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Kendell Geers
The Terrorist's Apprentice
2002
Matchstick
Kendell Geers
'Spy in the House of Love'
2002
Installation view and details
The cover of Geers' monograph, Your Tongue in My Cheek (Les Presses du Réel, 2002)
Kendell Geers
Self Portrait, 1995
Kendell Geers
Brick, 1988
Kendell Geers
Shooting Gallery
Video installation
Kendell Geers
Fingered (San Gimignano), 2002
Wine glasses with finger prints from exhibition opening
Kendell Geers
Mondo Kane, 2002
Cement, fragments of glass
Kendell Geers
Truth or Dare, 2001
Megaphones, electrical cable, CD players
Kendell Geers
Song of the Pig, 2000
Installation view
Kendell Geers
Cry Wolf, 1999
Emergency lights
Kendell Geers
Waiting for the Barbarians
Installation view
Kendell Geers
Medusa Dreaming, 1999
Detail of video installation
Kendell Geers
Poetic Justice, 1999
Video installation at Carnegie International
Kendell Geers
Title Withheld (Virus)
Kendell Geers
Title Withheld (Brick)
Performance/installation at the Market Theatre
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Kendell Geers
by Sophie Perryer (June, 2002)
For a long time the name Kendell Geers was inevitably preceded in the South African press by the words "enfant terrible". As an emerging artist and outspoken critic at the cusp of the Nineties, the South African art world found his punk stance hard to stomach; further into the decade his fledgling success in the global arena proved even more irksome. By the time of Guilty, Geers' 1997 intervention at right-wing celebrations at Fort Klapperkop, the relationship had gone thoroughly sour. Pissed off with local critics casting doubt on his credibility, Geers gave up on South Africa as an artist and headed for more appreciative pastures.
In the four years or so since then, Geers has led a peripatetic existence, participating in major group shows and biennials from Taipei to Helsinki. He has also held solo exhibitions all over Europe, culminating this month in his most important solo show to date - at the Palais de Tokyo, Paris's hip new "site de création contemporain" - and the publication of a substantial monograph on the artist, titled Your Tongue in My Cheek. Next stop is Kassel in Germany, where Geers is one of just four South Africans selected by director Okwui Enwezor for the most prestigious of global art shows: Documenta11.
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In Postproduction (Lukas & Sternberg, 2002), French critic Nicolas Bourriaud writes: "The artistic question is no longer: 'what can we make that is new?' but 'how can we make do with what we have?'" He identifies the DJ, web surfer and postproduction artist as "semionauts" who "produce original pathways through signs"; who imagine "the links, the likely relations between disparate sites". Not coincidentally, Bourriaud is also co-director of the Palais de Tokyo, where Geers is showing this month.
In Geers' practice the artwork is situated within networks of signs - often those that are most precariously constructed in support of society's well-being: the emergency services that are the interface between safety and terror, the barbed wire and security notices that are interposed between crime and suburbia, the TV movie that brings a Mafia shooting into the living room. Geers scans, freeze-frames and edits information from the rich database of art history, film, literature, religion, the media and language itself, in order to subvert and disrupt existing readings and provoke new interconnections.
Given the importance of context and interrelationships, Geers most often works in the installation mode, with elements including video, monitors and cabling, readymade objects and photo-based media. He also adopts different personae: K.O.lab is for collaborative, more light-hearted, pop-culture inspired projects, while Xero-X is fashion-oriented (the slogan T-shirt) and funky.
