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TILO SCHULZ: (VISUAL) ARTIST AND ART MEDIATOR
I. Introduction
The Art System
For a long time, communication between the artist and recipient was exclusively about the artwork. This mute interchange was often problematic for the recipient, since it was a non-discursive form of communication. Art historians and critics were the first to give this interchange a broader voice(1). In the meantime, art has developed into a complex system that is no longer simply about the artist and his work. Rather, the field of international art and its widespread network of mediation and reception, as well as the art market and its economic productivity (sales) are important elements - as are the people involved with all of it: curators, critics, gallery owners, and collectors.
In recent decades, it has been apparent over and over again that the roles played by each individual in the system are exchangeable. Artists and collectors work as curators, gallery owners and curators write criticism on the side, while galleries, museums, and private collectors generate productions for which artists deliver the ideas. These "double lives," or "shifts in position,"(2) which are seldom without conflicts of interest, are motivated by several reasons. Artists' groups organize their own exhibitions to market their work to the public. Artists become curators so that they can "work on and assess things that have already been done,"(3) to "communicate points of view, concepts, and strategies by other artists, or to use other artists to illustrate their own ideas."(4)
Ultimately, increasing numbers of participants feel hemmed in by and are seeking to escape not only from the rigid framework of artistic genres, but also from the process of exhibiting - including the processes of production and the classic role of the museum as mediator. Contemporary artists no longer conceive their works for the museum, but also for mass media such as the Internet, television, or the newspaper - not just in order to attain greater distribution, but also to shed some critical light on each medium. As a consequence, exhibitions are no longer the only (and perhaps often totally unsuitable) sites for communicating particular artistic ideas. Correspondingly, art is increasingly received via catalogs and magazines, the Internet, and image databanks.
II. Tilo Schulz: Artist and Art Mediator
Tilo Schulz is one of the artists working on both sides of the fence. He not only produces art, but is also an art mediator, curator, and publicist, and he organizes colloquia and lecture series as well. Mediating art means that he himself takes over the distribution of his projects, balancing deficits - and, by employing additional communication and marketing strategies - broadening the established methods usually exhausted by PR people.
In early exhibits such as 1994's "Formenmalerei,"(5) Schulz explored the boundaries between painting and sculpture, using this crucial description of genres to re-open the discourse about painting(6). In 1997, he was invited to contribute to a permanent exhibition celebrating the opening of the Leipzig Convention Center. There, his project involved publishing and designing free art postcards, since there was a need to relay information about the other works of art on display. He wrote articles and ads for single works in the city magazine, Kreuzer, organized tours focusing on the history of the Leipzig Fair and its new convention center, designed maps for the other artists' works, and lectured at various institutions in the city. Additionally, Schulz provided commentary and explanations for the other artists' projects. For example, Rirkrit Tiravanija's work at the Messemulde Ost in turn referred to Blinky Palermo's 1973 show at the Hamburger Kunstverein. Schulz's postcard for Tiravanija's work supplied extra information on Palermo's murals (since Palermo was born in Leipzig), providing additional commentary on Tiravanija's work-which had unusual status in the whole project, thanks to Palermo's Leipzig connection. Besides the usual information, the reverse of the postcard contained a short description of the work, written by Schulz.
III. body of work: the ideal exhibition - category:...
The expansion of Schulz's artistic ouevre can especially be seen in the group of works called body of work: the ideal exhibition - category:..., which he has realized at various locations since 1998(7).
The term 'body of works' is consciously used in order to allow the understanding of artistic practice to exude into the development of works. As in many of Schulz's projects, the reception of the work is part of the production process. The notion of reception includes both the development of a work as well as its later integration into the body of work - into other contexts, that is. Ultimately, it is about the artist's responsibility for authentic ideas - which does not end with the completion of an object.
