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06/13/2005: "Holland, Belgium, Midwest..." by Sue Spaid
Fortunately, my freezing-cold trip to Holland and Belgium, visiting friends and checking out art, was followed by three driving trips to warmer destinations (visiting friends and checking out art). A westward trip to Pontiac, Illinois, facilitated my stopping en route at the recently reopened Indianapolis Museum of Art. I also drove northeast to Granville, Ohio, home to www.absolutearts.com and southwest to Louisville’s Abbey Road on the River.
Holland
My trip was planned to coincide with In This Colony, the premiere exhibition for KUNSTFORT bij Vijfhuizen, a newly renovated 19th Century fort complete with turrets and barracks, about an hour west of Amsterdam. While researching Ecovention: Current Art to Transform Ecologies, U.S. artist Agnes Denes, who devised Holland’s 25-year master plan for some 70 forts and batteries, mentioned such sites, though I had never imagined such Brutalist charm. Despite being located seemingly nowhere, the KUNSTFORT proved an amazing place, very cozy and fun to explore. Installed in a contemporary bunker, adjacent the fort, Twan Janssen’s Pilot 1.1 (2005) was a five-screen computer-animated video, featuring the artist hard at work in China, coordinating the details of his upcoming London exhibition, unbeknownst to the actual gallerist. Problematically, the high number of video installations inside the fort’s modest barracks failed to offer imaginative alternatives for spaces that are clearly perfect single-channel video theaters. Krijn de Koning’s roof installations proved a surprising respite to so much video and photo-based work. And the fab restaurant with unique light fixtures serves totally delicious food.
The next day, we stopped by the Stedelijk Museum’s current outpost in Amsterdam’s old post office at Oosterdokskade 5, which is conveniently also home to the venerable alternative space W139, though we didn’t get to visit it. At the Stedelijk, we explored Populism, a massive (simultaneously, multi-venue) thematic show organized by the Nordic Institute for Contemporary Art, which included a slew of international art stars like Jeremy Deller, Jens Hanning, Henrik Plenge Jakobsen, Per Kirkeby, Mathieu Laurette, Cildo Meireles, Sarah Morris and superflex (unfortunately Stig Skolund’s project was omitted from this venue), alongside lesser knowns lSusanne Jirkuff, Temporary Services and Erik van Lieshout. I even dropped euros in a coin slot to see Jani Leinonen’s pay-per-view paintings. I was pleasantly puzzled by a concurrent exhibition featuring one work from each year, a veritable hodgepodgelodge of colliding genres, movements and categories, displayed en masse. The design show seemed remarkably coherent.
KUNSTFORT bij Vijfhuizen- www.kunstfort.nl
Stedelijk Museum- www.stedelijk.nl
POPULISM- www.populism2005.com
W139- www.w139.nl
Belgium
Those who know that I survived one of Germany’s worst train wrecks of the past decade as well as a
Gangsta rap shoot-out on Manhattan’s west side will be alarmed to learn that soon after my train entered Belgium, it somehow hit a person (it was described over the intercom as a “personnel accident,” which made me think the conductor had had a heart attack). An apparent suicide, there was no sudden screeching of the brakes or ambulance/police alarm, which left me non-plussed. Even stranger, no one else in my cabin bothered to ask the policeman any questions, so I was left to explain our two hour delay to those passengers seated in my vicinity. It seemed like the snack-cart girl’s first day, so she probably quit at day’s end, given the throngs of exasperated and hungry passengers. Fortunately, Jean-Francois was still waiting for me by the time I arrived. We drove to Maransart where he rapidly prepared a delicious lamb feast.
Monday, we headed to Antwerp to purchase tickets at de Singel for a theater-dance performance by German choreographer Sasha Waltz. Afterwards, we headed to fashion-district stores Walter, Ann Demeuleemeister and walked by the Dries van Noten shop en route to Louis, where I tried on one of Margiela’s amazing 90-degree rotated tops. Finally arriving at ModeMuseum (the national fashion museum), we found closed doors, which opened only an hour later. Searching high and low for the Belgian specialty waterzooi, we settled for Belgian fare, though no waterzooi. We then headed to the Vrouwekathedraal to see Peter Paul Ruben paintings, though we were more captivated by a charming painting, which depicted the 14 stations of the cross symmetrically distributed along its perimeter. After eating a delicious velouté of garden nettles and a Belgian specialty of herbed butter drizzled over two types of asparagus and boiled eggs, we drove over to nearby Louvain-la-Neuve to walk amidst this unusual, elevated concrete college town, near Jean-François’ office.
