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scena<br />
în domeniul artistic øi o lovituræ aplicatæ multora dintre cei care urmæreau folosirea<br />
institufliilor acesteia ca suport pentru gæzduirea discursurilor critice antihegemonice.<br />
Øi totuøi, acest suport instituflional e cu adeværat fragil. Øi, færæ a supraaprecia importanfla<br />
documentei ca instituflie sau pe a lui Roger Buergel øi a lui Ruth Noack în calitate<br />
de curatori, strategia reconciliatoare a d12, de a termina cu orice criticæ, de pildæ,<br />
prin „înfrumuseflarea“ lucrærilor politice øi transformarea lor în obiecte ale contemplafliei<br />
estetice, ar putea foarte bine sæ dea roade într-unele din acele segmente sau<br />
instituflii de profil care erau anterior susceptibile faflæ de discursul critic. Chiar øi numai<br />
din aceastæ cauzæ, „tabæra de varæ a reconcilierii“ nu poate fi pur øi simplu ignoratæ.<br />
2. Re-întoarcerea la primitivism<br />
Acum, efectele depolitizante ale expozifliei sînt un motiv pentru care nu pofli abandona<br />
pur øi simplu epava. Mai este øi un alt motiv, care are de-a face cu faptul cæ<br />
procedurile depolitizante ale lui Buergel de formalizare, decontextualizare øi estetizare<br />
fac mai mult decît sæ depolitizeze lucrærile politice din expoziflie. Mult mai grav,<br />
acestea produc efectul dublu al ceva ce propun sæ numim (1) o reîntoarcere la primitivism<br />
øi (2) normalizarea trecutului Germaniei.<br />
Ce înflelegem prin reîntoarcerea lui Buergel la primitivism? Sæ observæm, pentru<br />
început, cæ strategia lui Buergel cu privire la aøa-numita artæ nonoccidentalæ prezintæ<br />
o perfectæ inversare a strategiei lui Okwui Enwezor de la documenta 11. Pentru<br />
Okwui Enwezor, ideea de artist nonoccidental era aproape o contradicflie în<br />
termeni sau, mai degrabæ, este ea însæøi o proiecflie occidentalæ. Un numær semnificativ<br />
de artiøti „nonoccidentali“ importanfli træiesc, de fapt, la New York, aøa cum<br />
a declarat el în cîteva rînduri. Mai mult, cæutarea artei nonoccidentale „autentice“,<br />
aflate în afara sistemului artistic occidental, prezintæ pericolul perpetuærii cæutærii occidentale<br />
a unui „altuia“ autohton. Pornind de aici, navigarea în jurul capcanelor øi pericolelor<br />
unui nou primitivism în artæ a fost unul dintre principalele scopuri ale<br />
documentei 11. Acum a fost rîndul a doi curatori germani sæ se îmbarce din nou<br />
în expediflii de explorare a noi continente, susflinînd cæ documenta 12 va prezenta<br />
multe figuri necunoscute care, în ciuda acestui fapt, susflineau ei, erau celebre în<br />
flærile lor native.<br />
Aceøti artiøti sînt tratafli drept „in<strong>format</strong>ori locali“ de cætre curatorii europeni în cælætoriile<br />
lor etnografice. De fapt, limbajul etnografiei, al culturalismului øi autenticismului<br />
e supraabundent, de pildæ, în catalog. Aici ni se spune cæ, prin cîmpurile cu<br />
orez terasate ale lui Sakarin Krue-On, de la Schloss Wilhelmshöhe, avem de-a face<br />
cu „practica milenaræ a cultiværii orezului“ (de parcæ n-am fi putut „descoperi“ cultivarea<br />
orezului la cîteva sute de kilometri sud de Kassel, în Italia). În mod similar,<br />
legat de lucrærile cu mæøti ale lui Romuald Hazoumé, catalogul ne informeazæ cæ<br />
„atunci cînd eøti parte a unei culturi africane cu o vechime de patru mii de ani, nu<br />
ai nevoie de istoria occidentalæ a artei“. Aceasta nu e doar o insultæ personalæ la adresa<br />
lui Hazoumé, prin localizarea artei sale undeva în epoca de piatræ, ci ilustreazæ øi<br />
mæsura în care aøa-numiflii artiøti nonoccidentali sînt culturalizafli, exoticizafli øi „autenticizafli“<br />
(prin disocierea de discursurile artei vestice). La fel, fotografiile lui<br />
J. D. ’Okhai Ojeikere, înfæfliøînd coafuri nigeriene, sînt prezentate în catalog dupæ<br />
cum urmeazæ: „Cînd perucile au fost introduse în anii cincizeci øi øaizeci, se pærea<br />
cæ aceastæ moøtenire culturalæ se va pierde, o moøtenire ce era parte integrantæ a<br />
culturii nigeriene. […] Graflie pasiunii øi intuifliei sale, opera lui ’Okhai Ojeikere constituie<br />
un testament al unei culturi aflate în continuæ schimbare“. (Øi, desigur, autorul<br />
nu uitæ sæ menflioneze cæ avem de-a face cu „o operæ unicæ de o mare frumusefle“.)<br />
Ceea ce ni se înfæfliøeazæ aici e tipica lamentaflia nostalgicæ a unui etnograf occidental<br />
care cautæ în Africa „o culturæ cu o vechime de patru mii de ani“ doar pentru a<br />
realiza cu tristefle cæ vremurile se schimbæ. Øi, în timp ce majoritatea lucrærilor din<br />
sons, the first being that it is precisely documenta 12 which returned<br />
