#Documenta 15

[gregdotorg]

Something's in the air, or maybe it's just LA, but I've been getting wafts of incense from the art lately. Conceptual perfume artist Chris Rusak published a zine survey of liturgical incense, including some made by artisanal monks. Meanwhile, in New York, artist/mage L is showing an altar made from a vestment rack from an anarchist priest, which includes a custom collab incense made with Maison Anonyme. It was last seen/sensed at Documenta 15.

[zehrcoolpotato]

A Touch from the Abyss

“To forget would not only be dangerous but offensive; to forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time.”— Elie Wiesel, preface to ‘Night’ (2006)

As if free-falling, the body plunged into darkness. Humid air dampened the skin, cooled the ground, and diffused an earthy scent. The wind’s symphonies sounded celestial from a distance, enchanting the listener into nocturnal woods. This ambience was characterised by “âm”, the form and expression of ‘And They Die a Natural Death’ (2022) by artist and filmmaker Nguyễn Trinh Thi. A homophone in the Vietnamese language, âm has different usages, some of which provide clues to understanding humanist concerns in this work.

In the Vietnamese language, the syllable âm denotes distinct meanings. As a Vietnamese observer, I realised an existing language barrier—artistically and linguistically—that poses a challenge in contextualising ‘And They Die a Natural Death’. By introducing the word âm, I attempt to illuminate foundational layers of Nguyễn Trinh Thi’s presence at documenta fifteen, which is arguably one of the most prominent global exhibitions.

Nguyễn Trinh Thi, ‘And They Die a Natural Death’, 2022, chilli pepper plants, wind, bamboo flutes, projection, monitor. Installation view, Rondell, Kassel. Image courtesy of the artist.

Rondell (circular building on the left), exterior view, Kassel, 2006. Photo by Eva Kröcher. Wikimedia Commons. 

Âm 音: sonic, sound

A site-specific art installation, ‘And They Die a Natural Death’ was a public intervention reviving Rondell—Kassel’s long-standing defensive tower built in 1523 and was said to later house torture facilities in its underground vaults. As part of the installation, a high-tech system recreated and implanted the natural environment of Tam Đảo forest in Vietnam. Via this hidden automated design, the Tam Đảo wind was generated in Rondell’s interior, and composed rhythms with the bamboo flutes in the dome. In this absolutely dark cinematic space, sound became the main device to storytelling.

Recently, Nguyễn Trinh Thi began to incorporate new media in her work, including organic materials and natural forces, prioritising the art of listening over mere representation. She experimented with sound as the primary technical apparatus. An ethnographic research trip to the Central Highlands of Vietnam in 2021 touched the artist so significantly that she dedicated her film to the J’rai culture of listening.2 ‘How to Improve the World’ (2021) is the documentary film that acts as a prelude to ‘And They Die a Natural Death’. By appropriating musician John Cage’s diary titled ‘How to Improve the World: You Will Only Make Matters Worse’ (1992), the filmmaker suggests that we should listen to the world around us to survive ecological crises together.3

Âm 荫: tree shade

The Tam Đảo wind not only created sounds inside Rondell, but also activated a lighting system to blow up silhouettes of bird’s eye chilli plants hidden underneath the platform. Enlarged shadows reached the highest parts of the dome, casting a luxuriant forest onto Rondell’s circular wall. Using small plants as main actors, the artist built an eco-theater in which non-human agency played a crucial role in the retelling of death. Chilli pepper shadows inside Rondell formed a panoramic ink painting, and this visual quality could be said to reference East Asian traditional art. In feudal China, the landscape genre seeks to express harmony between Heaven and Earth and cosmic wholeness between humans and nature, and this is observed with the installation.

Nguyễn Trinh Thi’s use of shadow as a visual signifier is not unlike American American artist Kara Walker’s signature strategy, which elicits the legacy of slavery through stereotypical--often grotesque--cut-paper silhouettes. Such technique aids the artists to walk the lines between pleasure and pain, visibility and invisibility, power and oppression. 

Preparation of chilli pepper plants before being installed underneath the viewer's platform in the Rondell. Original caption: “She took care of everything - production, plants, people, and text. I’m deeply grateful.” Image courtesy of the artist.

The electrical system which measured the wind’s intensity was being set up in Tam Đảo, Vietnam. Originally captioned “Thank you so much Đức for sending us your wind!!!” Image courtesy of the artist.

