduktion hat für mich mehr Potential, auch wenn es das schon
längere Zeit gibt.
In der Arbeit „! "“ haben Sie Youtube-Videos von Taufen Erwachsener gesammelt und
collagiert. Was steckt dahinter?
Es ist alles recht vordergründig. Ein Körper existiert in zwei Welten, und die verschiedenen
Stadien eines Übergangsrituals werden aufgezeigt: Vor der Mitgliedschaft, beim Eintreten, und
als Mitglied. Beim Eintauchen wird ein Paralleluniversum produziert. Eventuell gibt es neben
der Welt, in der eingetaucht und aufgetaucht wird, auch die Unterwasserwelt.
Ein Vorteil von der Netzkunst ist, dass sie recht frei produziert und gezeigt werden
können. Sehen Sie auch Nachteile?
Meine Website ist ein Ort der primären Erfahrungen, daher existiert neben Galerie und
1 von 3
Monopol, 2011
11.08.11 12:54
"Meine Website ist ein Ort der primären Erfahrung"
http://www.monopol-magazin.de/drucken/artikel/2425/
Museum ein weiterer Ort, um Arbeiten zu erfahren. Es gibt natürlich auch dazu noch
Alternativen. Ideal ist für mich die mündliche Überlieferung als Erfahrung, und die kann ja
überall stattfinden. Dabei werden durch die Übersetzungen des Erzählenden oft weitere
Arbeiten produziert. Mit Freunden mache ich eine Website www.vvork.com, die täglich mehrere
Arbeiten von unterschiedlichen Künstlern aus aller Welt zeigt. Hin und wieder zeigen wir auch
unsere eigenen Arbeiten, und bei durchschnittlich 15.000 Besuchern pro Tag gibt es
unweigerlich ein Publikum.
Ein Nachteil könnte zum Beispiel die geringe Rentabilität oder die schwere
Ausstellbarkeit sein.
Die Kosten für meine persönliche Website belaufen sich jährlich auf weniger als 50 Euro, also
eigentlich sehr rentabel verglichen mit einem physikalischen Studio oder einer Off-SpaceMiete. Die Arbeiten lassen sich unproblematisch verschicken, als E-Mail-Anhang, zumindest
wenn sie ephemer sind. Es gibt ab und zu ein Problem der Übersetzung im Raum, sodass
Missverständnisse oder Übersetzungsfehler entstehen. Diese Übersetzungsfehler enthalten
aber ein produktives Potential.
Wie beurteilen Sie den Einfluss von Web 2.0?
Es wird oft von einem Konsumenten gesprochen, der auch produziert, der Prosument, sowie
von dem Leser, der auch schreibt. Im 18. Jahrhundert hat der britische Möbelmacher Thomas
Chippendale ein Buch veröffentlicht, in dem er genaue Anleitungen zur Produktion seiner
Möbel liefert. Die Anleitungen können als Grundlage verstanden werden, lassen jedoch
persönliche Interpretationen zu. Das Buch wurde ein großer Erfolg und Chippendale wurde der
erste Möbelmacher aus einfachem Hause, nach dem eine Stilrichtung benannt wurde. Es war
der richtige Moment für die Verbreitung von Möbeln als Code, da die industrielle Produktion
und internationaler Versand von Möbeln noch nicht entwickelt oder rentabel waren. Thomas
Chippendale ist Möbelproduktion 2.0 wie auch später Enzo Mari mit dem Autoprogettazione
Projekt.
Ich finde, es wird immer schwieriger, zwischen Beiträgen normaler User und
Kunstbeiträgen zu unterscheiden.
Da geht es mir ähnlich und mir gefällt diese Verwirrung. Es wäre auch eine Möglichkeit, die
Zugehörigkeit einer Szene zu ignorieren und Arbeiten lediglich als Arbeiten zu interpretieren
ohne den Produzenten zu beurteilen. Dann sind es eher Ideen ohne Autoren, das passt auch
zu der Idee des Cloud Computing, bei der hunderte oder tausende von unterschiedlichsten
Orten gemeinsam an einem Projekt arbeiten.
Wohin könnten sich das Internet und die Kunst entwickeln?
Die nächsten Jahre werden eine eklektische Mischung aus Cloud Computing, Shanzhai,
Singularität, 3D-Druck, Araab Muzik, öffentlicher Erbgut-Sequenzen, T1000, viraler Piraterie,
erweiterter Realität und Okinawa Küche.
Ab dem 8. Juni 2011 zeigt Oliver Laric in der Skulpturhalle Basel seine Einzelausstellung
"Versions"
OCTOBER 17, 2011, 2:00 PM
Frieze Frame | Oliver Laric’s Not So Original Footage
By KEVIN MCGARRY
Oliver Laric is an artist who rarely has anything new to say.
His work frames the creative potential of repetition, championing the idea of “the copy”
as denser in meaning and, in this day and age, somehow more genuine, than any notion
of a true “original.” A copy has simply lived more: it contains within it not just the image
or idea at hand, but also the imprint of time, place or identity linked with that moment
as well as the motive of duplication. “Versions,” Laric’s video treatise on this subject,
features an animated slide show of contemporary copies (the infamously Photoshopped
2008 image of missile tests in Iran, in which the missiles were cloned for heightened
visual impact; Internet memes like the Zidane head butt, remixed and disseminated by
users around the world); and historical antecedents (recycled character animations from
early Disney movies; figurative archetypes taken from classical sculpture) that trace its
relevance back to far before copy and paste was a way of life. Laric updates the piece
regularly, and now a handful of versions of “Versions” are circulating online with many
of his other works, causing discrepancies and redundancies that surface as a digitally
savvy form of authenticity.
Invited to create a site-specific project for this year’s Frieze Art Fair, Laric chose the fair
itself as his subject. With a super-high-res camera recording in slow motion, the
Austrian-born artist roamed Regent’s Park, gathering audio-visual samples to distribute
as open source stock footage. It’s unclear whether the gossamer fabric falling across the
frame was found in a windy installation or in the garb of a collector; if the screw driven
into a two-by-four is a last-minute fix or some kind of performance. Laric playfully
undermines the obsessions that fuel the existence of an art fair — context, value,
ownership — by obliterating any frame of reference for these clips and allowing anybody
to reappoint them for new readings and for telling new stories.
Copyright 2011 The New York Times Company Privacy Policy NYTimes.com 620 Eighth Avenue New York,
NY 10018
NY TIMES, October
2011
Rhizome, July 2011
Rhizome, July 2011
Rhizome, July 2011
Artpulse, March 2010

oliver laric - Tanya Leighton

Transcription

Similar documents

million dollar baby spoiler

zweiten Ausgabe

Heft 22 - mpg

biblographie (pdf-format, 66kb)

zweieinhalb Jahrzehnte Motorsport mit Schaeffler