Raising Dust at Calvert 22

Raising Dust at Calvert 22

10 December, 2010
by: Tom Jeffreys

Should the experience of viewing art be adulterated by explanatory texts? Tom Jeffreys goes all vague...

The relationship between exhibition and press release is a tricky one. And particuarly today, in an industry (and it is an industry) in which it's so often the PRs which seem to possess the power. That's not to say that this is simply a question of truth, or honesty, or integrity, or any of these boring things. It's more about the manner in which one approaches an exhibition, and the works of art within it – to this end it's also important to examine the effects of all those captions and bits of explanatory text that are (increasingly prominently) a part of the exhibition, but not, perhaps, a part of the art.

Not a part of the art? Sometimes the line isn't so easy to draw. Nonetheless,  should we need these explanatory accompaniments, even if we can rigorously distinguish them as (merely) supplementary? Do we privelege the artist's statement above the press release? Where does text-based art fit in? Right now, FormContent is hosting an exhibition that explores exactly these questions, but it's Raising Dust, which opened this week at Calvert 22, that has focused my attention on an issue I've been thinking about for a while now.

Raising Dust is an exhibition of work by various Eastern European contemporary artists, curated by novelist and theorist Richard Appignanesi. And his background is telling. Most of the work is accompanied by text – one in particular by a fascinating  four-page essay. (In fact I'm tempted to write a piece that's simply a response to this article by Marina Gržinid and not a review of the exhibition at all...) And yet on the opening night, Appignanesi declares his preference for art to show, not tell. “I don't care much for explaining,” he says. So what are we to make of this apparent discrepancy? Can one partake in an unmediated dialogue with a work of art? Should art speak for itself? Can it? What might this mean?

These are questions that, for me at least, are fundamental to the exhibition itself. In this sense, Rasheed Araeen's maps of a proposed Mediterranean Union are particularly instructive. Aesthetically they're not much to look at. But it's what they imply, denote, critique that is of import – and the explanatory wall text helps here. Araeen looks at the edges of spheres of cultural influence, and posits an overlap of hope and co-operation.

There are other intriguing works on show too – Navroze Contractor's photographs of brooms and street sweepers in Jodhpur form the foundations of the show, from where pieces like those of Sašo Sedlacek are able to spring with deftly balanced humour. Sedlacek presents a chandelier plugged into a toilet and one of those little fluffy jumping dog things powered by a kid's potty. They're great!

These are works that, at the risk of sounding glib, explore the dynamics of echange. Economically – the circualtion of capital between rich and poor; culturally – between East and West; scatologically – in terms of the recycling of the waste products of consumption (in the many senses of the word). There's an underlying frustration with capitalism, as unequal system of exchange, and a fascination with that which is created and left over (or outside) as supplement.

It's in this sense then that accompanying texts might be seen to operate in relation to the actual art on show: as a supplement, something considered lesser, extraneous, somehow unnecessary. And yet here they're as interesting as the art. Or rather, they're part of the art. Three days later, still I'm reading, stopping, thinking.

Raising Dust is at Calvert 22 until 20th February 2011. 

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Image credit: Marina Gržinid and Aina Šmid in collaboration with Zvonka Simcic. Naked Freedom, 2010. Video. Sound, 19’27’’. Courtesy of the artists

Tom Jeffreys