by Adele R
Originally published in the November 2003 Currents

Although Galerie der Gegenwart translates to Gallery of Contemporary Art, the powers that be at that museum are not content to leave it at that. In May this year they introduced a series of exhibits titled gegenwärtig or “actual”/“current”. The series will run three or four times a year and will be comprised of current works of art, but will allow the incorporation of work from the museum’s depot as well as new acquisitions and gifts.

In each exhibit a particular theme will be explored. From May 11 to August 24, we were shown works of three artists whose art reflected their interest in the body and identity in an exhibit titled gegenwärtig: Körpernah or “Current: Bodily Matter”. At the end of August, a new exhibit in this group opened: gegenwärtig: Feldforschung or “Current: Field Research”, running until January 25, 2004.

The present exhibit concerns itself with six artists who, in their work, research, collect and order elements of nature or city life with scientific methodology. The most exciting of the six is Sophie Calle, a French artist whose interests concern her sociological environment. A friendship with the New York writer Paul Auster led him to use her person and artistic projects as an archetype for one of his fictional characters. In return for borrowing her identity, she asked him to invent a fictional figure she would try to embody. He wrote her a letter titled Personal Instructions for S.C. on How She Could Improve Life in New York City (Because She Asked…). He suggested she find a place in the city and make it her own. There she should talk to people and distribute sandwiches, cigarettes, and most importantly, her smile.

Ms. Calle chose a telephone booth in Greenwich Village and began to do just as Auster had dictated. She made the booth her own, decorating it with flowers, pictures, drinks and snacks, put a chair in front, and began a conversation with anyone who walked by. The results, carefully photographed and documented, including sheets of paper with the comments of the passers-by, are on the walls of the museum on the lower floor titled Gotham Handbook. Some of it is hilarious, most of it is fascinating, and all of it is in English. Be prepared to spend an enjoyable half-hour reading and examining her work.

The other five artists concerned themselves with field research in a number of scientific disciplines: archaeology, biology, ethnology, biography and a study of the mass media. Their work is developed along scientific guidelines, carefully documenting the subject and details of the research, and yet all very clearly the work of artists, not scientists. Do visit the lower floor on your next trip to this flexible, innovative museum.