People Speak
CR 110. Year 1993
It might be useful to look at Gerz's works as propositions.
Gary Dufour 1994
Whether incomprehensibly idiosyncratic or utterly banal, the assemblage of voices, like any oral history, forms a fragmented picture of an historic moment. The intention driving Gerz' recent public projects is to literally make people speak, in as many languages as possible.
Helga Pakasaar 1999
Gerz… creates a work that lives and dies. Its physical manifestation is temporary, but accompanied by the progressive revelation of an immaterial dimension, which essentially comes to expression through language.
Andreas Hapkemeyer 1999
Categories
Keywords
Work in Public Space
Billboard (ink on paper) 240 x 360 cm
The billboard is realized for the project I Am You – Künstler gegen Gewalt (Artists Against Violence) sponsored by the Goethe-Institut in Munich. Following venues in Odessa, Antwerp and Munich, the work is shown in more than 90 cities on four continents. The billboard shows the words People Speak in thirty different languages, with each color field linking two words from different languages.
Two editions of the same title are realised on the basis of the project (844, 846).
The same work was realised again in Basel in 2001 (878).
Exhibitions
München 1993 u.a.O. Praha 1994. Vancouver 1994 (Newport Beach 1995. Purchase 1996. Winnipeg 1996/97). Heide 1995. Bolzano 1999
Bibliography
I: Antwerpen 1993, p. 7. Ottignies 1994, p. 27. Vancouver 1994, p. 104. Wuppertal 1997. Bolzano 1999, pp. 70 - 71
II: Merino 1993, p. 54. Dafoe 1994, p. C5. Mett 1994, p. 55. Wilson 1994, p. C1. Wagner F. 1994, pp. 30-35. Barkadma 1995, p. 31. Curtis 1, 1995. Knaff 1995
IV: Art Press 1994, p. 34. Zyma 1994. Art Press 1995, p. 34. Violence et Traduction 1995, Cover verso
V: Riese Hubert, R. & Hubert, J. D., 1999, p. 132
VI: Art in Bulgaria 1995, p. 2