Wolfgang Tillmans: Monochrome

Selected artworks (Tillmans)

Wolfgang Tillmans, It's only love give it away, 2005.


Artist's webpage can be found here

Projects(Day for Night)

In a time of global crisis, over-heated art market, when artworks are increasingly transformed into speculative objects I'm prosposing an exhibition through which various discourses, artistic positions and strategies flow freely like people and capital in global and networked world.
Day for Night takes the title from the work by William Kentridge that resembles a star galaxy, a central piece of this exhibition, to which other artworks establish invisible relations. Infact, the whole structure of the exhibition revolves around small, unexpected constellations of artworks, falling stars, that occassionaly, and for limited period of time, enter in contact.
Kentridge's piece is, in accordance with the statement 'contemporary art objects are frequently not what they seem', actually made by filming ants crossing sugar linen, which makes the pulsating movement on the screen seem very organic. Afterwards, the shot was turned into negative, in a smart twist of what is known as 'nuit américaine', a trick used in '70s B-movies, that means basically shooting night scenes during the day so that they would look like night, resulting in fake night scapes. Instead of that we get a reflection on the process of filmmaking and the magic moment of film projection, leading us back to the beginnings of cinema.
The selection of artworks is based on Ellipse collection that is particularily vibrant in terms of still and moving image of the last thirty years. Both photography and video were not considered art forms in the beginning and had hard time trying to enter (even if contemporary) art history. Photography took over a century to legitimise its existence, while in the case of video this process is still going on and some of the works in this exhibition could intervene fundamentally in this regard.
Similarily, the artists were selected in non-hierarchical way, coming from very different backgrounds, generations and media. The little known artists find themselves in the same space with the undervalued artists and big names. Further, artists from the global South, living in the recently affirming art capitals like Luanda, Jo'burg or Istanbul mix successfully with those lucky(or not) to come from the self-proclaimed capitals of modernism.
The discourses fluctuating thru Day for Night range from queer theory, post-colonial studies, art history, post-feminism, economy(of art), film studies, late capitalism, religion and political philosophy in order to re-articulate contemporary art in our present condition of global unrest.
Artworks on their turn share an aesthetic quality, a beauty that can be political and is normally associated with the 'Other'. And this 'Other' can be nowadays anyone not in possession of right passport. That is, everyone not coming from the forementioned 'centers of modernism' (which undoubtedly still remain the centers of artworld's financial transactions), or global North in general, as well as artists living outside their homeland for any reason. Obviously, this reaffirmation of aesthetics in the works of Kentridge, Pierson, Julien, Orozco or Gonzalez-Torres has nothing to do with aesthetic concerns of modernism or a retroactive cry for ' art for art's sake'.
Most of the videoworks in this exhibition tend towards spatiality and non-linear narrative structure, that becomes kind of a paradigm when observed through a wider scope, it can be noticed in the pieces by Sala, Ahtila, Julien, Yonamine and to certain extent also Kentridge and Atay.
Some of the chosen artworks (art is the question of choosing, afterall) share the performative aspects or are carefully staged as is the case with Sherman, Lucas, Julien, Moffat or Serrano, Breuning and McGuinley to name a few.
Lots of them are playful and engage with the world in humorous way (Orozco, Baldessari, Simmons, Schütte, Breuning, McGuinley, Kelley).
Though what links most of them is desire, as a theme, but also a driving force behind everything we do and inherent to artistic practice.
During the exhibition some artists reappear, we encounter them in different rooms and constellations (Pierson, Orozco, McGuinley and Gonzalez-Torres).
Day for Night shares a room with Anri Sala's double screen projection Blindfold, exhibiting two different angles on the same scene shot in Tirana, showing that what we see depends on our perspective, it is therefore conditioned. The fact that video is local specific locates it light years away from the 'liquid', 'neutral' videoworks from the past decades.
