"Exquisite Corpse Drawing Project" at Gasser Grunert

Exquisite Corpse #25
Daniel Blochwitz
Will Cotton
Michael Bevilacqua

Exquisite Corpse Drawing Project
Leading Artists Recreate Surrealist Parlor Game
To Benefit Armitage Gone Dance

More than 200 internationally recognized artists are participating in a major series of collaborative drawings known as the Armitage Gone Dance Exquisite Corpse Project. They will be brought together at Gasser Grunert for three weeks only.

As with the 1920’s surrealist parlor game “cadavre exquise,” each drawing is constructed in a sequential combination by three or four artists; one for the head and shoulders, one or two for the torso, and one for the legs and feet. Composed on one sheet of paper that is passed from one artist to the next, the process celebrates the themes of chance encounters, surprise and radical juxtaposition. Artists were unaware of who was participating in each composition and could not view the image or work provided by previous artist. Works were created over the past year at a number of drawing parties or were shipped from one artist to the next. The works are a universal size of 30 x 16 inches.

Among the artists participating are: Vito Acconci, Laurie Anderson, Donald Baechler, John Baldessari, Ross Bleckner, Louise Bourgeois, Cecily Brown, Sandro Chia, Francesco Clemente, Chuck Close, Will Cotton, Eric Fischl, Robert Gober, Alex Katz, Karen Kilimnik, Jeff Koons, Richard Meier, Malcolm Morley, Tom Otterness, Tony Oursler, Chloe Piene, Enoc Perez, Richard Phillips, David Salle, Dana Schutz, Andres Serrano, Joel Shapiro, Rosemarie Trockel, William Wegman, Robert Wilson and Terry Winters. David Salle serves as curator and the project is managed by Tanja Grunert.

The “performative” aspect of art-making is celebrated as the Exquisite Corpse demonstrates how drawing and dance share an unpredictable nature and spontaneity. Proceeds will benefit Armitage Gone Dance, an internationally acclaimed contemporary dance company under the direction of renowned choreographer Karole Armitage. For three decades as a choreographer and director, Armitage has actively pushed the boundaries of classicism to create a contemporary idiom blending new dance, music and art. The Exquisite Corpse project is a way for a wide range of artists to express their support for Armitage’s work and also a way for her to acknowledge artists who have played a large role in her career.

First Look: Critical Distance

As promised, I've uploaded a selection of my almost complete, gallery-formated work called Critical Distance in the past few days. You can see it in the posts below. Edited into diptychs, triptychs and single photographs, I envision to show the final series in a montage sequence (see installation sketch), a blend of here and there and nowhere. The photograph above, Zur Heimat, is the directive and iconic 'cover' image for Critical Distance - a perpetual absence of home.

Selected Diptychs

These diptychs are comprised of photographs taken in Germany and edited in a way that attempts to address my complicated and critical position regarding Heimat in the series Critical Distance - a perpetual absence of home. (Click images to enlarge.)

Bleiben (2010), digital c-print, 37 x 81.5 cm, edition of five (+2 AP)

Zuhause (2010), digital c-print, 37 x 81.5 cm, edition of five (+2 AP)

Zurücklassen (2009), digital c-print, 37 x 81.5 cm, edition of five (+2 AP)

Anlegen (2007), digital c-print, 37 x 81.5 cm, edition of five (+2 AP)

Erkunden (2008), digital c-print, 37 x 81.5 cm, edition of five (+2 AP)

Im selben Boot (2008), digital c-print, 37 x 81.5 cm, edition of 5 (+2 AP)

Entstellt (2009), digital c-print, 37 x 81.5 cm, edition of five (+2 AP)

Nicht plakatieren! (2010), digital c-print, 37 x 81.5 cm, ed. of 5 (+2 AP)

Fluchtwege (2007), digital c-print, 37 x 81.5 cm, edition of five (+2 AP)

Alltag (2007), digital c-print, 37 x 81.5 cm, edition of five (+2 AP)

Zumutung (2010), digital c-print, 37 x 81.5 cm, edition of five (+2 AP)

Unbekannt (2010), digital c-print, 37 x 81.5 cm, edition of five (+2 AP)

Selected single images from "Critical Distance"

These single images function as punctuations within the syntax of Critical Distance, providing rhythm and pause. The images, taken at airports and in planes, depict the places that are most removed from any form of Heimat or utopian imaginary. They are generic places masquerading a sense of comfort, familiarity and security. (Click images to enlarge.)

