Tuesday, June 03, 2003
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A frenzied flurry of kinetic energy
By
Felix Winternitz
Experience the scents of an herbal hot tub, engage in a public demonstration of ritualistic performance art, or battle 75 M.P.H. winds. You can do all this, and more, in the participatory exhibit "Somewhere Better Than This Place: Alternative Social Experience in the Spaces of Contemporary Art."
The Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art's premiere exhibition (which opens to the general public on June 7), the show explores relationships between people, their environment and art, all the while re-examining the social order in a series of kinetic installations employing film, photography, video, sound and performance art.
"The relationship with our audience is not about art, per se," notes Charles Desmarais, director of the Rosenthal Center. "It's about experience -- sharing experiences outside boundaries."
Some 35 international artists are represented in the show, including Francis Alys, Vanessa Beecroft, Janet Cardiff, Lee Mingwei, Yinka Shonibare, Lorna Simpson, Mark Lombardi, Marie-Ange Guilleminot, Mats Hjelm and Santiago Sierra (constructing a large wooden cube showcasing Ohioians with Down syndrome). Themes will cross from social order to political commentary, in works such as "Badge of Honor" and "White Flight." One of the largest works is Cai Guo-Qiang's "Cultural Melting Bath: Project for the 20th Century," an 80,000-pound installation of Chinese scholar stones and a herbal hot tub used in mediation.
San Francisco performance artist Patty Chang may be most controversial, as she explores identity categories she is most closely associated with: female, Asian-American and lesbian.
Some other notable artists and their works:
• Nikki S. Lee, a photographer known for examining subcultures such as sex workers, lesbians, skateboarders and even Ohio trailer park residents.
• Pepon Osorio, whose "Badge of Honor: Father's Prison Cell, Son's Bedroom" juxtaposes a gritty jail cell with a child's bedroom stuffed with sports memorabilia and consumer goods, illustrating two extremes of social order across the generations.
• Zhang Huan, who will stage elaborate ritualistic public performances on the street outside the center (the artist will ask for volunteers).
• Inigo Manglano-Ovalle, whose "Cloud no. 1" is an enormous hanging titanium cloud that stimulates imagery of a coming storm or atomic mushroom cloud.
• Monica Bonvincini, whose "A Violent, Tropical, Cyclonic Piece of Art Having Wind Speeds of or in Excess of 75 Miles Per Hour" involves viewers battling the effects of wind machines.
The exhibition is divided into four themes: Social Construction of Identities, Discourses of Social Order, Changing Patterns of Social Relations, and Sublime Social Encounters.
The Performance Space theater offers a sampler of works during the first week that relate to the exhibit, including performances by: The Cincinnati Playwrights' Initiative (6 p.m. June 9); Arc Chamber Ensemble (6 p.m. June 10); Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival (6 p.m. June 11); Contemporary Dance Theater (6 p.m. June 12); Art Academy Drama Club (6 p.m. June 13); and Amernet String Quartet (6 p.m. June 14). Organized by senior curator Thom Collins, "Somewhere Better Than This Place" features a mix of existing and newly commissioned works. Since the Rosenthal Center is a non-collecting institution that presents site-specific installations and temporary exhibitions, all these works will be disassembled and shipped back to the artists after the exhibition closes on Nov. 9.
Felix Winternitz is a long-time Cincinnati resident and author of The Insider's Guide to Cincinnati.