Âm 喑: muteness

Like the other projects at documenta fifteen, Nguyễn Trinh Thi’s installation recalled a testimony denied by grand history. ‘And They Die a Natural Death’ was a mute cry for loss and brutality. The artist referenced a chapter in Bùi Ngọc Tấn’s memoir in prison, A Tale For 2000.4 In the labour camp, male prisoners longed for the spicy heat of chilli pepper. One day, the discovery of a vast pepper tree forest caused an uprising in the camp. Unable to control the mob, furious guards fired in the air and ended up shooting a prisoner. The mob went silent and returned to the camp; their hands still held on to the chilli peppers as if it represented fleeting freedom.

As a site-specific project, ‘And They Die a Natural Death’ connected to local history in Kassel. In the Nazi era, the city witnessed book burning, destruction of Jewish synagogue, concentration camps, and Adolf Hitler’s speech in the first Reich Warriors’ Convention. Within this context, the installation can be interpreted as a passive mourning. Its dim lights and eerie sounds gestured towards, in the words of philosopher Jacques Ranciere, “the representation of the inhuman.”5 This rhetorical device employs micro-description of actions, which highlights the absence of humanity experienced in prisoner camps from Bùi Ngọc Tấn’s memoir and Kassel’s Nazi past.

Âm ��: the underworld

Nguyễn Trinh Thi is neither the first nor the only artist to adapt a ruin’s history in a retelling of memory. However, her philosophy, deeply rooted in Taoism, fostered aesthetic qualities that were peculiar to East Asian and Vietnamese worldviews. In 1987, German artist Rebecca Horn also addressed history by staging a site-specific installation ‘Concert in Reverse’ in a Munster fortification, which was built around the same time as Rondell. While both artists intrigued their audiences with cinematic experiences and sounds from ordinary tools, for Nguyễn Trinh Thi, darkness was crucial to the mise-en-scène of death. Such an artistic strategy inserted the Vietnamese spiritual belief that the dead are not far gone, and that their souls stay in the underworld. With its 10-metre-thick wall, humid air, and absolute absence of light, Rondell became a vessel, displacing viewers to enter a space outside of time. The haunting yet meditative ambience enchanted listeners to feel a tender touch from the abyss.

A story about death is a reminder that nature’s flow waits for no one. However, by narrating death, both storyteller and listener resist this flow and encounter the deceased in a parallel reality. This temporal convergence offers a space for grief, and in some cases, the telling of death helps to make sense of loss.

At documenta fifteen, Nguyễn Trinh Thi presented her ongoing investigation of anti-representation, nonhuman agency, and power. She conceived of  “landscapes as quiet witnesses to history.”7 ‘And They Die a Natural Death’ was a live theatre in which nonhuman actors--wind and chilli pepper plants--took centre stage. In this nonverbal retelling of death, artistic strategies were utilised to engage the viewer’s multiple senses. By imagining a gate to the underworld, the artist staged a landscape that connected Kassel and the Tam Đảo forest where the prisoner died a natural death.

[marcogiovenale]

esce 'roots § routes' n. 42, agosto 2023

Care.Cure.Curate: un viaggio verbale da leggere tutto d’un fiato ma anche una curva sonora non puramente melodica che raccoglie in un breve segmento un caleidoscopio di declinazioni possibili della parola cura. Una parola oggi a rischio di depotenziamento per il suo arrotondamento morbido, spesso ridotto a pratiche empatiche nell’universo delle micro-relazioni umane preferibilmente appaltate alla…

[sexypinkon]

                                 S    E     X     Y       P      I      N      K

Another year of highest highs and devastating lows greeted us in 2022. We had much for which to be happy and hopeful, sad and hurt. But the Art keeps us alive and for that we are all extremely grateful. Here is to 2023. We shall persevere and be stronger than ever because that is what ART does.

[banffcentrelibraryandarchives]

ARTIST BOOK DISPLAY JANUARY 2023

Copperplate cookbook again : a portfolio by Year 2000 undergraduate printmakers. Nicole Brabant. [Regina, SK] : University of Regina, Faculty of Fine Arts, Dept. of Visual Arts, 2000.

2008 Seoul International Book Arts Fair. Seoul International Book Arts Fair, Sŏng-jae Song. [Seoul, Korea] : Artistbookseoul, 2008.

Language of Color. Olaf Nicolai, Annelie, Pohlen, Bonner Kunstverein. [Bonn] : Bonner Kunstverein, 2000.

Printed Matter Special : 2010 NY Art Book Fair edition. Misaki Kawai, Printed Matter Inc., NY Art Book Fair. [New York, N.Y.] : Printed Matter, Inc, 2010.