Tilo Schulz's shows also always focus on a genre, since the artist avoids combining stylistic categories. Besides the classic genres of painting and sculpture, he is interested in forms and tools such as the poster, painting, the invitation, or design. In 1998, he showed the categories of poster, word sculpture, and invitation at the Refusalon Gallery in San Francisco. On the walls of the gallery hung what have in the meantime become four legendary exhibition posters: category: poster. Due to their historical importance, the original posters by Daniel Buren, Robert Morris, Yvonne Rainer, and Richard Long have themselves become works of art. However, they were not hung directly on the white walls, but were generously distributed across wallpaper made of colored posters displaying the words body of work: the ideal exhibition - category: poster. The posters featured a colorful, orange-turquoise pattern and were hung closely, right next to each other; typographically speaking, round shapes dominated the writing, which consisted primarily of small letters. Lining up the posters in a stereotypical manner allowed the text - and hence the category - to make an impression on the memory. The variety and old-fashioned layout of the historical posters (which simply interrupted the background) also starkly contrasted with it - a presentational method recalling practices of past centuries, when pictures would be shown on walls covered with fabric.
The words in Schulz's wall writings are not purely visual phenomena, but instead represent a connection between the verbal and the visual. He chooses English titles for purely pragmatic reasons. All of the models are given English language designations so that the artist can work with the material on an international level, since this particular body of work also deals with the general tendency of artists not to stop at linguistic or territorial boundaries.
The posters dominated and structured the large exhibition space in San Francisco, even though only one half of the room was postered. An object titled word sculpture leaned against the wall in the other half of the room, which remained white. Visitors usually stayed in the wallpapered half of the space, although seats were distributed throughout the room. The colorful surface was meant to lure the visitor, to "add some flavor" to the theoretical part of the exhibition. A table added another touch to the playful walls; there, as in a library, visitors could read books, catalogs, and information sheets about the artists working in the various categories. Schulz invited local people to choose the reading material.(8)
Departing from the old idea of an art that imitates nature, Schulz's art imitates art itself, turning to its own history. His exhibitions contemplate and restructure (art)history: on his journeys through the past centuries, he observes artistic practices of earlier epochs, building bridges between the past and present. His body of work: the ideal exhibition - category:... presents a kind of art that returns to its own past, asks historical questions, delves into epochs, genres and their boundaries, and sheds light upon artists, styles, form, and manner. In terms of art history, he re-examines old methods of style criticism and broader concepts of genre and functional style, poses questions relating specifically to genres or traversing epochs, and explores junctures between the museum and information theory.
In order to avoid a one-sided selection of works that would simply represent the artist's position, Schulz invites guests to participate in his projects, thus adding variety to the shows. Each guest makes a personal selection based upon the many possibilities within a genre; the selections are meant to represent the ideal exhibition of the particular genre. This is ultimately a variable, flexible way of exhibiting, no longer dependent upon place or people.
III.1. Original and Copy
The show at the Refusalon Gallery was actually an exception to Schulz's usual method of presentation, because Schulz's exhibitions generally never feature original artworks. Originals are replaced with slide projections, prints, reproductions, and secondary literature. The artist works with reproduction processes, with the copy instead of the original. Also at stake here are issues concerning the status of the original - the basis for his shows. It is not the contemplation of origin, but the mediation of each artwork that is of greater importance. Emphasis is not placed on the authenticity or originality of the works on display; rather, the entire installation is original. In pursuing this course, Tilo Schulz incorporates art made by others into his concepts.
In Zwickau, the "representative function" was especially remarkable in the presentation of the works. Plastic letters glued to a colorfully painted wall proclaimed the mural category, represented as slides projected onto the wall. Genre barriers were broken. The materials in a "real" museum - its limited number of (original) works - are replaced with slide projections; graffiti images are shown next to frescoes and oil paintings.
III.2. "Ideal" Art: a Reference
The matter-of-fact title of the series body of work: the ideal exhibition - category:... especially raises the question: what is the ideal exhibition? Since the numerous possibilities, directions, media, and genres of art are constantly expanding, changing (and thus profiting), developing the ideal exhibition seems to be a hopeless undertaking. The person organizing the show can provide an answer, but his choices are ultimately always selective and judgmental.
