dOCUMENTA (13) DAY 1, KASSEL, GERMANY

Theaster Gates, a Chicago, Illinois based artist is showing in dOCUMENTA (13) presenting 12 Ballads for Huguenot House. The piece involves a performance with Gates and other musicians as well as a physical intervention within the Huguenot House which was a residence and hotel that had been abandoned since the 1970’s. The artists goal was to “bring life back into the home” and he used discarded material from yet another abandoned building in Chicago, working with and transforming the interior of both spaces, creating very subtle yet substantial changes. Inside and on the 2nd floor, the artist is performing a bluesy style of music, tapping his foot and accompanied by a cello, bass, and a few other instruments. The active singing brings in not only an active audience, but on the occasion of this particular exhibition, the artist was also visited by an older woman (seen in the photo to the left) who was an original occupant of the home and spent her childhood their. After one of the songs, Gates introduced the woman to those present. He spoke on his experience of meeting her, and her surprise at being able to re-enter the home after it being abandoned for so long. She was teared up as he spoke and the artist himself was crying as he relayed her story of how she remembered hiding in the basement as a child during the war. Then the artist stated, “We worked in this home [making the installation] for several months and were thinking about art, but after meeting this woman I realized that it’s not about art at all, it’s about life.”

Also at the same location, but in the back of Huguenot House, is a piece by London born, Berlin based artist Tino Sehgal. Walking through the central part of the building to a lush verdant backyard, filled with squishy wood chips, is a dark room. Singing eminates from the room enticing those nearby. Upon entering, one is immediately blinded by darkness. There was complete blackness and a very, very faint light glowing close to the ceiling. Male and female voices occupy the darkness with audio. Similar yet completely different from Theaster Gates piece, they are also singing, humming, and performing an abstract dialogue which addresses dreams, wishes and purpose versus non-purpose. For about ten minutes, the viewer is transformed from “viewer” to receptical and will be unable to see anything but dark shadows. For a moment the voices may be undecipherable and it is unclear if they are coming from speakers or a group of people in the room. Waiting for my eyes to adjust revealing what was going on seemed to take forever. Staring into the nothingness was strange and even a bit eerie. Finally, my eyes readjusted to the black surroundings and slowly, bodies emerged around me. Performers were seated on the floor and leaning against the walls, verbally but not physically interacting. At that point, I could physically, take a step forward finally being aware of what was ahead. The piece is interesting as it thrusts the viewer into an uncomfortable situation and inhibits his or her purpose as a visual observer instead making them into an active participant. Tino Sehgals’ performance lasts for 10 hours a day and will be taking place for the duration of the exhibition.

dOCUMENTA (13) will be on view in Kassel, Germany from June 6th-September 16th, 2012

There will also be related exhibitions in Kabul, Afghanistan June 20th-July 19th, 2012, Alexandria-Kairo, Egypt July 1st-8th, 2012 and Banff, Canada from August 2nd-15th, 2012

Next up: Day 2 in Kassel (have had internet problems, even in the luxury hotels i.e. Ramada and Hotel Reiss..c’mon gotta get this Mac connection problem fixed!)

Also, see the link to LOEBlog, which celebrates Loeb Fellows, past and present from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, with a special focus of Theaster Gates also mentioning a reference to this post.

More soon!

xo