Free Coca Cola
CR 710. Year 1990
Trust in the image, the ability of which to support content, Gerz has always opposed with skepsis, that pretends to mirror reality, and in the word, which pretends to describe or at least interpret reality, has long since been lost. (…) The contradictions in the work, which are difficult to solve, are rooted in its use of images and language… The body of trust that the artist has hidden in its contrasting, image-laden slogans like FREE ROSA LUXEMBURG FREE COCA COLA FREE EZRA POUND FREE FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE FREE MICHAEL BAKUNIN FREE ADAM SMITH is revealed as an empty carapace. Yet there is a little hope left beyond these striking and interchangeable phrases, some sense behind the pictures and words that make for a meaning. Gerz almost points to this meaning, but he has decided not to reveal it entirely, for he fears that it would be misused.
Thomas Deecke 1992
Categories
Keywords
Single work
4 framed photographs, each 40 x 50 cm, all over 160 x 50 cm
See the edition Free... (822)
Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf
Exhibitions
New York 1991. Davis 1992. Los Angeles 1992. Bremen 1992 (Karlsruhe 1993. Manchester 1993. Saarbrücken 1993. Altenburg 1993. Potsdam 1993). Montreal 1993
Bibliography
I: Davis 1992, p. 5. Bremen 1992, p. 105
II: Potocka 1991, pp. 43-35. Fleck 2, 1992, p. 104 (Abb. um 90° gedreht). Schossig 1992 (Abb. um 90° gedreht). Bode 1992, p. 67. Kayser 1993, p. 15
VI: Gaehtgens 1992, p. 136