[-empyre-] RE: "national representation" at Documenta, forward from Christiane Paul

[christina mcphee <christina112@earthlink.net>]

Hi, this post from Christiane had formatting problems.  Here forwarded. -cm

-----Original Message-----
From: Christiane Paul, Curatorial
Sent: Tue 7/17/2007 4:16 PM
To: soft_skinned_space
Subject: RE: [-empyre-] "national representation" at Documenta

By the way, Documeta did not list any national affiliation on their labels, that is, there was no indication of the national origin of an artist. I can't even remember having been to an 'international exhibition' where this was the case. I know many people appreciated this (I can see why) but given the main theme of Documenta -- "migration of form" -- this proved to be (one instance of) a highly problematic contextual omission for me. There was such a lack of contextual information (national origin being just one aspect) that, in the end, the connections between formal elements in a work remained almost the only foundation on which to construct meaning. One could argue that, in the age of globalization, this is precisely what we do all the time: adopt and import elements of other cultures and understand them on the basis of how they relate to familiar elements in our respectively own culture. But shouldn't an exhibition such as Documenta offer possibilities for a deeper "reading" and provide context that allows to look at the specifics of cultures rather than enhance the superficial readings that are supported by "cultural gloabalization"?
Christiane


-----Original Message-----
From: empyre-bounces@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au on behalf of Brian Holmes
Sent: Tue 7/17/2007 3:50 PM
To: soft_skinned_space
Subject: Re: [-empyre-] "national representation" at Documenta

Deborah Kelly wrote:
I want to pipe up that Simryn Gill & Juan Davila are
not in Documenta as Australians: they're there as
artists. It's not the olympics- nor, indeed, the
Venice biennale, with its attendant, abject, standard
waving. 

Bravo, well said, and is there any chance they're not there as "art 
professionals" either? Or have art and the business card become 
synonymous, and basta cosi?

best, BH
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