Artforumx : summary. Parasitic Ventures Press. [Toronto] : Parasitic Ventures Press. 2010.

Persistent Huts. Derek Sullivan. [New York, N.Y.] : Printed Matter, Inc, 2008.

15 Lombard St. Janice Kerbel, Stefan. Kalmár, Book Works. [London] : Book Works, 2000.

Christian Marclay: The Clock. Christian Marclay, Honey Luard, Darian Leader, White Cube. [London] : White Cube, 2010.

The Day Mubarak was Tried. Nawāl Saʻdāwī, Documenta. [Ostfildern] : Hatje Cantz, 2011.

Two Novels and Two Women. Ṣunʻ Allāh Ibrāhīm, Documenta. [Ostfildern] : Hatje Cantz, 2011.

Deadstar : A Ghost Town. Janice Kerbel, Mark Godfrey, Lyall Watson, Susan Morgan. [Newcastle upon Tyne] : Locus+ Publishing, 2006.

[universalcovers]

“I’m more interested in looking for something transitory than in producing a conclusion.”

Pierre Huyghe

“I’m interested in contingency,” the French artist Pierre Huyghe has said. “Of what is not predictable. Of what is unknown. I think that has somehow been a core of my work.”1 Pursuing interests in contingency and unpredictability, Huyghe creates art forms that incorporate living organisms, such as dogs, turtles, spiders, peacocks, ants, and bees. Over the course of an exhibition, his living works of art grow, decay, and die. Huyghe said, “They are not made for us. They are not made to be looked at. They exist in themselves.”2

Throughout his career, Huyghe has experimented with many mediums and technologies, including film, sculpture, photography, music, and living ecosystems. At the outset of his career, Huyghe collaborated with artists whose work explored human relations and their social context; to describe their interests, the curator and art critic Nicolas Bourriaud coined the term Relational Aesthetics. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Huyghe’s works often reenacted notable artworks or popular footage from mass media. In Silence Score (English Version), a musical notation of John Cage’s pivotal composition 4'33", he created a readable score for the silent piece using a computer algorithm.

In 1997, with artists Charles de Meaux, Philippe Parreno, and Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster and curators Xavier Douroux and Franck Gautherot, Huyghe cofounded a film production company called Anna Sanders Films. They named the company after a fictional character first developed in a magazine released in 1997. Blanche-Neige Lucie, the company’s first film, stars Lucie Doléne, the voice actor who dubbed the Disney character Snow White in French, and who won a lawsuit against the Walt Disney Corporation for the rights to the reproduction of her voice. The film features Doléne humming the melody of “Someday My Prince Will Come” in an empty film studio, facing the camera, while her story is told through the subtitles. The work explores how a voice can be used to create a character, and who then owns that product.

The Host and The Cloud fuses scripted action and improvised narratives generated by the actors. The yearlong project records theatrical events that took place in an abandoned museum in Paris on three holidays: the Day of the Dead, Valentine’s Day, and May Day. In a variety of fictional settings, 15 actors clad in LED masks perform alongside puppets and animation. These spontaneous elements reflect Huyghe’s interest in contingency and adding dynamic layers to his storylines.

Originally created for Documenta 13 in 2012, Huyghe’s Untilled (Liegender Frauenakt) is a reclining female nude whose head is covered by a live beehive. The work was part of an entire ecological system the artist created in a composting area in Karlsaue Park in Kassel, Germany. In a video Huyghe filmed during the exhibition, his camera captured a wide range of beings at different scales, including minute species that are barely visible to the naked eye. Huyghe aims to “intensify the presence of things, to find its own particular presentation, its own appearance and its own life, rather than subjecting it to pre-established models.”3 With interest in “the transitory state, in the in-between,” his complex worlds blur the boundaries between the natural and the artificial, the physical and the virtual, and the real and the fictional.4 In 2015 and again in 2023, the statue found itself in MoMA’s Sculpture Garden, placed in a new context and in conversation with other works of art. During the summer, the bees travel in and out of the garden to pollinate and build their hive.

Huyghe’s artistic practice reflects his belief that life is in constant flux, and that all beings exist beyond the perceivable realm of human senses and knowledge. By engaging with unconventional materials and technologies, he provides us with a way to see, feel, and experience the wild, untilled world we are living in.

Source: MoMA / Pic: YBCA

[capybaraonabicycle]

For the art ask game, 3, 15 and 16?

