Tino Sehgal
Tino Sehgal (born 1976) is a British-German artist based in Berlin. His works, which he calls "constructed situations",[1] involve one or more people carrying out instructions conceived by the artist.
His father, a member of the Sehgal family, "had to flee from what is today Pakistan when he was a child, and he became a manager at IBM"[2]; his mother was "a German native and homemaker."[3] Sehgal was born in London but grew up mostly in Düsseldorf and Paris; he studied political economy and dance in Berlin and Essen and began to work as an artist in 2000.
He has exhibited at a number of important venues including the Institute of Contemporary Arts, the Tate gallery, Manifesta 4 and the 2005 Venice Biennale. In 2006 he was shortlisted for the Hugo Boss Prize.[4] In 2008 the Nicola Trussardi Foundation has presented Tino Sehgal’s first major exhibition in Italy in the setting of Villa Reale, one of the most spectacular historic buildings in Milan.
On the sale of his work, the artist stipulates that there is no written set of instructions, no written receipt, no catalogue and no pictures.[1] This means that his work is not documented in any way.
Works
In Sehgal's 2010 work "This Progress" at the Guggenheim Museum, New York, the artist empties Frank Lloyd Wright's famed spiral gallery of all art work. The museum visitor is met at the base of the spiral by a child, who asks a small group what they think progress is. As they begin their ascent up the spiral ramp the visitors continue their conversation until they are met by a high school student who picks up the conversation. Further still, they are met by a young adult and lastly an older adult who finishes their ascent to the upper-most point in the Guggenheim.[5] For "This is New" a museum attendant barks out headlines from the day's paper to visitors. In "This Success/This Failure" young children attempt to play without using objects and sometimes draw visitors into their games.[1] "Instead of allowing some things to rise up to your face, dancing bruce and dan and other things" (2000) - is a live re-enactment of movements from dance-influenced video-works by Dan Graham and Bruce Nauman. For "This is Good" (2001) a museum worker waves their arms and hops from one leg to the other, then states the title of the piece.[6] In "This is Propaganda" (2002) a museum guard sings a song with the lyrics "This is propaganda/you know/you know" twice, then announces the title and year of the work, each time a visitor enters the room. For "This objective of that object" (2004) the visitor becomes surrounded by five people who remain with their backs to the visitors. The five chant, "The objective of this work is to become the object of a discussion," and if the visitor does not respond they slowly sink to the ground. If the visitor says something they begin a discussion.[7]
His work is held in the collection of the Tate.[8]
References
- ^ a b c Anne Midgette, The New York Times, Nov 25, 2007
- ^ Danielle Stein, "Tino Sehgal," GQ, November 2009.
- ^ Arthur Lubow, "Making Art Out of an Encounter," The New York Times Magazine, Jan. 17, 2010, p. 28.
- ^ guggenheim.org
- ^ Dan Visel, The Institute for the Future of the Book.
- ^ Alan Gilbert, "The Talking Lure", The Village Voice, Dec 4, 2007
- ^ Lucy Steeds, Tino Seghal, Art Monthly, March 2005, pp28 - 29.
- ^ tate.org.uk
External links
- 2007 "Kultureflash" interview
- 2005 Audio Arts interview
- Frieze article
- Frieze review of ICA show
- The Independent review of ICA show
- Sight and Sound profile
- Art in America review of ICA show
- Tino Sehgal at Fondazione Nicola Trussardi
- "A Progress: Or, One Foot in Front of the Other" review of Guggenheim show from n+1