Camilio

BLOG 2 / 20-1-2021 / Camilio van Lenteren / Visual artist.

TITLE:
Toilet, Tent and Bed

SUBTITEL: a ready-made always needs an action and a context.

READING INSTRUCTIONS:
English is not my mother tongue, I am dyslectic and I write with dark humor in mind with a pinch of sarcasm. Yes I look in the mirror on a weekly basis, I practice what I preach and I make mistakes too.

 INTRODUCTION:
What wonders me in the Western Art world is the development of ready-mades considered as great artworks (mostly years later) but you never are told how important the context of the 4 walls are, the work is moved in to (exhibition space / gallery / museum / art fair), and the time frame of the moment. 2 great (the greatest) ready-made’s where submissions for an art prize and an inaugural exhibition. These context and time frame are so important, that without those (context and time frame) the works would not have been famous or noticed at all.

THE WHY:
The reason I am writing this down is that living in Zambia and Malawi and now Timor-Leste, these contexts and Time frames don’t exist, and still contemporary art is being made, totally out of another context, time frame, art historical mindset, and knowledge. And I am afraid these context don't matter for the western art world. 

Why is this important? Well, simple, it almost seems that without these contexts, history, and time frame, you are not allowed to make great art (considered by those who seem to be in charge in the western art world) if you don’t move into context (mover your ass over to a place considered The West), now how to play the mindset, time frame and get knowledge of the important history. Ok, for this article that I a bit out of context, but important for the why I am writing this. This Blog I like to use some time to reflect on the actions necessary to be taken to create a ready-made in the context of art and why context ant time frame is as important as the artwork itself, or maybe even more important, because without context and time frame it would not have existed in the first place, but they are hardly mentioned.        

ABOUT THE SUBTITLE: 
Every ready-made need action and placed in another context. Yes indeed, of course, stating the obvious. The toilet of Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven (previously thought of being from Duchamp’s) needs to be taken, signed and submitted by Duchamp’s, titled Fountain, a urinal signed R Mutt, to the American Society of Independent Artists in 1917, the inaugural exhibition by the Society to be staged at The Grand Central Palace in New York (At the time Duchamp was a board member of the Society of Independent Artists. After much debate by the board members (most of whom did not know Duchamp had submitted it) about whether the piece was or was not art, Fountain was hidden from view during the show). The work was rejected, then photographed at Alfred Stieglitz's studio, and the photo published in The Blind Man (art and Dada journal published briefly by the New York Dadaists in 1917). Without these actions, it wouldn’t be even noticed or mentioned as a great work of art. But I would not want to have missed it at all. Looking at this fountain many times (the original was disposed) I know the story behind it, without that, it would just be an urinal with a sign on it, and a year.

MY BED:
I think a better readymade, and with the author really known as the creator, is ‘my bed’ from Tracy Emin. A bed she was laying in for weeks as she was depressed. It was her submission for the Turner price in 1999-2000. I must say that without this context, the work would be less. Ut still, she submitted it, and it is a great work of art, and I think it is much better and stronger than the urinal. The urinal was a quick action against the dominant art view at that time, with not really deeper layers behind it. If It would be known at the time as being from a woman, the extra layers automatically will add, as an urinal is very dominant a man thing, but sadly, we still subscribe this work to Duchamps. ‘My bed’ of Tracy Emin, I think, is a very very bold move, she didn’t win the Turner prize, but she got way more attention than the winner of that year (who knows his name now?).  The sad thing only is that it is not a typical Tracy Emin she got famous with.

 THE TENT:  
Her first art work that got her noticed was: Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963–1995 (1995), also known as The Tent. The work was created during a relationship she had in the mid-1990s with Carl Freedman, who had been an early friend of, and collaborator with, Damien Hirst, and who had co-curated seminal Britart shows, such as Modern Medicine and Gambler. In 1995, Freedman curated the show Minky Manky at the South London Gallery, where the tent was first shown. At that time Emin had not achieved the level of fame she later did and was mainly known in art circles; she was fortunate to be able to exhibit alongside better-known artists such as Hirst, Gilbert and George and Sarah Lucas.[1] Emin described the genesis of the work, which turned out unexpectedly to be the show's highlight.

 CONCLUDING:
I also consider the tent as readymade, added with many names important to Tracy Emin. Of course, the way she added the names is more typically the way she worked in at the time, but the mainframe is an already existing work. I love these kinds of things, create work of art with existing materials or cultures and the difference is a small action to it, and shift it into a different context. The only problem is (considered by me living in "a developing country" not considered in the periphery of Western Art), that the context of the art / museum / gallery art fair in western societies is so strong, that everything that is transferred inside those 4 walls, automatically has to be considered as art, or an action criticizing it. I must specify this, this counts mainly for 3D objects other than a sculpture on a white plint (context) and paintings. Paintings are alway's paintings, whereever you hang them. That is their power, but also their weekness. 

So, concluding: can art live without these 4 walls, context and time frame? Yes, of course, but for the Western Art World, this is very hard to comprehend.