Thank you for the ask!! I was so hoping someone would send one in :)

3. What artist do you wish people knew more about?

This is difficult because I am mostly aware of the standard artists you meet in art class - almost all of which are western men - and the most 'niche' of the ones I love would be like Georges Braques and Wassily Kandinsky and Umberto Boccioni and Edward Hopper and Canaletto and Ai Weiwei and Franz Marc - and I feel like for any one of those names I will have people at my throat for mentioning them in a sentence that includes the word 'niche'.

There are two that I can name though, that I don't know from art class and I believe they are at least somewhat niche:

There is Kent Monkman, a contemporary queer Cree artist who I was introduced to at uni. He uses a multitude of art forms (and you can check them out on his website) but I am most familiar with his paintings, especially the "Shame and Prejudice" exhibition that we looked at in class.

The exhibition features Monkman's genderqueer alter ego Miss Chief Testickle who tells Canadian history from her perspective and the paintings are, in my opinion, very clever and impactful. I analysed "The Subjugation of Truth" for class and there is a ton of subtle symbolism to drive the political message (painting in traditional settler style, putting the viewer into the position of the indigenous men, having the queen hover menacingly above it all) in the art work.

This is it:

Another really famous of the works is "Resurgence of the people" which references an old settler image with George Washington replaced by Miss Chief:

I'm not sure whether this one is the exact reference but it quotes some picture like this:

I really like Monkman's style and I think his images are very strong and often for the topic of indigenous history with settlers, the violence in them is palpable. Another impressive one would be "The Scream" :

Then I would like to mention the possibly most important artist of my childhood, Estonian-Swedish illustrator Ilon Wikland. She illustrated most of Astrid Lindgren's books and her style is just - so cozy and soft, I want to live in her art.

I feel like many people do know the books and her art, but few will know her name. So she counts :) (she's still alive btw, I had to look that up and was surprised)

15. Share a photo of your favorite contemporary artwork

I'm not sure I have one special favourite art work but this is something I saw at the documenta exhibition semi-recently and it really stuck with me. Unfortunately, I don't seem to be able to find the title, but I remember it was something similar to "deep belly breath".

(It's the blue one in the front)

It's a pretty big plastic, higher than I am tall and it is fluffy and blue and there is water in the middle. I love it mostly for looking like an alien being, but the fluffyness has a nice feel to it too (or rather 'a nice look', I obviously didn't touch it). Together with the title and the water and the dark fur on the inside, there is a sort of desperation and drowning feeling to it, softened by the fact you really want to hug it and climb into the water and be safe in your cocoon.

No idea whether any of this was intentional, but I had to stick with it for a good 10 min before being able to walk on (even though I was already tired) and I had to come back multiple times. I also had my aunt take a picture of me with the art and I am wearing a dw shirt so it's perfect :)

The work was made by someone from the art collective *foundationClass, an organisation based in Berlin who prepare students for art school. They made a bunch of cool, often political, art for the documenta

I have to say I am also particularly fond of the Möbiusship, though, that has been circulating on tumblr

16. What museum or gallery do you want to visit?

I really want to visit the Munch museum! He is one of my favourite artists and when I was in Oslo once, the museum was closed for renovation. But now it should have reopened, so I just need to get myself to Norway and reserve a full day for Munch :)

[badarchitecturesucks]

Maria Eichhorn, 15 Stavropoulou, Athens, building and plot for Building as unowned property, 2017, Documenta 14

[photographydevoted]

Tras 16 horas de operación en la Clínica Cleveland de Ohio, los cirujanos finalizan la compleja tarea de retirar el rostro de un donante de órganos. Impresionados por la imagen y la seriedad de su trabajo, el equipo se queda en silencio mientras el personal documenta el rostro entre sus dos vidas. Los cirujanos pasarían otras 15 horas fijando el rostro a Katie Stubblefield.Mostrar menos

FOTOGRAFÍA DE LYNN JOHNSON

[shape]

Wenn die IDF Kulturkritik betreibt, bleibt nichts übrig vom antisemitischen Kunstwerk der Documenta 15

[fashionbooksmilano]