However, Tilo Schulz's concept of the ideal exhibition does not use the word "ideal" in the sense of "perfect." Rather, he is more concerned with the meaning of "ideal" as "exemplary." That is why his attention centers on models, ideas, assembling possibilities, and on works, positions, and attitudes that have no need of the original.
In another approach, directed toward the receptive behavior of the viewer, the two artists Komar and Melamid tried in 1997 to create the ideal (in the sense of perfect) art work. The two artists worked with a professional market research company in the USA, which provided them with information gleaned from a wide study on consumer taste, preferred themes, colors, and forms. Using this data, the artists developed "America's Most Wanted..." and "America's Least Wanted Paintings" and then went on to use the same procedure in a large number of other countries.
As market researchers do, they asked the public for its criteria for the perfect artwork. Finally, they put together all of this information in a computer to create a painting containing all of the elements of a theoretically ideal, perfect picture: obvious, sly proof of the failure of such an undertaking.
IV. Art and the cognoscenti: mediating strategies
Tilo Schulz's numerous methods of mediating art contradict the often heard accusation that art requires expertise, that it is only for the cognoscenti.(9) He creates new models that allow more room for experiments, making it clear that it is possible to mediate art on more than the theoretical level.
For the opening exhibition, ONTOM, at the Leipzig Gallery of Contemporary Art in 1998, Schulz asked every artist in the show to create a statement about their work in ONTOM, which would then be printed on polo shirts. During the run of the show, museum employees and a merchandising team would wear the shirts.
Providing reading material for the visitors is another mediation strategy that Schulz incorporated into his exhibitions in Bremen and San Francisco. Visitors were able to lose themselves in books, and selected additional information, such as readers, magazines, and artists' books, made it easier to understand the art on display and increased visitors' abilities to see and understand visible things, to recognize, put things in order, transpose, and make contextual associations. As a result, the viewer realizes that he is not once again simply a passive consumer, but is instead a perceptive, active reader and researcher combined.
For the "inside out" exhibition at the Westfälischer Kunstverein Münster in 2000, Schulz organized a series that took place both in and outside of the Kunstverein. Events meant to broaden the function of the Kunstverein included lectures dealing with men's and women's spheres.(10) After a few initial difficulties, the series had a successful run and (despite its conceptual orientation) is one of the most personal, because most biographical, works by Schulz. "I actually wanted to establish the thematic direction with Susanne [Susanne Gaensheimer, who was curator at the Westfälischer Kunstverein at the time]. However, she refused. Because of time pressure, I had to rely completely upon myself. That meant I had to decide upon the thematic direction as well as select the people. In one discussion, Nathan [Nathan Coley, another artist in the show] mentioned a self-portrait. I found the comparison very apt and thought, if I have to do this alone, then I should choose themes that have interested me in my private (non-artistic) life."(1)1
V. General and specific art mediation
body of work: the ideal exhibition - category:... is just one of the groups of works Tilo Schulz has done that explore mediation strategies. In his work, the artist differentiates between general and specific art mediation. body of work: the ideal exhibition - category:..., is also part of general art mediation, which is the basis upon which he develops other projects. In general art mediation, the focus is on artists' work methods, their themes, and the choice of media. However, it is not about merely archiving these things; the "momentary" constellation is essential. Choosing particular artists makes certain artistic tendencies and/or their reception apparent, and at the same time, mirrors the situation of the place or the participants. Selection is important for the show, yet it does not create a fixed system or an authoritative statement; the next selection could have an opposite meaning.
In body of work: the ideal exhibition - category:... Schulz's approach is revealed through the presentation. In his way of thinking, this kind of exhibition is a part of general art mediation, which always guarantees a different view of the material. In this sense, general art mediation means that the manner of mediating and what is being mediated is constantly changing.
