Aug. 2011
Acrylic on canvas
52x38cm
Ansan, Korea
The Dandyism of Contempt
Thursday, January 20 · 6:00pm - 10:30pm
Camden Town Unlimited, 15 Camden High Street, London, NW1 7JE
DATE: Thursday, 20th January 2011
LOCATION: CAMDEN TOWN UNLIMITED,
15 Camden High Street, London, NW1
U.K.
The Dandyism of Contempt is a performance art event curated by Vanessa Mitter and Joshua Y’Barbo with performances by: Mark McGowan, Brian ‘Dawn’ Chalkley, Jack Catling, The Skinjobs, Nicola Ruben Montini, Robin Bale, Douglas Park, Adham Faramawy, Alec Dunnachie, Pauline A. Amos, John Wild, James Gardiner, Kiki Taira, Lennie Lee, Frog Morris, Karl Weill and Edward Cotterill.
Who is the dandy? What is dandyism?
He is an ambiguous figure, both insider and outsider.
He hides in the shadows, only to come out to play and be admired at his best. Finally, he disappears into oblivion. ‘Cynicism’, claimed the Victorian novelist George Meredith is ‘intellectual dandyism’. According to Giorgio Agamben, Beau Brummell, the great Regency dandy ‘can claim as his own discovery the introduction of chance into the artwork so widely practiced in contemporary art’.
Provocation is his raison d’être. The dandy is dedicated primarily to an image of originality through ‘the abolition of any subjectivity from his own person’ . There is an implicit contradiction in this stance. ‘The dandy, after all, longs to recreate himself as an emblem of complete originality’ (Agamben).
Nevertheless, if the dandy had one genius, it was to be the first true performer of the self. The construction of himself was his greatest work of art. As Balzac wrote in his Treatise on Elegant Living, ‘making himself a dandy, man becomes a piece of boudoir furniture, an extremely ingenuous mannequin’. The dandy requires an audience in order to exist. ‘As the work of art must destroy and alienate itself to become an absolute commodity, so the dandy-artist must become a living corpse, constantly tending toward an other, a creature essentially nonhuman and antihuman’ (Agamben).
The artists in this performance event, although diverse, all share the dandy’s contempt for the prosaic, the mundane, the humdrum. There are elements of chance, although these are as well rehearsed as the elusive but exacting criteria of how to tie a cravat, Beau Brummell style. The figure of the dandy may belong to the past but the traces of his complex disregard and simultaneous adherence to a set of self imposed rules can be found in many of the performances in this show.
The Performance Event is on January 20th 2011 and performances will take place at Camden Town Unlimited starting from 6pm onwards.
with Brian Dawn Chalkley
photo copyright: Christina Mitrentse
The Dandyism of Contempt
Thursday, January 20 · 6:00pm
- 11:00pm
Location Camden Town
Unlimited
15 Camden High Street,
London, NW1
Live event curated by Vanessa
Mitter and Joshua Y'Barbo (with performances by: Mark McGowan, Brian
"Dawn" Chalkley, Jack Catling, The Skinjobs, Nicola Ruben Montini,
Robin Bale, Douglas Park, Adham Faramawy, Alec Dunachie, Pauline A. Amoa, John
Wild, James Gardiner, Kiki Taira, Lennie Lee, Frog Morris, Karl Weill, Edward
Cotterill).
...
Who is the dandy? What is
dandyism? He is an ambiguous figure, both insider and outsider. He hides in the
shadows, only to come out to play and be admired at his best. Finally, he
disappears into oblivion. ‘Cynicism’, claimed the Victorian novelist George
Meredith is ‘intellectual dandyism’. According to Giorgio Agamben, Beau
Brummell, the great Regency dandy ‘can claim as his own discovery the
introduction of chance into the artwork so widely practiced in contemporary
art’.
Provocation is his raison
d’être. The dandy is dedicated primarily to an image of originality through
‘the abolition of any subjectivity from his own person’. There is an implicit
contradiction in this stance. ‘The dandy, after all, longs to recreate himself
as an emblem of complete originality’ (Agamben).
