Voorwerk 1

Fiona Rae, Doriana Chiarini, Aernout Mik, Kay Rosen

Voorwerk 1

Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Witte de With, 1990

21 x 31 cm., boxed

Edition of 500

In October of 1990 Witte de With in Rotterdam held the first of their Voorwerk series, which featured works by Doriana Chiarini, Aernout Mik, Fiona Rae and Kay Rosen.

Voorwerk translates to "preliminary work" and the series featured then-younger and emerging artists, with the intention to provide "the first substantial presentation of works by relatively unknown artists". Their track record of picking those who would go on to greater success, especially in this first year, is pretty incredible. The shows were annual and presented without thematics or common denominators.

Italian artist Doriana Chiarini presented elegant objects that combined design and art. Aernout Mik showed his Dummies series, which consists of cushions from photographic linen, loosely modelled after the human body, that are photographically printed with children’s portraits. The two painters couldn't have been more different - Fiona Rae exhibited abstract works and Kay Rosen presented textual paintings rich with visual jokes, taken from everyday conversation, pulp novels and telephone directories (see below). 

The "catalogue" for the exhibition featured a compartmentalized cardboard box containing works by all four artists: an original painting by Fiona Rae (each unique), five cards by Kay Rosen, a fold out paper by Chiarini and five photocards by Mik.

Art Metropole stocked at least two of the three boxes that were released, in the first year that I worked there. I can't remember the exact price, but I seem recall them being between thirty and fifty dollars. All of the titles have increased in value considerably since that time, with the first one (owing much to the inclusion of the unique Rae painting) particularly costly.

The copy above (bottom three images) copy is from Cult Club, a store and gallery project by Jeannette Dekeukeleire and Harry Ruhe in Amsterdam. A copy of the complete set of boxes can be purchased from Ruhe, here. 

Dara Birnbaum | Every TV needs a revolution

Dara Birnbaum

Every TV needs a revolution

Gent, Belgium: Imschoot Uitgevers/ For IC, 1992

112 pp., 20.9 × 14.7 cm., softcover

Edition size unknown

In May of 1968, a student revolt that began in a suburb of Paris soon escalated into seven weeks of civil unrest throughout France, punctuated by demonstrations, strikes, and the occupation of factories and universities. 

The student population had almost tripled in the preceding decade, from 175,000 to more than half a million. As with elsewhere in the world, 'youth culture' was becoming a formidable force, yet French society remained autocratic, hierarchical, and tradition-bound.

Students initially protested against capitalism, consumerism, American imperialism, traditionalism, and the ten year rule of Charles de Gaulle. The president had ascended to power via extra-constitutional means and maintained it via state control of television and radio. 

Heavy-handed tactics by the police against the student protestors led France's trade union confederations to call for sympathy strikes. With more ten million workers striking (a fifth of the population), the country's economy ground to a halt. de Gaull fled to Berlin, amid fears of outright civil war. 

May 1968, as it came to be known, was a watershed moment, with an enormous impact on French society. Alain Geismar, a student leaders at the time, said the movement had succeeded "as a social revolution, not as a political one".

Filmmakers who have recreated the riots include François Truffaut (Baisers volés, 1968), Jean-Luc Godard (Tout Va Bien, 1972), Diane Kurys (Cocktail Molotov, 1980), Louis Malle (May Fools, 1990), Bernardo Bertolucci (The Dreamers, 2003), Roman Coppola (CQ, 2001) and Wes Anderson (The French Dispatch, 2021)

Mick Jagger told Rolling Stone magazine that the May '68 revolts were the inspiration for "Street Fighting Man", despite it being recorded in April and May of that year: 

"Yeah, it was a direct inspiration, because by contrast, London was very quiet ... It was a very strange time in France. But not only in France but also in America, because of the Vietnam War and these endless disruptions ... I thought it was a very good thing at the time. There was all this violence going on. I mean, they almost toppled the government in France; de Gaulle went into this complete funk, as he had in the past, and he went and sort of locked himself in his house in the country. And so the government was almost inactive. And the French riot police were amazing."

Dara Birnbaum produced a work in 1990 called Cannon: Taking to the Street, in which amateur footage of a Take Back the Night march held at Princeton University in April, 1987 is reframed through the lens of the Paris uprising. 

Two years later - and almost a quarter-century after the events of May 1968 - she produced this bookwork, which applies her video celebrated editing techniques to the printed page.  

Images of anonymous street posters and graffiti from the uprisings are cropped, rotated, inverted, re-sized and re-sequenced as commentary on the public space of television and mass media.

