Andreas Siekmann
dal 26/11/2004 al 29/1/2005
Segnalato da
26/11/2004
Andreas Siekmann
Galerie Barbara Weiss (old location), Berlin
The Exclusive - On the Politics of the Excluded Fourth. After documenta 11 participant the artist already showed a variant of his still uncompleted project. Several of the original figures and picture signs are attached to iron rods on an imaginary rotating disc. Large red letters on the roof of the merry-go-round announced the existence of a fourth power, the 'exclusive', supplementing the three familiar powers, the legislative, the judiciary and the executive.
The Exclusive - On the Politics of the Excluded Fourth
In autumn 2002, the artist Andreas Siekmann realised within the frame of
the exhibition project /ForwArt/ on Place Royal in Brussels a
merry-go-round that rotated in the opposite direction of the traffic on
the circle around the equestrian statue of Gottfried von Bouillon. Large
red letters on the roof of the merry-go-round announced the existence of
a fourth power, the "exclusive", supplementing the three familiar
powers, the legislative, the judiciary and the executive. Life-size
human figures, fixed or moving on one spot, as well as hexagonal signs
paraded around the monument.
After /documenta11/ participant Siekmann already showed a variant of his
still uncompleted project, /The Exclusive - On the Politics of the
Excluded Fourth/ , in 2002 at the Salzburger Kunstverein, as well as in
Brussels and during a short stop in Dresden (where the exhibition was
banned by the city), he now presents a new version of the work at
Galerie Barbara Weiss. Several of the original figures and picture signs
are attached to iron rods on an imaginary rotating disc. At the centre
of the imaginary disc, a model of the Dresden version of the
merry-go-round revolves around itself on the turntable of a
record-player. The red title letters of the merry-go-round hang from the
gallery's ceiling, outlining its circumference. The installation is
supplemented by photos and project sketches, as well as by a series of
hexagonal computer prints ordered thematically on the walls. They
illustrate in detail and from different perspectives the scenarios from
which the figures could stem.
All of the project's picture motifs deal with the establishment of zones
in which, among other things, human rights are abolished through the
declaration of a state of emergency. This is a state of undecidedness
between fact and law, existing, for example, in deportation airports,
refugee camps, prison blocks, or Philippine sweatshops, but also in any
area encircled by police forces or inside the red zones at summits from
Seattle to Genoa. On the merry-go-round in Brussels, for instance, the
presidents of the World Bank and the IMF constantly greeted each other,
a border official was on the chase, policemen blocked access with their
shields, and a service worker advertised... In the gallery version,
figures of seamstresses can be seen manufacturing sneakers, as well as a
refugee with documents and a border official.
The historical figures of Dante and Virgil are the central protagonists
and constitute the leitmotif of the entire work complex. As in the
historical model, Dante Alighieris /Divine Comedy/ (1311-21),
they can traverse all zones corresponding to the circles of purgatory
and hell in their capacity as narrators and observers. In Andreas
Siekmann's computer drawings, the ghostly presence of Dante and Virgil
is alluded to by means of white outlines on top of the picturesque image
motifs that often contain art-historical references.
In contrast to his earlier, comprehensive experiences with the medium of
drawing - the /Soonsbek/ 1993 project /Square of Permanent
Reorganisation/ , in which Andreas Siekmann included ideas of residents
living around a "dead" town square as alternative development proposals
that were displayed on the square in the form of 160 drawings and put up
for discussion, or /From: Limited Liability Company/ , a work
comprising more than 200 sheets that were shown at Portikus and at
/Documenta11/ - the pictures of /The Exclusive - On the Politics of the
Excluded Fourth/ , composed of hundreds of colour surfaces, are no
longer drawn in the actual sense, but created on the computer via mouse
clicks. Siekmann draws the images using WORD, thus continuing the debate
on the typification and standardisation of sign languages as a
reflection of the social power relations with which/ From: Limited
Liability Company/ was concerned. These relations are now staged in
public space using the mechanics of a merry-go-round.
Opening: 6-8 pm
Opening hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 11 am-6 pm
Galerie Barbara Weiss
Zimmerstrasse 88-89 Berlin