SPECIAL!!! DECADE ISSUE An Art Newspaper Vel. 10 Nul. 23 APRIL 01, 2011 “Embracing the futility of the medium” FREE

Gimmickery, Lies and User-Generated The Eyes of Homer: Why was sight so Content: The Naughties specific to Professor Zilehof? On Page 8

TWOMBLY FREED! Artist found in Upper West Side black site in state of deep trauma Twombly, Page 5 KINGS SUPERSIZE IT They are calling it a “gamechanger” The Tirana Controversy Burger Kings, Page 24 A look inside the biennial that shocked no one Aaron Moulton CLOWNS SUE KOONS Oh how the tables have turned TIRANA, November 11, 2001 dated December 8th, 2000, Politi responded to contributors, including Massimiliano On December 3rd, 2000, Flash Art publisher and his new sparring partner by calling him a desper- Gioni, Jens Hoffmann, Francesco Bonami, Kath- Balloon Underdog, Page 5 art-world maverick received ate megalomaniac, saying that he (Politi) always rin Rhomberg, Nicolas Bourriaud, Iara Boubnova, an unapologetically frank e-mail from Oliviero appreciated the legacy of Luciano Benetton as a Han Ulrich Obrist, et al — to propose artists and Toscani. During the latter half of the ’90s, Oliv- greater artist over Toscani. projects within a tight remit of no budget beyond DO YOU FOLKS PASS? iero Toscani’s success from Benetton advertising A tête-à-tête ensued wherein suddenly the acri- the desire to make it happen. In the same letter and Colors magazine provided an orgy of confron- mony cooled to a sinister dialogue. On New Year’s Toscani was invited to take part. Verbology columnist Craig Garrett tational imagery and psychically base depictions. Eve of 2000, Politi announced he had just returned Toscani’s reply was first one of reluctance and tells us how to do the delicate The message to Politi from Tirana where he then enthusiasm, even suggesting that Politi’s dance of Art’n’Language read: “Dear Director, “the biggest work of art would be organizing favorite artist, Luciano Benetton, might be will- Art’n’Language, Page 36 your magazine makes a new art biennial. In ing to provide some funding. Toscani also men- me want to throw there has ever been” collaboration with the tioned artists who he felt merited recognition for up,” and continued to local government and their efforts in opposition to the standards that he EURONATING express his discontent with the magazine’s stance artist/mayor Edi Rama, they would create the felt problematized the aforementioned Top 100 and its attempts to classify and signal important First Tirana Biennale: a quiet bellwether for the Artists list: Nancy Bellano, or “the incredibly Sarah Thornton investigates the artists as off-base after having found himself in decade’s biennial madness. But where most bien- Italian and conservatissimo Carmelo Gavotta,” provenance of fountains versus urinals a 20-way tie for last place in a Flash Art survey nials occur in the security of art world confines, and even some completely unknown African art- of ’s Top 100 Artists. The e-mail was flor- this would be the first “low-budget” biennial and ists like Bola Ecua and Hamid Piccardo for their Dirty Urinals, Page 45 idly decorated with expletives only the Italian the beginning of popularized art-world slumming deeply disturbing and spiritual understanding of language can muster. Politi, known himself for and avant-tourism. “I’m incredibly excited by human conditions unknown to the Western world. verbosity, astutely replied in a manner both cool- the idea of a grand exhibition in a completely The e-mail ended on a warm note requesting a THE ESTHETICIST headed and cutting: “Success and money have desolate and anarchic place where the only form Our weekly columnist gives his gone to your head, but it’s better to go crazy while of art is survival,” wrote Politi. He would go greatest hits of correspondence rich than poor, am I right?” In another e-mail on to ask some forty curators — many of them continued on Page 24 advice from the decade The Estheticist, Page 32 Credits EDITOR ...... Aaron moulton ...... chris wiley special thanks...... managing editor ...... Lorena Munoz-alonso ...... Craig Garrett first and foremost to my beautiful wife mette (sorry this took EDITORIAL CONSULTANT ...... Charles gute ...... Daniel Kingery so long), and second to my family, especially my incredibly Concept, Layout, design...... Aaron Moulton ...... david levine understanding parents. third to an extremely supportive and SHITCAN POPPED Advertising design...... Logan woods ...... emiliano pistacchi loving bunch of friends and colleagues here in berlin and ...... Aaron Moulton ...... franz von stauffenberg abroad who i deeply admire. and fourth to the contributers and ...... joe scanlan staff who offered their creative power and abilities with no ...... John kleckner fee; I am indebted to you for making this what it is. and lastly and A second-hand account of what was Contributers...... ami barak ...... Logan Woods especially to artists and the art world: you made this possible...... Andrew berardini ...... Lorena Munoz-alonso inside our imagination ...... April Elizabeth Lamm ...... ...... Bob nickas ...... PAblo helguera ...... Charles Gute ...... seth price Manzoni, Page 14 24 An Art Newspaper DECADE issue inteRnationaL the tirana Controversy

