On the northwestern fecade- the best side, or what Germans call the “chocolate” side- of the Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst Leipzig, the unsuspecting passer- by is confronted with a motto presented in white neon letters: “be good, be bad, just be.” The well- disposed viewer may recognize this slogan from trendsetting perfume advertisements, yet whereas there it was an attempt to condense into six words a whole generation’s supposed awareness of life, this adaption of that neo- existentialist view in the form of a neon sign on the facade of a newly opened institution refers to, beyond its original context, the (self) conception of the gallery.
Although the opposite is usually true of group shows, ONTOM has no subject. It offers many things, but by no means everything. Works by 13 artists who hardly to be subsumed under one concept of theoretical discourse or content are to be seen, heard, smelled and tasted. Even so, if you cannot do without a small common denominator, the one thing that all the works presented have in common is that none of them has been formed by an artist- thus representing the exact opposite of the artifacts which were shown in (Collection 98). Either they are objects of everyday life which experience a semantic reassessment due to their presentation, or communicative situations are offered with which the audience- sometimes multiple viewers, sometimes fewer- may enter an active dialogue. The viewer’s direct and immediate participation contradicts the classical, contemplative tour as we know it from museums and galleries (and as it is also experiences on the upper floor). The exhibition does not offer a reserved aesthetic selection, in which one can get involved or not, according to one’s mood. The solitary visitor or the group becomes a temporary component of the work which without him as the active subject “functions” only partially, or often not at all. It is calculated that in one case or another, questions will be asked about how exhibitions and institutions work.
Catalogues:
›Ontom‹
Vanessa Beecroft, Jes Brinch & Henrik Plenge Jakobsen, Plamen Dejanov & Svetlana Heger, Adib Fricke, Benita-Immanuel Grosser, Jens Haaning, Adam Page, Dan Peterman, Sam Samore, Tilo Schulz, Schumacher/Clavadetscher, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Simone Westerwinter; mit Beiträgen von Dorothea von Hantelmann, Klaus Werner und Jan Winkelmann. Austellung: 17.05.-28.06.1998 Hrsg.: Klaus Werner, Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst Leipzig, 1998 (de/en); Preis: 8.00€
CD:
Sam Samore: „Forest of Schizophrenic Love Stories“ – 6 Märchen. 60 min., Beitrag zur Ausstellung Ontom. Köln: Walther König, 1998. Price: 8.00€