Nothing to See Here

The floor-to-ceiling display of John Armleder's works on paper is a singular, almost kinetic experience.

by Robin Rice

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Published: Nov 1, 2006

art review

The floor-to-ceiling display of some 40 years of John Armleder's works on paper through the ICA's ground floor exhibition area is a singular, almost kinetic experience. The space, usually interrupted by at least one wall, is vast, and the Swiss Fluxus artist's work is stacked so densely that even Albert Barnes might be flummoxed.

The success of the installation not so paradoxically hangs on a kind of intellectual and visual homogenization. As with a bag of candy corn or a Korean gymnastics display, no one thing stands out from the others. Individual pieces are engaging, thoughtful or charming. Incorporating a variety of scales, the whole grid-based pattern depicts art-making as an extended practice, perhaps almost a devotional one.

So it is with Armleder's wallpaper based on photographs of snow crystals and presented in two colorways. No Mona Lisa of snowflakes outshines its fellows.

An audio tour accessible by cell phone highlights works and processes. I like silver halos resulting from now discarded objects. Glittery ghost flowers are pleasing. A collage of Godzilla/horror movie ads seems almost too provocative for a show that is not really "About Nothing" but aims to exclude singular somethings. Or perhaps to acknowledge the subtle somethingness of everything.

On the second floor of the ICA, architect Peter Eisenman and landscape architect Laurie Olin present a contrast to Armleder's almost traditional works in Fertilizers. Angled wooden ramps are supported by a grove of I-beams, each decorated on its flat sides with photographs of tree bark. Climbing, shoeless, to the top, one person at a time looks through a small peephole. As with Duchamp's Etant Donnez, it's a compressed quest to view life itself.

SPOILER ALERT: If you want to be surprised by the peep show, skip this paragraph. As in Duchamp's swan song, the view is a sham. In this case, it appears to represent ordinary real-time activities on an outside street, but it is really a 60-minute tape loop.

Both installations might be characterized as much ado about almost nothing. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the airy gallery of ignorable art and slipping and sliding on the Fertilizers ramps.

John Armleder: About Nothing. Works on Paper 1962-2006

FERTILIZERS: OLIN/EISENMANThrough Dec.17, Institute of Contemporary Art, 118 S. 36th St., 215-898-7108

 

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