Schwanengesang
dal 20/10/2004 al 24/10/2004
Segnalato da
20/10/2004
Schwanengesang
Kunstlerhaus Mousonturm, Frankfurt
Theexhibition is part of Plateaux, international platform for young theatre directors. For Schwanengesang, the gallery space meets the chapel of rest in a work that offers the audience an opportunity to rehearse one's own funeral. First the participant selects a song for the ceremony, which is downloaded from the web, then they lay on a plinth, performing death, while the song is played.
(Swansong)
Exhibition: 21 October to 24 October 2004, 19.00 till late as part of Plateaux, international platform for young theatre directors at Künstlerhaus Mousonturm, Waldschmitstr. 4, D60316 Frankfurt/Main, Germany
The Centre of Attention was commissioned to create an exhibition for Plateaux at the Kunstlerhaus MousonTurm Frankfurt, Germany.
For Schwanengesang, the gallery space meets the chapel of rest in a work that offers the audience an opportunity to rehearse one’s own funeral. First the participant selects a song for the ceremony, which is downloaded from the web, then they lay on a plinth, performing death, while the song is played.
Increasing use of popular songs at funerals means one can make strong statements literally (with lyrics) or atmospherically. Here we contrast the idea of music as a shorthand for complex statements and emotional concepts with the banality of the funeral and the service.
Formally with Schwanengesang, we wanted to reverse the viewer/art-object dynamic, while allowing also a statement to be generated and examined by the audience itself.
Audience, artist, collaboration; life and death; visual, aural and performance are disrupted and recombined. References to the art genres of still life or nature morte, the Vanitas portrait, and the death mask can also be made. With Schwanengesang the Centre of Attention functions as a pseudopodia reaching tentatively for Frankfurt, with the reminder that you must die.
Schwanengesang features works by Emi Avora, Benedict Carpenter, Simon Faithfull and Jasper Joffe.
The Centre of Attention is a London-based contemporary art gallery curated by Pierre Coinde and Gary O’Dwyer which examines the formalities of production, distribution and consumption of art. This is the Centre of Attention second exhibition in Germany after Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin in January 2003.
For more information or images on Schwanengesang, contact Pierre Coinde or Gary O’Dwyer on 07792 582 386
Featured in the Art Newspaper, Frontrow and Resonance FM, our other current exhibition, Boyle Family: London Sound Study continues until 7th November 2004 on the website.
In the image: Simon Faithfull, 'Skull', 2004.
Künstlerhaus Mousonturm, Waldschmitstr. 4, D60316 Frankfurt/Main, Germany