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Nathan Coley
/ Bas Jan Ader / Gavin Wade
Curated by Gavin
Wade
Nathan Coley's
Fourteen Churches of Munster 2000 maps out a route through
the city of Munster, Germany. Hovering above the city, following
the prescribed route, the aerial film was shot from a helicopter
seeking out a sequence of churches, scanning for a specific
architectural terrain amongst the urban-scape. The helicopter
moves quickly between churches and, once the next target is
found, slows to circle the building, examining its volume
from all sides. The focal points of the fourteen churches
offer a visual respite in the film at odds with the historical
details fuelling Coley's work. "In the Munster Stadtmuseum,
there is a transcript from a bomber pilot that reads: "The
field order was coming in on the teletype and we learned that
our target was to be the front steps of Munster Cathedral."(1)
This instruction was given to allied bomber pilots during
the intense allied aerial bombing inflicted on Munster late
in the Second World War. These churches can be read not only
as "the constructed manifestations of human faith, buildings
to which the notion of sacrifice pertains as much, if not
more, than that of architecture"(2) but as the physical
and spiritual heart of the city and powerful vulnerable targets.
It is not the church we want, but the sacrifice; not the emotion
of admiration, but the act of adoration: not the gift, but
the giving. (John Ruskin, from The Seven Lamps of Architecture,
1848)
Coley's Fourteen Churches of Munster is removed from the geographical
context of Munster and is seen in relation to another history,
that of two works by the late Dutch/American artist Bas Jan
Ader.
Gavin Wade's Light Vulnerable Objects threatened by Eight
Cement Bricks After Bas Jan Ader 2001 is a reworking of an
installation/performance by Bas Jan Ader which took place
only once before in the spring of 1970 in Los Angeles. Ader's
original work can never be remade without the presence of
Ader himself, who went missing at sea sometime after July
30th 1975 during the second stage of his artwork In Search
of the Miraculous. The intention of this reworking is to re-present
the process and "space" of Ader's work as a curatorial
artwork.
Ader's title Light Vulnerable Objects threatened by Eight
Cement Bricks seems to indicate an impending fait accompli
and describe the image of the work completely. A number of
more or less fragile objects are strewn across the floor.
Above each "vulnerable object" a heavy brick is
hung with a rope. The ropes are cut at a certain moment causing
the brick to fall and serving to demolish the object below
or to deliver a blow. The effect of the fall demonstrates
the vulnerability of the object. In fact one can regard the
fall as a "unit of measure" for the fragility of
the object, or better yet, as the measure of its resilience.
This work seems to set the tone for Ader's subsequent work,
in which the symbolism becomes centred on his own physical
and mental vulnerability as well as being Ader's last installation
before focussing on producing films and photographs of his
"performances". Nightfall 1971 is a film work directly
relating to this installation where Ader is seen releasing
a brick to extinguish a lightbulb, leaving no trace of light
for the celluloid to trace, the proponent disappearing in
his own action.
The performance element within Light Vulnerable Objects threatened
by Eight Cement Bricks draws parallels to the role of the
artist as service provider to the processes of change. Here
Ader focuses less on his actions and more on before and after
and the nature of the effects of one object on another, even
though the human presence is instrumental. Coley's work also
indicates that the role of the artist can exist within a strategically
powerful space. Whilst any attempting to objectify structures
of emotional and functional complexity leads to no easy answers,
art is a keen tool to use in the prodding. How do you decide
when to "release" the bricks towards their target?
How this decision involves timing, order, planning, impulse,
anger or calculation of effect is open to interpretation.
This curatorial action is towards the opening of a space for
asking questions about the role and nature of art in relation
to the targeting of vulnerable moments in human situations.
These works share a space of enquiry where the gap between
floating object and ground, earth and heaven, plan and target
and art and the world is revealed as vulnerable and open to
use. Each work not only targets but highlights a moment of
intense potential, a pause or inbetween space awaiting an
action whilst generating a sequence of questions. In light
of the recent assaults on The World Trade Center and The Pentagon
the nature of the space opened up by these works only seems
more relevant and important in providing for the future. These
works should be seen as ideas towards targeting new space
for art to affect, and ultimately towards the repositioning
of art within questioning and decision making processes in
these vulnerable times.
Gavin Wade 2001
Many Thanks to Damian Moppett at Patrick Painter inc and Sophie
Von Hellermann.
(1) Brown, Katrina M, Nathan Coley: Fourteen Churches of Munster,
Brochure for artwork commissioned by Westfalischer Kunstverein,
Munster, 2000.
(2) ibid.orks.
For further information or images please contact Martin Rasmussen:
+44 (0)20 7729 9888 or: martin@vilmagold.com
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