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Filled with Absence
Various Participants at The Collective
By Greg Streak13 February - 03 March. 2 Comment(s)
Various Participants
Installation view from 'In the Artists' Absence',
2012.
various
variable.
'Sometimes I need what only you can provide - your absence.' – Ashleigh Brilliant
Riaan van Jaarsveldt is a South African born artist who has spent the last 6 years living and working in Belgium. He made his way back to South Africa via an eight-month-long meandering through the African continent, a voyage back home as it were, which has seen him settle, for now, in Durban.
The exhibition, 'In the Artists’ Absence', currently on at The Collective in Durban (13 Feb – 03 March), sees Van Jaarsveldt play a series of roles, and as such, he is very much present. The seed for what the exhibition has become germinated through a series of discussions with artist friends/colleagues in Belgium. Perhaps in their physical absence and through a potential yearning for their presence in some form, Van Jaarsveldt has orchestrated a conceptual possibility for this to happen.
In brief, the exhibition has been put together from a series of instructions given to Van Jaarsveldt by the participating artists who are not, and will never be, actually present. Based on these instructions he has made, has commissioned and has installed the various works according to what he was instructed to do. Snippets of information and images of the space were all the artists had with which to conceptualize the works.
In some cases, the instructions were very direct and simple, and relied on execution through a series of step-by-step commands. In other instances the process required interpretation; basic, drawn elements that would then have to be interpreted into physical objects.
In one specific instance, a particular work is literally conspicuous in its absence. The mailed instruction of the work is yet to arrive – perhaps is slowed up in the mail and will still do so, or may in fact be lost forever. Nonetheless, this work sits in limbo; waiting in suspended absence.
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Another artist was specific in requiring the instructions themselves to be made evident via a laptop screen alongside the actual work that had been produced based on these instructions. Unfortunately, the computer was stolen from the gallery and so, in this instance, the commitment to the concept of absence has been taken above and beyond the call of duty.
A series of limited edition prints is also available. These come in the form of handmade prints that were produced in collaboration with Oplage, which is based in Antwerp. Each artist had the opportunity to create a print that may or may not be part of each individual instruction piece.
Depending on which day you decide to see the show, you would more than likely be exposed to a different reality. Some things that were there were later gone, with only scant reminders remaining (and which then constituted the actual work); some things that were not there previously later found themselves present. The show was in a constant state of flux; it is conceptual fluidity.
These are but a few examples of what makes this show such a compelling and intellectually rigorous engagement. In its conceptual circling of absence it is abundant; in its minimal execution and structure it is saturated with endless possibilities of cross-pollination and, through its binding rigour, one could easily view this is as a solo show because the glue that binds its myriad components is so seamless.
In closing, perhaps the last word should come from the shows accompanying text which best sums up its complex abstention: 'An exhibition with Belgian artists an exhibition with minimal colour an exhibition with friends an exhibition in principle an exhibition with cake an exhibition with no budget an exhibition in silence an exhibition by instruction an exhibition over distance an exhibition with streaming audio an exhibition in print an exhibition from the past an exhibition crossing borders an exhibition of this future an exhibition in stereo an exhibition in absence…'
Except that they weren't the last words: one wishes these were, because they would have given the brevity of the show some continued applause. But just as this review was completed, I received a philosophical mail from Riaan van Jaarsveldt to say that he had been left with no choice but to pull the show more than a week before the due date. Two of the original prints from the portfolio edition had also been stolen, to add to the already vanished laptop. What is absurd in all of this is the position that The Collective and artSPACE Durban have taken: Van Jarsveld stated that they said 'it's my own fault for not labelling the items in the show as not for free or alternatively with a price tag'. Further to this, the gallery does not have insurance (huh?) and cannot guarantee the security of the works.
To say that the galleries' stance is ridiculous and unacceptable would be a gross understatement. It is this sort of lack of professionalism and basic understanding of how to run a contemporary gallery space that adds to the already marginalized position that Durban holds within the contemporary South African landscape. It is evident from the galleries' response in this case that they did not recognize the quality of show that they are responsible for losing. In the wake of this unfortunate series of events it would be difficult to defend Durban's position against the continued claims of the mediocre levels of professional standards in the visual arts.
By contrast, I am sure that there are many spaces thoughout the country, and abroad, that would relish the chance to exhibit the future expansions that this show will spawn.
Greg Streak is a Durban-based artist and writer, and frequent freelance contributor to ArtThrob.