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"Religion, sport, pornography and horror films have always understood that moment when words are not enough, when all that we have been taught and programmed to be fails and we are reduced to sounds of despair, cries of ecstasy, the crush of a multiple orgasm, the last breath of life. What are we when our voices are as mute as any animal, when we become the drunk in the village bar singing in a voice that only he understands but never remembers? I have hidden myself away in these sounds, the cries of a country in a revolution followed by despair and chaos. As an artist living in the Post-Apartheid, Post-Communist, Post-Theory glut of Post-Modernism I prefer to live nowhere and to be nationalistic only to that which cannot be controlled by my tongue, the moment when the digital dissolves into the analogue, the colloquial crush of imperfection. ..." - extract from Kendell Geers: 'The Affluence and the Effluence', published in Co@rtnews #4, May 2002
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Now showing in Brussels, 'Spy in the House of Love' - Geers' first solo show in his new home town - performs a sardonic tip of the hat to local artists Rene Magritte and Marcel Broodthaers. The exhibition includes red and blue emergency lights packaged in a suitcase; a series of prints showing scenes of terror and carnage superimposed with the words "Ceci n'est pas une pipe"; and posters displaying lists of city-specific emergency numbers. For all its undoubted impact, the show is billed as a prequel to 'Sympathy for the Devil', at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris from June 1. A bold statement even by the artist's standards, the show features one work displayed in an otherwise all-black room: a single matchstick titled The Terrorist's Apprentice - the "safety" match embodying endless potential for destruction. Ironically, or appropriately enough, latest news is that the work was destroyed by a vandal at the opening.
Coinciding with the Paris show is the launch of Geers' first monograph, part of a series of artists' books published by Les Presses du Réel that also includes titles on Sylvie Fleury, Maurizio Cattelan and Yayoi Kusama. Your Tongue in My Cheek is a substantial hardcover volume encompassing Geers' complete body of work thus far, organised along thematic lines. It will be available in South Africa through the Goodman Gallery, or on the net at www.leconsortium.com (see under Les Presses du Réel).
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Geers' first Italian solo show, titled 'Mondo Kane', opened at Galleria Continua in San Gimignano in April 2002, following a year in which the artist decided to halt production and exhibit only existing pieces. New works on the show, such as Mondo Kane, suggest subtle shifts away from the tactics of confrontation towards a greater poeticism and sensuality, while Fingered (Sam Gimignano) - a display of wine glasses unwitingly fingerprinted by guests at the opening - comments with the lightest of touches on another recurring theme: the insularity of the international art world. A 2001 solo show in London, titled 'Where Angels Fear to Tread', was reviewed for Artthrob by Sean O'Toole.
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A glance at Geers' CV (see below) reveals a vastly impressive list of solo and group shows curated by most of the big names in the international art world. An important springboard for this was Geers' participation in the 1997 Johannesburg Biennale, which resulted in an ArtPace residency in Texas the following year and an invitation to the Carnegie International in 1999. But the artist identifies point zero as 1988, when he produced the seminal work, Brick, during his final year at the University of the Witwatersrand. It garnered him all of 51% at the time, but was included a decade later on a show curated by Okwui Enwezor in New York, 'Global Conceptualism: Points of Origin 1950s-1980s'.
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Geers is one of just four South Africans selected for this month's Documenta11 exhibition by director Okwui Enwezor. He will show Suburbia (1999), a series of 33 photographs showing South African properties adorned with security signs; and Shooting Gallery, a slide installation in which a shooting scene from The Godfather is projected to the repeated click of the slide carousel. Later this month Geers will take on his K.O.lab persona to install a neon light reading "Believe", the "lie" at its centre flashing, at the Villa Medici, facing the Vatican in Rome. A performance at the Pompidou Centre in Paris is scheduled in the second half of this year.