Anderes Deutschland (2010), digital c-print,
37 x 48 cm, edition of five (+2 AP)

Untitled (2010), digital c-print,
37 x 48 cm, edition of five (+2 AP)

Über den Wolken (2008), digital c-print,

37 x 48 cm, edition of five (+2 AP)

Lucky People (2010), digital c-print,

37 x 48 cm, edition of five (+2 AP)

Untitled (2008), digital c-print,

37 x 48 cm, edition of five (+2 AP)

Favorite Place (2008), digital c-print,

37 x 48 cm, edition of five (+2 AP)

Untitled (2008), digital c-print,

37 x 48 cm, edition of five (+2 AP)

Untitled (2008), digital c-print,

37 x 48 cm, edition of five (+2 AP)

Miles (2008), digital c-print,

37 x 48 cm, edition of five (+2 AP)

Golden (2010), digital c-print,

37 x 48 cm, edition of five (+2 AP)

Selected Triptychs

Please find below a selection of the triptychs from my series "Critical Distance - a perpetual absence of home"; see also previous post for more information:

Belonging (2010), digital c-print, 37 x 115 cm, edition of five (+2 AP)

Another Story (2010), digital c-print, 37 x 115 cm, edition of five (+2 AP)

Contested (2010), digital c-print, 37 x 115 cm, edition of five (+2 AP)

Good Homes (2009), digital c-print, 37 x 115 cm, edition of five (+2 AP)

yet to be titled (2010), digital c-print, 37 x 115 cm, edition of five (+2 AP)

Engineered Desire (2009), digital c-print, 37 x 115 cm, edition of five (+2 AP)

yet to be titled (2010), digital c-print, 37 x 115 cm, edition of five (+2 AP)

Old World (2010), digital c-print, 37 x 115 cm, edition of five (+2 AP)

yet to be titled (2010), digital c-print, 37 x 115 cm, edition of five (+2 AP)

What Place? (2009), digital c-print, 37 x 115 cm, edition of five (+2 AP)

"Critical Distance" almost completed

Initially and foremost conceived as a book project, I am now almost finished editing my images of Critical Distance - a perpetual absence of home also into exhibition-ready works. It has been a four-year long process, and I am excited but also anxious about reaching the final stretch.

framed photo / installation view

I have produced a number of triptychs, diptychs and single images for this "gallery format" of the series. The triptychs consist of images taken in the US, reflecting on my state-side quasi "triple identity" and contemplating the location, significance and meaning of Heimat (home/land). The diptychs, on the other hand, are edited together from images I took in Germany and are often more polemical about the politics of belonging, representation and the writing of history - from the perspective of this East German. I envision the triptychs and diptychs to hang in a somewhat interchanging sequence, interrupted occasionally by single images, positioned below or above (see sketch below), that depict views from or of planes and airports.

installation sketch - click to enlarge

In the next few days, I will introduce here the majority of these new works. Please feel free to comment and critique them. Meanwhile, I hope to find opportunities to exhibit the full series. Excerpts could be seen in two small exhibitions in Germany last fall (see previous blog entries).

If you would like to get in touch with me regarding Critical Distance, you can e-mail me here. If you are interested in acquiring works from this series, please contact me or Galerie Vahinger (Germany).

Also, I am still looking for a publisher for the book version of Critical Distance. It will probably undergo another edit before it (hopefully) will become available as printed matter. Copies of the self-published limited edition are no longer available.

Reflections: Economy

The magazine Reflections included a number of individual images of mine, all culled from recent projects, in their "Economy" issue under the heading "Money and Morals after the Crash" this spring (just out). It is published by the Yale Divinity School (New Haven, CT), and I have to admit that I had reservations--as an atheist--to contribute my images to a religious publication. But the editor, Ray Waddle, seemed genuinely enthusiastic about my work, and I was certainly persuaded by their critical approach to "free-wheeling" capitalism. You can find Waddle's column From the Editor: Currencies here. Unfortunately, the final selection of essays and papers in this issue couldn't quite live up to my expectations, but its a start in terms of critically reflecting on Capitalism. And I'm certainly glad that I am not, for once, preaching to the choir. Pun intended.

What's missing in this picture?

Okay, I will have to vent a little in this post, hoping for some catharsis.

