Venice/Basel
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
11 Voices of / Contemporary Art Venice Basel and Culture Issue Content Renate Bertlmann p.2 AES+F p.3 Cäcilia Brown p.4 Lori Hersberger p.5 Fiete Stolte p.6 Austrian Pavilion p.9 Nasan Tur p.11 Marjatta Tapiola p.12 Asger Dybvad Larsen p.13 Editions p .14 Claus Busch Risvig p.16 Photo: Christoph Liebentritt In the Studio Renate Bertlmann, Vienna The pioneer of Austrian performance art takes an ironically provocative approach in her work when she ex- plores such themes as sexuality and gender roles. The artist, who is at home with many media, lures with her charming aesthetics before the second glance reveals the “sting of feminism”. • read more on page 2 Online Stories Photo: © Niels Fabaek Museum of Modern Art, Aalborg Kunsten Ernesto Neto Rio de Janeiro Photo: © Alexander Yakovlev Photo: © Christoph Liebentritt »We are forcing »I am interested constant participation.« in a subject and its sculptural Danner Photo © Michael AES+F are one of the most successful and well-known translation.« Emeka Ogboh Berlin Russian art groups. The group is probably best known Cäcilia Brown employs a documentary approach to for their overwhelming multi-screen video installa- her artistic practice; sculptures allow her to explore tions of enigmatic narrative character. Behind crisp dimensions, surfaces, and even her relationship to more stories and sharp images lies a survey of the values and con- herself and to space in a variety of ways enabling her in our Online Journal on flicts of modern global culture. • read more on page 3 to formulate associations. • read more on page 4 collectorsagenda.com COVERSTORY In the Studio Renate Bertlmann, Vienna COVERSTORY In the Studio AES+F, Moscow is in itself provocative. For me it’s a “must”, for Your video installations claim extremely wide others it’s often a shock, because of its direct- screens that can span up to 20 meters or ness. I’m glad that people are not bored on see- so. What is the dramaturgic idea behind this? ing my works. The aesthetic of my work is S: It is extremely important to us to put the seductive, but it’s also a trap, when you get close, viewer into a state of full immersion. To there’s the sting – I like that. overwhelm the viewer with more than they can process is a conscious decision that evokes such a state. Plus, it is part of our artistic »The aesthetics of my language. work leads into a trap.« F: We want to avoid the comfort that exists in film, where we eat popcorn and look at a screen. In your performance pieces in particular, you Instead, we are forcing constant participation receive immediate audience feedback, do and movement, which results in a more con- you recall any specific situations or reactions? scious experience. Since I have always involved the audience, A: The “inconvenience” of viewing the storyline there may have been situations that may have inevitably touches the viewer in an awkward been considered “embarrassing” – especially way and may also evoke a sense of “guilty plea- for those who were coerced into participating, sure”. as in the Sling Shot Action, I did at Franklin S: It can be compared to real life, where you Furnace in New York. I danced with sex dolls are never in a position to take in and process and picked people out of the audience and every piece of information around yourself. more or less forced them to dance with the sex That fuels the desire to watch our video works dolls too, and many of them didn’t feel very again and again because, each time, you may comfortable. A very funny thing happened discover something new. during the performance of The Pregnant Bride Photo: © Alexander Yakovlev Photos: © Christoph Liebentritt in the Wheelchair, in Vienna. I gave birth in the In your video narratives one encounters a lot Renate, looking at your extensive oeuvre, the flows into my work and is then transformed performance: I got out of the wheelchair, dis- What is behind your group’s name AES+F? of fabulous creatures in mythical settings that great variety of media is striking: Perfor- in a new form, but the how and when and why carded the baby leaving it to the audience, so E: We started working together in 1987. At the are often charged with religious symbolism. mance, photography, graphics, installation… I leave to chance. to speak. Then a young man from the audience time, it was just Tatiana (Arzamasova), Evgeny Can you explain what we actually see? Is there a particular medium in which you came forward and placed a small milk carton (Svyatsky) and myself (Lev Evzovich). Later, E: Recently we spoke with (the French art his- like to express yourself, and if so, why? You studied painting at the Academy of Fine next to the baby I had left lying on the floor. we came up with AES as an abbreviation of our torian) Jean-Hubert Martin in our studio: He I constantly alternate between many media: Arts in Vienna and immediately thereafter surnames, when we realized that people had said that, for him, all art is religious by nature. drawing, photography, and also painting, al- taught painting techniques in the master class This year, you will be the first woman to pre- a lot of trouble spelling our names correctly. This idea, which seems obvious, is not preva- though I’m not someone who typically wields a for restoration and technology until 1982, sent a solo exhibition at the Austrian Pavilion After Vladimir (Fridkes) joined the group in lent in the contemporary art world. That’s why brush loaded with oil paint, I prefer to work while at the same time already starting with in Venice. What was your first reaction when 1995, we became AES+F. this religious subtext that you mention is trans- with mixed media. What I really love is to work your performances. How was it for you, as you heard about it? S: There was never a definitive moment when formed into an overt message by the viewer, three-dimensionally, making objects or object a woman, at the academy, to be active in what Surprise, I didn't expect it. But then I was very we decided that from tomorrow on we would into her or his own ideas of the sacred or religious 2 installations. Photography is very important to was then a very male-dominated field? happy about it, because I had already come be working together. It happened organically. or maybe even into something anti-religious. 3 me, I record with the camera everything I do, At the time, there were very, very few women to appreciate Felicitas Thun-Hohenstein as a AES+F, Mare Mediterraneum #1, 2018 In the Feast of Trimalchio, another work of ours, installations or objects, in order with another at the Academy. I was shocked because I had curator at three exhibitions in the past. And You have become quite successful with ex- we reference biblical scenes such as the cru- medium to make another level transparent to not expected it to be so patriarchal. The profes- of course it's a great pleasure and a challenge hibitions around the world and participations was confirmed when reality caught up with the cifixion as a juxtaposition to contemporary con- me. sors were all men, like Sergius Pauser, my to be able to design the pavilion alone, it's not at the Venice Biennale and the Manifesta artwork. cepts of narcissistic enjoyment, or consumption, professor – a good but very traditional painter. easy to play it, but I will conquer it. among others. Can you talk about some mile- E: And the second success was at the Venice which takes the role of a quasi-religion. So, I How would you describe your artistic work of And the fantastic realists, who were en vogue • read the full story on bit.ly/_RenateBertlmann stones along your way of reaching interna- Biennale ten years later, in 2007, when we rep- would say we are probably more concerned working in general? at the time, two of them also had professorships tional acclaim? resented Russia in the Russian Pavilion with with contemporary quasi-religions, or secular There is an inner voice, an inner “urge”, an at the Academy. There wasn't a single profes- E: The decisive moment was the Islamic Project Last Riot, which introduced the aesthetic of a religions. obsession, a “must”, something that is given to sor or role model available to provide us with in 1996, which received a lot of public attention new work cycle. In retrospect, it was one of S: This allegorical aspect is present in our other you. So I don't prescribe anything for myself, orientation. That was a huge, huge frustration. and created controversy in the media. the first projects that defined post-internet art works as well … I actually feel like a tool. Everything I absorb A: The project was intended to be quite provo- and all the issues related to it. A: … but without didactics. We do not really In 1978 you defined your artistic maxim Amo cative and politically incorrect in regard to manipulate the viewer. To speak frankly, there ergo sum. Can you tell us more about it? Islam and reflected the Western Islamophobia. are things in the world that confuse us or make It is not that simple. It had emerged within me, We created digitally manipulated images of »We are concerned with us doubt, pose questions for which there are then, all of a sudden it was there.