wodicz cover 09/13/01 2:53 PM Page 1 Krzysztof Wodiczko, one of the most original avant-garde Critical Vehicles Writings, Projects, Interviews Wodiczko artists of our time, is perhaps best known for the politically Krzysztof Wodiczko charged images he has projected onto buildings and monu- Krzysztof Wodiczko ments from New York to Warsaw—images of rockets projected onto triumphal arches, the image of handcuffed wrists pro- jected onto a courthouse facade, images of homeless people in bandages and wheelchairs projected onto statues in a park from which they have been evicted. In projects such as the Homeless Vehicle, which he designed through discussions with homeless people, Wodiczko has helped to make public space a place where marginalized people can speak, establish their presence, and assert their rights. Critical Vehicles is the first book in English to collect Wodiczko’s own writings on his projects. Wodiczko has stated that his principal artistic concern is the displacement of tradi- tional notions of community and identity in the face of rapidly expanding technologies and cultural miscommunication. In Critical Vehicles these writings he addresses such issues as urbanism, homeless- ness, immigration, alienation, and the plight of refugees. Fusing wit and sophisticated political insight, he offers the artistic means to help heal the damages of uprootedness and other contemporary troubles. In 1998, Krzysztof Wodiczko was awarded the Hiroshima Prize for his contribution as an artist to world peace. “Krzysztof Wodiczko’s public artworks bring the city to life. Statues, monuments, and buildings speak, questioning power and even declaring rights. The writings in Critical Vehicles place this poetic, disquieting art within the most urgent polit- ical project of our time: the struggle to extend democracy by interrupting certitudes about the meaning of social life. A stunning book.” Rosalyn Deutsche, author of Evictions: Art and Spatial Politics “Critical Vehicles documents a great practice of urban ques- tioning. It is a book for our times.” John Rajchman, Collège International de Philosophie “Krzysztof Wodiczko provides a powerful, and at times enter- taining, picture of the artist as a protagonist in the democratic process. Critical Vehicles is a much-needed compilation of the artist’s writings and interviews that accompany his politically charged public projects.” Tom Eccles, Director, Public Art Fund Jacket illustrations by Ryszard Baranowski (front) and Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona (back). Photo of author © Jagoda Przybylak. Book and cover design by Jean Wilcox. The MIT Press Massachusetts Institute of Technology Writings, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142 http://mitpress.mit.edu WODCP 0-262-73122-3 Critical Vehicles Projects, ,!7IA2G2-hdbccf!:t;K;k;K;k Interviews Critical Vehicles The MIT Press Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England Krzysztof Wodiczko Writings, Critical Vehicles Projects, Interviews 1999 Massachusetts Institute of Technology All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and re- trieval) without permission in writing from the publisher. This book was set in Frutiger by Graphic Composition Inc., Athens, Georgia Printed and bound in the United States of America. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Wodiczko, Krzysztof. Critical vehicles : writings, projects, interviews / Krzysztof Wodiczko. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN0-262-73122-3 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Wodiczko, Krzysztof. I. Title. N7255.P63W64 1998 709Ј.2—dc21 98-11709 CIP for Irena Wodiczko Contents Acknowledgments viii Why Critical Vehicles? xi one Destinations Designing for the City of Strangers (1997) 4 Interrogative Design (1994) 16 Beyond the Hybrid State? (1992) 18 Avant-Garde as Public Art: The Future of a Tradition (1984) 27 For the De-Incapacitation of the Avant-Garde in Canada (1983) 32 two Projections Public Projection (1983) 44 Memorial Projection (1986) 49 The Venice Projections (1986) 53 The Homeless Projection: A Proposal for the City of New York (1986) 55 Projection on the Monument to Friedrich II, Kassel (1987) 57 City Hall Tower Illumination, Philadelphia (1987) 59 Speaking through Monuments (1988) 62 City Hall Tower Projection, Krako´ w (1996) 64 Voices of the Tower (1996) 69 three Vehicles Vehicle (1971–73) 76 Vehicles (1977–79) 77 Homeless Vehicle Project (1988–89) 79 vii Conversations about a Project for a Homeless Vehicle (1988) 86 Poliscar (1991) 95 four Instruments The Personal Instrument (1969) 102 Alien Staff (Xenoba` cul) (1992) 104 Alien Staff, Variant 2 (1992–93) 106 Voices of the Alien Staff (1992–96) 108 Identity and Community: Alien Staff (1994) 115 The