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eading the catalogue and in the weeks since is that, if Revolutions
– Forms that Turn presents a database approach to curatorship, then
it is a database with its “safe search” fully switched on. This is due
less to the high degree of canonical works on display than to whose
canon is displayed. I find it curious, for example, that there are precious
few works from Asia, from Africa, from South and Latin America,
let alone the Pacific. I find it intriguing that the main essayists for
the catalogue are safely ensconced in London, New York and Rome.
I find it surprising that, among all the revolutions thrown into the
biennale’s heady mix, there is no reference to some of the most
pressing revolutions of the past sixty years and their lingering effects
today: to Iran in 1979, to Rhodesia in 1980, to China in 1949 or the
Cultural Revolution after 1966. Which brings me to the final few
questions in an essay brimming with doubt and giving the benefit
of it: Whose revolutions does Christov-Bakargiev think provide the
history of the early twenty-first century? What does this say about
an Australasian biennale in 2008? And finally, most importantly,
does she really believe that the “coming community” is still to be
European?
Notes:
Mike Parr
Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi, 2003, performance at Artspace, Sydney, courtesy: the artist and Anna Schwartz
Gallery: Sydney and Melbourne
Capul se roteøte încet, se opreøte, gîtul pulseazæ de anticipare, înainte ca trupul sæ
i se înalfle în miøcare. La Pier 2/3, pictura fluidæ a lui Doreen Reid Nakamarra e mai
degrabæ aruncatæ pe podea decît fixatæ de zid. Nu doar cæ expunerea orizontalæ
se potriveøte cu modul de creare a lucrærii, dar strælucirea ei formalæ øi spiritualæ
are posibilitatea de a vorbi într-o manieræ la care expunerea pe zid a lucrærilor indigenilor
australieni aspiræ adesea, dar care, la fel de frecvent, eøueazæ. Sæ speræm
cæ acest mod de prezentare va fi folosit øi în cazul altor expoziflii de picturi indigene.
(Regretabila reducere la tæcere a ansamblului Intonarumori al lui Luigi Russolo, a sculpturilor
transformate în relicve øi private de potenflialul de care dispuneau odatæ, nu
e totuøi un precedent demn de a fi urmat.)
Ceea ce susflin eu, aøadar, este o metaforæ mixtæ de genul: bienala va fi fiind revoluflionaræ
ca temæ, dar e inegalæ ca efect. Multe dintre lucrærile prezentate sînt într-adevær
remarcabile; maniera în care sînt prezentate poate fi extrem de reuøitæ
– øi, în acelaøi timp, deosebit de ciudatæ. De ce ar fi instalate, de pildæ, proiecfliile
lui William Kentridge în camera de deasupra videourilor lui Shaun Gladwell øi Qiu
Anxiong, douæ dintre cele mai contemplative lucræri ale bienalei, a cæror atmosferæ
e tulburatæ de peisajul sonor de vodevil care urlæ sus? Sæ fie asta o formæ de sadism
curatorial? O testare intenflionatæ a singularitæflii øi autonomiei fiecærei opere în parte?
Sæ fie vorba de neatenflie? Dupæ cum sugereazæ aceste întrebæri, cîteva revoluflii
se petrec totuøi. Sînt revolufliile din mintea privitorului (sau cel puflin a acestui privitor),
cæutînd sæ înfleleagæ mai mult din maniera de expunere decît ceea ce se relevæ
la prima vedere, urmærind încontinuu îndoielile øi ræspunsurile inifliale cu alte întrebæri
øi alte posibile ræspunsuri, înlæturate la rîndul lor de alte întrebæri øi de noi îndoieli.
E o revoluflie a învîrtitului în jurul cozii øi poate fi în egalæ mæsuræ frustrantæ øi temporaræ.
În acelaøi timp, acest gen de dezechilibrare a spectatorului e parte a intenfliei
lui Christov-Bakargiev, ea privind „revoluflia“, în ultimæ instanflæ, mai degrabæ ca
pe o cæutare individualæ decît una strict socialæ sau formalæ. 8
1. Christov-Bakargiev makes this point herself in an interview (conducted
together with artist Michael Rakowitz) in one of Australia’s foremost art
journals, Broadsheet: see Zanny Begg, “Confusion, A Trip to the Dentist
and the Biennale of Sydney: In Conversation with Carolyn Christov-
Bakargiev and Michael Rakowitz”, in Broadsheet, 37/2, pp. 90–97
(also available at http://www.cacsa.org.au/cvapsa/2008/4_bs_37_2/37-
2%20Begg.pdf).
2. Two further questions: To what extent is Manzoni’s work included as
a reference to Australia’s position at the “base of the world” as well?
And is this yet another stereotypical reflection of the world being
“upside-down”, upended by the antipodes, revolved, for the curator?
3. Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, “Revolutions – Forms that Turn: The Impulse
to Revolt”, in Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev (Artistic Director), 2008
Biennale of Sydney: Revolutions – Forms that Turn, exh. cat., Fishermans
Bend, Thames & Hudson, 2008, p. 30.
4. See, for example, Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev (ed.), Arte Povera,
London, Phaidon, 1999; Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev et al, William
Kentridge, exh. cat., Milan–London, Skira, Thames & Hudson, 2004;
Francesco Bonami and Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev (curators and eds.),
T1: The Pantagruel Syndrome, exh. cat., Milan, Skira, 2006.
5. Giorgio Agamben, The Coming Community, trans. Michael Hardt,
Minneapolis–London, University of Minnesota Press, 1993, p. 1. For
Christov-Bakargiev’s reference to this text, see Christov-Bakargiev,
“Revolutions – Forms that Turn”, p. 33.
6. Agamben, ibid.
7. This is not the first time that Christov-Bakargiev has presented a miniretrospective
within a large-scale group exhibition. In the first Turin
Triennale, she and Bonami staged similar shows of the work of Takashi
Murakami and Doris Salcedo.
8. Christov-Bakargiev, “Revolutions – Forms that Turn”, p. 33.
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