Body Pressure | Conceptual performance art by Bruce Nauman

Posted on 15/08/2011 by W&V

Body Pressure is an art piece by Bruce Nauman from 1974 which basically is a mix between conceptual text art and performance art. The work invites the spectator to become the performer. The physical form of the work is a simple poster which serves more as an igniter as it gives the performers a set of typed out instructions for merging their bodies with an architectural surface. Body Pressure is, aside from the physical experience, also a mental journey which challenges the performers to think about the physical aspects and limitations of their own bodies and travel beyond these limitations in their minds.

Below follows the text of the poster:

Body Pressure

Press as much of the front surface of
your body (palms in or out, left or right cheek)
against the wall as possible.

Press very hard and concentrate.

Form an image of yourself (suppose you
had just stepped forward) on the
opposite side of the wall pressing
back against the wall very hard.

Press very hard and concentrate on the image pressing very hard.

(the image of pressing very hard)
press your front surface and back surface
toward each other and begin to ignore or
block the thickness of the wall. (remove
the wall)

Think how various parts of your body
press against the wall; which parts
touch and which do not.

Consider the parts of your back which
press against the wall; press hard and
feel how the front and back of your
body press together.

Concentrate on the tension in the muscles,
pain where bones meet, fleshy deformations that occur under pressure; consider
body hair, perspiration, odors (smells).

This may become a very erotic exercise.

Work by Bruce Nauman | Photos by Bruce Nauman, top: Friedrich Christian Flick Collection, centre: Jacob Birken

Esther Stocker | Geometric abstraction and perception

Posted on 28/07/2011 by W&V

Esther Stocker’s work mainly consists of paintings, photo’s and installations in an abstract and geometrical perspective, the various genres being closely related to each other.She works with a visually complex repertory of geometric sign and grid systems which explore the general conditions of perception and, in a broader sense, the effects of digital image technologies.
Esther Stocker’s reflexion is focused on the question: “How is a perfect system imperfect in reality?” Her geometric structures are based upon eternally self-repeating modules that create a seemingly ordered visual rhythm, to which the artist adds aberrations in order to generate an adjacent but new rhythm. This introduction of deviation in the optical balance, similar to 16th century’s mannerist architectural approach, creates surprise and emotion through the purposeful disruption of order and plane dimension.

Esther Stocker presents her work in her first solo show in France from the September 10 to October 15, 2011 at the Alberta Pane Gallery, Paris. This exhibition carries the title: Dirty Geometry.

Photos by: Esther Stocker, Sacha Georg, Michael Goldgruber, Jan Mahr | Esther Stocker website |

Anish Kapoor | Monumenta 2011 | Leviathan

Posted on 14/06/2011 by W&V

Each year Monumenta invites an internationally renowned artist to turn their vision to the vast Nave of Paris’ Grand Palais and to create a new artwork especially for this space. The first challenge was met by German artist Anselm Kiefer followed by American artist Richard Serra in 2008 and French artist Christian Boltanski in 2010. For its fourth incarnation, the French Ministry for Culture and Communication has invited Anish Kapoor to produce a new work for the Nave’s monumental space.

The artist describes the work he is creating for Monumenta as follows: “A single object, a single form, a single colour.” “My ambition”, he adds, “is to create a space within a space that responds to the height and luminosity of the Nave at the Grand Palais. Visitors are invited to walk inside the work, to immerse themselves in colour, and it will, I hope, be a contemplative and poetic experience.”

The work is not merely speaking visually, but it leads the visitor on a journey of total sensorial and mental discovery. It questions what we think we know about art, our body, our most intimate experiences and our origins.

leviathan by Anish Kapoor will be on display untill 23rd June 2011 at the Grand Palais, Paris, France.

Photos top 1 to 5 by: Designboom | Photos bottom 6 to 7 by: Anish Kapoor, Didier Plowy and Monumenta |

Marcel Broodthaers | The Marcel Broodthaers cabinet

Posted on 20/05/2011 by W&V

MARCEL | The Marcel Broodthaers cabinet is a proposal to present the oeuvre of artist Marcel Broodthaers in the S.M.A.K. museum. The increasing significance of Broodthaers’ work as part of the collection gradually led to the idea of giving this oeuvre a permanent place in the museum. A place where the Broodthaers collection would not only be displayed, but also documented and set in a specific framework. Not as a monument or mausoleum in which the work is enclosed, but more like an intimate setting where encounters can take place and where Broodthaers’ work can be studied. To achieve this, in 2006 the museum held a competition in which three architects were asked to come up with a design for the project. The proposal ultimately selected was by architecten de vylder vinck taillieu. Their design devotes plenty of attention to Broodthaers’ work, but it combines it with the ease and practicality of a study centre. In terms of its form, the design clearly refers to the display cabinet, which Broodthaers used a great deal. This gallery is located on the boundary between the museum and the Floralia Hall behind it. This is also where the exhibition entitled MARCEL/Het Broodthaerskabinet will be held.
The exhibition in the Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Gent Belgium will run until the 5Th of June 2011.

Photos by: S.M.A.K. – Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst | Marcel Broodthaers |

Tobias Rehberger | Nothing Happens For A Reason

Posted on 13/05/2011 by W&V

German conceptual artist Tobias Rehberger has created, in collaboration with Artek design furniture, a comprehensive art installation called Nothing happens for a reason at the Logomo cafe, Turku, Finland.

Tobias Rehberger and Artek collaborated also in 2009 during the Venice Biennale where Tobias Rehberger was awarded with a Golden Lion for Best Artist for the permanent installation he created for Palazzo delle Esposizioni. Read more about this in an earlier posted article on the Warmenhoven & Venderbos Blog.

Rehberger is interested in the conflict between functionalism and aesthetics, and likes to question and play with the notion of art and its various strategies.Using several media and different approaches, Rehberger’s conceptual work break traditional boundaries with exceptional combinations of painting, sculpture, architecture and design.
For the conceptual art installation at the Logomo café, Rehberger shows a white space which lines drawn throughout the area, regardless of any physical obstructions.

Tobias Rehberger about the work: “I like the idea of creating a visual art project which is about ‘not seeing something’.The painting method of battle ships in the first and second World War, the so called dazzle painting, in a way for me perfectly represents this paradox. The sculpture I created for Turku is based on the same concept as the one in Venice.It applies a completely different pattern to the space, but despite its very different look, it should have the same dazzling effect,” says Rehberger. “The Venice Biennale installation is a wonderful example of how art, architecture and design all come together in an outstanding international project.

The installation “Nothing Happens For A Reason” will remain open until December 18, 2011.