letter
from germany : : gloria zein
edited
by matthew rose
documentation
as artistic practice
Part 1 is followed by part
2
viva
documentary
Artists are increasingly opting for the quasi-neutral and
objective "documentary" format in laying out a range of projects. Nowhere was
this new attitude more evident than in Documenta 11 and Manifesta 4 art exhibitions
in Germany.
Longing
for neutral representations of states of being, many of the projects at these
two giant exhibitions seem to "obliterate" personal viewpoints; the personal ego
is left either in the studio or editing room - or has been completely done away
with. Video would, at first sight, seem the strongest medium for such an enterprise.
In fact, it was the by far most often used medium by artists at Manifesta. At
Documenta, with its long list of art stars including Shirin Neshat, Stan Douglas,
Leon Golub, Richard Pettibone, Louise Bourgeois, there were more than 600 hours
of video projects and many coming from less known artists. But, as we will see,
the impetus of documentation exceeds any medium specific working practice.
What
is found at Documenta and, to an extent at Manifesta, is a broad and international
phenomenon, an artistic strategy which appears, surprisingly, beyond such categories
as "eurocentric" viewpoints or "new geographies of culture." What does this mean?
By insisting on roles as investigators, educators or interventionists, artists
find themselves examining specific cultural, social and political trends. Think
of these artists as visual anthropologists but without the detailed explanations.
The formal technique of impersonal, neutral documentation, leading to presumably
objective representations, has today become an approved way of working, adaptable
to dramatically different contexts.
documenta
11
At Documenta 11, artistic director Okwui Enwezor, born in Nigeria
and holding today an US-passport, has opened up to countries that have never been
part of this show. He even created a series of "platforms" in which to discuss
a range of world issues around themes conceived to probe contemporary problems
and possibilities of politics and society. These platforms took place on four
continents during the past year and a half. Enwezor's direction of Documenta 11
culminated in "Platform 5" in Kassel, Germany, the world's largest international
art show.
Frédéric Bruly Bouabré
Detail "la lettre pictographique: les pleurs, la d'ésolation dans
une cite déserte ou regne le vent" Le Musée du visage africain (Scarifications),
2nd version, 1991-1992* Series of 162 drawings, colored pencil and ballpoint on
cardboard, 9,5 x 15 cm and 15 x 9,5 cm, framed. C.A.A.C. - The Pigozzi Collection,
Geneva.
At
Documenta's new, magnificent exhibition space, the former Binding Brewery, Ivory
Coast artist Frédéric Bruly Bouarbré (born 1923), presented an enormous series
of drawings reflecting upon Africa's post-colonialist cultural situation. His
"Connaissance du monde" and "L'alphabet Bété" series consist of 300 and 448 drawings
each. On small pieces (about 5 x 8 inches) of thick, raw cardboard, Bouarbré drew
with coloured pencils, ball point, felt pen and ink a range of forms and figures
framed or underlined by handwritten text. Some drawings resemble hieroglyphics,
while others are more abstract compositions. Most are bright and colourful, all
of them dense. Each series is presented as an experienced and often affectionate
index of the artist's attempt to understand and structure the human perception
of the world.
"L'alphabet Bété" is a method for writing developed by the artist based on his
argument that African self-understanding requires its own writing system, one
different from that of the colonial powers. Some of the alphabet's sounds or words
are represented by different cards and motifs, as if through every drawing the
artist was searching - trying to get closer to an inevitable necessity. Bouarbrés'
drawings can thus be read as a documentation of his artistic practice, e.g. his
methodical approach to specific (African) cultural subjects. A form of work book;
a map to mapmaking.
Le Groupe Amos
1 Violence
de la femme, par la femme et contre la femme In collaboration | In Zusammenarbeit
mit |with l'OFEDICO-ONG (Organisation des Femmes pour le Développement Intégral
et Communitaire) von |from 1995 - 199.7 Video still Courtesy of Le Groupe Amos
and l'OFEDICO-ONG, Congo
At
Documenta-Halle, Le Groupe Amos, an artist-collective founded 1989 in the Congo,
exhibited a selection of its didactic materials produced with various grass-roots
Congolese groups. Designed for predominately illiterate communities, their work
takes a less personal form than that of Bouarbré. The pieces presented at Documenta
11 are audio- and video documentaries on their actions. One of them, "Campagne
School of life - When women talk about sexuality" (video, 44'), shows several
African women sitting in some sort of a classroom, facing their teacher. They
are intently discussing taboo subjects, such as the physical and behavioural changes
of their adolescent sons, monogamy, polygamy and how to protect yourself against
AIDS.
