MüMerc / MS skulpturprojekte

Münster17

Always glad to visit Münster during the Skulptur Projekte, still the best periodical show but perhaps in a bit of a quandary at this point... Could not help my impression that today’s artists don’t have that much more to say than the older generation... probably because I myself belong to that category by now... But on the whole still a good view on the state of affairs in the arts... and lucky enough, we had great weather to visit and no technical problems with our bikes... even so, didn’t manage to see all and so as always, this report is but a slice subjective.

Decided to first stop at Marl, which was a good idea... arrived early before the art-zoo crowd, and had a refreshing walk through the old cemetery... very nice site contrasting with the brutish cement esplanade of the city centre... in itself fascinating and with just the right patina of bygone ‘wirtschaftswunder’ enthusiasm... Schütte’s melon-pieces don’t have quite the same squat complacency as the cherries, but can stand the leafy environment of the parking lot quite well. 

(detail-denkmal für einen gefangenen, Emilia & Ilya Kabakov 2007/2010)

Kabakov’s homage to the imprisoned is a bit of a dump, due to kebab & döner gourmets not taking their fast food packaging with them after their visit – an increasing trend in Germany it seems, leaving you trash behind where it falls, and as such a ‘found sculpture’ opportunity anywhere you go... in this case in the environs of the former war-graves lined up in neat little rows among the weeds...

Joëlle Tuerlinckx connected the whole site with a ‘tag’ line right through the park, some 200m of chalk replenished every morning... works well without being obtrusive, the park being a melee of recent, temporary and older works... and indicating more at the outside corner, being a school where work by Nyholm was to be seen ( ...and videos which we didn’t)

 Tuerlinckx

The park is an interesting mix of grand allusions and small bourgeois attitudes, a lot of the sculptures are a bit humdrum, sort of committee-selection stuff, but on the other hand represent well the era of economic progress and notions of public art, art for everyone... which in itself is a commendable thought, and is well to be reminded here, in these times of ‘if it moves eat it’...

(mystery sculpture in the brushwork, surprising find, but no idea who it’s by, if anyone...)

The Glaskasten museum is interesting in as much it is an afterthought in the architectural ensemble – closing off part of the courtyard with glass panes - the most transparent museum I’ve ever come across... and most of it can be seen without even entering – though there are exhibits interior up & down stairs – quite a collection which luckily has been brought to the attention of passers-by in this connection to the skulptur-projekte... even though I had heard snippets of the place I never became interested enough to visit... 

So, delightfully surprised busy as a bee from one exhibit to the next, and charmed by the fact that I got a hand-written receipt for my booklet I bought – not sure about the title but sure would have liked to hot-wire Vostells ’64 Buick Electra and gun it “out of the showroom” by way of the large glass windows... (screaming tires across the crumbling Marlin esplanade*)... liked his topsy-turvy locomotive too (La Tortuga) The visit was well worth it, the strange surroundings like something out of an italian new realist film... with a tad ostblock mixed in... 

(*as celebratory homage to the effect the work had on its owner at the time, industrial sausage baron & Herta-boss turned bio-alternative... sort of)...author considering break-in & getaway

Münster itself then... as mentioned we brought our own bikes and so were breezing past traffic into town, but soon the main bicycle routes were quite clogged... the organization had also promoted and offered use of bikes, so some sites were a veritable traffic jam... much to the chagrin of other sporty bike-types... in fact German cycle ways are like their Autobahns... you hardly have a chance to pass a slowpoke without having a BMW-style cursing ‘schnellschnell’ kraut up your rear end... to formulate the germanic velocicultural tendencies in a mild an politically correct manner... (ah, where are the days of pleasurable cycle excursions in long skirts & picnic hampers?)... but the small streets in the old town were ok.

This edition seemed to have more of a comparative character than former ones, or at least that was my personal feeling – the fact that there is now a sort of permanent body of work which has become ingrained and new work can’t but end up comparing itself- the success of the ten year formula is also it’s problematic – of course various interested parties would love to turn it into just another art-disney, and to some extent they do, but it still remains an artists project space, which is very refreshing in these times of overproduction of scarcity... the fact that its still free for one, open to all sorts of interpretations, not expanding or contraction too much but being flexible... 

As for the interpretations, well, they are food for thought & discussion, as they should be...  Sculpture has become quite a wide angle (obviously since Beuys’ ‘soziale skulptur’, still pertinent)

First stop Favaretto’s collection-rock, classic with a twist, like most of the offerings you have to read up on the context, the works don’t really explain themselves too well... but ok, intentions are good – probably also for “HellYeahWeFuckDie” but since it was in a bank, gave it a pass... Schütte’s Nuclear temple has been there for a while but still attracts droves of cycling artlovers... saw Sany’s drawing at Marl, so pedaled on, Artschwager gone to Marl,  Kirkeby standing fast, Bartholl’s voltage energy gizmos, headed into town & the new museum...