patient reply, adding that “haste is the sister of nearby with lines tuned out of focus. Christoph to move the Tirana Biennale to and make repentance.” Büchel dug a deep hole in the grounds out front “The Tirana Biennale in Prague.” Edi Rama, By January 30th, Politi and Toscani had agreed and placed an old car inside of it, the roof ripped knowing the value and potential the event had for art World Kings upon an artist list of Carmelo Gavotta, a DIY off so people could jump in. Tino Sehgal, in an his cultural infrastructure, insisted it would stay. pornographer with a handy-cam; Bola Ecua, a early moment when he was less sensitive about Politi had taken out a copyright on the name and “Supersize” it Nigerian artist who uses imagery of graphic muti- documentation, performed a dance wearing a threatened legal action if they made any attempt lations from her country for protest purposes; minimal costume. to use it. Rama, aware of what it would mean for CoLoGne, November 24, 2008 Hamid Piccardo from Marrakesh, a Muslim artist The opening of the Tirana Biennale came three Giancarlo Politi to pursue a legal battle against In a surprising move to diversify their economic and “instrument of Allah”; and Dimitri Bioy, a days after September 11th, 2001, as everything the mayor of Tirana in Tirana, went ahead, but underpinnings, the four related “Königs” of the Dutch itinerant whose photographic obsessions stood frantically still. No one from far abroad and had lawyers look at the paperwork. The copyright art world — Kaspar, Walther, Johann and Leo with pre-pubescent girls provide an unsettling especially America was in attendance. Karlheinz was, due to a typographical error, registered to a — all banded together to buy a majority share portfolio. Toscani was also given carte blanche Stockhausen regrettably referred to 9/11 as the Gianfranco Politi — a man who had little interest in the American fast-food chain Burger King. As to furnish the images that would appear on all “biggest work of art there has ever been.” Hamid in the story at the time of litigation. of immediately, the franchise will be renamed promotional materials, postcards and information Piccardo, described as “the artist of Osama bin Burger König in honor of its new owners. in the course of marketing the event. The design Laden,” had sent his leading patron’s face to the “This presents us with a unique opportunity and content of the postcards was handed over art world like a Cassandra. to bring art to a broad public and bring together to Rocco Toscani, Oliviero’s son. The public- The catalogue was printed on September 1st, extraordinary routes of transmission the worlds of art and fast food,” said kingpin and reception. It is evident, however, ity cards that began circulating by post late that and a copy arrived later that month by post to that terrorist organizations, alongside Kaspar König at a press conference yesterday. summer announced a foreboding biennial with Toscani’s home. Upon perusal, Toscani was hor- transnational corporate interests, are The König family announced plans for structural one of the more vigilantly opportunistic depictions of a quadriplegic in a suit painting a rifi ed to fi nd his name everywhere within an event exploiters of “events, spasms, ructions changes in the restaurants, such as replacing the landscape with his mouth, Bioy’s uncomfortable he had never agreed to take part in. He contacted that don’t look like art and don’t count as art, but are playgrounds with a mini Walther König Buchhan- somehow electric, energy nodes, attractors, transmitters, photos of kids, a bukkake-soaked Asian schoolgirl his lawyers. Giancarlo Politi had made a pact conductors of new thinking, new subjectivity and dlung, allowing customers to peruse contempo- by Gavotta, and an image from Hamid Piccardo with a man he believed to be Oliviero Toscani, action.” A more conventional instance of successful use rary art catalogues while deciding on their value of the media-sphere by a non-market, non-government of the then relatively unknown Osama bin Laden yet after nine months of e-mail exchange he had organization is Linux, the open-source computer meal. Editions by artists invited by the galler- holding an AK47. never once spoken to him on the phone. operating system that won a controversial fi rst prize at the digital art fair Ars Electronica. Linux was initially The First Tirana Biennale, with its many voices A criminal investigation immediately followed written by one person, programmer Linus Torvalds, grouped in symphony, was an oddly democratic against Flash Art and a fake Oliviero Toscani who placed the code for this “radically incomplete” work on-line, inviting others to tinker, with the aim model for curating and one that likely informed whose real identity was unknown. Hamid Pic- of polishing and perfecting the operating system. The Francesco Bonami’s multi-headed curatorial cardo, Bola Ecua, Carmelo Gavotta, Dimitri Internet allows thousands of authors to simultaneously develop various parts of the work, and Linux has extravaganza at the Venice Biennale in 2003. It Bioy, and even Rocco Toscani were now also emerged as a popular and powerful operating system was the international debut for many of its artists, unaccounted for — no one had ever met them and a serious challenge to profi t-driven giants like Microsoft, which recently fi led with the US Securities including Kirsten Pieroth, Roberto Cuoghi, Tino either. Politi found the hoax amusing, and even and Exchange Commission to warn that its business Sehgal, Monika Sosnowska, and Hague Yang; the Toscani, after seizing the correspondence between model, based on control through licensing, is menaced by the open-source model. Collective authorship and last three were later selected by Biennale