The idea of the exhibition 'In-Between' here
at the South London Gallery comes from my
preoccupation of today which is ruins, all
kinds of ruins, old ruins, contemporary ruins,
ruins because of destruction, war, economical
destruction, corruption, natural earthquakes,
natural intervention etc.
A ruin is a form and a ruin is something which
is actually in a state 'in-between', because
it was something else and it will perhaps
become something else.
"Destruction is difficult, indeed it is as
difficult as creation" is this beautiful quote
of Antonio Gramsci in Prison Notebooks 6.
I decided to call this exhibition 'In-Between'
firstly because the quote of Antonio Gramsci
led me in a state of in-between; is this true?
Is this right? Is this corresponding to everything
or only to a part of things? There is no result,
there is no starting point, no end point,
and I'm interested in this it is a real dynamic,
a flux and also the title 'In-Between' comes
because there is no failure, no success, there
is only an 'in-between'.
So this quote is important to me because it
is a complex quote, a quote which I think
is important to understand as a thinking about
a hierarchical structure, or structure we
are living in and how it is difficult to destroy
them in order to build something new. I mean
political structures and in a revolution,
how difficult it is to destroy existing hierarchies.
Historically, ecologically, economically,
socially, culturally how difficult it is to
destroy, and also how difficult it is to create.
He says "no, no, no" it is difficult to create, it's not easy to create,
but in our times everyone wants to say how easy
it is to be a creator.
It's a unique space, it's a space with beautiful
height, it's a space with beautiful daylight.
So actually it provokes a kind of situation
where as an artist I felt invited to occupy
this space and to transform it into another
work.
My idea is not to make something impressive,
my idea is not to make a theatre, my idea
is not to make a film set, my idea is to work
a lot, to completely encompass the space,
to take it over without working against the
space, without neutralising the space for
example to me it's very important that you
can see that this is still the South London
Gallery, because there is the ceiling, this
structure, the very characteristic structure
with the light. So it's very important not
to be against the space but to use it completely.
Why should I work for the South London Gallery?
I'm not working for the South London Gallery,
I'm not working against the South London Gallery,
what I want is to work with the space here.
As in all other exhibition spaces in which
I want to exhibit.
That's the idea, that's my understanding of
sculpture, how a sculpture should be today
and therefore in this space of course this
sculpture makes no sense without spectators,
without somebody who is inside and looking
into it, and thinking about it, I hope. This
is how I understand how to construct a sculpture.
I did it from the ground, therefore it is important to me
that the ground is changed, the lino flooring,
and everything is taped on the ground until
the ceiling, until the top. So it's always
coming from the ground to the top.
It is difficult actually to destruct something,
and to create ruins in a plastic, artistic way.
All elements they started to be constructed
in my studio, there are other elements which
are integrated here like the furniture, they
are provided by the gallery here. So all these
elements have to come together in this space.
These are the materials I love to work with,
I love to work with them because they are
non-exclusive they are all materials that
everybody knows, non-artistic, non-intimidating,
it's tape, it's cardboard, it's paint. Another
material I used is pictures that I've found
in newspapers, on the internet, in magazines,
pictures of ruins, of details in ruins which
I try after to work out here in the space.
Furniture here, the toilet, the chairs etc,
are ready-mades used here in order to give
to this universal idea of ruin, a personal
aspect, a fixing point.
It turned out in a way which I'm happy with,
but it didn't turn out how I imagined, I couldn't
imagine it because it's a new work, it's a
creation, it's something completely new. I
did something which I'm astonished by and
this gives me happiness by the way, but this
isn't what it's about, this is a new thing,
so I couldn't imagine it, but what I could
is, I could assert an artistic will and this
corresponds to my artistic will.
