Curator Anne Schreiber developed this proposal during the Summer 2013 Curatorial Intensive in New York. This proposal later became the exhibition Jackson Pollock Bar: Pictures at an Exhibition at Kunsthaus L6 – Municipal gallery for Contemporary Art, Freiburg, Germany, from March 15 – April 20, 2014.
Since the 1990s, Jackson Pollock Bar has been producing performances called Theory Installations. Often collaborating with the British artist collective Art & Language, they examine the role of theory in the art world. These Theory Installations refer to discursive events such as conferences, talks, panel discussions, and press conferences. Their performance practice involves audio recordings of such discussions, reenacted and lip-synched by actors. Their Theory Installations are mostly presented during conferences and panel discussions. The exhibition Pictures at an Exhibition at Kunsthaus L6 in Freiburg will for the first time showcase their work within a classical exhibition setting. On this occasion, the exhibition will present documentation of a number of their performances next to several paintings and a novel that they produced.
In restaging discursive events, the work of Jackson Pollock Bar questions the role of theory in the contemporary art system. Their work can be understood in the tradition of artists and curators who integrate theory into their methodologies. In 1972 at documenta 5, Joseph Beuys invited the public to partake in discussions on art, where he expanded his participatory notion of art as social sculpture. In the course of documenta 5, these discussions with the public were meant as a critique on the art system. In the 1980s, Andrea Fraser cited these discursive events. By then, discursive events were no longer outside the institution but were an integral part of the art system, proven by their presence in leading art museums. At the same time, curators became increasingly influenced by discussions on art theory, inspiring conversations on curatorial practice. According to Harald Szeemann, discussions between the artist and the curator became part of the exhibition. Recently, in his Interview and Marathon projects, Hans Ulrich Obrist has merged art exhibitions and conversational programs, transforming curatorial and artistic roles to create a new understanding of the exhibition space.
Pictures at an Exhibition at Kunsthaus L6 refers to these latest developments. Yet instead of presenting a reenactment of a discursive event, the work of Jackson Pollock Bar is installed in the style of a classical exhibition. Prints from several of their performances are being presented as images in the exhibition space. They resemble film stills, and with their large size they relate in this way to the paintings. These paintings are produced in the style of the great masters of modern painting, such as Pablo Picasso and Jackson Pollock. A wall text––presenting part of the novel written by the Jackson Pollock Bar––adds a third element to the exhibition. In presenting Theory Installations as images next to the paintings and the novel, the exhibition questions the role of art theory in contemporary art system, showing that discourse has become a work of art in itself.
Learn More
To learn more about this proposal please email Anne Schreiber at schreiberanne@web.de. To learn more about the Curatorial Intensive email info@curatorsintl.org.