Having gone through the recent chain of 20th anniversary events in respect to Germany, I often feel like I have been looking at two of these search pictures one can often find in the puzzle section of papers or magazines: They appear to be identical, but one picture is missing a couple things original to the first image. The problem: What's missing in the picture? It might be a hat, a bird, or a flower. However, when it comes to historical events, we are often presented with the faulty image as the original. It's often an image reduced to what is historically, politically and culturally convenient. Claiming the original as the complete and more true picture is often ignored or characterized as the fabrication of a wild imagination.

20 years after the first and last truly democratic Volkskammer election in the GDR (March 19th, 1990) that brought to a disheartening end a few months of revitalized utopian hopes in that eastern part of the country, big survey (art) exhibitions about those past events and their fall-out have proven to be equally disappointing. Most curatorial strategies and also the individual works included may have considered and talked about East Germans, but were not by East Germans - it's the old issue of the other--in this case the other German--as being silent and silenced (see also the book Representing East Germany since Unification by Paul Cooke, 2005). The people who were THERE and most affected, then and now, are curiously missing in today's debates about THERE, or shall we say OVER THERE.

It is frustrating for someone--yes, like me--who has been trying in his/her work, over the years, to come to terms with East Germany/the GDR, its form of socialism and the events that started in the fall of 1989. Of course, I don't represent East Germans, far from it, but at least my work is a voice--or picture--that's more representative than the western-dominated chorus that we have been served in these recent exhibitions, a phenomena we already know all too well from the cinematic genre, with films like "Good-bye Lenin" (Wolfgang Becker, 2003) or "The Lives of Others" (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, 2006). And to clarify: I argue for a genuine plurality of voices, meaning the full inclusion of East German ones, and not, as some might want to interpret my remarks, as the exclusion of the Western contributions.

New triptych for "Critical Distance"

This yet to be titled triptych (working title: Diplomacy) is a reflection on post-Cold-War politics and history debates in Germany and beyond (macro and micro). Although, this triptych, too, is conceived as a "free-standing" image, it should be ideally read/viewed within the context of the "Critical Distance" series. I welcome any feedback and criticism.

[Update March 27, 2010] I think I will call this triptych Contested. In a nut shell, it contemplates how political and economical differences were perceived and contested during the Cold War (and even now), as well as how these differences were negotiated and pictured after the collapse of the so-called Communist bloc. Until 1989, Heimat was a place under constant threat; but only after the danger was dissolved, East Germany ceased to exist.

Exquisite Corpse at the Armory Show

I contributed three photo collages to these exquisite corpses with images all culled from a single issue of Der Spiegel (issue: "Wir Krisenkinder"). One of my collages can be seen in the upper row, second from the left, the "feet" section.

Exquisite Corpse Exhibit at the Armory Show

Leading Artists Recreate Surrealist Parlor Game to Benefit
ARMITAGE GONE! DANCE

Exquisite Corpse Drawings on View at the ARMORY SHOW
March 3-7, 2010

New York, NY --- More than 183 internationally recognized visual artists, architects, designers and photographers are participating in collaborative drawings to create seventy-five to one hundred works as part of Armitage Gone! Dance’s Exquisite Corpse project. A selection of thirty drawings will be exhibited in rotation at the Armory Show, March 3 – 7, 2010 at Exhibit Booth # 1508, Pier 94, 12th Avenue and 55th Street, NYC .


Using the 1920's surrealist parlor game "cadavre exquise," a drawing that combines words and/or images by multiple artists on one sheet of paper, the project celebrates the theme of chance encounters, surprise and radical juxtaposition. Each artist adds to the composition, in sequence, without seeing the contribution of the previous person. The chance juxtaposition of images and styles results in a work that is both unexpected and amusing. Each drawing is a combination of the work of three or four artists; one for the head and shoulders, one or two for the torso, and one for the legs and feet. The works are all a universal size of 16x30 inches.