Our first stop Tuesday was Ghent’s world famous S.M.A.K. Undergoing installation, this contemporary art center was fairly ripped up, though we did see a small Barry Flanagan survey, a wonderful wallpaper work by Kees Goudzwaard and an amusing exhibition of 64 photographs by Portuguese artist Vasco Araujo, whose photos depict fan gestures once used to communicate flirtations across the room. After parking our car in pedestrian-only downtown Ghent, we boarded a motorboat for an informative tour of medieval Ghent that passed along canals only locals traverse. We then popped into the historic Design museum Gent, where we saw AirWorld a super-comprehensive survey of all things air travel (seats, trays, stewardess uniforms, dishes, tickets, travel bags, airplane interiors and airport models). Best of all, exhibition information was printed on a barf bag… Running out of time, we ran over to Saint Bavo’s Cathedral, home to the famed Adoration of the Mystique Lamb (1432), known to Americans as the Ghent Altarpiece. After eating nothing all day, I popped into an Alsatian bakery on the way out of town and purchased two gaufre Alsace, truly unique, slim waffle sandwiches stuffed with a sugary cream filling. After a speedy meal of eggplant gratinée, reheated velouté, parma and salad, we drove to de Single and took ou seat as the curtain fell. After the performance, we checked out models and plans by Mexican architects Laboratorio de la Ciudad, as well as a curious portable library curated by notable artworlders.First thing Wednesday, we stopped at nearby La Cabosse d’Or to buy a balotin of chocolates for my U.C. students. We then marched to the top of the Butte du Lion, a giant grassy mound that features a bronze lion, marking the historic battlefields of Waterloo, where Napoleon met his demise against the alliance of English, Dutch Prussian, German and Austrian armies. After descending the mound, we visited the century-old panoramic theater, housing a 360-degree mural of that battle’s scenes, updated to include magnificent sound effects echoing off a gorgeous wooden dome. We even explored the ancient wax museum, whose tableaus were accompanied by multi-lingual monologs. On the way out, we discovered several wonderful displays that still had the original, hand-written labels. Once in Brussels, we found Jean-François’ frère Étienne in time to invite him to join us for lunch at the amazing restaurant atop the Museum
of Musical Instruments, where I ordered l’agneau de coco (coconut lamb), but expected cacao not coco.
We then headed off to BOZAR (nickname for Palais des Beaux-Arts) to see famed curator Harald Szeeman’s exhibition, Visionary Belgium, a survey of Belgian art coinciding with Belgium’s 150th anniversary of statehood. Of course, many had hoped that Ensor’s masterful Christ’s Entry Into Brussels would re-enter Brussels for this occasion, but the Getty imperialists denied this request. Nonetheless, there were lots of interesting works, though most took Belgian lifestyle or its politics, economy, history, flag, etc. as its subject. Not all were Belgian artists. I was particularly confused by the presence of so much Alfred Jarry and Antonin Artaud paraphernalia, which Szeeman evidently included to suggest a source for frivolity and joie de vivre, which is either particular to Belgium or exemplary of the “Visionary” franchise (there were Swiss and Austrian predecessors). Indubitably, all were influenced by his 1984 Jarry exhibition. Here, one got the sense that after departing Paris in the thirties, Surrealism took hold in Belgium and somehow became Belgium’s national culture, which of course gave me a new take on Martin Margiela’s design strategy. I suddenly connected Margiela’s tabi shoes to Belgian pigs to Surrealist lobsters.
Perhaps this show, Szeeman’s last was more autobiography than biography. One sensed him using Cagean chance-mechanisms to lay out the show, whose thematic categories seemed cleverly opaque, although they’re spelled out in the catalog. I rather enjoyed imagining Szeeman randomly selecting each work’s placement specifically to spite curatorial props like genre, decade, movement or medium, tools that belie claims to clarity. Highlights included Jan Bucquoy’s underwear museum, Claude Cahun’s double portrait of Henri Michaux (adjacent his mescaline drawings), Jacques Lennep’s satirical drawings, Ann Veronica Janssen’s flag-inspired atmospheric room, Félicien Rops’ fascinating 19th century erotic drawings, Michel Scheer’s morphodynamo genesis drawings and Johan Van Geluwe’s Museum of Museums, whose motto “A junk of art is a joy for never” is forever emblazoned on my mind! The whole thing left me wanting to see a survey of Jacques Charlier, whose work appeared in myriad contexts, though each time in different mediums! En route to the car park, we visited the newly opened Martin Margiela boutique and a gallery recently relocated from Luxembourg, Erna Hécey, where I saw a memorable Kendall Geers video, featuring the ten commandments scrolling over a panacea of writhing naked women.
