There are a few people who have told me that they look at my journal from time to time, and I'm always very pleased to hear that. In fact, I'm grateful. Several, including some close to me, have made it very clear that they do not read it. Which in turn leads me to believe that there might be people who secretly read it, but, because they're kind of embarrassed, they cannot admit that they're reading it, which in turn would indicate that it's actually bad. Sometimes it seems to replace the psychiatrist and that can be uncomfortable for one or the other. Yet, it always sounds to me like - I know you're writing, but I'm not interested - if bad or not is not the question. It hurts. They could tell me that it is bad. Definitely, the feedback is modest, but as I said, I'm enthusiastic about the people who are interested. There is also hope that some are inspired and I just don't know.
ARTSPACElibrary
A new spirit in Curating? 1992 Künstlerhaus Stuttgart
After Facebook, as so often, made changes that we as users have no influence on, the Art Space group topics were switched to hashtags, which meant that there were no longer just posts from the group, but generally everything what had to do with respective hashtags. Since posts by this (private) group should be there only, I removed the old topics and replaced them with a topic that has artspace as a prefix - hoping nobody else uses those long terms.
Among other newly added topics, there is the ARTSPACElibrary, where I present books from the library by presenting the respective cover, accompanied by copyright information. In connection with today's post, I would like to bring an excerpt from a text written by art critic, curator and artist Laura Cottingham thirty years ago Curate the Future, not the Walls (page 37).
Some artists, of course have been and are trying to take their work to larger and more diverse audience than the gallery system accommodates. For his show at the Museum of Modern Art's Project Room during summer 1992, Felix Gonzalez-Torres left the gallery empty and exhibited his »show« on twenty-four billboards around New York City area. Visitors to the MoMA Project Room found one black and white photograph, of an unmade bed, and a brochure which listed the addresses of the artist's billboards, all of which displayed the same bed image.
I don't know why more artists aren't seeking this type of direct access to the public. There is something so passive about placing objects in a room and waiting visitors to drop by. Of course, artists who do try to work outside of the conventional gallery system are liable to being disregarded and negated by a system which only accepts as »art« those things which are found in a gallery. It could be argued that the operative contemporary definition for the term »art«, today, is exactly defined as any object or experience one finds within the gallery setting. Just a few years ago Barbara Kruger complained to me that no matter how much »non-gallery« art making she does - on billboards, public places, in essays or lectures - critics usually only describe as »her art« the object displayed under her name at Mary Boone Gallery.
I would like to see more artists intervening in other areas of cultural production. I would like to see artists more disgruntled, not so self congratulatory, with the terms established by the idealist and physical limitations of a gallery setting.
Wednesday, 16
I read about Patti Smith's relationship with her Polaroid camera. Of course it's presumptuous to compare me to Patty Smith, who is a world famous celebrity and has 1 million followers on Instagram. Inspired by Instagram, where she created an account with her daughter in March 2018 - the same year I did - her latest book consists of a daily entry during a year. Each day equipped with a photo accompanied by a text illuminating the image - concerning the month of January at least. I downloaded the sample and will one day give myself the whole book.
Since yesterday I feel weak and kinda ill. Today I forced myself to rest, which I definitely needed. As soon as I walk around, my body starts to ache. So I had the opportunity to give myself extensively to my devices. On instagram I watched a lot of stupid joke movies and looked around on facebook until I got tired of all the social media stuff, turned to the books where I came across Patti's book and then also checked out her instagram account. She inspired me to post some photos there and write here.
I had many cameras including a Polarroid. That was fashionable back then, but I didn't use it frequently. My first was a Box that I inherited from my mother, so to speak, with large rolls of film. I remember well what they looked like, and also the camera. Probably a Zeiss. I don't have any photo of it and in Internet it's not to be found. My father was the photographer in the house, so she gave up photography. I was apparently talented and interested and allowed to have it. Somewhere in my journals I have some photos I took with it. One I particularly liked was a photo of my father when he jumped down the stairs to the Elbe. I was proud that I had captured the movement. At some point the Box was old-fashioned and no longer functional. Then came a kind of 35mm compact camera with color film, which I can't remember in detail. Except it had a built in flash that created those pretty red eyes. I do remember a few photos, though. Not specifically, teenage snapping. In order to be able to take better photos, I was then given an SLR, Minolta. My favorite was taking portraits, which I enlarged in the darkroom. The camera was stolen on a trip to Amsterdam. I had hidden it in a sleeping bag, which the thieves took and must have been surprised. Then I got a Nikon. My friend at art school, with whom I took a trip to NYC, then told me that the big cameras were out and that one should buy a Minox 35. I really liked this camera, it fitted in every handbag. With it I switched to slides. I used this camera for more than 20 years before finally switching to digital cameras. More or less disposable - I was tight on cash - and only the Sony DSC 20 megapixels really convinced me. Now it's in the drawer. I took it with me on my last trip to Europe but didn't take a picture with it. After my trip to Lagos I bought a Canon SLR camera - 70D. Nice device. Every once in a while I pull myself together to take pictures with it, but for four years now, since lenses have improved a lot, I've mostly used the iPhone. Of course, it's nice to be able to look through the photos quickly and easily upload them to social media, but it's actually a shame. One can no longer really speak of photography.
Patti Smith A Book of Days. Published November 15th 2022 by Random House.
Friday, 11
You have to write today, I said to myself this morning, no, yesterday I made it my goal already. A third of the month is over. But what if you can't think of anything? Life is beautiful, the birds are singing and the climate couldn't be better. All flowers bloom. The rainy season bears fruit. You see, the urge to write often results from a thorn in my side, which I then try to remove. Okay, here and there I let myself be inspired by something that then gives me wings and sets unexpected trains of thought in motion. I definitely prefer the latter, of course. If only it was always like this.
Well, yesterday we got four new solar lamps for the property. The ones with motion detectors, a kind of mixture of garden lighting and security. Cool, I am happy about that.
Tuesday, 1
Art Space Work of the Month
Almir da Silva Mavignier - Day (of "Four Times of Day"), 1977, offset prints for the exhibition
"Philipp Otto Runge in his time", Hamburger Kunsthalle 1978, 84x60cm