Document generated on 10/02/2021 3:37 p.m.

Espace Sculpture

Rightfully Yours Jon Davies

Mimésis Mimesis Number 84, Summer 2008

URI: https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/9132ac

See table of contents

Publisher(s) Le Centre de diffusion 3D

ISSN 0821-9222 (print) 1923-2551 (digital)

Explore this journal

Cite this review Davies, J. (2008). Review of [Rightfully Yours]. Espace Sculpture, (84), 42–44.

Tous droits réservés © Le Centre de diffusion 3D, 2008 This document is protected by copyright law. Use of the services of Érudit (including reproduction) is subject to its terms and conditions, which can be viewed online. https://apropos.erudit.org/en/users/policy-on-use/

This article is disseminated and preserved by Érudit. Érudit is a non-profit inter-university consortium of the Université de Montréal, Université Laval, and the Université du Québec à Montréal. Its mission is to promote and disseminate research. https://www.erudit.org/en/ EVENEMENTS Events

Rightfully Yours

Jon DAVIES

This text is part of a Montreal-Toronto exchange via ESPACE and C MAGAZINE.

Rightfully Yours, was an intellectually thrilling and politically provocative exhibition mounted by young curator Tejpal Singh Ajji. Through a wide range of Canadian and international performance-based work—very broadly defined — he created a labo­ ratory to consider how artists insert themselves into a contemporary world wracked by conflicts over terri­ tory and identity, investigating what rights they—or any of us— have to legitimately take on and occupy others' positions. Artists here are pro­ ductively framed as invaders, re- invigorating debates over cultural trespass and appropriation while never losing sight of the potent plea­ sures that come with transgressions of symbolic and actual property, of insider and outsider knowledges. Ajji's exhibition offered a highly nuanced and multi-faceted perspec­ tive on artists' venturing where they don't belong, frequently finding them The raw, beating heart of the shadow over the entire exhibition. around its residents. In elaborate Steven COHEN, to be mediators of conflicts between show was Steven Cohen's 2001 video Cohen, a queer, Jewish South African, bejeweled makeup, Cohen wears a Chandelier, 2001. Chandelier, projected large in a dark­ stumbles through a Johannesburg large, jangling crystal chandelier as a Performance Installa­ different publics. ened nook and casting a figurai shantytown that is being torn down dress: he is a spectacle of white privi­ tion View. Courtesy of JMB Gallery and the lege. Striking mannered poses in his artist. precariously towering platform heels, he is as in danger of collapse as the Mattias OLOFSSON, fragile shacks around him. A few Culture Construding locals are joyful and many are Nature #2, 2005. shocked; to some he is an angel sent Colour photograph. from God; to one a whore to be 12.5 in x 16.5 in. fucked. Regardless, he continues his Courtesy of the artist. halting choreography through a rav­ aged landscape of poverty, disenfran-

chisement and despair decked out in Steven COHEN, the chi-chi symbols of a feminized, Chandelier, 2001. decadent elite (also flagged as Jewish Performance. Courtesy through the Stars of David he wears of John Hogg and the on his body), haughtily refusing to artist. communicate verbally. A catalyst amid chaos, Cohen is alternately threatened and protected, cursed and blessed. Cohen is not personally responsible for apartheid or the glaring economic injustice that remains in its aftermath, yet we fear that the artist's mere presence in the crime of destroying thousands of shantytown wearing his ridiculous Indian lives in the first place. finery and frippery further subjugates Cohen's piece establishes drag as the squatters. But clearly, feelings of an important theme here, one that being mocked by this intervention do offers a compelling model for identity not approach the devastation they in our current historical moment. have experienced as a result of the Costumes are an important element social and economic conditions under of the show, as artists get tricked out which they live.Cohen becomes an as Miss Canadiana (Camille Turner), easy target for our disapproval, but Lesbian Rangers (Shawna Dempsey only because systemic injustice rarely and Lorri Millan), and a doctor willing clowns for its victims and makes a to write excuse notes (Alison S.M. spectacle of itself like cosmopolitan Kobayashi). Artists both dress up and artists do. Similarly, in a video Andy dress down, performing figures of Bichlbaum of The Yes Men is casti­ authority (and assuming their gated by a BBC newscaster for the powers), taking on the guises of the organization's "cruel trick" of fraudu­ abject, and confusing such lently getting the people of Bhopal's dichotomies. For example, Sislej hopes up with their wish-fulfilling Xhafa declared himself the unofficial prank of devising a televised apology 1997 Albanian representative at Sislej XHAFA, on behalf of Dow Chemical for the neighbouring Italy's Venice Biennale, Padiglione Clandestino, THE YES MEN, Dow 1997. Unauthorized ruinous Union Carbide disaster. As if where he roamed the grounds in the Chemical to Clean Up performance during the their brazen act of corporate humilia­ guise of a soccer player, thus Bhopal, 2005. Venice Biennial. tion and sabotage were more mali­ 3 Channel Video. embodying both prized sports hero Copyright and courtesy Courtesy of the artists. cious than the company's far-greater and pavilion-deprived Balkan tran- of Sislej Xhafa.