Nevertheless, if the dandy
had one genius, it was to be the first true performer of the self. The
construction of himself was his greatest work of art. As Balzac wrote in his
Treatise on Elegant Living, ‘making himself a dandy, man becomes a piece of
boudoir furniture, an extremely ingenuous mannequin’. The dandy requires an
audience in order to exist. ‘As the work of art must destroy and alienate
itself to become an absolute commodity, so the dandy-artist must become a
living corpse, constantly tending toward an other, a creature essentially
nonhuman and antihuman’ (Agamben).
The artists in this
performance event, although diverse, all share the dandy’s contempt for the
prosaic, the mundane, the humdrum. There are elements of chance, although these
are as well rehearsed as the elusive but exacting criteria of how to tie a
cravat, Beau Brummell style. The figure of the dandy may belong to the past but
the traces of his complex disregard and simultaneous adherence to a set of self
imposed rules can be found in many of the performances in this show.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.133526790048325.25419.100001730141045&type=3
with Brian Dawn Chalkley, Jack Catling, Günter Brus and Vanessa Mitter.
with Brian Dawn Chalkley, Jack Catling, Günter Brus and Vanessa Mitter.
예술의 이익 What is Art Worth?
전시명: 2011 대구세계육상선수권대회 기념전시 Now in Daegu 2011
기 간: 2011년 8월 24일 ~ 9월 18일
장 소: 구. 상업은행, Daegu
대구시 중구 향촌동 9-1
웹사이트: www.nowindaegu.or.kr
주최: 대구광역시
주관: (재)대구디지털산업진흥원
예술의 이익 What is Art Worth?
기획: 양지윤, 독립 큐레이터
참여작가: 강영민, 고낙범 , 김구림, 김기철, 김나영+그레고리 마스 Gregory Maass(독일), 김미련, 김영섭, 니키리, 피필로티 리스트Pipilotti Rist(스위스), 박찬경, 박현기, 백남준, 퍼사인 브로어슨 & 마르짓 루카츠 Persijn Broersen & Margit Lukács(네덜란드), 안유진, 양아치, 유비호, 이재이, 임창민, 장영혜중공업, 전미래, 디륵 플라이쉬만 Dirk Fleischmann(독일), 인디애니페스트Indie-AniFest, 대구경북독립영화협회
An island of Boredom2011
648x290x90cm
metal, wood, ceramic, mixed media
An island of Boredom
2011
210x80x215cm, 210x90x46cm
metal, light, ceramic, mixed media
Photo by 황우섭
Ball Point Pen on vintage offset Print
52x71cm
52x71cm
Korean Won Travellers Cheques, 2011
Ballpoint Pen Drawing on Vintage Poster
52x79cm
Nail Multiple
26 Drawings for Nail Multiple
9x5,4cm
ink on paper
2011
Seoul
Photo by Chung Seoyoung
Frame dimension: 22,5 x 31,5 x 2cm
Kim Kim @ Art:gwangju:11
킴킴 갤러리 @ 아트:광주:11
Artists:
Chung Seoyoung 정서영
Nakhee Sung 성낙희
Kim Beom 김범
Robert Estermann 로베르트 에스테르만
Nakion Sung 성낙영
Douglas Park 더글라스 파크
Nayoungim & Gregory Maass 김나영 & 그레고리 마스
Date:
Wednesday, 31st August Sunday, 4th September 2011
(VIP/Press Viewing: 31st August)
Location: Booth No: 57
KDJ Convention Centre in Gwangju, Korea
http://www.artgwangju.com/
1. 참여작가 소개 (국문)
킴킴 갤러리는 정서영, 성낙희, 김범, 로베르트 에스테르만, 성낙영, 더글라스 파크와 김나영 & 그레고리 마스의 작업을 소개한다.
정서영은 한국을 대표하는 개념주의 조각가로서 언어와 사물의 간극에서 일어나는 부조리함을 일상의 오브제들을 통해 재현한다.
성낙희의 유기적이고도 카오틱한 추상회화는 인간 정신세계의 즉흥적 일면을 다양한 색과 재료를 통해 재조율해나간다.
스위스 작가 로베르트 에스테르만은 인간의 존재론적 불확정성과 한계 혹은 그 무한한 가능성을 드로잉의 선율을 통해 드러낸다.
