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| In searching for form, one finds clouds Antra Priede, Art Historian Clouds. Fleeting worlds 22.03.–01.07.2013. Leopold Museum, Wienna Unrest of form. Imagining the political subject 11.05.–16.06.2013. Secession, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, quartier 21 | |
| At the beginning of June, whilst visiting Vienna, the unceasing news channel heralds that reported in every way possible about the devastating floods in Central Europe, pointing to the endless swathes of rain clouds that were unwilling to leave regions already devas- tated, were like a constant companion during my journey. The second most discussed item of news was about the unrest in Turkey, from all possible points of view of those involved. The news and its contents were like a common theme enabling the combination of re- views of two exhibitions which had been on show in the former capital city of the Hapsburg Empire since spring. The Clouds. Fleeting worlds exhibition curated by Tobias G. Natter and Franz Smola could be seen at the Leopold Museum, whereas the Unrest of form. Imagin ing the political subject (curators: Karl Baratta, Stefanie Carp, Matthias Pees, Hedwig Saxenhuber and Georg Schöllhammer) was on show at the Viennese Secession Building, the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and the museum neighbourhood quartier21. The project format is of a kind that’s almost impossible to fully assimilate, as the accompanying events programme changes almost every day during the month. This leads one to conclude that the exhi- bition is of importance specifically to the art and cultural intelligen- tsia residing in the city, among whom active discussion and analysis of sociopolitical themes could be observed away from the exhibi- tion as well. Issues pertaining to the relationship between art and politics, at a time when art as a form of opposition to various kinds of political events has also become a component of this politics and economics, with art losing its status as an independent voice, were reflected in works by more than 60 artists(1), performance artists and representatives of the art of theatre. But the similarities that exist between art and politics, which make it possible for them to work towards a common cause using each other’s tools, have also been taken into account. When the form and contents of the exhibition have to some extent been grasped, one has to conclude that it is difficult to single out any one work, as in terms of the concept they operate together, but at the same time fairly autonomously, revealing additional meanings and confusing the mind of the beholder slightly. The most convincing presentation could be seen at the Secession Building: here the connection and the divide between politics and art was explained the most comprehensively, from the abstract paintings by Ad Reinhardt, Julius Koller’s antihappening collages and Heinz Frank’s sculptures of the 1960s and 70s, to Chris Kondek’s video installations about the relationship between people and money in the context of cur- rent 21st century art, and countless talks by the authors which had been scheduled with a certain regularity as performances during the exhibition. I must admit, however, that I failed to catch sight of a work which was mentioned in the comprehensive exhibition catalogue as the very first, even though I searched for it among the many works. This was the model of a stage created by Vladimir Tatlin for Velimir Khlebnikov’s performance Zangezi, in which the main leitmotif is the political power of poetic speech. Among the other works there were a number of attempts to play upon the power and destruction of public speech in leading and educating society, as well as the relationship between power and poetry. However, one wouldn’t want to note this “getting lost” as a mistake, but rather as a completely personal opinion about the exhibition which in the many attempts to reflect on the relationship of art and politics lost its way in the countless interpretations, perhaps losing something essential. And, contemplating the turning against political inequalities or power games, it should be added that an art work, if it doesn’t gain any additional mean- ing, remains connected to a specific event and nothing else. That’s why I don’t know whether a number of video works in which the Pussy Riot court case is referred to in all sorts of ways will still be topical after ten years, because Russia will definitely have gone to the trouble of organizing yet another show trial. And between the in- terviews of children from the Fukushima region and someone eating tree leaves, the standard model of constructivism is lost. A specific political event is a very transient phenomenon, but a work of art – in romantic preconceptions – still retains this condition of durability, which then also separates both of these spheres, as the creators of the exhibition have pointed out in an opaque sort of way. But after gazing for some two days at the posters visible on the streets of Vienna, featuring a work by Rene Magritte and advertis- ing the Clouds. Fleeting worlds exhibition, my scepticism in relation to thematic exhibitions which clearly declaim what is being offered to the viewer, was overcome. A negative attitude is elicited by the model of the thematic exhibition as a recreational visual art experience that explains everything, for example, about all the kinds of cats that have been painted in the past century. Such a construct unwittingly approaches the television programme model of engaging less analytical thinking in digesting information. But everything is a little more multilayered. Not just in the exposition of the theme, but also in the momentary feeling how, in a sense, such a trivial theme as clouds can remind one of romantic ideals, of why a person decides to study and understand art, approaching the mystical moment of capture, abandoning oneself to beauty. After viewing the exhibi- tion, I so wanted to praise the curators who had dared to turn such a simple phenomenon in so many directions. All possible types of clouds are shown in the exhibition, with some works dating back to 1800. Two centuries of ethereal thematic art is organized into 12 groups: for example, ‘Clouds of the Impressionists’, ‘Clouds as Ornaments’, ‘The Clouds of Industry’, ‘Metamorphosis’ (with reference to Walter Benjamin’s explanation of terms about the changeability of things), and others. For the city tourist, this is a real treat. | |
 Heinz Frank. Sculptures. Intallation. ca. 1980 Photo: Oliver Ottenschlaeger Publicity photos | |
| The light, airy phenomenon in the sky has been captured by such masters as Caspar David Friedrich, Paul Cezanne, John Con- stable and Joseph Turner, as well as the modifiers of cloud visuality such as Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, Rene Magritte, Gerhard Richter and many other no less important artists of the past two centuries. The last twenty years have, however, been left with mainly fragmentary expressions, destroying the uniformity. The vinyl record covers in all possible variations of the sky and musical tastes that have been found for all thematic groups should be noted. Andy Warhol’s work Silver Clouds, which consists of silver pillows freely floating in space that one can control by the flow of air or with one’s hand, changing the direction of their movement, made its corrections from mere glorification of airy beauty. The exhibition’s custodian was the work’s “added value”, who, every so often, drove the stray- ing shiny pillows back into the space with a long stick, coaxing them from the adjacent room in which they had lost their beautiful momentary spirit, coming into a human controlled world, namely, appearing as atom bomb mushroom clouds in different variations. The chrestomathic 1976 video by Bruce Conner, with music by Terry Reilly, was exhibited in an interesting way. Its frames were synchronously mixed with the video work Ash by the artistic duo Masbedo, reflecting on the recent volcanic eruption in Iceland. And involuntarily the lightly entertaining exhibition became wrapped in a more gloomy haze, that human hands create destructive atom bomb clouds, which are no longer created by a natural phenom- enon, becoming equivalent with destruction. At that moment one had to experience a moment of paradox, which is nothing new in the field of aesthetic perception, namely, the perception of wartime events and consequences in terms of aesthetic qualities, remembering the relatively recent statement by Stockhausen about the events of 11 September 2001 as the most impressive art event imaginable. That’s why a longer period of time had to be spent in the film corner of the exhibition, where along with early 20th century film experiments with special effects there were various scenes of bombing over land filmed from a “bird’s eye view”, which fascinated with their visuality. Just like the inability of finding an art work has been selected as a metaphor in the review of the abovementioned exhibition, in this closing conclusion as a simile one could select a man with a card pointing to the relationship between human beings and nature, as well as transformations in aesthetic perception which are dependent purely and only on the decisions of an intelligent being. But isn’t it that case that, faced with today’s countless natural ca- tastrophes, the human is left with only a threatening card in their hands, unable to drive away all the clouds? Translation into English: Uldis Brūns 1 See the complete version of the exhibition catalogue at: www.secession.at/event/pdf/Ausstellungs-Guide_Unruhe-der-Form_Unrest-of-Form.pdf. | |
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