The constellation that follows is charged with desire. There is an untitled photo of purple-toned flowers by Fischli&Weiss; a colourful metamorphosis by Cindy Sherman who is known to use herself as a protagonist for most of the photos she does, adding performative aspect to her practice; a black and white self-portait obviously influenced by her by smoking Sarah Lucas; sexually intense Indian Corn and Pommegranate by Tillmans; blown-up Stardust by Pierson where queer theory enters; A History of Sex explained by Serrano, one of most disquieting artists of our time; an incredibly contemporary work by Baumgarten from '68 called Pupile; and, finally, Islamorada, a paradisiac photo of a palm tree taken from the bottom up that might as well have to do with cuban illegal immigration to the States via deep blue sea.
Next room proposes two video projections that apparently have very little in common, except the strong presence of women protagonists. Wind is part of the Eina Lisa Ahtila's project Love is a Treasure and is essentially about women, their complexities and relationships, for which she spend some time with the patients of psychiatrical institution. Julien's Fântome Afrique in its turn is a triple screen projection dealing with phantoms of the past, colonial history, cinema and love, shot in the african capital of cinema Ouaga. Its protagonists are two 'phantoms', a man and woman, who despite the proximity of their trajectories will never meet, because spectres are invisible even to each other. It is a tale about impossibility of love, and that would actually connect both videoworks, besides their decidedly spatial orientation and non-linear narration.
What follows is not yet titled sculpture of burning drums by Violette Banks, a work yet to come, forming a 'community' with Heroine by Pierson that refers to popular culture, queer world and the killing drug, completed with a post-colonial flavoured painting of sculls, Hula girls, by Ashley Bickerton from Barbados.
Further, the viewer encounters works by Yonamine and Fikret Atay, first being part of Luanda's young artists launched internationally through controversial Check-list: Luanda Pop exhibition at last Venice Biennial, which affirmed Luanda as an art capital to be watched on.
A humour and exuberance enters the exhibition, generally more inclined towards night visions through this stargate: Lemonspeed by Orozco and a 'carroty' Game for two players by Baldessari, through Dieter and Klaus by Schütte coupled with c-print jigsaw puzzles in plastic bag- Loverboy and Fainted by cubanico Gonzalez-Torres, and to close the room Tracey Moffat's latino flavoured knife on the table together with Lady G, that is, a naked blond princess on the horse, by Olaf Breuning; frivolous Jessy by McGuinley in all her beauty; and Mike Kelley's toy-like object The Way is I Am.
The red colour links the pieces from the constellation to come, from horrific video Charlotte by Steve McQueen, to the filtered Shinjuku cemetery by Thomas Struth, or equally terrifying woman from I don't live here anymore by Rondinone, to the teasing Three Red Petit Fours by Laurie Simmons to finish and digest the nightmare.
Day for Night, is coming closer to an end now, its flickering stars turning into stardust, and the last room is again dedicated to still images. Bathtub full of ecstatic youth; Foam on the street without providing a clear idea where it comes from, but nevertheless soon to be dissolved, recalls Sloterdijk; Nudes on the Bed, another joyful session of twenty-somethings, quite common these days; Double
Falling Sunset- a climax making the transition from day to night easier; infinitely triste Last Light; and untitled Cold Blue Snow and Key West dispersal, in an interplay of two artists- Ryan McGuinley and Felix Gonzalez-Torres.
Curating, intended as 'statement in the space' would involve discussions with an architect, having 'nuit américaine' as departure node, and trying to avoid clichés of screening videoworks.
The project will be documented in a thin publication, relying on images of the exhibited artworks accompanied by detailed description of each work and a short intro by the curator.
The exhibition will be announced internationally via E-flux, in addition to usual adds in local press.
Day for Night is the first project in the series of three exhibitions appearing under the common title For the Love of God (present condition and contemporary art), that obviously appropriates the title of Hirst's diamond scull, an artwork known to be at the same time democratic and elitist. It will be followed by History of Violence that puts together Serrano's photo of a member of Ku-Klux clan with Wallstreet by Opie and mehrlicht by Abdelsemed, or for instance Ruff's Petra Grot with Soldiers by Dijkstra. The last being Eyes wide Shut, to close the cycle with yet another title taken from film history. The project is taking as its premise a concept by Slavoj Zizek known as parallax gap.

