Johanna Wölfing, Mathias Wölfing, Nora Gantert
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iRRi ART at First Floor, Nanjing, March 30th, 2013.
The project „Kinderspiel//小意思“ is part of the first exhibition series at the First Floor in Nanjing. We started the series “Introduction to Art” on May 9th 2013, having a show to the topic every second Saturday. The topic and title “Introduction to Art” is taken from the text book which is used in Chinese art universities all over the country to give a basic understanding of art to the students. The book is used since the 80s and is a mandatory class every art student has to take.
About the exhibition
We chose to show a video screening on which the visitors can see a split screen, showing three hands simultaneously peeling mandarins. In the entrance area of the small exhibition space we span a web of woolen threads, giving the room a new shape with totally simply means. In the inside of an storage room inside the art space is the center of the web. Additionally we showed videos of heavy construction machinery on three 5” mini screens to re-size this huge machines to a child’s toy. The mandarin peel, the woolen balls and the mandarins complete with the mandarin drink at the exhibition opening the overall concept.
We played with the ideas promoted in the “Introduction to Art”, stating that art is something with big meaning, something divine, something only certain people are allowed to do. With this exhibition we wanted to show in Nanjing, that art can be playful and that it helps us seeing normal ordinary things in a different way.
Questions about the project „Kinderspiel“, First Floor, 2013
The following questions and answers are part of our working process at First Floor. Following every event the artist has to answer the questions of the other members of First Floor.
Why did you chose the title “Kinderspiel”?
There is this German saying, with which we are all very familiar: “This is a children’s game!” meaning something that can be easily done, something that can be done by everyone without special knowledge or preparation. We chose this title because we think that art and making art should be accessible to everyone. It should not be elite or always committed to a bigger idea. We think that creative thinking is a gift everyone one of us has, and that everyone has the right to articulate their thoughts and/or produce art with which means ever seem appropriate.
What is the connection between the different installations?
The overall concept includes the three installations: the mandarin peeling videos, the thread installation, the construction site videos, as well as the mandarin drink, the balls of wool and the mandarins in the art space. The mandarin installation is the heart of the curatorial concept.
With this installation we shift the focus from the question WHAT to the question HOW in the sense of an open play with material, social conventions and artistic concepts.
The leftover peel persists as a witness of the how and gives the scenic setting of the exhibition. Their omnipresence touches all our senses: The peel in color and smell, the drink in color and taste, the video in color, action and sound.
The thread installation is a child’s game often played in Germany. Transforming the room to something different till you can’t walk any more so you have to to climb and squeeze to get to the other side of the room. It is a playful examination of space and our spatial experience. The colors of the threads and the sound from within the core of the net refer to the mandarin installation.
Here in Nanjing we did what we did as kids, we used the messy surrounding, we used all the ordinary stuff and spun the web around everything. In the storage room we had the sound of peeling mandarins, referring to the video outside, and referring to the simplicity of doing something very normal.
The demolition videos on the mini screens build the connection to our childhood without changing the content. The viewer can choose the size of the displayed by standing close to it or farther away.
The quintessence of the exhibition is the simple statement, that art should more be treated as a child’s play. We understand art as play with social and artistic ideas to alter the viewer’s awareness of their habitual surroundings.
Why did you choose mandarins?
Because of the performance like character of peeling a mandarin, the well-known material and the internationality of this fruit. The mandarin as subject is qualified cause of its publicity, but has no importance in itself.
Why is the thread installation inside and outside the art space?
As the core of this piece is the visualization of space, the question about inside and outside space gains of importance.
Why did you chose the demolition videos? Is it meant in particular for the Chinese situation?
The topic of this installation is not the demolition of buildings. We wanted to think about the games we played as children, the fascination these huge machines had for us as kids and still have as grownups. They look like metal animals from a distant future or a remote past.