The project’s proceeds will benefit Armitage Gone! Dance, an internationally acclaimed contemporary dance company under the direction of renowned choreographer Karole Armitage. For three decades as a choreographer and director, Karole Armitage has actively pushed the boundaries of classicism to create a contemporary idiom blending new dance, music and art. Her dances are full of wit, humor and sophistication and possess a fierce and sensuous beauty. Like some of the best contemporary art, Armitage’s concept of beauty involves making connections between unlikely things. Karole Armitage has deep roots in the artistic community and has been dedicated to fusing dance with the visual arts. Her collaborations with artists such as Jeff Koons, Brice Marden, David Salle, Philip Taaffe, Vera Lutter and many others, began early in her career and continue actively to this day. Included among the 183 artists already committed to the Exquisite Corpse project are: Vito Acconci, Laurie Anderson, Donald Baechler, John Baldessari, Ross Bleckner, Louise Bourgeois, Cecily Brown, Sandro Chia, Francesco Clemente, Will Cotton, Carroll Dunham, Eric Fischl, Robert Gober, Alex Katz, Karen Kilimnik, Richard Meier, Malcolm Morley, Tom Otterness, Tony Oursler, Chloe Piene, Enoc Perez, Richard Phillips, David Salle, Dana Schutz, Andres Serrano, Joel Shapiro, Rosemarie Trockel, Robert Wilson and Terry Winters. The Exquisite Corpse project is a way for a wide range of artists to express their support for Armitage’s work and also a way for her to acknowledge artists who have played such a large role in her career.

The project also highlights the “performative” aspect of art making by demonstrating that drawing, performance art, and dance all have in common spontaneity and an unpredictable nature. The evanescent quality of dance is mirrored in the surprising juxtapositions of the Exquisite Corpse. Works in the project have been created either at a number of artists’ drawing parties or passed from artist to artist. In all instances, the artist is unable to view the work that his or her fellow artists have created. The project is curated by David Salle and Project Manager Tanja Grunert of Gasser-Grunert.

Armory Show hours are: 12-8PM March 4,5,6, and 12-7PM on March 7.

art KARLSRUHE (March 4-7, 2010)

If you don't find yourself at one of the New York art fairs during the first march week, but rather at the art KARLSRUHE in Germany, please stop by Booth 09 of Galerie Vayhinger in Hall 2. The gallery will have works from my "Critical Distance" series on display. Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend the fair myself, because I have to work (in New York).

(Photo: Toralf Sperschneider)

Review: Wolfgang Tillmans at Andrea Rosen Gallery

Generally, I like Wolfgang Tillmans' work as much as the next person, but I really think his current show at Andrea Rosen Gallery here in New York is quite overrated. Tillmans went back to his "roots" of tagging variously sized photographs with varying subject matters unframed onto the wall, trying to capture -- however much subjective -- a sense of the Zeitgeist. But what used to be fresh and exciting, now feels stale and even a bit heavy-handed. I just don't agree with the reviewer of the New Yorker who states that "This casual, encyclopedic view of the world has become a default mode for countless young photographers, but none of them can match Tillmans when it comes to elegance, intelligence, or emotional impact." It seems to me that the New Yorker isn't going around town as much as one would hope. Besides, looking at his new body of work, it feels much more like Tillmans is copying himself. And although art critic Jerry Saltz raves in a New York Magazine review "Tillmans is expanding his old aesthetic, producing images even more street, even less effete, and asking with every photo, 'How can I make a picture nobody else has?'," I can only think that photographing, for example, a turd in the grass(!) feels a bit desperate and thus debunks Saltz as full of ... well ... turds. Of course, there are still great images amongst those assembled here at Andrea Rosen, but they can't hide the fact that the show at large feels rather weak. I really hope Tillmans will find his innovative groove again, pushing his photos further, and edit his prints with more care in future shows.

Image: Wolfgang Tillmans, Heptathlon (2009); at Andrea Rosen Gallery

"Critical Distance" closes

Critical Distance at Galerie Vayhinger closed on Saturday, January 30th. According to the Vayhingers, it was well attended and successful. They will take my work also to the upcoming art fair Art Karlsruhe (March 4-7, 2010). The photos were taken by my good friend Toralf Sperschneider (Dankeschön!) who made the trip to Radolfzell with my friend Tom Licht to visit the exhibition .

Südkurier (5.1.): Rezension von "Critical Distance"

(exhibition review from Suedkurier - German only)

Neue Ausstellung in der Galerie Vayhinger in Radolfzell-Möggingen

Die Heimat ist für den Menschen eine Begebenheit, die immer schon vor ihm existiert. Sie wird als eine Realität wahrgenommen, in der es eine vorgegebene Landschaft und eine bestimmte Kultur gibt, in der sich immer wiederkehrende soziale Grundmuster von „Einheimischen“ etabliert haben. Und trotz dieser sich reproduzierender Strukturen, die für die dort hineingeborenen Menschen eine gemeinsame gesellschaftliche Basis bilden, kann der Heimatbegriff eine individuelle Bedeutung annehmen.