sient. Similarly, Alicia Framis's large gown made from the near-indestruc­ tible fabric Twaron was intended as protective armour for women, but was also emblazoned with abusive and derogatory phrases chosen by women and copyrighted to prevent their public use again. Through publi­ cizing violent speech, the dress trans­ poses the shame of abuse from victim to perpetrator. Maffias Olofsson's drag is his ongoing performance as a real nine­ teenth-century Sami woman named Stor-Stina, here seen in a video learning to speak the slang Rinkeby- Swedish. As Stor-Stina, Olofsson medi­ ates anxieties between the indigenous Sami, non-indigenous Swedes and their state, and young, suburban immi­ grants, whose patois Stor-Stina receives lessons in. It seems that Rinkeby- Swedish is not so much about words as about the correct physical performance of masculinity (the coach acts as if he does not notice that Olofsson's persona

ESPACE 84 ÉTÉ/SUMMER 2008 43 PARUTIONS

is a woman) and their linguistic exer­ cises add a further layer of ethnocul- tural drag to Olofsson's work. Other artists infringe on Rightfully Yours, and the art world itself, from its margins. Washington, DC-based nombreuses anecdotes, le développe­ forme de correspondance « presque Mingering Mike made covers for his ment de sa pensée eu égard à l'art et à fictionnelle » de l'auteur adressée à own imaginary soul albums with la figure de l'artiste. Trop souvent l'artiste entre le 2 septembre 2006 et paper, pencil and ink that reference associé uniquement au ready made, il le 2 septembre 2007, il questionne the black community and its struggles est donc intéressant de pouvoir jeter l'identité post-coloniale que l'on in the late sixties and seventies. He is un regard élargi sur son parcours. C'est retrouve dans le travail de Fiona Tan present here both for his self-inser­ que, comme le dit Marcadé, « la vie de et, dès lors, les implications sur tion into the recording industry and Duchamp constitue un témoignage l'archivage photographique et la as a sort of meta-commentary, the particulièrement éclairant de la vie mouvance des images. e "outsider" artist as an interloper in a artistique et intellectuelle du XX show otherwise populated by "profes­ siècle. » En matière d'avant-garde, sionals." His handmade albums about il a été un excellent intermédiaire sickle-cell anemia, drug abuse, bad entre l'Europe et l'Amérique. Ami landlords, Bruce Lee and Vietnam are du sculpteur Brancusi, il se fait examples of history told from the pour un certain temps son agent ground up, broad issues filtered et contribue ainsi à le faire through the mind and hands of a fan­ connaître aux U.S.A. En somme, tasist into poignant cultural emblems. l'anartiste qu'il est ne tourne pas le dos entièrement au milieu de l'art, With their status as entertainment • Bernard MARCADÉ. Marcel bien au contraire. Il inaugure, par rather than art, Sacha Baron Cohen's Duchamp, la vie à crédit. Éd. sa personnalité, une nouvelle creations Borat, Bruno and Ali G are Flammarion, Coll. Grandes posture artistique où c'est l'artiste interlopers here as well, and we are Biographies, Paris, 2007, 596 pages. lui-même qui devient œuvre d'art. • Kristan HORTON, Dr. Strangelove, invited to partake of their pleasures 111. n/b. Dr. Strangelove. © Kristan Horion et on YouTube on our own time. The cor­ Bref, ce que nous rappelle essen­ Critique d'art et commissaire d'expo- l'Art Gallery of York University, 2007. porate profit motive makes us imme­ tiellement cette biographie, c'est que sitions-il a co-organisé Féminin- s. p. www.yorku.ca/agyu diately more suspicious of Cohen's Duchamp a vécu selon une « philoso­ Masculin, le sexe de l'art qui eut lieu en Constitué de magnifiques photogra­ intercultural exhibitionism than if he phie » inspirée par le scepticisme de 1995 au Centre Georges Pompidou -, phies n/b, ce livre d'artiste accompa­ were a credentialed contemporary Pyrrhon. Cette compréhension du Bernard Marcadé est également gnait l'exposition qui s'est tenue du artist with an explicitly