음악가이자 화가인 성낙영은 추상 회화, 디자인, 드로잉을 통해 하위문화적 감수성을 마치 평면에서 펼쳐지는 그라피티 퍼포먼스처럼 재현한다.
김나영 & 그레고리 마스는 작가이자 킴킴 갤러리의 디렉터이며, 통속적이고도 대중적인 사물들을 예술화함으로써 예술적 정치적 이데올로기를 유머러스하게 해체시킨다.
2. 참여작가 소개(영문)
Kim Kim Gallery presents works by Chung Seoyoung, Nakhee Sung, Kim Beom, Robert Estermann, Nakion Sung, Douglas Park and Nayoungim & Gregory Maass.
Chung Seoyoung’s conceptual sculpture deals with the absurdity that exists between language and objects by creating an unpredictable encounter of modern life.
Nakhee Sung’s abstract painting, characterized by its organic, cosmic and chaotic quality, examines the improvisation of a human being’s inner world, tuning with different colors and materials.
Robert Estermann represents uncertainty, limitation or/and the limitless possiblities of human existence through the language of drawing.
Musician and painter, Nakion Sung uses abstract painting, graphic design and drawing to delineate a scene of underground street culture, seemingly expressed as a graffiti-performance in two dimensions. As artist and director of Kim Kim Gallery, Nayoungim & Gregory Maass employ common and popular objects transformed into art works which humorously destruct and reconstruct the ideologies of art and society.
1. 갤러리 소개 (한글)
킴킴 갤러리는 2008년 듀오 작가 김나영과 그레고리 마스가 창립한 갤러리이자 미술작업이다. 킴킴 갤러리는 일정한 공간 없이 기획의도에 따라 예측불허의 장소와 전시형식을 시도하며, 이를 통해 현대미술의 구조에 개입한다. 오늘날 미술과 사회의 관계변화에 대한 실용주의적인 접근으로, 기존의 전시 방법과 미술의 경제 구조에 질문을 던지고 “비정규 마켓팅 Unconventional Marketing” 전략으로 그 해결점을 찾고자 하며, 이에 따른 독립성과 효율성을 지향한다. 킴킴 갤러리는 2008년 글라스고의 마켓 갤러리에서 갤러리 개관전, 2009년 베를린의 패션 브랜드인 Rob-ert 쇼룸과 대구의 신라 갤러리에서 게릴라 전시를 하였고, 지난 6월 서울 계동의 현대문화센터에서 정서영 개인전 <사과 vs. 바나나>를 기획하였다.
2. 갤러리 소개 (영문)
KIM KIM GALLERY was founded by Gregory Maass and Nayoungim on the occasion of a solo-show at the Market Gallery in Glasgow, Scotland in 2008. Kim Kim Gallery is a locative artwork, which parasites on existing exhibition spaces, ranging from museums and galleries to model apartments and art fair stands.
Kim Kim Gallery´s methods of mad marketing, and activity of displaying, production, and acquisition of art are considered individual forms of artistic expressions by the owners. The objective of this work is to show flexible alternatives to the common ways to propagate art and to become object of a discussion. The second Kim Kim Gallery took place at Ro-bert™ in Berlin, Germany and the third at Gallery Shilla, Deagu, Korea. Kim Kim Gallery has recently organized
Directory Book _ Kim Kim Gallery page
Post Paulo Futurum
these could almost be scenes from the life, times and work of marcel broodthærs. mainly because they're in black and white, then my dress and appearance. this 1 especially thanks to the word "museum" on the window.
the link explains what happened. however, my hi-jinx antics did not include: reciting la fontaine's 'le corbeau et le renard' (apres Æsop) chalking up and erasure of references to historical and cultural figures on a blackboard, donning a fantomas / de sadean / magritte / old-time thief's mask, get up to anything else like that. nota bene: nothing got labeled "fig 1" etc either.
