EASTER SPECIAL 2/3

Sculpture Today, edited by Judith Collins opens to page 325 and Robert Serra – someone who has been on my radar for quite many years, but whom I considered being too far from my actual practice to include in this blog. Oh well. Alea iacta est.

Richard Serra (b. 1938, USA)
Tilted Arc, 1981

I have always appreciated Serra’s bold supersized statements. And I was jealous that he gets to go that big – a position I don’t expect to be able to reach myself. On the other hand, it has certainly informed me and triggered me to look for strategies how to override limitations of scale I tend to run into – whether by employing conceptual, digital or other means. So yes, in that sense he is in fact quite relevant to how I deal with scale.

I am also excited by the boldness and refusal to appease the popular taste. I find some of his works quite scary and claustrophobic – and yet, very interesting, thought-provoking and aesthetically amazing.

However, I’ve never heard of his Tilted Arc or the fact that any of his works would be destroyed by popular demand. Such a fate of Tilted Arc is quite shocking, not least considering its monumental scale that makes it appear indestructible. But that leads me to yet another of the themes that I’ve been considering in my practice – duration of an artwork. Both in terms of its physical integrity and in terms of its ability to generate meaning. I have never had any interest in making works with intention for them to outlive me or to reach out for eternity. While not necessarily aiming for any particular lifetime or its control, I am more curious about works that change, even if it implies disintegration or being destroyed. I am much more willing to embrace change than to preserve an impression of stability. It is generation of new meanings and experiences rather than endless broadcast of the same coded message that excites me. And in case of Tilted Arc, it would seem that its destruction may have transformed it into a monument to popular taste – a new unexpected meaning that makes it interesting in a new way.

Interestingly, in my own practice I have also had some bolder works that unsettled or upset some members of the audience. Yet, I never succeeded in getting someone to destroy my work – even when I occasionally tried. It was also an interesting exercise in what “artistic aura” does to things, and how it is gained or lost (I have some projects addressing that topic specifically). But I also have quite a few self-destructing works like perishable jewellery etc.

In “Sculpture Today” Serra is being quoted as saying “My sculptures are not objects for the viewer to stop and stare at. The historical purpose of placing sculpture on a pedestal was to establish a separation between the sculpture and the viewer. I am interested in creating a behavioural space in which the viewer interacts with the sculpture in its context”. And here we are finally arriving at a very clear conceptual relevance for my practice. While in my case it is rather rarely a sculpture, it is definitely a space of engagement that I am seeking to create. Whether it is an underwater installation where the audience is expected to dive in, or a surround sound piece to be navigated, or a situational or conceptual work, I am trying to trigger engagement and curiosity beyond pure “appreciation from a distance”.