Big in Ghent
by Ed Young
I've always tried to master the art of doing absolutely as little as possible. I even tried to convince a bunch of students that the ultimate performance would be to be flown out to some or other foreign exhibition and to do exactly what the audience is there to do: drink the wine and talk a bit of art nonsense and not be much concerned with the work on display. It's not that I think that art should be ignored on purpose, I just find that most art bores the living shit out of me.
This has left some questioning my involvement in the arts. Fact is, I don't like art. I don't like the industry. I like the bickering, backstabbing and constant references to: 'but I did it first and she stole my idea'. Basically I like the bullshit. And it's not that I really dislike all the art. I just think that my work is better.
I was invited to Ghent to do absolutely nothing. Kendell Geers who proposed Sophie Perryer as curator originally initiated the show. Sophie excused herself from the project well in advance as she probably realised that this kind of project was almost impossible to pull off given the timeframe. Geers, who initially told me to come up with a good concept because he 'didn't want to shit in his own backyard', also lost interest as he was involved in a 'fucking intense' workshop with Marina Abramovic.
In the end only a handful of artists were invited: Hentie van der Merwe, Carol-anne Gainer, Bridget Baker, Teboho Mahlatsi and yours truly. We were hosted by Vooruit, under the programmation of Barbara Raes and Eva de Groote in conjunction with the Flanders Film Festival. They were absolute stars: a few tips to be learnt by South African curators. Unfortunately, we were abandoned by our own curators and administrators.
Do not let a couple of young South Africans loose to do as they please: absolute chaos. I spent most of my time in the bar, Baker managed a beautiful extension of her Blue Collar Girl, while Gainer stuck to her original proposal which was, well, what it was. Hentie made some placemats for the restaurant where we ate soup on a daily basis and we barely saw him. A bit of curatorial interference could have helped some of our most renowned artists not to make absolute fools of themselves (or us?).
It was not that bad, Gainer's performance needed a bit of development. One can see how it could have worked if she had the initial space that she proposed. But, one leaves a bit of room for change and looks at the basic context that the space provides, instead of a deadpan rehashing of what one intended in a not-so-suitable-space space. Gainer wore the thing that horses wear on there heads when you ride on them. She had reels of black ribbon, which she rolled out connecting the people in the space to the walls and to other people and herself. The people were disappointed. It's not the context but rather the visual impact that got lost in the execution. It also remarkably resembles the ad commissioned for the film festival. But, hey, who was to know?
The South African debate came up a couple of times. A memorable moment was after the Brasse Vannie Kaap performance when I was sitting backstage taking advantage of the free Belgian beer. Four journalists were interviewing Mr. Fat, one of the main MCs from Brasse. I was listening to his input about South Africa and its young artists, when Fat got more and more angry and started spouting little sense about the bad situation as to why the young white artists are so very racist and why it is so hard to be coloured in a developing South Africa.
This being true, Fat excluded some vital information about young South Africans in general fighting a similar cause within the arts and the fact that the situation has actually tried to develop in the past 15 years. He was getting more aggressive. Personally, I find this kind of dishonesty by exclusion of facts alarming. Especially when fed to a confused third-world society. It took me about 15 minutes of impatience until I interrupted the interviews with: 'You're talking absolute kak'. Mr. Fat, alarmed at realising he was sitting next to an Afrikaans speaking South African in the first place, went red with anger and proclaimed: 'Kom hier, ek sa' jou klap!' This of course sent our assistant Valerie, into a complete frenzy at the thought of me, skinny Ed, being beaten up by an extremely large Mr. Fat. We had to bring in some reinforcements.
We got the opportunity to give a talk during the end of our stay in Ghent. I was looking forward to this as I was getting slightly bored after 10 days of the bar and the soup. Kendell Geers was supposed to host it. He couldn't make it. He was very busy on a 'fucking intense' workshop with Marina Abramovic. The programmers roped in Cis Bierinckx, who I happened to have worked with in the past. Bierinckx did a good job, having researched South African art during his curatorship at the Walker Art Center.
We got to speak about our own work and more importantly about the SA situation in terms of young artists. We spoke about the racial issue. Hentie van der Merwe gave an extremely dull talk. We spoke about the exclusion of important young white South Africans because of the racial issue, the importance of the racial issue, and the shelf life of artists conforming to exoticisation of the racial issue. We spoke about funding and all the rest that so many of the South African artists are all familiar with.
I was surprised that Geers managed to attend this seminar as he refused to host it in the first place. He made the odd comment about stupid young SA artists, but the conversation was carefully steered back into position by Bierinckx, who somehow understood the funding issue in South Africa. Some members from Brasse (with the obvious exclusion of Mr. Fat) attended the seminar; mainly the B-boys as well as drummer, Sean Otim from Godessa, who also performed at the festival. It was interesting to get these performers involved in the conversation and to find the performers had as bad, if not worse of a struggle.
Geers left early but left with a statement: 'Let me just tell you all this. It is the first time that Ed has done what a curator has told him...and I am very disappointed.'
Apparently he really was.
Ed Young spends his time in Cape Town trying to do as little as possible.