Ellsworth Kelly  In-Between Spaces 

Works 1956-2002 Fondation Beyeler

Gottfried Boehm, Viola Wiegel

Fondation Beyeler / Hatje Cantz Verlag, Berlin 2002,168 pages, 80 ills., German,English , 28.20 x 31.50 cm, Hardcover, ISBN  978-3905632217

euro 90,00

email if you want to buy booksinprogressmilano@yahoo.it

Ellsworth Kelly belongs among the most important exponents of international post-war art. With abstract expressionism at its peak and based on the traditions of the abstract avant-garde in a dialogue with Colour Field Painting, the American artist developed a painterly vocabulary that leaves traditional panel painting behind. In a conscious questioning of the conditions that underlie our perceptions, he not only explores the relationships of picture and wall, sculpture and space but also, and in particular, the relationship between viewer and work. "In between: this is the shortest formula of his aesthetics", is how Gottfried Boehm, one of the few connoisseurs of Kelly’s work in the German-speaking world and author of the leading essay in this publication, summarizes the central topic of Kelly’s oeuvre. Based on a store of about 40 works, primarily in the possession of the artist, this book is an expert investigation into Ellsworth Kelly’s artistic development that by spans five decades. In an essay, the artist himself traces the enormous importance of his sculptures for his work. The artist: Ellsworth Kelly, born 1923 in Newburgh, New York. In 1941/42, studies of fine arts at the Pratt Institute in New York. In 1946- 1948, studies at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Numerous exhibitions, among them in 1964, 1968, 1977 and 1992. Participation in Kassel the documenta. Lives and works at Spencertown, New York. In my work I wanted to free shape from its ground, and then to work the shape so that it has a definite relationship to the space around it ... the shape finds its own space and always demands its freedom and separateness. In sculpture, the work itself is the form and the ground is the space around it. Ellsworth Kelly Exhibition Schedule: Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel September 15, 2002 - January 19, 2003

orders to:     booksinprogressmilano@yahoo.it

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28/02/23

[aci25]

Jean-Michel Basquiat

Jean-Michel Basquiat was an artist born in 1960 in NYC. He was Puerto Rican & Haitian.  Basquiat’s first rise to fame was when he was in the duo “SAMO” where they were known for their graffiti during the conception of hiphop and during the height of punk. By 21 he was the YOUNGEST artist to exhibit their art in DOCUMENTA in Germany. His art rose to fame because of his way of viewing and interpreting social issues such as poverty,  wealth,  and anti-Black racism. He was fluent in English, Spanish and French.

Basquiat was extremely fluent with his sexuality. Throughout his childhood his mother spent a lot of time in and out mental facilities which gave Basquiat a long journey of instability. In 1973, Basquiat moved to Puerto Rico to Miramar. 2 years later they returned to Brooklyn where at the age of 15 he became homeless and his father called the police on him to bring him back home and he shaved his hair as a punishment. While he was homeless he worked as a sex worker. In 1979, Basquiat also experimented with his own clothing line. In 1980 he had his art exhibited n the Times Square Show. Basquiat’s first painting was sold to Blondie for only $200.  During the mid 1980s he was winning $1.4 million a year but unfortunately by the age of 27, he passed away from an overdose. Jean-Michel Basquiat is remembered for his art, personality and fluidity in life.

[fabiansteinhauer]

documentaende

1.

Das Beziehungsende läuft manchmal so: Einer von Zweien macht Schluß. Darauf kommt die Antwort, das ginge völlig ok, man grolle nicht. Nur die Form, in der Schluss gemacht wurde, die sei unter aller Sau. Inhaltlich sei man voll einverstanden, man habe die Liebe schon längst verloren. Aber die Worte, das gewählte Medium oder die Gesten, der Zeitpunkt oder der Ort, das sei beschissen und zeige, wie elend, herzlos und unmenschlich das Gegenüber sei. In der Regel ist es dann für denjenigen oder diejenige, die gerade Schluss gemacht hat, nicht sinnvoll, eine Diskussion über den Hylemorphismus oder die Beziehung zwischen Form und Materie oder Form und Inhalt zu beginnen, sondern sich noch einmal zu entschuldigen, zu schweigen und so bald als möglich zu gehen. Es ist furchtbar, was will man machen? Vielleicht war eine Trennung der Grund dafür, dass Aristoteles bestimmte Unterscheidungen vorgeschlagen hat oder dass dieser Vorschlag eine lange Tradition entwickelt hat. Vielleicht war es der Bedarf danach, das Gesicht nicht zu verlieren, und wenn das Herz auch bricht.

2.

