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Roman Li\u0161ka, RESEARCH ‘N’ MOTION (installation view week 0) All images courtesy DUVE Berlin.<\/p>\n Roman Li\u0161ka, RESEARCH ‘N’ MOTION (installation view week 0) All images courtesy DUVE Berlin.<\/p>\n
Li\u0161ka, a German born artist, creates work that explores the often\u00a0tenuous relationship between consumer culture and the art market.\u00a0Commercial galleries play a major role in the art industry, so what\u00a0better place to host a dialog between market consumers and producers\u00a0than the walls of his Berlin gallery, DUVE.<\/p>\n
Research ‘n Motion is a show about painting – the phenomenological\u00a0core of painting, pulled apart and reconstructed as a conceptual\u00a0installation. Li\u0161ka removes the material support of the painting, the\u00a0blank canvas, and replaces it with the empty, neutral space of the\u00a0gallery. The gallery space itself becomes an individual artwork.<\/p>\n
A program of curated presentations and workshops runs for the duration\u00a0of the six-week-long exhibition. Here, members of the public can contribute\u00a0to the process of creation, transforming DUVE into a place of\u00a0discussion and work. This gesture disrupts typical art market\u00a0relationships \u2013 the artist is no longer the producer of the artwork,\u00a0and anything that gets placed into the space becomes part of the artwork –\u00a0and is part of the conceptual painting. The role of the consumer is inverted\u00a0and by participating, the visitor becomes an active art producer.<\/p>\n
To facilitate this ambitious use of gallery space, Li\u0161ka has installed\u00a0three large movable walls that rotate around a fixed axis. The walls\u00a0act like a natural extension of the artist\u2019s paintings; covered with\u00a0thickly textured neon paint they are complimented with a stark array\u00a0of black and white motifs. The mobility of the walls allows the\u00a0spatial dimensions of the gallery to be manipulated to fit whatever\u00a0desired purpose – from performance, to workshop, to viewing platform.\u00a0Framing the installation is a subtle grey motif, skirting around the\u00a0lower edge of gallery\u2019s interior walls and cleverly referencing the\u00a0frame, or stretcher, of a traditional painting. Peripheral to the\u00a0installation hang the artist\u2019s bold fluro paintings – a conceptual\u00a0break, but perhaps a necessary market compromise.<\/p>\n
During the course of the exhibition the activities in the space will\u00a0be documented and pasted onto the rotating walls as a series of black\u00a0and white photographs. This collage records the ephemeral nature of\u00a0the public\u2019s process of creation and contribution. Additionally a web\u00a0cam streams the contents of the painting live onto the web –\u00a0transposing its performative aspect into the online realm.<\/p>\n
Gallery spaces are of course not just colonised by art buyers, as the\u00a0majority of their visitors do not buy art. The market is only one\u00a0contributor to the complex set of social relationships that make or\u00a0break artists and by investing in cultural capital (in artistic\u00a0research and experimentation) commercial galleries can continue to
ensure the success of their artists.<\/p>\n