Die Galerie Vayhinger in Möggingen beschäftigt sich seit eineinhalb Jahren mit der Bedeutung des Heimatbegriffs, wie auch seit geraumer Zeit der Künstler Daniel Blochwitz. Dessen biografischer Hintergrund – in der DDR aufgewachsen und heute in New York lebend – gibt den Ausschlag dafür, ihn mit den biographischen und künstlerischen Kontexten von Otto Dix und Erich Heckel zu verbinden. Der daraus entstehende Dialog zwischen Ost und West wird somit auch zu einem Dialog zwischen Gegenwart und Vergangenheit.

In der derzeit ausgestellten Fotoserie „Critical Distance – a perpetual absence of home“ geht es Daniel Blochwitz um Heimatfindung. Seine Heimat, die ihn in der Kindheit und Jugend geprägt hat, gibt es nicht mehr. Der Begriff der Heimat löst sich hiermit in gewissem Maße von der Bedeutung einer vorgegebenen und feststehenden Realität. Durch den Prozess der Suche nach einer Heimat als nach-gelagerten und reflektierten Prozess, eröffnet sich eine neue Dimension von Heimat. „Mich beschäftigt also die Frage, wo und wie man sich zu Hause fühlt.

Und ob Heimatsuche, frei nach Ernst Bloch, einen katalysatorischen Effekt für progressive-emanzipatorische gesellschaftliche Veränderung haben kann. Ich denke, ja“, erklärt Daniel Blochwitz. In seinen Fotografien steht die Sprache im Vordergrund, die er philosophisch verarbeitet.

Mit seinen Bildausschnitten entreißt er visuellen Zitaten, sei es ein Werbeslogan auf einem Plakat, ein Graffiti in einem Hinterhof oder das Titelthema eines Magazins, welches er an einem Kiosk fotografiert, ihren ursprünglichen Kontext. In seinen projektbezogenen Arbeiten kommt es häufig zu Gegenüberstellungen von Zitaten und subversiv-semantischen Anspielungen. Erschließen lassen sich diese meist nicht aus den Einzelbildern, sondern aus der Serie und ihren Wechselwirkungen von Zeichen und gefundenen Texten. Daniel Blochwitz zeigt die Welt als ein offenes Buch, welches er durch zeitkritisches Hinterfragen erweitert.

In Verbindung mit Otto Dix und Erich Heckel werden hier biografische Hintergründe von Künstlern als Weltenwandler genau in Augenschein genommen. Daniel Blochwitz ist im Osten geboren und aufgewachsen und lebt heute in New York. Otto Dix ist im Osten geboren, hat sich 1937 am Bodensee niedergelassen und ist seither zwischen Ost- und Westdeutschland gependelt. Erich Heckel ist ebenfalls im Osten geboren, kam vor Kriegsende 1944 an den Bodensee und blieb bis zu seinem Tode.

„Die Biographie eines Künstlers ist werkimmanent. Wenn ein Künstler zwischen zwei Welten wandert, greift dies in seine Ausdrucksweise hinein, wie bei Otto Dix vor allem in seinem Spätwerk sichtbar wird“, erklärt Galeristin Helena Vayhinger. Der Heimatbegriff schien für Otto Dix keinen Ortsbezug zu beinhalten, vielmehr waren es die für ihn wichtigen Menschen, die ihm das Gefühl von Heimat vermittelten. Aus den Werken von Erich Heckel ist herauszulesen, dass sowohl die Menschen als auch die Landschaften seine Interpretation von Heimat bestimmten.

Die semiotische Interpretation von Heimat bei Daniel Blochwitz schärft die Wahrnehmung des Rezipienten von alltäglicher Sprache und ihrer scheinbaren Ortsgebundenheit. Auf mehreren Ebenen trennt er Raum von Zeit. Mit der Fotografie als Medium und dem Triptychon als Methode löst er Zeichen vom jeweiligen Kontext und bettet sie neu ein. Die Heimatsuche beziehungsweise Heimatfindung stellt sich somit als ein sich ständig wiederholender Prozess dar.

Suzanne Glocker

suedkurier.de

Galerie Vayhinger, Radolfzell-Möggingen. „Critical Distance“ mit Belegen von Otto Dix und Erich Heckel. Bis 30. Januar. Mi bis So, jeweils von 14 bis 20 Uhr. Infotel.: 07732-10055.