Beim documentaende geht das manchmal auch so zu, vor allem bei der documenta 15. Dass ein Streit geführt wird, soll ok sein, nur die Form sei nicht in Ordnung. Manche sagen jetzt: Man sei frei, wenn man man friedlich bleibe. Lother Zechlin schrieb in einem Beitrag: Die Grenze (der Meinungsfreiheit, ANM FS ) besteht also nicht gegenüber der Meinungsäußerung, sondern gegenüber einer unfriedlichen Form, in der sie zum Ausdruck gebracht wird. Er zitiert ein Stuttgarter Gericht, dass die Meinungsfreiheit im Rahmen der rein geistigen Sphären des Für-Richtig-Haltens schützt. Ein Narr, der glaubt, man dürfe die Meinung halt nicht formulieren, reingeistig sei sie ok.

Dürfen darf man schon, man darf sich halt auch nicht über die Folgen wundern. Dürfen darf man überhaupt alles, nur nicht immer, nicht überall und nicht in jeder Form, nicht in jedem Stil. Und wer was meint, darf aufgrund des Kunstprivilegs (das ist ähnlich wie die Diplomatie und die Strategie im Ukrainekrieg ein Erbschaft aus dem 19. Jahrhundert) nicht so viel wie derjenige, der künstelt, also so tut, als ob er etwas meint, in Wirklichkeit aber Kunst macht. Zechlin schreibt weiter:

Der größere Freiheitsraum hat zunächst zur Folge, dass es dem Staat (Gesetzgebung, Justiz, Kulturverwaltung) verwehrt ist, die Grenze zwischen Kunst/Nicht Kunst zu definieren. Das wäre als „staatliches Kunstrichtertum“ ein Eingriff in die Eigengesetzlichkeit des Sachbereichs Kunst. Die Justiz muss aber einen Begriff von Kunst haben, wenn sie mit ihren Entscheidungen deren Freiheit garantieren und damit auch ihre Grenzen bestimmen soll.

Begreifen geht schon, definieren geht halt nicht, so lautet zumindest eine Erklärung dazu. Vor dem Hintergrund eines Diskurses, dessen Plausibilität offensichtlich nicht unter solchen Formulierungen leidet, ist die documenta so sinnvoll wie die juristische Literatur dazu. Das ist Luxus, vor allem auch deswegen, weil kein Quäntchen Sinn davon auf Kosten des Unsinns geht.

Die friedenswahrende Auseinandersetzung ist mit der gewaltauslösenden Auseinandersetzung in der Form nach identisch, nicht immer, aber immer dann, wenn es Probleme und Streit gibt. Das Recht limitiert die Meinungsäußerung und die Kunstfreiheit abhängig davon, wieviel und welche Unruhe die Meinung oder die Kunst erzeugen und wem man etwaige negative Effekte zuschreibt und wen man (sich) darum als außerhalb der Gesellschaft (der Friedensinteressierten), als Provokateur oder Unruhestifter vorstellt. Die Praxis dieses Konfliktes ist teilweise von einen ordnungsrechtlichen oder polizeirechtlichen Aspekt geprägt, am deutlichsten in der Rolle, die die Strafbarkeit der Volksverhetzung und die dabei mitlaufende Gefahrenprognose spielt. Aber nicht nur in diesem strafrechtlich 'auskristalllisierten' Aspekt läuft die polizeirechtliche Logik einer Gefahrenprognose mit, auch in der verfassungsrechtlichen Abwägung, zumal dann, wenn - wie im Fall der documenta - durch die Agitation der Aktivisten und ihre Zeichnungen antisemitischer Klischees keine subjektiven Rechte verletzt sein sollten. Mal soll das Publikum oder die Öffentlichkeit robuster sei und soll sich nicht so anstellen, mal sollen diejenigen, deren Meinungs- und Kunstfreiheit dann beschränkt wird, sich zurückhalten. Und was ist der Maßstab dafür? Was immer dieser Maßstab ist, er ist immer schon polarisiert und er wird polarisieren. Tabus oder ihr Nachleben werden eine Rolle spielen, und man kann Tabus nicht teilen, ohne zu polarisieren.

Ein großer Teil von Gesprächen auf Augenhöhe gehen also dann, das ist nicht erst heute so, dafür drauf, dem Gesprächtsteilnehmer klar zu machen, worüber oder in wie nicht zu diskutieren sei. Das ist ein Teil der Energie des Streites. Auch wenn nicht alle Lust tiefe, tiefe Ewigkeit will: Laune will nicht Laune sein, Affekt will nicht nur Affekt sein, niedere Sinne wollen auch nach oben. Auch das gehört zum Luxus.