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1968 |
Born in Johannesburg, South Africa |
Solo Exhibitions: |
2002 |
MondoKane, Galleria Continua, San Gimignano, Italy
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2001 |
Where Angels Fear to Tread, Delfina Studios, London
Televisionaries, Würtembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart, Germany |
2000 |
Timbuktu, MAK, Vienna, Austria
�ka Basta!, Le Consortium, Dijon, France (catalogue)
Ex Africa Semper Aliquid Novi, Marian Goodman Gallery, Paris, France
Arte all?rte V edizione, Volterra, Italy; curated by Roberto Pinto and Gilda Williams
Inova, University of Wisconsin�ilwaukee, Milwaukee, USA
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1999 |
States of Emergency, Vienna Secession, Vienna, Austria (catalogue)
Heart of Darkness, South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa; Stephen Friedman Gallery, London
Project Rooms, Arco, Madrid, Spain
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1998 |
Guilty, Fort Klapperkop, Pretoria, South Africa
98.3, ArtPace, San Antonio, Texas, USA (brochure)
Heart of Darkness, Gallery in the Round, Grahamstown, South Africa (brochure) |
1997 |
Memento Mori, de Vleeshal, Middelburg, Holland |
1996 |
1996 Black on the Inside (with Neil Goedhals), Galerie Metroplex, Johannesburg, South Africa
16 June 1976 (with Willie Bester), Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa |
1995 |
Work on Paper, Chalkham Hill Press Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
W.C., Villa Arson, Nice, France
Air de Paris, (with Joachim Schonfeldt), Everard Read; Contemporary & ICA & Market Theatre Galleries, Johannesburg
We are Johannesburg Artists and Nothing More, (with Joachim Schonfeldt), Michaelis Art Gallery, Cape Town |
1993 |
The New Patron, (with Joachim Schonfeldt), Everard Read Contemporary, Johannesburg, South Africa
Threshold: The Exhibition Everard Read Contemporary, Johannesburg, South Africa
Objects, Natal Technikon Art Gallery, Durban, South Africa |
1991 |
Mediations, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa |
1988 |
Box Theatre, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg |
Selected Group Exhibitions: |
2001 |
ARS 01, Kiasma, Helsinki, Finland
Marking the Territory, Irish Museum of Modern Art; curated by Marina Abramovic
Recasting the Past: Beneath the Hollywood Tinsel, Main Art Gallery,
California State University, Fullerton, California; curated by Juliet Rosati
The Short Century, Museum Villa Stuck, Munich, Germany, and touring; curated by Okwui Enwezor
Sonsbeek, Arnheim, The Netherlands; curated by Jan Hoet
Skulptur - Biennale im Münsterland, 2001, Germany; curated by Christoph Tannert
Casino 2001, 1st Quadrennial of Contemporary Art, S.M.A.K., Gent, Belgium
Berlin Biennale, Berlin, Germany, curated by Saskia Bos
Trauma, Dundee Contemporary Arts and touring; curated by Katrina Brown |
2000 |
Pusan International Contemporary Art Festival 2000, Pusan, Korea; curated by Hou Hanru (catalogue)
The Sky is the Limit Taipei Biennial, Taipei, Taiwan; curated by Jerome Sans (catalogue)
3 Räume - 3 Flüsse, Hann.Münden, Kassel, Germany; curated by Jan Hoet (catalogue)
The Invisible Touch, Kunstraum Innsbruck, Austria
Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial, Japan (catalogue)
VideoBrasil International Electronic Art Festival, Sao Paulo, Brasil; curated by Clive Kellner (catalogue)
Acts of Resistance, Koldo Mitxelena Kulturunea, San Sebastian, Spain; curated by Antonio Zaya (catalogue)
Untitled (Sculpture), Luhring Augustine, New York, USA
Inverse Perspectives, Edsvik konst och kultur, Sweden; curated by Joseph Bakstein
Positions Attitudes Actions, Foto Biennale Rotterdam, The Netherlands (catalogue)
Atmosfere Metropolitane, Openspace, Milano, Italy
Memórias íntimas Marcas, MUHKA, Antwerp, Belgium (catalogue)
Continental Shift/ For R.EAL, Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht, The Netherlands (catalogue)
Home, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
Micropolitiques, Le Magasin, Grenoble, France (catalogue)
South Meets West, Kunsthalle Bern, Switzerland (catalogue)
HB First View, Camouflage, Johannesburg, South Africa
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1999 |
Zeitwenden, Kunstmuseum Bonn, Germany (catalogue)
Bodies of Resistance, Real Art Ways, Hartford, Connecticut, USA
South Meets West, National Museum, Accra, Ghana (catalogue)
Carnegie International, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA (catalogue)