In addition to the (already scarce) softcover trade edition, there were forty deluxe grey linen hardcover copies produced, each signed and dated in black marker.

Bidner / Martinek Feat. Erwin Wurm | I Love My Time, I Dont Like My Time

Bidner / Martinek Feat. Erwin Wurm

I Love My Time, I Dont Like My Time

Austria: Taliban Records, 2007

12" vinyl single, 45rpm

Edition of 500 numbered copies

Following their 2003 collaboration with Raymond Pettibon (see below), Bidner/Martinek enlist artist Erwim Wurm for the title, lyrics and cover art of this 12" single. 

Milan Knížák | Necklace

Milan Knížák
Necklace
Remscheid, Germany: Edition VICE-Versand, 1968
41.3 x 30.2 cm.
Edition of 2,000


Necklace (or Halsschmuck) is presumably designed to cut the clothes of the wearer, given the 'destruction' that features in much of the artists' other work (Broken Music, etc).  

The work originally sold for twelve German Marks (or under eight dollars American), which would be the equivalent of around sixty-five dollars, accounting for inflation.

It is unlikely that the full edition of two thousand copies were produced, given the scarcity of the work now. 

Douglas Gordon

Douglas Gordon turns 57 today. 

Michael Nyman | Decay Music

Michael Nyman

Decay Music

London, UK: Obscure/Island Records, 1976

49:53 12" LP

Edition size unknown

Three of the ten releases from Obscure Records (1975 to 1978) are among my very favourite albums of all time. This isn't one of them, but it is a solid entry in the series. 

Decay Music is the first LP release by the critic/composer who would go on to write operas (The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat, etc.) and a best selling soundtrack album (the score to Jane Campion's Oscar winning film The Piano). 

Produced by Brian Eno, as the sixth release on his temporary Obscure label, Nyman's album features two tracks, one per side. Both are built around the concept of decay. The b-side is a fairly slight work called "Bell Set No.1". The A-side is a beautiful piece titled "1-100". The simple premise is that there are a hundred chords and the performers cannot play the next until he can no longer hear the previous. I was happy to think about the work, without hearing it, for years. 

Almost thirty years after its first release the recording was issued on compact disk, to coincide with the composer's 60th birthday, in 2004. As a bonus track, the original full-speed recording of "1-100" is included. 

"It was called Decay Music, which was produced by Brian Eno. Brian was brilliant. He persuaded Polydor that he should produce – or curate, as we would call it now – a label of what was still called “experimental music.” I think there are ten releases from 1975 to about 1978.

At that time, I’d written precisely two pieces of music. I played him one piece called “Bell Set No. 1,” which is a kind of fake Steve Reich percussion equivalent for four organs. We recorded that and Brian said, “I’d put this as the B-side of someone else’s album.” I said, “I want the whole album to myself.” He said, “What else do you have?” I said, “I have this piece called ‘1 – 100,’” which was the soundtrack to my very first [Peter] Greenaway film.

It was a solo piano piece where you sustain a hundred chords running from the top of the piano to the bottom of the piano. When the sound has died away, you play the next chord. It’s an old Morton Feldman idea. So, we recorded it. Lasted about 18 minutes and Brian said, “Is that it?” I said, “Yes,” and he said, “Well, that’s not very interesting,” and I said, “Well, I have this idea,” which I came up with on the spur of the moment. I said, “Let’s play four versions of the piece simultaneously,” so they all existed on their kind of own time and space and there’s a lot of overlapping of chords.

After I was done, something really fascinating happened. Brian sent me a dub or copy of the recording to check over. I put this 7-inch reel on it and started listening to it. I really enjoyed the mix of the piece, and listened for 15, 20, 25 minutes and I thought, “What’s happening? This is an 18-minute piece and I’m still listening to it at 30 minutes.”

I realized that I was listening to it at half-speed, and it sounded fantastic. I immediately rang Brian and said, “Look, I have accidentally created a sound world that we didn’t intend and we have to release this piece. Play it at half-speed!”"

- Michael Nyman

Lucy Hogg, Reid Shier, Nancy Tously | Liz Magor

Lucy Hogg, Reid Shier, Nancy Tously

Liz Magor

Toronto/ Vancouver, Canada: Art Gallery of York University. Contemporary Art Gallery, 2000

94 pp., 17 × 24.6 × 1.5 cm., hardcover

Edition size unknown

This monograph documents Liz Magor’s exhibition “Deep Woods” at The Art Gallery of York University and “Stores” at the Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver, and features essays by Nancy Tousley, Lucy Hogg and Reid Shier.

The title is still available for $12.00, here.