KASSEL 2012_dOCUMENTA(13)

--> there were files here with descriptions of C. Pentecost's portraits on the soil-ergs. should you be interested: leave an email and i'll re-post or send. the files were just taking up too much space.

in general i have the feeling that the people who live off art (usually not artists - who more often than not do not live off their work) are so bored with real life that they need the borderline experience of art to somehow feel alive. the immediate analogy that comes to my mind is good old Karl Marx and his "opium of the people". whereas he was referring to religion, i see parallels to my recent experiences of the "art" world.

i subsitute "religion" with "art" - and, at least to me, Marx' words offer a lucid analysis of the cult of art. today's bourgoisie (the people i have in mind here) flocks to art exhibitions with the same grim determination as it did attend church some time ago. in the face of obstruse objects sanctified by art priests nobody dares utter the relieving and revealing words: "this is bullshit!" because this would be the disqualification from the congregation of the enlightened.

„Das Fundament der irreligiösen Kritik ist: Der Mensch macht die Religion, die Religion macht nicht den Menschen. Und zwar ist die Religion das Selbstbewusstsein und das Selbstgefühl des Menschen, der sich selbst entweder noch nicht erworben, oder schon wieder verloren hat. Aber der Mensch, das ist kein abstraktes, außer der Welt hockendes Wesen. Der Mensch, das ist die Welt des Menschen, Staat, Societät. Dieser Staat, diese Societät produzieren die Religion, ein verkehrtes Weltbewusstsein, weil sie eine verkehrte Welt sind. Die Religion ist die allgemeine Theorie dieser Welt, ihr enzyklopädisches Compendium, ihre Logik in populärer Form, ihr spiritualistischer Point-d'honneur (Ehrgefühl), ihr Enthusiasmus, ihre moralische Sanktion, ihre feierliche Ergänzung, ihr allgemeiner Trost- und Rechtfertigungsgrund. Sie ist die phantastische Verwirklichung des menschlichen Wesens, weil das menschliche Wesen keine wahre Wirklichkeit besitzt. Der Kampf gegen die Religion ist also mittelbar der Kampf gegen jene Welt, deren geistiges Aroma die Religion ist.

Das religiöse Elend ist in einem der Ausdruck des wirklichen Elendes und in einem die Protestation gegen das wirkliche Elend. Die Religion ist der Seufzer der bedrängten Kreatur, das Gemüth einer herzlosen Welt, wie sie der Geist geistloser Zustände ist. Sie ist das Opium des Volks.

Die Aufhebung der Religion als des illusorischen Glücks des Volkes ist die Forderung seines wirklichen Glücks. Die Forderung, die Illusionen über seinen Zustand aufzugeben, ist die Forderung, einen Zustand aufzugeben, der der Illusionen bedarf. Die Kritik der Religion ist also im Keim die Kritik des Jammertales, dessen Heiligenschein die Religion ist. “

– Karl Marx: Einleitung zur Zur Kritik der Hegelschen Rechtsphilosophie; in: Deutsch-Französische Jahrbücher 1844, S. 71f, zitiert nach MEW, Bd. 1, S. 378-379

(see http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_des_Volkes)

... but the time spent reading Susan Sontag's book "Regarding the Pain of Others" (2003) is by far better invested than visiting "pixelated revolution" and/or your performance-lecture.

i am still struggling with putting into words the dissatisfaction and subliminal anger that i feel when confronted with your work. some of the other works also elicit the same feelings but i have not yet figured out the commonalities.

http://www.nzz.ch/aktuell/feuilleton/kunst_architektur/die-taegliche-dosis-form-und-farbe-1.17260775

nachdem ich mich nun auch zu dieser kost verpflichtet habe: ein wunderbarer artikel von Christian Saehrendt, dem autor von "Ist das Kunst oder kann das weg?" (2012). die durchschnittlich 5 sekunden, die ein betrachter vor einem kunstwerk verbringt, sind ein guter richtwert (http://kultruhr.journalisten-akademie.com/?p=736). ganz besonders die profis der kunstszene haben in etwa diese aufmerksamkeitsspanne: die kuratoren, die ich das vergügen hatte, durch den bahnhof zu begleiten, hielten sich ziemlich genau an diesen durschnittswert. die einladung zum gespräch über ein werk wird beim ersten objekt noch angenommen, dann aber zugunsten der abarbeitung, dh. besichtigung der übrigen objekte, (zum teil mit grosser erleichterung) aufgegeben.

die rolle der begleitung erfüllt sich dann insoweit, als dass man in der gruppe diejenige ist, die weiss, wo die toiletten sind und der kürzeste weg zum nächsten kunstwerk ist. ist doch auch was.

