Under Destruction

Museum Tinguely, Basel

According to shamanistic wisdom, for anything to be created something must be destroyed. According to Rosalind Krauss, however, or as she summarized Georges Bataille’s La part maudite (The Accursed Share, 1949), “If nothing can be created, something must be destroyed.” It’s a very fine line of distinction and maybe one worth pondering on a visit to Basel’s Museum Tinguely, where the current exhibition is dedicated to artistic creations that might better be called artistic destructions.

Under Destruction takes on the artistic act of destruction through a series of overlapping themes and categories: generative force to environmental memento mori, consumer fallout to poetic transformation. Consisting of largely kinetic works, the spectacular nature of some works is played against the subtlety of others to reveal the diversity of meaning in the idea of destruction. Jonathan Schipper’s The Slow Inevitable Death of American Muscle enacts a head-on collision over an extended length of time. The sonic catharsis missing here is lent by Christian Marclay’s Guitar Drag, in which we not only get to see the destruction of a guitar as it is pulled behind a truck, but we get to hear it too. On the topic of catharsis, documentation video of Michael Landy’s celebrated 2001 Breakdown, in which the artist had all of his 7,227 possessions systematically classified and destroyed in the former C&A building on London’s Oxford Street, is also included in the exhibition. More subtle interpretations of destruction are given by Nina Canell’s Perpetuum Mobile (40 kg), in which sonic vibrations transform water to a mist that hardens a nearby bag of cement, and Kris Martin’s 100 years (2004), which very simply consists of a bomb set to go off in 2104. Until you try to imagine the year 2104, who knew a bomb could be abstract?

October 15, 2010 – January 23, 2011 at Museum Tinguely, Paul Sacher-Anlage 1, 4058 Basel. Opening Hours: Tuesday – Sunday: 11am – 7pm.

Images:

The Slow Inevitable Death of American Muscle, Jonathan Schipper, 2007-08  – The West Collection © 2010 Courtesy of the Artist & Pierogi

Guitar Drag, Christian Marclay, 2000, Courtesy Paula Cooper Gallery, New York © 2010 Christian Marclay

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Categories: Basel, Art, Exhibitions

Contributing writer: Melissa Frost

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The therapeutic qualities of water is something that we only really appreciate when we’re by it’s side… or when you’re swimming, or having a shower, or drinking it, or gardening, or keeping fish as pets…Ok, water is undoubtedly fantastic.

When you read celebrity interviews (the real ones, not the reality stars who want big rims and big breasts) they dream about waterfront properties, fresh and relaxing lifestyles. The dream isn’t floating to far away from us hard working people. Seas, rivers, lakes are prime land; they portray a lifestyle and are vital for the best views. We’ve got all look-out points covered. Read the rest of this entry »

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Basquiat – a retrospective on the occasion of a what would-have-been 50^th birthday

Foundation Beyeler, Basel

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Art Basel. The Art Fair of Art Fairs

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No Ball Games

Something’s going on this June. Oh yeah, that over-talked about World Cup thing.

Not all places are embracing the game because, believe it or not, it’s not everyone’s be all and end all. Life and travel does carry on around World Cup time for those who let it.

Want to escape it? Here’s how.

We’re offering you retreats and hideaways so you don’t have to put up with the bad behaviour, the tantrums, the tears, the injuries or the opinions.  Get on the ball and go and do something else, somewhere else.

The Greulich Hotel is setting the tone with their No-Goal dinners, while these other hotel gems have told us their places will be football free:

Aenea, Worthersee, Austria
Krafft Basel, Basel
Lesic Dimitri, Korcula, Croatia
Inis Meain, Arran Islands, Ireland
Hotel des Academies, Paris
Ca’pisani, Venice
Hotel J, Stockholm
Hotel Skeppsholmen, Stockholm
Town Hall Hotel & Apartments, London

The Greenwich, New York
New Majestic, Singapore
The Retreat, Tanzania

Go somewhere where football fever isn’t being forced fed to you.