Mouthpiece (Porte-Parole) (1993) 118 The Mouthpiece, Variants (1995–97) 122 Voices of the Mouthpiece (1994–96) 126 Xenology: Immigrant Instruments (1996) 131 Ægis: Equipment for a City of Strangers (1998) 133 five Questions A Response to the New Museum (1991) 140 A Response to Maria Morzuch (1992) 141 A Conversation with October (1986) 144 An Interview by Roger Gilroy (1989) 169 An Interview by Jean-Christophe Royoux (1992) 176 An Interview by Bruce W. Ferguson (1991) 182 An Interview by Bruce Robbins (1996) 194 An Interview by Jaromir Jedlin´ ski (1997) 211 Bookshelf 220 Acknowledgments Art practice has always been far more familiar territory for me than writing. I wish to extend my gratitude to Roger Conover, editor at the MIT Press, whose encouragement, intellectual companionship, and moral support have allowed me to navigate safely through this foreign textual passage. Matthew Abbate of the MIT Press has gently and thoughtfully edited all the texts in this bookand has done so with sensitivity and respect for their critical intentions, foreign intonations, and artistic determination. Jean Wilcox, with her tact, wit, and elegance, has transformed this book into a carefully conceived graphic design vehicle well equipped to carry my ideas and projects. The editorial assistance of Brian Wallis contributed substantially to the choice, clarification, and final arrangement of texts in this bookwhile protec- tecting most of them from my excessive revisions. I would like to thank Sherry Buckberrough for her generosity in attending to my textual displacement. She has critically reviewed many texts and essays in this bookand has offered numerous and pointed suggestions that greatly added to its intellectual clarity. Warren Niesłuchowski, who is my fellow nomad, has significantly contrib- uted to this project with his editorial expertise, philosophizing imagination, as well as excellent translation and retranslation of Polish and French transcripts and texts. Special acknowledgment must be extended to Marie-Anne Siche` re, who ed- ited the first collection of my writings titled Art public, art critique: Textes, pro- pos et documents, published in French by the E´ cole Nationale Supe´ rieure des Beaux-Arts in 1995. The integrity and esprit of that bookhave paved the way for this publication. The Department of Architecture and the Center for Advanced Visual Studies of MIT’s School of Architecture and Planning have provided me with generous research facilities and resources. Such support has enabled me not only to com- bine teaching with art, but also to establish the Interrogative Design Group, where with the help of my research assistant Adam Whiton and of Sung Ho Kim, Warren Sack, Joshua Smith, Michael Rakowitz, and others, I have devel- oped the most recent projects presented in this book. I wish to extend my gratitude to Ian de Gruchy, Rosalyn Deutsche, Bruce Ferguson, David Lurie, Yves Michaud, William J. Mitchell, Andrzej Turowski, and above all Leslie Sharpe for their committed support, intellectual presence, artis- tic advice, and collaboration on various projects presented in this book. ix I wish to thankJagoda Przybylakfor her critical and imaginative input, and for her participation and assistance in the development and realization of immi- grant instruments. I would also like to thank Dennis Adams, Franc¸ois Alacocque, Stanford An- derson, Stuart Anthony, Janusz Ba˛ kowski, Marek Bartelik, Steve Benton, Terry Berkowitz, Jody Berland, Karl Beveridge, Tony Bishop, Iwona Blazwick, Manuel Borja-Villel, Wiesław Borowski, Saskia Bos, Peter Boswell, Alan Brody, Andreas Broeckman, Hal Bromm, Johnny Carson, Melvin Charney, Stanisław Cichowicz, Anthony Clementi, Papo Colo, Carol Conde, Kenneth Coutts-Smith, Douglas Crimp, Jean-Franc¸ois Delaine, Je´ roˆ me Delormas, Chris Dercon, Tom Eccles, Johnnie Eisen, John Fekete, Jerry Fergusson, Tom Finkelpearl, Yona Fischer, Hal Foster, Elz˙bieta Go´ ral, Madeleine Grynsztejn, Ingo Gunther, Hans Haacke, Kathy Halbreich, David Hannah, DickHebdige, Ydessa Hendeles, Jeanette Ingberman, Jaromir Jedlin´ ski, Emilia Kabakov, Ilya Kabakov, Gary Kennedy, Inga Khavkina, Katy Kline, Jerzy Kosin´ ski, Barbara Kruger, Wojciech Krukowski, Francis Lacloche, Ewa Lajer-Burcharth, Ed Levine, Najwa Makhoul, Jean-Hubert Martin, John Massey, DerekMay, John Bentley Mays, Declan McGonagle, Jill Medvedow, Ewa Mikina, Andrea Miller-Keller, France Morin, Rachel Mose` s, Ste´ phane Mose` s, John Murray, Beverly Naidus, Joshua Nonstein, Beata No- wacka, Adam Obtułowicz, Kyong Park, Jo´ zef Patkowski, Patricia Philips, Otto Piene, Patrica Pirreda, Helaine Posner, John Rajchman, Mark Rakatansky, Grai St. Clair Rice, Wellington (Duke) Reiter, Bruce Robbins, Anda Rottenberg, Jean- Christophe Royoux, Piotr Rypson,