All images ©, Copyright, Cel Crabeels and Rik Desaver, 2007
Untitled public intervention (with Cel Crabeels and Rik Desayer), 'Paulo Post Futurum', group exhibition reception event, Stadt Museum, Breda, 2007
Serialised text, ‘Locked-up metric tide (stuck on hold) / Free land wave outflow set loose’, untitled double-sided postcard suite (photographic images by Nico Dockx and design etc by Jean-Michel Meyers), Curious, Antwerp / Lokaal 01, Antwerp, Breda / Stadt Museum, Breda, 2007
Design: Copyright, Jean-Michel Meyers
http://slashseconds.org/issues/003/002/articles/dpark/index.php
In 2001, I began
regularly visiting, staying and working in Belgium and working with Belgian
artists and organisations, which still continues now. Whenever I went to
Antwerp, I always saw the same green cobweb bus-stop pissoire looking thing. I
was told this was Belgian Funhouse, yet or just another pavilion by the
veteran U.S conceptual and architectural artist and social-critic, Dan Graham.
Also, explained to me was the story that came with it.
In keeping with Dan
Graham's practice and output throughout his career (from his earliest
interventions using adverts and contributions published in periodicals, then
more performance and event based work and now these better known architectural
environments), the hope and claim was that Belgian Funhouse would encourage
social and human interaction and engagement. Never clear to me (and perhaps
others) was in what ways Belgian Funhouse was supposed to at least
attempt relating to the immediate surrounding neighbourhood and context
-presuming it was planned site and community specific, not just
"more-of-the-same" and "here's-one-we-made-earlier"
disposal and offloading. Obviously, I have no idea if any of that was
deliberate or self-conscious on Dan Graham's part.
Unexpectedly (although
hardly surprisingly), after ordinary citizens heard simply how much Dan Graham
was paid (as well as production costs -and maybe fact he was an outsider
-instead of a fellow mainland European, co-patriot Belgian or even local),
immediately, Belgian Funhouse became a target for resentment and
vandalism.
So (as others stated
-including Dan Graham himself -who claimed if he was young and disillusioned
he'd have done similar or identical!), Belgian Funhouse certainly did
attract and achieve social and human interaction and engagement -although not
quite of the same kind originally expected.
Eventually, the
message somehow got through, Belgian Funhouse was retired out to graze
at the out-of-town Middelheim museum (mausoleum?). Maybe becoming overlooked
and forgotten might beckon next -or has already taken hold. Now that it arises,
Dan Graham's title (Belgian Funhouse) sounds somewhat Breughel's Children's
Games and Flemish Proverbs meets Iggy Pop and the Stooges, both with
a touch of Anal Staircase by the sadly now defunct U.K industrial / apocalyptic
/ avant / dark / neo folksters, Coil thrown and rammed in there for good or bad
measure.
Since then, Belgian
Funhouse has been replaced by a statue (or dept-store display mannequin
dummy?) of a birdman by the once-great Panamarenko (who is actually European,
Belgian and Antwerpian). This successor to Belgian Funhouse seemingly
goes largely ignored, unless and until some accidental or malicious damage
strikes (or has done). The only potential risk or threat (or real danger) posed
could actually be from this unscathed Panamarenko orniphopter itself, because
in the event of ever getting noticed, such a set example might give
impressionable people the misguided delusion that they can and should follow
suite. Fortunately, to the best of my knowledge, nothing like that has happened
yet -and hopefully never shall.
Sometime around all
this, Cel Crabeels obtained as much media coverage and other documentary
material generated by and following the whole Belgian Funhouse debacle
as he could get his hands on. Unless I'm mistaken, as I understand it, there
was little or no attention paid by the artworld and international media and
press; only around Antwerp region and the rest of Belgium.
I think I 1st
knowingly saw Cel's ensuing work when we were both in the survey show, MONOPOLIS
/ Antwerpen at Witte de With, Rotterdam, in 2005. I noticed it came across
very like period conceptual-era work and Soviet "factography".
Off-hand, It brings to mind Cel Crabeel's fellow countryman (though
Francophonic and Wallonian), Jacques Charlier, who amongst other oneliners made
satirical, parodic and derisive critiques and attacks on the realities and
pitfalls to his contemporaries in the international avant garde of the
conceptual-era. Additionally, there's the near genre and almost idiom category
fallen into by other artist's who've done works charting the progress and fate
of things they've done themselves. Then, archiving, publication, display and
exhibition of both sought-after and surprise feedback and backlash has
sometimes become part of certain works.
