Connecting with Contemporary Art

A gift to take away for the visitor, from the installation Untitled (Blue Placebo), (1991) by Felix Gonzalez-Torres

Inverted Birth; The Gift

I rarely connect with contemporary art; my usual reaction to it is ‘wth’ instead of ‘wow’.  Sometimes, maybe, the accompanying text helps in conveying the message and eliciting appreciation.   

But the themes of the two exhibitions currently running at the DHC/ART Foundation for Contemporary Art resonated with me.  

The message of Bill Viola’s video art presentation Naissance a rebours was parallel to my own current retrospective phase of the stages of my life.  Besides the message in the videos, the graphics of some of them made me go ‘wow’.

Inverted Birth (2014) was a visual treat. I saw the 8 minute video twice trying to figure out how the fluids – mud, blood, milk, and water, representing different stages of life – were ‘layered’ in such a way that each layer was a separate and distinct entity, retaining its own colour and viscosity, as it rose away from the layer beneath it. Even the air was a clearly defined layer depicted by the ripples it created as it blew across the dry clothes of the performer. The graduation from darkness to light occurred simultaneously during these stages, adding to the complexity of the fascinating watch.  

In Ascension (2000), the sudden plunge that ripped through the still water caught me unawares, so I had to watch the video again to enjoy the thrill of it.  I loved the multi-sensory depiction of being suspended under water: the diffused sunlight, the muffled roar, the frenzied bubbles, and the lightness and timelessness of being. Ascension took me back to my dream-like trip of diving and floating in the green sinkhole pools of Chota Chootuk in Balochistan.

Exchanging gifts – both giving and receiving them from family and friends – is an expression of love for me that deepens bonds, so I loved the concept of L’Offre, which is most beautifully described by the curator Cheryl Sim in the catalog essay.  

Pearls (1999- )is an ongoing project in which Simryn Gill asks her friends to give her one of their books. She crafts ‘pearls’ from the pages of the book, and gifts the pearls strings to them. No two sets of the pearls she makes meticulously are alike, like no two fingerprints are alike. In return the friends give her photographs in which they are wearing the pearls, which she in turn displays in exhibitions, creating an intricately interconnected circle of giving and receiving gifts.  I wouldn’t mind receiving a priceless gift like the Pearls.

Money for Art (1994 -2010) was another long-term project spanning 16 years, in which Lee Mingwei made origami sculptures made of ten dollar bills and gifted them to people in exchange for a follow-up of what they would do with the origami-money. The follow-up photographs are a study of human nature and circumstance. If I would have received this gift, I would have framed it.

I walked away after seeing the third photo in the free fotolab (2009) slideshow by Phil Collins. Even though the rights of those personal photographs had been  given to the artist in exchange for developing them for free, seeing the too-personal moments of strangers felt like an invasion of their privacy.  In this case the gift seemed like one of those exchanges where people in need barter their body or soul for some favour.    

In Mike Kelly’s Love, Theft, Gifting and more Love (2009), the original artwork for the book cover was compelling, but the series of events leading to the tattoo on his girlfriend’s chest was disturbing. I felt the tattoo was some kind of atonement for inadvertently buying the stolen artwork T-shirt from a thrift shop. Ironically, the gift decals made by the artist of a dagger piercing Love’s heart are perfect for been-there-done-that T-shirts.

Untitled (NRA),(1991) by Felix Gonzalez-Torres is a stack of offset prints for the public to take, a literal work of public art. I took one print for myself, and passed it on to my daughter to put up in her dorm. I loved receiving the gift from the artist and the museum; I loved gifting it to my daughter; and she loved receiving it from me; and this passage of gifts was the essence of L’Offre.