ART=SHELTER by Thomas Hirschhorn
Art Station Dubulti opens the ‘Presence and Production’-Work by Swiss artist Thomas Hirschhorn “ART=SHELTER”. A shelter for hope, production, dialogue, inclusion, love (of art) and exchange; a shelter for preventing hate, anger, violence, negativity, passivity and resentment.
"Since I started working, wars keep breaking-in, as the first Gulf-War (1990-1991), the Rwandan Civil War (1990-1994), the Chiapas conflict (1990 to present), the Sierra Leone Civil War (1991-2002), the Bosnian War (1992-1995), the Kosovo War (1998-1999), the Chechen Wars (1994-1996 and 1999-2009), the Soviet and American Wars in Afghanistan (1979-1989, 2001-2021), the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the 9/11-terrorist attacks, the 2nd Gulf-War (2003-2011), the first Libyan Civil War (2011) and second Libyan Civil War (2014-2020), the Syrian Civil War (2011-present), the war in East-Ukraine (2014) and now, Ukraine in 2022. These wars have pointed out to me with a violent insistence, the question: "How to do artwork that make sense in times of war?", "Can doing artwork be a valuable response to war?" and "Does art have a healing impact on the disaster of war?". As an artist and as a human being I cannot give a definite response to these crucial questions, but what I want, what I must do, is to give an answer throughout my work, with a form. And therefore, I remember very well the first Gulf-War and what work I was doing then.
"ART=SHELTER" is the form, my form, our form opposed to the present Ukranian-War, and furthermore, this form expresses also my belief, my instinct, my intuition toward all wars and war-behaviors: Art can and must be a Shelter, Art gives and takes Shelter. "ART=SHELTER" wants to give form in asserting Art as Shelter for something: Art as something which creates hope - the hope of an emancipated and fullfilled life. Art as something which provokes love - the love of Art and with it, all love. Art as something which gives the desire for production - the production of Art. Art as something which stands for exchange - the sharing of beauty and truth. Art as something which encompasses inclusion - the inclusion of each human being. And Art as something which generates dialogue - a dialogue beyond all borders and all disparities. I believe Art always stands FOR something because Art constructs, is active, is productive. Nevertheless Art is also against something and as well, "ART=SHELTER" is the form for: Art - in all its expressions - against Hate, Violence, Resentment, Passivity, Anger, Negativity. This is what I want to assert and manifest through this new ‘Presence-and-Production'-Work in Latvia,” says the artist Thomas Hirschhorn.
For fifteen days from April 21st until May 5th artist Thomas Hirschhorn is working in Art Station Dubulti from 9am to 6pm. It is both an artwork and a workshop-space. A sculpture and a presence. The artist leads a workshop-session every day: a critical workshop “Energy=yes! Quality=No!”. “As an artist I refuse to adopt the term ‘quality’ for my work and I don’t want to apply it to the work of others. Each participant brings an input, a work, something coming from her/himself: a text, an original-painting, a drawing, a song, a collage, a sculpture, a video or anything else. The participant chooses this work - only one - with the idea that it will be discussed according to the criteria Energy: Yes! Quality: No!,” explains Thomas Hirschhorn. Daily lectures, presentations and discussions take place in the improvised broadcasting studio that is a part of “ART=SHELTER”.
The curator of the Art Station Dubulti Inga Steimane states: “Aggression is one of the most serious crimes under contemporary law and the prohibition to use force is a norm. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has created worldwide erga omnes obligations - everyone is responsible for stopping the war. What can an art institution do? Will it be able to use its competencies effectively meanwhile not looking infantile? For three decades Thomas Hirschhorn's art has involved criticism as well as predictions of our political and social environment - that it's fragile because of exclusions, traditional ideas of identity and difference. In his latest work Thomas Hirschhorn creates a public space and situation where people can spend time and produce something, have dialogues and acquaintanceships. He has his own way of working politically - eye to eye with individuals, the method typically regarded as “unrealistic”.
Utopianism is equally proposed by Hirschhorn's form - dimensionless and site-subversive sculpture made out of industrial, non-exclusive and not intimidating material, without time restrictions in production or perception. The source of his sculpture is subjectivity (“the will to enter in relation with the world”). He chooses materials that everybody uses and knows, because he is against construction of the subject as a lay person or nonprofessional. Much like Deleuze reveals the logic of the senses as the basis of the constitution of humanity, Hirschhorn sees his residential sculpture as the form constituted by his intuition and proceeded intuitively by the audience as a new world where life is liberated vitality.
Living through the Ukrainian war and facing collapses of concepts, structures and qualities regarded unquestionable until recently, including the art programme made months ago, Thomas Hirschhorn's empiricism seems reliable to stand with moral duties.”
Visitors are invited to join “ART=SHELTER” from the April 21st till May 5th:
participate in the creation of “ART=SHELTER” under the guidance of the artist;
participate in the critical workshop “Energy=yes! Quality=No!” bringing a work and discussing it;
participate in the daily lectures, presentations and discussions in the improvised broadcasting studio at the “ART=SHELTER” (any language).
Thomas Hirschhorn was born in 1957 in Bern, Switzerland. After studying at the Kunstgewerbeschule Zürich, he moved to Paris in 1983 where he has been living and working since. His work has been presented in many international exhibitions such as Skulptur Projekte Münster (1997), the Venice Biennale (1999 and 2015) where he represented Switzerland in 2011, Documenta11 (2002), 27th Sao Paolo Biennale (2006), 55th Carnegie International, Pittsburg (2008), La Triennale at Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2012), 9th Shanghai Biennale (2012), Manifesta 10 at Saint-Petersburg (2014), Atopolis Mons (2015), Kochi-Muziris Biennale (2018), Steirischer Herbst, Graz (2021). Other venues have hosted solo exhibitions, among which the Art Institute of Chicago (1998), Museum Ludwig, Cologne (1998), Bonnefanten Museum, Maastricht (2005), Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston (2005), Museum Tinguely, Basel (2013), South London Gallery (2015), Kunsthal Aarhus, (2017), Museum Villa Stuck, Munich (2018), GL Strand, Copenhagen (2021).
In 2015 Thomas Hirschhorn‘s installation “Eye to Eye Subjecter” was a part of the Art Station Dubulti opening exhibition “My Heart is A Tiger”.
“ART=SHELTER” is open daily from 9am till 6pm (21.04.-05.05.) and from 9am till 5.30pm (06.05.-29.06.). Entrance in the “ART=SHELTER” is free. The exposition will be on view until June 29th.
Art Station Dubulti is founded and curated by art critic Inga Steimane. The program is created with the support of Jurmala City Council and State Culture Capital Foundation.
Text: Inga Steimane