My Essential Item: Nanomuseum

Hans Ulrich Obrist shares his portable museum which creates debate and free access to shows

 

I founded the Nanomuseum in the mid-1990s. It grew – as with most of my exhibitions and projects – out of discussions with artists. In this specific case, it was a discussion with a German artist, Hans-Peter Feldmann, who is based in Düsseldorf and has been doing visionary work since the 1960s, not only in terms of exhibitions, but also with books. He shifted his art practice into other activities, and was also running a shop in which he sold all kinds of objects. I once visited him in the 1990s, when his shop was still open. He was selling these small frames, of six by three inches, and I bought one that subsequently became the ready-made architecture of the Nanomuseum.

The idea grew out of a discussion about how the frame could become a portable museum. It connects to Robert Filliou’s Museum Chapeau, or, more recently, Dayanita Singh’s portable museum, among others; the idea was that this museum could host exhibitions and could be carried anywhere. It is representative of the lightest possible structure a museum could have, and at the same time a kind of parody on nano-technology. It would be a completely free museum, so that there wouldn’t be any constraints on having regular exhibitions whatsoever; so, sometimes there might not be a show for three months, and then there might be two exhibitions per day. There are all kinds of possibilities, after all, when you have time as freedom rather than constraint. There’s also no obligation to fill the space, but one can fill the small frame easily enough whenever there is a desire or necessity to do so.

The Nanomuseum functions as a conversation piece… but it’s a migrating conversation piece, so wherever the museum goes, it not only keeps track of its findings, but also triggers all kinds of dialogue. There’s always someone (either me or someone else – as other people also carry the museum around with them) showing the museum to friends and to other people, including passers-by, etc; so it often triggers direct feedback, and it is an excellent excuse or pretext to start a discussion. The Nanomuseum is only there to generate a conversation; it’s not about the object, but about what it can instigate. The Nanomuseum has been completely self-organised in its structure. The Nanomuseum has a nano-budget. Everything is nano.

Photography Rudi Molacek

This article is taken from issue 26. To buy the issue or subscribe, click here

Cecilia Vicuña: COS x Serpentine Park Nights

The Chilean poet discusses her new participatory poetic performance Clit Nest, part of COS x Serpentine Park Nights

documenta 14 Cecilia Vicuña, A Ritual Performance by the Sea, Photo: Mathias Voelzke.

I was invited to be part of the Park Nights program by the Artistic Director, Hans Ulrich Obrist, and Live Programmes Curator, Claude Adjl.

Ishigami’s design for the Serpentine Pavilion suggests an ancient stone dwelling, reminiscent of the caves, which in all cultures are associated to the womb of the Mother, a place for ceremonies to restore and regenerate the life force.

When I first saw the images of his design, I immediately felt the connection between the caves where underground water flows, arousing the bodily memory of our own inner water and ability to generate fluid. Now, when we face extinction, we invoke Joy, and the clit, an organ created for Joy, to give us strength to turn around the destruction of the earth.

Living Quipu Performance, Henry Art Gallery, Photo: Chona Kasinger.

I began working at the edge of the sea in the 60’s, and this dedication to water intensified in the 80’s and 90’s when the water crisis in the Andes began to be felt. The collective rituals that I performed in the 60’s, continue to re-emerge cyclically in my work, adapting and transforming to meet the times. Now, when people and indigenous communities around the world are being murdered to steal their water, rivers and lakes, rituals are becoming urgent acts. This need is present in the great movements of today, like Extinction Rebellion and Fridays for Future calling us to join in! 

When I approach a project, I don’t necessarily set out to “communicate something”, I invite people to join to explore together our deep questions, our forgotten senses. The challenge I face, which ties to the consideration of a one-night-show like Park Nights, is the little time allowed for art, by the constrains of city life. I hope that people come away from tonight with a sense of the possible, of what is yet to be discovered in us.

Cecilia Vicuna: ‘Living Quipu’ Community Performance at the Brooklyn Museum, Photo: KOLIN MENDEZ

This year’s COS × Serpentine Park Nights takes place at the Serpentine Pavilion, designed by architect Junya Ishigami. Practitioners in the fields of art, music, poetry, theatre, augmented reality and fashion will present eight evenings of new work commissioned by the Serpentine each responding to Ishigami’s contemplative design.

We are proud to support Park Nights for a seventh consecutive year, and also to bring an element of this pioneering series to our store in Coal Drops Yard for the first time. The interdisciplinary nature of the Park Nights programme offers a platform for creatives of all backgrounds to push the boundaries of their practice. At COS we always derive a huge amount of inspiration from these unique, one-off events, and can’t wait to discover what this year’s artists present over the summer

– Karin Gustafsson, COS creative director

Cecilia Vicuñas performance will take place on Friday 27th September. COS x Serpentine Park Nights 2019 runs on selected nights throughout the summer. For more information please click here.
 

Shawanda Corbett: COS x Serpentine Park Nights

The interdisciplinary African-American artist discusses her upcoming Park Nights performance Blackbird in Mississippi, probing our conception of the complete body and African-American culture in the South 

Park Nights, Shawanda Corbett, haarwese

I was invited to be a part of the programme after Lynette Yiadom-Boakye mentioned my work to the Artistic Director, Hans Ulrich Obrist, and Live Programmes Curator, Claude Adjl. Afterwards, I had a meeting with Claude to talk about my practice and it developed from there. For this project, I wanted to bring the Mississippi to Park Nights. 

The performance Blackbird in Mississippi involves a violist, singers, and myself as the dancer. The idea is to reference different stages of the African-American culture in the south, depicting the black body in different spaces – an essential part of everything I do within my studio practice.

Park Nights, Shawanda Corbett, gazes

My performances are a response to the environment at that moment – the initial idea for this project coming from Ishigami’s own design for the Serpentine Pavilion, using the blackbird as inspiration for my performance. Yet, the layout of the performance is only a skeleton so everyone can put their own personality into it.

The idea also developed through the music set as a response to the pavilion structure. I had many conversations with the choreographer, Albert Corbett, who is also from Mississippi, about how dance should respond to music and that influenced how I wanted the performance to be experienced.

The challenge I face, which ties to the consideration of a one-night-show, is the overwhelming feel. I want to show value to the audience’s time and the time of everyone I am collaborating with. Whilst communication is always subjective in my performances, I do want the audience to go home with a new perspective. 

Park Nights, Shawanda Corbett, cyborg

This year’s COS × Serpentine Park Nights takes place at the Serpentine Pavilion, designed by architect Junya Ishigami. Practitioners in the fields of art, music, poetry, theatre, augmented reality and fashion will present eight evenings of new work commissioned by the Serpentine each responding to Ishigami’s contemplative design.

We are proud to support Park Nights for a seventh consecutive year, and also to bring an element of this pioneering series to our store in Coal Drops Yard for the first time. The interdisciplinary nature of the Park Nights programme offers a platform for creatives of all backgrounds to push the boundaries of their practice. At COS we always derive a huge amount of inspiration from these unique, one-off events, and can’t wait to discover what this year’s artists present over the summer

– Karin Gustafsson, COS creative director

Shawanda Corbett’s performance will take place on Friday 26th July. COS x Serpentine Park Nights 2019 runs on selected nights throughout the summer. For more information please click here.