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CHARLIEHOTELECHOECHOSIERRAECHO Artist duo Nikolai von Rosen and Florian Wojnar live in Berlin and Zürich. Their art expands existing situations with additional identities. They regard their exhibition as a series of investigations, in the style of Joseph Kosuth’s conceptual art. "We stage works of art. We find the stages everywhere: in our studio, in galleries, in museums, in nature. Sometimes the stage is a portrait studio, sometimes it’s a backdrop, sometimes it’s a DJ set. And we find the works of art everywhere: we borrow them from collectors, we work in museums, we order them from fabric manufacturers or go to cement factories." The statement from the German artist duo, Rosen/Wojnar, gives an insight into their work methods but moreover reveals a forthright attitude towards art in general. Nikolai von Rosen and Florian Wojnar, who live in Berlin and Zurich, have been collaborating for over a decade, exploring the realms of the creative processes inherent not only in art making but also in the presentation of art and in the art experience. Clearly defying traditional categorization rooted in the art mediums, Rosen/Wojnar may still be said to rely on certain tools, such as those of openness and fluidity. Their work playfully transcends the traditional procedure of production and consumption of art, for example by thwarting the notion of the origin of the art object. What in a work of art is created, found, arranged, brought forward, manipulated or concealed? The artists contest the binary concepts of object and subject with emphasis on situation and reception, considering the viewer as an essential collaborator. In their work there is an underlying allusion to the transformation of matter, which can take place within a social system such as that of art. However, the idea of the artist as alchemist, creating something of value out of nothing, relies on the viewer’s willingness to take part in the process. In light of the ongoing process within The Living Art Museum of examining the institute’s history, its collection and archives, Rosen/Wojnar were invited there to do some research and express their take on it in an exhibition during the Reykjavik Arts Festival. The title reflects their point of departure, composed of a communication code for the letters of the alphabet, spelling out the term CHEESE. Acknowledging the photographic theme of the festival, a coded signal is announced, asking someone to smile before a picture is taken. As is often the case in their work reflecting the artist/viewer relationship, the question of who is on which side of the camera remains open but the institutional authority is highlighted, this time by way of systematic, not to say military, mode of communication. Both the title and the artist’s statement emphasise the notion of staging and this continues to be the case in the exhibition itself. A central object on display is a tall swaying form, reaching upward from the floor and like a steep ramp. On the one hand it suggests a geometric sculpture in line with minimalist aesthetics but on the other – and in direct context with separate works in the exhibition – it brings to mind the backdrop paper roll in the studio of a professional photographer. This is the first of many perplexities at stake in the exhibition. A video projection displays the artists working in a makeshift photo studio where they introduce one work of art after the other. They place each work by itself in a chair in front of a provisional backdrop and suggest that portraits are being taken of the art. All from the collection of the Living Art Museum, the random works are treated like individuals and sat in chairs found in the museum’s possession. In the exhibition space there is a single photograph that might have come about in a similar session, it shows an object placed on a blue vintage chair in front of a red backdrop. The sculpture is in line with other three-dimensional works by Rosen/Wojnar that they have exhibited before, made by pouring mixed cement into the paper bag that the dry material is delivered in and then the paper is removed after the material hardens. The image poses the question of where the real work of art is – is it the sculpture posing in a chair in the studio, or is it the photograph on display in the museum? As it turns out, the red backdrop in the portrait is also a work by Rosen/Wojnar, from their series of arranged monochrome canvases. This detail in the photograph brings the viewer to the works in the back of the Living Art Museum. There are a couple of paintings on display, but people should have realised by now that things are not as straightforward as they seem. The second gallery houses constructions that hold up painted canvases in one colour each. Unlike stretchers, the support onto which a painting is traditionally fixed, the fabrics are tilted across bars like leather hung to dry after tanning awaiting further handling. On the edges, the canvases reveal marks of having been strung on stretchers before and close scrutiny shows a subtle relief under the monochrome colour. These are in fact old paintings that have been painted over, contributed to the project by members of the Icelandic art scene. Again, Rosen/Wojnar blur the artistic gesture and the notion of an art object fixed in space and time, opening the work up for dialogue and novel patterns of contemplation. The issues of imbedded, attributed and fluctuating meaning and value are suggested in the process behind these works. Once a donated painting is in the hands of Rosen/Wojnar, the two artists play a game of chess with each other. At a moment in the game when they agree that an interesting tension has come up, they stop and paint the corresponding layout over the painting – both the chessboard and the positions of chess pieces. Having concealed the old work with a new, they go one step further by painting a layer of monochrome colour over the canvas again, hanging it on display for additional processing. text: Markús Ţór Andrésson The exhibition is a part of Reykjavik Arts Festival and supported by Goethe-Institut. |
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