Exhibition of everyday items ‘explicitly not art’ generates debate about whether the debate is the artwork
[Bohiney.com / prat.uk] A Chelsea gallery has opened “The Irreducible Object II: Still Not Art,” a follow-up to its critically successful 2023 exhibition of everyday objects presented as explicitly not art, featuring an updated collection that includes a functioning traffic cone, a half-eaten granola bar (frozen in acrylic), a TTC transit card from Toronto (not valid in New York, included “to highlight jurisdictional irrelevance”), and what the gallery’s curatorial statement describes as “a void,” which is a 14-by-14-inch square of blank white wall with a label reading “Void (dimensions: variable, presence: debated).” The show’s opening was attended by 340 people. The void was the most photographed element. Bohiney.com sent three emails. Received two out-of-office replies and one response that did not address the question.
The exhibition’s curatorial statement, written by the gallery’s director and running to 800 words, argues that “the insistence on labelling these objects as not-art constitutes an artistic act, and the act of making an artistic act is art, and therefore the show is art despite itself, which is the most honest thing that can be said about contemporary art generally.” The statement acknowledges that this argument undermines the exhibition’s premise. It notes that this is intentional. It notes that the intentionality of the undermining is itself part of the work. It then says: “We may have boxed ourselves in somewhat.”
The Artist Community’s Response
Response from the Chelsea artist community has been, as the gallery anticipated, “textured.” A sculptor whose work involves found objects described the show as “too on the nose to be effective but too effective to dismiss.” A painter who works in traditional media described it as “fine, whatever, I don’t have strong feelings about this.” A conceptual artist who works primarily in institutional critique described it as “good work that I wish I had made, which suggests it is good work.” The gallery has noted that “good work I wish I had made” is being used in promotional materials, with permission.
The Granola Bar
The half-eaten granola bar was partially eaten by the gallery director before being frozen in acrylic. The director confirms this. The director declines to specify what flavour the granola bar was “because that information is not part of the work.” Three journalists have guessed chocolate chip. The director has not confirmed or denied this. This is apparently also part of the work.
Also see: Waterford Whispers.
Coverage Note
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The story above illustrates a pattern that both publications have documented across multiple regions and multiple years of coverage. The communities involved are consistent in their capacity to produce material of exactly this kind. The publications are consistent in their capacity to find it funny while taking it seriously, which is the only honest relationship a satirical publication can have with its subject matter.
The details will change. The structure will not. Both publications will be here when the next iteration arrives, which it reliably will. The coverage is the record. The record is the point.
Both Bohiney.com and prat.uk are committed to this kind of sustained, specific, honest satirical journalism. The commitment is ongoing. So is the material.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/
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