RE: [-empyre-] Documenta reviews : forward from Christiane Paul

[Christina McPhee <christina112@earthlink.net>]

[this post was received in rich text format, so here is forwarded in  
plain text... -cm]




    From:    christiane_paul@whitney.org
July 11, 2007 1:44:38 AM BDT


    List:    empyre@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
    From:    christiane_paul@whitney.org


As far as I understand, the Chinese people also were the 'couriers'  
who brought in the chairs from China. The confusion about permission  
to sit on them was created intentionally. The white lines of tape on  
the floor that 'fenced in' groups of chairs and some of the artworks,  
actually were a separate artwork that (quite effectively) raised  
questions about boundaries in the exhibition space.
Christiane


-----Original Message-----
From: empyre-bounces@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au on behalf of Brian Holmes
Sent: Tue 7/10/2007 6:08 PM
To: soft_skinned_space
Subject: Re: [-empyre-] Documenta reviews

I saw groups of Chinese everywhere, and on my last day, met the Chinese
interpreter with whom I had the pleasure of conversation in the only
language we shared, German. We puzzled over why it was such a poor
exhibition.

I sat in the chairs throughout the exhibition, along with all the other
weary ones.

Christina McPhee wrote:
> patrick,
>
>
> To be frank I didn't notice groups of Chinese people.  I was there  
for
> the several preview days and left on the afternoon of opening day.  
I wll
> be going back next week for the magazine conference.
>
> What was strange though were Wei Wei's conglomerations of antique
> Chinese chairs.  Grouped elegantly and anonymously in the midst of
> what sort of seemed like installations of other art.  Boundaries
> completely fluid, differentiation between different 'works' seemingly
> treated as unimportant.
>
> Unfortunately throughout the Aue Pavilion and the Neue Gallerie,  
there
> seemed to be no places to actually sit when exhausted, to wait for
> someone, etc.
>
> THe Chinese chairs intensified an atmosphere of uncanny oppression  
-- so
> few human-scaled accomodations (architecturally) to the needs of
> visitiors, so many strange gestures.
>
> Could you sit on the chairs ? or not?  no one was.
>
> christina
>
> On Jul 10, 2007, at 9:45 AM, Patrick W. Deegan wrote:
>
>> for anyone else there witnessing D12, i would be deeply  
interested in
>> firsthand reactions, assessments, news, or lack of any of these  
things
>> regarding Ai Weiwei's "importation" of 1001 Chinese to Germany  
for one
>> part of his ouevre there.
>> thanks!
>> -pwdeegan
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