Outis, das Studium der Kunst und ihrer Geschichte hat unsere Freunde, die Doktoren, der Muse nicht nahe gebracht
Outis, the studies of art and its history has not given our friends, the doctors, an understanding of the muse
CR 47. Year 1975
Man entdeckt sich plötzlich als Mitspieler in einem System, in dem man sich verständnisvoll und trotzdem distanziert als Betrachter einfühlt mit Outis, Odysseus, mit Jochen Gerz, mit dem Künstler überhaupt. Die Sehversuche wurden unternommen mit Hilfe der geschriebenen Wörter, die Krücken der Beschriftung flößten so viel Vertrauen ein, daß man von diesen Hilfen schnell in die Irre geführt wurde, gerade weil man so höllisch aufpaßte, daß man nichts verpasste.
Karlheinz Nowald 1984
Gerz’s works of the last few years (like the work for the documenta 8) thematized time, in its mythical hidden form as well. These works have undergone changes which went beyond an extension of the aesthetic appearance. Retrospective elements appear in the artist’s image of himself, his own time in the stretches he has passed through, the changes in the ego in time and through time. If his works could always be understood from their time, the lifetime as a new dimension has entered Gerz’s works, and with it the experience of change.
Ulrich Krempel 1988 Translated by e_CR editors
Categories
Keywords
Installation
Wooden podium with steps and handrail, notice board, paperback book, paper, wooden barrier, (painted with photographic opaque and covered with handwritten white colored capitals), cordon, parchment paper, wooden post, rubber cords, wooden beams, fan, television set, cardboard, sheet of parchment, roll of parchment, tape recorder, cassette, loudspeakers, spotlights
A podium partially subdivides the museum. The space behind the podium is separated by a cordon and a wooden barrier with the hand-written title of the piece. A paperback edition of Homer’s Odyssey hangs on a notice board next to the steps leading to the podium. In the space behind the podium, the figure of a polyp made of parchment bearing the imprint Wärter 1 (Guard 1) is suspended just above floor level. A wooden post has been rammed into his eye. A fan keeps the parchment in motion. Next to it is a television set with a dull, flickering screen image and bearing a piece of cardboard with the inscription Wärter 2 (Guard 2). A Vlies (fleece) and a roll of paper, both made of parchment, hang from the ceiling. Pictures are painted in photographic opaque on the surrounding glass walls. Voices are heard in the entrance area reading reviews of works by Jochen Gerz.
Exhibition
Duisburg 1975
Bibliography
I: Berlin 1977b, pp. 9-11. Chur 1978, pp. 13-17. Ludwigshafen 1984, pp. 44-51
II: Red. 8, 1975. Hartmann 2, 1978, Cover
III: Pohlen 1978, p. 15
IV: Der Löwe 1976, p. 45
V: Blümler 1989, p. 6