One of CAE's projects at Kassel's documenta this year was to put up a banner showing income distribution worldwide. in order to show the last one percentile of super-rich on a correct scale, they hired a helicopter to take people to 225m. rumors have it that the original intention of selling tickets for the ride was not at all successful and the raffle initiated to ensure plebeian participation did also not succeed to fill the space available. so, and that is what i heard firsthand, passer-bys were invited to a free helicopter ride! man, had i known about that!

yes, indeed, drastic income inequality is a problem - and has been for a long time. tactical representation of data is also a problem and equally persistent. i observe a tendency of the art/sy community and its associeted industries to nonchalanty and at times offensively avow itself to lopsidedness. why?

on their own website, CAE declare their members to be media experts who use media tactically. i wonder what their tactical target group was that day? their own industry's scouts and agents (in order to secure their next gig and hence their next income) or Joane Doe from the street?

feeling encouraged to publish warped data myself, the average Joane Doe that i spoke to seemed, firstly, to be preoccupied with the environmental consequences of the performance (including noise pollution) and, secondly, thought that the money would have been better spent otherwise.

i wonder how many people that day pondered upon income inequality (or felt inspired to consider this topic any other day thereafter). maybe Joane Doe's platitude (of spending money otherwise) is less plain than is obvious: maybe for her an alternative spending might ACTUALLY make MORE sense. according to studies conducted by a Kassel economics professor, mr Gerd-Michael Hellstern, 55,2% of documenta visitors (in 2002) had an academic degree and not even 1% were workers (in 2007). this documenta's budget is EUR 24,6 m, money spent for a service which is apparently not consumed by Joane Doe (and nothing much is being done by the documenta to convince ms Doe to come consume). whose tactics is this?

Nochmals vielen Dank für die Aufmerksamkeit und die mir entgegengebrachte Herzlichkeit! Es war eine grosse Freude und ein schönes Privileg, sie zu begleiten.

Die erste der beiden Fragen habe ich per Email an Herrn Istvan Csakany selbst weitergegeben. Den Wortlaut der Anfrage finden Sie weiter unten. Sollte eine Antwort eintreffen, wird sie an dieser Stelle veröffentlicht.

Die zweite Frage betraf biografische Daten zu Rabih Mroue. Ein Wikipedia Eintrag sagt, dass er 1967 in Beirut geboren wurde und 1989 ein Studium der Theaterwissenschaften (?) an der Lebanese University abschloss. Ein Jahr später, 1990, fand der bis anhin dauernde Libanesische Bürgerkrieg sein offizielles Ende, nachdem u.a. Syrische Truppen in einer letzten Offensive General Michel Aoun, den damaligen Premierminister, zur Aufgabe und ins Exil nach Frankreich zwangen.

Mroue arbeitet seit 1990 mit und im Theater und ist mit Lina Saneh verheiratet, mit der er auch oft zusammenarbeitet.

Der heutige Syrische Konflikt beschäftigt Mroue schon länger: "The Pixelated Revolution" ist das Ergebnis eines Stipendiums, das Teil des Spalding Grey Preises ist, den Mroue 2010 bekommen hatte (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/29/theater/29arts-LEBANESEARTI_BRF.html). Anfang dieses Jahres war Mroue mit "The Pixelated Revolution" auch schon in Berlin. Näheres dazu in einem Interview mit dem Tagesspiegel (http://www.tagesspiegel.de/kultur/dokumente-der-gewalt-wir-sehen-alles-und-nichts-wir-sind-blind/6691686.html).