critical agenda. monde qui passe par le doute et la l'auteur de quelques essais dont // n'y 25 avril au 24 juin 2007, sous le com­ (Framing the show with two Cohens liberté d'indifférence lui a permis de a pas de second degré. Remarques sur demeurer désengagé des mouve­ missariat d'Emelie Chhangur et Philip suggests homage to the diasporic e la figure de l'artiste au XX siècle (Éd. J. Monk. L'artiste y « reconstruit » le film "wandering" Jew as a model for all the ments auxquels il a pourtant parti­ Chambon, 1999). Cet énorme bouquin (en français : Docteur Folamour), en artists' border-transgressing peregrina­ cipés. C'est par ce retrait volontaire consacré à la vie de Marcel Duchamp juxtaposant à des images du film des tions.) qu'il a pu faire de l'emploi de son nous semblait donc de bon augure. temps ce qui, toute sa vie, a été le plus photographies réalisées à partir de With a deep respect for ambiguity, Il y a, en effet, dans ce genre nommé cher à ses yeux. matériaux qu'il a sous la main. uncertain emotions and irony's biographie, des ouvrages qui suscitent André-Louis Paré insights, Ajji's exhibition was a preter- l'intérêt parce qu'ils arrivent à doser naturally mature and satisfying effort. la part d'anecdotes à propos de la vie LIVRES ET DOCUMENTS REÇUS As with the prominent comma in the d'un individu. Mais, dans le cas de exhibition title that demands we sign Duchamp, Marcadé n'y parvient qu'à EMBRAYAGE on to its project — and assert our own moitié. v CLUTCHING agency in the process — Ajji leaves for Racontée de façon linéaire, cette us to fill in many blanks in Rightfully histoire d'une vie rappelle, au début Yours,. .- de chaque chapitre, les dates impor­ Rightfully Yours tantes qui d'année en année ponctuent Wendy Coburn, Steven Cohen, le temps qui passe : naissance, étude, Shawna Dempsey and Lorri Millan, famille, rencontre, amour, etc. On Alicia Framis, Alison S.M. Kobayashi, suit, pas à pas, le parcours de celui Mingering Mike, Mattias Olofsson, qui, né dans une famille d'artistes, The Yes Men, Camille Turner, Sislej cherche à repenser le monde de l'art en dehors de la peinture. Afin de Xhafa, Your private viewing of Borat, • Diane LANDRY, Embrayage oni- donner vie à cette chronologie, Ali G, and Bruno, riquelClutching at Dreams. Marcadé raconte en détails les faits, Curated by Tejpal Singh Ajji, © Oboro & Two Rivers Gallery. sans doute importants et attrayants, Justina M Barnicke Gallery, Toronto 61 pages, www.oboro.net / www.two- qui soulignent le tempérament du November 16-December 30, 2007 riversartgallery.com /http://diane- personnage. On assiste ainsi à la vie landry.com Jon DAVIES holds an MA in film and video, critical au quotidien de l'artiste tout en Accompagnée d'un DVD et abondam­ and historical studies, from York University in présentant le milieu tout à fait parti­ ment illustrée, la publication a pour Toronto. His writing has been published in such culier qu'il a fréquenté, autant à Paris origine une commande d'œuvres periodicals as GLQ, Animation Journal, qu'à New York. Toutefois, malgré le • Philip MONK, Disassembling the qu'Oboro a lancée à l'artiste en 2004. C Magazine, Canadian Art, Cinema Scope and plaisir que l'on prend à lire toutes ces Archive: Fiona Tan. © Philip Monk et Des essais sont signés Peggy Gale et Xtral. He has also curated film and video for informations, il manque l'élément la Art Gallery of York University, unificateur qui donne à une biogra­ George Harris. several venues including Pleasure Dome and 2007. s. p. www.yorku.ca/agyu phie un souffle unique. Gallery TPW, and is currently working on a major Fort beau visuellement, le document exhibition of work by Colin Campbell for the Malgré tout, soyons franc : il n'est (en anglais) constitue le catalogue de Oakville Galleries that will open in December pas désagréable d'examiner le l'exposition tenue du 26 janvier au 2008. parcours exceptionnel de Duchamp et 26 mars 2006 à l'Art Gallery of York de suivre, parallèlement aux University, à Toronto. Élaboré sous

44 ESPACE 84 ÉTÉ/SUMMER 2008