Specific art mediation, on the other hand, is about a particular artwork, a special artistic approach, or a reaction to a certain situation connected to a specific artwork or approach. Small projects are important here; Schulz concentrates either upon a few artworks or on conveying an idea or approach. An example of this is e.w.e. - exhibition without exhibition, which Vincent Pecoil examines more closely elsewhere in this book. Here, once again, the various mediation practices with which the artist works become obsolete. It is not the completed, visible exhibition or the realization of the idea that are important; the actual artistic work was in the mediation. Schulz's usual mediation instruments - posters, postcards, announcements, press releases, and lectures - were supplemented with a catalog containing essays on the various artists' projects.
Translation: Allison Plath-Moseley
1 See Pierre Bourdieu, Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. Trans. Richard Nice (London: Routledge) 1984. [First published 1979 in French as La Distinction, Critique sociale du jugement, Paris: Les Editions de Minuit, 1979.]
2 See Marius Babias in an interview with Ute Meta Bauer, Im Zentrum der Peripherie, Kunstvermittlung und Vermitt-lungskunst in den 90er Jahren, Ed. Marius Babias (Basel: Verlag der Kunst Dresden) 1995, p. 205-221.
3 See note 2, p. 219: "Histories are categorized and structured" (Ute Meta Bauer).
4 Excerpt from an essay by Tilo Schulz, written for his show at the Dogenhaus Gallery, Leipzig 1998.
5 See [Tilo Schulz] - [Formenmalerei], catalog, Dogenhaus Gallery and Tilo Schulz, Eds. Published for the shows at the Dogenhaus Gallery Berlin, December 1995-January 1996, and the Dogenhaus Gallery Leipzig, February-March 1996.
6 He broadened the concept of painting by combining the ideas of form and painting instead of the usual ideas of form and color, inventing the term "form painting" to describe this process. Schulz began this painting project in 1992 and continued it until 1997. During this period, his use of "materials" such as the exhibition, catalogs, essays, lectures, posters, and urban space made it apparent that, for this artist, painting is not a medium bound to a canvas, but can instead be connected to a great variety of discussions. Form painting represents not only the geometric, architectural form, but also the form of mediation. In the artist's more recent vocabulary, "form" has been often replaced by "strategy."
7 1998: Refusalon, San Francisco, categories shown: poster, announcement, word sculpture; Dogenhaus Gallery in Leipzig, categories shown: poster, painting (print on glass), announcement; 1999: Kunstpreis der Böttcherstrasse in Bremen, Kunsthalle Bremen, categories shown: poster, design (print on enameled, pressed wood furniture); "German Open," Wolfsburg Art Museum, categories shown: design, wall painting (prefabricated letters on colorful, painted wall); 2000: ?Bildwechsel", Freunde Aktueller Kunst, City Museum Zwickau, categories shown: wall painting.
8 He invited a collector, a critic, and an artist to the show at the Refusalon Gallery, San Francisco; his gallerist, a professor at the HGB Leipzig and the director of the Polish Institute in Leipzig to the Dogenhaus Gallery, Leipzig; his gallerist and a friend to the Bremen show; the house librarian to the "German Open" in Wolfsburg.
9 See W. J. T. Mitchell, Iconology: Image. Text. Ideology (Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press) 1986, p. 116-119.
10 "Homosexuality and Public Spaces," a discussion with Markus Hemken, Wolfgang Richter, Stefan Römer; "Women and Soccer: a History of Curiosities," a presentation by Beate Fechtig; "On the Myth of the Youth Gang," an essay by Ingolf König; "Cowboy Serenade - Fiction and Reality of the American Cowboy in Folk Song and Text" - a concert by Roland Heinrich [ex-Cracker Jacks], Stefan Schlensag [ex-Hipsters], Oldrik Scholz [ex-Percolators]. The artist had also planned an evening of films on the Barbie cult.
11 Tilo Schulz, in a conversation with the author, May, 2001.
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