Yes and no, on the one hand it is an aesthetically pleasing thing, no beef on the architecture, and yes, sculptural enough one might say... but was it necessary? I guess there would be enough arguments for, but that’s for any building – perhaps a bit the tendency to invest more in the frame than the work to be displayed... played is perhaps the better word, since competition between museums is hardball and it’s all about choreography nowadays... so, considering that performance has become part of the sculpture scene, this fits like a glove... and perhaps John Knight’s level on the edge denotes just that, balancing act...

(...was intrigued by Nora Schultz’s intervention though – Olle Baertling’s YZI (1969) translated from Marl to the stairway to heavy... along with video wallwork -  hmm)

Deans installation in & out somewhat ho-hum, reminding me of school, and the limited visual access something I did myself way back when... but I guess one does have a lot of déjà-vu’s as one gets older... Wagner & de Burca’s Schlager-investigation hmmm, CAMP intervention on the theatre roof more to my liking, spanning tension between the old destroyed theatre and the new forward looking playhouse – in fact just reiterating but in a sympathetic way – reminding, as quite a few works that the German  art-context is still imbued with the story of WWII.

As denoted also by Horn’s Zwinger work we passed on the way to Rottenberg, taking a wrong turn into the prison first... the site of the defunct Chinese store more interesting than the video, and again, as longtime alternative space buff, nothing new. On towards Jeremy Deller but failed to find the right lane – passes to & fro along other paths and got confused – sorry, since would have like to see the journals... at the Pumphouse a sort of in-between moment of theatre-performance improv something about being unashamed – Gintersdorfer Klaßen,  good for the younger crowd... 

Back down towards Silke Wagner’s ‘bonhomme’, also still attracting quite some attention, also reminding us...  just across the road a new neighbor (Justin Matherly) rethinks Nietsche’s rock... also well visited... as was Nairy Baghramian’s sculptures at the Erzdrostenhof, suspended classic, the site still stronger than what most put there... powermongering... Bunte’s QR works don’t work on my old phone, and anyway, having myself done the same once for a tongue-in-cheek reference to the tech-dizzies, gave this one a pass too... von Bonin & Burrs heavy load also reminded me of works seen in the 80’s... and textworks along the way also get only a glance (Tanaka in courtyard quick look) 

Didn’t see Peles Empire decor-piece, but there too, media enough – also Gerdes’ Angst (also on load from Marl) got a miss rather we headed for the Aa and a bit of respite from artzoo-viewing in view of Oldenburg’s balls... and with that a reminder that in fact, the early contributions still rank among the best – and taking into account the times, most controversial... there simple oversized billiard balls got the leftist students all in a huff at the time, representing US-imperialistic venture-decadence and the worst of capitalist hegemony... now just a picnic decor... It’s very hard to get people in a huff nowadays, and while lots of the works make reference to today’s woes, refugees, planet, social injustice, it all flows by like a babbling brook... 

Still one of the best works is Asher’s caravan – very interesting documentation section in the old museum ambulatory (above Deans Lichthof installation) where one can follow the caravan’s progress over the decades, comments & theories – such a simple gesture delineating such a wide discussion – neat!  And, to top it all off, came across an Asher caravan on the way out of the city... just sitting there as ever, - a new feature- a tow-bar lock so that no-one can just hitch it up & disappear... sign of the times, along with the improvised trash-sculptures everywhere... and in that sense again significant even 40 years on – just standing still illustrates the headlong folly best.

What is it?... a false Asher - never was the same identical caravan, but a rented same model, so someone who raised the ghost of Asher or is it a semi-official intervention?
(been broke into?)

must admit didn't read all of the info in the show, but like the "original imaginaire" aspect to it - does it matter? would Asher mind?

Quite a few major works were not visited, too far for a leisurely pedal, but did pass by one of the most mediatised: Ayse Erkmens ‘on water’ and though again an interesting location, the execution sort of bland – security buoys and gateways – should have been just nature – but then the whole area is up the creek: typical harbor-regeneration with expensive lofts and startups alongside rusting industry (not for long) and disco- alternative scene haunts (not for long)... Tuazon’s fireplace was near there but didn’t find it – anyway, an image that caught my eye and perfect for the ‘SP’ 17: a recent model Mercedes coupé trashed & looted... Gentrification meets autonomy, I’d say...

especially the alloys…