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Liam Gillick's "Cat" at the German Pavilion is Subject of Heated Debate As Venice Biennale Ends |
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| Written by Alice Dorment |
| Saturday, 21 November 2009 05:48 |
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At the outset the main topic of discussion was the choice of Liam Gillick as the artist to exhibit in the German Pavilion. This decision raised the question of national representation, which played a pivotal role in relation to the exhibition. Curator Nicolaus Schafhausen sought to raise precisely this question, as someone who refuses national boundaries in the context of the global art world. Spiegel online wrote that in recent decades, the art world has become a great deal more internationalized and it is thus only appropriate that old models of national artistic competition in the Giardini should be called into question. Mr. Schafhausen would like to thank the German Federal Foreign Office who continued to ensure curatorial freedom in the context of the Venice Biennale. In the German press, Der Freitag argued that Gillick’s art is interesting in the context of post-minimalism, writing that the work has been made in such a casual way that it appears to represent post-heroic sculpture. Furthermore they remark that the profane contradicts the heroic; instead of consecration, it evokes human necessities. In the art press, Jörg Heiser, Frieze praised Gillick’s courage in taking risks with his conscientious negotiation and use of his forms, and for his departure from his previous techniques and materials, culminating in the creation of a unique vantage point. In 'Texte zur Kunst', Tom McDonough talked about a ”highly referential work [that] unearths a critical dimension articulated in the monologue of a talking cat,” a critical dimension he explored in depth. Kunstforum International saw the choice of a foreign artist as a fortunate one, finally someone who is able to approach the pavilion impartially.
Asked for her general opinion on the principle behind national pavilions in an arte documentary, FAZ critic Julia Voss (jury member for the Golden Lion) said that national pavilions are a funny concept and a playful formula for an exhibition in which Schafhausen has chosen not to participate. For him, the national pavilions, and the German Pavilion in particular, are anything but neutral spaces to exhibit art. They are difficult places for artists to come to terms with and work in. In this light, Gillick should be seen as having taken on the challenge and managed to produce an outstanding solution to it. The Guardian echoed this point of view by writing that ”Its totalitarian architecture is hardly neutral but Gillick has effectively neutralised it with a quasi-kitchen structure of plain wood.” On the 16th December 2009 Gillick will deliver a talk about the scope of his exhibition in the German Pavilion at the x-initiative in New York. Next year, the installation will be exhibited outside of the pavilion context as part of a comprehensive solo exhibition of Gillick’s work at the Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn (April 1 - August 8, 2010). Click on logo below to add this article to your favorite Social Website ~ |
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