WE DID IT / DISPUTED TERRITORY

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2010 / intervention / Chert Gallery, Berlin (DE)

We Did It / Disputed Territory divides and reopens the gallery space. By doing so, the artist reenacts the phenomenon of shrinking cities.

The intervention seems to present itself as a question about what is public and what is private, fusing together some of the principal points the artist has been working on in recent years: the contrast between a space and a ‘non-space’, between an art-dedicated context and a temporarily created exhibition space.

The artist has placed the first object constituting the exhibition in the very public setting of the Schlesisches Tor U-Bahn corner. The sign, which reads ‘we did it/disputed territory’, gives an unequivocal direction to the intentions of the project. Pointing in the direction of the gallery, but without giving any further information, this street-specific piece completely loses its function, becoming an abstract object. Its unpredictable destiny emphasizes its non-function as well, in contrast with its appearance as an informative object.

Upon entering the gallery one is confronted with two different scenarios, again a reinterpretation of the contrast between public and private. The upper floor of the gallery has been transformed into an abandoned room, dark and dirty, seemingly long closed. A hole in one wall reveals a passage into the lower space: a clean, white, welcoming exhibition space. The artworks presented there share the same process-making of the upper floor of the gallery: with intentional elaboration the artist makes them look old and dirty.

In this way, the space itself becomes a camouflage for the artist, a stage where questions about use and interpretation can arise, reflecting on the idea of the authenticity and aesthetic honesty of the artistic practice.

Jenny Chert (2010)