Five Continents and One City, Museo de la Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico City (catalogue)
Patentia, NIFCA Stockholm, Sweden
A3HB, Camouflage, Brussels, Belgium
Extra and Ordinaire, Printemps de Cahors, Cahors, France (catalogue)
Following and to be Followed, Le Consortium, Dijon, France
High Red Centre, Centre for Contemporary Art, Glasgow
Power, Galerie f?r Zeitgenössische Kunst, Leipzig, Germany (catalogue)
Traffique, S.M.A.K., Ghent, Belgium (catalogue)
Global Conceptualism: points of Origin 1950s-1980s, Queens Museum of Art, New York, USA (catalogue)
Entrée Libre, http://www.culture.fr/entreelibre
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1998 |
Memórias íntimas marcas Instituto de Arte Contemporânea, Lisbon, Portugal
Europa Afrika 7 Triennale der Kleineplastik; Südwest LB, Stuttgart, Germany (Catalogue)
Dark Continent; Klein Karoo Arts Festival; Outshoorn
Odradek Bard Center for Curatorial Studies, Annandale on Hudson, New York
City Canibal Paço Das Artes, Sao Paulo Biennale, Sao Paulo (Catalogue)
Cross/ing;Track 16 Gallery, Santa Monica, USA; & University Galleries, Florida Atlantic University, USA (Catalogue)
Medialization; Edsvik konst och kultur; Sweden (Catalogue)
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1997 |
1997 Alternating Currents, Johannesburg Biennale, Johannesburg, South Africa (Catalogue)
Cross/ing, University of South Florida Art Gallery, Tampa, Florida, USA (Catalogue)
Unplugged II Rembrandt van Rijn Art Gallery, Market Theatre, Johannesburg, South Africa
October, Norwich School of Art and Design Art Gallery, Norwich, UK
Purple and Green, Pretoria Art Museum, Pretoria, South Africa
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1996 |
Inclusion Exclusion, Kunstlerhaus, Graz, Austria (catalogue)
Simunye (We Are One) Adelson Galleries, New York, USA
Colours, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany (catalogue)
Egoists at Work, Forum Stadtpark, Graz, Austria
Crapshoot, de Appel, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (catalogue)
Unplugged, Rembrandt van Rijn Art Gallery, Market Theatre, Johannesburg, South Africa
The Young and the Restless, Sandton Art Gallery, Sandton, South Africa |
1995 |
On the Road, Delfina Studios, Africa95, London (catalogue)
Mayibuye iAfrika, Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London
Outside/Inside, Johannesburg Biennial, Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa (catalogue)
Vita Art Now, Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa (catalogue)
Aperto, Corderie Dell'Arsenale, XLVI Biennale Di Venezia, Venice, Italy
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1994 |
Vita Art Now, Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa (catalogue)
Quinta Bienal de la Habana, Centro Wifredo Lam, Havana, Cuba (catalogue)
Un Art Contemporain d'Afrique du Sud, curated by Jean-Yves Jounnais, Galerie de l'Esplanade, La Defence, Paris, France (catalogue)
VI Biennale d'Arte Sacra, San Gabriele, Teramo, Italy (catalogue)
Identitá e Rappresentazioni Cartografiche, Curated by Teresa Macri and Lucilla Meloni, Museo Nazionale Preistorico Etnografico Luigi Pigorini, Rome, Italy (catalogue)
The Netherlands Against Apartheid, Amsterdam's Historisch Museum, Asterdam, The Netherlands (catalogue)
Zuiderkruis, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (catalogue)
State of the Art, Everard Read Contemporary, Johannesburg, South Africa
(catalogue)
Volkskas Atelier, ABSA Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa (catalogue)
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1993 |
Il Croce Del Sud - Affinities, 45 Venice Biennale, Venice, and Sala 1, Rome, Italy (catalogue)
Volkskas Atelier, University of Pretoria Art Gallery, Pretoria and ICA, Johannesburg, South Africa (catalogue)
An-other Direction, Newtown Galleries, Johannesburg, South Africa
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1992 |
Les Tables Artistiques, Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa (catalogue)
Vita Art Now, Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
(catalogue)
Looking At Art: Looking At Watercolour, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
Aids: The Exhibition, ICA, Johannesburg and Natal Technikon Art Gallery,
Durban, South Africa (catalogue)
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Kendell Geers' website: www.kendell-geers.net
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