Bahners hat in diesem Kontext, also dem Streit um die documenta und die antisemitischen Darstellungen von der Kunstfreiheit im Zeitalter ihrer staatlichen Alimentation gesprochen, irgendwie so oder ähnlich hat er die Situation benannt. Das trifft nicht den Kern des Streits, aber seine Fütterung. Die documenta ist nicht nur relevant, die ist kunstsystemrelevant, was man schon daran merkt, dass alle Beteiligten sich in erstaunlichem Konsens darauf geeinigt haben, die im wenigsten in diesem System agierende Person, die Geschäftsführerin, trage die größte Schuld am Dilemma. Die Mitarbeiter des documenta Institutes verbreiten diese Botschaft fleißig, das klingt ungefähr so, als würde man Mafiaangehörigen zuhören, wenn sie erzählen, was gerade schiefgelaufen sei, oder wie wenn Habermasschüler erzählen, was für ein Idiot Sloterdijk sei, sprich: das klingt von keiner Formulierung gestört plausibel, heißt aber nix

[viunews]

Crisi idrica senza precedenti: la diga Ancipa verso la chiusura

La chiusura dell’invaso avverrà tra poco meno di 15 giorni, se la situazione meteorologica non dovesse migliorare drasticamente

Le immagini della diga Ancipa, riprese attraverso un video timelapse che documenta oltre un anno di progressivo prosciugamento, mostrano una realtà sconcertante. Dal giugno 2023 all’ottobre 2024, l’invaso, una volta ricoperto dalle acque bluastre che caratterizzavano il paesaggio, si è ridotto fino a diventare una distesa quasi vuota. Il video, diffuso recentemente dal Movimento per la Difesa dei…

[swirlingdisobedience]

Multi-disciplinary Site-Specific references

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Brooke Bond Taj Mahal tea has created the installation called the "Megh Santoor" at the Vijayawada Railway station. The huge Santoor, which is 150 ft wide, has been designed such that with every rain shower, the water interacts with the santoor strings recreated on the billboard to present a rendition of the Raag Megh Malhar, the raag of the rains, -a tipical Indian classical music piece. Legends say that this raga has the power to bring out rains in the area where it is sung.

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There were no spectators at Saint Laurent’s presentation of its 2021 Women’s Summer collection, only drone footage of models walking on the crest of a tall sand dune in the middle of a honey-colored desert.

Alexander McQueen - Glass dome runway women's spring/summer collection 2022

"Chilean architect Smiljan Radic built a cloud-like dome for luxury fashion house Alexander McQueen's Spring/Summer show. The luxury fashion house invited guests to a large-scale transparent dome on a rooftop in East London, debuting their 2022 Spring/Summer collection.

The ever-changing London skies inspire this year's collection and how turbulent weather in the UK can be. Alexander McQueen's creative director Sarah Burton explains, "I am interested in immersing myself in the environment in which we live and work, in London, and in the elements as we experience them each day." To continue this theme of weather, temperament, and unpredictability, architect Smiljan Radic designed a large-scale, cloud-like dome to house the show. The transparent structure speaks to the outside climate and directly incorporates it into the experience." (from:

https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/alexander-mcqueen-1)

HIGHLINE New York.

The High Line is both a nonprofit organization and a public park on the West Side of Manhattan. Through our work with communities on and off the High Line, we’re devoted to reimagining the role public spaces have in creating connected, healthy neighborhoods and cities.

Built on a historic, elevated rail line, the High Line was always intended to be more than a park. You can walk through gardens, view art, experience a performance, savor delicious food, or connect with friends and neighbors-all while enjoying a unique perspective of New York City.

Nearly 100% of our annual budget comes through donations from people like you, who help us operate, maintain, and program the park.

The High Line is owned by the City of New York and we operate under a license agreement with NYC Parks.

History

Believe it or not, the High Line was once destined for demolition. Luckily, the community rallied together to repurpose it instead, creating the park you see today, for everyone to enjoy. It has since become a global inspiration for cities to transform unused industrial zones into dynamic public spaces.

https://www.thehighline.org/history/

1999

In the decades of disuse, many people were calling the High Line an ugly eyesore (Mayor Giuliani signed a demolition order, one of his last acts in office). But few of these critics saw what had secretly taken over the structure: a thriving garden of wild plants. Inspired by the beauty of this hidden landscape, Joshua David and Robert Hammond founded Friends of the High Line, a non-profit conservancy, to advocate for its preservation and reuse as a public space. Friends of the High Line remains the sole group responsible for maintenance and operation of the High Line (and is funded by supporters just like you).