There has since been a
collaboration with Cel Crabeels, still without exposure or outlet. Later, I was
invited to contribute to a suite of 3 double-faced picture-postcards relating
to this project. My prose text appears over Nico Dockx's photos showing Belgian
Funhousebeing dismantled, all with design and other visuals by
Jean-Michel Meyers. As often, my input was what came to me from considering the
brief given and insight obtained -while (without being dismissive) reusing
extant ideas and intentions (whether they ever appear elsewhere or not). The
end-result experience (the scenes and imagery conveyed, phrasing used and
overall presence) became my almost customary act or formul¾ of enforcing an
inevitable reality that just happens, ambiguous as to whether familiar or
strange, morally good or bad, natural or synthetic.
It goes a little
something like:
Locked-up metric tide
(stuck on hold) / Free land wave outflow set loose
Secretly buried deep
inside hidden underground burial-chamber, dormant flames and ice sleep, stir,
awaken, resurrect, rise upward, nearly reaching upper surface.
Fast-growing ice
razor-blade shields push hard enough that sheer effort cuts terrain, blasted
sparks sent scattering; advent and arrival amidst flames, which bring fountain
jettisons.
Despite both factors
being vested with many other considerable powers, liquid-based and cold ice
never extinguishes any flames at all, while flames melt no ice whatsoever;
fire-resistant ice covered by insurance-policy and immunity-strain against
flames causing harm, advance-prepared weatherproof flames afforded and enjoying
ice damage exemption.
While ice keeps
guarantee not to thaw or evaporate, durable flames defy and refuse heat-loss
and burnout.
Special-formulae
extra-strength ice is fuel flames feed, run on and live off, whereas flames
preserve ice to standard expected and become accustomed to.
Self-sustaining and
interdependent joint-forces of ice and flames drive and guide each other ever
onwards and ahead.
Light, flames and ice
shine and glow conducts through every solid doorway and opaque window; thermal
current and freezing chill from ice and flames fills open-plan walls, filtered
ceiling and floors, gaseous arches and columns; drive persists until nothings
left empty or hollow anymore.
Floral cave and
jewellery garden flames and ice gave birth to both become moth-eaten
pock-marked armour-plated blockage entangled netting.
Whatever might have
been, state-of-affairs ended up in provokes custodial and protection agency to
banish and transfer combined efforts of ice and flames elsewhere; much of
flames and ice stays behind, just as the rest travels onwards to new
destination.
Copyright, Douglas
Park, 2007
So far, their main or
only outlet has been the "premiere" during the reception for Post
Paolo Futurumat Breda's Stadt Museum in 2007. Cel Crabeels and Rik Desayer
filmed me (miked up by them -like a hybrid between a human-timebomb and a
vintage automaton doll) handing some cards out, placing others here and there,
reciting my text, explaining and discussing it all, while committing other
acts.
Interestingly enough,
during working on that text and when it was finished, I found myself aware of
having remembered and referenced certain concerns, content and style of several
particular existing works of mine that came to mind. One is undoubtedly the
purest and most brief thing I've ever done (a long title, followed by a
sequence of statements, describing a made-up process), another is (according to
some) the ultimate (and favourite) landscape or phenomenology by me. Both these
figured strongly, alongside a companion-piece I wrote for a serial
collaborator's public-art commission in some social-housing, about which I
addressed the clichÂŽ, notion, potential and reality of "community"
spirit and force, united and battling against challenges and adversity. Unlike
Dan Graham's Belgian Funhouse, there actually was much consultation and
rapport, with production and eventual end-result enjoying considerable
popularity, support, interest and approval from the residents -sadly, all too
soon enough, the work proved problematic unto itself and the human-element,
thanks to sudden adverse weather and the otherwise protective glazing!
Copyright, Douglas
Park, 2008
Especially
commissioned to accompany Onthaasting: About Spare Time and Slower Worlds,
Belgian contemporary video art, curated by Harald Thys and Jos De Gruyter,
Katzen Arts Center at American University, Washington D.C, from November 11th
until December 21st, 2008
Photographic credits:
Copyright, Nico Dockx
at Art:Gwangju:11 광주
김대중 컨벤션 KDJ Convention Centre, Booth No.:57
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