to “business-as-usual“ thereby constituting, on a whole series of<br />
accounts, a backlash within the art-field and a blow to many of those<br />
who sought to use the latter’s institutions as a base for the fostering<br />
of counter-hegemonic critical discourses. Yet this institutional base<br />
is fragile indeed. And without overvaluing the importance of either<br />
documenta as an institution or Roger Buergel and Ruth Noack as<br />
curators, the reconciliatory strategy of d12 to finish off with all criticality<br />
by, for instance, “beautifying“ political works into objects for<br />
aesthetic contemplation, might very well succeed in some of those<br />
parts and institutions of the field which previously were susceptive to<br />
critical discourse. For this reason alone the “summer camp of reconciliation“<br />
cannot be simply ignored.<br />
2. The Re-turn to Primitivism<br />
Now, the depoliticizing effects of the show are one reason why one<br />
shouldn’t simply leave the wreckage behind. Yet there is a further<br />
reason which has to do with the fact that Buergel’s depoliticizing<br />
procedures of formalization, decontextualization and aestheticization<br />
add up not only to the depoliticization of political works in the show.<br />
What is much worse, they produce the twofold effect of what I propose<br />
to call (1) a re-turn to primitivism, and (2) the normalization<br />
of Germany’s past.<br />
What is to be understood by Buergel’s re-turn to primitivism? Let us<br />
first note that Buergel’s strategy concerning so-called non-Western<br />
art presents an exact inversion of Okwui Enwezor’s strategy of documenta<br />
11. For Okwui Enwezor the <strong>idea</strong> of a non-Western artist was<br />
close to a contradiction-in-terms, or rather, it is in itself a Western<br />
projection. A significant number of the important “non-Western<br />
artists“ in actual fact live in New York, as he occasionally put it.<br />
Yet the search for “authentic“ non-Western art, outside the circulation<br />
of the Western art system, runs the danger of perpetuating the<br />
Western search for the autochthonous “other“. Hence, to navigate<br />
around the traps and dangers of a new primitivism in the arts was<br />
one of the main aims of documenta 11. It was up to two German<br />
curators to once again embark on discovery trips to new continents,<br />
claiming that documenta 12 would present many unknown figures<br />
who nevertheless, they claimed, were famous in their native lands.<br />
These artists are thus treated as “native informants“ by the European<br />
curators on their ethnographic trips. In fact, the language of ethnography,<br />
culturalism and authenticism is overabundant, for instance in<br />
the catalogue. There we are told that with Sakarin Krue-On’s terraced<br />
rice fields at Schloss Wilhelmshöhe we encounter “the millennia<br />
old practice of rice cultivation“ (as if only a few hundred kilometres<br />
south of Kassel we couldn’t “discover“ rice cultivation in Italy).<br />
Similarly, a propos Romuald Hazoumé’s works with masks, the catalogue<br />
informs us that “if you’re part of a four-thousand-year-old<br />
African culture you don’t need Western art history“. This is not only<br />
a personal insult to Hazoumé, locating his work at some point in the<br />
Stone Age, it also illustrates the extent to which so-called non-Western<br />
artists are culturalized, exoticized and “authenticized“ (through<br />
dissociation from Western art discourses). Similarly, J. D. ’Okhai<br />
Ojeikere’s photographs of Nigerian hairstyles are presented in the<br />
catalogue as follows: “When wigs were introduced in the 1950s and<br />
’60s it seemed this cultural heritage would be lost, a heritage that<br />
was an integral part of Nigerian culture. . . . Thanks to his personal<br />
passion and insight, ’Okhai Ojeikere’s work provides a testament to<br />
a culture that is constantly changing.“ (And of course the author<br />
doesn’t forget to mention that we experience “a singular work of<br />
great beauty“.) What we are presented with here is the typical nostalgic<br />
lamentation of a Western ethnographer who searches in Africa<br />
for a “four-thousand-year-old culture“ only to sadly realize that times<br />
are changing. And while most pieces in the show – given Buergel’s<br />
strategy of decontextualization – are left completely without text,<br />
it is precisely ’Okhai Ojeikere’s work which is accompanied in the<br />
exhibition by rather detailed ethnographic descriptions.<br />
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