Trampoline House - Documenta 15 underpass.

Trampoline House’s contribution to documenta fifteen, Castle in Kassel, hints at the physical and metaphorical representation of territorial power and the exercise of ownership. Physically, the “castle” is a territory marked by a circle of chalk on the floor. Inside the circle, there is a public program of performances, debates, and screening of artworks that puts into perspective the Danish asylum system and attitudes towards refugees and migrants. The participants of a theater workshop with asylum-seekers, rejected asylum-seekers, and refugee youth write and perform sketches about life in the Danish asylum system. A creative writing workshop facilitated by Jean Claude Mangomba examines the criminalization of asylum seekers and a retracing of the rights lost in an unjust and discriminatory system.

Castle in Kassel is not merely site-specific. With its walls easily erased, the castle presents its own antidote to a discriminatory system, tied together through live streaming and documentation to convey Trampoline House’s vital role.

Located in the underpass at Platz der Deutschen Einheit, The Walls Have Ears is a hidden sound installation by Sudanese Artist Khalid Albaih from Trampoline House that consists of hidden speakers placed in random locations along the tunnel telling stories of asylum seekers in Denmark.

Trampoline House was formed in 2010 by a group of artists, curators, refugee rights advocates, and asylum seekers as an antidote to Denmark’s asylum, refugee, and immigration policies.

Balenciaga chips wallet:

$1,800 chip bag wallet. 

Balenciaga: Runway shows

Hito Steryl MISSION ACCOMPLISHED: BELANCIEGE

The video installation MISSION ACCOMPLISHED: BELANCIEGE presented at Trafó Gallery reveals similar ’invasions’ of history and emphasizes their cyclical nature by turning towards the processes of economic and political realignment that followed the fall of the Berlin Wall, and by featuring examples that target our hyper-contemporary world armed with trend analysis, data mining, political advertising and audience targeting. The video installation is co-created by Giorgi Gago Gagoshidze, Hito Steyerl and Miloš Trakilović and is based on their lecture in 2019 at n.b.k. - Neuer Berliner Kunstverein. Almost 30 years to the day after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the lecture reflects on post-1989 transformations and political rearrangements in the former Soviet territories, sheds light on the interconnections between culture and populism, and examines in a broader context the mechanisms of oligarchic-capitalist culture that emerged during the 'privatisation' of the former Eastern bloc. The luxury fashion brand Balenciaga acts as a starting point for the artists’ reflections on politics, culture and populism, and reveals connections between trends, social media and political processes, such as the success of alt-right movements, the manipulation of the US presidential elections that enabled Donald Trump's victory, or the rise of populist and neoliberal politics in the countries of the former Eastern bloc.

Posters "Picó" Cartagena, Colombia.

En medio del calor tropical, y el mar caribe existe un fenómeno musical, en el cual gira toda una cultura: Los pick ups. Estos no se promocionan con afiches impresos ni con litografías, sino con afiches artesanales; diseños hechos a mano por los artistas de Bazurto. Se han convertido en un símbolo de patrimonio cultural del Caribe.

El mercado de Bazurto en Cartagena, es el templo en donde reside el alma de la champeta. Allí, en pleno corazón, encontramos al maestro de los Carteles Picoteros: José Corredor Rodelo alias “El Runner”.

Pocas veces se tiene la oportunidad de ver personificada la tan conocida manera de trabajar de las hormigas. Día tras día, el Mercado de Bazurto en Cartagena alberga a un artista de la gráfica popular y sus discípulos, vivo ejemplo de trabajo arduo, disciplinado, organizado y en equipo.

El “Runner”, desde las épocas de colegio cuando, su maestro de idiomas decidió apodarlo de ese modo, hoy con 50 años de edad y sin ninguna agencia publicitaria tiene a su cargo la mayor Empresa (informal) de carteles populares de la Heróica.

[gamzart]

NEAR FIELD Gambletron 2022

Via Detour: Uber Umweg, Robin's Nest, Witzenhausen, germany .

An exploration of radio transmission/ receiver kinetic feedback on found metal.

This project lived in a german forest for three months acting as both an FM radio station and a feedback resonant machine. Antennae rumbling and activated by cyclic wiring in conjunction with transmitted sound being fed into the sculpture via surface transducers.

Curators: Maria Hinze, Peter Becker

The media festival included 20 ish artists internationally and was programmed adjacent to Documenta 15 and had busses running from Kassel.