Tag Archives: Martin Kippenberger

Scattered Things in MoMA’s Atrium: Song Dong and Martin Kippenberger

Posted on by

I was looking for Performance 4: Roman Ondak, above, which MoMA tucked away on the 2nd floor without telling any of the staff, but instead was struck by another opening. Beijing-based Conceptual artist Song Dong has taken over the atrium of MoMA with a sprawl of things. Things is the best word I have for the old furniture, shopping bags, stuffed animals, plastic containers, etc. that cover most of the floor.

(Note: I’ve always held a steely reserve against conceptual art; for an artist to focus on the idea behind the work above the physical form it takes strips away the very essence of the visual arts. It’s like visual philosophy that downplays the visual…but I digress…)

I was talking about Song Dong at MoMA. So my first thought on seeing the new atrium?

Martin Kippenberger.

See what I mean?

Song Dong’s objects, above left, are smaller and more plentiful, but you can see the same line of chairs and carefully ordered lines of ready made furniture in both her piece and Kippenberger’s piece, above right. Both look like they had fallen out of an especially providential hurricane–the human hand and organizing principle behind them are removed enough to render them obtuse if you don’t know the story behind them. (In Kippenberger’s case, perhaps even if you do.)

Except while Kippenberger’s amalgamation left me coldly bemused, I found this ragtag assortment of anything and everything old and worn rather moving. Even poetic in its row upon row shoes. It reminded me of New York City streets. Kippenberger’s The Happy End of Franz Kafka’s ‘Amerika’ seems shiny and calculated in comparison.

And that was my thought process before I read the story behind Song Dong’s work. The objects are actually the contents of her mother’s house. After the death of Song Dong’s father, her mother took her habit of not wasting anything to extremes. This exhibition was a way of letting go, both of the items and their grief. Fueled by this knowledge, the objects become more emotionally loaded the more you look at them and register the number of useless items. Knowing the story certainly changes the way you view the piece, but what impresses me most is how much was communicated by simply looking at the piece before I knew any background.

So perhaps Conceptual art can have visual integrity and I’ll have to revise my opinion. Perhaps. If you have the chance to see it, I’d love to know what your reaction was.

f

Ravels in Review Friday

Posted on by


Hello bloggy reader! And welcome to another installment of Ravels in Review Friday. Although stupefied that on this Spring day snow is falling, I shall persevere. Neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow, nor internet connection problems shall keep the blogger away.

We really were well-rounded artworld citizens this week, as we jumped from an informative post on Albrecht Durer’s painting, which drew some admiring glances of the basest kind from readers, to current topics such as how fashion is (not!) art and whether public art becomes part of the landscape. (If art needs to be on a gallery or museum wall to be recognized as art, what does that say about the nature of art?) Then we had some laughs with the stellar cast of Blithe Spirit, currently playing at the Shubert Theater.

Lastly, but certainly not leastly, we have a video of Art Ravels on a trip to MoMA for the Martin Kippenberger exhibition! It’s very exciting: there’s music; there’s lights; there’s my voiceover; there’s some shaky camera work. Let me know how you think it ranks next to another Martin Kippenberger at MoMA video.

Also, I would like to do another art video adventure. Does anyone have suggestions on where I should go?

Another Kippenberger at MoMA video?

Posted on by

Some might say I’m cannibalizing my own content value by showing you another, better (in some respects) video of the Martin Kippenberger exhibition. My video is here, by the way.

This video tour is by New York Magazine art critic Jerry Saltz. I knew something like this was in the works. When I was doing the a little video reconnaissance, I bumped into Saltz, a camera guy, and a MoMA employee. I followed part of their filming through the exhibition and really enjoyed listening to Saltz. Also, watching him stand next to the sculpture Martin, Into the Corner, You Should be Ashamed of Yourself was quite fun.

So in terms of video, let’s see how things stack up.

Jerry Saltz’s Video V. Art Ravel’s Video

Non-shaky camera v. Some very wobbly bits
Clear sound levels v. Awesome soundtrack
Access to exhibition v. Difficulty getting images
Knowledge of artist v. Charmingly fresh perspective (?)

My gorilla effort may not have the polished production of New York Magazine’s; in fact, it barely has transitions. Even so, I think between my music and my lovely self, it’s a fun romp through the MoMA show. Perhaps I’m biased.

*Commenters who prefer my video will be sent a brownie.