Mark Wallinger curates: The Russian Linesman

Mark Wallinger curates: The Russian Linesman

20 February, 2009
by: SUSIE

Part of a series of exhibitions that put artists at their centre, The Russian Linesman at the Hayward Gallery is rather like a tour of Mark Wallinger's studio, and perhaps, by extension, an exploration of his psyche. It is a global selection from across 2000 years of diverse disciplines, and represents 25 years of the artist's inspirations and some of his own work too. On pondering the thematic lines running through his artistic output, Wallinger says he identified an "obsession" with borders and thresholds. He has concerned himself with perception, knowledge, experience and all their ambiguities.

The whole thing reminds me of an excellent compilation CD or movie soundtrack. There's the opening theme with possible reprise, like Mark Wallinger's own Time and Relative Dimensions In Space from 2001, with its dominating presence and literal and metaphorical reflection of its surroundings.

There's the track that inspires you to run out and buy a band's entire back-catalogue, like Amie Siegel's brilliant Berlin Remake (2005) – scenes from German Communist state films made between 1940 and the 1980s juxtaposed with shot-for-shot post-Wall remakes.

There's the song that offers you an introduction to a band so terrifyingly huge that you had no idea where to begin, like Tacita Dean's Foley Artist (1996). There's that evasive one that, no matter how many times you try to pay attention to it, you always end up drifting off and watching pigeons until you notice that it has ended, like Fred Sandback's work with acrylic yarn.

There's the special one that has the emotional grip to induce instant tears within a single chord, like Giuseppe Penone's sculptural land/tree interventions in Alpi Marittime (1968–70). And finally, the jaunty number that never fails to raise a smile, like Vija Celmins' skilful yet playful To Fix The Image In Memory XII (1977–82), a guessing game of fact and fiction.

The other day, somebody asked me whether this show was worth seeing. I was reluctant to answer, struggling, as I do, with the notion that attending art galleries is somehow worthwhile, that an exhibition has a value that is quantifiable and neatly comparable to the rest of the capital's array of cultural consumables. The question seemed to sit back in its chair and sneer with a "go on, impress me" attitude.

What makes Mark Wallinger's show glorious is that it is worth as much as you make it. Here are big ideas. You could spend the next 25 years thinking about them. Along the way you might stumble across inspiration, truth, enlightenment, sustenance, new ways of thinking and seeing, subversion, excitement, reassurance, hope and beauty. And then you could look back and say that The Russian Linesman – Frontiers, Borders and Thresholds was worth seeing.


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SUSIE