Comments on: Gregor Schneider – Fartist

By: Bryce

Bryce — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 03:15:02 +0000

I actually stumbled across this while in Australia. Not knowing about it I was able to view it through fresh eyes. I myself entered the cells, and while it was apparent what the meaning of it was, it failed to have any impact on me. A piece implying any kind of caged existence seems too obvious. You could argue that anybody’s in some kind of cage for a multitude of reasons. However, I applaud the ‘intereactive’ delivery. Art through an experience is at least an uncommon vehicle.

On a side note, most people used the cells for privacy at the otherwise crowded beach which I’m sure they appreciated.

By: Roger Ramjet

Roger Ramjet — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 23:35:00 +0000

That was a pointless piece of work!

By: Jamey Hecht

Jamey Hecht — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 23:17:28 +0000

Building a cage on the beach; canning one’s own excrement; confronting gallery-goers with a tankful of formaldehyde and a dead shark — these are the gestures of exceedingly fortunate little opportunists in a solipsistic enclave of bogus “high culture.” These artists are people who have not yet discovered that vast arena of real meaning: OTHER PEOPLE. Nor do they tend to be very aware of the past, nor of the deadly urgency of civilizational collapse, Doing this “art” is a way of making money, and a robust defense against one’s own lack of imagination. Buying it is the same thing. And writing about it — oh, God, writing about it is either a grotesque but basically victimless way to feed one’s children for a few days, or an exercise in self-deception, or both, depending on who’s doing it and how.

You hit the nail on the head: ““expresses the concerns and anxieties of today’s world…brings into question… asks us to consider” really means that there is nothing going on inside the person who made the “piece.” The work itself is not some living offspring of a deep mortal psyche suffused with the pain and joy of a limited unique life, but the inert “execution” of a sterile idea from his or her head, as in, “gee, wouldn’t it be cool if I were to….” Notice that this can be expressed without adjectives like “real” or “authentic.” Bad art is real bad art.

Tips for recognizing art-bullshit:

1. The claim that the PURPOSE of the art is to make people talk about it, regardless of what they actually say. Everybody who saw it was either bored or disgusted, but they said so! Therefore it worked. If this is not clear, apply the reductio ad absurdam for clarity: if someone were to cover himself with feces and walk through Central Park accosting people and hugging them, everyone would hate that and everyone would talk about it. At that point the artist could claim that the “piece” had fulfilled its purpose.

2. They call it “bold,”or “risky” or “courageous” — especially without saying just what the risk was, just what the bad consequences were to which the person exposed him or herself.

3. They use the favorite term of Marxist 19th Century social critique, “bourgeois.”

By: admin

admin — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 18:00:50 +0000

The sun bathing, I assume, complete with Speedo’s and bikinis is part of that openness – to take your kit off. And “expresses the concerns and anxieties of today’s world…brings into question…asks us to consider”, I am so jaded with reading vapid crap like this in descriptions of artists work.

I did have a look at his stuff – I had seen some of it before and vaguely liked Dead House project, but he seems emblematic of what makes me utterly bored with most 2d art school artists (with notable exceptions such as Gelitin). Schneider is spoiling for a fight with the death in a gallery piece – and I’m looking for one.
Marquis of Queensbury rules.

By: Thomas Eberwein

Thomas Eberwein — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 16:38:11 +0000

I really enjoyed your blog so far, but I think this post is a bit ill-informed. Maybe check out some of the older works from Gregor Schneider, as opposed to the “death” piece idea everyone is talking about at the moment. Judging from the youtube it seems to be a really successful piece (in terms of achieving it’s intentions)

“What this means is that he has taken the idea that Australian’s are prisoners of the fashion of sun bathing – and built a sunbathing prison.” The press release means the openness of society, not being victim of the fashion of sun bathing.