I SALT AND PEPPER MY MANGO (QueerLisboa12)

trans entities.heavenly delights.different time zones.
imperialni cuti.purple orhideje.half-naked moon.
if one thing matters.queer lisboa 12.

V Lizboni se je pri 34stopinjah v senci in rahlem vetricu iz Atlantika zgodil ze 12. festival queer kinematografije.
Poleg tekmovalnega programa za celovecerce, dokumentarne in kratke filme sta letos odprti novi sekciji Panorama, ki ponuja vpogled v spregledano aktualno produkcijo in Queer Art, namenjen nepricakovanim srecanjem med filmom in vizualno umetnostjo. Nadaljuje se tudi Queer Pop s serijo glasbenih videev, ki sooci zgodovino popa s sedanjostjo in vpliva na oblikovanje identitet queer skupnosti.
Screening je uravnotezen z debatami o eksplicitni seksualnosti in mejah pornografije v filmu, o 'zacasni' homoseksualnosti v casu kolonialnih vojn (africani bi jih imenovali vojne za neodvisnost) ter o pogajanjih med religijo in homoseksualnostjo.
Glede na to, da so nocno sceno v Lizbonski cetrti Bairro Alto zaceli prav geji v osemdesetih s klubom Frágil, kjer se se zdaj telesa spajajo ob electro glasbi, je bilo za pricakovati da bo festa, razdeljena med nove nevralgicne zone ekstaze, vsako noc do madrugade.
Med sto tridesetimi filmi prikazanimi na letosnji ediciji je bilo kar nekaj izstopajocih, vrednih analize in ponovnega ogleda.
Druzina 21. stoletja je zastopana v Finn's Girl- dve mami, dve karieri in en otrok. Po nepricakovani smrti svoje partnerice se doktorica Finn znajde globoko v krizi in zaradi tega skoraj izgubi naklonjenost njune hcerke. Prekine delo v znanstvenem laboratoriju zato, da bi se lahko posvetila partnericini kliniki za splave. Zacnejo se problemi z anti-abortus aktivisti, ki grozijo s smrtjo njej in hcerki. Resen film, ki se izogiba vsakrsnim klisejem in hkrati obravnava tako razlicne teme kot so istospolno starsevstvo, splav, verski fundamentalizem, medrasni odnosi, homofobija, etc.
Senteurs je kratkometrazec mlade reziserke Laure Schroeder, ki uporabi za izhodisce tipicno druzino srednjega razreda z enim otrokom, navidezno zadovoljno v svojem vsakdanu, ki pa je nepricakovano prekinjen. Zena se znajde ujeta v ljubezensko zgodbo z Japonko, v zenski verziji cesarstva cutil.
If one thing matters je dokumentarec o Wolfgangu Tillmansu, enem izmed najbolj znanih umetnikov danasnjega casa, ki se je uveljavil v devetdesetih s fotografijami nocnega zivljenja in rave partyjev. Reziser Heiko Kalmbach ga diskretno spremlja stiri leta med Londonom in Berlinom, ob pripravi na pomembe razstave v Tate Modern in Hamburger Banhof, v studiu s tropskimi rastlinami, med instalacijo abstraktnih fotk iz serije Lighter ali senzualne Peaches na stene bele kocke, in na snemanju videa za Pet Shop Boys, ko se zadnji trenutek odloci da bo uporabil posnetke misk iz londonskega Undergrounda. O njegovem osebnem zivljenju ni podano skoraj nic, to ni namen filma, kljub temu pa pogovor po telefonu s prijateljem po otvoritvi v Tate pokaze, da je noc prezivel z nekom ob katerem se ni zbudil. In, da ima asistente odkar Jochena ni vec...
Ena izmed njegovih najlepsih crnobelih fotografij je prav ta kjer se jelen in mlad fant gledata iz oci v oci.
Iz Berlina je bila uvozeno Obsceno v organizaciji Manuele Kay iz tamkajsnjega porno festivala. Joy Stick, Joy! v produkciji brazilskega kolektiva Xplastic pokaze do kje gre eksplicitno v nakljucnem srecanju dveh punc. The Apple v reziji Emilie Jouvet, ki nas je lani spravila do klimaksa z One Night Stand, serijo vnaprej dogovorjenih srecanj za eno noc z neznankami posnetih v zivo, je tudi tokrat o prepovedanem sadezu. Schwarzwald: The Black Party je cisti vizualni delirij s trans porno zvezdo Buck Angel.
Bruce La Bruce, star znanec festivalov nam postreze z 'gejevskim zombie pornicem' Otto; or, Up with Dead People, ki ga bo mozno videti tudi na letosnjem LIFFu ob polnoci.
Med dokumentarci so izstopali Bi the Way, o bi-generaciji, A Jihad for Love, o nenehnem boju za ljubezen muslimanskih gejev, in The Quest for Missing Piece, animacija o tradicji obrezovanja in njenih implikacijah.
Nagrado zirije za celovecerni film je nepricakovano prejel tropski Antonia Tate Amaral, o puncah iz São Paula, ki se odlocijo odpraviti iz favele v svet s pomocjo glasbe, ki jih najprej zdruzuje, potem pa locuje. Odlocitev, ki je temeljila predvsem na druzbeno-kriticni obravnavi aktualne tematike je bila kritizirana s strani gledalcev, saj je v filmu bolj malo queer elementov, ce izvzamemo gej brata ene izmed pevk, ki pa ga hitro ubijejo v navalu predmestnega nasilja in 'sumljiv', ceprav le rahlo nakazan, odnos med prijateljicama.
Every girl must have a toy...