***
Im Folgenden der Wortlaut meiner Anfrage an Herrn Istvan Csakany:

"Dear Mr Csakany,

I am a guide at the present documenta exhibition and would like to pass on a question that was posed by a group of visitors during my first tour two days ago. It is a small, almost marginal question but, I would assume, it touches upon a central topic of “Ghost Keeping”: human labour.

How many man hours of carpentry did go into “Ghost Keeping”? This is indeed not a brainy, artsy question, but a straight forward one and I apologize for inconveniencing you this way. I guess, everybody is aware that the answer to this question is not key to “understanding” your artwork, whatever “understanding art” may mean anyway, and would do no more (and no less) than gratify plain and simple curiosity.

Your answer will be highly appreciated and, let me assure you, not only for the easily enjoyable gratification of quantification as “a lot!” or “many!” is already quite obvious. Our question is carried by a sincere appreciation for your work, material and immaterial, just as “Ghost Keeping” seems to speak of an appreciation for human labour in its widest sense, material or immaterial, past or present. Thank you for participating at documenta and thus sharing your work with us.

Yours sincerely,
Sumiko Morino

p.s. I find it remarkable that the interest focused on the carpentry only and nobody raised the question regarding the amount of labour invested in the sewing of the suits. Is this a demonstration of the persistent imbalance of appreciation for “male” and “female” labour?! If I indeed have the pleasure of receiving your reply, please do add an estimation of wo/man hours of sewing!"

Die Führungen der dOCUMENTA(13) werden von "weltgewandten Begleitern" durchgeführt, die nicht wegen ihrer kunsthistorischen Vorbildung ausgewählt wurden (unter http://d13.documenta.de/#/de/arbeiten/offene-ausschreibung ist der Text der Ausschreibung noch immer abrufbar). Unkonventionelle Perspektive hin oder her, die documenta ist eine Kunstausstellung. Sollten also Fragen von (kunsthistorischer) Relevanz während einer Führung offen bleiben, deren Beantwortung den Gästen wirklich wichtig ist, dann erachte ich es als Teil meiner Dienstleistung, mich darum zu kümmern. Ergo: hiermit ist das virtuelle Informationsbureau nach bestem Wissen und Gewissen eröffnet.

but now they seem to have quietly retired to a corner of Kassel's main station. what originated in the profane need to save costs, namely the occupation of otherwise abandonned, roofed space by artists and their work, has arrived in Germany's provincial mainstream: additionally to the renovated, beautified southern wing, the northen wing is being ennobled these days by the presence of art objects.

the 13th documenta has opened its gates to those involved in the business of art, the plebeian opening is scheduled for saturday, 09.06.2012.

visual art seems to lead a truly schizophrenic existence: it is present in its materiality (if it's not dependent on a working electricity grid) and it has a verbal existance. latter depends on whatever the priviledged few who experience the art work firsthand talk/write about it publicly. what do we know about what the 750.000 visitors thought and made of the art exhibited in 2007, at the 12th documenta? nothing, really.

that was the most interesting sensation yesterday, seeing and otherwise experiencing the objects firsthand and for the first time. the real thing rather than the mostly awful project descriptions circulated.

there is no single, overwhelming project, but the ensemble seems to work fine. i have to admit that i particularly enjoyed an exhibition not related to documenta but in immediate proximity to it: the caricatura. in many ways a perfect attunement and very helpful for intellectual calibration. what better way to begin an art show with the following cartoon: a waiter is waiting on a customer seated at a table. the customer asks, looking at the rather curious heap on the plate presented to him: "what is this?" and the waiter replies: "art! i wouldn't know what else it could be."

