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PHILOSOPHY

Our aim is to get more independent from the idea of "location" in general and be "everywhere at a time" or - to put it in more contemporary terms -
to virtualize the idea of an art-space. For this reason we are seeking actors that would play our pieces in towns all over the planet -
suggesting a totality that of course is only pure simulation. By today we are working in Los Angeles, London, Brussels and Hamburg.

Please have a look at some of our recent materials:
- The Swinging Gallerist
- Jonathan Meese Performance
- An actor reading a WCW-performance script
- History of WCW-Gallery

Ok, I understand it at least a little bit more...and totally agree on the concept of 'virtual simulation' but what exactly is it?
Let's say art is a way. We want to reflect on this way. In which way is the realm of art changing at the moment? What is going on in the art market? What about economy? Are artists today "digital nomads"? How about the idea of moving in general, finding a place to stay or just be everywhere, somewhere? What about economy AND places? Is visibility part of the artistic practise? If yes, how to achieve visibility in a oversaturated visual culture?...

You said 'art space'...but then you say 'Actors' or do you mean 'Artist'?Play what pieces? Theater? or?
Yes, we established some kind of art space.
As I wrote you before the focus is on minimal and conceptual art. That's at least what many exhibitions in the space are about. But there is also a second "conceptual" layer about the space which is what we refer to as sculpture in public space. The Swinging Gallerist Video aready gives an insight in this idea (hint: the video gets more transparent after you read the history of our space...). It is rotating around the question: Is a gallery a neutral place to "show" things in or is it a very particular conglomerate of conditions forming a scene or even kind of a stage?

We are investigating in this affaire. Perhaps one way to find out could be the emphasizing on the stage aspect, that means to make the ongoing scene (for example at receptions of the gallery) more conscious to the present crowd. Could it be, if the exhibited art tends to be "poor" in the sense of stimulation, that it would reflect the attention back to the environment? And could it be possible to reveal certain social processes by tiny but precise actions by actors in that environment? In order to experiment with these questions we are working with "artists" and "actors" (quotation marks here, because today one might likely question the distinction of such categories).
We used to invite "visual artists" for some years. Recently WCW got public funding and we could afford to pay actors on irregular occasions.
Usually we write the pieces (see the file "Entwurf23Jun2011...") and give detailed instructions to the "actors". But as these categories are blurred, we are happy to read some ideas or propositions for pieces if you have.

Where would this take place? A virtual Gallery or Theater or?
We would like to make little public interventions in Los Angeles.
The performances would take place in social gatherings. Most of the time would be inside the sphere of art, like gallery receptions, opening-nights at museums or at performance spots - that means at given environments.
We choose the context, but if you have any suggestions we are very interested to know about that.

How do you profit from this?
Our plan is to leave the country. Just to stay ANYWHERE else. We would not move WCW. We would go everywhere and WCW is already there. That's all.

How can I be more?
If we get into discussion, there are of course possibilities that we work together on the level of direction (Would this make you an "artist" then?). We would therefore be interested to see some of your work or if you come up with ideas...

Believe me, I am very open to new ideas and ways of making ART more accessible....but I am also REALISTIC on the limitations and how this will be percieved in the public eye and how tangible it is or is not?
One question please: where should this realism lead us to?
Of course we can see limitations. And we have no illusions about the small radius of the actions. But it would be already irresistibly strange that somebody is performing a WCW-piece on the other side of the planet.
Maybe nobody will even notice it. Or maybe the few who at least perceived it will see it as a silly schoolboy prank.

I am NOT trying to be negative and would LIKE to be involved.....just need to know more of 'WHAT IS THIS ALL ABOUT AND WHAT DO YOU NEED ME TO DO'?
We would be happy to have one or two people in a city that are willing to make these small interventions. As actors in the first place - but I am curious about further conversations and where we find ourselves then...

 

Letter to an artist
"Originally we are driven by the idea of questioning our concepts.
We are never sure. It is running or slipping through multiple revisions. We are sometimes dreaming of parasitic strangers who inhabit our house. They took up steady residence by the night time in our basement. They have build a different backstage. They would possibly pile up layers of fakes on top of each other and then connect several stacks of these layered fakes in a playful way. And then new different strangers would come in to briefly break into the event. Probably producing a hidden infrastructure. Or maybe breaking some continuity and following a different gallery hastily during the course of the ongoing exhibition. How to work on something that could inject new connections? Would there be spectacular strangers that repeat themselves? Or creating faked spaces. Though most of the time fakes seem to lack something. How to keep up with the process in a spontaneous way? Could they take over the space approximately? How to dissolve a consolidated story?"

A different idea was not to write a text about our intentions, but emphasize on our positions, where we are standing.
We would just simply tell you something about us:

"Nina tells us the following lines:
As a gallerist i am a turnschuh i am fast and speedy i just do it!
as an artist i am a banana i live on the Copacabana;
framed on the wall i look like Rihanna;
sweet and salty I'll teach you manner'

Björn is unemployed. And he is looking for ways how to maintain that situation. At the same time he seems to be working on something all the time. Always busy, he follows the tracks of a disciplined protestant life. As he often gathers all his energy, he is not very much a friend of distraction. On the other hand he is strongly fascinated by the spectacles of popular culture. He had found his little in-between-spaces in every-day life on the level of humour, by which he dissolves flavours of distance or emphasizes them. His strong relationship to art often leads to his frustration when visiting exhibitions of art. Or he immediately feels exhausted when he attends a gallery opening. From a distance this behaviour might seem like anti-art attitude. He also earns money from his work for a popular contemporary German pop-band, for which he produces graphic designs and marketing concepts. His interest often touches the materialist question: where is the money coming from and who is in power to decide about it?

Oliver is still enrolled as an art student, somehow never finishing what he once started, shifting to new aims over and over. One of his main interests is how to escape the regime of work. That is why he basically works all the time. Right now he would write texts sitting in the sun on a bench by the coast of distant shores. Haunted by love or something he tries to distract his concentration and diffuse his live in hundreds of particles of all directions. He wants to challenge the question, how would it be possible to do everything everywhere? Sheer possibility could be enough. In-between his jobs and student work he performs with his band that is on the border of splitting since its start. All driven by the somewhat pathetic idea that aesthetics could help changing life for better."

But then again we thought that these sentences would try to make up an image that we will not really fit in and that probably is only part of the truth. So better forget about it.

Maybe this extract from our discussion can help you a bit to see our point.
If you choose to work with us (which we would appreciate a lot), this might be a starting point or suggestion for a discussion.
What do you think?


 
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