(Incomplete) History
Matt Distel, Associate Curator
newsense enterprises, in side out, 2005. Courtesy of the artists. Photo credit: Clare Norwood.
"Subversion, which forged its first weapons from art, has now become the art of handling every sort of weapon." — From The Revolution of Everyday Life, Raoul Vaneigem, 1967.’
Incorporated: a recent (incomplete) history of infiltrations, actions and propositions utilizing contemporary art is composed of the work of six artist groups who have adopted institutional and/or corporate fronts to engage in subversive critiques of contemporary culture.
While subversion and activism are not unique to the art world, the art world does present unique opportunities to explore questions of authority and responsibility. As a part of the long history of artists questioning the categorization of art as a facet of society removed from everyday life, the artist represented here attempt to address certain social, economic and political agendas. The mere suggestion of an authoritative voice is enough to assume control of a certain bandwidth of social consciousness. Oftentimes these artists have employed nothing more than a web site to infiltrate organizations of global stature. The scope of the exhibition includes nuanced discussions of community-building, corporate espionage, international politics and civil disobedience.
Many of the groups in Incorporated practice strategies more commonly associated with small business models or non-profit organizations than with traditional art-making. In that context, such activities as waste-management, archive research, product placement, issuing passports, identity theft and marketing become the artists’ tools to engage audiences beyond the art world.
The organizations represented in this exhibition are The Atlas Group, Institute for Applied Autonomy, newsense enterprises, State of Sabotage, Temporary Services and The Yes Men.
The Atlas Group — The Atlas Group is a project established by Walid Raad in 1999, based in New York and Beirut, to research and document the contemporary history of Lebanon. Primarily represented by The Atlas Group Archive which includes films, photographs, notebooks and objects both found and fabricated, the project also offers various public forums including multi-media installations, film screenings, literary essays, lectures and performances. The Atlas Group offers insight into the complex history of one of the most contested regions of the world by weaving fact and fiction together, creating a powerful combination of personal and objective accounts.
Institute for Applied Autonomy (IAA) — IAA was founded in 1998 as a technological research and development organization concerned with individual and collective self-determination. Their mission is to study the forces and structures that effect self-determination; to create cultural artifacts that address these forces; and to develop technologies that serve social and human needs. The installation IAA has constructed for Incorporated mimics an informational tradeshow kiosk. They offer products and services intended for protesters and activists mobilizing in opposition to global power structures. Beyond this exhibition IAA plans to use this installation to participate in technology tradeshows as a way infiltrate the corporate environment.
newsense enterprises — Founded in 1998 and based in Cleveland, newsense enterprises began as an effort to work collaboratively on projects that seek to agitate the establishment and create a community of forward thinking members. Working together to produce situational actions, sculptural environments, experimental films, curatorial projects, and public programs, they continue to construct civic-minded ventures to give an active voice for socially relevant issues. Inside Out uses the work byproduct of the Contemporary Arts Center as the material for its installation. Each day the staff of the CAC gathers the waste that has been generated as part of the daily operations of the museum and places it in the container in the gallery which is, in turn, redistributed to the containers in the CAC entrance. This project places the CAC under the same scrutiny as any other institution by putting in public view the fragmented remains of the work day.
State of Sabotage (SoS) — Sabotage was first initiated as a project by artist Robert Jelinek in 1992 in Kassel, Germany. They are currently based in Vienna and Baldrockistan. Sabotage is a multi-faceted organization that draws resources to promote both open and covert infiltrations into art markets, the music business and unclaimed public spaces. Since 1992 more than 100 international "public sabotages" have taken place in form of performances, actions, events and exhibitions. Through their various forays into contemporary culture Sabotage has maintained a commitment to constantly evolving and reinventing itself. Sabotage’s previous projects have included exercises in concert promotion, record production, perfume manufacturing and fashion design. Their current project, State of Sabotage (SoS), is an attempt to form a new sovereign nation – a state in time with constantly expanding citizens and territories, but without the demarcation of national borders.
Temporary Services — Temporary Services is a group of three persons based in Chicago. Brett Bloom, Marc Fischer, and Salem Collo-Julin create temporary public projects that are designed to initiate dialogue concerning the aesthetics and practical usage of shared communal spaces. Their work for Incorporated includes documentation of public alterations that took place in Chicago and Cincinnati. The photos, samples and accompanying free poster/brochure are part of a project titled Product Placement. Product Placement is a critique of consumer society and a suggestion for the playful and imaginative potential of graffiti and urban spaces.
The Yes Men — The Yes Men are a genderless, loose-knit association of some three hundred impostors worldwide. They use any means necessary to agree their way into the fortified compounds of commerce, ask questions, and then smuggle out the stories of their undercover escapades to provide a public glimpse at the behind-the-scenes world of business. The Yes Men have infiltrated political campaigns, multi-national corporations, the World Trade Organization and international media outlets as part of their incisive hoaxes. In most cases they have used only a website or press release to simulate the faceless identity of an organization or corporation. This confusion has led to numerous speaking engagements and public/media appearances under assumed names and identities.
Incorporated: A Recent (Incomplete) History Of Infiltrations, Actions And Propositions Utilizing Contemporary Art , 11 February — 8 May 2005