...since "seed bags". three European winters. more than a year in Kassel. today, a random tuesday, 17. april 2012.

titles like "when you walk inside you see that it is filled with seeds" - quite silly, actually. after those seed bags. with what happened to those seeds, those hopes, intentions, vanities. and now? read the newspapers to feel sick. don't read the newspapers, i still feel sick.

what will the world look like on 09. june 2012? or 16. september 2012? maybe different, maybe the same. maybe educated, maybe not.

companions, escorts, wordly, earthly, may, be, not - fill it in a shaker, pour and drink ice cold. see you in Kassel.

i had been joking with an ICRC colleague who had been asking me the other day if the austrian red cross guest house in kadugli would have a "safe room". "no," i naively replied, " our safe is in the office." after a quizzical look, he explained what a safe room should be. "aha," i said, "you mean something like jodie foster's panic room? no, we've got nothing like it. and bearing in mind that the whole guest house is merely "thatched" with corrugated iron, i would very much doubt that the reinforcement of walls would suffice in this case..."

two weeks later, the trucks with seeds rolled into town and the bags had to go somewhere. here they are. at least in appearance, the guest house turned into a safe place. in case of gunfire, i could have published the bullet absorbtion qualities of peanuts and cowpeas...

another article, another author, same source (Zeit Magazin Leben, no.52, 19dec07).

Peter Bieri is teaching philosophy at FU Berlin. he writes (and i translate freely):

* "language makes us beings capable of understanding. in a state of non-understanding, when we do not know words or sentences, we cannot identify the causal relationships of the world and are being pushed around at random. the learning of language fundamentally changes this: because we can react to the world with a system of symbols, we can understand it, we have a notion of it.

language provides us with a conceptual organization of experiencees. [...] it helps us to classify what we experience."

* "language is also quintessential for the understanding of the other. first of all your own language, in which we justify what we do, but then also the language of the other, through which we are approved or corrected. language is an expression of the strange other as well as a bridge to a foreign mind."

* "every action is an episode in someone's life and draws its sense and rationality from his/her history."

* "verbal articulation can form emotional certainty out of emotional chaos and something conscious out of the unconscious. memory, too, is shaped by language. of course, beings uncapable of language also have memory. [... but] the process of recollection forms the identity of one's mind."

* "there is a positive power of language. and there is a negative one. [...] when words coagulate to empty verbal shells and sentences become slogans they are no longer part of the logical framework of reasoning, criticism and revision but exhibit the [...] grim determination of fists pounding a table. [...] also the false language of diplomacy with its euphemisms and [...] gentle lies [...] aims is to suffocate critical inquiry and the need for better understanding. this kind of language aims to paralyze the spirit.

besides slogans there are other forms of language that prohibit understanding and education: empty phrases and something which one may call verbal rubble [...]. the usage of "verbal garbage" degrades conversation to ranting, blabbering and quacking. this kind of language does not encourage people to be alert and to strive for self-determination through adequate verbal articulation."

this is the title of an article published in "Die Zeit" no. 52, 19dec07. a certain Thomas Gross is talking to Geert Lovink, an internet theoretician, who heads the Institute of Network Cultures at the university of Amsterdam.

Lovink's most recent publication "zero comments" makes blogging "the killer application of our times". in this interview the author says a couple of interesting things (and i translate freely):

* "my understanding of blogging [...] is more like what Michel Foucault calls "technologies of the self". the main thing of today's net is not news and opinions but self-profiling and self-reflexion: who am i? what am i doing?"

* "[a blog] revolves around one's experience which is reflected in the confrontation with an already existent text, picture or video."

* "the blogosphere is certainly something lonely, reflexive. you exhibit yourself although you don't know to whom. blogging is a cult of individualism under antagonistic, anti-individualistic conditions, insofar it's the successor of the diary. it is a completely new diary culture which is neither public nor private, but exists in ambiguity."

* "the most popular blogs deal with cats. the worldwide most popular blog topic is cats. then come holiday destinations [...]. there is factual, heroic or desperate blogging. blogs undeniably carry aspects of self-advertisement, too. you can create your own profile. you can publish idealized pictures of yourself. but ultimately these pictures don't work on the net."

it seems that Lovink quotes Erich Fromm (freely translated): "the right to say what you want only carries weight if you are capable to translate your thoughts into words."
Lovink says:

* "my hope is that the technology that so profoundly changed the picture we have of ourselves and our concept of "the social" self might create a new social body. perhaps the fear of disappearing in the mass was characteristic of the 20th century but maybe the 21st century will show us new ways of organizing ourselves through technology, ways we only begin to understand. the question is: will we have the inner strength, the conviction to accept this challenge?"