The piece
is stimulating, amusing and touching, the atmosphere, joyful. I was reminded of
a recent African film in which a woman leaves her husband because she can not
bear the pain of living next to his younger, second wife. Watching the scenes
of "Campagne School of life..." questions about the nature of love, jealousy and
sexual pleasure crossed my mind. "Campagne" is largely informative, and in its
documentation, the piece achieves a poetry of its own.
Compared
to the work of Le Groupe Amos, where formal questions seem to play a secondary
(if any) role, Iranian artist Seifollah Samadian has developed an experienced
filmmaker's eye. Born 1954, the internationally renowned photojournalist and film
cameraman has found his subject in post-revolutionary Iran. While many artists
and filmmakers had difficulties adjusting to a changed environment in Iran, documentary
photographers and filmmakers like Samadian were, in fact, better placed to witness
the new political and social climate.
At
the Kulturbahnhof, a railroad station-turned-exhibition space in Kassel, Samadian
screened his 9' video "The White Station." Shot from a high-rise apartment building
in Tehran, behind the gate of an old stone wall are modern multi-story buildings.
A heavy snowstorm turns the whole scene white; the only sounds are wind and crows.
Few people are passing the gate, walking through the knee-high snow. A single
woman in black chador (traditional Iranian dress) is struggling with her dark
umbrella against the blizzard. Only at the video's end do we understand she was
waiting at a bus station.
Although
the film is a strict documentary, the artist's choice of the scene, its nearly
black and white composition (due to the weather conditions), and Samadian's use
of close-ups create a strong aesthetic language. And as a document, "The White
Station" simply, powerfully - and poetically - bears witness to post revolutionary
changes - of which women bare the brunt.
Video,
photography or in the rare case, drawing - there was very little painting to be
found anywhere in Germany this summer - are staples of these contemporary artists'
toolbox. The general approach at Documenta and Manifesta was to drain the artwork
of as much commentary or self-involvement as possible, to better get at the underlying
structure.
German
artist Candida Höfer (born 1944) created a photographic index of all twelve bronze
casts of Auguste Rodin's "The Burghers of Calais" in their different locations
all over the world. The impulse to archive is typical of this trend; she performs
as a collector of images. Indeed, Höfer's "Burghers" are a striking derivation
of German photographic team, Bernd and Hilla Becher's series of water towers and
other industrial elements, collected and cataloged ad infinitum. The Bechers,
who taught a generation of artists exactly this - to document - were also featured
at Documenta 11 with groups of over 200 black and white photographs of houses
in Siegen, Germany's industrial zone!
Candida Höfer
Die Bürger
von Calais | The Burghers of Calais: Place de l'Hôtel de ville Calais III, 2000*
C-Print, 152 x 1152 cm (framed | gerahmt) Courtesy the artist | die Künstlerin
and |und Galerie Johnen & Schöttle, Cologne | Köln
Another
German, Isa Genzken (born 1948) used a copy of the German news publication, "Der
Spiegel," for her contemporary excavation. Her conceptual piece, entitled "Spiegel,"
entailed a compilation of 121 pictures, each cut out of the magazine, and glued
onto A4 cardboard pieces. It is an unusual work for this artist, whose sculptures,
photographs and films typically refer to her own personal history. The clippings,
arrayed along several walls in the Fridericianum, seemed to point towards a non-
embellished view of social facts (and social friction) in post-WWII Germany, placing
these news images, without accompanying text, into the larger context of world-news.
David Goldblatt
(born 1930 in South Africa), dealt with the charged territory of apartheid in
his "Jo'burg Intersections" at the Kulturbahnhof. He combined his own photographs
of present-day Johannesburg with enlarged images and texts, which have been taken
from brochures advertising housing complexes for the wealthy suburbs. According
to a Documenta guide, Goldblatt refuses to take sides or to make social judgements,
aiming to "expose conditions of the society" in South Africa.
David Goldblatt
Jo'burg
Intersections, 1999-2002* Details / 49 C-Prints, each | je 42 x 29,5 cm (unframed
| ungerahmt) Courtesy the artist | der Künstler
Go
to part 2.
Links
to the exhibits:
www.documenta11.de
www.manifesta.de
www.freemanifesta.org
Gloria
Zein is an artist living and working in Paris and Germany. Her "Vorspiel(e),"
a collection of 30 photographs based upon images of women selected by men, will
be shown in November at Syrius in Düsseldorf, Germany, and in January at the German-French
Cultural Institute in Aachen, Germany. Her e-mail is: gzein@noos.fr
Matthew
Rose is an artist and writer based in Paris. He recently completed a novel, Plan
B, about an obsessive suicidal stock day trader. His e mail is: mistahrose@yahoo.com
