5/27/2017
Our limbs leave invisible pollen on the pages
Exhibition text Constanze Schweiger
Kurkuma, convey. Our limbs leave invisible pollen on the pages
May 12 – May 26, 2017
Kunstverein New Jörg, Vienna
„The night The Book of Bean opened in New York was the night of the blackout. Remember? It happened two hours before things were going to begin.“ recalls Alison Knowles in an interview with George Quasha. One night in July 1977, in the middle of a bitter heat wave, when the city was facing a severe financial crisis, electric power failed all over New York City. Looting, vandalism and arson were rampantly taking place until late in the following day. The whole city was in a state of dissolution and pervasion. On the evening of that dark night, Allison Knowles released one of her book sculptures; a book in the size of a very small house, with ultralarge moveable pages. You could walk around the sculpture, step or leave through its pages, and spend some time in the different spaces created between the pages.
The impulse to make Untitled (convey Regular, convey Regular Italic) came last year in March from Gabriele Lenz who designed the typeface convey. In order to have material to print with her typeface on 10 meters of sateen, I produced text made of observations and ideas on reading materials by Alison Knowles, Gertrude Stein, Friederike Mayröcker, Yoko Ono, Tavi Gevinson, Hannah Black, in which the writers discuss the processes of reading, writing and publishing. In the meantime the design for the sculpture is ready for production. Another type but equally long panel of cotton cloth was dyed with turmeric and hanged up to dry in the exhibition space. Until the end of the show, by exposure to sunlight the dyed cloth will change its color. When the text is printed on fabric and the work is delivered to the exhibition space, it will be installed next to this other fabric dyed with turmeric. After the show Untitled (convey Regular, convey Regular Italic) will be cut up into pieces in order to produce objects that can be used differently, as for example tote bags into which you can put anything such as books you want to carry with you.
Since March 2016 many things have happened and clearly some things feel different. Here around me and out in the world critical changes are taking place which are not completed yet and which are affecting me continuously. During reading for this exhibition text, I come across a sentence from a version of the interview with Alison Knowles and George Quasha which is missing in the copy I hold. In this sentence Quasha means that we would leave marks with our bodies, „invisible pollen on the pages“ for those who come after.
Kurkuma, convey. Our limbs leave invisible pollen on the pages
May 12 – May 26, 2017
Kunstverein New Jörg, Vienna
„The night The Book of Bean opened in New York was the night of the blackout. Remember? It happened two hours before things were going to begin.“ recalls Alison Knowles in an interview with George Quasha. One night in July 1977, in the middle of a bitter heat wave, when the city was facing a severe financial crisis, electric power failed all over New York City. Looting, vandalism and arson were rampantly taking place until late in the following day. The whole city was in a state of dissolution and pervasion. On the evening of that dark night, Allison Knowles released one of her book sculptures; a book in the size of a very small house, with ultralarge moveable pages. You could walk around the sculpture, step or leave through its pages, and spend some time in the different spaces created between the pages.
The impulse to make Untitled (convey Regular, convey Regular Italic) came last year in March from Gabriele Lenz who designed the typeface convey. In order to have material to print with her typeface on 10 meters of sateen, I produced text made of observations and ideas on reading materials by Alison Knowles, Gertrude Stein, Friederike Mayröcker, Yoko Ono, Tavi Gevinson, Hannah Black, in which the writers discuss the processes of reading, writing and publishing. In the meantime the design for the sculpture is ready for production. Another type but equally long panel of cotton cloth was dyed with turmeric and hanged up to dry in the exhibition space. Until the end of the show, by exposure to sunlight the dyed cloth will change its color. When the text is printed on fabric and the work is delivered to the exhibition space, it will be installed next to this other fabric dyed with turmeric. After the show Untitled (convey Regular, convey Regular Italic) will be cut up into pieces in order to produce objects that can be used differently, as for example tote bags into which you can put anything such as books you want to carry with you.
Since March 2016 many things have happened and clearly some things feel different. Here around me and out in the world critical changes are taking place which are not completed yet and which are affecting me continuously. During reading for this exhibition text, I come across a sentence from a version of the interview with Alison Knowles and George Quasha which is missing in the copy I hold. In this sentence Quasha means that we would leave marks with our bodies, „invisible pollen on the pages“ for those who come after.
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„The night The Book of Bean opened in New York was the night of the blackout. Remember? It happened two hours before things were going to begin.“ erinnert sich Alison Knowles in einem Interview mit George Quasha. In einer Nacht im Juli 1977, während einer Hitzewelle, in einem Moment in dem sich für New York City eine schwere Wirtschaftskrise abzeichnete, fiel überall in der Stadt der Strom aus. Bis in den nächsten Tag hinein wurde geplündert, randaliert und Feuer gelegt. Die ganze Stadt befand sich in einem Zustand von Auflösung und Durchdringung. Am Abend dieser Nacht also veröffentlichte Allison Knowles eine ihrer Buchskulpturen; ein Buch so groß wie ein sehr kleines Haus mit übermenschengroßen Seiten, um die man gehen, sie bewegen, durch sie hindurch steigen und zwischen denen man Zeit verbringen konnte.
Der Anstoß zu Untitled (convey Regular, convey Regular Italic) kam im März vergangenen Jahres von Gabriele Lenz, der Gestalterin der Schrift convey. Um 10 Meter Baumwollstoff mit der convey zu bedrucken, sind sechs Texte entstanden, in denen ich Ideen zu den Vorgängen Lesen, Schreiben und Veröffentlichen von Alison Knowles, Gertrude Stein, Friedericke Mayröcker, Yoko Ono, Tavi Gevinson und Hannah Black aus verschiedenen Lesequellen nacherzähle. Der Entwurf dazu ist für die Produktion fertiggestellt und eine andere, gleich lange Stoffbahn ist mit Kurkuma gefärbt und im Ausstellungsraum zum Trocknen aufgehängt. Dort wird der gefärbte Stoff bis zum Ende der Ausstellung über die Einwirkung von Sonnenlicht seine Farbe verändern. Wenn die Texte dann auf die zehn Meter Baumwollsatin gedruckt sind und die Arbeit an den Ausstellungsraum geliefert wurde, wird die Stoffbahn neben den gefärbten Stoff installiert, um nach der Ausstellung in Stücke geschnitten zu werden und um später anders verwendbare Objekte daraus zu produzieren, wie zum Beispiel Taschen, in die man alles mögliche oder einfach Bücher hineintun und mit sich tragen kann.
Seit März 2016 ist einiges passiert und manches fühlt sich deutlich anders an. Hier um mich und in der Welt finden kritische Veränderungen statt, die noch nicht abgeschlossen sind und mich laufend beeinflussen. Beim Lesen für diesen Ausstellungstext finde ich einen Satz im Interview von Alison Knowles und George Quasha, der in der Fassung fehlt, die ich besitze. In dem Satz meint Quasha, wir alle würden mit unseren Körpern Spuren hinterlassen, unsichtbare Pollen auf den Seiten für die, die danach kommen.
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