A provocative exhibition of sight and sound forces us to draw our own conclusions
Since the first of our ancestors scraped rough markings into cave walls more than 30,000 years ago, art has proven a powerful medium through which to communicate. Historians speculate that before mankind muttered his first word, he decorated his dwelling with images of lions, rhinos and other prey. These drawings represent the first known attempt of man to satisfy a need to narrate, to tell a story. It is this very same desire that Haus der Kunst director Christoph Vitali attempts to satisfy in his latest exhibition, “Narrative Structures in Contemporary Art.”Munich city dwellers may well be familiar with the striking posters used to advertise the exhibition. They feature an invisible female figure wearing a red knitted sweater and a balaclava-like headdress that covers the face. Slits for the eyes reveal nothing beneath. The uncovered top of the head is similarily absent, except for a thin outline. Much like the words, drawings, video, sound, music and photographs used in the exhibition, the image on the poster has several layers of meaning. It offers a simple, basic idea—that of an unseen woman. However, much like the cave drawings, much like the works of more than a dozen artists featured in the exhibition, it challenges the viewer to explore deeper meanings, to guess the intention of the creator, and to find the real story.
Take for example Sophie Calle’s The Shadow. Calle asked her mother to hire a detective to follow her around Paris for a day and record her activities. The detective was not told that the artist was aware of his presence. What resulted was a series of photographs of the artist meeting various people and two accounts detailing where she went, whom she met and so on: one written by Calle, the other by the nameless detective. The point of interest lies in the way the characters relate to one another. Calle develops a near obsession with the detective, seeks to impress him, is flattered by his attention (despite the fact that her mother has paid him to be there!) At one point, she looks for and finds him, forcing him to hide. She enjoys this power. She feels close to him. She writes: “Since our meeting at Odeon, not once did I feel his presence.” The detective, on the other hand, is devoid of any emotional attachment. He refers to the artist as “the subject” and writes nothing of himself.
A darkened room, a voice-over, two big screens side by side and English subtitles provide the setting for Elija Liisa Alititila’s Consolation Service. Both screens feature the same scenes but are shot from different angles, in different formats and at different speeds. So the viewer experiences one thing simultaneously in two different ways. One narration depicts a young woman sitting alone in her apartment. A man appears from thin air. Twice he crumbles and disappears. The third time, he succeeds in teaching her to bow, disappears and we’re told, never returns. Vitali once said he doesn’t like to make art easy. Such illogical narrative methods demand maximum effort and attention from the observer.
Tracey Emin tackles the controversial subject of unwanted pregnancy in her work entitled Feeling Pregnant. There’s a Bridget Jones Diary feel to her essay that details her reaction to a pregnancy scare. “And make a mental list; a) phone the doctor b) don’t tell a soul c) $350 Harley Street, a good clinic.” This entry is, however, more brutal, less politically correct than anything found on the page of a Helen Fielding book. It is filled with wonder and horror and drives home the reality of unwanted pregnancy, experienced by so many women every year.
151 White Conversations by Massachusetts-born Joseph Grigely provide insight into the mind of the artist. A wall of pages torn from business and personal diaries reveal a jumble of thoughts and conversations. “A yummy dessert,” reads one. “She’s a babe,” states another. Some pages are filled with scrawled writing, others feature a single line. Some are tattered, torn and stained with coffee.
An autobiographical theme is common to most of the works in the exhibition, which features artists from America, France, Germany, Finland, England and Ireland. Time and again, we are reminded that we the viewers give the exhibition meaning. Without our interpretations, many exhibits are merely a random collection of words, images and sounds. We piece them together, make them interesting and lend them power.
“Narrative Structures in Contemporary Art” runs at the Haus der Kunst until June 23. The Haus der Kunst is open daily from 10 am until 10 pm.