The essence of the piece is the heavy construction machinery, which through the small scale projection becomes alienated and resized to a child’s toy. What we want to focus on by presenting this projection is the personal perception of the appearance of a digger as such and its alternation from childhood on.Johanna Wölfing, Mathias Wölfing, Nora Gantert
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在南京华茂一楼举行的IRRI ART展览，2013年3月30日。
项目“Kinderspiel//小意思”是在南京“华茂一楼”艺术项目的一部分。我们于2013年5月3日开始了由一系列个展活动构成的“艺术概论”项目计划，每隔一周的周六举行一次该主题的展览活动。“艺术概论”的题目来自于在中国各地的艺术大学里使用的，为了让学生获得对艺术基本了解的一本教科书。这本书自80年代以来一直在使用，是每一个学艺术的学生的必修课。
关于展览
我们选择用电视频幕进行录像播放，参观者可以看到一个分割的画面，画面显示三只手同时剥柑橘皮的情景。在小型展览空间的入口区，我们利用桔色毛线织成网的这种非常简单的方法给房间带来焕然一新的面貌。在艺术空间内储藏室被更多的网所连接和覆盖。此外，我们在三个5英寸的小屏幕上播放重型工程机正在拆除建筑的录像，将这个庞大的机器转化为小孩子的玩具。在展览开幕式中有橘子皮，橘色毛线球和柑橘以及柑橘饮料，它们一起构成了整个展览的概念。
“艺术概论”所提倡的理念中认为艺术是意义重大的事；是神圣的事；是只部分特定的人才能从事的工作。但在本次展会上，我们想要在南京展示，艺术可以是轻松的、俏皮的，它可以帮助我们以不同的方式看待正常而普通的东西。
关于项目“Kinderspiel”的问题，华茂一楼，2013年
下面的问答部分是我们在“华茂一楼”项目进行过程中的一部分。在每一个艺术展览活动之后，作者必须回答“华茂一楼”的其他成员提出的问题。
你为什么选择 “Kinderspiel” 标题呢？
这是德国人的说法，我们都非常熟悉：“这是孩子们的游戏！”，意思是可以很容易完成的东西，每个人无需特殊的知识或准备就可以做的东西。我们选择这个标题是因为我们认为艺术和艺术创作应该是向所有人开放的。它不应该是精英专属或者始终是一个深奥的想法。我们认为创造性思维是我们每个人都拥有的礼物，每个人都有权利表达自己的想法和/或以他认为合适的手段创造艺术。
不同装置之间的连接是什么？
整体概念包括三个装置：柑橘剥皮视频，毛线安装，施工现场视频，以及艺术空间中的柑橘饮料，毛线球和柑橘。柑橘设置是策展概念的重心。
有了这个装置，我们将问题的重点从是什么转换到怎么做，其意义是就材料、社会习俗和艺术观念展开评论。
吃剩的果皮一直见证这个过程，并给出了展区的场景设置。他们无处不在地触动我们所有的感官：果皮颜色和气味，饮料的颜色和味道，视频的颜色，动作和声音。
毛线装置是在德国的孩子们经常玩的游戏。将房间改造成不同的格局，直到你没法行走，只能靠攀爬或挤进房间的另一边。这是对空间进行的俏皮测验，也是我们的空间体验。
在南京，我们像孩子们一样行动，我们使用凌乱的周边环境，我们使用所有普通的东西，并将毛线网缠绕所有东西。在储藏室里，我们用简短的中文，谈论着外面房间的视频短片，谈论着我们做的一些简单而平常的事。
小屏幕的拆卸视频将我们带回到童年的记忆中，而不改变原有内容。通过靠近或者远离显示频，观众可以选则显示屏幕的大小。
展览的精髓是简单的语句，艺术不应该被视为儿戏。我们通过发挥社会和艺术的思想来改变观众对习以为常的观念来了解艺术。
你为什么选择柑橘？
以不同的方式剥桔子暗示出了每个人的特殊性，同时这种水果非常普遍，容易被辨识。它本身并不重要。
为什么在艺术空间的内部和外部安装毛线?
它改变了作为视觉对象的空间面貌，并且把内部与外部的空间相连接。
你为什么选择拆迁视频？这是否意味着特别适合中国国情？
此装置的主题重点不是拆建筑物。我们想跟孩子一样玩游戏，这些巨大的机器给我们成年人带来的魅力不亚于孩子们。它们看起来像是从遥远的未来或遥远的过去走来的金属动物。
这个影像本身是重型机械在施工，通过小尺寸的投影变得疏远,调整为孩子的玩具的大小。我们希望展示这个项目的重点，是通过挖掘机的外在形象，表现人们从孩童时代开始，对同一事物个人感知的变化。