cura- his doppelganger and Politi, was impressed by the complete decentralization ensure that the work is tor Iara Boubnova to participate in Manifesta 4. writer’s interpretation of him. Marcelo Gavotta invulnerable to the usual corporate forms of attack and assimilation, whether enacted via legal, market, Nascent and seasoned art stars Phil Collins, Rob and Oliver Kamping eventually claimed respon- or technological routes (however, as Alex Galloway Pruitt, Maurizio Cattelan, and sibility for the hoax. These names also turned out has pointed out, the structure of the World Wide Web should not itself be taken to be some rhizomatic utopia; were also a part of the exhibition. to be pseudonyms. In 2008, author Tito Mussoni it certainly would not be diffi cult for a government The entropic climate of Tirana would provide penned a book called Il Complotto di Tirana, agency to hobble or even shut down the Web with a few simple commands). both hurdles and opportunities that would make which is available on Lulu and has so far been Both of these examples privilege the Internet as the biennial what it was. In the main hall of the purchased by only two people. Mussoni also medium, mostly because of its function as a public site for storage and transmission of information. The notion local National Gallery, out of necessity or design, doesn’t exist. of a mass archive is relatively new, and a notion which ists, museum director and art book entrepreneur the space was generally used as a storage area The complexity involved in inventing fi ve is probably philosophically opposed to the traditional will soon be included in the kid’s meals. The understanding of what an archive is and how it for its collection, not technically on view. This coherent and yet totally different bodies of work functions, but it may be that, behind the veneer of user fi rst edition will be a cartoon milk carton with facet became an inspiration and relocated cen- would be daunting to even the most canny and interfaces fl oating on its surface—which generate most hands and feet designed by the video artist Jordan of the work grouped under the rubric “web art”—the terpiece for Harald Szeemann’s 2003 “Blood and productive of artists. The vitriolic message in a Internet approximates such a structure, or can at least Wolfson. “There is much room for expanding the Honey” exhibition for the Essl Collection in Aus- bottle that would evolve into curating the biggest be seen as a working model. conceptual breadth of the fast-food industry,” With more and more media readily available through tria. With a presentation of around twenty artists, hoax since a Mr. R. Mutt is even more unimagi- this unruly archive, the task becomes one of packaging, said Johann König. “For example, our long-term the National Gallery was considered the nicer nable. Up to nine pseudonyms can be counted producing, reframing, and distributing; a mode of family friend On Kawara has suggested we print production analogous not to the creation of material of the two exhibition halls, hosting the sections here. In 2002, a “Francesco Bonami” posted a goods, but to the production of social contexts, the date of each purchase on the packaging and of and Oliviero Toscani. The lengthy announcement of this prank, complete using existing material. Anything on the internet is a determine the number of fries based on the day fragment, provisional, pointing elsewhere. Nothing is response to Toscani’s artists’ work, despite his with Situationist philosophy, on Artforum.com’s fi nished. What a time you chose to be born! of the month.” attempts to stretch the boundaries, was scant. now-defunct “talkback” feature. It stands as the An entire artistic program could be centered on the re- Several restaurants will be redesigned by art- release of obsolete cultural artifacts, with or without The “Chinese Pavilion” was the core venue, only text in English that is widely and immedi- modifi cations, regardless of intellectual property laws. ists such as a Berlin Burger König on Unter den with the work of over 100 artists on view. It was ately available on this topic. The real artist behind An early example of this redemptive tendency is artist Linden designed by Tue Greenfort, who plans to Harry Smith’s obsessive 1952 Anthology of American here that the Tirana Biennale, with an economy the hoax resides just below Toscani on the afore- Folk Music, which compiled forgotten recordings from highlight environmental concerns. Gallerist Leo of means clearly at work, would make its mark. mentioned Top One Hundred Artists list — an early in the century. Closer to the present is my own König was optimistic that this union of art and collection of early video game soundtracks, in which Artworks arrived by post from Nigeria, China, anagram of one of his artistic creations. audio data rescued by hackers and circulated on the commerce would be a success. “Perhaps collec- and elsewhere abroad. Kirsten Pieroth relocated The future of the Tirana Biennale would have web is transplanted to the old media of the compact- tors will no longer ask for a discount when they disc, where it gains resonance from the contexts of a puddle from Germany to the pavilion fl oor. its share of trouble and yet always manage to product and the song form: take what’s free and sell purchase a work of art but will instead ask ‘Can Monika Sosnowska painted a football pitch persevere. In 2004, Giancarlo Politi would try it back in a new package. In another example, one I get fries with that?’”