I caught a flight Thursday to Saint Louis where I participated on a panel discussion concerning the enchanting drawings of Ruby Osorio.
De Singel- www.desingel.be
ModeMuseum- www.momu.be
Vrouwekathedraal Antwerpen- www.dekathedraal.be
Stedelijk Musuem voor Actuele Kunst Gent- www.smak.be
Design museum gent- www.designmuseumgent.be
Curating the Library- www.curatingthelibrary.be
Waterloo Battlefields- www.waterloo1815.be
Museum of Musical Instruments- www.mim.fgov.be
Palais de Beaux-Arts, Bruxelles- www.bozar.be
Erna Hécey- www.ernahecey.com
Contemporary Art Museum Saint Louis- www.contemporarystl.org
Midwest Driving Trips
En route to Pontiac, Illinois, I passed two towns, Normal and Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, that I plan to visit next fall on my 60-city speaking tour. Meeting up with L.A. artist Kahty Chenoweth in the middle of nowhere was quite a hoot, if only because she insisted we visit one her favorite haunts, a bar downtown filled to the brim with stuffed animals, hunting gear and distorted heads. On my return drive, I stopped by the greatly enlarged Indianapolis Museum of Art, whose few completed galleries are hung in a totally uninspiring, overly didactic manner. I longed for the hodgepodglelodge approach I had just witnessed in Europe. If we can’t go “hpl” on the American public, let’s at least get as innovative as the Cincinnati Art Museum, whose Cincinnati wing at least shakes it up in terms of integrating art and furniture in an engaging manner. Somehow I expect more of the IMA, especially since it is one of the nation’s wealthiest museums. I enjoyed exploring their X Room Pilot Projects: etx and Cabinet of Dreams, though I wished the attendant hadn’t vanished, since I had loads of questions. The museum’s front yard is lovely and I truly enjoyed dining at their PUCK restaurant, the newest franchise on the Midwest museum circuit (Chicago’s MCA and Saint Louis’ CAM have them too!). I never knew pork chops and polenta could be so tasty.After a year of writing this column for www.absolutearts.com, I set out to Granville to meet Jodi and Markus in person. On the way, I stopped in Columbus to see Vanishing Point, an exhibition that was either too “1996 à la non-lieu” or more appropriate for a commercial gallery than an experimental institution like the Wexner Center for the Arts. While there were commanding photos by Hélène Binet, Fabian Birgfeld, Luisa Lambri, Craig Kalpakjian, Daniel Mirer and intriguing mini-installations by Sarah Beddington, Dike Blair and Won Ju Lim, the whole exhibition seemed a little too safe, like a live version of Frieze magazine. Only Amy Wheeler’s paintings struck me as offering more in real life than in reproduction. After touring absolutearts.com, we had a lively lunch at a New York-style deli in downtown Granville, with their assistant Janet, who I knew from my Columbus salon. On the way home, I popped into Rebecca Ibel’s gallery.
A few weeks later, my friend Terry and I drove to Louisville for Abbey Road on the River, a Beattle’s fest of sorts. I agreed to go on the condition that I wouldn’t have to spend more than $20 and that I could at least spend some time with Louisville friends designer Anita Scharrer, Julian Robson (contemporary art curator at the Speed Museum) and Sarah Lyons. After a delicious and raucous lunch at Northside Café, we headed to the fest where I was appalled to learn how little Beattle’s fans grasp Yoko Ono’s genius, but I was pleased to see A Hard Day’s Night, which is truly a filmic work of art, most likely inspired by Jarry’s antics.
The Indianapolis Museum of Art- www.ima-art.org
Wexner Center for the Arts- www.wexarts.org
Markus, Jodi and Janet- www.absolutearts.com
Abbey Road on the River- www.abbeyroadontheriver.com
